Trump trial dwell: Closing arguments and verdict countdown begins

Donald Trump arrived in court at 9:25 am, a minute after his nemesis Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took his seat on the other side of his courtroom.

Front row is family today. Tiffany Trump took the aisle seat, with Lara Trump beside her, then Eric and Don Jr. in the middle of the row.

Behind them, top Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles is also in court.

Donald and Tiffany smiled at each other before he took his seat ahead of closing arguments.

Tiffany Trump seemed in good spirits as she heads to court with Donald Trump Jr. to support their father.

They were spotted departing Trump Tower at the same time as their father.

As we get to the business end of the case, the jury looks tuned in and focused. They have listened to weeks of evidence, now Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead defense attorney, is knitting together an argument that his client is innocent.

The 12 jurors and the alternates are sitting, eyes trained on Blanche. They watched him closely as he tried to dissect one of the key planks of the prosecution case, that Trump’s fixer was paid $35,000 a month through 2017 as reimbursement for the hush money payment. Instead he says, it was part of a retainer agreement paid to Trump’s personal lawyer.

‘There’s a reason why in life the simplest answer is the right one,’ says Blanche. ‘Thet’s certainly the case here.’

The jury, to a man and woman, followed the point closely. A good moment for the defense. But the prosecution gets the advantage of the last word later today.

Todd Blanche is addressing the question over why there wasn’t a written retainer agreement between Donald Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen.

The jury is shown Cohen’s testimony where he said there was never an expectation of a retainer agreement.

Blanche says that was a lie.

‘A lie is a lie, and this was a significant lie,’ he argues.

He claims Trump was paying his personal attorney in 2017 $35,000 a month pursuant to an agreement he made with Cohen right before he took office.

Todd Blanche shows the jury Michael Cohen invoices.

He argues that Cohen was rendering services to Donald Trump in 2017 as his personal attorney and admitted that.

The jury is also shown an email in May 2017 from Cohen to Weisselberg where he asks him to call to discuss the ‘last open foundation matter.’

Blanche argues prosecutors want the jury to believe Cohen, Weisselberg and Trump had some sort of conspiratorial agreement to falsify the records and Cohen was working for free.

But he claims the email shows Cohen telling Weisselberg to call to discuss something he was doing on behalf of Trump.

Todd Blanche tells the jury they cannot convict Donald Trump of any crimes based on the words of Michael Cohen.

He argues the words Cohen said on the stand matter.

Blanche claims Cohen took an oath, ‘swore to tell you the truth and told you a number of things that were lies, pure and simple.’

A yellow sticky note underlining Trump’s message was clearly visible when snappers were allowed into the courtroom to photograph Trump.

Writing in all capital letters in thick black ink said ‘This case should be dismissed by the judge but he is totally …’ The remainder was obscured by Trump’s fingers.

Printed text beneath it showed the comments Trump read from earlier on camera.

The note was also visible earlier when Trump spoke outside the courtroom. When he was president photographers frequently captured cards with

Defense attorney Todd Blanche slams the prosecution’s star witness and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

‘You should want and expect more than the testimony of Michael Cohen,’ Blanche says.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, said at the start that he’ll need about two and half hours for his closing. But we get to the nub within 10 minutes in a graphic put up on the big screens.

‘This case is about documents. It’s a paper case. This case is not about an encounter with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago,’ he says.

Trump is accuses of falsifying 34 documents – invoices, vouchers and checks.

But the invoices, says Blanche, were sent by Cohen; the vouchers were entered by the accounting department; and the checks were generated by the accounting department, automatically based on the voucher entries.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche argues the ex-president is innocent, similar to his arguments at the beginning of the trial.

‘President Trump is innocent,’ says Blanche.

‘He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof – period.’

Judge Juan Mercahn tells the jury that they alone are the ‘judges of the facts in this case.’

He reminds them that nothing the lawyers say is evidence, so nothing the lawyers say in summations is evidence.

‘Whatever the lawyers say, it is simply arguments for your consideration,’ he says.

