Western media reports say lawyers on Tuesday gave their final arguments in their effort to convict or acquit former President Donald Trump of 34 felony counts of falsified business records as the historic trial pushes closer to an end.
NPR reports that a 12-person jury, which has listened to 22 witnesses and over six hours of arguments, is set to begin deliberating on Wednesday.
It could be hours or days or weeks before they have a decision. A unanimous jury is needed to either convict or acquit Trump.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty, frequently called the trial “election interference” for preventing him from campaigning for president, falsely claiming a partisan conspiracy against him.
Prosecutors reportedly allege that Trump knew about a settlement negotiation with adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep her allegations of an affair out of the press ahead of the 2016 election and that Trump directed his former “fixer” Michael Cohen to make a settlement payment of $130,000 to her. Prosecutors argue that the falsified business records, in part labeled as "legal retainers," are a paper trail for Cohen.
Trump has long argued he was only paying his lawyer.
CNN reports that the verdict will reverberate far beyond the courtroom and Trump’s personal life since the case has become intertwined with his bid to reclaim the White House.
The stakes are especially high since this is likely to be the only one of four pending criminal trials expected to go to a jury before November’s election, CNN says, noting that the former president appeared to be in a bitter mood on the eve of his return to the courtroom, lashing out at opponents he called “Human Scum” in a message on social media marking Memorial Day.
Trump’s defense team is reportedly trying to spare their client the ignominy of a conviction that would stain his reputation. The ex-president’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, is expected to zero in on the credibility of Trump’s former fixer-turned-nemesis, Michael Cohen, who endured a bruising cross-examination, and to ask why other key figures in the ex-president’s business and personal orbit were not called by prosecutors, CNN reports.
Trump has denied having an affair with Stormy Daniels and has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers reportedly do not have to convince all of the jury that he is innocent — they need only one juror to stand firm against the unanimous guilty verdict required to convict. Their conduct of the trial, in which they produced only two witnesses in a brief defense, signals they will argue that the state of New York has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the ex-president ordered and carried out a scheme, which, in any case, they say doesn’t amount to breaking the law. They argued during the trial that there was no evidence of criminal intent. And they will seek to leave jurors with a devastating final picture of Cohen, who admitted on the stand that he was a liar and was benefiting financially from a growing media empire targeting his ex-boss.
While there is a big difference with a hung jury that could force the judge to declare a mistrial, leaving an opening for prosecutors to try Trump again, any outcome that doesn’t end in a conviction could serve Trump’s political purposes, at least for now, according to CNN.
