Closing arguments wrap in Trump hush money trial

Former US President Donald Trump returns to court for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 28, in New York.

The defense and prosecution gave their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial, spending many hours late into the evening Tuesday offering the jury diametrically opposed stories about the payment made to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 and the subsequent reimbursement to Cohen the following year.

Prosecutors told jurors on Tuesday they’ve seen a “mountain of evidence” to prove that Trump falsified business records in order to cover up a damaging story about an alleged affair at the end of the 2016 election. The defense said the prosecution’s criminal case against the former president is wholly reliant on the testimony of Michael Cohen – the “MVP of liars” who is out to get Trump.

Which narrative the jury believes could ultimately decide Trump’s legal fate.

Here are some of the takeaways from Day 21 of the hush money trial:

Defense argues jurors cannot convict on Michael Cohen’s words: Todd Blanche was up first, and he spent much of his two-hour closing argument attacking the credibility of Cohen, Trump’s former fixer.

Prosecution defends Cohen but argues there’s more to the case: Over 4 hours and 41 minutes, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass pushed back against Blanche’s attacks, arguing there was plenty of corroboration of Cohen’s testimony, both from documents and the testimony of others, particularly former AMI chief David Pecker.

What’s next: Now that closing arguments are done, the panel of seven men and five women is expected to begin deliberations Wednesday.

Attorneys for the defense and the prosecution presented their closing arguments on Tuesday, appealing to the panel of 12 jurors that will soon consider the case.

The judge is expected to instruct the jury tomorrow as to the charges they must consider against Donald Trump and the laws governing the deliberations.

The jury must be unanimous in its decision. Here’s what we know about the jurors on the panel:

The prosecution delivered closing arguments Tuesday and worked to tie together text messages, phone logs and other witness testimony that it said proved its case against Donald Trump without relying solely on his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

On Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan will read the jury instructions before deliberation begins.

If you’re just reading in, here’s a brief recap of the prosecution’s closing arguments:

Prosecution: 

The jury will soon decide whether former President Donald Trump falsified business records to cover up his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in an attempt to influence the 2016 election.

Both sides delivered closing arguments on Tuesday. Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche went after the testimony of the former president’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. He argued to the jury that Cohen’s testimony was not corroborated and listed 10 reasons why the jury should have reasonable doubt.

Here are some key takeaways:

Defense:

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’s closing argument took 4 hours and 41 minutes.

Steinglass thanked the jurors for their time as he wrapped up, saying “I apologize for trading brevity for thoroughness.”

Judge Juan Merchan says his instructions to the jury will take about an hour tomorrow morning. They’ll get started around 10 a.m. ET tomorrow.

“Jurors, thank you again for your patience,” Merchan says.

Merchan tells the attorneys to advise their guests tomorrow once he starts reading the charge, no one will be allowed in or out of the courtroom.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass wrapped up his closing argument with a final message for the jury: “You have to put aside the distractions, the press, the politics the noise. Focus on the evidence and the logical inference that can be drawn from that evidence.”

“Use your common sense and follow the judge’s legal instructions,” Steinglass tells the jury.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass starts to say “Donald Trump can’t shoot someone on 5th Avenue…” and an objection from Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche is sustained.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass notes that Trump has a right to a fair trial and to put the prosecution to its burden.

“Now he’s gotten that trial, he’s had his day in court,” Steinglass said.

“The law is the law and it applies to everyone equally. There is no special standard for this defendant,” Steinglass says.

The scheme shows a whole lot of thought and energy to conceal the truth, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says, when Trump could’ve just paid Stormy Daniels directly.

“The name of the game was concealment, and all roads lead inescapably to the man that benefited the most, the defendant, former president Donald J. Trump,” Steinglass says after raising lies, shell companies, encrypted apps and other means.

Joshua Steinglass moves on to tax fraud violations.

“Listen carefully to the judge’s instruction,” the prosecutor says. “It’s a crime to willfully create false tax forms,” even if they don’t lead to the willful false payment of taxes, he says.

Donald Trump had an incentive to keep the Stormy Daniels story quiet in 2018 and Steinglass says he was still actively trying to prevent his catch-and-kill scheme from going public.

“He still cared,” the prosecutor says.

“Any single one of those unlawful means is enough for you to conclude the Trump Tower conspiracy violated New York state election law,” Steinglass says.

“You don’t have to agree” on which part of the law was violated, he notes.

Joshua Steinglass says the defense spent considerable time arguing that Stormy Daniels’ story was killed to protect Trump’s family because the attorneys know that under the law it’s not a violation if Michael Cohen would have made the payment “irrespective of the candidacy.”

But Steinglass says Cohen told the jury he made the Daniels pay off because of the election. 

“You’ve seen a ton of evidence this payment was made because of the potential concerns about the Daniels story” on the 2016 election, Steinglass says.

National Enquirer publisher David Pecker “put the (Trump) campaign first, to the point he was willing to sacrifice magazine sales to serve the defendant,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

The magazine’s publisher, AMI, was ready to sell the rights to Karen McDougal’s story to Donald Trump, the prosecutor says.

Steinglass says AMI was not acting in normal press functions so there can be no exception, noting Judge Juan Merchan will instruct the jury about this.

Former President Donald Trump’s team still believes the best likely outcome is a mistrial, according to a source familiar with the team.

However, they are worried about the impact a potential “Allen charge” could have on a deadlocked jury. 

An Allen charge — which is also referred to as a dynamite charge — is given when a jury returns and reveals that they are deadlocked. The judge will encourage the jury to go back and continue deliberations and try to find unanimity to avoid a mistrial. This does not require jurors to change their vote or reach a verdict.

Trump’s team is concerned that the jury may feel pressure after this instruction to avoid a mistrial in a historic case given the stakes and may decide to compromise and convict on a few charges like the counts for the checks Trump signed, the source said.

So even if this jury is deadlocked, the Trump team believes they still need to get past this additional hurdle to “win.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says the prosecution has proven Trump had intent to commit, aid or conceal a violation of the election law.

Steinglass says of the conspiracy related to election fraud, “We’re basically beating a dead horse here.” The court reporter asked him to repeat that phrase.

Remember: Prosecutors needed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records with the intent to commit or conceal another crime, but they don’t have to prove that Trump committed that crime.

The prosecution’s theory is that the second crime could be in violation of federal and state election laws or state tax laws for how Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s reimbursement was handled. 

As the prosecutor appears to be winding up his closing arguments, Judge Juan Merchan for the second time in a few minutes sustains a defense objection and tells Joshua Steinglass that he will instruct the jury on the law.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass raises the question of reasonable doubt, telling jurors not to take the defense’s “invitation to consider each piece of evidence in a vacuum.”

Steinglass tells the jurors to listen to the judge’s instructions on reasonable doubt carefully, saying that “the people have proven this case beyond all reasonable doubt.”

Nobody is saying Trump got behind a computer and generated vouchers and checks but he set the scheme in motion, Steinglass says.

“Juries determine intent all the time,” Steinglass says of need to prove an intent to defraud.

Donald Trump was “the beneficiary of the entire scheme” and the payment scheme to reimburse Michael Cohen in installments over a year did not help Cohen who needed to pay back his home equity loan without his wife finding out, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

Remember: Cohen testified he chose a home equity line of credit (HELOC) to fund the Stormy Daniels payment because it was paperless.

He said he didn’t draw money from his personal bank account because his wife was “CEO of the household” and she would notice a $130,000 withdrawal.

Joshua Steinglass quickly goes through another summary slide titled “The defendant’s direct involvement - Payments/coverup” which he says shows instances of “overt evidence” of Donald Trump’s involvement, including the catch-and-kill scheme and the payment and coverup scheme that includes the nine checks he signed.

The prosecutor says it’s “inconceivable” that Trump would be involved in silencing the women but “suddenly stick his head in the sand” when it came to the reimbursement scheme.

Steinglass also notes that Michael Cohen “was and is a self-promoter.”

“It simply defies all common sense to think he would undertake these herculean efforts” to help Trump and then keep it to himself, he adds.

Steinglass notes that Cohen told Trump about the American Media, Inc. deal so it defied logic he wouldn’t have told him about Stormy Daniels, too.

Joshua Steinglass is walking through Donald Trump’s actions across the timeline, including calls with Michael Cohen, meetings with David Pecker and the fact he signed nine of the checks, among other actions.

Joshua Steinglass is now going over a November 4, 2016, call between Michael Cohen and Trump’s former body Keith Schiller.

He tells the jury, “I know what you’re thinking, how do we know” that this call between Cohen and Schiller’s phone was actually a call between Cohen and Trump. Steinglass says the jury has to look at the circumstances and it makes sense that Trump and Cohen would talk during the “media monsoon.”

According to Cohen’s testimony, Weisselberg said “we’re going to pay you over 12 months. That made Cohen believe (Allen) Weisselberg and Trump already discussed the repayment schedule,” Steinglass argues.

He says Trump and Weisselberg had a “frick and frack” routine.

Joshua Steinglass is reminding the jury that David Pecker met Donald Trump at Trump Tower in January 2017 and they discussed Karen McDougal.

