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Recap / Law & Order: Criminal Intent S2E3 "Anti Thesis"

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This episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent begins with a retirement party for a Hudson University department chair, Professor Winthrop. Winthrop disparages a fellow professor, Sanders, for being a media hound and even turning his subject matter into a rap video. He is then pestered by a graduate student Mark Bayley, who asks for more time to finish his dissertation. Two female professors, Fellows and Hitchens disparage Bayley. Prof. Sanders is pissed and confronts Winthrop in his office. Sanders then talks to Bayley and promises to grant him more time for his thesis - if he is made the new department chair.

Soon after, the department head and his secretary are found dead in his office.

The detectives investigate the scene and determine that the murder weapon is a gavel - implying that the killer thought he was getting justice by murdering Winthrop. They talk to the secretary’s roommate, who reveals that she was starting and stopping a CD on her Diskman. The detectives don’t find the CD, but they do find the words transcribed. The lyrics of the song point to an older African American man, most likely a professor at Hudson U. Which leads them to Sanders.

Sanders states that he was grading papers all night, but the detectives bust that alibi by noticing one paper with an obvious error that the professor should have caught were he actually grading papers. His assistant though, gives him a stronger alibi. The detectives then look into Mark Bayley, the grader of the paper and notice that his shoes are way too nice compared to the rest of his clothes. They find out from the exclusive store that sells those shoes, that a woman named Hitchens bought them from him.

Goren and Hitchens seem to verbally dance around each other. Hitchens is shown comforting Bayley before going to bed with him. The next day, she gets into a car and kisses Prof. Fellows, who now seems to be a lock for the department chairmanship.

Goren and Eames interrogate Bayley. When confronted with the insults that Hitchens uttered about him to Goren, Bayley appears ready to confess and implicate her too. But he goes into shock and dies.

An autopsy and medical records reveal that Bayley was allergic to peanut products. Medical records also show that he was recently rushed to the ER from a Thai restaurant. When the detectives question the hostess at that restaurant, they find out that he was there with an Australian woman who ordered for him in Thai, so he wouldn’t know the dish had peanuts. Upon further inquiry, the hostess reveals that the Australian woman spoke fluent but low class Thai and claimed to have lived in a town that has a large women’s prison. Detectives find out “Hitchens”’ real name - Nicole Wallace, and find out she had been convicted of aiding a Frenchman who murdered eight tourists to rob them.

The detectives trick Prof. Fellows into firing Hitchens/Wallace, then detain and interrogate her. The professor realizes she’s been played by the cops, re-hires “Hitchens” and sends a lawyer to spring her from detention. The police then discover that the real Prof. Hitchens had embezzled money from a foundation in Sydney. This was why Nicole had fled to the US - because financial crimes aren’t covered in the extradition treaty between the US and Australia.

But the cops discover that Hitchens cleared out her apartment and has fled, leaving a weeping Prof. Fellows.

