Closing arguments in the criminal trial against former President Donald Trump

2024-05-29 11:30:24, Kosova & Bota CNA

Donald Trump engaged in a "conspiracy and cover-up," a prosecutor told a jury Tuesday during closing arguments in the former president's criminal trial over the manipulation of business records. The defense described the main witness in the case as "the biggest liar of all time", while asking the jury to throw out the charge against their client.

Contradictory statements by the prosecution and defense, wildly differing in their assessments of the witnesses' credibility and the strength of the evidence, offered both sides one last chance to convince the jury. After closing arguments, the jury will retire to reach a verdict in the first criminal case against a former US president.

The trial examined allegations that Mr. Trump and his allies conspired to block an embarrassing story during the 2016 presidential campaign by making payments to buy silence, including from a pornographic actress who claimed she had sex a decade ago. previously with Mr. Trump.

"This case, at its core, is about a conspiracy and a cover-up ," prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury. The jury could begin deliberations Wednesday to reach a verdict. He then added that: "We'll never know if this attempt to manipulate voters affected the 2016 election, but that's not something we have to prove."

Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump's lawyer, told the jury that neither the actress Stormy Daniels nor the Trump lawyer who paid her, Michael Cohen, can be trusted.

"President Trump is innocent. He has not committed any crime and the prosecution has not met the burden of proof ," said lawyer Blanche.

With more than four weeks of depositions in Mr. Trump's criminal trial, reaching a verdict presents an unprecedented task for the jury as it decides whether to convict the Republican presidential nominee ahead of November's presidential election.

Political overtones were on display as President Joe Biden's campaign held a press conference outside the courthouse with actor Robert de Niro. Defense counsel reminded the jury that the case was not a referendum on their views of Mr. Trump.

Prosecutor Steinglass attempted from the outset to allay potential juror concerns about the credibility of the case's key witness. Mr. Trump and his legal team have repeatedly denounced the witness Cohen as a liar.

The prosecutor acknowledged that Ms. Daniels' testimony about the alleged 2006 meeting at a Lake Tahoe hotel, which Mr. Trump has denied, left much to be desired. But he said the details she provided, including the decoration and what she said she saw when she opened Trump's toiletry bag, were full of details that rang true. He said this matters because it "reinforces (Trump's) incentive to buy her silence."

"Her story is unusual. It makes people uncomfortable when they hear it. Maybe for some of you it is uncomfortable to hear. But that's the point. Simply put, Stormy Daniels is the motive ," prosecutor Steinglass told the jury.

The case of the payment came to light when in a recording of the television crew of the show "Access Hollywood" in 2005, Mr. Trump is heard talking bragging about touching women sexually without their consent.

If Ms. Daniel's story had come out after the recording in question, it would have undermined Trump's strategy to refute what he is heard saying on the recording, prosecutor Steinglass said.

"It's critical to appreciate because at the same time he was dismissing his quotes on the tapes as locker room conversations, Trump was negotiating to silence a pornographic actress ," the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Blanche, who spoke first, tried to downplay the fallout by saying the Access Hollywood tape was not an "apocalyptic event."

Mr. Steinglass also asserted that the prosecution's case did not rest solely on Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump's former personal lawyer, who paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet.

Mr. Cohen has pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in paying money to buy silence, as well as lying to Congress. He was sentenced to prison and his attorney's license revoked, but his direct involvement in the case made him a key witness at trial.

"It doesn't matter if you like Michael Cohen. It has nothing to do with whether you want to go into business with Michael Cohen ," said Mr. Steinglass. "It's about whether he has useful and reliable information to tell about what happened in this case, and the truth is he was in the best position to know."

Mr. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, which is usually considered a misdemeanor under New York law. But prosecutors say Mr. Trump falsified business records to hide another crime, that of possibly violating campaign finance laws.

At the center of the trial is the sum of $130,000 that Mr. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence over an alleged sexual relationship with Mr. Trump.

Afterward, according to the indictment, Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen and recorded the payment as a company legal expense. The payment was made while Mr. Trump was running for the 2016 presidential election.

Defense attorneys have tried to cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses, especially its star witness, Michael Cohen. The latter said in his testimony that he was the one who paid Ms. Daniels and that Mr. Trump had approved such a thing and that he was aware of recording the money illegally as legal expenses.

During the questioning, Mr. Trump's lawyers pursued the strategy of questioning Mr. Cohen's credibility. They asked him about his previous convictions. During one of the testimonies, Mr. Cohen admitted that he had stolen several thousand dollars from Mr. Trump's company.

If found guilty, Mr. Trump faces up to four years in prison./ VOA