The prosecutor does raise one new detail he hadn’t mentioned today: Pecker says Trump thanked him for his help on the McDougal story.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is running through key dates in the hush money case against Donald Trump as he presents his final points to the jury.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors tried to prove Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments made to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniel’s claim of an affair with Trump from becoming public before the 2016 presidential election.

Here’s a timeline CNN compiled of key events in the case that Steinglass referenced during his closing argument today:

See a full timeline of the case.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has highlighted a phone log on October 26 when Michael Cohen called Trump twice before initiating the transfer to attorney Keith Davidson, who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

“Think about the timing of these phones calls. They’re absolutely critical,” he says pausing. “Unlike the call on the 24th. This was the final go-ahead.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has put up a timeline — going back to August 2015.

Steinglass appears to be using this timeline graphic to summarize his closing argument to the jury.

The prosecution’s slide show is pulling up pieces of evidence on a screen.

“Mr. Trump Involved Every Step of the Way” reads a PowerPoint slide as Steinglass starts back up.

“You see reflected here a series of calls,” Steinglass says: A 7-minute call between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump on September 29 followed by a 9-minute call by Cohen and David Pecker.

The next day, Steinglass says, Resolution Consultants LLC was formed.

Remember: Cohen testified he lied when he filled out a form saying it was a management consulting company.

Instead, he said the purpose of the LLC was “to use this entity for the assignment of the (Karen) McDougal matter as well as the other information” that AMI had about Trump.

“Thanks for sticking with me,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass tells the jury.

He then says “yesterday” and corrects himself to note it was today that he told them something.

Steinglass adds: “It feels like yesterday.”

“Jurors thank you again for your flexibility. We’re taking full advantage of it tonight,” Judge Juan Merchan says as the prosecution resumes its closing argument.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and court is back in session.

“Before we bring the jury back in. The jury has said all along today that they could work until 8 p.m. You’ve been going for four hours now.”

Merchan suggests a colleague hand prosecutor Joshua Steinglass a note to let him know when it’s 8 p.m. and to wrap it up.

Steinglass did not have any reaction to this suggestion.

Before the jury left the courtroom for a break, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass moved through 2018 events in the hush money case.

Here’s what he told the jury in the latest stretch of his closing argument:

CNN’s Celina Tebor contributed reporting to this post.

With the jury out of the room for the latest break, the lawyers are arguing about the tweet from Donald Trump – “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!!”

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche argues that to link Trump directly to precautions Stormy Daniels took concerning security would be “prejudicial.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pushes back saying it was considered in pretrial motions and that the defense opened the door wide enough to drive a truck through it in its suggestions that Daniels was benefiting from the situation.

Merchan says, citing the length of Steinglass’s summations:

Before the break, Donald Trump’s Truth Social post calling Stormy Daniel’s “horseface” is shown on the screen as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass talks about how Trump responds to disloyalty.

The Trump post is from March 15, 2023, around the time Daniels was testifying before the grand jury in connection to this case.

Steinglass says Trump was “clearly trying to pressure both Daniels and (Michael) Cohen to back off.”

Trump also took legal action against Daniels in Florida to try to enforce a judgment to recover legal fees.

Steinglass says the lawsuits show “the lengths he’s willing to go to punish those who dare to defy him.”

The prosecutor also displayed the Trump post, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!!” Blanche objected and the attorneys gathered at the bench.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that this tweet was about the campaign, not Cohen or Daniels.

As the jury waited while attorneys were at the bench, Trump’s tweet remained on the screen.

‘I’m not saying that was Mr. Trump’s intention to have his throngs get involved.” Steinglass says.

Then adds, “But you’ll recall that Ms. Daniels testified about some of the security precautions she had to take.”

The jury has left the courtroom for a break.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is expected to resume his closing argument when the court returns.

The prosecution’s closing argument has lasted nearly four hours.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is reading “Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life,” another book by Donald Trump.

The excerpts cited about Trump’s philosophy include:

Attorney Joshua Steinglass is showing the jury Trump’s tweets the day after Michael Cohen pleaded guilty.

“Trump immediately went on the attack. An attack that continues to this day,” Steinglass says.

After maintaining a relative vow of silence on his predecessor’s legal matters, it’s possible President Joe Biden chooses to address the trial of his predecessor after the jury reaches a verdict in the case – with three aides acknowledging that the uncertainty in the timing of the jury’s decision complicates any planning.

Biden is on the road for much of next two weeks: On Tuesday, he will headline a campaign event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before traveling to Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to remember his son, Beau Biden, who died nine years ago from brain cancer.

On Friday, Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with the Belgian prime minister to discuss plans to utilize Russian assets sitting in Western banks to continue funding Ukraine’s defense. The lion’s share of that money is held by Belgium, which has had reservations about the precedent such a move would set.

Later Friday, Biden is set to welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House to celebrate the team’s second consecutive Super Bowl win in an event that is usually light-hearted.

If the jury deliberations spill into the following week, there’s a chance Biden could be en route to France; he departs on June 4 for several days to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day and be feted with a state dinner. During that time, Biden’s son, Hunter, will be on trial for charges that he made false statements on a form to purchase a firearm during a time when he has said he was addicted to drugs.  

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined Tuesday to say whether Biden would address a verdict in Trump’s trial, or provide insights into how the president would monitor his son’s trial.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche objects when Joshua Steinglass begins reading Michael Cohen’s testimony about his guilty plea, which includes referencing the Federal Election Campaign Act.

Before the objection, Steinglass says it’s disingenuous for the defense to tell the jurors that they should not believe Cohen because he repeatedly denied paying Stormy Daniels at all or with his own funds.

Judge Juan Merchan asks them to approach the bench.

Around the same time of Trump’s April 2018 tweet, Michael Cohen met with attorney Robert Costello, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reminds the jury.

“Cohen never really trusted Costello. Can you really blame him? You saw Costello testify,” Steinglass says.

Costello told the jury “under oath” that he was only acting in Cohen’s best interest, which Steinglass calls now “a bold-faced lie.”

“His demeanor on the stand is something you can take into account. That’s a fact when you are assessing his credibility,” Steinglass says.

Costello was an attorney who advised Cohen in the weeks following the FBI raid on Cohen’s home and office. He took the stand for the defense last week.

Judge Juan Merchan admonished Costello and threatened to remove him from the stand after he audibly complained when the judge sustained objections to the questions he was being asked.

The prosecutor is now talking about Michael Cohen’s relationship with Donald Trump.

“Cohen knew where the bodies were buried. It was essential to keep him loyal,” Joshua Steinglass says.

Trump’s tweets are up on the screen.

Steinglass says Cohen interpreted that as a message the way anyone would. He also reminds the jury that Trump was still paying Cohen’s legal bills at the time.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just asked the jury if they are good to go a little longer. Several jurors nod yes and the one who has been smiling all day smiled wider.

“All right,” Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass explains how Donald Trump’s personal account is an enterprise and can have falsified business records.

Trump’s personal account is “the hub of a wheel with 500 spokes” as it receives funds from Trump-owned entities and disburses funds to those entities when needed.

He says Judge Juan Merchan will instruct them as to the definition of an enterprise.

Donald Trump has his back completely turned to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as he’s making his closing argument.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pulls up texts from Michael Cohen to Maggie Haberman of the New York Times in February 2018:

“Big boss just approved me responding to complaint and statement. Please start writing and I will call you soon.”

Steinglass says this shows Trump approved the misleading statement that stated Trump Org. and the Trump campaign was not a party to the transaction between Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

Steinglass also raising again a text from Jay Sekulow sent to Cohen over Signal: “Client says thanks for what you do.”

Prosecutor Joshua. Steinglass calls Hope Hicks’ testimony about the conversation she had with Donald Trump “devastating.”

Steinglass was pointing to Hicks’ testimony about the conversation she had with Trump about the Wall Street Journal story on Jan 12, 2018, breaking the story that Michael Cohen made the payment to Stormy Daniels: “I think Mr. Trump’s opinion was it was better to be dealing with it now, and that it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election.”

Steinglass then suggests that Hicks, once a longtime trusted aide in Trump’s inner circle, burst into tears right after testifying to this because she realized how bad the testimony was for Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan overrules Trump lawyer Todd Blanche’s objection to this suggestion.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is moving onto the Wall Street Journal article on January 12, 2018, breaking the story that Michael Cohen made the payment to Stormy Daniels.

And he says “there was a cover up of the cover up,” which takes us into 2018.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reads another excerpt from one of Donald Trump’s books about signing checks.

Reminder: Trump attorney Todd Blanche this morning claimed that a focus on decade-old book passages was a “red flag.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is still reading a few book passages to the jury.

He says the philosophy explained in the books is backed up by testimony from witnesses — people who worked for Trump and people who knew him.

Jurors are still all focused on Steinglass.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has pulled up excerpts from one of Donald Trump’s books, reading to the jury testimony they heard earlier about the former president’s views on his finances.

“Always look at the numbers yourself. If things turn grim you’re the one left holding the check book,” the excerpt reads.

“It’s this combination of frugality and attention to detail that led Mr. Trump to keep tight reins on his checks in particular,” Steinglass said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass challenges why Donald Trump would go through a complicated multistep workaround to get his personal checks to him for signing at the White House through employees’ personal home addresses.

