Want to catch up as Donald Trump’s hush money trial nears the end? Read more about what to expect from closing arguments, see what every key witness said in testimony, a timeline of events related to the trial, and what we’ve learned.
NEW YORK (AP) — Closing arguments in Donald Trump ‘s historic hush money trial began Tuesday morning in a Manhattan courtroom, giving prosecutors and defense attorneys one final opportunity to convince the jury of their respective cases before deliberations begin.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche spoke for about 2 1/2 hours in the morning while prosecutor Joshua Steinglass was expected to go as long as 4 1/2 hours. Court was expected to continue much longer than usual — to as late as 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Jurors will undertake the unprecedented task of deciding whether to convict the former U.S. president of felony criminal charges stemming from hush money payments tied to an alleged scheme to buy and bury stories that might have threatened Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump’s 2024 trials: Where they stand and what to expect
At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Michael Cohen for a $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 are 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 center 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.
7:29 p.m. EDT
Closing arguments come to an end
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass finished his summation by imploring jurors to find Donald Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“Donald Trump can’t shoot someone on Fifth Avenue at rush hour and get away with it,” Steinglass said, parroting Trump’s own long ago remark, prompting an objection from Trump’s lawyer. The objection was sustained.
During his closing remarks, Steinglass had sprinted — and, at times, staggered — through the timeline of events covered during Donald Trump’s hush money trial, repeating many of the points he’s already made, albeit with more emphatic takeaways.
As the judge’s 8 p.m. deadline was minutes away, Steinglass acknowledged his summation had been “really long.”
“I apologize for trading brevity for thoroughness,” he told jurors, “but we only get one shot at this.”
Steinglass spoke for over five hours. Todd Blanche, Trump’s defense attorney, went for about three.
Judge Juan Merchan told jurors he’ll give them instructions Wednesday before they start deliberating. Court will start at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the judge said, noting the long day on Tuesday. He said court will go until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and that they’ll revisit scheduling and the length of days as the week goes on.
Jurors appeared resilient but relieved to be going home as they marched out of the courtroom after the marathon day of summations.
Following the longer-than-usual day in the courtroom, the former president didn’t give his usual post-court remarks to the press in the hallway.
7:29 p.m. EDT
Prosecutor cites examples of intimidation by Trump before court takes its final recess
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass showed jurors a series of Donald Trump’s social media posts lashing out at his former lawyer Michael Cohen after Cohen defected, which the prosecutor argued were not only designed to punish the former fixer, but to signal to other potential witnesses: “cooperate and you will face the wrath of Donald Trump.”
He also cited lawsuits Trump had filed against Cohen and Daniels as other examples of intimidation.
“The defendant wanted everyone to see the cost of taking him on,” Steinglass said.
A related argument, regarding threats Daniels said she faced after going public, prompted Trump’s lawyers to object. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche called it “extraordinarily prejudicial.” Steinglass stressed that he wasn’t suggesting Trump was behind the threats, but Judge Juan Merchan told him to move along anyway.
The sides argued briefly over that issue while the jury was out of the courtroom for the final recess.
But the day wasn’t over. The prosecution’s summation, which began around 2 p.m., was still going as of 7 p.m.
Merchan told Steinglass he’s facing a hard out at 8 p.m. All day, jurors have said they can work until that time, but not later, the judge said. Merchan suggested the lawyer have his colleagues give him a note to indicate when it reaches that time so he can then wrap up his statement.
“Thanks for sticking with me,” Steinglass tells jurors as he settled back in at the podium after the break.
6:51 p.m. EDT
Prosecutor jokes about the length of this presentation
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass seems to be trying to stay on the good sides of the jury — and to be cognizant of the length of his presentation, which had stretched into a fourth hour Tuesday evening.
“I know what you’re thinking: Is this guy going to go through every single month’s worth of checks?” he quipped at one point as he ran through ledger after ledger.
He’s also tried to pepper his closing with occasional humor.
At one point, as he talked about how much money Michael Cohen was making, he said Trump’s former lawyer and fixer “was making way more money than any government job would ever pay.”
“And don’t I know that,” he added.
The aside drew smiles and chuckles from some of the jurors.
As the clock neared 6:30 p.m., Steinglass paused, asking the judge if he should “power through” or stop. After a bench conference, Steinglass returned to the podium and asked jurors: “You good to go a little bit longer?”
They appeared amenable, to which the prosecutor replied with a satisfied: “Alright.”
Prosecution discusses assertion that payments to Cohen were for his legal work
During closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said Michael Cohen did little work for Trump in 2017, despite the checks he was receiving.
Trump’s lawyers contend the payments were for legal services Cohen provided that year. Steinglass pointed to Cohen testifying he did only about 10 hours of legal work that year.
“Mr. Cohen spent more time being cross-examined at this trial than he did doing legal work for Donald Trump in 2017,” Steinglass quipped. “Do you think there’s any chance Donald Trump would pay $42,000 an hour for legal work by Michael Cohen?”
