NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors and defense lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are set to deliver closing arguments to the jury Tuesday…
— Prosecutors and defense lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are set to deliver closing arguments to the jury Tuesday, each side looking to score final points with the panel before it starts deliberating the fate of the first former American president to be charged with felony crimes.
The arguments, expected to last the entire day, will give the attorneys one last chance to address the Manhattan jury hearing the landmark case. After more than four weeks of testimony, the summations tee up a momentous and historically unprecedented task for the jury as it decides whether to convict the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in connection with payments during the 2016 election to prevent a porn actor from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors will tell jurors that they have heard enough testimony to convict Trump of all charges while defense attorneys will aim to create doubts about the strength of evidence by targeting the credibility of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer who pleaded guilty to federal charges for his role in the hush money payments and who served as the star prosecution witness in the trial.
After the closing arguments are given, the judge will instruct the jury, likely Wednesday, on the law governing the case and the factors it can take into account during deliberations. The deliberations will then proceed in secret, though some clues as to the jury’s thinking may arrive through any notes it sends to the judge with questions.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charges punishable by up to four years in prison.
