New York prosecutors delivered closing arguments to jurors on Tuesday in their case against former President Trump, telling them the case is “about conspiracy and cover-up” and arguing they have presented “strong evidence” to secure a conviction.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election and to silence him about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. He has always maintained his innocence.
New York prosecutor Joshua Steinglass delivered Blagg’s closing argument, which lasted more than five hours.
President Trump spoke to the media on May 13th. (Photo by SETH WENIG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Steinglass said Trump’s intent to defraud was “as clear as can be” and argued it would have been much easier to just pay Stormy Daniels directly. But he said Trump hatched a complex scheme and everything he and his associates did was “shrouded in lies.”
“The game was about cover-up, and all roads inescapably lead to the person who benefited most from it – the defendant, former President Donald Trump,” Steinglass said.
Defending his selection of Michael Cohen as a witness, Steinglass told jurors: “I’m not asking for sympathy for Michael Cohen. He made his own bed.”
“But you can’t blame him for making money off the only thing he had left – knowledge of the inside workings of the Trump Organization,” he said.
“We did not select Michael Cohen as a witness, we did not have him in the witness shop,” Steinglass said. “The defendants selected Michael Cohen as their fixer because he was prepared to lie and deceive on their behalf.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
