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Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial Underway With Opening Statements; Opening Statements In Trump Trial Made By Prosecution; Jurors Hear Prosecutor Describe Alleged "Catch And Kill" Strategy; Transcript Of "Access Hollywood" Recording Read Aloud To Jury By Prosecutor. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired April 22, 2024 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:30:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Paula Reid is collecting all the updates from the CNN team inside the courthouse. You'll see them on the left-hand side of your screen. Run us through what's happening, Paula.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: All right. Opening statements just got underway a moment ago. The first quote that we have is, the prosecution laying out its theory of the case, which is, "This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a coverup. The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again."

So here, they are reframing this. Because usually people refer to this as the hush money case. Where, yes, hush money was paid to Stormy Daniels for her to stay quiet about an affair that she had with then- candidate Trump. But having an affair is not a crime. Paying hush money is not a crime. The criminal allegation here is that the former president falsified business records in order to coverup that he had to pay this money.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well -- and what they are starting with, Matthew Colangelo, this is going to become a name that will become very familiar to people. He's the prosecutor that Paula just noted that is making these opening statements and starting them. They are going to lay out all -- the entire timeline of this.

And what he just started with is something that's really key, which is a meeting that happened in August 2015 that we didn't know about in real time, but we later learned once Trump was in the White House. That it was Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and David Pecker, they were all there in that meeting.

And that's when David Pecker was essentially asking how he could be helpful to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. And of course, now we know the saga that it has become these three stories that are at the center of this hush money case and at the heart of what they are alleging about these payments, but that is what they are going back to. And at that meeting, we didn't initially know that Donald Trump was the third person in that room. And obviously that's incredibly consequential because if David Pecker is in fact the first testimony that the prosecution calls after these opening statements, he can talk about Donald Trump's knowledge of this agreement and whether or not he signed off on it and what he said directly.

COOPER: He could say, in fact, yes, we talked about this being in order to help him in the election.

COLLINS: Exactly. And if he says that, that is it, he could back up Michael Cohen's statements. So, that's important because we've talked about Michael Cohen's issue as a witness and how they will rely on him having someone back that up.

And so, the fact that prosecutors are starting off with this is, is their main -- is their opening statement just shows that they are saying this all goes back to that meeting where Donald Trump himself was in that meeting. Because really, what they have to do at the end of the day here is convince these 12 jurors that Donald Trump was directly involved and essentially had signed off on this.

REID: And we're learning that Trump is sitting back in his chair and not even looking at the prosecutor as he speaks. And the prosecutor, as part of this opening statement, they're reframing this. Again, not just as a paperwork crime, right? An effort to coverup this hush money payment by falsifying business records, but an effort to interfere in the 2016 election. And that's key because that is why this is being charged as a felony.

Even though he's not charged with federal election interference, that's what they're arguing here. That these business records were falsified in an effort to interfere with the 2016 election. The prosecutor said, "They formed a conspiracy at that meeting to influence the presidential election by concealing negative information about Mr. Trump in order to help him get elected."

And that is really -- that is the crux of their argument. That this was all done to help Trump in the 2016 election. In fact, they reprimand me sometimes when I call it the hush money case on air. They say, no, Paula, it is the 2016 election interference case.

COOPER: It is important to point out that they say the conspiracy was hatched in this meeting. They have -- of the three people in this meeting, the prosecution has two people who will be testifying, Michael Cohen and David Pecker. They have two of the three people in that meeting testify.

COLLINS: They also have documents, and documents where Allen Weisselberg, the former CEO of the Trump organization took notes. The question though in what Trump's team, when they get their chance to make their opening statement, will almost certainly rebut is the idea of Trump's direct involvement.

Where they will say, Michael Cohen made this decision. Michael Cohen is the one who actually paid Stormy Daniels, this $130,000, that was Michael Cohen's decision. And just because other people were having these conversations doesn't mean that Donald Trump had signed off on it.

We'll see what the jurors will believe. We'll see what the evidence shows. And it's also -- remember there's that recording that Michael Cohen took where he and Donald Trump were discussing David Pecker, and how to set up a company to reimburse him and what that was going to look like for the other damaging stories.

