Manhattan prosecutors launched their opening salvo against Donald Trump yesterday, saying he tried to “corrupt” the 2016 election by getting his team to buy the silence of porn star Stormy Daniels, who was threatening to go public with claims of an affair, to the tune of $130,000.

The 37-year-old Florida native, who New York police described as a conspiracy theorist, telegraphed the incident as "an extreme act of protest."

New York courts generally do not permit video to be broadcast from courtrooms, although a feed is being transmitted into an overflow room for the reporters covering the trial.