New York:
Donald Trump engaged in a “conspiracy and cover-up” to hide from voters that he had paid hush money to a porn star, prosecutors told a jury on Tuesday during closing arguments in the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.
Less than six months before the election as Trump seeks to return to the White House, the stakes of the verdict are high — both for the 77-year-old personally and for the country.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, fearing her account of an alleged sexual encounter would undermine his 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton can ruin.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass delivered the summons for the prosecution after Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, called for his acquittal, insisting the case against the former president was based on lies.
Steinglass said Daniels’ story about her tryst with married Trump in 2006 was the motive for the alleged crime, but that the “case is essentially about a conspiracy and a cover-up” on the eve of the election.
“The people have provided strong evidence of the defendant’s guilt,” he said.
Blanche told the jury that Trump was “innocent.” The only outcome should be a “very quick and easy not guilty verdict.”
Cohen, the former Trump fixer who became the prosecution’s key witness, was motivated by “outright hatred” of his former boss, Blanche said.
“He told you on that witness stand a number of things that were lies pure and simple,” he said.
– ‘Responsible’ –
Blanche said Trump was busy “running the country” when the refunds were made to Cohen and that he had not carefully inspected all the invoices that came across his desk.
“There was no intent to commit fraud and there was no conspiracy to influence the 2016 elections,” Blanche said.
But Steinglass countered that there was a mountain of corroborating evidence besides Cohen’s testimony.
“They want to make this case about Michael Cohen,” he said. “This case is about Donald Trump and whether he should be responsible for causing false entries in his own corporate records and whether he did so to cover up his own election violations.”
Speaking to reporters before entering the Manhattan courtroom, Trump called it a “very dangerous day for America.”
“We have a rigged lawsuit that should never have been filed,” he said as three of his five children – Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany – stood behind him.
The twelve anonymous jurors were expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday.
Polls show Trump neck and neck with President Joe Biden, and the verdict will bring new tension to the race for the White House.
Speaking on behalf of the Biden campaign outside court, legendary actor Robert De Niro denounced Trump as a “clown” who wants to destroy the country.
The first former or sitting president to be criminally charged, Trump faces charges ranging from the relatively minor hush money case to accusations that he took top-secret documents and tried to overturn the 2020 election.
The New York case, which featured more than 20 witnesses over five weeks and gripping testimony from Daniels and Cohen, is the only one likely to go to trial on Election Day.
– Unanimity required –
If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison on each of the 34 charges, but legal experts say he is unlikely to receive prison time as a first-time offender.
A conviction would not keep him from appearing on the ballot in November.
Trump chose not to testify in his defense.
Instead, he used his visits to the court to stage tirades against “corrupt” judge Juan Merchan, and to claim that the trial was a democratic ploy to keep him off the campaign trail.
In order to reach a guilty or not guilty verdict, the jury must be unanimous. Just one delay means a hung jury and a mistrial, although prosecutors could demand a new trial.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
