Prosecutor urges jury to convict Trump, citing 'powerful evidence'

Reuters

Donald Trump engaged in "conspiracy and a cover-up" to hide from voters that he had paid hush money to a porn star, prosecutors told a jury Tuesday in closing arguments at the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.

Less than six months before an election in which Trump is seeking to return to the White House, the stakes riding on 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 US$130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, afraid that her account of an alleged sexual encounter could doom his 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass delivered the summation for the prosecution after Trump's defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, called for his acquittal, insisting the case against the former president was based on lies.

Steinglass said Daniels's story about her 2006 tryst with the married Trump was the motive for the alleged crime, but the "case at its core is about a conspiracy and a cover-up" on the eve of an election.

"The people have presented powerful 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 one-time Trump fixer who became the star prosecution witness, was motivated by "outright hatred" for his former boss, Blanche said.

"He told you a number of things on that witness stand that were lies, pure and simple," he said.

'Accountable'

Blanche said Trump was busy "running the country" when the reimbursements were made to Cohen and he did not closely inspect all the invoices that came across his desk.

"There was no intent to defraud and beyond that there was no conspiracy to influence the 2016 election," Blanche said.

But Steinglass countered that there was a mountain of corroborating evidence in addition to 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 accountable for causing false entries in his own business records and whether he did that 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 court case that should have never been brought," he said as three of his five children — Don Jr, Eric and Tiffany — stood behind him.

The 12 anonymous jurors were to start deliberations as early as Wednesday.

Polls show Trump neck and neck against President Joe Biden and the verdict will inject new tension into the White House race.

Speaking on behalf of the Biden campaign outside court, legendary actor Robert De Niro berated Trump as a "clown" intent on destroying the country.

The first former or sitting president under criminal indictment, Trump faces charges ranging from the relatively minor hush money case to accusations he took top secret documents and tried to overthrow the 2020 election.

The New York case, which featured more than 20 witnesses over five weeks and gripping testimony by Daniels and Cohen, is the only one likely to come to trial by election day.

Unanimity required

If convicted, Trump faces up to four years in prison on each of 34 counts, but legal experts say that as a first-time offender he is unlikely to get jail time.

A conviction would not bar him from appearing on the ballot in November.

Trump chose not to testify in his defense.

Instead, he used his trips to court to stage tirades against "corrupt" Judge Juan Merchan, and to claim the trial is a Democratic ploy to keep him off the campaign trail.

To return a guilty or not guilty verdict requires the jury to be unanimous. Just one holdout means a hung jury and a mistrial, although prosecutors could seek a new trial.