“Because Mr. Trump wanted to retain control over his $80 cable bill because that’s who he is.”

Steinglass added: “He’s frugal.”

Joshua Steinglass tells jurors “Don’t buy the bogus narrative the defense is selling” that the defendant is too busy, referring to Donald Trump.

The prosecutor says that Trump was in charge of the company for 40 years and his “entire business philosophy” is to be involved in everything, down to “negotiating the cost of the light bulbs.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is showing the jury a December 2017 check cut to Michael Cohen. He points out Trump’s signature he signed “by hand using his distinctive sharpie.”

“It’s easy to throw just a bunch of mud on the wall and see what sticks but what is the defense actually saying here,” Steinglass says.

He says that they argue Trump didn’t know about the reimbursement, it was all cooked up by former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Cohen.

Steinglass points out that the December 2017 check to Cohen was notated for services rendered in the month of December and yet was cut on December 1 at 9:11 a.m.

The prosecutor then asked rhetorically how someone can do that much work to earn $35,000 in 11 minutes. 

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going over the vouchers and check stubs that show the payments to Michael Cohen in the Trump Organization system as generated by Accounts Payable employee Deborah Tarasoff.

Steinglass says Tarasoff is “not in on it – she does what she’s told” and enters the payments as retainers as she was instructed.

But he says these are falsified business records.

The prosecutor added: “I know what you’re thinking, is this guy gonna go through every” month of checks?

Some jurors smile at that comment.

Steinglass says he is not. He’s just going to show one set of checks paid by the trust and one signed by Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pulls up a footnote from the 2018 Office of Government Ethics form, laughing mockingly that Trump attorney Todd Blanche used the form to suggest everything was above board.

Steinglass raises his voice as he knocks the defense argument Cohen was paid for legal work, noting all of the documents match up to what Cohen was promised to be reimbursed.

Read up on the documents the prosecution introduced as evidence during the trial.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says Michael Cohen got a “pretty cool title” and used the title of personal attorney to the president to generate millions in consulting business.

If jurors still have any doubt, “the defendant has himself repeatedly admitted that the payments were reimbursements,” the prosecutor says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says Michael Cohen “probably did more legal work in the first three months of 2018 then he did in all of 2017,” but he still wasn’t paid at all in 2018.

“If he was still doing legal work, why wasn’t he paid a dime in 2018?” he asks.

Steinglass says, “When the reimbursement was done, the payments stopped.”

“Cohen spent more time being cross-examined in this trial than he did doing legal work for Donald Trump in 2017,” Steinglass says.

Joshua Steinglass shows the jury a transcript of Michael Cohen’s testimony about his February 2017 meeting with Donald Trump at the Oval Office when Cohen testified that Trump told him to make sure he dealt with Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization CFO, and that there’d be a check for January and February forthcoming.

Steinglass acknowledges Cohen testified there was talk about a retainer agreement but the plan was always to disguise the reimbursement as income.

The prosecutor sarcastically said maybe if they created a fake retainer document it would “give them more cover.”

He then told the jury they’d be considering 35 instead of 34 counts because it’d be another falsified business record.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is explaining the concept of “grossing up” to the jury.

Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg “disguised the reimbursement as income so that means (Michael) Cohen will have to pay tax,” Steinglass says.

“These documents are so damning, you almost have to laugh at the way Mr. (Todd) Blanche tries to explain to you that this wasn’t fraud,” Steinglass says.

Steinglass says Trump Org. submitted false 1099s forms to the Internal Revenue Service and reported the reimbursement to Cohen as income.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass brings up the handwritten notes by former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg and former Trump Org. controller Jeffrey McConney detailing payments to Michael Cohen.

Steinglass referenced a passage from one of Trump’s book “Think Like a Billionaire” in which Trump called Weisselberg “a loyal employee” and “one of the toughest people in business when it comes to money.”

Steinglass says Trump’s lawyers have to tell the jury “with a straight face” that the handwritten notes from Weisselberg and McConney do not prove that the payments were for a reimbursement to Cohen in part for the Daniels hush money payment.

Steinglass is now walking jurors through Weisselberg’s notes, saying that the documents stated explicitly that the $130,000 and $50,000 reimbursements would be “grossed up” for taxes.

Jurors are all quite alert, mostly looking directly at Steinglass.

Steinglass notes again that the $50,000 Red Finch repayment was more than Cohen should have been paid. “That may matter for his character but it does not matter for the crimes the defendant is charged with,” he says.

Read up on the notes the prosecution introduced into evidence during the trial.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is reading to the jury excerpts from Michael Cohen’s testimony describing the Trump Tower meeting.

In his testimony, Cohen agrees that it was described as a retainer agreement in front of Trump.

Cohen testified he and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg went into Trump’s office to get his approval on the repayment plan. Cohen testified, “He approved it and he also said, “This is going to be one heck of a ride in DC.” 

“We don’t have to prove that the defendant made and created the false entries himself,” he says, adding that Trump is guilty of false business records when he makes or causes a false entry in his business records. Steinglass says the “reimbursement scheme. That is causing false entries. Period.”

Stormy Daniels leaves the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York after testifying at former President Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial on May 9.

Prosecutors Joshua Steinglass is zeroing in on the hush money payment at the center of the case as he continues to deliver his closing argument.

According to prosecutors, on October 27, 2016, Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to her attorney through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006.

Trump has publicly denied having an affair with Daniels and denied making the payments.

Prosecutors say Daniels first brought her story to American Media Inc., whose executives brought the story to Cohen on Trump’s behalf.

According to prosecutors, Trump directed Cohen to delay making the payment as long as possible, telling him if they delayed paying until after the election they could avoid paying it at all.

The former president has been accused of taking part in an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election and an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, which included the payment to Daniels.

Prosecutors allege that Trump allegedly disguised the transaction as a legal payment and falsified business records numerous times to “promote his candidacy.”

Read a full timeline of the hush money case.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing jurors the bank statement from Michael Cohen that he brought in to Allen Weisselberg.

“Right on the bank statement, Weisselberg and Cohen calculated all the money that was owed to Cohen,” Steinglass says.

Former President Donald Trump is including his commentary on the ongoing hush money trial against him on Truth Social.

While the court was taking a short break Tuesday afternoon, Trump posted on the platform, “BORING!”

In another post, also during the break, Trump said, “FILIBUSTER!”

The court is going later than usual tonight as lawyers finish their closing arguments. The prosecution has been giving its summary to the jury since roughly 2 p.m. ET.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says after the 2016 election, Michael Cohen went around complaining that he still hadn’t been repaid for the $130,000 he fronted to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Steinglass showed the jury more testimony from David Pecker who said in December of 2016 that Cohen complained to him about it.

”I understood he was complaining that he has not been repaid,” a portion of the transcript shows.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass resumes his closing argument after a short break. Steinglass is now discussing “payments and cover up” in his powerpoint.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the court is back in session after taking a short break.

The judge has called for the jury.

Donald Trump is back in court. His attorney Todd Blanche is whispering to him as they wait the judge. Attorney Susan Necheles also walked over to talk to Trump.

Trump’s entourage — including Tiffany, Eric and Donald Trump, Jr. — are all still here, too.

Donald Trump has been engaged and facing the jury and attorney Todd Blanche as the defense made its closing arguments, CNN’s Kara Scannell said.

“Trump was very focused on Blanche,” Scannell said. She also noted that the jury was also looking directly at Blanche too and also looking down at a monitor which displayed evidence.

The jury seems to be paying similar attention to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, as he presents his closing arguments, Scannell added, while Trump has been more focused on the evidence monitor.

“Their eyes are still looking at Steinglass as he’s talking as we’ve been in this marathon day. And their attention seems to be” kept to what Steinglass is saying and the evidence that is being presented to them,” she added.

Former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin appears on CNN on Tuesday, May 28.

If presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is convicted in this hush money criminal trial, it could be “incredibly challenging with swing voters,” his former aide Alyssa Farah Griffin said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, she said Trump seems concerned about the outcome of the case.

“I think he’s concerned about this. I think that just the lack of control over the situation, the lack of control over the outcome is something he’s never been good with,” she said. “He’s somebody who has just general control issues and wants to be able to have a say in how things are going to turn out. So his campaign is already thinking about how they’re going to message either outcome here.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is presenting his closing argument to the jury, outlining the reaction to the “Access Hollywood” tape and more on the bank accounts Michael Cohen set up to make payments.

Here’s the latest:

“Access Hollywood” tape: The news of the tape “was so explosive, it eclipsed the coverage of a Category 4 hurricane,” Steinglass said former Trump aide Hope Hicks testified. He highlighted the graphic language Trump used in transcript of the tape shown to the jury. Next, Steinglass said adult film star Stormy Daniels “would have totally undermined (Donald Trump’s) strategy for spinning away the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape.” 

The ”extortion” narrative: Steinglass refuted the defense’s claim in its closing argument that Daniels’ story started out as “an extortion.” Part of the reason the defense’s “extortion narrative is so bogus,” Steinglass said, is because National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Daniels’ former manager Gina Rodriguez were negotiating, and not involving Cohen or Trump. “AMI is acting as the campaign’s eyes and ears, just as (David) Pecker told Mr. Trump he would do,” Steinglass said.

Cohen’s bank accounts: Steinglass displayed the false paperwork Cohen gave to First Republic Bank in October 2016 about Resolution Consultants LLC, the first LLC Cohen said he opened to facilitate payments. Cohen falsified the business record to open the bank account, the prosecutor said.

Steinglass also detailed a call between Cohen and Trump when Cohen opened the account that would complete the wire transfer to Daniels’ attorney, the account opened for another LLC, which the prosecutor notes was false. 

Trump on the AMI deal with McDougal: Steinglass said Trump lied in his statement that he had no knowledge of the AMI deal with McDougal. He said he knows it’s false because there’s a tape of him from September talking about it, and AMI CEO David Pecker testified they had a phone call about it in June. Pecker testified Trump was upset when the McDougal story came out.

The court is taking a short break, according to Judge Juan Merchan.

“We’re trying to figure this out as we go,” Merchan tells the jury, thanking them for making arrangements to stay later.

“I was watching the jurors, they look pretty alert to me,” Merchan says, noting that jurors have made arrangements until 7 p.m. ET or 8 p.m. ET.

“I don’t think we’re losing anyone. I think right now we’re going to try to finish this out if we can,” he added.

Merchan said the jury seems pretty intent on finishing closings tonight.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is still moving day-by-day through the timeline.

He’s now showing text messages between Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson and National Enquirer Dylan Howard on election night 2016, when Davidson texted Howard: “What have we done?”

This text was previously shown during testimony.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is making a point of saying that Trump lied in his statement that he had no knowledge of the AMI deal with Karen McDougal.

Steinglass tells jurors they know it’s false because there’s a tape of him from September talking about it, and AMI CEO David Pecker testified they had a phone call about it in June.

Steinglass reminds the jury that Pecker testified Trump was upset when the McDougal story came out.

He says Pecker “establishes unequivocally that Mr. Trump was in on the McDougal deal” and was upset that it wasn’t kept under wraps well enough that it got out in November 2016.

The challenge for the prosecutors as they presents their closing arguments is that their case needs to make credible arguments that compel the jurors to convict Donald Trump.

The presence of any reasonable doubt is enough to acquit, experts say.

A juror smiled softly and raised her eyebrows when prosecutor Joshua Steinglass joked, “Hope, you’re getting all of this.”

He was running through a flurry of calls between Hope Hicks, Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is ticking through another flurry of calls on November 4, 2016, when the Wall Street Journal story on the Karen McDougal payment came out, including calls involving Michael Cohen, David Pecker and Hope Hicks.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says, “It’s no surprise” the payoff happened 10 years after the encounter between Trump and Stormy Daniels.

“And that’s because the defendant’s primary concern was not his family, but the election,” he says.

The jury is now seeing a record for the wire transfer from Michael Cohen to Keith Davidson calling the $130,000 payment a retainer.

The prosecutor says, “This wasn’t a retainer, it was a pay-off.”

“Now it’s true that Mr. Trump didn’t sign these documents himself. That’s kind of the whole point,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

Steinglass notes that the day Cohen signed the wire transfer document, October 28, Cohen had a call with Trump.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is pointing to a call between Michael Cohen and Trump that lasted three minutes, records show. The call came before Cohen went across the street to the bank to open the account that would complete the wire transfer to Daniel’s attorney.

“This is damning right here,” he says of the call.

Steinglass now shows jurors again the bank records that Cohen submitted to open an account for Essential Consultants LLC, which he notes was false, claiming it was a real estate consulting company.

The prosecution is in its closing argument, homing in on a key 2015 Trump Tower meeting and the biggest details in the “catch and kill” schemes Donald Trump and Michael Cohen worked on with the publishers of the National Enquirer. 

Here are the highlights so far:

Key points of the case: Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reminded the jury of a couple key points:

Trump Tower meeting: The August 2015 Trump Tower meeting with Pecker, Trump and Cohen is the “prism” through which the jury should look at this case, Steinglass said. Here’s the prosecution’s version of that meeting:

“Catch and kill”: Steinglass reminded the jury of the “catch and kill” dealings Trump and Cohen had with Pecker of AMI. Here are some highlights:

Steinglass said the “catch and kill” scheme “cooked up by these men at this time could very well be what got President Trump elected,” referring to former AMI boss David Pecker, Trump and Cohen.

Once American Media Inc. purchased stories on Trump’s behalf, Steinglass argued “those purchases became unlawful campaign contributions.”

Steinglass said the National Enquirer’s agreement with Trump and Cohen on the doorman story was a “catch and kill.” Former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin was selling a story about Trump allegedly fathering a son. Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, said he would have waited to publish the story after the election, per his agreement with Cohen and Trump. 

Karen McDougal’s story: “Pecker was willing to sacrifice AMI’s bottom line in order to benefit Mr. Trump’s campaign. There’s just no way to get away from this devastating fact,” Steinglass said. The prosecutor said the $150,000 paid to former model Karen McDougal in her agreement with AMI “is the antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.” 

Steinglass played a “jaw dropping” recording of a September 2016 conversation between Trump and Cohen about buying the rights to McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump. It shows, a “cavalier willingness to hide this payoff,” he said. 

Joshua Steinglass continues to quickly skim through Michael Cohen’s call log.

“Again, I’m not going to try to bore you with every single record here,” the prosecutor says.

He notes there were “six calls in three years between” Cohen and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

“Well, two of them happened the three days leading up to the Stormy Daniels payment,” Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now walking through more phone calls as the negotiations over the deal briefly fell apart.

He is ticking through various phone conversations, including, he notes, rare calls on the weekend involving Michael Cohen and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Steinglass appears to have quickened his pace flipping quickly though pages of phone logs and messages that prosecutors say reveal the timeline of the scheme unfolding. He’s told the panel a few times since the mid-afternoon break that they’ll have access to the evidence during deliberations if they want to read the exhibits more closely.

A closing argument is “never too long,” one criminal defense trial attorney said.

It comes as the prosecution in the hush money trial against Donald Trump has been conducting its closing summation for more than two hours so far.

The defense gave its closing argument Tuesday morning and focused on discrediting Trump’s former fixer and key prosecution witness, Michael Cohen. 

Schneider said the prosecution has to make sure Cohen is not the “depending factor to make or break the case” by connecting the dots on all of the other evidence it prevented throughout the trial.

The defense attorney said she felt Trump lawyer Todd Blanche “missed the boat completely” on his closing argument for the defense.

Schneider said he needed to waive a narrative that fits the story and should have focused more on arguing that Trump didn’t know what he was signing when he signed checks intended to reimburse Cohen.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now showing the false paperwork Michael Cohen provided on October 13, 2016, to First Republic Bank about Resolution Consultants LLC, the first LLC Cohen said he opened up to facilitate payments.

Steinglass tells the jury that Cohen falsified the business record to open the bank account.

Blanche told the jury there’s no proof beyond Cohen’s words that Trump knew anything about any of those records or Cohen’s activities.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass now skips quickly through slides showing messages and call records during a two-week stretch when Michael Cohen gave “a barrage of excuses” to Keith Davidson to put off paying Stormy Daniels from October 12 to 26, 2016.

Joshua Steinglass argues that part of the reason the defense’s “extortion narrative is so bogus,” is because the negotiations happened between Dylan Howard and Gina Rodriguez about AMI buying the story, not involving Michael Cohen or Donald Trump at all when Stormy Daniels’ manager thought that AMI would buy the story.

Howard was the editor of the National Enquirer while Rodriguez was Daniels’ manager.

Remember: Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, in his closing arguments, said the Daniels’ situation started out as “an extortion.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now walking through how things changed for publicist Gina Rodriguez trying to sell her client Stormy Daniels’ story when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out.

Steinglass is going through texts between National Enquirer editor Howard and Rodriguez in the hours after the tape went public.

Steinglass argues that part of the reason the “extortion narrative is so bogus” is because the negotiations happened between Howard and Rodriguez about AMI buying the story, and did not involve Cohen or Trump at all when Daniels’ manager thought that AMI would buy the story.

Robert De Niro speaks in support of US President Joe Biden outside of Manhattan Criminal Court as former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends his criminal trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments in New York City, on May 28.

Actor Robert De Niro said that he spoke outside of the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place at the request made by President Joe Biden’s camp.

De Niro said he thought it was important to make an appearance.

De Niro has been a longtime critic of Trump. On Tuesday, the actor appeared outside of the court but was not specifically intended to discuss aspects of the trial, the president’s team insisted to CNN.

“If this guy gets in again, it’s gonna be hell,” De Niro told CNN. “It’ll be four years, there’ll be fights and there’ll be strife and civil strife and all that … I’d like to think that the country will right itself, but at what cost because of this crazy fool.”

Closing arguments are currently underway in Trump’s trial.

“Stormy Daniels was a walking, talking reminder that the defendant was not only words,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going back through all of the details. He is showing the jury once again Trump’s comments at an October 2016 rally in North Carolina, where he denies a story about women alleging misconduct.

Former President Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche speaks to jurors during his closing argument on Tuesday.