COOPER: You got more updates?

REID: Yes, we're watching the updates. So, they're talking about the payments to Cohen because that's where the crux of this case lies, the evidence that the judge was talking about earlier, the paperwork trail, which for Trump is so unusual because one thing he's really good at is not leaving a paper trail. But they're talking about how Michael Cohen, who paid that $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, how he was reimbursed and why the paper trail there that lays the foundation for these criminal allegations.

They say that Trump reimbursed Cohen after he made that $130,000 payment but disguised what the reimbursement was for.

[10:35:00]

They said, they disguised what the payments were for. The defendant said in business records that he was paying Cohen for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement, but those were lies. There was no retainer agreement. And now, I can tell you from talking to sources on the Trump team, they will argue that at this time Cohen was working as a lawyer for Trump. He was doing legal work. That is something that they are going to argue when they have their chance to defend their client.

COLLINS: And just should note, you know, as we -- what's going to be so fascinating is how Trump responds during these opening statements as he's listening to all of this. Because he was just posting this morning on Truth Social on his way to the courthouse that it was just legal fees. And he was essentially asking, how can I be indicted because I paid an attorney legal fees? He did just pass Todd Blanche a note as the prosecution is making their opening statement.

And I will say, despite what people were saying at the time, Rudy Giuliani is on television in an interview with Fox News during that time, saying, Michael Cohen wasn't doing any legal work for Donald Trump. That's when he was trying to downplay the fact that Trump had reimbursed him.

COOPER: Yes. Jake, let's go back to you.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Anderson, thank you so much.

We have lots of updates coming in from the courtroom right now. The prosecution, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo, as you have heard from Paula Reid, has been introducing the case before the jury in his opening argument. Saying that the conspiracy extended the payments that Stormy Daniels received just weeks before the 2016 election.

That Trump, "Was paying Michael Cohen back for an illegal payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the election." That, "Cohen made that payment at the defendant, Donald Trump's, direction and he did it to influence the presidential election." This is the prosecution's allegation.

And he did it -- Donald Trump did it, according to the assistant district attorney, "Because he wanted to conceal his and others criminal conduct." In total the defendant falsified 34 business records to coverup that criminal conspiracy. After the election, Trump reimbursed Cohen for that payment and they, "Disguised with the payments were for."

"They disguised what the payments are for. The defendant said in business records that he was paying Cohen for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement, but those were lies." This is again what the assistant district attorney is alleging about Mr. Trump. There was no retained agreement. The payment to Cohen were lies. And the defendant was being paid back for illegal payments.

Laura Coates, this is what we expected the prosecution to bring up.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: They did, and they had to do this. And I'm going to go through kind of an argument checklist. You just listed out that there are 34 business records counts. Let me look here -- for a second here.

They have to prove there is an intent to fraud -- defraud. They have to prove that there is an intent to commit another crime. But the really important part here is this one. You're mentioning it just now. It's this one about made and caused a false entry in the business records. Why is that important? Because that's the idea that said this was not a legal service actual thing happening. It was an illegal retainer. In fact, a non-existent one. You heard them actually say this, in fact, was all lies.

Why this is important --

TAPPER: Yes, and let me just jump in for one second to, like, bring in the courtroom updates --

COATES: Yes.

TAPPER: -- which is the prosecution, the Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo, just said that this whole scheme that you're talking about started, "With that August 2015 meeting in Trump Tower." Go ahead, I'm sorry.

COATES: Right, and this idea of being all a lie and having to try to prove it, they actually have to do that, though. They can't just say it right now. They have to actually prove their case. And how they do that is through actual documents.

Having them show that there were actual documents. That comes from the likes of David Pecker may be talking about what they have done in the past. It comes from maybe Allen Weisselberg going on to tell you about what checks were actually cashed and why they were not.

But one big important part here is going to be this, the private versus political. Elie alluded to this earlier today as well. Whether this was all trying to stop his wife or embarrassment from understanding about the private or the political aspect of it. If it's actually maybe even half private, half political --

TAPPER: Yes.

