5 months ago
23
Jury deliberations begin today in Donald Trump’s hush money and election interference trial. Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to a $130,000 hush money payment that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. In a marathon day of closing arguments, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argued that the payment scheme amounted to an effort by Trump “to manipulate and defraud the voters” before the 2016 presidential election by preventing Daniels from going public with her claim that she had a sexual encounter with Trump. “It was an amazing summation in which every piece of evidence was explained as a part of the entire narrative of Trump criminality,” says Ron Kuby, a criminal defense lawyer. On the other hand, Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche branded Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, as “the greatest liar of all time” and dismissed the trial as a politicized attack. If Trump is found guilty, it will likely be weeks or months until he is eventually sentenced. The charges carry a maximum of four years in prison, and Trump is expected to appeal any conviction.