Steinglass seized on a 2018 Trump tweet in which the then-president described the arrangement with Cohen as “reimbursement” while insisting it was unrelated to Trump’s candidacy.
“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA,” Trump wrote at the time.
Steinglass said that while the payments didn’t come out of campaign funds, “the payment has everything to do with the campaign.”
“And yet they still try to argue that the payments to Cohen in 2017 were for legal services rendered — because to say anything else is to admit that the business records were false, and they can’t do that,” the prosecutor said of his counterparts at the defense table.
Steinglass said the defense’s characterization of the payments to Cohen is also undermined by the fact that Trump didn’t pay Cohen anything in 2018, despite Cohen performing legal work for Trump that year.
The prosecutor also argued it would be “crazy” to think former Trump company finance chief Allen Weisselberg and Cohen devised the payment plan on their own. Trump surely would have asked questions about the $35,000 checks to Cohen that came to him to sign, the prosecutor asserted.
“Don’t buy this bogus narrative that the defense is selling — that the defendant was too busy to know what he was signing,” Steinglass urged jurors. “The defendant’s entire business philosophy was and is to be involved in everything, down to negotiating the price of the light bulbs.”
6:04 p.m. EDT
Prosecution turns to the Daniels payout as closing arguments resume
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass turned from the hush money arrangements before the 2016 election to the alleged effort to mask Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payout as closing arguments resumed Tuesday in Donald Trump’s trial in New York.
Steinglass argued the case has “smoking guns” — in the form of handwritten jottings by former Trump company finance chief Allen Weisselberg and ex-controller Jeffrey McConney.
The two documents show calculations related to the payments Cohen got in 2017. They included his reimbursement for the $130,000 he’d paid Daniels, as well as an unrelated reimbursement, a bonus, and money to cover taxes, according to testimony.
While the defense suggested that Cohen was the driving force in the decision to style the payments as fees for legal services, the Weisselberg and McConney notes are “overt manifestations” that that’s not so, the prosecutor argued.
“They are the smoking guns. They completely blow out of the water” the defense’s claims that the payments were for legal work, Steinglass said.
4:43 p.m. EDT
Steinglass connects ‘Access Hollywood’ tape and Daniels payment
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche sits with Donald Trump as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass presents closing arguments on May 28, 2024. Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg/ Reuters
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass stressed late Tuesday afternoon that to understand the hush money case against Donald Trump, jurors needed to understand the climate in which the deal to pay off Stormy Daniels was made — just after the “Access Hollywood” tape leak had “caused pandemonium in the Trump campaign.”
“It’s critical to appreciate this,” Steinglass said.
At the same time he was dismissing his words on the tape as “locker room talk,” Trump “was negotiating to muzzle a porn star,” the prosecutor said.
“Stormy Daniels was a walking, talking reminder that the defendant wasn’t only words. She would have totally undermined his strategy of spinning away the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape,” Steinglass said.
5:21 p.m. EDT
Court takes a break, but is not done yet
Court in Donald Trump’s hush money trial recessed for a 20-minute break just before 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Before sending jurors out of the courtroom, Judge Juan M. Merchan thanked them for making arrangements to stay later than usual. He said some jurors made child care and other arrangements allowing them to stay until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
“I think right now we’re going to try to finish this out tonight,” he said.
The judge also noted that all of the jurors still looked alert. “I don’t think we’re losing anyone,” he observed.
While Manhattan famously has a night court that handles arraignments — first court appearances of those recently arrested — it’s unusual for state court trials there to run as late as 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Merchan has been consulting with high-level court security officers, among others, about the plan.
Prosecution’s closing argument stretch into 3rd hour
The prosecution’s closing argument in Donald Trump’s hush money case stretched into its third hour Tuesday afternoon as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass recapped the details of the back-and-forth between Stormy Daniels’ representatives and Michael Cohen over the payoff deal.
Steinglass supplemented his detailed recitation with phone records, text messages, encrypted communications and excerpts of testimony, seemingly trying to reinforce his theme that there’s a “mountain” of corroboration for the allegations at hand.
Meanwhile, Trump is taking in this leg of the summation with his head back and his eyes closed — a strategy he’s employed throughout the trial.
4:17 p.m. EDT
Prosecution dubs ‘Access Hollywood’ tape a ‘category 5 hurricane’
Following a brief afternoon break in closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass turned his attention to the publication of the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in October 2016 and the resulting fallout for the then-candidate’s campaign.
Steinglass reminded jurors how Hope Hicks, then the campaign’s communications director, testified that news coverage of the tape knocked a Category 4 hurricane out of the headlines.
Steinglass dubbed the tape a “Category 5” hurricane.
Prosecution pushes back on defense efforts to cast doubt on Cohen’s recording of call with Trump
The prosecution on Tuesday targeted the defense’s efforts to cast doubt on a September 2016 recording that Michael Cohen made of a conversation with Donald Trump in which the two are allegedly heard discussing a plan to buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story from the National Enquirer.
Steinglass said the defense had gone to “laughable lengths” to try to undermine the recording, which he cast as “nothing short of jaw-dropping.”