This episode contains examples of the following tropes

Armor-Piercing Question : Nicole tries to rattle Goren by asking when he realized his mother was abnormal. Goren fires back by asking her whether sexual abuse by her father led her to prey on men.
Artistic License – Law : Getting terminated while on a work visa doesn’t immediately make your presence in the country illegal. You have a 60 day grace period to find a new job. Also, even a visa overstayer or undocumented migrant has the same legal protections that arrested US citizens have - the right to counsel, right to remain silent, right against detention without charges or a trial.
Citizenship Marriage : Of sorts. Nicole has shacked up with Prof. Christine Fellows so that the latter will sponsor her work visa and eventually an Employment based Green Card.
Depraved Bisexual : Nicole is involved in at least 9 murders, and sleeps with men and women.
Failed a Spot Check : A paper that Prof. Sanders supposedly graded during the time of the murder, attributed a quote to T S Elliot when Sanders himself states later that it was Ezra Pound who stated that quote. This tips the detectives off to the fact that Sanders’ teaching assistant was grading those papers instead of him. Later, they use the same mistake to zero in on Mark Bayley.
Kill and Replace : While it isn’t confirmed for sure, it is heavily implied that Nicole Wallace killed Dr. Elizabeth Hitchens and assumed her identity.
Malcolm Xerox : Professor Sanders is a textbook example. He takes umbrage at his unorthodox teaching methods being characterized as a “rap video” and even calls the university a “plantation” and the department chair as a “massa”.
Manipulative Bitch : Nicole Wallace manipulated Mark Bayley into murdering the head of the department. With him gone and the black professor as the prime suspect, her lover Dr. Fellows has a clear path to take over the department.
Meaningful Appearance : Mark Bayley’s classy shoes don’t match his otherwise slovenly clothes and appearance. This tips the detectives off that someone else is buying him stuff, presumably female.
Passed-Over Promotion : Sanders was a shoo-in to succeed Winthrop as department chair. Until Winthrop scuttled Sanders’ candidacy as well as his ability to get hired on at any other prestigious university, by raising a stink about the “rap video”.
Perfect Poison : Nicole uses Mark Bayley’s peanut oil allergy to kill him - by spiking his nicotine gum. That said, an autopsy immediately identifies peanut oil as the method and Goren zeroes in on Nicole as the culprit.
Ridiculous Procrastinator : Mark Bayley has been working on his doctoral thesis for ten years. And he is still nowhere close to being done. This is presumed to be the motive for murdering the Department Head - so a different one will give him yet another extension.
The Sociopath : Nicole. Charming, manipulative and homicidal.
Spanner in the Works : Nicole had a good thing going, having assumed the identity of Dr. Elizabeth Hitchens from Sydney Australia. Too bad, the real Elizabeth Hitchens had embezzled money and the Sydney police were closing in on her. This forced Nicole to run to the US.
Secret Relationship : Between Nicole and Prof. Fellows. Also between Nicole and Bayley.
Weaponized Allergy : "Hitchens" ordered Bayley a dish with peanuts, in order to trigger Bayley's allergy.
Law And Order Criminal Intent S 1 E 5 Jones
Recap/Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law And Order Criminal Intent S 2 E 7 Tomorrow

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent

Anti-Thesis

Cast & crew.

Reg E. Cathey

Daniel London

Olivia d'Abo

Linda Emond

Peter Gerety

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent/Anti-Thesis

Anti-Thesis is the third episode of the second season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent , and the twenty-fifth episode overall.

Starring : Vincent D'Onofrio ( Detective Robert Goren ), Kathryn Erbe ( Detective Alexandra Eames ), Jamey Sheridan ( Captain James Deakins )

and Courtney B. Vance ( ADA Carver )

Guest Stars : Olivia d'Abo (Elizabeth Hitchens / Nicole Wallace), Linda Emond (Dr. Christine Fellowes), Peter Gerety (George Dawkins), Daniel London (Mark Bayley), Reg E. Cathey (Professor Roland Sanders)

and Philip Bosco (Prof. Winthrop)

with Geoffrey Cantor (Ronald Hardin), Craig Chester (Derek), Doug Barron (Hamilton Frisch), Pascale Armand (Valerie Goodman), Jason Furlani (Detective Ponds), Liana Pai (Janey Lin), Tess Lina (Vana), Shauna Hurley (Kate Robbins), Jane Sweet (Female Student), Khaz B. (Male Student)

Plot Overview

Arc advancement, behind the scenes, allusions and references, memorable moments.

Episode Stubs
Law & Order: Criminal Intent/Episodes

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent – Season 2, Episode 3

Anti-thesis, where to watch, law & order: criminal intent — season 2, episode 3, more like this, cast & crew.

Vincent D'Onofrio

Detective Robert Goren

Kathryn Erbe

Detective Alexandra Eames

Courtney B. Vance

Jamey Sheridan

Reg E. Cathey

Daniel London

Episode Info

Schedule Full Schedule Shows Movies
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Law & Order: Criminal Intent Anti-Thesis

Starring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe

Director: Adam Bernstein

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Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Dead

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CSI: Miami: Chip/Tuck

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CHARGE! is also available on:

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Assault Victims
Characters Based on Real People
Con Artists
Conspirators
Facilitators
Foreign Nationals
LGBTQIA Characters
Murder Victims
Proxy Murderers
Rape Victims
Repeat offenders
Serial Killers

Nicole Wallace

View history

A brilliant, calculating sociopath, Nicole was the only person who was ever able to get the better of Goren and took particular delight in confronting him about his unhappy childhood and career hurdles, which he always retorted by regularly regarding her own traumatic past and failures at a safe, normal life.

1 Background
3 Accomplices
4 Associates
5 Known Victims
7 Appearances

Very little is known about Nicole's past, although it was apparently so painful that she went to great lengths to keep anyone from learning about it. As best as can be determined, she was born somewhere in Queensland, Australia . Detective Goren once speculated that she was molested by her father from the age of three. Nicole has vehemently denied this is true, but once said in private to Gwen Chapel that "sometimes daddies love too much".

Nicole later surfaced in Thailand , where she met a charismatic sociopath named Bernard Fremont . Fremont saw great potential in her and trained her as his apprentice-in-crime. Together, they robbed and murdered eight tourists, for which she was imprisoned for ten years. While in prison, she learned to speak Thai, though only low-class, likely picking up the language from her fellow prisoners. After she served her time, she moved back to Australia to start a new life. In 1995, she was living in Bendigo and was vaccinated for anthrax there. One year later, she met a man named Daniel Croydon , who was studying anthrax in Bendigo.

As an adult, she married Rohan Bartlett, and the two had a daughter named Hannah together in 1997. Things were apparently normal up until her daughter Hannah turned three. After that point, Nicole began to fear that her daughter Hannah would become a rival for Rohan's affections; Goren later speculates that she had internalized her father's excuse that young girls are too attractive for men to resist. On September 12, 2000, while visiting Stradbroke Island at the beach with her daughter, she broke the girl's neck and arm, killing her, leaving her feeling remorse with what she had done. The child's father reported the crime to the Queensland Police at 2:30pm. Then, she later came up with the cover story that her daughter drowned in the waters off Stradbroke Island. She was never conclusively connected to the crime, but a year later, she left the country under the name of Elizabeth Hitchens after her daughter Hannah's body was discovered. Police in Brisbane would later find the body of an unidentified woman, suspected to be the real Hitchens.

Nicole first became known to Goren and Eames while using her Hitchens identity. Under this alias, she was employed as a visiting professor at Hudson University . While there, she became romantically involved with Professor Christine Fellowes , who was in line to become the head of the American Studies department. Wallace arranged for the dean's murder, knowing he was deciding on that position. Nicole hoped that Fellowes would get the position because of the suspicion cast on another candidate through the killer, Mark Bayley . To cover her tracks, she poisons Bayley after talking with Goren. However, her scheme is eventually discovered, and her fake identity's embezzlement is exposed, which gives her motive for the murders. As a murder suspect, Nicole could be deported back to Australia because she lacks American citizenship. When Eames and Goren arrived to arrest her, she had already fled. ( CI : " Anti-Thesis ")

She eventually meets a man named Gavin Haynes while on the run, seducing and marrying him. Nicole is thus safe from extradition since she becomes an American citizen upon her marriage. She decides to get revenge on Goren for exposing her scheme. To this end, she seduces and sleeps with Doctors Roger Stern and Scott Borman , also stealing two grams of anthrax from Davis' personal collection. She then met a woman named Connie Matson at a bar near a U.S. Air Force base and slept with her to gain her trust. Nicole then persuaded Connie to get some anthrax vaccine boosters so she could buy them from her. ( CI : " Zoonotic ")

When Connie managed to get the vaccines, Nicole killed her by hitting her over the head with a dumbbell, stole the vaccines, and framed Dan Croydon, a deadbeat dad whom Nicole knew would remind Goren of his own father. When Goren relentlessly pursued Croydon, she invited herself into Croydon's apartment, had sex with him, and enticed him to write a note expressing his anger at Goren. When he was finished, she killed him and made it look like a suicide. She then left the vaccines and vial of anthrax on a train to Montreal to prove Croydon's innocence and ruin Goren's reputation. Nicole later met Goren in a diner and taunted him. She also introduced him to Gavin. Goren had her arrested on suspicion of stealing the anthrax and tricked her into revealing her true identity. She is then arrested for murder. ( CI : " A Person of Interest ")

Nevertheless, Haynes stood by Nicole and even used his money to finance her successful defense to the murder charge. ( CI : " Pas de Deux ")

The marriage ended after Nicole said that she was unable to bear children and "didn't see the point" of seeing a doctor about it. Sometime after, Nicole took a new lover, Ella Miyazaki , and began training her to be her accomplice, just as Fremont had trained her. Upon learning that Haynes had revealed her infertility to Goren and Eames, she sent Ella to kill her ex-husband by trapping him in an elevator and stealing his asthma inhaler so he would have an attack and suffocate. However, this attempt was averted by Goren. Eventually, the murder of her own daughter Hannah was revealed, which persuaded Ella to turn on Nicole. When Nicole figured it out, Nicole killed her and she faked her own death. ( CI : " Great Barrier ")