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is underway, but sketch artists are capturing the scenes.

Attorney Todd Blanche delivered closing arguments for the defense this morning. He addressed the jury for just under three hours.

In this court sketch, attorney Todd Blanche delivers his closing arguments in the former president's criminal hush money trial.

Donald Trump listens as attorney Todd Blanche delivers his closing arguments.

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Lara Trump and Tiffany Trump are seen in the courtroom.

Joshua Steinglass plays a clip of Donald Trump’s video responding to the “Access Hollywood” tape, as well as a timeline showing text messages in the fallout, including communications between Michael Cohen and Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon and David Pecker.

Cohen also spoke by phone to Trump on October 8, 2016, Steinglass shows the jury.

Some background: The tape was recorded in 2005, and it was leaked to The Washington Post, which published the video on October 7, 2016, a little more than a month before Election Day. Trump is heard talking about trying, unsuccessfully, to “move on” an unnamed, married woman, and then crassly talks about his uncontrollable desire to kiss an actress he is about to meet with then-“Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass notes that former Trump aide Hope Hicks testified that the news of the “Access Hollywood” tape “was so explosive, it eclipsed the coverage of a Category 4 hurricane.”

“So I guess it was a Category 5 hurricane,” he says of the tape.

Steinglass is showing the jury the transcript of the tape and highlighting the graphic language Trump used.

“The video was vulgar to say the least” Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass resumes his closing arguments.

Closing arguments are not the time for lawyers to try to persuade jurors to side with them, one jury consultant said. 

Instead, both sides are trying to articulate their arguments to the jurors who already believe in their case, according to Melissa Gomez. The lawyers want those jurors to fight for their desired outcome during deliberations.

Once the jurors get the case, the lawyers don’t have any more influence, she said, underscoring the importance of explaining how the evidence relates to the charges one last time.

“They need to make sure that they’ve provided the jurors who believed in their side of the case what they need to fight for them in the deliberation room,” Gomez said.

The jury is reentering the courtroom, and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is expected to resume his closing argument soon.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench.

After consulting with a court security officer and the attorneys, he tells the courtroom there will be another break at around 5 p.m. ET.

Merchan says they’re trying to figure out what is best for the jurors.

Some context: The courthouse usually closes at 5 p.m.

As the afternoon break is about to begin, Judge Juan Merchan asks the prosecutor: “How’s it going, Mr. Steinglass?”

He responds that he’s “about a third of the way through.”

For context: Steinglass is using a timeline graphic to take the jury through what prosecutors believe are the key moments in the conspiratorial schemes.

We’re up to November 29 - December 7, 2016, when AMI modified Karen McDougal’s agreement to let her respond to general media inquiries.

The court is taking a short afternoon break. The prosecution’s closing argument will resume after the break.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says that the tape shows “a presidential candidate actively engaging in a scheme to influence the election by reimbursing AMI for killing the (Karen) McDougal story. And that’s why they’re so desperate to discredit it.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass plays the recorded September 2016 conversation between Trump and Michael Cohen about buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump.

“This recording is nothing short of jaw dropping,” Steinglass says.

“The recording shows the defendant’s cavalier willingness to hide this payoff. He knew how much AMI paid for the McDougal deal,” the prosecutor says.

“You should take this recording to the back. You can play this many times and as loudly as you want to hear Mr. Trump say 150 on this tape. It’s your decision what the tape says,” he said.

“He’s trying to do it in a way that’s not trying to leave a paper trial. That’s the whole point,” Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now turning to the September 2016 recording with Trump about Karen McDougal.

He’s accusing the defense of “going to laughable lengths in a feeble attempt to cast doubt” on the evidence on Michael Cohen’s phone.

“Here’s a newsflash. People have used their phones,” Steinglass says, asking jurors how many times they have gotten a new phone and done a factory reset.

Steinglass also pushes back on questions from Trump attorney Todd Blanche about why Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime assistant who was heard on the call, wasn’t asked about it. “She wasn’t even there for the important part of the conversation,” he says.

Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is watching Steinglass try to explain Cohen’s cell phone and the voice recording.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going over AMI’s non-prosecution agreement, noting that it was admitted to assess David Pecker’s credibility and help provide context for surrounding evidence.

Steinglass says that Trump attorney Todd Blanche suggested that AMI agreed to the agreement because the company was in a rush to get another deal done as he questions Blanche’s logic. Judge Juan Merchan overrules an objection to the comment.

Steinglass says the $150,000 paid to Karen McDougal in her agreement with AMI “is the antithesis of a normal legitimate press function.”

“That is the definition of an unlawful corporate campaign contribution.”

Remember: On April 25, Judge Juan Merchan read over his limiting instruction to the jury about the non-prosecution agreement (NPA) that prosecutors struck with the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc.

Part of the agreement, shown in court, says the Southern District of New York will not criminally prosecute American Media Inc. for any crimes “related to its participation, between in or about August 2015 up to and including in or about October 2016, in making a contribution and expenditure aggregating $25,000 and more during the 2016 calendar year, to the campaign of a candidate for President of the United States.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reminds the jury that Karen McDougal was willing to tell her story. Her other offer from ABC, which would have secured her a spot on “Dancing with the Stars,” also required her to tell her story about Trump publicly.

Steinglass notes, “Now it’s true that Karen McDougal preferred the AMI deal because she thought it would revive her career and she wouldn’t have to be the next Monica Lewinsky.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is looking over at the jury while prosecutor Joshua Steinglass runs through several text messages.

Going through more text exchanges, Steinglass says, “(Dylan) Howard tells (Michael) Cohen, (Keith) Davidson rejected their offer. Howard tells Cohen that he implored Davidson to get it done. They agree on the brand strokes of the deal.”

He then reads Davidson saying they should throw in an ambassadorship for him for the Isle of Man.

Joshua Steinglass turns back to the call that David Pecker said he had with Donald Trump during a conference in New Jersey.

According to Pecker, Trump said Michael Cohen told him about Karen McDougal’s story. 

“That is testimony from Pecker that during the call from the defendant, the defendant told him that he found out about the Karen McDougal story from Cohen just as Cohen said that he did, keep the boss updated,” Steinglass said.

He reminds the jury that Pecker testified Trump called McDougal a “nice girl,” suggesting that Trump knew her and Pecker also said on the stand that he believed the story of the affair to be true.

Steinglass calls Pecker’s testimony “powerful evidence of the defendant’s involvement wholly apart from Cohen.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now moving on to the Karen McDougal story.

He’s walking jurors back through text messages between Michael Cohen and Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller after Cohen learned about the potential story.

Steinglass is also quickly showing text messages and call logs showing that National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard was in the loop when Howard went to California to interview McDougal in June 2016.

“Understand I’ve got this locked down for you. I won’t let it out of my grasp,” Howard texted Cohen in June 2016, the messages show.

Steinglass says Howard wasn’t shopping around for a story. “Howard is acting in cahoots with a candidate to kill the story,” he argues.

Joshua Steinglass says the catch-and-kill scheme to suppress the Dino Sajudin story was election interference.

“This was overt election fraud,” the prosecutor says, telling the jury it was an act in furtherance of the conspiracy to interfere with the election.

Jurors are paying attention to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as he delivers his closing argument.

Many of their eyes are trained on him. Others are looking at the monitors, which right now are showing text messages that are put on a chart by prosecutors.

During their closing argument, prosecutors are likely to bring up all the times when other evidence, documents or testimony corroborated what Donald Trump’s former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen said on the stand, but ultimately, the jury will have to take a leap of faith to get to a conviction, according to CNN legal analysts.

The defense spent much of its closing argument this morning trying to discredit Cohen, telling the jury he was lying and pointing out inconsistencies.

Cohen’s credibility has been a theme throughout the trial — one that prosecutors tried to anticipate. In the spirit of “pre-corroboration,” they called a series of witnesses before Cohen to set the jury up for what he was going to say, CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams said.

Those witnesses included Stormy Daniels and Cohen’s banker Gary Farro, for example, who testified about how Cohen set up LLCs to pay Daniels.

But, in the end, Honig said there is an “unavoidable gap that you have to be able to take Michael Cohen at his word if you’re going to convict.”

He added the documents show “a plan happening within the accounting department,” but Cohen brings key context to Trump’s knowledge and intent.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass shows the jury a transcript excerpt in which David Pecker testified about the Dino Sajudin story deal “if the story got out to another publication or another media outlet, it would have been very embarrassing to the campaign.”

Steinglass again says, “this is not a normal legitimate press function.”

Donald Trump just leaned over and said something to his attorney Emil Bove.

Attorney Joshua Steinglass is delivering the prosecution’s closing argument, starting off by showing how adult film star Stormy Daniels has been consistent in her story and detailing former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s role in this case.

Here are the highlights so far:

“Conspiracy and a cover up”: Steinglass said the core of the case is around a conspiracy “to corrupt the 2016 election” and the cover up was “an effort hide the conspiracy to falsify business records to disguise.” He asked the jury to tune out distractions and “ignore the sideshows.” 

