Prosecution delivers closing arguments in Trump’s criminal trial

NEW YORK (AP):

Closing arguments in Donald Trump ‘s historic hush money trial began Tuesday morning in a Manhattan courtroom, giving prosecutors and defence attorneys one final opportunity to convince the jury of their respective cases before deliberations begin.

Defence lawyer Todd Blanche spoke for about two and a half hours in the morning while prosecutor Joshua Steinglass was expected to go as long as 4½ hours.

Jurors will undertake the unprecedented task of deciding whether to convict the former US president of felony criminal charges stemming from hush money payments tied to an alleged scheme to buy and bury stories that might wreck Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Michael Cohen for a US$130,000 hush money payment that was given to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.

Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen, Trump’s then-lawyer, were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, charges which are punishable by up to four years in prison.

Closing arguments were expected to last all day Tuesday, with jury deliberations beginning as soon as Wednesday.

The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial as he seeks to reclaim the White House from Democrat Joe Biden.

The other cases centre on charges of illegally hoarding classified documents at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It’s unclear whether any of them will reach trial before the November election.