Trump trial reside: Verdict countdown as jury prepares to deliberate

Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial finally wrapped at 8pm on Wednesday after prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’s marathon four-hour pitch to the jury.

The former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche started the day by telling the jury they could not convict his client on the words of a ‘liar’ and ‘thief’ Michael Cohen.

He was rebuked by the judge for telling the panel their verdict could land Trump in jail.

Steinglass then went through his case in painstaking detail and argued there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ Trump falsified business documents to cover up a $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about their alleged affair.

The hush money deal, Steinglass said, could ‘very well’ have helped Trump win the 2016 election.

Actor Robert De Niro squared off with Trump supporters outside the former president’s hush money trial Tuesday in New York after calling him a ‘clown’ who wants to ‘destroy the world.’

De Niro showed up alongside Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone as special guests of President Joe Biden‘s campaign.

The actor called Trump a ‘clown’ but also warned that reelecting him would be dangerous.

‘I love this city I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country and eventually he could destroy the world,’ De Niro said.

A group of Trump supporters could be heard in the background chanting, ‘f*** Joe Biden,’ with one person yelling at the actor, ‘your movies suck!’

Donald Trump said nothing in the courtroom as his lead defense attorney delivered his closing argument that the former president should be found not guilty of falsifying business records.

He didn’t need to.

Todd Blanche’s two-and-half-hour statement was shot through with the words and fingerprints of the defendant himself, making it part legal argument, part campaign address.

There was a belittling nickname for a key witness—’Michael Cohen is the GLOAT. The Greatest Liar of All Time’—frequent references to prosecutors as the ‘government’ (when in New York State court it is ‘the people’ who bring prosecutions) and a final incendiary reference to his client facing prison.

‘You cannot send someone to prison … you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen,’ said Blanche, raising an immediate objection from the prosecution.

Donald Trump’s fate in the Manhattan hush money trial is now in the hands of the jury after marathon closing arguments on Tuesday.

Following six weeks and 22 witnesses, the panel of 12 Manhattan residents will decide if the 77-year-old will be the first former president found guilty of a crime .

The jury returns on Wednesday to hear instructions from the judge before they will be sent out to decide their verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Then the wait will begin for the verdict, which could come as soon as today.