Trump tried to ‘corrupt’ 2016 election, prosecution alleges

Former president Donald Trump speaks to the media after the first day of opening arguments in his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court (Victor J Blue for The Washington Post/AP)

Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said: “This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behaviour.