Cohen had testified during the hush money trial that the recording, which cuts off before the conversation finishes, was interrupted when he received an incoming call.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche had tried to cast the recording as unreliable and suggested it was actually about a plan to buy a collection of material on Trump that the National Enquirer had been hoarding — not McDougal.
Blanche also questioned whether Trump mentioned a dollar figure that he might have to spend, as Cohen and prosecutors contend, or whether he said something else.
Trump was ‘looming behind everything they’re doing,’ prosecutor says
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said on Tuesday during closing arguments that joking texts between Karen McDougal’s lawyer Keith Davidson and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard about hypothetical ambassadorships were clear evidence that they knew the deal would benefit Trump’s presidential campaign.
“Throw in an ambassadorship for me. I’m thinking Isle of Mann,” Davidson wrote on July 28, 2016, referring to the British territory Isle of Man.
“I’m going to Make Australia Great Again,” replied Howard, who hails from Australia.
All joking aside, Steinglass said: “It’s a palpable recognition of what they’re doing. They’re helping Trump get elected.” The prosecutor said the text messages underscore that “Trump is looming behind everything that they’re doing.”
3:39 p.m. EDT
Prosecutor zeroes in further on ‘catch-and-kill’ allegations
Digging further into the two sides’ dispute over the “catch-and-kill” allegations, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said during closing arguments Tuesday that it doesn’t matter that Karen McDougal preferred a deal that would help her career while not airing her claims of an affair with Donald Trump, as her former lawyer and others testified.
“Her motivations are totally irrelevant. The question is: What is the defendant’s motivation?” the prosecutor said, adding that that motivation “was to serve the campaign.”
Trump denies any sexual involvement with McDougal.
Steinglass hits back at Blanche’s claim that ‘every campaign’ is a conspiracy
Batting back defense lawyer Todd Blanche’s argument that “every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said during closing arguments that Trump’s alleged efforts to suppress negative stories that might hurt his 2016 White House bid were no different.
The purpose of the effort, Steinglass argued, was “to manipulate and defraud the voters, to pull the wool over their eyes in a coordinated fashion.”
Steinglass went on to call the National Enquirer’s work in that area on Trump’s behalf “one of the most valuable contributions that anyone ever made to the Trump campaign.”
“This scheme, cooked up by these three men, could very well be what got President Trump elected,” Steinglass said.
Steinglass also pushed back on Blanche’s contention that the National Enquirer’s deal to bury the Trump Tower doorman’s bogus story wasn’t a form of catch and kill.
Steinglass noted that the tabloid amended its source agreement with doorman Dino Sajudin so that he would be paid the agreed upon $30,000 fee within five days of signing the document — instead of upon publication of the story, as had been previously drafted.
“The only reason to kill a bogus story,” certainly wasn’t to act in a financially responsible fashion or satisfy the tabloid’s investors, Steinglass argued, but to be “in service of the defendant’s campaign.”
3:28 p.m. EDT
Prosecutor says the case is about Trump and not Michael Cohen
After Donald Trump’s lawyer had insisted to jurors that the hush money case rested on Michael Cohen and that they couldn’t trust him, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass sought to persuade the group that there is “a mountain of evidence, of corroborating testimony, that tends to connect the defendant to this crime.”
He pointed to testimony from David Pecker and others, to the recorded conversation in which Trump and Cohen appear to discuss the Karen McDougal deal, and to Trump’s own tweets.
“It’s not about whether you like Michael Cohen. It’s not about whether you want to go into business with Michael Cohen. It’s whether he has useful, reliable information to give you about what went down in this case, and the truth is that he was in the best position to know,” Steinglass said.
The prosecutor then accused the defense of wanting to make the case all about Cohen.
“It isn’t. That’s a deflection,” he said. “This case is not about Michael Cohen. It’s about Donald Trump.”
Prosecution wants jurors to understand Cohen’s motives
While the defense in Donald Trump’s hush money case portrayed Michael Cohen as a lying opportunist who has profited off his hatred of Trump. prosecutors suggested in their closing arguments that the disbarred attorney had little choice but to parlay his history with Trump into books, a podcast, merchandise and more.
“I’m not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen. He made his bed,” Steinglass told jurors. “But you can hardly blame him for making money from the one thing he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump Organization.”
The prosecutor later elaborated: “We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store.”
“The defendant chose Michael Cohen to be his fixer because he was willing to lie and cheat on the defendant’s behalf,” he added.
2:59 p.m. EDT
Steinglass says ‘Stormy Daniels is the motive’
The prosecution on Tuesday homed in on Stormy Daniels’ sometimes “cringeworthy” testimony about a 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with Donald Trump, saying it was vital because it “only reinforces his incentive to buy her silence.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass added that Daniels’ account of meeting up with Trump in his Lake Tahoe hotel suite — replete with details of the décor and what she saw when she snooped in Trump’s toiletry kit — was full of touchstones “that kind of ring true.”
“Her story is messy. It makes people uncomfortable to hear. It probably makes some of you uncomfortable to hear. But that’s kind of the point,” Steinglass said.
