After On Tuesday, the jury in the historic criminal trial of former President Donald Trump will begin their deliberations during closing arguments. This is Yahoo News’ brief update on the criminal and civil cases against Trump. Here are the latest developments.
🚨 What happened today
Lawyers for Trump and the Manhattan district attorney’s office delivered closing arguments in the landmark trial in which the former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to hide an alleged extramarital affair from voters. Right Juan Merchan told jurors he would give them instructions Wednesday morning on how to reach a verdict in the case. “Jurors, thank you again for your patience,” Merchan said.
🔬Zoom in: ‘An MVP of liars’ versus ‘a conspiracy and a cover-up’
Trump’s closing argument: Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued that prosecutors had not presented “a shred of evidence” to show that Trump falsified business records or tried to influence the 2016 presidential election when he reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels.
While Blanche told jurors that Daniels had tried to extort money from Trump, he spent most of his time pursuing Cohen, who tried to portray Blanche as the witness the prosecution had built their case around.
“You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the words of Michael Cohen,” Blanche said, calling him “an MVP of liars.”
“He is the human embodiment of reasonable doubt,” Blanche added, noting that Cohen admitted during the trial that he stole $60,000 from the Trump Organization.
As for Trump himself, Blanche portrayed him as someone who was unaware of Cohen’s plans to support his presidential campaign by paying Daniels for her silence, and instead said that Trump simply reimbursed Cohen for legal services rendered .
Blanche tried to convince jurors that politics had nothing to do with the payment to Daniels, and therefore it did not rise to the level of a campaign finance violation.
“This is not a referendum on your opinion of President Trump. This is not a referendum on the ballot box,” Blanche said.
The prosecutor’s closing argument: Senior trial attorney Joshua Steinglass laid out the prosecution’s closing argument that the case involved “a conspiracy and cover-up” to prevent voters from learning about the alleged sexual relationship between Trump and Daniels.
That conspiracy, Steinglass told the jury, involved other people besides Cohen.
“In this case, there is literally a mountain of evidence of corroborating testimony linking the suspect to this crime, from Pecker to Hicks to the suspect’s own employees,” Steinglass said, referring to former National Enquirer chief David Pecker and former Trump aide Hope. Hicks, adding, “It’s hard to imagine a case with more corroboration than this.”
The plot, which included a “catch and kill” arrangement with the National Enquirer to prevent negative stories about Trump from being published, Steinglass said: and the had tangible results.
“This plan, devised right now by these men, could very well be the reason President Trump is elected,” Steinglass said, according to CNN.
Like Blanche, Steinglass also focused much of his closing on Cohen, openly admitting his ethical shortcomings.
“We did not choose Michael Cohen as our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness shop,” Steinglass added. “The defendant chose Michael Cohen as his fixer because he was willing to lie and deceive on his behalf.”
In a presentation that lasted more than five hours, Steinglass offered the jury a meticulous timeline of the alleged scheme, refreshing their memories of the evidence prosecutors presented. That included Trump campaign officials’ reactions to the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, forged documents used to open bank accounts from which Daniels was paid, phone records leading to that payment, and Trump Org notes. CFO Allen Weisselberg who set a schedule for Cohen’s repayment. Steinglass called Weisselberg’s payment schedule “the smoking guns” of the lawsuit.
“He didn’t really pay a lawyer,” Steinglass said of Trump’s reimbursements to Cohen. “He paid a porn star by funneling money through a lawyer.”
“This case is not about Michael Cohen. It’s about Mr. Trump and whether he should be held accountable for creating false business records in his own corporate records. Whether he and his staff did that to cover up election interference,” Steinglass said.
“The defendant was the beneficiary of this entire scheme,” Steinglass repeated at the end of his closing argument, the New York Times reported. “He was the one trying to get elected.”
Judge Merchan’s instructions come Wednesday: Citing the long hours the jury spent in the courtroom Tuesday, Merchan told the jury he would wait until Wednesday morning to instruct them on how to reach a verdict in the case. Although the day ended without any significant disruptions, Merchan berated the defense and prosecution attorneys twice.
After Blanche told the jury that they “can’t send someone to jail” based on testimony from someone like Cohen, prosecutors objected and Merchan provided an explanation.
“That comment was inappropriate and you must ignore it. In your deliberations you must not discuss, reflect or even speculate on matters relating to the sentence or sentence,” the judge told the jury.
As Steinglass concluded his closing argument, he appeared to ignore Merchan’s instructions to let him handle jury instructions on questions of law and their verdict. After explaining the concepts of reasonable doubt and additional liability, Merchan accepted two defense objections and snapped at Steinglass.
“I will explain the law,” the judge told him.
🗓 What’s next?
The court will reconvene at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when Merchan will instruct the jury and direct them to render a verdict.