On his way into the courtroom, Trump smiled at his blonde daughter Tiffany.

Immediately before, he told reporters: ‘Make no mistake about it, I’m here because of crooked Joe Biden. The worst president in the history of our country. He is destroying our country. This country is being destroyed rapidly. Not slowly, rapidly on the borders, on energy, on inflation, on everything you can measure. Afghanistan removal.

‘Everything about what he has done, he is destroying our country and he is also destroying it with weaponization and this is purely weaponization.’

Trump went on to quote a series of news articles by legal experts which included saying there was ‘no crime’ and the prosecution did ‘not have a leg to stand on’.

‘We have a judge who is conflicted. You know what the conflict is. I can’t say it. I’m under a gag order. Another unconstitutional thing,’ Trump said.

‘A leading candidate and I have a gag order and not allowed to speak. It’s a first. Everybody says it is crazy. This is a dark day in America. We have a rigged court case that should have never been brought.

‘So, thank you all very much. We’ll see how it goes. This is a very dangerous day for America. A very sad day, thank you.’

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche is expected to deliver closing arguments first.

He will be followed by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass who will present summations second.

Judge Merchan has said he expects to give jury instructions Wednesday.

Trump tore into Rep. Bob Good Tuesday as the former president headed to court – calling him ‘BAD FOR THE USA’ just 12 days after Good appeared at his hush money trial in solidarity.

‘Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA,’ Trump posted about the conservative House Freedom Caucus chair.

‘He turned his back on our incredible movement, and was constantly attacking and fighting me until recently, when he gave a warm and “loving” Endorsement – But really, it was too late.’

‘The damage has been done!’ Trump wrote. Good was involved in the effort to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary.

He came to Manhattan criminal court on May 17 and blasted the gag order as well as the ‘corrupt judge,’ echoing Trump’s own attacks on Juan Merchan.

Trump instead endorsed Virginia state Del. John McGuire, who has accused Good of disloyalty to Trump in a bitter primary.

Donald Trump has left Trump Tower to make his way downtown to the Manhattan courthouse for closing arguments.

He was joined by daughter Tiffany and her husband Michael Boulous in the motorcade.

The former president was wearing a signature red tie and waved to the waiting crowd before getting into a SUV.

Tiffany Trump will appear in her father’s support team in court after a stunning blackmail plot was revealed in testimony.

The former president’s attorney Todd Blanche pressed star witness Michael Cohen during cross-examination about the apparent ‘extortion’ attempt involving the president’s daughter.

The reason: to establish that Cohen had multiple reasons to be speaking with Donald Trump during a critical period, beyond the Stormy Daniels matter that he testified about.

Read more below:

Expect the defense to throw the kitchen sink at the jury during its closing argument. It will try to unpick every line used by the prosecution, undermining its key witness Michael Cohen, questioning the relevance of most of the evidence presented, and asking what sort of politician WOULDN’T be involved in trying to influence in the outcome of an election.

But its main message to the jury will be to remember that this is a case about falsifying documents. Forget the sex and the money. Was there really any evidence that Donald Trump knew the purpose of the checks he was signing? Or any real evidence that he knew Michael Cohen was being reimbursed illegally? Or was it the case that lower level employees handled the invoices, the ledgers and the check cutting?

Documents, documents, documents will be at the heart of the defense closing.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen was co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.

He tells CNN a conviction is ‘not a slam dunk’.

It still is not a slam dunk in my view, having been there every day, for the prosecution. I think the odds of a conviction are somewhere upwards of 80 percent.

The defense, in part because of this scattershot approach, the defense is not really gunning for an acquittal. That’s out of reach here. What they are hoping for is one angry juror.

A host of TV network anchors and hosts have lined up outside the Manhattan court to watch the historic case unfold.

Tuesday’s media celebrity is Jen Psaki, who was the White House press secretary before Karine Jean-Pierre and is now a host on MSNBC.

Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany will make her debut at her father’s hush money trial on Tuesday for closing arguments.