He told jurors: “In the simplest terms, Stormy Daniels is the motive.”
“We don’t have to prove that sex actually took place, but the defendant knew what happened in that hotel room and the extent that you credit her testimony, that only reinforces his incentive to buy her silence,” Steinglass argued.
Prosecution tries to counter defense’s efforts to discredit Cohen
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass on Tuesday afternoon tried in his summation to counter the defense’s efforts to discredit Michael Cohen’s testimony.
He said that the jury should take Cohen’s past dishonesty into account.
“How could you not?” he asked.
But he says that Cohen’s anger is understandable given that, “To date, he’s the only one that’s paid the price for his role in this conspiracy.”
Cohen, Steinglass argued, did Trump’s bidding for years, was his right-hand man, and when things went bad, was cut loose and thrown under the bus.
“Anyone in Cohen’s shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable,” he argued.
Allegations of extortion are ‘not a defense of election fraud,’ proseuctor says
At the outset of its summation in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, the prosecution sought to rebut the defense’s claim that adult film actor actor Stormy Daniels was trying to “extort” the then-presidential candidate.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass noted that Daniels’ representatives initially sought to sell the story of a sexual encounter between the porn actor and Trump to media outlets — not to Trump. Steinglass also cited Daniels’ testimony that she came to believe that going public was the best way to protect herself and her family from pressure to stay silent.
WATCH: Robert De Niro and Jan. 6 first responders speak outside Trump’s hush money trial
Regardless, allegations of extortion are “not a defense to election fraud,” the prosecutor said.
“You don’t get to commit election fraud or falsify business records because you believe you’ve been victimized,” he told jurors.
2:22 p.m. EDT
Jurors instructed to disregard ‘improper’ defense comment about sending Trump to prison
Justice Juan Merchan presides as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass presents closing arguments during Donald Trump’s criminal trial on May 28, 2024. Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg/ Reuters
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial told jurors after a lunch break that they must disregard an “improper” comment from defense lawyer Todd Blanche urging them not to send the former president to prison.
Judge Juan M. Merchan gave the instructions after scolding Blanche before the break over the remark made near the end of the defense’s summation.
Prosecution begins its closing arguments
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has begun delivering his closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. He speaks from the same podium that Blanche used, looking directly at jurors from a position between the prosecution and defense tables.
“This case, at its core, is about a conspiracy and a cover-up,” Steinglass said as he began.
Prosecutors have presented “powerful evidence of the defendant’s guilt,” he said.
As he continued, Trump sat at the defense table with his body angled toward Steinglass, listening as Steinglass spoke.
2:03 p.m. EDT
Trump’s kids hold news conference
Donald Trump’s children held a news conference outside the courthouse during a lunch break in his hush money trial, with Donald Trump Jr. echoing defense lawyer Todd Blanche and calling Michael Cohen “the GOAT (greatest of all time) of liars.”
He said the Biden campaign holding a news conference at the trial showed the case was a “political persecution” and in using one of his father’s frequent terms, called it a “witch hunt.”
“This is a sham. This is insane. It needs to stop,” he said.
Eric Trump speaks next to his wife Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and Donald Trump Jr., during a press conference outside Manhattan state court on May 28, 2024. Photo by Brendan McDermid/ Reuters
His brother Eric Trump decried “political warfare” and said his father is the “toughest man I’ve ever seen” and “he endures this nonsense every single day.”
“I want to say sorry to the jury that’s in there. This has been the greatest colossal waste of time,” he said.
Lara Trump, Eric Trump’s wife and the Republican National Committee co-chair, said that Alvin Bragg, the top law enforcement officer in New York, was focusing on her father-in-law instead of crime in New York.
“If they can profit off it on the other side, so can we,” she said, and plugged Trump’s campaign website where donations can be accepted.
Steinglass takes issue with ‘ridiculous comment’ from defense
Before an afternoon lunch break, the judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial scolded defense lawyer Todd Blanche for imploring jurors not to send Trump to prison on the words of Michael Cohen and said he would instruct the jury to disregard the comment.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass had taken issue with what he cast as a “ridiculous comment” and asked the judge to intervene.
“I think that saying that was outrageous,” Judge Juan M. Merchan scolded Blanche. “Someone who’s been a prosecutor as long as you have and a defense attorney as long as you have, you know that making a comment like that is highly inappropriate. It’s simply not allowed. Period.”
If Trump is convicted, sentencing will be up to the judge, not the jury.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charges punishable by up to four years in prison. It’s unclear whether prosecutors would seek imprisonment in the event of a conviction, or if the judge would impose that punishment.
1:00 p.m.
Defense implores jury to return a ‘not guilty’ verdict
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche finished his summation Tuesday by telling jurors the hush money case “isn’t a referendum on your views of President Trump.”
“This is not a referendum on the ballot box — who you voted for in 2016 or 2020, who you plan on voting for in 2024. That is not what this is about,” the attorney told jurors. “The verdict you have to reach has to do with the evidence you heard in this courtroom,” and nothing else, he reminds them.
