Prosecutors painted Donald Trump as directing a pre-election cover-up while his defence countered that he was merely trying to win a race for the presidency, calling it “democracy”.

On Monday, Manhattan prosecutors and Mr Trump’s legal team laid out duelling visions of the hush-money case.

Prosecutors claimed he was at the centre of an alleged scheme involving false business records, payouts and influencing the 2016 election.

But Mr Trump’s lawyer kept it simple.

The former president, Todd Blanche said, is “cloaked in innocence”.

The first witness – former tabloid publisher David Pecker – also took the stand but that testimony was ultimately brief and only covered certain aspects of Mr Pecker’s editorial responsibilities at American Media Inc, which owns the National Enquirer.

That tabloid was allegedly involved in a “catch-and-kill” scheme to purchase stories that portrayed Mr Trump in a bad light, then ensure they were never published.

Mr Pecker’s testimony was interrupted as court ended at 12:30 local time (17:30 BST) due to the Passover holiday.

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