On Tuesday, the defense closed its case in Donald Trump’s criminal trial without summoning the former president to testify.
However, he decided not to take the stand in his own defense after being previously whining about silence and lying that he was denied an opportunity to testify.
Trump did not make a big show of it. However, following numerous assertions by Trump that he had been forbidden from doing so, this was surprising as defendants in criminal cases often choose not to testify because they do not want their defense damaged during cross-examination.
Judge Juan Merchan specifically addressed Trump’s claims when he stated: “I want to stress Mr Trump that you have an absolute right to testify at trial”. He also reminded him that despite a gag order prohibiting him from verbally attacking witnesses, it has no bearing on his right to take the stand.
After resting the defense case, Judge Merchan advised jurors to return on May 28th for closing arguments and said he would charge them thereafter and expected deliberations to start then.
The cross-examination of Robert Costello continued into Monday with which the defense has sought to impeach Michael Cohen as a witness.
Before 9:30 am, Trump walked into court. It is alleged that while he was running as a Republican candidate widely expected to win, charges were brought against him for falsifying business records relating payment of $130k made by Donald Trump‘s fixer Micheal Cohen towards adult film star Stormy Daniels in order not disclose her over an alleged sexual encounter.
This time around Manhattan prosecutors claim that during summer 2015 Trump worked together with his former consigliere Michael Cohen and ex-tabloid boss David Pecker with the aim of hiding away any negative information so as not destroy his candidacy for presidency during 2016 election.
Cohen told jurors how weeks before Election Day he helped orchestrate such payment directly to Daniels out of fear however deep felt by campaign managers owing its potential harm to Trump’s chances in the race for presidency, particularly with the release of the highly embarrassing hot mic where Trump was bragging about groping without consent.
During his testimony which lasted four days Cohen recalled an incident when angry Trump ordered him to cover up Daniels case and told him “just take care of it”.
“This was a fucking disaster! A disaster!” said Trump according to Cohen. “Women will hate me.”
Cohen also revealed that he had previously attempted to keep Daniels quiet in 2011 by working with her then-lawyer who helped pull down a story about their alleged relationship from a showbiz site.
Trump’s legal team struggled during cross-examination to land any significant blow. Their closest attempt came when Blanche managed to draw admissions from Cohen suggesting that he had overcharged the Trump Organization for reimbursement on payments made to tech company Red Finch LLC so as to manipulate the outcome of a poll on famous business people in favor of Donald Trump.
He agreed giving $50k but ultimately admitted paying only $20k. Then Blanche questioned if Cohen kept the remaining $30k. “So you stole from the Trump Organization?” asked Blanche. “Yes, sir,” replied Cohen.
The prosecution finished its case on Monday, and Trump’s defense began. Costello, an attorney Cohen spoke about in his four-day testimony, also testified before the day ended. According to Cohen, he saw Costello after his hotel room and home were raided by the police in April 2018 but was reluctant to keep him as an attorney because of Giuliani’s connection with him.