He implored the jury to return a quick “not guilty” verdict.
Blanche calls Cohen ‘an MVP of liars’
As he neared the end of his summation on Tuesday, defense lawyer Todd Blanche reminded jurors of Michael Cohen’s admitted fixation on Donald Trump — and his desire to see him behind bars.
Blanche played short clips of Cohen’s podcast in which he commended District Attorney Alvin Bragg and said that the idea of seeing the former president booked on criminal charges “fills me with delight.”
The case against Trump is built around testimony from “a witness that outright hates the defendant, wants him in jail, is actively making money off that hatred,” Blanche said.
Donald Trump’s children — Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — and daughter-in-law Lara sit nearby the former president as defense lawyer Todd Blanche presents closing arguments in his hush money case. Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg/ Reuters
While Cohen has testified that he lied to protect Trump, his family and others, Blanche asserted that the ex-lawyer “is lying simply to protect Michael Cohen and nobody else. Period.”
Blanche’s voice grew to a roar — the loudest he had been all morning — as he also declared that Cohen had lied about speaking to Trump by phone about the Stormy Daniels arrangement on Oct. 24, 2016.
“It was a lie,” Blanche said. “That was a lie and he got caught red-handed.”
Blanche called Cohen “literally like an MVP of liars.”
“He lied to Congress. He lied to prosecutors. He lied to his family and business associates,” he said.
Defense sharpens critique of ‘catch and kills’
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche on Tuesday questioned the prosecution’s narrative that the Stormy Daniels payment in October 2016 was part of a conspiracy amongst Trump, Michael Cohen and the National Enquirer to suppress negative stories about the then-candidate through the practice known as “catch and kill.”
Cohen had known about Daniels’ claim since it was published without her permission on a gossip website in 2011, Blanche said, adding that Daniels had authorized her manager to seek offers to sell the story in early 2016.
“Why did it not go anywhere for months and months and months if there was a catch-and-kill scheme?” Blanche asked.
Cohen agreed to pay Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, after the leak of the “Access Hollywood” tape.
Blanche reminded jurors of the two other stories prosecutors say were buried through “catch and kill.”
The National Enquirer paid $30,000 for a since-disproven rumor from a Trump Tower doorman and $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her claim of an affair with Trump, though publisher David Pecker testified the tabloid wasn’t interested in pursuing her story at first because it couldn’t be corroborated.
Pecker said he refused to pay Daniels because he didn’t want to shell out any more money for Trump without getting repaid, leaving Cohen to make the deal himself.
Blanche suggested the publisher didn’t want anything to do with the story anyway.
“That’s our conspiracy? That’s the three catch and kills?” Blanche said.
12:33 p.m. EDT
Defense tried to downplay ‘Access Hollywood’ tape
Lawyer Todd Blanche tried on Tuesday to downplay the fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape that sent Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign into a tailspin, telling the jury: “It was not a doomsday event.”
Blanche conceded in his summation that Trump was bothered by the story. “Nobody wants their family to be subjected to that type of thing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re running for office, if you’re running ‘The Apprentice’ … Nobody wants their family exposed to that type of story.”
Nonetheless, he argued characterizations of the tape as devastating were an exaggeration. He pointed to testimony from Trump’s former assistant Madeleine Westerhout, whom he said cast the fallout as “a couple of days of frustration and consternation.”
Westerhout, who was then working for the Republican National Committee in close coordination with the Trump campaign, had testified that the tape “rattled the RNC leadership” but that Trump wasn’t thrown by it.
Reince Priebus, then-chair of the Republican National Committee, had told Trump after the tape was released that he had two choices: drop out of the race or lose by the largest margin in history, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon has recounted.
12:12 p.m. EDT
Blanche argues ‘people already knew’ about Daniels’ claims
Turning to Stormy Daniels’ story, defense lawyer Todd Blanche noted in his summation that her allegations of a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump were aired on a gossip site in 2011 — four years before Trump announced his presidential candidacy. Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.
“So how could this issue have influenced the election?” Blanche argued. “People already knew about the allegations.”
At the behest of Daniels and Michael Cohen, the story was taken off the site.
Blanche asserted that the real impetus behind Daniels’ interest in making a deal in 2016 was that some people wanted to use the election as pressure to “extort” Trump.
Following a brief morning break, Blanche singled out that Daniels issued two statements in 2018 denying that she’d ever had a sexual encounter with Trump. She testified earlier in the hush money trial that she signed off on them at her lawyer’s urging.
Defense denies recorded conversation was about payoff of former model
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche spotlighted a key piece of prosecution evidence during his summation: the secret recording Michael Cohen says he made of himself briefing Donald Trump on a plan to buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story from the National Enquirer.
Blanche said the September 2016 recording, which cuts off before the conversation finishes, is unreliable and was actually about a plan to buy a collection of material on Trump that the National Enquirer had been hoarding — not McDougal. Cohen has said the audio cut off because the iPhone he was using to make the recording was receiving a phone call.
