Key Points from Donald Trump's Defense in the Hush Money Trial

The defense in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial wrapped up its case on Tuesday. The former president did not testify during the roughly 90 minutes of testimony.

During the trial, Trump's attorneys presented two witnesses. The first was a paralegal who submitted phone records as evidence. The second witness was Robert Costello, an attorney who was in discussions with Michael Cohen about representing him after his home and office were raided by the FBI in 2018.

Trump publicly mentioned the possibility of testifying in his defense, but his attorneys did not seem to take it seriously.

The key witness for the defense turned out to be Cohen, who testified for the prosecution and faced a rigorous cross-examination lasting over three days and spanning more than eight hours in total.

The jury will have a week off for Memorial Day, and closing arguments are scheduled for next Tuesday. A verdict could be reached by the end of next week.

Here are the key points from the last day of testimony in the Trump hush money trial:

Trump doesn’t take the stand

Over the last several months, Trump repeatedly teased that he would take the stand in his own defense.

“Well, I would if it’s necessary,” Trump said in an April 25 interview on Newsmax.

“Probably so, I would like to, I mean I think so,” Trump told a Wisconsin television station on May 7.

But on Tuesday, Trump's chance to testify passed by quickly. Attorney Todd Blanche informed the judge that once Costello finished testifying, "The defense rests."

In the end, there was not much surprise in the outcome. The lawyers and judge had already been planning the trial's schedule for the past week without expecting Trump to testify.

Trump was not expected to testify in court due to the extensive cross-examination that would have taken place. Prosecutors wanted to question him about various wrongdoings in other cases to challenge his credibility as a witness.

During a standard Sandoval hearing, the judge decided that prosecutors could have questioned Trump about the $464 million civil fraud verdict, two violations of a gag order, verdicts in defamation cases, and a settlement with the New York attorney general that led to the dissolution of the Trump foundation.

Trump and his attorneys decided it was best for him to avoid being questioned about his alleged affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in the case. This led to their conclusion that he should stay off the witness stand.

The highlight of the defense was the cross-examination of Cohen.

Cohen, the prosecution's last witness, was grilled for eight hours during the cross-examination - which was about four times longer than the defense's entire presentation.

Blanche's attempt to undermine Cohen's credibility highlighted how crucial Cohen is to the prosecution's case against Trump. Additionally, discrediting Trump's former fixer as a witness could play a significant role in either securing an acquittal or resulting in a hung jury.

Blanche accused Cohen of fabricating his conversations with Trump, embezzling from his previous employer, and persisting in dishonesty even after admitting to perjury in 2018.

During the cross-examination, Blanche had a powerful moment when she questioned Cohen about a call he had with Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, on October 24, 2016, at 8:02 p.m. Cohen claimed that during the call, Schiller put Trump on the phone and Cohen informed him that he was proceeding with the payment to Daniels.

However, Blanche presented text messages that Cohen had exchanged with Schiller before and after the call. These messages revealed that Cohen was actually dealing with a prank caller pretending to be a teenager and seeking Schiller's assistance.

Blanche accused Cohen of lying about speaking to Trump regarding the hush money deal. She claimed that he was actually discussing harassing phone calls from a 14-year-old with Mr. Schiller. Cohen admitted that part of the conversation did involve the 14-year-old, but he recalled discussing more issues with Mr. Trump and Keith at the time based on the documents he reviewed.

Prosecutors attempted to strengthen Cohen's testimony by presenting a screenshot from C-SPAN that captured Trump exiting a Florida rally stage with Schiller just five minutes before the call.

In addition, Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger emphasized to the jurors that in this case, it was Trump who was being tried, not Cohen.

“Now, I know it may feel like you are on trial here after cross-examination. Are you actually on trial here?” Hoffinger asked Cohen.

“No ma’am,” Cohen said.

After the prosecution finished presenting their case, Blanche requested Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the case. This is a common request made by defendants, although it rarely results in the case being dismissed. Blanche's argument was based on the belief that Cohen had lied during his testimony, therefore the case should be thrown out.

Judge Juan Merchan questioned Blanche's request, asking if she wanted him to make a decision before the jury could deliberate. He wanted to clarify if Blanche was asking him to rule that the person in question was not credible enough for the jury to even consider.

Blanche responded, "Absolutely. That’s exactly what we’re asking the court to do. His entire testimony should not be considered by the jury."

Merchan was skeptical and later asked Blanche, "You said his lies are ‘irrefutable,’ but do you really think he’s going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?"

Costello experienced a rough journey. Trump's lawyers defended Costello's right to testify, arguing against prosecutors who wanted to prevent him from doing so. They claimed that Costello would refute the prosecutors' claim that Trump used a "pressure campaign" to silence Cohen in 2018.

Merchan decided that Costello could testify, but made it clear that he did not want the testimony to turn into a full-blown trial about whether there was a pressure campaign on Cohen and how it impacted Trump’s former fixer.

Trump's lawyer, Emil Bove, tried to demonstrate that Cohen had used Costello’s legal services as a means to communicate with Trump, even though no official agreement was signed. In the end, Cohen chose a different lawyer to handle his federal case.

Costello described Cohen as "absolutely manic" and suicidal during their first meeting following the FBI raid on his properties. Cohen repeatedly insisted to Costello, "I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump."

During Costello's testimony in court on Monday, tensions rose between him and the judge. The judge cleared the courtroom to reprimand Costello for his eye rolls and mutterings regarding the judge's rulings that restricted his testimony.

On cross-examination, Hoffinger tried to undermine Costello's credibility by implying that he was more in favor of Trump's interests than Cohen's when advising him in the spring of 2018.

Hoffinger also implied that Costello, who had regular communication with his good friend Rudy Giuliani, played a role in pressuring Cohen to stay in line. Costello admitted to providing Cohen with a backchannel to Trump through Giuliani, but he claimed he did so for Cohen's own advantage.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday. Both parties will be back in court in the afternoon to discuss the instructions that the judge will give to the jury before they start deliberating next week.

Then the court will be dark for a week. This scheduling decision was made by Merchan to ensure that the final stages of the trial were not interrupted by the four-day Memorial Day weekend.

Merchan informed the jurors that they will come back next Tuesday for the closing arguments, which are anticipated to last the entire day. Once the jury receives their instructions, the fate of Trump will be in their hands.

Editor's P/S:

The closing arguments in the Trump hush money trial are scheduled for next Tuesday, and the jury will begin deliberating the former president's fate. Trump did not testify during the trial, despite repeatedly teasing the possibility. The defense's case rested on the testimony of two witnesses, including Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, who was grilled by prosecutors for eight hours during cross-examination. Cohen's testimony was seen as crucial to the prosecution's case, and the defense attempted to undermine his credibility by accusing him of fabricating conversations with Trump and embezzling from his previous employer. The defense also called attorney Robert Costello to testify, who claimed that Cohen had used his legal services as a means to communicate with Trump, even though no official agreement was signed. However, Costello's testimony was limited by the judge, who did not want the trial to turn into a full-blown trial about whether there was a pressure campaign on Cohen.

In my opinion, the defense's case was weak, and Trump's decision not to testify was a major blow to his chances of acquittal. The prosecution presented a strong case, and the defense was unable to effectively challenge Cohen's testimony. I believe that the jury will find Trump guilty of the charges against him.