Former President Donald Trump appears in court with attorneys Emil Bove (left) and Todd Blanche (right) for his trial for allegedly hiding hush money payments in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday in New York .
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Former President Donald Trump appears in court with attorneys Emil Bove (left) and Todd Blanche (right) for his trial for allegedly hiding hush money payments in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday in New York .
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Former President Donald Trump’s defense rested during his criminal trial in New York, marking the end of testimony and paving the way for jury deliberations.
Trump’s defense called two witnesses: a paralegal who checked call logs between Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Trump’s lawyer and ally, Robert Costello. Then they called Costello to the stand.
In testimony that continued into Tuesday morning’s session, Costello testified about conversations and emails he had with Cohen following a 2019 FBI raid on Cohen’s home and office .
These are the only two witnesses called by the defense, after more than four weeks of testimony from prosecutors.
Although Trump promised to testify in this trial as he did in civil trials in New York, he did not end up taking the stand.
The jury will hear closing arguments next Tuesday and could begin deliberating by Wednesday.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege that Trump was aware of a settlement negotiation with adult actor Stormy Daniels to keep his affair allegations out of the press before the 2016 election, and that Trump ordered Cohen to pay him a settlement of $130,000. Prosecutors say the falsified business documents, described in part as “legal warrants,” constitute a paper trail of Cohen.
Trump has long maintained that he only pays his lawyer. Speaking for several minutes outside the courtroom Tuesday morning, Trump lamented his inability to campaign as much as he would like since he must attend the trial every day the court is in session — according to law New York Criminal Court. He also accused the judge of being biased.
Jurors spent several days hearing testimony from Cohen, as well as former National investigator editor Pecker, who was the first to testify about the details of agreements made with Cohen and Trump to report potentially damaging stories. They also heard from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who negotiated the confidentiality agreements and settlement payments for Daniels and the former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal.
Daniels also testified for several days. She described meeting Trump in 2006, having an alleged sexual relationship and negotiating with Cohen to sell her story nearly 10 years later.
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