The former president has invited family and friends – including Tiffany’s husband Michael Boulos – as the case wraps up.

His support group includes.

• Tiffany Trump
• Michael Boulos
• Donald Trump Jr.
• Eric Trump
• Lara Trump
• Steve Witkoff – Investor and landlord
• Will Scharf – Attorney
• Deroy Murdock – Political commentator

Tiffany rang in the new year at Mar-a-Lago with the rest of the Trump family.

Donald Trump‘s long-time lawyer has warned that the New York jurors in his hush money case could be infected with ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ by liberal friends and families over the holiday weekend.

Closing arguments are set to begin when the court returns on Tuesday before the jury is sent to consider its verdict on 34 charges of falsifying business records against the former president.

And Alina Habba, who represented Trump in his civil fraud case, slammed judge Juan Merchan for not sequestering the jurors in a hotel for what could be the final weekend of the six-week trial.

For them to be able to be out and about on a holiday weekend with friends and families who have opinions, who are watching the news, TV’s on the background at the pool party, I have serious concerns,’ she told Sean Duffy on Fox News.

His fiercest critics including Michael Cohen have shared their dreams of seeing Donald Trump behind bars.

But a far more realistic outcome if he is convicted in New York is he ends up having weekly phone calls to check in with a probation officer or has to visit Bronx school kids to teach them about crime, legal experts say.

The defendant who complains he is a victim of ‘sham’ prosecution in a ‘rat’s nest’ of corruption may even get to design his own community service program.

Convicted criminals and lawyers agree probation is far better alternative to jail time – but it has its inconveniences and shouldn’t be minimized.

He writes on Truth Social:

…and then, of course, there’s the BIGGEST EVENT OF THEM ALL, but I’m not allowed to talk about it because I’m under an illegal and unconstitutional GAG ORDER. This is the Biden White House at work. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!

On Monday night Trump wrote on Truth Social:

WHY IS THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT ALLOWED TO MAKE THE FINAL ARGUMENT IN THE CASE AGAINST ME? WHY CAN’T THE DEFENSE GO LAST? BIG ADVANTAGE, VERY UNFAIR. WITCH HUNT! DJT

After closing arguments wrap up, the jury will be given instructions by Judge Juan Merchan and set out to deliberate.

They will go through each of the 34 counts of falsifying business records and decide if Trump is guilty or not guilty.

To reach a verdict on each charge, the jury has to be unanimous.

The members have been away from the courtroom for a week mulling over evidence from the past five weeks from 22 witnesses.

They are anonymous, but some details were revealed in court: Here’s what we know about them.

They mined his books for examples of how he micromanaged the Trump Organization, how he was motivated by revenge, and how he saw sexual potential in encounters with women.

In so doing they sought to show the jury that he monitored every cent coming in and out of his business, bolstering their case that he must have known that hush money payments to Stormy Daniels were being hidden as legal expenses.

Trump denied 34 charges of falsifying business records.

And his defense team tried to show he was a busy executive who left handling invoices, ledger entries and check cutting to lower level managers.

As the trial of Donald Trump over hush money payments to a porn star heads into its final stage, Trump’s wife Melania Trump has been noticeably absent from the courtroom.

Over the course of five weeks, a series of Trump supporters including Republican lawmakers, former administration officials, vice presidential hopefuls and a few of his own kids have been in court.

They’ve sat through hours of salacious testimony as the ex-president stands trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment for pornstar Stormy Daniels.

Melania Trump, however, has remained far away from the New York criminal court room home in Florida.

Legal experts told DailyMail.com what it could mean

Donald Trump will return to court for the first time in a week for closing arguments in the historic hush money trial.

The former president’s lawyers and the prosecution will make their final pitches to the 12 jury members who will decide his fate.

The panel of Manhattan residents has listened to 22 witnesses over five weeks of testimony in the case that is quickly coming to an end.

Here is what to expect as attorneys from both sides make their case to the jury: