The criminal trial regarding the hush money allegedly paid by former US President Donald Trump concluded its defence presentation on Tuesday, without inviting Trump to give a statement. The defence team, represented by Trump’s lawyers, put forward two witnesses for his exoneration. The presiding Justice, Juan Merchan, announced that the jury will reconvene the following Tuesday to hear closing statements, and deliberations could commence the next day.
The defence team had earlier entreated Justice Merchan to halt the trial prior to the jury taking over, contending that the case stands primarily on the testimony of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former highly criticised and now alienated fixer, who has a prominent record of dishonesty. Yet, most motions for dismissal seldom succeed, and Justice Merchan signalled on Monday his proclivity toward allowing the jury to evaluate Cohen’s reliability independently. The prosecution team asserts his account is substantiated by further proof.
The final witness for the prosecution, Cohen, completed his statement on Monday, thereby providing Trump’s lawyers with an opportunity to introduce their witnesses and evidence. Trump’s defence summoned Robert Costello as their second witness, who testified on Monday that Cohen had affirmed the absence of any incriminating evidence against Trump.
Costello’s conduct on the stand led to a reprimand from Justice Merchan, who expelled the others from the courtroom inferring, “Don’t roll your eyes.” On Tuesday, Costello resumed his testimony and the defence team completed their case.
Trump has been charged with hushing up a $130,000 payment made to suppress the story of adult actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed a sexual liaison with Trump during the closing phases of the 2016 presidential run. Although the hush money payment is not unlawful, Trump has been indicted with 34 accusations of manipulating business documents to conceal his compensation to Cohen, the original source of the payment.
Trump, now 77 years old, has pleaded non-guilty and refutes any malfeasance. He asserts that he had never been sexually involved with Daniels and deems the trial as a politically charged attempt to impede his endeavour to regain the presidency from the incumbent Democratic president Joe Biden, during the election held on November 5th.
Cohen testified that he discussed the payment to Daniels with Trump several times during the end stages of the 2016 presidential race, when Trump was confronted with numerous claims of sexual impropriety.
According to Mr Cohen, Mr Trump expressed concern that his standing with female voters would be damaged if Ms Daniels were to share her personal account publicly. The legal representatives of Mr Trump argue that the payment made to her was to shield his family from public shame.
On a recent Monday, Mr Cohen made a confession while under oath, stating he had made illicit withdrawals from Mr Trump’s business. He attributed this to his frustration over a reduction in his bonus, which had followed his management of the Daniels settlement. – Reuters.