Nicole re-emerged a year later, now working as a librarian and engaged to Dr. Evan Chapel ; however, it is strongly implied that she murdered Evan's brother Larry and made it look like an accidental drug overdose. Goren believed that Nicole was planning to kill Evan's daughter Gwen in order to collect on the girl's trust fund. During the investigation, Goren learned that Evan was, in fact, trying to kill Gwen, and Nicole was trying to protect the girl, whom she had grown to love Goren confronted Wallace and told her that she would always pose a threat to anyone who got close to her, and implored her to help him protect Gwen. Nicole gave Goren evidence implicating Chapel in the murder of his wife and the assault of his daughter but insisted that she could be a good mother to Gwen. She then kidnapped the girl, but, in a rare moment of conscience, left her with her aunt in Arizona. She then left a voicemail for Goren admitting that he was right and cursing him for taking away her last chance at happiness. ( CI : " Grow ")

In 2005, Bernard Fremont was arrested for the murder of Russ Corbett. As he was leaving the courthouse after his arraignment, an unidentified woman stabbed him with a syringe, killing him instantly. Though he would never be able to prove it, Goren believed Nicole to be the assailant. ( CI : " Slither ")

In 2008, she was murdered herself by Dr. Declan Gage , who cut her heart out after manipulating her to murder Frank Goren , Robert's brother. According to Gage, her last words were "Tell Bobby he was the only man I ever loved." While it's never revealed who Bobby was, it's possible she means Goren since his first name is Robert ( CI : " Frame ").

Goren thought about his initial encounter with Nicole during a therapy session with psychologist Paula Gyson . ( CI : " Boots on the Ground ")

Accomplices

Bernard Fremont
Mark Bayley
Ella Miyazaki
Declan Gage
Victim: Officer William Davis
Victim: Monica Chapel
Attempted Victim: Gwen Chapel

Known Victims

Unknown dates from 1985 to 1987, Thailand: Eight unnamed men (all seduced by Nicole and killed by Fremont)
September 12, 2000: Hannah June Bartlett (twisted her arm until it fractured and broke her neck)
Unknown date in 2001: Elizabeth Hitchens (murdered)
Franklin Winthrop (bludgeoned with a gavel by Bayley at Nicole's direction)
Kate Robbins (bludgeoned with a gavel by Bayley at Nicole's direction)
October 2: Mark Bayley (poisoned with peanut oil in his nicotine gum)
April 17: Connie Matson (bludgeoned over the head with a dumbbell)
April 23: Daniel Croydon (strangled and staged his death to look like a suicide)
May 18: Zach Thaler (injected with a fatal dose of succinylcholine)
Gavin Haynes (assaulted; Ella attempted to suffocate him in an elevator)
Ella Miyazaki (crushed her trachea)
August 2005: Larry Chapel (injected with a fatal dose of potassium chloride under his tongue)
December 2006: Bernard Fremont (poisoned)
Frank Goren (injected with a fatal dose of succinylcholine at Gage's direction)
Robert Goren (stalked and harassed with Gage's conspiracy)
Her fingerprints are later matched to a murderer named Madeleine Haynes on the French crime series Jo and according to actress Olivia d'Abo and the series creator René Balcer , Madeline is Nicole Wallace with a new alias. Peculiarly, her DNA wasn't a match, meaning she likely used forensic trickery to escape and assume a new identity.
Viewers were polled to see whether Nicole would die on Great Barrier . East Coast viewers saw Nicole live; the West Coast viewers saw her die.

Appearances

Season 2 : " Anti-Thesis " • " A Person of Interest "
Season 4 : " Great Barrier "
Season 5 : " Grow "
Season 7 : " Frame "
Season 10 : " Boots on the Ground " (archive footage)
1 Olivia Benson
2 Noah Porter-Benson
3 Elliot Stabler

Trump's Stormy Daniels hush money trial hinges on intent of payoff

Medium Text

Former U.S. President Trump's criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records continues in New York

'CATCH AND KILL'

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Reports on the New York federal courts. Previously worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump, in the Harlem section of New York

World Chevron

Meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the conflict between Israel and Hamas in New York

Israeli foreign minister says hostage deal would defer Rafah operation

Israel's foreign minister said on Saturday that a planned incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah could be suspended should a deal emerge to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken boards a plane at the U.S. Naval Support Activity base in Naples

A tornado that struck the city of Guangzhou in southern China killed five people and left 33 injured, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, citing local authorities.

