WASHINGTON – Closing arguments in the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president ended Tuesday, leaving it to the jury to decide whether Donald Trump is guilty of fraudulently repaying his personal lawyer for hush money paid to a porn star just before the 2016 presidential election.
Just outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan, during the closing hours, a news conference was held by President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, which included actor Robert DeNiro and two former U.S. Capitol Police officers who were overwhelmed by the livid mob of Trump supporters who stormed the building. January 6. 2021.
DeNiro argued with the heckler, and the Trump campaign then held its own press conference.
The final day of trials ended after nearly eight hours of closing arguments in which the defense portrayed Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen as a “liars’ MVP” and Trump as a victim of extortion and a leader too busy to understand the payments to Cohen.
Meanwhile, prosecutors presented jurors with excruciating details of events and witness testimony to show that Trump’s goal, like that of those in his orbit, was to “defraud the American voter” ahead of the 2016 election, according to reporters in court.
New York does not allow recording in the courtroom, but does allow public recording transcriptions proceedings. United Newsroom included a trial in person on May 20 this year.
Trump, the GOP’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee, is charged with 34 felonies, one for each of 11 invoices, 11 checks and 12 ledger entries that New York state prosecutors say were falsified as routine “legal expenses.” , disguising what was really a refund to Cohen for paying off adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump denies any wrongdoing
Daniels, also an adult film director, he testified in early May to a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, which he claims never happened.
Cohen, prosecutor key witnessLater he told jurors that he sent Daniels $130,000 in delayed October 2016 to secure her signature on a non-disclosure agreement, and that Trump was aware of it.
Cohen’s payout came quickly after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, which recorded Trump telling a TV host that his fame allows him to grab women by the genitals.
Additional witnesses testified that the revelation sent the Trump campaign into a frenzy over the possible loss of women voters.
Moreover, Cohen testified that Trump was present during the talks to hatch a plan with the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to repay Cohen under the guise of “legal fees.” Cohen ultimately received the earnings of $420,000 to cover bonuses and taxes.
The silent money process, which began in mid-April, will likely be the only one to take place before the November elections. Three other criminal cases against the former president, two federal and one in Georgia, remain at a standstill.
Throughout the six-week trial, jurors heard from nearly two dozen witnesses called by prosecutors to establish Trump’s history of suppressing negative reporting.
David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified that in early 2016 he worked with Trump and Cohen to pay off former Playboy model Karen McDougal and cover up her story about her alleged affair with Trump.
GLOAT
In his closing arguments, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche addressed the jury, arguing that Trump made no effort to influence the 2016 election through “illegal means.”
Blanche told jurors to put aside the idea of a conspiracy, emphasizing that the existence of a non-disclosure agreement “is not a crime.” Blanche stated that it was routine to work with editors to buy the silence of sources and suppress stories.
According to reporters in court, “every campaign in this country is a conspiracy,” he told the jury.
Although no strenuous contract existed between Trump and Cohen at the time, Blanche argued that they had an “oral” employment contract and that Cohen lied about how much work he actually did for Trump.
By the time Trump reached the Oval Office and personally signed nine of the 11 checks for Cohen, the then-president was too busy “running the country” to realize what he was signing, Blanche said.
Regarding the classification of payments on the ledger, Blanche argued that the Trump Organization’s software included a constrained number of categories in a drop-down menu and that one of the options was “legal fees.”
Blanche’s closing statements were largely dominated by his efforts to convince the jury that Cohen’s testimony could not be trusted.
“There is no way you can say that President Trump knew about this payment at the time he made it without believing what Michael Cohen said — period,” Blanche told the jury, according to reporters in the courtroom.
Cohen he pleaded guilty in 2018 for lying to Congress.
Using another sports metaphor, Blanche told jurors that Cohen was a “GLOAT.”
“He’s literally the biggest liar of all time,” Blanche said.
Finally, he appealed to the jury not to send Trump “to prison” based on Cohen’s testimony.
