NEW YORK — With a historic trial nearing its end, lawyers made their final arguments Tuesday to convict or acquit former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The 12-person jury, which heard 22 witnesses and more than six hours of arguments, is scheduled to begin deliberations Wednesday. It may take hours, days, or even weeks to make a decision. A unanimous jury is needed to convict or acquit Trump.
President Trump, who has maintained his innocence, falsely claimed there was a partisan conspiracy against him and frequently called the trial “election interference” for interfering with his presidential campaign.
On Tuesday, more family members than usual joined President Trump's courtroom. Also in attendance in the courtroom were children Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany, son-in-law Michael Boulos and daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump.
As Trump lawyer Todd Blanche began his closing arguments, the Biden-Harris camp gathered in Manhattan with actor Robert DeNiro and U.S. Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone in attendance. The event was held outside the courthouse.
Prosecutors knew that Trump had negotiated a settlement with adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep allegations of his affair from the media, and that Trump had paid $130,000 to his former “fixer” Michael Cohen. He claimed that he was instructed to pay the settlement amount. her. Prosecutors allege that falsified business records, labeled in part as “legal holders,” were Cohen's paper trail.
Trump has long maintained that he only paid attorneys' fees.
The defense first made closing arguments focusing on Michael Cohen.
As is typical in New York law, Trump's defense lawyers delivered their first closing argument, which lasted more than two hours. Blanche focused on the credibility issues surrounding Cohen.
The four main points from his defense summary are:
1. A person who did not testify
The defense argued for potential witnesses the jury did not hear, particularly Allen Weisselberg, Don Jr., who was an executive at the Trump Organization at the time. Or spent time pointing out Eric Trump. Dylan Howard, former editor National Enquirer; Gina Rodriguez, who managed Stormy Daniels; Or Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller.
2. Documents
Blanche claims Trump's sons signed two checks that constituted part of the felonies. And he also told jurors that it was Cohen who created 11 invoices that make up 11 of the felony charges against Trump.
He claimed that the alleged false holder was the legitimate holder of the service. Especially since Cohen claimed to be Trump's personal attorney.
“It should not be thought that the word ‘holder’ is any different from the reason for payment,” says Blanche. It’s just one word,” Blanche said.
3. Cohen’s credibility
Blanche attempted to call into question the various conversations Cohen recalled having with Trump, including at the White House, about a deal to silence Daniels. However, the defense argued that Cohen took the witness stand and answered questions in a different way than the prosecution, but lied in a different way to the defense.
“Cohen lied to you.” Blanche repeated her arguments at various stages of her speech to ensure the jury got her point across.
He also spent time raising suspicions that Cohen had secretly recorded conversations with Trump, confirming the former president's knowledge of the payments and settlements. playboy Model Karen MacDougall.
4. Election impact
Blanche repeated one of the points she made at the opening ceremony. She doesn't care whether there was a conspiracy to influence the election. “Every campaign is a conspiracy to promote a candidate,” she said Blanche.
Blanche said it is common for celebrities and candidates to partner with media organizations such as tabloids to promote themselves and their campaigns.
Blanche argued that it “makes no sense” that Trump, Cohen and former publisher David Pecker truly believed they could influence the 2016 election. National Enquirer refine.
“There’s nothing wrong with President Trump wanting positive news stories,” Blanche said. But he added: “The idea that intelligent people believed a positive article in the National Enquirer could influence an election is absurd.”
Blanche said the tabloids' influence was far below what was needed to overturn the election.
The prosecution objected
The prosecution spent six hours going through every aspect of the case for the jury and refuting the defendant's claims. Prosecutor Josh Steinglass laid out all the evidence to the jury about the 2006 sexual encounter described by Daniels, saying Cohen knew what happened in that hotel room and “that goes along with the motive.” “This is a display that the defendant does not want the public to see,” Steinglass told the jury of Stormy Daniels testimony.
Here are four key takeaways from the final argument:
1. 1 minute and 36 seconds of phone call
Prosecutor Josh Steinglass took out his phone, set a timer, and reenacted the call that was the center of Cohen's direct questioning two weeks ago. Cohen testified that in the phone call he spoke with Trump's bodyguard about harassing the teenager and that he talked about paying Daniels separately from Trump. Trump's lawyers aimed to undermine Cohen's memory of that conversation, arguing that it would be difficult to cover both topics in that short a time.
Start with “Hi, Keith, how are you?” After discussing the issue of a teenage prankster who had been harassing Cohen in a mock phone call, Steinglass said, “Can I speak to the boss?” Steinglass then simulated a brief conversation and some small talk about dealing with “it.”
“And this whole thing took 49 seconds,” Steinglass said, adding that it accounted for about half the time of the call in question and that it was just one of 20 calls Cohen had made.
2. Validity of witnesses
Steinglass told the jury that to acquit Trump it would require testimony from several witnesses, including that of not only Cohen but former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConnie, and others, such as handwritten notes on bank statements detailing mathematical calculations. He said the evidence should be ignored. How payment will be made.
Steinglass cited a variety of witnesses who came to testify, including current and former employees of Trump's businesses and administration. He also mentioned a witness who worked for a company that published a book about Trump's business philosophy.
Rereading passages from the book, Steinglass doubled down on Trump's “frugality” and reminded jurors of Pecker's testimony. Here, Trump is also described as frugal.
2. Trump’s business practices
Steinglass took another look at the specific checks and invoices in question and how Deborah Tarasoff, the Trump Organization's accounts payable supervisor, packaged them together and sent them to Trump even after he was in the White House.
Prosecutors pressed even Weisselberg, the chief financial officer, to only approve bills up to $10,000.
“Despite his frugality and attention to detail, the defendant did not ask any questions, because he already knew the answers,” Steinglass said, telling jurors not to believe “the bogus story that the defendant was too busy.” I asked him not to. The White House noticed that large sums of money were being spent.
There were two documents showing handwritten notes from Trump's chief financial officer and his auditor clearly laying out the refund plan. 130 times 2, plus taxes, plus bonuses, for a total of $420,000. “They are smoking guns,” Steinglass said.
He said, “I completely dismissed the defense attorney’s claim that it was for legal work,” and added, “It makes no sense that they are still claiming that it is for legal work.”
3. Concerns about the election
Steinglass said President Trump is concerned about how stories of his alleged affair with an adult film star could damage his 2016 presidential bid. He claimed that Trump himself had instructed Pecker and Cohen to deal with negative media, particularly allegations made by women against Trump ahead of 2016.
Prosecutors say it all started with a meeting with President Trump at Trump Tower in August 2015. National Enquirer Publisher, Pecker. “Once the money starts changing hands, it’s a violation of federal election law,” Steinglass said.
He emphasized that Trump's concern was the election, not his family, and his dealings with the tabloids show that was the motivation for the agreement a decade after their meeting.
“This is buying articles you don’t intend to print and preventing others from printing them.” Referring to Blanche's claim that tabloids often buy stories and then decide not to publish them, Steinglass said:
Linking this to Daniels' payment, Steinglass reminded the jury of the timing. The deal to have Daniels sign a non-disclosure agreement was made after the Access Hollywood tape was released.
“Stormy Daniels is a walking, talking reminder that defendants don’t just talk the talk,” Steinglass said.
NPR's Andrea Bernstein contributed to this report.