Prosecutors and defense attorneys in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York delivered closing arguments Tuesday, making their final pitches to jurors who will decide whether to convict the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.
Here are key moments from the arguments, which are the last opportunity both sides have to sway jurors before deliberations begin in the case.
Donald Trump’s legal team went first, followed by a lawyer from the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
THE DEFENSE
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‘Literally the greatest liar of all time.’
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Todd Blanche, Trump’s defense attorney, spent much of his closing argument filleting Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and the prosecution’s key witness.
Blanche told jurors Cohen “lied to each of you” during the trial, calling him “biased and motivated to tell you a story that is not true.” He also invoked the acronym G.O.A.T., which is often used in sports contexts to describe someone as the Greatest Of All Time. During his closing remarks, Blanche dubbed Cohen the G.L.O.A.T., saying he’s the “literally greatest liar of all time.”
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Trump hush money trial
Jury deliberations are expected Wednesday after the prosecution and defense finished their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday. Here are highlights from the closing arguments.
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Calling Cohen “the human embodiment of reasonable doubt,” Blanche told jurors that prosecutors were asking them to convict Trump based on the words of someone who has pleaded guilty to multiple crimes, including lying to Congress.
‘The evidence ... should leave you wanting more. You should want and expect more.’
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Blanche bluntly told jurors that prosecutors didn’t prove their case. The message, which he kept hammering home, was that the evidence and testimony they showed fell short of what is needed to convict Trump.
‘They did it to try to inflame your emotions. They did it to try to embarrass President Trump.’
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When Stormy Daniels testified during the trial, she described an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 that sounded, at times, nonconsensual. Blanche had unsuccessfully called for a mistrial based on Daniels’s testimony, saying some of her remarks were “a dog whistle for rape.”
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During his closing remarks, Blanche criticized prosecutors for calling the adult-film actress in the first place, saying that she had no direct knowledge of the allegedly false records involved in the case, which prosecutors contend covered up Trump’s reimbursem*nt of Cohen for hush money the attorney paid Daniels.
The only reason prosecutors called her to the stand, Blanche said, was to rile up jurors and make Trump feel bad.
‘It was not a doomsday event.’
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One pivotal moment that has come up again and again during this trial is The Washington Post’s publication of the “Access Hollywood” recording, in which Trump is heard bragging about grabbing women by their vagin*s. The Post revealed that video’s existence on the eve of the 2016 election.
Prosecutors have said it so alarmed Trump and his associates that they were acutely motivated to keep stories involving women — including Daniels’s claim that she had a sexual encounter with Trump — from becoming public, to avoid further damaging his campaign.
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Blanche, though, sought to downplay the Trump camp’s response to the video. Trump worried about the video and moved on, Blanche said, disputing what he said was prosecutors’ contention that it was “so catastrophic to the campaign that it provided the motive for President Trump to do something criminal.”
THE PROSECUTION
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“We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store. The defendant chose Michael Cohen to be his fixer because he was willing to cheat and lie on his behalf.”
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Joshua Steinglass, an assistant Manhattan district attorney, told jurors that Trump’s defense team was trying to make the case all about Cohen. Delivering closing remarks for prosecutors, Steinglass said the case was not about Cohen.
Steinglass called Cohen “the ultimate insider” who “provides context and color” to the underlying records in the case. But he also argued that Cohen’s presence as a witness was not prosecutors’ choice — and was instead based on Trump’s own decision to tab Cohen as “his fixer.”
‘Anyone in Cohen’s shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable.’
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Steinglass walked a fine line on Tuesday, acknowledging to jurors that Cohen has baggage but defending him as “understandably angry that he’s the only one who’s paid a price for his role in this conspiracy.”
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Cohen, he said, did want Trump held accountable. But Steinglass also told jurors they had plenty of other evidence in the case, even without Cohen.
‘The ‘Access Hollywood’ tape was capable of costing him the whole election, and he knew it.’
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Steinglass spoke at length Tuesday about the political dynamics surrounding the 2016 hush money payment to Daniels. He called Daniels a “walking, talking reminder” to voters about what Trump said on the “Access Hollywood” recording.
This was a key difference separating how prosecutors and defense attorneys spoke about that recording and the hush money payment. Trump’s defense portrayed the “Access Hollywood” recording as one of many negative stories he faced in the run-up to the 2016 election; prosecutors instead said it was a mortal threat to his campaign and that he reacted accordingly.
‘It was a subversion of democracy.’
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Prosecutors in the case have alleged that the underlying crimes are about far more than a hush money payment, though. In their telling, Trump oversaw a plot to pay off Daniels and keep it quiet to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Steinglass reiterated that point on Tuesday, saying in his closing remarks that Trump, Cohen and then-tabloid publisher David Pecker had met in 2015 to plot how to keep negative stories about Trump from harming his presidential campaign.
That kept vital information from the public, Steinglass said, and the scheme “could very well be what got President Trump elected.”
Trump New York hush money case
Jury deliberations are expected Wednesday after the prosecution and defense finished their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday. Here are highlights from the closing arguments.
Key witnesses: Several key witnesses, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, have taken the stand. Here’s what Cohen said during his testimony. Read full transcripts from the trial.
Gag order: New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has twice ruled that Trump violated his gag order, which prohibits him from commenting on jurors and witnesses in the case, among others. Here are all of the times Trump has violated the gag order.
The case: The investigation involves a $130,000 payment made to Daniels, an adult-film actress, during the 2016 presidential campaign. It’s one of many ongoing investigations involving Trump. Here are some of the key people in the case.
The charges: Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Falsifying business records is a felony in New York when there is an “intent to defraud” that includes an intent to “commit another crime or to aid or conceal” another crime. He has pleaded not guilty. Here’s what to know about the charges — and any potential sentence.