Judge Juan Merchan admonished Blanche for mentioning prison, pointing out that a guilty verdict does not necessarily mean a prison sentence. According to reporters in court, Merchan told jurors to ignore the “inappropriate” remark.
“The One Who Paid the Price”
For just under five hours, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass led the jury through closing arguments, marking the longest day of the trial.
Steinglass began by telling them that the prosecution only had to prove the following: that the conspiracy used false business documents and that Trump knew about them.
Steinglass reviewed previous evidence presented to the jury – phone records, handwritten notes, taped phone calls and checks with Trump’s own signature. He also recalled damning testimony from several Trump allies, including publisher Pecker.
“Conspiracy to unlawfully influence the 2016 election – Michael Cohen doesn’t have to prove that one bit,” Steinglass said, according to reporters in court.
Steinglass alluded to Cohen’s dismal past, including lying to Congress and serving a prison sentence for campaign finance violations related to secret payments to women who accused Trump of having extramarital affairs.
These actions, he said, were taken on Trump’s behalf to defend and protect him; The irony, Steinglass said, is that they are now being used against Cohen again to protect Trump.
Cohen has transformed himself from a true Trump ally into a bitter enemy who has published books titled “Disloyal” and “Revenge” and creates a podcast called “Mea Culpa” in which he regularly criticizes Trump.
Cohen is “understandably angry that so far he is the only one who has paid the price for his role in this conspiracy,” Blanche told the judges, according to reporters who noticed Trump shaking his head.
Steinglass tried to humanize Cohen to jurors, telling them it was “hard to blame” the former mobster – who now has a criminal record and no law license – for selling merchandise, including T-shirts depicting Trump in an orange prison jumpsuit.
Steinglass also rejected the defense argument that Trump’s actions leading up to the 2016 election were routine, describing the National Enquirer as a “secret arm” of the Trump campaign and “the antithesis of a normal, lawful press function.”
“Everything Trump and his associates have done on this matter has been cloaked in lies,” Steinglass said at the end of his closing statement. “The game was all about stealth, and all roads lead to the man who benefited the most from it, Donald Trump.”
Biden is fielding DeNiro
Biden’s campaign continues on the sidewalk in front of the New York County Supreme Court building deployed DeNiro, the voice of the latest campaign ad, and former U.S. Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone. Officials are campaigning for Biden in battleground states, the press release said.
Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, introduced the three and said they weren’t in Manhattan because of the trial proceedings, but rather because that’s where the media is concentrated.
The speakers were challenged by noisy protesters whom DeNiro called “crazy.”
“Donald Trump created this,” DeNiro said, pointing to the demonstrators. “He wants to create total chaos and in some areas he succeeds… I love this city and I don’t want to destroy it. “Donald Trump wants to destroy not only this city, but this country, and eventually he could destroy the world.”
“These guys are real heroes,” De Niro said, pointing to Dunn and Fanone standing behind him. “They stood and risked their lives for these miserable lives, for Trump.”
The protester then interrupted DeNiro and called the officers “traitors.”
“I don’t even know how to deal with you, my friend,” DeNiro snapped back during the live-streamed event.
Both Dunn AND Fanone he testified before lawmakers two years ago test a violent mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on January 6 as Congress convened in a joint session to certify Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump continues to falsely claim he won the election.
Trump campaign it happened immediately with his own press conference.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, picked up Tuesday’s copy of the New York Post with the headline “Nothing to Brag About” – a play on the name of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“Everyone knows this case is complete bullshit,” Miller said. “President Trump did nothing wrong. It’s all politics.”
On Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, the former president posted “BORING!” in all capital letters during a break in Steinglass’s summary.
Late Monday, Trump posted a block-letter complaint about the order in which closing arguments were delivered, a routine, well-established series of remarks during trials.
“WHY CAN A CORRUPT GOVERNMENT USE THE LAST ARGUMENT IN THE CASE AGAINST ME? WHY CANNOT THE DEFENSE STAND? BIG BENEFIT, VERY UNFAIR. WITCH-HUNT!” he wrote.
