CNN
Prosecutors told jurors on Tuesday they’ve seen a “mountain of evidence” to prove that Donald Trump falsified business records in order to cover up a damaging story about an alleged affair at the end of the 2016 election.
Trump’s attorneys told the jury that the prosecution’s criminal case against the former president is wholly reliant on the testimony of Michael Cohen – the “MVP of liars” who is out to get Trump.
Which narrative the jury believes could ultimately decide Trump’s legal fate.
The defense and prosecution gave their closing arguments in Trump’s New York hush money trial, spending many hours late into the evening Tuesday offering the jury diametrically opposed stories about the payment made to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 and the subsequent reimbursement to Cohen the following year.
On Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan will give the jury his instructions in the morning, and then jurors will begin deliberations, with the historic and unprecedented trial – and a pivotal moment in the 2024 presidential election – hanging in the balance.
Here are takeaways from Day 21 of the Trump hush money trial:
Defense argues jurors cannot convict on Michael Cohen’s words
Defense attorney Todd Blanche was up first, and he spent much of his two-hour closing argument attacking the credibility of Cohen, Trump’s former fixer.
He accused Cohen of lying directly to the jury, on top of the lies he was convicted of telling. Cohen lied so much, Blanche alleged, that he should be considered the Tom Brady of lying – the “GLOAT,” or the “Greatest Liar of All Time.”
Blanche focused on Cohen’s claims about his phone call with Trump on October 24, 2016. Cohen testified that Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller put Trump on the phone so Cohen could tell him he was going forward with the Daniels payment.
