Trump's first trial approaching its conclusion
In the case of hush money against former US President Trump, only the closing arguments are left. The prosecution needs to persuade all jurors while Trump's defense has it easier.
For more than four weeks, attorneys including prosecutors have been debating in a Manhattan courtroom, with Donald Trump right in the center. Will he escape this? On Tuesday, the prosecution and Trump's defense have one more thing to do: the closing arguments. In these, the prosecution will attempt to convince the jury that Trump committed several offenses surrounding the hush money given to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 and 2017 with absolute clarity. Trump, on the other hand, insists on his innocence.
Will the jury find Trump guilty during their deliberations? If they possess any reservations about the prosecution's argument, they must clear him. Even if they don't concur, it would be a triumph for Trump. The trial would then end without a clear conclusion. However, it's evident that there's more against Trump than for him.
The general perspective is vital
The facts and context are evident. Trump's encounter with Stormy Daniels is almost inevitable, despite him denying it. His cooperation with the publisher of the supermarket magazine "National Enquirer" is also generally acknowledged. The magazine purchased the rights to potentially damaging narratives in 2016 and then concealed them. Thus, Stormy Daniels was muzzled before the election. The middleman was Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen, who is a witness for the prosecution. He paid Daniels $130,000. Trump later reimbursed him, but described it as legal fees.
Did Trump also grasp the specifics and carried out all this with the intention of not harming his election chances? The jurors would need to accept this if they find him guilty. In this case, the hush money payoff would be undeclared and thus unlawful campaign financing, which he desired to hide. The jurors don't have to believe every detail of Cohen's testimony - for example, about the one-and-a-half-minute phone call, during which defense challenged the witness emotionally in cross-examination.
There are also numerous clues. After all, all threads lead to Trump. He was present at the planning meeting with the publisher, he signed almost all documents, he was represented by Cohen during negotiations with Daniels, and he is the head of the firm through which payments to Cohen were made. The prosecution will probably draw a direct line from Trump's desk in his offices to Cohen and Daniels in their closing decisions.
Defense brings up doubts
Trump and his attorneys argue for innocence. Why not? Why should the presiding candidate and businessman have been involved in every aspect of how Cohen organized the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels? The boss wouldn't have known what Cohen was doing behind his back, indicated the defense in their witness examination. They can also blame Cohen - not without justification - for lying out of selfish and jealous reasons about Trump's involvement.
The defense attempted for three days to discredit the witness. Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche repeatedly pushed him into a corner, compelling him to admit to earlier falsehoods under oath and also to having stolen from Trump's company in one instance. Cohen defended himself: The truth would've had negative repercussions for him. He saw no alternative. Blanche inquired provocatively if the current trial against Trump also had personal consequences for him. Cohen was compelled to respond positively. His self-depiction, which portrayed him as a repentant, forthright criminal who had repented for all his sins and was still atoning, has begun to show cracks.
At the outset of the trial, the prosecution announced that they would accuse Trump of unlawful electoral manipulation, which he had tried to cover up with document fraud. Trump's attorney Todd Blanche reacted swiftly: "There's nothing wrong with influencing an election. It's called democracy." One should just ponder the methods which are appropriate for this. The jurors will make their decision after the closing arguments on Tuesday.
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If Trump is found guilty, it could impact his ambitions for the US presidential election 2024. Despite Trump's denials, Michael Cohen's testimony suggested that Trump was involved in the payments to Stormy Daniels during the US presidential election 2016, which were facilitated by Cohen and the "National Enquirer".
Source: www.ntv.de
