Closing arguments it started Tuesday in People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, as the first criminal trial of a former president enters its final phase.
“President Trump is innocent. He committed no crime and the district attorney has not met the burden of proof. Period,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the jury, echoing remarks he made in his opening statement earlier more than one month.
After the prosecution and defense present their closing arguments, the judge will give instructions to the jury. Afterwards, the 12 ordinary New Yorkers serving on the jury will begin deliberating whether or not the former president is guilty of the charges against him. “You and you alone are the judge of the facts in this case,” Judge Juan Merchan said before arguments.
The defense was presenting their argument first, with Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, hoping to tell the jury that prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office have not met their burden of proving that Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of falsifying business records related to a secret payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential election.
The charge is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, and Trump is charged with 34 counts.
Three of Trump’s children, Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany, appeared in court for the proceedings.
Blanche estimated their argument would take about 2.5 hours, while prosecutor Joshua Steinglass estimated it would take just over four hours.
In her opening, Blanche told the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates that “President Trump committed no crime. He said the money Trump paid his then-lawyer Michael Cohen was for his legal work, as records from Trump’s firm show, and not for Daniels’ payment, as prosecutors and Cohen have claimed.
“This wasn’t revenge,” Blanche said at her April 22 opening.
Prosecutors are expected to argue that they not only proved that Trump was responsible for the falsified business records, but that he did so to cover up another crime — a necessary element of the felony charge.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said the undercover payment to Cohen was part of a “long-planned and coordinated conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenses, to silence people who had something bad to say about their behavior, using doctored corporate records and bank forms to hide these payments along the way.”
“It was electoral fraud. Plain and simple,” he told the jury.
Once the sums are complete, Merchan will instruct the jury on the relevant laws and the deliberation process, which is expected to take about an hour. The jury will then begin deliberating. Merchan said in court last week that deliberations may not begin until Wednesday morning.
The trial — which featured testimony from Cohen, Daniels, former National Enquirer editor David Pecker and former White House and Trump Organization officials — began with jury selection on April 15. In total, the prosecution called 20 witnesses in the case, while the defense called two. Despite having said before the trial began that he would “absolutely” testify, Trump did not speak in his own defense.
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