The defense and the Prosecutor’s Office in the case against Donald Trump for the irregular payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels concluded their final arguments this Tuesday after an 11-hour day. On Wednesday, the case will be in the hands of the jury.
The last to speak was the Prosecutor’s Office, which during the afternoon stressed that Donald Trump is surrounded by irrefutable evidence that he falsified documents to silence a porn actress and protect his presidential run in 2016, the Efe news agency published.
Attorney Joshua Steinglass, in his latest attempt to influence the jury, painted the former president as the center of this criminal trial, the first of a former president in United States history.
Steinglass did a chronological review of the statements of the 22 witnesses and 300 pieces of evidence presented at the trial, detailing calls, messages and emails about the case of payments to Daniels before the election between members of Trump’s team.
“The law is the law and it applies to everyone equally. There is no special standard for this defendant,” Steinglass recalled as he concluded his arguments.
According to the procedure, Judge Juan Merchan will read to the 12 members of the jury detailed instructions on what they can and cannot do while the deliberations last. After this, he will send them to deliberate behind closed doors.
The felony charges against Trump stem from payments to Michael Cohen, his then-attorney, to reimburse as a legal expense his payment to Stormy Daniels. The payment was made a few days before the 2016 election and, according to prosecutors, if the story of infidelity in 2006 had come to light, it could have cost Trump his election victory.
Steinglass argued that Cohen was nothing more than a Trump “getter,” someone willing to harass and threaten to protect the then-candidate. “The defendant didn’t actually pay a lawyer, but rather a porn star by funneling money through a lawyer,” Steinglass said.
Cohen testified that once Trump was in the White House, he refunded the money.
The defense, for its part, in its final turn Monday morning, described Cohen as a compulsive liar whose only goal is to destroy Trump. Steinglass attempted to dismantle that theory by pointing out that Cohen never claimed that Trump had a relationship with Daniels and that if his goal was to harm Trump, he would have given another statement.
Judge Merchan decided to extend the day four hours longer than normal to try to conclude the final arguments of the defense and prosecutors on the same day. Although Steinglass was always energetic, yawns were heard and seen in the Manhattan Criminal Courtroom after eleven hours of arguments.
Trump, for his part, took to his social network, Truth Social, to express his annoyance: “Boring!” he wrote.
Despite the general fatigue, Judge Merchan indicated that it did not seem like a bad idea to extend the day, since the jury seemed alert and attentive to the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office. This Wednesday, the jury will receive instructions from Judge Merchan and must unanimously agree on the verdict, something that could take several days and, if a consensus is not reached, the judge will be forced to declare a mistrial.
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