Closing arguments set to begin in Donald Trump’s Hush Money trial

UPDATE: Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s lead defense attorney, began opening arguments by telling jurors that Donald Trump “is innocent.”

“He committed no crime and the prosecutor did not meet the burden of proof, period,” Blanche told jurors, according to Cat Giona, in a report for Rolling Stone.

“This case concerns documents. It’s a paper affair. This is not a meeting with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago, one that President Trump has repeatedly and adamantly denied took place. »

He argued that the allegations – that business records were falsified to conceal repayment of secret payments to Daniels – were in fact “accurate and there was absolutely no intent to defraud.”

The jurors are in for a long day. The defense says it will need about 2.5 hours for its conclusions; the prosecution says it will take 4.5 hours. This will take all day and could mean jurors will be asked to stay past the 4:30 p.m. finish time.

The courtroom is also packed with notable figures, including Trump’s daughter Tiffany, sons Eric and Don Jr., and Eric’s wife Lara, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, according to Politico. Also present: District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case.

The Biden campaign, meanwhile, is planning a news conference outside the courthouse, marking perhaps the first time the president’s re-election efforts have weighed in on the trial. Two of Trump’s spokespeople — Jason Miller and Steven Cheung — were present outside to listen to the remarks and perhaps rebut a bit for the cameras.

PREVIOUSLY: Donald Trump’s secret trial is drawing to a close, as lawyers present their closing arguments today before the case goes to the jury.

With huge stakes for the former and possibly future president, jurors will decide whether machinations around a 2016 payment by Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer, to porn star Stormy Daniels add up to conspiracy criminal in violation of campaign finance and tax laws. .

The Manhattan district attorney accuses Trump of approving an illegal scheme in the final round of the 2016 presidential campaign to bury Daniels’ claim that he had a long-ago extramarital sexual relationship. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 for his silence in October, using a home equity loan that he funneled to Daniels’ attorney through a shell company created expressly for the transaction. Prosecutors say the crime was that Trump authorized a false paper trail to disguise his reimbursement to Cohen as routine legal work.

The latest chapter of the trial follows nearly five weeks of testimony ranging from the mundane cataloging of financial documents to the uncomfortable details of an alleged 2006 sexual relationship between Trump and Daniels that triggered the events that led to this affair.

Jurors saw Daniels clash with a Trump defense attorney, Susan Necheles, over the adult entertainer’s veracity, his career choices and motivations for claiming Trump cheated on his wife, Melania Trump . They watched as defense attorney Todd Blanche called Cohen a liar for his testimony about contacting Trump to signal that a deal with Daniels was imminent.

They also saw Trump’s former White House communications director, Hope Hicks, cry on the stand and — before being removed from the courtroom by Judge Juan Merchan — saw a Trump ally, Robert Costello, grunting in a “ridiculous” manner when the judge was subjected to a complaint. prosecutor’s objection to part of his testimony.

They heard from nearly two dozen witnesses in total, including two called as part of the defense team’s relatively brief rebuttal. They have not heard from Trump, who exercised his right as a criminal defendant not to appear.

In between, jurors saw reams of texts, emails and phone histories collected by both sides. They will have to decide whether the documents and testimony prove an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election using fraudulent accounting, or show nothing more than messy behind-the-scenes maneuvering in a national political campaign.

Jurors were given a week off to return to normal lives while following Merchan’s instructions to avoid trial coverage and commentary. The judicial blackout imposed on jurors to avoid exposure to the unprecedented case includes social media, where Trump was busy during the break proclaiming his innocence and portraying the judge and prosecutors as his executioners. Among Trump’s complaints on his Truth Social platform, Merchan gave jurors seven days off and did not sequester them. He also complained that the prosecution had the final say in the case, even though that is standard procedure in a trial.

Trump denies having sex with Daniels. He and his lawyers both argue that Cohen was actually being paid for his ongoing work and that the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed was a legal way to protect his campaign and family from this embarrassment.