AfD party launches its campaign in Donaueschingen

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Pittsfield Man Charged With Transporting a Minor With Intent to Engage in Criminal Sexual Activity

BOSTON – A Pittsfield man was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Springfield for transporting a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity.

Paul Newton-Irelan, 50, was indicted on one count of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Newton-Irelan will make an initial appearance in Springfield federal court at a later date.

The indictment alleges that on Nov. 26, 2023, Newton-Irelan transported the minor victim to New York and Massachusetts with the intent that the victim engage in sexual activity.

The charge of possession of transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity provides for a sentence of no less than 10 years in prison, no less than five years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine G. Curley of the Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc .

Opening Statements in Trump’s Criminal Trial: Five Takeaways

Prosecutors signaled a sweeping case and Donald J. Trump’s lawyers began their assault on witnesses’ credibility. The judge seems intent on expediting the first trial of an American president.

Share full article

Former President Donald J. Trump sitting at table in a dark suit. An officer stands behind him and gestures.

By Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek

April 22, 2024

Monday marked another key moment in the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump: opening statements, during which the former president listened quietly to the prosecution’s allegations of crimes, and the defense’s counterargument that he was a simple man, wrongly accused.

The jury that will decide Mr. Trump’s case concentrated intently on the statements, which began the presentation of what will be weeks of testimony and other evidence, all in a tense courtroom in Lower Manhattan.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee once more, Mr. Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying 34 business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the days before the 2016 election. Ms. Daniels, who may testify, says that she and Mr. Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, a claim the former president denies.

Mr. Trump has also denied the 34 felony charges, calling them orchestrated by Democrats; if convicted, the former president could face probation or up to four years in prison.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s fifth day on trial:

The prosecution has a big story to tell.

The charges faced by Mr. Trump may sound bland — “falsifying business records” doesn’t really set the heart racing — but the prosecution made clear on Monday that it plans on painting a much broader picture.

Matthew Colangelo, a prosecutor, laid out in his opening statement a tale that touched on tabloid journalism , tawdry affairs and covertly recorded phone calls . Jurors will likely be told about events inside fancy hotel rooms, Trump Tower and even the Oval Office. And the stakes? The presidency.

All that suggests that the case will keep jurors wide-awake during the six or so weeks it is projected to take. Indeed, when asked if they wanted paper and pens to take notes, more than half of the people in the jury box (12 jurors and six alternates) raised their hands.

Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.

The defense wants to destroy prosecution witnesses.

Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, used his opening statement to cast Mr. Trump’s actions leading to this case as run-of-the-mill business, and said that Mr. Trump is defending himself at trial, just as “any of us would do.”

He argued that the use of a nondisclosure agreement — the document Ms. Daniels signed after receiving the payment — was typical among the wealthy and the famous and “nothing illegal.” He continued that there was nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, adding: “It’s called democracy.”

Mr. Blanche also attacked Mr. Cohen, a former lawyer and fixer for Mr. Trump. He said Mr. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance crimes in 2018, was a “criminal” who “can’t be trusted.” He added that Ms. Daniels was “biased” against Mr. Trump and made a living off her story about the sexual encounter.

He called the heart of the prosecution case just “34 pieces of paper” that don’t involve Mr. Trump.

Trump was muted during the abbreviated day in court.

On Mr. Trump’s way into the courtroom on Monday, he addressed reporters for about three minutes and blasted a range of perceived enemies, including New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and the judge in a recent civil fraud case that resulted in a $454 million judgment against him.

But Mr. Trump’s behavior during opening statements reflected that he understood the gravity of the moment.

Mr. Trump made no outbursts during the prosecution’s opening statement, although he occasionally showed displeasure: He shook his head slightly at arguments that he orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the presidential election and then more strenuously when prosecutors said he was guilty of felonies.

During his own side’s opening statement, Mr. Trump sat largely motionless and expressionless watching his lawyer Mr. Blanche. Mr. Trump’s behavior was muted compared with his volatility during past Manhattan court appearances.

But at the conclusion of the trial day, Mr. Trump took his preferred spot in front of a television camera in the hallway, and spoke for more than nine minutes, attacking the prosecutor’s case — once again — as unfair.

David Pecker used to live on celebrity news. Now, he is the news.

Prosecutors’ first witness was David Pecker, the longtime publisher of The National Enquirer . He ambled to the stand and promptly gave a lesson in the ways of tabloid journalism, including the purchasing of articles — anything more than $10,000, he had to approve — and the significance of putting a famous face right out front.

