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 told jurors that although Trump and Stormy Daniels denied the affair, the allegations resurfaced in 2016 so Daniels and others could extort Trump.

“There was a group of people who wanted to take advantage of a situation and ultimately wanted to extort money from President Trump,” Blanche said.

Blanche argued that Daniels' allegation of a sexual tryst with Trump was known in 2011, so the discreet payment could not have been intended to influence an election five years later.

“The idea that when Ms. Daniels surfaced in 2016 caused some sort of panic among everyone is not true. It's just not true,” Blanche said.

Blanche hesitantly used the word extortion in her opening statement to describe Daniels' payment – calling it “almost an attempt… at extortion” – but the defense appears to have leaned into the argument in its conclusion.

Blanche also suggested that Trump may not have known about Daniels' payment at the time, telling jurors they could only rely on Michael Cohen for that evidence.

“It is impossible to know that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made without believing Michael Cohen. Period,” Blanche said. “And you can’t believe his words.”