Trump Trial Updates: Marathon Closes Cohen Against Alleged Trump Election 'Conspiracy'

After closing arguments concluded, Judge Merchan dismissed the jury and asked them to return tomorrow to deliberate.

He said the jury will deliberate between 10 a.m. ET and 4:30 p.m. ET tomorrow.

The judge finished by advising the parties to inform their guests that they will be locked in the courtroom once jury testimony begins.

“No one will be allowed to enter or leave the courtroom,” Merchan said.

Trump had a stomping step as he left the courtroom, fiercely grabbing his blazer and pulling hard enough that it made a pop.

He did not address the media, but glared at a reporter and muttered something under his breath as he left.

“There is no particular standard for this defendant,” prosecutor Josh Steinglass said as he finished his closing remarks. “Donald Trump can’t shoot someone during rush hour on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.”

The judge upheld the defense's objection to this statement.

“In the interests of justice and on behalf of the people of New York, I ask you to find the defendant guilty,” Steinglass said, concluding his closing marathon.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass stressed that the jury does not need to agree on Trump's illegal means of falsifying business records.

“Any of the illegal means is sufficient to conclude that the Trump Tower plot violated New York State election law,” Steinglass said. “There is no need to agree on the illegal means involved.”

Steinglass said Trump and his associates “designed this elaborate plan requiring the participation of at least 10 other people.”

“It takes a lot of time, thought and energy to conceal the truth. The defendant used his own business records as a vehicle to conceal the reimbursement because he did not want anyone to discover the plot to corrupt the election “, did he declare. .

“I apologize for trading brevity for rigor, but we only get one chance, and without jurors like you… the system doesn't work,” Steingless told jurors near the end of its summary.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass argued that Michael Cohen's payment to Stormy Daniels constituted a campaign contribution that far exceeded the legal maximum.

“As the judge will explain, paying a candidate’s expenses counts as a contribution to that candidate,” Steinglass said.

He added that there was “no rational argument” that the payment to Daniels “would have been made without the election.” He rejected the defense's assertion that the payment was made to “protect Trump's marriage or family from embarrassment.”

“The defendant wanted to squash this story for the same reason he wanted to squash McDougal's story and Sajudin's story — to avoid the harm those stories could cause to his electoral prospects,” Steinglass said.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche said Trump's concerns about the “Access Hollywood” tape were primarily related to his family and not his campaign.

“No one wants their family to be exposed to this kind of story,” Blanche said. “He was worried about his family, he was worried about his wife.”

Prosecutors have alleged that the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape motivated Trump to buy Daniels' story to support his political ambitions, but defense attorneys say Trump's main concern in October 2016 was about both the “Access Hollywood” tape and the Stormy Daniels allegations. — it was his family.

“It wasn’t an apocalyptic event,” Blanche said of the “Access Hollywood” tape. “He never thought it was going to cause him to lose the campaign, and indeed that’s not the case.”

But Blanche argued that Michael Cohen overreacted to the “Access Hollywood” story and that Cohen created a problem he needed to fix.