Stormy Daniels’ testimony: Steinglass said that while some of the adult film star’s testimony was “cringeworthy,” her story has not changed in a significant way over the years. She described what Trump’s hotel suite looked like and the contents of his toiletry bag, which are the “kind of details you would expect someone to remember.” He added if Daniels didn’t testify about them, it would have given the defense more ammunition to try to discredit her. 

Daniels’ hush money payment: Steinglass said defense attorney Todd Blanche sounded like “he admitted” that at least as early as 2017, former President Trump knew about the Daniels payments.

Cohen’s role: Steinglass outlined Cohen’s interest in this case. Here are some highlights:

Joshua Steinglass now walking through the Dino Sajudin story, showing the source agreement documents with the former Trump Tower doorman and noting that National Enquirer publisher David Pecker agreed to pay more than normal for the story.

The prosecutor notes that Pecker did say that the Sajudin story, if true, would have been bigger than the death of Elvis.

But Steinglass notes that Pecker said he would have waited to publish the story until after the election because that was the agreement he had reached with Michael Cohen and Donald Trump.

Remember: The jury on April 23 saw an agreement AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, struck with Sajudin, the doorman selling a story about Trump allegedly fathering a son.

The deal was to purchase the rights to the story, and the document is dated November 15, 2015.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now talking about American Media Inc.’s agreement with Trump to purchase stories on his behalf.

“Once AMI purchased stories on the candidate’s behalf, those purchases became unlawful campaign contributions,” Steinglass says.

Donald Trump isn’t looking in the direction of the prosecution anymore. Defense attorney Todd Blanche still has his full body turned in the prosecutor’s direction.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass continued to zero in on the importance of the alleged “catch and kill” schemes that Donald Trump was a part of with ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and their possible role in the 2016 election.

“You may say who cares if Mr. Trump slept with a porn star 10 years before the 2016 election. Many people feel that way. It’s harder to say the American people don’t have the right to decide for themselves whether they care or not,” he says.

“The value of this corrupt bargain,” Steinglass says, “cannot be overstated.”

“It turned out to be one of the most valuable contributions anyone ever made to the Trump campaign,” Steinglass says, adding that “this scheme cooked up by these men at this time could very well be what got President Trump elected.”

Earlier, Steinglass also noted that that the defendant “has pointed out again and again NDAs (nondisclosure agreements) aren’t illegal. That’s true but that’s beside the point. Contracts aren’t illegal in and of themselves but a contract to kill your wife is illegal.”

Referring to Donald Trump’s meeting with David Pecker and Michael Cohen in 2015, Joshua Steinglass tells the jury:

The prosecutor notes that Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told the jury there was no discussion of catch-and-kill during the 2015 meeting.

“That’s not true. They discussed catch and kill plenty. They didn’t use the term catch and kill. But that’s exactly what it was,” he says.

Steinglass quotes Blanche’s opening statement.

“Blanche said there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election it’s called democracy. In reality, this agreement at Trump Tower was the exact opposite. it was the subversion of democracy.”

Steinglass accused Trump and AMI, the owner of the National Enquirer, of trying to “pull the wool over” voters’ eyes “in a coordinated fashion.”

“Pecker and AMI stopped engaging in legitimate press activities the moment they agreed to be a covert arm of the defendant’s campaign,” Steinglass says.

The August 2015 Trump Tower meeting with David Pecker, Donald Trump and Michael Cohen is the “prism” through which the jury should look at this case, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

Steinglass now appears to be turning to tell the prosecutors’ story chronologically as he returns to the Trump Tower meeting and what Pecker agreed to do for Trump.

In a nod to the jury instructions, Steinglass says Pecker’s commitment to run certain stories for the benefit of Trump’s campaign “is not a normal legitimate press function.”

More on this: At the charging conference, the parties debated over language for a definition of the phrase “normal legitimate press function” to be read to the jury in Judge Juan Merchan’s instructions on the law. 

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says Robert Costello, one of the two witnesses for the defense, was a “double agent” working to keep Michael Cohen quiet against Donald Trump.

Remember: Costello is an attorney who was in talks with Cohen to represent him after the FBI raided his home and office in 2018.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says the defense wants to make this case about Michael Cohen.

“It isn’t. That’s a deflection,” Steinglass tells the jury.

The prosecutor says Cohen’s “significance in this case is that he provides context and color to the documents, the phone records.”

“He’s like a tour guide through the physical evidence, but those documents don’t lie and they don’t forget,” Steinglass said.

Remember: Trump was charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office last year with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from reimbursements made to Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, for hush money payments he made before the 2016 election to an adult film star alleging an affair with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair. 

Each criminal charge Trump is facing relates to a specific entry among the business records of the Trump Organization, according to the indictment. Prosecutors accuse Trump of repeatedly causing false entries in the business records. 

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is arguing that there’s plenty of evidence to corroborate Michael Cohen’s story.

“In this case, there’s literally a mountain of evidence of corroborating testimony that tends to connect the defendant to this crime, from Pecker to Hicks to the defendant’s own employees,” Steinglass says, referring to former CEO of American Media Inc. David Pecker and Trump’s former aide Hope Hicks.

“It’s difficult to conceive of a case with more corroboration than this one,” he adds.

Loyalty for Donald Trump was “not a two-way street,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says.

“Look what the defendant did to David Pecker,” he says, referring to the publisher of the National Enquirer.

“Mr.Pecker saw Mr. Trump as a mentor. Mr. Trump saw him as a useful tool.”

Steinglass continued:

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is describing how Michael Cohen was more of Trump’s “fixer than his lawyer.”

“He had a legal title, but he wasn’t in the Trump Organization legal department. He didn’t answer to the general counsel, he answered to the defendant directly,” Steinglass says. “He got the jobs no one else wanted. The jobs that the defendant wanted to keep quiet.

“We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store,” Steinglass adds. “The defendant chose Michael Cohen as his fixer because he was willing to lie and cheat on his behalf.”

Steinglass tells the jury that Trump chose Cohen “for the same qualities” that Trump’s attorneys “now urge you to reject his testimony because of it.”

Joshua Steinglass says that the defense is trying to have it both ways, “telling you (Michael) Cohen would say anything to get the defendant convicted. And then pointing out that his testimony, if you accept it, isn’t enough.”

The prosecutor argues it’s actually neither, suggesting that if Cohen was lying he could have gone much further in tying Donald Trump to alleged illegality.

But Steinglass says Cohen didn’t offer more because “he’s limited by what actually happened and he’s not going to tell you anything beyond that.”

He adds:

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pulled up the transcript of a September 2016 call and said that it lasted 46 seconds

He argues that Donald Trump and Michael Cohen covered multiple topics in that call, showing they could cover a lot of ground quickly.

“Even if you’re not convinced” that both conversations happened,” Cohen could have gotten the date and the time of that conversation wrong.

“This was not any critical moment in time. This was one update of many,” Steinglass says.

“These guys know each other well. They speak in coded language and they speak fast,” he adds.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has turned to the October 24 call and is acting out a fake conversation between Michael Cohen, Trump and his former bodyguard Keith Schiller.

Steinglass says the defense has tried to claim it is the “big lie.”

“Hey Keith, how’s it going? It seems like this prankster might be a 14-year-old kid,” Steinglass starts the fake conversation.

Steinglass uses his hand with his thumb and pinky finger extended as a fake phone as he does this.

The prosecutor is moving to the lies to Congress, which he notes with a note of incredulity.

“What Michael Cohen lied about was the number of dealings the defendant had with Russia,” Joshua Steinglass says.

He called it “rich” and “chutzpah” for Donald Trump to now claim the lies Cohen told to Congress to benefit Trump are now a reason to discredit Cohen.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass notes that it’s true Michael Cohen has made money off of Trump.

“I suspect he will continue to do that regardless of the outcome of this trial,” he says.

Steinglass says Cohen has endured the consequences for his actions and is the only one to do so in this scheme.

“I’m not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen. He made his bed, but you can hardly blame him for making money on the one thing he has left which is his knowledge of the Trump phenomenon,” he says.

Steinglass also tried to explain Cohen’s lies to the judge when he was sentenced.

“He believes the Trump Justice Department did him dirty, whether that’s true or not, he was very forthright about the conduct he committed and he accepted responsibility for the conduct,” he said.

Joshua Steinglass calls out Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche on what he said was an inconsistency in the defense argument about Michael Cohen.

“You can call him a thief or say it wasn’t a reimbursement but not both,” he says.

“I don’t know if anybody caught this,” he tells the jury.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now addressing Michael Cohen’s admission of stealing from Trump by overcharging the Trump Organization for the tech services.

The prosecutor says Cohen didn’t tell Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg it was only $20,000 he should’ve been reimbursed rather than the $50,000 he claimed.

Steinglass adds: “And he should have, and that’s stealing, we agree.”

“It’s true he was never charged with that. He’s also the one who brought it to everyone’s attention,” Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche sounded like “he admitted” that at least as early as 2017, former President Donald Trump knew about the Stormy Daniels’ payments.

“Remember, 2017 is when the checks were still rolling in every month. Of course the defendant knew much earlier than 2017,” he said.

See a timeline of the prosecution’s case against Trump.

Donald Trump wouldn’t pay $130,000 – twice that after it was grossed up for taxes – just because he took a photo with someone on a golf course, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass tells the jury.