COATES: -- doesn't matter.

TAPPER: And so, look at what the prosecutor is saying right here on the left side of your screen. You can see the prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, is saying that this meeting, August 2015, Trump and Cohen, Michael Cohen his attorney, and David Packer, the publisher of the "National Enquirer" and other tabloids, agreed at the Trump Tower meeting that Pecker, "Would help the defendant's campaign", that's the quote, by acting as the, "eyes and ears of the campaign." So here they are making a direct allegation that this is political, not personal.

COATES: And if that's the case, they can kind of check that off their list in terms of what they have to prove. All coming back to this idea of the intent, the intent to defraud, the intent to commit the other crime. Obviously, adultery not a crime, but trying to not be transparent in election is. They've got a lot to prove, but these statements get them off the right start.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And now they're about to, obviously, go into more details. The prosecutor tells the jury, this scheme was three pronged. One of those, obviously, was what we were just discussing, which is the prism through which the prosecutors are making their opening statement to the jury is about his campaign, is about the fact that he wasn't just doing this, allegedly, to protect his private life, to protect his wife. He was doing it to protect his own ability to be president of the United States.

[10:40:00]

TAPPER: Yes, at this meeting in August 2015 where they allegedly made this deal. And we've heard, Elie Honig, as the prosecution is introducing their opening arguments. We've heard this argument before, this -- when John Edwards, the former presidential candidate was being tried for a similar-ish offense, having to do with payments made to his girlfriend and the mother of a child outside his marriage. And whether or not that was being done to coverup to protect his family or to protect his political viability.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY, AND FORMER FEDERAL AND NEW JERSEY STATE PROSECUTOR: So, this is a tricky part of the case for the prosecution because they have to show not only that business records were falsified and Trump was in on that. But that his reason for doing it was to commit or further some other crime. And here, the main, some other crime is to violate campaign finance laws.

TAPPER: So, let me ask you, Elie, because the prosecutor is saying that David Pecker, the publisher of American Media, who is expected to be called as a witness. The prosecutor, the assistant district attorney is saying, Pecker agreed to kill negative stories on Trump from the "National Enquirer", as well as to publish favorable stories about him and negative stories about his political opponents. Now, we all -- we saw this all play out in real time, right?

HONIG: Yes.

TAPPER: We saw the nasty stories about Ted Cruz. And whether Ted Cruz's dad was involved in the Kennedy assassination, whether Ted Cruz was engaging in all sorts of stuff that he was not. And the prosecutor also saying they agreed that AMI, the American Media, the company that publishes these tabloids would suppress these stories. And the prosecutor raised the stories to the "National Enquirer" said that they ran an attack on Trump's political opponents, including Cruz.

HONIG: So, a couple key phrases, eyes and ears. If you want to know what David Pecker's about, he's going to be the first witness. Eyes and ears. He was on the lookout for stories that might be damaging to Donald Trump. And when the government -- when the prosecutors talk about a three-prong case here, they're talking about three specific instances where they did this catch and kill strategy?

One is the charged instance. They paid off Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet. The other two are not charged, but they're coming in to show the pattern. One is the payoff to Karen McDougal to keep her quiet about an alleged affair.

TAPPER: That's the Playboy playmate of the year 1998 with whom Donald Trump allegedly had an affair.

HONIG: Right. And the third one was to pay off a doorman who had information that turned out to be false about a child Donald Trump had out of wedlock. So, prosecutors are going to argue. David Pecker was the eyes and ears. His job was to catch and kill.

TAPPER: Right, so you're, you know, and you're just exactly referring to what the prosecutor's saying right now, was that the jury, there were three different catch and kill transactions for Trump, as you just mentioned. There's the one with the doorman, there's the one with Karen McDougal, and Karen, there's also the one with Stormy Daniels. So, these are bad acts that -- they're allowed to allege bad acts, that they're allowed to bring in the prosecutor.

KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST AND FORMER MANHATTAN CHIEF ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Yes, well this is the case. This is the meat of the case. So, these are the charged conduct. Interestingly, one of the things that, Matt Colangelo, the D.A. making the opening right now said, which is David Pecker is a co-conspirator of Donald Trump. Not -- he acted as his co-conspirator, not his publisher.

So, what he was saying is that's the conspiracy, that meeting that happened in August of 2015, when they got together and they agreed, they formed a conspiracy where they all got together and had an agreement that they were going to catch and kill these negative stories. TAPPER: Yes, and the first one, according to the prosecutor was this $30,000 payment to a former doorman of Trump Tower who alleged that Trump had fathered a child outside of his marriage. There doesn't appear to be anything to that story. At least now, we have seen no evidence that it's a real story. But the payment was made either way, Karen.

AGNIFILO: Yes. So, now they're talking about the Karen McDougal catch and kill in addition to the doorman, and then they will talk about Stormy Daniels' catch and kill. It almost doesn't matter whether the -- whether any of those things actually happened, right? Whether he had an affair with any of them or not, that doesn't matter.

What matters is they were trying to suppress the story. They were trying to suppress the information because, of course, the doorman That story has been debunked and -- but it didn't matter. They still didn't want that coming out. So, they were suppressing that and that's what they were trying to do. And they wanted to hide those payments so that it was not so that no one could know that they were actual illegal campaign donations.

And so, they gave -- they made these false business entries. And so, that's what this is about. This is about the false business entries in order to coverup That they were trying to give illegal campaign donations.

TAPPER: And Tim Parlatore, a former Trump attorney, right now Trump is in there listening to these allegations being made. We're told he's not reacting, as the assistant district attorney is now talking about, the second alleged catch and kill story. This one involved Karen McDougal, the former 1998 Playmate of the Year, with whom he allegedly had an affair. And detailing the second alleged catch and kill deal.

[10:45:00]

So, first of all, it sounds like he's behaving himself. He's not saying or doing anything yet --

TIM PARLATORE, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: So far.

TAPPER: -- to put him at odds with the jury. But they are running through a bunch of very lurid and uncomfortable details.

PARLATORE: They are. And you know, one of the things to me is this catch and kill plan is very different from the way that they structured the deal with Stormy Daniels. Where that was, you know, more of a direct Michael Cohen to her as opposed to, doing it through AMI.

And so, I think that that -- that's kind of one of the problems that they're going to have to really, you know, tie David Pecker and everything into this is showing why did they depart from that and do it in a different way. And that's, I think, where I -- if I were doing the defense, I would try to drive the wedge to separate the whole eyes and ears of the campaign piece from, you know, more of the John Edwards style defensive. You know, this is something that he was trying to kill, you know, not just for the campaign, but also for his personal --

TAPPER: Right.

PARLATORE: -- personal life.

TAPPER: And Karen, when they say -- when the prosecutor, the assistant district attorney suggests that David Pecker, the publisher of the "National Enquirer" and other tabloids, is a "Co-conspirator". What does that mean?

AGNIFILO: So, it means he's going to testify that this was a criminal scheme that they masterminded together. That they were committing a crime together. Don't forget, David Pecker has been given immunity federally, which then gives him immunity in state court to be -- from being prosecuted. So, that's how they're going to present him and he's going to have to testify about that.

HONIG: And Tim --

TAPPER: Yes.

HONIG: -- one of the defense points is going to be really, this guy gets a free pass and they're trying to lock up Donald Trump? How's that fair? That will be a defense argument.

TAPPER: But what's the crime?

HONIG: So, the crime under -- he was immunized under federal law for campaign finance violations.

TAPPER: OK. But I'm just saying like, is there something inherently illegal? I'm not talking about unethical.

HONIG: Right, right.

TAPPER: I'm not talking about wrong, but is there anything inherently illegal with American Media Enterprises, with this tabloid publisher catch and killing for him?

HONIG: No, very important point. Catch and kill, it's seedy, it's unseemly. It is not illegal. The illegality charge here is in the accounting around those payments and the motivation around that allegedly false account.

