On May 16, 2024, former U.S. President Trump appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City for trial on suspicion of covering up hush money related to extramarital affairs.
Angela Weiss | Reuters
Jurors in former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial will begin deliberating a possible verdict Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge. new york court.
Trump’s lawyers and a prosecutor made closing arguments throughout the day Tuesday and into the evening.
The case marks the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges.
But Trump faces three other criminal cases, none of which are currently expected to begin before November, when the Republican is expected to face President Joe Biden in a rematch in the 2020 election.
In the case, Trump is charged with 34 felonies for falsifying business records related to what he and his company, the Trump Organization, provided to his then-lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. was involved in a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen testified at his trial in Manhattan Supreme Court that he paid Daniels at Trump’s direction in exchange for her silence about an alleged one-time tryst with Trump in 2006.
Prosecutors allege that Trump mistakenly recorded reimbursements to Cohen as legal expenses, concealing their true nature to protect his then-shaky campaign from losing the 2016 election to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
The payment to Daniels comes as Trump’s candidacy has been rocked by the revelation of the so-called “Access Hollywood” tape, which captured him bragging to a TV host about groping and kissing women without their consent. And got away with it because he was a “star”.
Judge Juan Merchan is expected to spend about an hour instructing the 12 jurors on the law before sending the jury to deliberate privately on Wednesday.
In his summary Tuesday, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass linked Daniels’ payment to pre-election payments to Trump’s former mistress Karen McDougal and Hush money was tied to hush-money payments from a doorman at one of Trump’s properties who made online claims that Trump impregnated a housekeeper.
“Everything Mr. Trump and his associates did in this case was covered up in lies,” Stanglass said. “The name of the game is concealment, and all roads lead to the person who benefits most, Donald Trump.”
Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump had done nothing wrong and that Cohen was a habitual liar motivated by anger toward his former client.
“The story Mr. Cohen told you on the witness stand is not true,” defense attorney Todd Branch said in his summary.
“There is no evidence that President Trump knew about the payment” before making the payment to Daniels, Branch said.
“As I said to you in my opening statement, it doesn’t matter whether there was a conspiracy to win the election,” Branch argued.
“Every campaign is a conspiracy to promote a candidate.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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