“The only thing that was important is the cover of a magazine,” Mr. Pecker testified.

In about 30 minutes of testimony, Mr. Pecker also laid out trade secrets on sourcing, saying hotel workers and limo drivers could be a font of information on the rich and famous.

He seemed at ease: laughing at a prosecutor’s jokes, and sometimes directly addressing the jury just a few feet away.

We’re moving right along.

Over the past five trial days, the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan, has shown that he is eager to keep this trial on schedule. He seems serious about keeping his word to the jurors that the trial will last six weeks.

On Monday, truncated by a juror’s dental emergency and the Passover holiday, he decided to start with the first witness — Mr. Pecker — despite having only half an hour left on his schedule.

On Tuesday, the court will first consider a prosecution motion to hold Mr. Trump in contempt over recent comments that they say violated a gag order meant to keep him from attacking participants in the trial and their families.

Then, Mr. Pecker will continue on the stand, probably diving deeper into the “catch-and-kill” scheme used to buy up — and cover up — unflattering stories, a central element of the prosecution’s narrative.

Court will end early again, at 2 p.m., for further observance of Passover and then will have its weekly Wednesday break.

But there is little indication that as the weeks pass, Justice Merchan will let the pace slacken.

Jesse McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley

Kate Christobek is a reporter covering the civil and criminal cases against former president Donald J. Trump for The Times. More about Kate Christobek

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

News and Analysis

The criminal trial of Trump featured vivid testimony about a plot to protect his first presidential campaign and the beginnings of a tough cross-examination of the prosecution’s initial witness, David Pecker , former publisher of The National Enquirer. Here are the takeaways .

Dozens of protesters calling for the justice system to punish Trump briefly blocked traffic on several streets near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where he is facing his first criminal trial.

Prosecutors accused Trump of violating a gag order four additional times , saying that he continues to defy the judge’s directions not to attack witnesses , prosecutors and jurors in his hush-money trial.

Trump criminal trial wraps for the day after opening statements and first witness

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell in the courthouse

Key takeaways from opening statements and the first witness in Trump's hush money trial

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

Prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys delivered opening statements and the first witness — a former National Enquirer publisher — was called Monday in the historic and unprecedented criminal trial of a former president.

Each side got their first chance to lay out a theory of the case for jurors. Prosecutors told jurors that the reimbursement of hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels was part of a larger conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The former president’s attorneys responded by telling the jury that Trump was innocent and not involved in the creation of the 34 business records he’s charged with falsifying. They also pointedly added that there’s “nothing wrong with trying to influence an election.”

Here are key takeaways from Monday:

Prosecutors say Trump schemed "to corrupt the 2016 presidential election": The district attorney’s office framed the case for jurors as illegal payments to try to influence illicitly influence the 2016 election that Trump then tried to illegally cover up by falsifying business records. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo walked the jury through Trump’s efforts, along with Michael Cohen and former American Media Inc., chief David Pecker, to keep damaging information from coming to light during the 2016 election.
Defense says Donald Trump is innocent: Defense attorney Todd Blanche began his opening statement with a simple assertion: “Donald Trump is innocent.” Blanche told the jury that the story isn’t as simple as prosecutors laid out and argued that Trump was not involved with any of the business records he’s accused of falsifying beyond signing the checks. Blanche didn’t dispute the paper trail existed, but he argued to the jury there was nothing illegal about signing non-disclosure agreements — or trying to influence an election.
Tabloid publisher testifies first: Prosecutors called former AMI CEO David Pecker as the first witness in their case against Trump. He testified for less than 30 minutes Monday morning before the trial adjourned for the day. He’s expected to continue testifying Tuesday. Colangelo teed up the former tabloid publisher as a key player in Trump’s “catch and kill” scheme to control the public narrative about him ahead of the 2016 election.
Gag order hearing will lead off court on Tuesday: Before the trial resumes Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan is holding a hearing on allegations that Trump violated the judge’s gag order barring discussion of witnesses. The district attorney’s office asked the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each of several gag order violations leading up to and since the trial started. In addition to the fines, prosecutors want the judge to remind Trump he could be imprisoned if he continues to disobey the order.
Trump was thinking about the $175 million bond hearing down the street: Meanwhile, other lawyers for Trump were in a courtroom a block away arguing over the legitimacy of the $175 million bond Trump posted to appeal the judgment in his civil fraud trial. Trump, who could not attend the civil hearing because he’s required to attend each day of the criminal trial, railed against Attorney General Letitia James.

