Donald Trump’s defense team made a surprising argument Tuesday morning at the former president’s criminal silence and election interference trial: that conspiracies to win elections happen all the time.
“It doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy to try to win an election,” Trump’s lawyer said Todd Blanche said of the alleged bounty conspiracy involving Trump, who is accused elsewhere of election meddling and fomenting civil unrest to thwart Joe Biden to take on the role. “Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate.”
Blanche’s comment came as he insisted to jurors that Trump did not falsify business records — nor did he attempt to do so — and that jurors did not even need to consider his alleged efforts to influence the 2016 race by burying potentially damaging news coverage. Prosecutors allege that Trump masterminded a catch-and-kill scheme during a summer 2015 meeting with his then-fixer Michael Cohen and tabloid mogul David Pecker.
“Many politicians work with the media to try to promote their image,” Blanche also said, adding that Pecker provided favorable coverage to Trump for decades – long before his candidacy – “because it was good for business.” He called this symbiosis between the media and politicians “standard operating procedure.”
Blanche did not admit that Trump conspired with friends to influence the election results with a secret payment and denied that there was a conspiracy, but presented it more as a hypothesis: even if media campaign collusion took place, there was “nothing criminal” . , there’s nothing criminal about it, it’s done all the time,” said Blanche.
“It needs to be discovered that this effort was made through illegal means,” he said at one point.
Trump, who will almost certainly secure the Republican presidential nomination, is accused of falsifying business records related to his payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence over an alleged sexual liaison.
Prosecutors argue that recording these payments in corporate records amounts to election interference, as Trump was running for the White House in 2016 at the time of the payment and was trying to cover up a potentially damaging scandal.
For weeks, testimony dominated America and the world amid the prospect that the former US president could be found guilty of a crime, although the details of the case and Trump’s connection to Daniels apparently had little impact on the race. 2024 – where Trump still often narrowly leads Joe Biden in head-to-head polls and performs strongly in swing states that are crucial to victory.
Trump denies all accusations.
Trump, wearing a crimson tie and crisp white shirt, entered the courtroom shortly before 9:30 a.m., carrying a sheet of paper. He was accompanied by his daughter Tiffany and two of his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. The defense brief was expected to take up to two and a half hours, while the prosecution could take up to about four and a half.
“President Trump is innocent. He did not commit any crime and the public prosecutor did not meet the burden of proof, period,” Blanche said moments after the closing, after beginning by thanking the jury for their service.
“The evidence is all gathered. Everything arrived last Tuesday. And that evidence, as I told you on April 22, should leave you wanting more.”
The trial unfolded in remarkable scenes in which Trump was in court and largely stayed away from the campaign trial, except on weekends and at a few events in and around New York City. Despite the court’s warnings, he continued to criticize his prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchan on social media, labeling the trial a “witch hunt.”
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At the heart of the case is the testimony of Trump’s former lawyer and once-feared fixer, Cohen. Cohen provided vital evidence of the role Trump played in the alleged hush-money scheme, but he was also brutally grilled by Trump’s lawyers for his past history of lying and his clear dislike for his former boss and desire to see him behind bars.
The weight the jury places on the reliability of Cohen’s testimony will likely decide the case one way or another. If he is found guilty, Trump could face the prospect of prison, although that is seen as unlikely. Any guilty verdict would also almost certainly trigger a long series of appeals.
In closing, Blanche repeatedly insisted on Cohen’s credibility. “The words Michael Cohen said to you in that statement are important. They are important,” Blanche said. “He told you a number of things on that witness stand that were lies.”
He emphasized that the invoices in the case were presented by Cohen, adding: “You cannot convict President Trump. You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the word of Michael Cohen.”
Blanche urged jurors to want more than Cohen’s testimony and, referring to Daniels, “something beyond the word of a woman who claims something happened in 2006.”
He also insisted that prosecutors’ main claim — that the business records were falsified because they wrongly claimed the reimbursements were for legal services — had fallen flat, insisting that Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer and “was providing services to President Trump in 2017 as your personal lawyer.” ”.
Trump also faces three other criminal trials: one for trying to influence the 2020 elections in Georgia, another for his conduct surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol and a third related to his handling of sensitive documents after he left office. White House. However, all three have been seriously delayed and none of them are expected to end – or even begin – before November’s presidential elections.
