Sparks fly in tense closing arguments as Trump’s hush money trial wraps up

The jury will soon begin deliberating to decide whether the former US president is guilty of falsifying business records to cover up payments to an adult actress with whom he had an affair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial concluded on Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom, marking the final opportunity for prosecutors and defence lawyers to convince the jury of their respective cases before deliberations began.

Jurors will undertake the unprecedented task of deciding whether to convict the former US president of felony criminal charges stemming from hush money payments tied to an alleged scheme to buy and bury stories that might have threatened Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen to cover a $130,000 (about €120,000) payment that was given to adult actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.

Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer, were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing. He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records — charges which are punishable by up to four years in prison.

Closing arguments lasted all day on Tuesday, with jury deliberations set to begin as soon as Wednesday.

All about Cohen
Trump attorney Todd Blanche had a clear message for jurors: the prosecution’s case rests on the testimony of Cohen, and he can’t be believed.

Cohen is a crucial witness because he was the one who made the hush money payment to Daniels. It is the reimbursements to Cohen that prosecutors say were falsely and unlawfully logged as legal expenses.

As the defence has done throughout the case, Blanche attacked Cohen as a liar with a personal vendetta against his former boss. While Blanche tried to chip away at Cohen’s credibility, the defence showed jurors a PowerPoint slide that read: “Case Turns on Cohen”.

Blanche repeatedly reminded jurors of Cohen’s past lies, including his 2018 guilty plea for lying to the US Congress. Trump’s defence also played the jury clips of Cohen’s podcast in which the now-disbarred attorney said seeing the former president booked on criminal charges “fills me with delight”.

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