“There is no doubt that this recording discussed AMI and discussed Mr. Pecker,” Blanche said, referring to the National Enquirer’s parent company and then-publisher. “There is a lot of doubt that it discussed Karen McDougal.”
After playing parts of the recording, Blanche urged jurors to trust their ears when deciphering a specific part — whether Trump mentioned a dollar figure that he might have to spend, as Cohen and prosecutors contend, or whether he said something else.
“What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump said, according to Cohen and prosecutors, as in $150,000.
“Listen to the recording. See if you hear one-fifty,” Blanche told jurors.
11:28 a.m. EDT
Trump campaign holds its own news conference
Donald Trump’s campaign staffers held their own news conference outside the courthouse Tuesday morning in the exact same spot where actor Robert De Niro and Jan. 6 officers had just spoken on behalf of Joe Biden’s campaign.
Jason Miller, Trump’s senior campaign advisor, called De Niro “a washed-up actor,” and said the news conference showed that the hush money trial was political.
“After months of saying politics had nothing to do with this trial, they showed up and made a campaign event out of a lower Manhattan trial day for President Trump,” Miller said.
Karoline Leavitt, the campaign press secretary, called the Biden campaign “desperate and failing” and “pathetic” and said their event outside the trial was “a full-blown concession that this trial is a witch hunt that comes from the top.”
Blanche: ‘This wasn’t a catch and kill’
The defense in Donald Trump’s hush money trial took issue on Tuesday with the notion that there was a conspiracy to suppress negative stories to help Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche pointed to American Media Inc.’s $30,000 payment to Dino Sajudin, a former Trump Tower doorman who falsely alleged the former president had fathered a child out of wedlock. It was one of three potentially damaging stories about Trump the tabloid did not run.
Blanche then pointed to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony that he saw the doorman story as a potential blockbuster and would gladly have published it if it had been true.
“This isn’t a catch and kill. This is an opportunity,” Blanche said. “It was worth too much to catch and kill, full stop.”
He also noted Pecker had testified that the tabloid only published about half the stories they purchased.
“That’s meaningful. That matters,” Blanche told the jury.
He later targeted prosecutors’ portrayal of Karen McDougal’s deal with AMI as part of the purported hush money conspiracy, emphasizing testimony from her lawyer and others that she didn’t want her claim published.
Rather, Blanche said, the former Playboy model wanted to reenergize her career by getting into magazines, according to the testimony — though McDougal herself didn’t testify.
“This was not a catch-and-kill,” Blanche said.
11:09 a.m. EDT
De Niro: Trump is a threat to democracy
Robert De Niro said Tuesday morning that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump does not belong in the White House. The actor was campaigning for President Joe Biden in lower Manhattan, joined by former law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Warning: This video contains verbal obscenities from off-screen protesters.
They stood not far from where closing arguments were happening in Trump’s criminal hush money trial. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
De Niro said if Trump returns to the White House, Americans can “kiss these freedoms goodbye that we all take for granted.”
11:06 a.m.
Blanche urges jurors to disregard ‘conspiracy’ concerns
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche implored the jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial to reject the prosecution’s contention that he engaged in a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election by involving himself in efforts to bury negative stories about him — and to reject the allegation that, after the fact, he falsified records of Michael Cohen’s payments to hide that conspiracy.
“The government wants you to believe that President Trump did these things with his records to conceal efforts to promote his successful candidacy in 2016, the year before,” Blanche said.
“Even that, even if you find that is true, that is not enough … it doesn’t matter if there’s a conspiracy to win an election. Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate, a group of people who are working together to help somebody win.”
Defense says Trump watches his finances carefully
After arguing earlier Tuesday that Donald Trump may not have been fully aware of all his invoices, defense lawyer Todd Blanche stressed to jurors that the former president was a stickler about watching his finances.
Michael Cohen received $420,000 in all from Trump in 2017, a sum that the ex-lawyer and prosecutors in the former president’s hush money case have said included the $130,000 reimbursement related to Stormy Daniels, a $50,000 repayment for an unrelated expense and a $60,000 bonus. On top of that, prosecutors have said, there was extra money to cover taxes that would be due on the $130,000 as income — taxes that wouldn’t apply if it had simply been paid as a business expense reimbursement.
“That is absurd,” Blanche told jurors, pointing to “all the other evidence you heard about how carefully President Trump watches his finances.”
Actor Robert De Niro and Jan. 6 first responders speak near Trump’s trial
Biden campaign deploys actor Robert De Niro, Jan. 6 first responders near Trump’s trial
Joe Biden’s campaign sent actor Robert De Niro and two law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to an area in lower Manhattan not far from the criminal court where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is happening.
Speaking while the former president was stuck in court, De Niro said Trump wants to “destroy not only the city but the country and eventually he could destroy the world.”
As he spoke, Trump protesters screamed anti-Biden chants.
10:48 a.m. EDT
Trump was extremely busy when signing checks, Blanche says
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche stressed during his summation on Tuesday that Donald Trump was busy during the time when he signed the checks at the heart of the hush money case.
“It matters where President Trump was,” Blanche said.
