In their closing appeals to the jury, the prosecution and defense sought to paint two very different portraits of Michael Cohen.
To Donald Trump's lawyers, Michael Cohen is the "human embodiment of reasonable doubt," a proven liar who is so blinded by hatred for his former boss that his testimony in the former president's hush-money trial is discreditable.
To the plaintiffs, Cohen is merely a "guide" to volumes of unchallenged "physical evidence"; his testimony is supported by text messages, bank statements, voicemails, and handwritten notes from more credible persons.
Trump's legal fate may depend on which of these two characterizations the jury of twelve New York jurors accepts.
After Tuesday's marathon closing arguments, the jury is just hours away from beginning deliberations on whether Trump is guilty of falsifying his company's books in 2016 to conceal a bribe to porn actress Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors say was intended to prevent an outflow of female voter support in the final weeks of his presidential campaign.
When the jurors return to court on Wednesday, they will receive final instructions from Judge Juan Merchan. Then, in the culmination of a trial that has lasted seven weeks with many days off, the jury will finally begin deliberations behind closed doors and try to reach a unanimous verdict.
During the closing arguments, both sides seemed to realize in the starkest terms that the case may come down to Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer and adviser who turned against him and became the prosecution's star witness.
Trump's lead lawyer Todd Blanche said Cohen's compulsive lying was so pervasive that after years of lying to his family, his banker, the courts and Congress, he concluded his decade-long campaign of lies with perjury in this very case.
"It matters," Blanche said, urging jurors to acquit Trump if they had any doubts about Cohen's testimony.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, for his part, made no effort to refute Cohen's credibility problems or his history of fraud, including his admission of perjury years ago. Cohen is an admittedly erroneous narrator, Steinglass said. But the prosecutor said Cohen's testimony, while compelling and useful, is not necessary to convict Trump of the 34 felony counts he faces.
Politico/gnews.cz-JaV_07
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/trump-trial-closing-arguments-michael-cohen-00160319
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