TAPPER: So, the prosecutor is saying that the evidence will show that Mr. Trump was informed about Karen McDougal's allegations. That they had had a long-standing affair. And he, "Desperately did not want this information to become public because of the 2016 election," Karen, and this is the part of the story where it's like, well this isn't about protecting his family. It's not his personal life. This is, according to the ADA, the assistant district attorney, this is all about his political viability, and that difference is important.

AGNIFILO: Well, it is, and he might have also not wanted his family to know, right? It doesn't matter if that was also a motivation. Really what they have to also prove, though, is that the campaign, this illegal campaign donation part of it is part of the motivation, too. And of course, there's going to be a tape recording that the prosecution's going to play that after Trump won the election, he says, well, now do we have to pay Stormy? I mean, if that doesn't show that that was campaign related, I don't know what evidence would.

TAPPER: And the prosecutor, Dana Bass, said that David Pecker told the "National Enquirer" employee to fly to California and meet with Karen McDougal and her attorney. They paid her more than $100,000 for her story, but they did not publish her story. That's the catch and the kill.

The prosecutor says, "Before, during, and after the meeting, Howard -- Dylan Howard, who was a "National Enquirer" executive, and David Pecker were in frequent, urgent contact with Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney, who wanted updates."

BASH: Who wanted updates, not just Michael Cohen interested in what happened. It's also clearly him passing it along to Trump.

There's another update. Prosecutor, "You're going to see the flurry of text messages, the barrage of phone calls around that meeting." That is fascinating. Very much giving a window into the fact that it's not just going to be Michael Cohen's word or somebody else's word. They're going to bring receipts.

COATES: That's what's so important about this. We went back to the idea that they're going to allow you to talk about the e-mails from the fallout of "Access Hollywood", but not the actual "Access Hollywood" tape. It's because they want to show that this was all about containing the fallout for the purpose of the election.

Not around a wedding anniversary. Not around a birth of a child. But around the fact that there is an election happening. And so, they're going to try to bring all these things out because, of course, you also have to realize there's a credibility issue. They don't just want Cohen to testify. They don't just want Weisselberg. They don't just want Pecker or Stormy. They might want to have the actual receipts.

They say, the real reason that Pecker directed AMI to make this payment to McDougal was to make sure she didn't publicize her affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Again, the common thread.

TAPPER: OK. And Jamie, that's what it's about here. According to the prosecutor, the defense is going to take issue with this, but according to the prosecutor, this is all about hiding information so that the voters don't know it before they go to the polls in November 2016.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: And the -- and let's put it in context. What is the date? So, "Access Hollywood" tape comes out on October 7th, a month before the election.

[10:50:00]

This is going on, I believe, October 27, 28, two weeks before the election. So, there you have the history with Karen McDougal about concern, about not wanting to publicize her affair with Trump before the election. Now, with Stormy Daniels, we're two weeks away from the election.

HONIG: Right, the timing is important. I mean, the prosecutors are going to argue just that point. Whoa. Gee. These affairs, by the way, allegedly happened a decade before, Stormy Daniels was 2006. And prosecutors are going to say, isn't that convenient? He's paying her off right before the election.

The response to that is going to be, because that's when Stormy Daniels came forward with her handout. And that's a fact. Donald Trump's people did not go find Stormy Daniels and say, hey, we would like to silence you. She came forward and said, I have this explosive story that you might not want out there.

Now, still as Jamie says, the important point there is, was a substantial part of his motivation. It doesn't have to be all, substantial part of his motivation to clean things up for the election.

TAPPER: And Karen, how significant is that, that it's all right there right before the presidential election and not a year before or two years before. The prosecutor right now is describing a recording of a conversation between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. Cohen at the time worked for Trump, discussing making the payment to Karen McDougal. David Pecker from American Media made the payment, allegedly, "National Enquirer" publisher. He says, Trump suggests on the recording that they pay cash.

AGNIFILO: I think that just shows how intimately involved Donald Trump was as part of this whole conspiracy, right? He wasn't just somebody who was oh, I don't know what was happening. My lawyers were dealing with it. I don't know.