He noted Trump assistant Madeleine Westerhout had testified that the then-president would sometimes sign checks while meeting with people or while on the phone, not knowing what they were.
Blanche argued it was unreasonable to suggest Trump was aware of the details of every invoice just because he knew of some. “That is a stretch and that is reasonable doubt, ladies and gentlemen,” he said.
Blanche criticizes prosecution’s use of Trump’s books and more
About an hour into the defense’s closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money case, defense lawyer Todd Blanche took aim at the prosecution’s use of excerpts from Trump’s books to attempt to portray him as a detail-oriented micromanager who would be fully aware of any money his company was spending.
The books were from a decade ago, if not older, and were written with the help of ghostwriters, Blanche told the jury.
“You should be suspicious. That’s a red flag,” Blanche said in an effort to pre-empt the prosecution’s closing.
Blanche then started digging into the details of how payments to Michael Cohen were made, first through a trust set up to hold Trump’s assets while he was in the White House, then through Trump’s personal bank account with checks signed by the then-president.
“This was a very confusing time for the Trump Organization,” Blanche said. There were a lot of adjustments being made as Trump’s assets were put under the trust’s control and it was the first time in decades that Trump wasn’t in charge, he added.
At one point, early in the repayment process in 2017, the then-Trump Organization finance chief emailed a subordinate that it was OK to pay Cohen out of the trust per an agreement with Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who were running the Trump Organization’s day-to-day operations at the time. Both were in court on Tuesday.
Blanche questioned why, if prosecutors allege Trump was involved in a conspiracy to conceal the nature of the payments, the sons he put in charge of his company weren’t called to the witness stand.
10:19 a.m. EDT
Cohen was Trump’s personal attorney, Blanche reiterates
A key part of prosecutors’ claims in Donald Trump’s hush money case is that his former lawyer Michael Cohen wasn’t being paid for legal work in 2017, but rather was being reimbursed in a veiled way for the Stormy Daniels payment.
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche pointed to emails and testimony Tuesday showing that Cohen did indeed work on some legal matters for Trump that year.
While Cohen characterized that work as “very minimal,” Blanche argued otherwise.
Donald Trump appears with his lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles on May 28, 2024. Photo by Spencer Platt/ Pool via REUTERS
“Cohen lied to you. Cohen lied to you,” Blanche said, his voice getting more emphatic.
Blanche noted that Cohen went on TV to discuss his role as Trump’s personal lawyer and put the title in the signature block of every email he sent.
“This was not a secret. Michael Cohen was President Trump’s personal attorney. Period,” he said.
Biden and Trump campaigns hold dueling news conferences outside courthouse
Joe Biden’s campaign announced on Tuesday that it would hold an event with “special guests” as closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are underway.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the former president’s allies will respond with their own event immediately following Biden’s.
He posted on the social platform X that Biden’s allies “aren’t in PA, MI, WI, NV, AZ or GA — they’re outside the Biden Trial against President Trump,” adding: “It’s always been about politics.”
Powerpoint closing
The defense in Donald Trump’s criminal trial is using a PowerPoint presentation as it begins its summation and tries to convince the jury that the former president is not guilty, instead shifting blame to former lawyer Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization.
Todd Blanche showed jurors copies of the invoices, vouchers and checks that are at the heart of the hush money case — vouchers and checks he says were entered and prepared by the Trump Organization’s accounting department.
The PowerPoint also notes Cohen sent the invoices for his services. None of the invoices were sent directly to Trump, Blanche said.
Blanche takes aim at Cohen’s testimony
Insisting that prosecutors haven’t proven their case, defense lawyer Todd Blanche told jurors during closing arguments Tuesday morning that they “should want and expect more” than key prosecution witness Michael Cohen’s testimony, or that of a Trump Organization employee accounts payable staffer talking about how she processed invoices, or the testimony given by Stormy Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson.
Blanche argued that Davidson “was really just trying to extort money from President Trump” in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
“The consequences of the lack of proof that you all heard over the past five weeks is simple: is a not guilty verdict, period,” Blanche said.
Blanche further laid into Cohen and his testimony, telling jurors he’ll come up repeatedly throughout the defense’s summation.
“You’re going to hear me talk a lot about Michael Cohen, and for good reason. You can not convict President Trump, you can not convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt on the word of Michael Cohen,” Blanche said. Cohen “told you a number of things that were lies, pure and simple,” the lawyer added.
9:54 a.m. EDT
Defense begins closing arguments
Defense lawyer Todd Blanche began his closing argument Tuesday morning by telling jurors that Donald Trump “is innocent” of the charges against him.
“He did not commit any crimes and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof. Period,” Blanche said before adding that evidence in the case “should leave you wanting.”
“This case is about documents. It’s a paper case. This case is not about an encounter with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago, an encounter that President Trump has unequivocally and repeatedly denied ever occurred,” Blanche said. “Nor is it about the confidential settlement and non-disclosure agreement that Daniels entered into eight years ago.”
9:46 a.m. EDT
Merchan explains closing arguments process
Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal trial were attentive Tuesday morning as Judge Juan M. Merchan explained the closing arguments process — that by law the defense must go first and prosecutors must go last.
