Former US president Donald Trump has said it is a “very sad day in America” as he spoke before heading into court for his historic hush money trial.
Trump said his trial is an example of “election interference”, describing it as “very unfair”.
“People understand what’s going on,” he said, describing the trial as a “witch hunt”.
The statements set the stage for weeks of testimony about Trump’s personal life.
A panel of New Yorkers – 12 jurors and six alternates – were sworn in on Friday after four days of jury selection, and will hear what is the first-ever criminal trial against a former US commander-in-chief.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories that he thought might hurt his presidential campaign in 2016.
At the heart of the allegations is a $130,000 (£106,000) payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, to allegedly prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from surfacing in the final days of the race.
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Who is the porn star at the centre of Trump’s hush money case?
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of such payments in internal business documents.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Mr Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The hush money case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial.
