There are a lot of issues on voter's minds right now. Six big ones could help decide the election.

Guns, reproductive rights, immigration, the economy, health care, and the wars overseas.

On the Consider This Podcast from NPR,

we will unpack the debates on these issues,

and what's at stake?

You can listen to NPR's.

Consider this wherever you get your podcasts.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

Opening statements today in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Donald Trump was in a Manhattan courtroom as both the defense and the prosecution laid

out the roadmaps of their respective cases.

Trump faces charges of falsifying business records,

as part of a scheme to squelts negative stories about him during his 2016 campaign,

including payments made through his lawyer to a porn star.

The judge Andrew Bernstein has than the prosecution's case.

This is the point where Assistant DA Matthew Calangelo says,

this was not spin or communication strategy.

This was a planned, coordinated coordinated long-running conspiracy to help

Donald Trump get elected through illegal payments to silence people. It was

election fraud pure and simple.

Defense attorneys for their part say it is not illegal to try to affect the outcome of

an election.

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