That, I think, flies in the face of that and actually shows that he was intimately involved. And he was very much part of this group that was coming up with the scheme, how to deal with it and what to do?

TAPPER: And the prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, who is the assistant district attorney, is also alleging that David Pecker, and presumably we're going to see this in the text messages, Tim Parlatore, starts getting antsy because he's afraid Donald Trump's not going to pay him back. The prosecutors say, the jury is going to hear the recording of the call between Cohen and Trump about this McDougal payment in September 2016.

So, they're presenting -- they're basically giving a preview of the evidence they're going to say.

PARLATORE: Sure. And --

TAPPER: And here.

PARLATORE: I mean, the flip side of the whole payment in cash piece is it shows that he may make suggestions. He did that with us that, you know, that the lawyers say, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to do it a different way. And he ultimately relies upon what his lawyers, you know, say. You know, if he says pay it in cash, and they say, no, no. We're going to do it this different way.

But ultimately, all of that is, you know, atmospherics, you know, from beforehand but it doesn't really have anything to do with why were those specific entries made into the books of the Trump organization?

TAPPER: Yes.

PARLATORE: And, you know, the -- as Elie said before, catch and kill is legal.

TAPPER: Right.

PARLATORE: It's something that -- you know, it's not even a campaign contribution under Citizens United.

TAPPER: Right.

PARLATORE: Something that's totally legal. So, whether you put these entries in as legal fees or as confidential settlement, both of those at the time were tax deductible, so he's not really getting a tax benefit. And the books of the Trump Org. are not becoming public before the election anyway. So, even if he writes in the Trump Org. books, payment for hush money to sway the election, that's not coming out. So, it's not going to have any effect on the end.

TAPPER: So -- and Laura Coates, a prosecutor, assistant district attorney Matthew Colangelo is now saying that David Pecker, the publisher of these tabloids, eventually told Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney, the deal is off and that his company is just going to eat the cost of paying Karen McDougal something like $120,000, $130,000.

COATES: Well, first of all, you usually pay things in cash to avoid having receipts in a paper trail. And we're here for a falsified business records case. Second of all, we've heard this before. Somebody getting antsy about how they're going to get reimbursed for the payment. It was Michael Cohen, right?

The reason you have these falsified business records allegedly is because he wanted to have some invoice. He wanted to have some way of getting his money back having paid Stormy Daniels. That's where you had the allegations of invoices for a false retainer and false legal services provided.

And so, this is all part of the overall context to show this has happened before. Someone else has got Nancy. This time it was Cohen. This is what happened when you did not pay back and you falsified.

TAPPER: So, it is -- I mean, we've heard the argument being made by some people that on the politics of this, Dana Bash, this is not going to have an impact. You have both Democrats who are convinced of Donald Trump's invincibility and Republicans who are convinced that this is all going to be seen as a partisan sham witch hunt. Thinking, you know, this is not going to have an effect. But there are also those who say, reminding people of all this lurid behavior is not going to be positive for Donald Trump one way or the other.

BASH: No -- I mean, it -- look. Yes, the, sort of, public bravado by Republicans even -- and especially inside the Trump campaign is that people see through it.

[10:55:00]

That they see it -- it's a, "Witch hunt," which we hear over and over again, the center of his bingo card, as Jamie said. But they don't know what they don't know. None of us does. Because this is unprecedented.

And, also in large part because the argument that the former president made when he came before the cameras, before going into the courtroom was, this is election interference because they're taking me off the campaign trail. So far, I mean, we're only, you know, minutes into this -- these opening statements, that's precisely what the argument is, is that he was involved --

TAPPER: He was the one doing --

BASH: -- in election interference --

TAPPER: Election interference --

BASH: -- back in 2016.

TAPPER: Anderson, back to you in New York.

COOPER: Yes. Jake, thanks very much.

The prosecutor isn't saying that David Pecker eventually told Michael Cohen that the deal was off, as Jake had said. And that the AMI would eat the cost of paying Karen McDougal back here in New York.