Remember: The jury was shown a photo on May 7 of Trump wearing a golf shirt alongside Stormy Daniels.

She testified that she met Trump in 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. “It was a very brief encounter,” she said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is moving onto Michael Cohen and notes the fact that he has an interest in this case.

“Michael Cohen is understandably angry. That to date, he’s the one who’s paid the price for his role in this conspiracy,” Steinglass says.

“Anyone in Cohen’s shoes would want the defendant to be held accountable,” Steinglass says.

Cohen did Trump’s bidding for years, “and when it went bad the defendant cut him loose, dropped him like a hot potato and tweeted out to the world that Mr. Cohen was a scumbag,” Steinglass says.

Steinglass is not referring to Trump by name, just as the defendant.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is arguing that that some of the details in Stormy Daniels’ story ring true, like what Trump’s hotel suite looked like and the contents of his toiletry bag.

He says those are the “kind of details you would expect someone to remember” and notes that if Daniels didn’t testify about them, it would have given the defense more ammunition to try to discredit her.

“In the simplest terms, Stormy Daniels is the motive,” Steinglass says.

Before prosecution began its closing arguments, the attorneys on both sides and the judge discussed Trump attorney’s Todd Blanche’s comments about Michael Cohen’s credibility during his closing argument.

CNN’s Paula Reid explained why the comment was a “third rail.”

What Blanche said about Cohen: “Then he came in here, he raised his right hand and he lied to each of you repeatedly. You cannot send someone to prison you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen.”

Why it’s controversial: “The jury is not going to sentence the defendant if he is convicted. And the judge suggested that this was part of an effort to elicit sympathy, potentially, for the defendant. So that’s why this is such an issue. They should not be bringing this up because this is not the jury’s job right now to decide whether or not someone goes to prison,” Reid explained.

“To be sure” some witnesses want to see Donald Trump convicted, says prosecutor Joshua Steinglass. “They’ve been attacked by the defendant on social media.”

The prosecutor acknowledges that Stormy Daniels is one of them.

Former President Donald Trump’s eldest sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — and his daughter-in-law and Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump railed against key figures in the hush money trial outside the Manhattan courtroom where closing arguments are taking place. 

Trump’s eldest sons attacked and tried to undermine the credibility of Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case against Trump.

Donald Trump Jr. took aim at Robert De Niro, who spoke to reporters outside of the courthouse earlier on Tuesday on behalf of the Biden campaign. 

Eric Trump said, “I want to say sorry to the jury that’s in there. This has been the greatest colossal waste of time.”

Lara Trump asked supporters to donate and plugged Trump’s campaign website. Tiffany Trump also attended the trial on Tuesday but did not come to speak to reporters. 

They did not take questions from reporters.

Click here for more on De Niro’s appearance.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass calls David Pecker’s testimony “utterly damning.”

Steinglass says that Pecker’s testimony “eliminates the whole notion that this was politics as usual” and that you don’t need Michael Cohen’s testimony to prove there was a conspiracy.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is continuing his closing argument.

“The conspiracy to unlawfully influence the 2016 election — you don’t need Michael Cohen to prove that one bit,” he says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says “it’s just not reality” that Stormy Daniels was extorting Donald Trump.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass focuses on Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s accusation that evidence may have been manipulated, saying they only have records for two of Michael Cohen’s 11 phones.

He says prosecutors don’t have all the phone data for the parties involved – so the jury should note that the absence of a particular phone record doesn’t prove that a call did not happen.

Donald Trump is turned toward prosecutor Joshua Steinglass as he begins his closing argument.

“In his opening, Mr. Colangelo told you that this case, at its core, is about a conspiracy and a cover up,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass says, recalling prosecutor Matthew Colangelo’s opening statement.

In his closing argument, Steinglass says the conspiracy was “to corrupt the 2016 election” and the cover up was “an effort hide the conspiracy to falsify business records to disguise.”

“We asked you to remember to tune out the noise and to ignore the sideshows,” Steinglass tells the jury. “And if you’ve done that … you will see the people have presented powerful evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”

Judge Juan Merchan instructs the jury about the defense’s closing arguments.

Attorney Joshua Steinglass is delivering the prosecution’s closing argument in the hush money trial against Donald Trump.

The mic was not working at first, but was fixed.

He is expected to tie together text messages, phone logs, other witnesses’ testimony, and the 34 allegedly falsified documents to corroborate Michael Cohen’s testimony as the prosecution tries to appeal to the 12-person jury before they begin to deliberate.

Steinglass is the senior trial counsel in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and has worked on some of the office’s more high-profile cases, including the Trump Organization’s tax fraud conviction in 2022.

Members of the jury are now reentering the courtroom. The prosecution is expected to begin its closing argument soon.

Judge Juan Merchan and attorneys are discussing the issue of a curative instruction as to defense attorney Todd Blanche’s remarks about sending Trump to prison.

During his closing arguments, Blanche talked about Michael Cohen’s credibility and told the jury: “Then he came in here, he raised his right hand and he lied to each of you repeatedly. You cannot send someone to prison you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen.”

Prosecutors say they’ve drafted a curative instruction on the prison comment and the retainer agreement issue.

Trump and his attorneys Emil Bove and Blanche reviewed the paper. Blanche says they have no objection to the language of the curative instruction regarding the prison comment but says they don’t believe he misstated the law as to retainer agreements in his closing argument.

Merchan says he will give the curative instruction on Blanche’s prison comment as written. He says he will not give the instruction on the retainer agreement, saying while he understands prosecutors’ frustration he thinks an instruction from the bench to the jury “would call more attention to it than it’s worth.”

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench and court is in session.

Merchan begins by asking for prosecutors. He asked for their proposed curative instruction about discussing sending Trump to prison.

Donald Trump chatted with his attorney Todd Blanche before the judge entered the courtroom.

Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. are back in court.

Prosecutors have reentered the courtroom following the lunch break. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is back, as well.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is expected to begin his closing argument soon.

Todd Blanche’s closing argument highlighted one of the ironies common to all the criminal and civil cases swirling around former President Donald Trump. 

While the presumptive GOP nominee lambasts the justice system, judges and anyone who calls him to account as irredeemably corrupt, he’s benefiting from protections accorded to every American under the law – and may well be getting far more leeway than other defendants.

Blanche, meanwhile, asked the jury to save Trump by applying one of the bedrock principles of the rule of law – that no one can be convicted unless a case against them is proven beyond reasonable doubt.

And for all of Trump’s hyperbole about being persecuted, it’s unlikely that another defendant would get away with the endless invective directed at Judge Juan Merchan that he has. (Trump is still on his final warning after Merchan said that any more infringements of a gag order could land him in jail).

It’s not just in this case that Trump is being protected by the legal system he denounces in nearly every court break. He has exhaustively availed himself of the appeals system that protects defendants to delay several other criminal trials likely beyond November’s election. He’s already appealing a massive civil fraud judgment against him, his adult sons and his organization and got a break from an appeals court which reduced the size of a bond he was required to pay while the process plays out.

While he was in court on Tuesday, he got another win. Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Canonn, who has been accused by the ex-president’s foes of slow walking the classified documents case, declined special counsel Jack Smith’s appeal for a gag order after the ex-president’s campaign implied President Joe Biden authorized deadly force against him. 

If Trump gets to be president again, he’s unlikely to accord the legal system the same respect it offered him. Legal experts say he’s almost certain to use executive powers to wipe out any federal cases against that are still active.

The prosecution is up next to give its closing statement in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump — and they should keep it short, a former Trump lawyer says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass estimated earlier that his closing argument would take between four and four and a half hours, but Tim Parlatore, a former Trump attorney, said that is too long.

He said the prosecutor should take the defense’s list of reasons for why they argued the jury should have reasonable doubt and “nail that right off the top” and then keep the rest of the closing argument brief.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrapped up his closing argument, focusing on the story of former adult film star Stormy Daniels and trying to discredit former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony.

Here are the highlights:

More on Stormy Daniels: Blanche detailed some aspects of Daniels’ agreement and story. Here are some of his key points:

Discrediting Cohen: Blanche zeroed in on the cross-examination moment involving Cohen’s testimony about the October 24, 2016, phone call to Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller’s phone. He said the call was not about the Daniels situation — it was about a teenager who had been harassing Cohen for days. He also said prosecutors left out key context between Cohen and Schiller when they showed the phone records to the jury

Cohen lied: Blanche said Cohen “repeatedly lied under oath” and lied to the people in his life, including his wife and his banker.

Reasonable doubt: Blanche presented the jury with 10 reasons they should have reasonable doubt. Read the full list.

Judge Juan Merchan said he’d give a curative instruction as to defense attorney Todd Blanche’s remarks about sending Trump to prison.

During his closing arguments, Blanche talked about Cohen’s credibility and told the jury: “Then he came in here, he raised his right hand and he lied to each of you repeatedly. You cannot send someone to prison you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen.”

Merchan said Blanche’s comment was “outrageous.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass had raised the issue and asked for curative instruction for the “ridiculous comment.”

Steinglass also said Merchan should reconsider a curative instruction about retainer agreements because he said Blanche “doubled down that it’s perfectly plausible to have no retainer agreement when that is not the law in New York state.” This was debated at the charge conference last week and Merchan said he’d look into the law.

