Trump’s defense tries to make the jury in the ‘Stormy Daniels case’ doubt to force a mistrial

After six weeks of hearings, the parade of 22 witnesses (only a couple for the defense) and two convictions for contempt of the accused, Donald Trump, the first criminal trial against a former US president comes to an end this Tuesday with the presentation of the final conclusions; first the defense, then the prosecution, on whom the burden of proof falls. Now it is the turn of the jury, the 12 residents of Manhattan, seven men and five women, who must reach a verdict unanimously, no one dares to predict when. The ruling, whatever it may be, will not only mark a milestone in the strangest electoral race in the history of the United States, but also in the expectations of those who have sat on the bench accused of 34 crimes for paying a bribe to an actress. porn to silence a sexual relationship, and of which he has declared himself innocent.

In a last attempt to convince the jury, or rather to confuse it, the defense has based its closure on the lack of credibility of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and to whom Trump personally commissioned, according to his testimony, the bribe of $130,000 ( 120,000 euros) to actress Stormy Daniels in the last stretch of the 2016 electoral campaign; a payment, registered as “legal expenses” in the Trump Organization, which for the prosecution constitutes a clear attempt to influence the result of the polls. In fact, Cohen’s statement supports the entire case.

But the testimony of Trump’s former right-hand man, presented as “a champion of liars,” “is not corroborated by anything, there is not a shred of evidence” in his words, Todd Blanche, lead attorney for Trump, said on Tuesday. the defense. “Cohen has lied to them,” he said about the witness who last week admitted on the stand not only to having previously committed perjury, but also to having stolen $30,000 from his boss’s company. “He came here, he raised his right hand and lied to each of you repeatedly. They can’t send someone to prison, they can’t convict someone based on Michael Cohen’s words,” Blanche stressed. He once again presented Stormy Daniels as a profiteer who saw the opportunity to take advantage financially following the publication of a scandalous audio for Trump, the tape Access Hollywoodin September 2016—a month before the bribe was paid to the actress—in which the Republican spoke in the most degrading terms of women.

Blanche has shown the bank statement of the refund of $420,000—the amount of the bribe, plus a bonus and taxes—to Cohen, processed by Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s financial director for decades and currently in jail for perjury. The fact that the man who knew all the accounts of the Trump empire has not been called to testify has raised many questions. Bringing it up now, the defense seemed to reproach the prosecution for leaving out a big shot and basing the entire accusation on the Not very reliable Cohen, whom he repeatedly accused of lying before, during and after the process. Except for the expected mention of Weisselberg, convicted twice of fraud and perjury, there were no more coups from the defense. During the day, the former president has been surrounded by almost all of his adult children.

The presentation of final arguments has also been a key moment for the prosecution, as it had to corroborate Cohen’s testimony using the 34 supposedly falsified documents to convince the jury that, as the former lawyer explained in his statement, Trump orchestrated a plan to hide voters—and especially women voters—negative information. According to Cohen, the plot orchestrated by himself, the Republican candidate and the editor of a tabloid since 2015 to buy and lock in a drawer all the stories potentially harmful to Trump took with the bribe to Daniels the definitive step, although not the only one ( Former model Karen McDougal was also silenced). Because what is being judged in New York is not an extramarital affair of the candidate for the 2016 elections, which he would end up winning, but what it subsequently entailed: the silence bought so as not to harm his options at the polls. After the lunch break, the prosecution’s conclusion was scheduled to begin.

In addition to all the unprecedented circumstances surrounding the process – the first of the four criminal proceedings against the Republican candidate, and the only one that concludes before the November elections – the hearings held in the gloomy Manhattan criminal court building shed an image unknown to Trump: the man forcibly silenced by a judge’s gag order to prevent him from criticizing witnesses and judicial officials; a dull, bored and sleepy Trump (Sleepy Don, his detractors mock, copying the motto that the Republican coined in 2020 for his Democratic rival Joe Biden), who continually complained about the cold, did not even look witnesses in the eyes—he especially avoided those of Daniels and Cohen—and It only seemed to revive in the hallways, with its improvised rallies: the staging of that unprecedented collision of justice and elections, of law and politics. The usual Trump, in angry mode, then recovered his belligerence on social networks. This same Monday, a federal holiday on the occasion of the solemn Memorial Day, he called all of his opponents “human scum.”

Three other undated criminal proceedings

In the almost three hours of the defense’s turn, Trump’s lawyer did not even have to convince the entire jury that his client is innocent: he only needed to instill doubts in one of its members to abort any hint of unanimity. This could force the judge to declare the trial a mistrial, which would imply its repetition (presumably, on dates already marked in red on the electoral calendar). Any result that does not end in a conviction would be a boost to Trump’s political goals.

Conversely, a sentence, with a maximum of four years in prison, although in practice it would be suspended due to lack of criminal record, would not prevent him from standing for election or being re-elected president, but, since it was a state case, it could not prevent him from running for office. pardon himself if he were re-elected president. In the long judicial ordeal he faces, with even more politically serious cases in Washington (assault on the Capitol), Georgia (attempted coup) and Florida (withholding of classified documents), Trump has made adversity a virtue in political terms, playing the letter of victimhood to garner votes, as well as funds for his campaign. His advantage over Biden in many polls—especially in swing states, which can decide the result in November—shows that, far from undermining his options, the judicial offensive against him has been a driving force. .

In a majestic third person, the accused has taken advantage of the priceless setting offered by his entrances and exits from the courtroom to once again denounce the “electoral interference of the corrupt Biden, the worst president in the history of our country” against his candidacy. “He is going after Joe Biden’s political opponent because he cannot do it himself,” he reiterated. “Donald Trump did nothing wrong. This is what everyone is saying except one judge [Juan Merchan] that is corrupt. We have a judge who is conflicted. You know what the conflict is, so do I, but I can’t say it because I’m under a gag order that is otherwise unconstitutional. “It is the first time that a president is not allowed to speak.” As if it were a life title, caesarean section, invested as president in perpetuity.

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