Paul Reid and Kaitlan Collins, again, we are going to be -- we believe David Pecker is the first witness going to be called. We will likely hear from him today.

REID: Yes, and they're setting the stage for this. Now, as you can see, they're just talking about the deal with Karen McDougal. Now, prosecutors are also introducing the story of Stormy Daniels, which comes not only after Karen McDougal, but also after the "Access Hollywood" tape. And they argue that the release of the "Access Hollywood", "Turned the rest of the presidential campaign entirely upside down."

And this is an important piece of the timeline because they're going to argue that Trump had an especially strong incentive to bury the story of his affair in the wake of the "Access Hollywood" tape.

COOPER: That "Access Hollywood" tape came out just on the eve of the second debate, which I actually co-moderated with against Hillary Clinton. Now, the prosecutor is saying that the impact of the campaign was immediate and explosive. That "Access Hollywood" tape was like a bombshell going off in the campaign.

COLLINS: Well -- and two things are important to remember here when we're talking about Karen McDougal, who was the former Playboy model. David Pecker, when he was making that payment to her actually had researched whether or not it would be a campaign by an -- campaign finance violation for him to pay her, and they had looked into that. And right now, they are getting into the actual "Access Hollywood" tape. This is important --

COOPER: Prosecutor reads Trump's quote from the "Access Hollywood" tape, saying those are Donald Trump's words.

COLLINS: And that's important context, because the way they handled this. You just heard Tim Parlatore, former attorney for Donald Trump, saying, well, why was the Stormy Daniels situation different? Stormy Daniels' team had approached the people at "National Enquirer" and AMI about buying her story as well. They believed the price was too high, and essentially weren't interested. But after the "Access Hollywood" tape came out, which they are reading right now, as we are told by our reporters inside the room --

COOPER: It says, Trump is not reacting.

COLLINS: -- Trump is not reacting at all. As they are not playing the actual audio of that tape. The judge ruled that they could not do that. But he did allow prosecutors to read Trump's exacts quote -- exact quotes. And that is exactly what prosecutors are doing right now.

But that release of that tape changed everything for the Trump campaign. It also changed how they were handling these stories. And it caused Michael Cohen and them to go back to Stormy Daniels and agree to pay her for this. And so, that is why this is important. I should note that we are being told Trump is now whispering to his attorney, as Matthew Colangelo, that is the prosecutor here, is reading these quotes from the "Access Hollywood" tape.

COOPER: And the prosecutor is now moving into the Stormy Daniels affair allegations by saying that another woman had come forward after the "Access Hollywood" tape came out. It's important to remember that the drumbeat of this on the eve of the election, as the election got closer. Because again, while the Trump team will say that this was about protecting his family, according to prosecution, this is about interfering in the election.

REID: Yes, because in the wake of the "Access Hollywood" tape, there were significant concerns even by some of his closest advisors about what exactly that could do to his chances of winning the election. Now, they say, "That woman was adult film star, a porn star named Stormy Daniels," setting up the beginning of her story and also framing her then occupation.

She doesn't always like it when people refer to her as a porn star. But at the time, that was what she was doing when she met, then not even candidate, then just civilian Trump about a decade ago.

COOPER: We should point out, Karen McDougal alleged a relationship, an actual relationship with Donald Trump. The one that went on for some time. She said she actually was in love with him, she told me in an interview. Michael Cohen then discussed the situation with Trump who was adamant he did not want the story to come out --

COLLINS: OK.

COOPER: -- says the prosecutor.

COLLINS: And this is important because as this is all playing out. "Access Hollywood" comes out in October, as we all know. That is when they were suddenly interested again in Stormy Daniels' story. But there was this moment where Stormy Daniels and her team felt like they were kind of being strung along by Michael Cohen and that he actually wasn't going to pay. That he just wanted to get to the election and then move on.

That is what prosecutors are arguing right now as they're talking about Trump and Cohen discussing this situation. They did not want the story to come out. And there was essentially a disagreement over how to actually get the payment done.

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