Fact check: Trump falsely claims Michael Cohen’s crimes "had nothing to do with me"

From CNN’s Daniel Dale

Speaking to reporters Monday after opening statements in his criminal trial in Manhattan, former President Donald Trump declared that the crimes committed by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen “had nothing to do with me.”

Cohen is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution . Trump said: “The things he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me. He got in trouble; he went to jail. This has nothing to do with me. This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned – and medallions and borrowing money and a lot of things – but it had nothing to do with me.”

Facts First: Trump’s claim that Cohen’s prison sentence “had nothing to do with me” is false. Cohen’s three-year sentence in 2018 was for multiple crimes , some of which were directly related to Trump. Most notably, Cohen was sentenced for campaign finance offenses connected to a hush money scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal Trump’s alleged extramarital relationships -- the same hush money scheme that is central to this prosecution against Trump. Cohen was also sentenced to two months in prison , to run concurrently with the three-year sentence, for lying to Congress in 2017 in relation to previous talks about the possibility of building a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia , including about the extent of Trump’s involvement in the aborted Moscow initiative and about when in 2016 the discussions ended. (The discussions continued into June 2016, the month after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee , and did not conclude in January 2016 before the first votes were cast, as Cohen had claimed.)

Referring to Trump as “Individual-1,” Cohen said at the time of his 2018 guilty plea for making false statements to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: “I made these statements to be consistent with Individual-1’s political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual-1.” When Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to the campaign finance violations, he said he broke the law “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” Trump.

David Pecker is an important witness in prosecutor's quest to prove criminal intent, legal analyst says

From CNN's Elise Hammond

This court sketch shows David Pecker testifying during former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial.

David Pecker will be back on the stand on Tuesday to continue testimony in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. Not only is he the first witness to answer questions from the prosecution, but he is also a critical piece of how the state is trying to prove criminal intent, one former federal prosecutor said.

Criminal intent means that “not just an act happened, but an act happened for a purpose,” said Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst. “The defendant did something wrong to carry out some criminal purpose.”

As the then-chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, Pecker was involved in numerous “catch-and-kill” schemes he orchestrated on behalf of Trump, and he allegedly helped broker the deal with adult film star Stormy Daniels which is at the center of the case.

“It’s not just the catch-and-kill payments, but catch-and-kill payments for the purpose of concealing information from voters in the context of an election,” Williams explained, referring to the 2016 presidential election.

Williams said it’s likely that prosecutors will focus much of their questioning trying to uncover what was discussed in meetings between Pecker and Trump.

The question at the heart of the argument, Williams said, is if the payments were intended to conceal information from voters, “or was it just Donald Trump saying, ‘Well, you know, this is embarrassing to my wife and my kids, I really want to keep this hidden.’”

Read about the stages of Trump's criminal trial — and what they mean

From CNN's Lauren del Valle, Jhasua Razo and Gillian Roberts

Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial is expected to take six to eight weeks from start to finish.

This trial, related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, is the first of four ongoing criminal cases that are expected to head to trial for the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

Now that opening statements are done, prosecutors are presenting trial evidence through witness testimony and exhibits. David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, will resume testimony Tuesday.

Defense attorneys can cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses and typically aim to discredit their testimony. Witnesses’ responses are considered evidence, but not the questions posed by an attorney.

Read more about the stages of the trial, and what they mean here.

Michael Cohen jabs back at Trump's claim that Cohen's crimes have nothing to do with him

From CNN's Laura Dolan

In this October 2023 photo, Michael Cohen leaves for a break during the civil business fraud trial of former President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court in New York.

Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, jabbed back at his former boss in response to comments Trump made about him outside the courtroom Monday.

Speaking to reporters in the courtroom hallway after court concluded, Trump said Cohen’s crimes have “nothing to do with me."

“He got in trouble, he went to jail. This has nothing to do with me,” said Trump. “This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned — and medallions and borrowing money.”

Shortly after those comments. Cohen posted on social media, “Hey Von ShitzInPantz … your attacks of me stink of desperation. We are all hoping that you take the stand in your defense.

Cohen, who is Trump’s former attorney, served time in federal prison after pleading guilty to breaking federal campaign laws when he facilitated the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, which is directly linked to the charges against Trump. As for the taxi medallions that Trump referenced, Cohen was also sentenced for tax evasion related to a taxi medallion enterprise and lying to a bank in relation to a home loan.