Merchan says he’ll leave it up to the jury if they want to work past 4:30 p.m., the normal end of the court day, to accommodate both summations in their entirety, rather than spilling into Wednesday.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche said he expects to speak for about 2½ hours during the defense’s part of closing arguments while prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he may go as long as 4½ hours.
The scene in the courtroom
Donald Trump stood and looked back for a moment after he arrived at the defense table for the start of closing arguments in his hush money trial. Sitting between two of his attorneys — Todd Blanche and Emil Bove — the former president appeared animated before the proceedings began, gesturing and chatting with his lawyers.
Seated behind Trump are members of his family, including his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Tiffany.
Trump: It’s a ‘dark day in America’
Donald Trump spoke to reporters before heading into the courtroom on Tuesday morning, calling it “a dark day in America” and “a very sad day.”
The former president carried a sheet of paper and read quotes off of it from political and legal commentators who have attacked the hush money case, a feature Trump has made a regular part of his trial routine. He called Judge Juan M. Merchan “corrupt” and “conflicted” but said he couldn’t speak about it because of the gag order.
“We’ll see how it goes. This is a very dangerous day for America. It’s a very sad day,” Trump said.
He was accompanied by three of his children, Don Jr., Eric and Tiffany, along with one of his de facto campaign managers Susie Wiles.
9:20 a.m. EDT
Trump arrives at courthouse
Former President Donald Trump, joined by his attorney Todd Blanche, speaks to the media as he arrives for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on May 28, 2024. Spencer Platt/ Pool via REUTERS
A small of supporters yelled “We love Trump” outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan Tuesday morning as Donald Trump’s motorcade arrived. The supporters waved American flags and were wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats.
Inside, the prosecution team made its way into the courtroom, led by Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass, who is expected to make the prosecution’s closing argument.
As has been his routine, Steinglass walked in carrying a file box full of papers.
8:35 a.m. EDT
Trump family members will be at court
Several of Donald Trump’s family members plan to be at court Tuesday for his hush money trial.
They include his sons, Don Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, daughter Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos.
Donald Trump’s sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., daughter Tiffany, as well as daughter-in-law Lara Trump arrive as his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records wraps up on May 28, 2024. Photo by Andrew Kelly/ Pool/ Reuters
Other family members have not yet joined him in court, including his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, and his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.
7:17 a.m. EDT
What happens during closing arguments?
Prosecutors and defense lawyers will have their final opportunity to address the jury in closing arguments.
The arguments don’t count as evidence in the case charging Donald Trump with falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election. They’ll instead function as hourslong recaps of the key points the lawyers want to leave jurors with before the panel disappears behind closed doors for deliberations.
READ MORE: What to expect as closing arguments begin in Trump hush money trial
Jurors over the course of a month have heard testimony about sex and bookkeeping, tabloid journalism and presidential politics. Their task ahead will be to decide whether prosecutors who have charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records have proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
What must be proved for a conviction?
With closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial expected to get underway Tuesday morning, jurors have a weighty task ahead of them — deciding whether to convict the former U.S. president of some, all or none of the 34 felony counts he’s charged with.
To convict Trump of felony falsifying business records, prosecutors must convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely but also did so with intent to commit or conceal another crime. Any verdict must be unanimous.
READ MORE: Why Trump’s hush money defense depends on knocking down Michael Cohen’s credibility
To prevent a conviction, the defense simply needs to convince at least one juror that prosecutors haven’t proved Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard for criminal cases.
New York also has a misdemeanor falsifying business records charge, which requires proving only that a defendant made or caused the false entries, but it is not part of Trump’s case and will not be considered by jurors.
A seat in court during closing arguments proves alluring for some
For many Americans, Memorial Day weekend was a moment to remember the sacrifices of U.S. military personnel and to unplug from the bustle of daily life.
For others, it was a chance to snag a prime spot in line for entry into Donald Trump’s hush money trial ahead of Tuesday’s closing arguments. Last Friday afternoon saw several people camped out — including professional line sitters with pup tents — for a chance to see the tail end of the historic proceedings up close and personal.
WATCH: How Trump’s alleged hush money payments led to his charges in New York
Though most of the seats inside the courtroom are reserved for lawyers, members of Trump’s entourage, security personnel and journalists, a few are open to the general public.
The former president’s Manhattan trial has drawn visitors from all over, including students from local schools and plenty of out-of-towners.
What to expect this week
Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are expected to begin on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the end of the historic proceedings that kicked off in April.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers will make their final pitch to jurors, hoping to sway them in one direction or another after more than four weeks of witness testimony.
READ MORE: A law school professor explains what to watch for in Trump trial’s closing arguments
Following the conclusion of closing arguments, which are expected to last all day, Judge Juan M. Merchan will spend about an hour instructing the jury on the law governing the case, providing a roadmap for what it can and cannot take into account as it evaluates the Republican former president’s guilt or innocence.
Jurors could begin deliberations as early as Wednesday.