Trump is under a gag order and was ordered by Judge Juan Merchan not to comment about any witnesses in the trial.

CNN's Daniel Dale contributed to this post.

See courtroom sketches from today's Trump trial

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway, but a sketch artist captured the scene as opening statements unfolded and the first witness took the stand.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo speaks at the lectern Monday morning in opening statements in Day 5 of former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial taking place in Manhattan, New York, on April 22.

Biden builds early advertising edge as Trump spends millions on legal fees

From CNN's David Wright

President Joe Biden and his allies have nearly tripled Donald Trump’s network in ad spending over the last month and a half while the former president has had to devote millions of campaign funds to legal expenses — and sit in a New York courthouse for his hush money trial.

Since March 6, after Super Tuesday when Trump effectively secured the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, through April 21, Biden’s campaign and other Democratic advertisers spent $27.2 million on advertising for the presidential race, while the Trump campaign and GOP advertisers spent about $9.3 million, according to AdImpact data.

Ad spending data (presidential race, March 6 to April 21)

Democrats: $27,153,293
Republicans: $9,344,948

During that time, Biden's campaign has spent millions in key battleground states, including $4.1 million in Michigan, $3.9 million in Pennsylvania, and at least $2 million in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia. And the Biden network has used its plentiful airtime to promote the administration’s first-term record and slam Trump, focusing on key issues such as the cost of living and abortion rights .

Meanwhile, Trump’s network has failed to match that effort since he became the presumptive nominee, though a pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., recently ramped up its advertising, booking over $1 million worth of airtime in Pennsylvania to coincide with Biden’s recent campaign swing through the state last week.

Trump has also benefited over that stretch from a nearly $3 million anti-Biden campaign from outside groups aligned with the oil and gas industries, which have been running ads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, criticizing California fuel standards defended by the Biden administration. But despite some recent signs of activity, Trump’s network has been significantly outspent on the airwaves since his general election matchup with Biden came into focus. And the latest round of FEC filings shows how Biden’s fundraising edge is enabling that advertising advantage, as Trump’s ongoing legal battles drain millions from his campaign coffers.

How we got here: A timeline of the Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels hush money case

From CNN’s Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell, Annette Choi and Gillian Roberts

The first criminal trial of a US ex-president is underway in New York, where former President Donald Trump faces charges from the Manhattan District attorney related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

This is the first of four criminal cases expected to go to trial for Trump, also the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee. CNN compiled a timeline of the key events leading up to the historic trial.

Here’s how we got here:

September 2016: Donald Trump discusses a $150,000 hush money payment understood to be for former Playboy model Karen McDougal with Michael Cohen who secretly records the conversation . McDougal has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump beginning in 2006, which he has denied.
October 7, 2016: The Washington Post releases an "Access Hollywood" video from 2005 in which Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with then show host Billy Bush.
October 27, 2016: According to prosecutors, Cohen pays Daniels $130,000 to her attorney through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. This $130,000 sum is separate from the $150,000 paid to McDougal. Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments.
November 8, 2016: Trump secures the election to become the 45th president of the United States.
February 2017: Prosecutors say Cohen meets with Trump in the Oval Office to confirm how he would be reimbursed for the hush money payment Cohen fronted to Daniels. Under the plan, Cohen would send a series of false invoices requesting payment for legal services he performed pursuant to a retainer agreement and receive monthly checks for $35,000 for a total of $420,000 to cover the payment, his taxes and a bonus, prosecutors alleged. Prosecutors also allege there was never a retainer agreement.
January 2018: The Wall Street Journal breaks news about the hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels in 2016.

See the full timeline.

Trump is also facing charges in 3 other criminal cases

From CNN’s Devan Cole, Amy O'Kruk and Curt Merrill

Former President Donald Trump's motorcade outside of the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, August 24.

The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is just one of four criminal cases he faces while juggling his presidential campaign.

The former president is facing at least 88 charges over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases.

Here's a recap of each case:

Hush money: Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016. Prosecutors allege Trump was part of an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. Further, they allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment.
Classified documents: Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. The National Archives said in early 2022 that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from the estate, including  some that were classified . The charges were brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Federal election interference: Smith separately charged the former president last August with four crimes over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator "attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them ... to delay the certification" of the election. That case is currently on hold as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the matter.
Fulton County: State prosecutors in Georgia brought a similar election subversion case against Trump and others. An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. A trial date has not yet been set in that case.

Read more about the four criminal cases Trump faces.

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