Merchan did not make any comments about a potential curative instruction on the retainer issue.

Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche reached the key point of planting a seed of doubt about Michael Cohen’s version of events, CNN chief legal correspondent Paula Reid said.

She noted that, in hindsight, the defense might have realized a mistake of taking too long to get to this key point, but it’s something the Trump team has said throughout the trial.

“It is supported by a mountain of evidence that Michael Cohen is liar” and he continued that pattern of lying even during the course of this trial, Reid added.

Ultimately, all the defense needs is to get at least one juror to doubt Cohen’s account, that’s really all they need here, she said.

The court is taking a lunch break until 2 p.m. ET.

Attorney Todd Blanche has finished his closing arguments for the defense. He addressed the jury for just under three hours, pressing Donald Trump’s innocence.

Joshua Steinglass is expected to deliver the prosecution’s closing argument when the court returns. He said he expects to address the jury for about four to four and a half hours.

As he wrapped up his closing argument, Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the jury this isn’t a referendum on Donald Trump.

“This isn’t a referendum on your views on President Trump. This is not a referendum on the ballot box,” Blanche says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche began to wrap his closing by zeroing in on the defense’s argument that the jury cannot believe Michael Cohen’s testimony.

“His words cannot be trusted and I’m going to end this summation the same way I told you a few minutes ago that you know you cannot rely on him,” Blanche says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass objected to Blanche’s prison remark, which was sustained by Judge Juan Merchan.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now ticking through the times Micheal Cohen lied to Congress, to the Justice Department, to judges and to his family.

“He lied to you repeatedly. He lied many, many times before you even met him,” Blanche says. “He is biased and motivated to tell you a story that is not true.”

“He’s literally the greatest liar of all time,” Blanche adds, calling Cohen “the GLOAT.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is presenting the jury with 10 reasons they should have reasonable doubt.

Here’s the full list, according to Blanche:

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now giving 10 reasons why the jury should have reasonable doubt.

“Each one of these reasons makes a not guilty verdict a very easy path and a very quick path,” Blanche says.

The first reason he lists is that Cohen created the invoices.

In other Trump court news on Tuesday, federal Judge Aileen Cannon rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order against Donald Trump in the classified documents case, saying prosecutors’ efforts to work with defense lawyers was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.”

In a brief order, Cannon slammed prosecutors for not following the court’s rules by failing to confer with Trump’s defense lawyers in a meaningful way about a potential gag order.

“Because the filing of the Special Counsel’s Motion did not adhere to these basic requirements, it is due to be denied without prejudice,” Cannon wrote, adding that “it should go without saying that meaningful conferral is not a perfunctory exercise.”

Prosecutors can ask for a gag order again, Cannon said, once they give “sufficient time” to Trump’s defense team to read the motion and discuss it with prosecutors.

“Failure to comply with these requirements may result in sanctions,” Cannon wrote.

While Cannon quickly ruled on this matter, she has yet to rule on nearly a dozen fully briefed motions in this case. The judge’s decision on the gag order also highlights how the cumbersome filing process in her court has repeatedly plagued the case as it slowly inches towards trial.

Click here for more on the ruling.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now replaying two clips from Michael Cohen’s “Mea Culpa” podcast where he talked about Trump being indicted and praised Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

In one clip, Cohen is heard saying that picturing Trump being booked “fills me with delight” and in another one Cohen says “I want to thank the Manhattan DA’s office and their fearless leader Alvin Bragg.”

One of the jurors looked over at Bragg in court while this was played.

Blanche reminds the jury Cohen lied in the podcast clip when he said he met with Bragg all the time. They’ve never actually met.

Blanche is also showing Cohen’s tweet selling the t-shirt showing Trump in an orange jumpsuit behind bars.

“But you know that the lying is simply to benefit and protect Michael Cohen and nobody else period,” Blanche says

Todd Blanche raises Michael Cohen’s testimony during which he admitted that he stole $60,000 from the Trump Organization.

“He’s also a thief. He literally stole on his way out the door, stole tens of thousands of dollars through the Trump Org.,” Blanche says, alleging that Cohen admitted to a felony on the witness stand and was not prosecuted for it.

Blanche says if anything, what should matter to the jury is what Cohen said under oath in this courtroom at this trial. “And he lied to you, make no mistake about it.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says Michel Cohen didn’t take the oath he took promising to tell the truth seriously.

“He’s repeatedly lied under oath. He’s lied to his family. He lied to his wife about the home equity line of credit … he lied to his banker,” Blanche says.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche moved to another instance where Michael Cohen allegedly lied.

“There was another time he lied to you,” Blanche says. “Text from the president’s wife. Please call the president.”

Blanche noted that phone records indicate there are no calls from any of Cohen’s phones to Trump that day.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass objected to Blanche as he pulled up Cohen’s phone records about a text message from Melania Trump asking Cohen to call Trump.

The lawyers approached the bench briefly, and Trump stayed turned in his chair, facing the jury, with his arm over the back.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says when prosecutors “conveniently” showed the jury the phone records during Michael Cohen’s testimony on direct examination about the October 24, 2016, call record, they left out the texts between Cohen and Trump’s bodyguard Keith Schiller that Blanche says gives the appropriate context.

“We put them into evidence and now you know what happened,” Blanche says.

“Is there the same absolute proof of lies for every single thing that man told you? No, no there’s not. For that, we have what’s called an oath,” Blanche says.

“They’re perfectly happy to have a witness commit perjury, to lie to you,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche says to the jury, raising his voice.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass objects, and the judge sustains.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche has zeroed in on the cross-examination moment involving Michael Cohen’s testimony about the October 24 phone call to Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller’s phone.

“That was his sworn testimony. It was a lie…. This isn’t little lie. This was a lie about the charged conduct involving Ms. Daniels. He told you he talked to President Trump on October 24 at 8:02 p.m., updating him about the Daniels situation. That was a lie and he got caught red handed,” Blanche said as he raised his voice and emphasized each word.

“We all know that he called Keith Schiller to talk about the fact that a 14-year-old had been harassing him for several days and forgot to block his number, and Mr. Cohen wanted to fix that,” Blanche said.

On redirect, Blanche said, “they showed you a picture with unremarkable fact that everybody already knew that President Trump’s bodyguard was with him on October 24. No kidding. Thanks.”

Blanche told the jury that it was clear they were talking about the teen prankster because he hung up and texted Schiller about the situation, then followed up the next morning. Blanche raised his voice again and said, “That is perjury” emphasizing each syllable of the word perjury.

Todd Blanche is addressing the Stormy Daniels agreement, which Donald Trump never signed.

“What President Trump knew in 2016 you only know from one source, and I said that a few times but it matters and that’s Michael Cohen,” Blanche says.

“They showed the phone records and they showed him calls between him and others to help his testimony seem more corroborated and more credible. But we all know how that ended,” he says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now moving on to Michael Cohen’s interactions with Bob Costello after federal investigators raided his properties in 2018.

“You know there was an attorney client relationship between Bob Costello and Michael Cohen and so does Michael Cohen. There’s no doubt about that,” Trump’s attorney says.

Blanche says phone records show Cohen and Costello spoke more than 70 times.

Blanche notes that Costello told Cohen that the best way out of the situation after the FBI raided his home and office would be to provide information to the feds.

“In that environment, under all that stress, facing the biggest crisis of life, he said to Mr. Costello, ‘President Trump did not know,’” Blanche says.

“I don’t know how many lies is enough lies to reject Mr. Cohen’s testimony,” Blanche says.

Costello was an attorney who advised Cohen in the weeks following the FBI raid on Cohen’s home and office.

Read about Costello’s testimony last week in the trial here.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now turning to Michael Cohen’s call with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson in December 2016.

Davidson testified that Cohen told him that he was up for jobs in the Trump administration and was upset he didn’t get them.

“He told you he didn’t want a job in the administration. But that was a lie, another lie,” Blanche says to the jury of Cohen.

“Mr. Cohen had an axe to grind, because he didn’t appreciate what President Trump did and did not do for him” after he was elected president, Blanche adds.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is playing a recording of Michael Cohen speaking to Keith Davidson in October 2017 where Cohen says “who else would do that for somebody? Who else? I did because I care about the guy. I wasn’t going to play pennywise pound foolish. And I’m sitting there and I’m saying to myself what about me?”

He argues that the phrase gives insight into Cohen’s state of mind.

Blanche reminds the jury that Cohen said, “what about me.” He suggests that recording is telling as to Cohen’s state of mind when he brokered the settlement with Daniels.

Blanche reminded the jury that Cohen testified about his personal wealth and said:

“Nothing was criminal in entering into this NDA,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche says, referring to the nondisclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels.

“It doesn’t mean when Trump was out campaigning that he knew about it. The only person at trial who told you President Trump knew about it in October, September, August, was Michael Cohen,” Blanche continues.

Blanche poses the question to the jury, “why did prosecutors call Stormy Daniels, when there was no dispute that there was an NDA settlement and she knew nothing about Trump’s internal business practices?”

“Why? I’ll tell you why. They did it to try to inflame your emotions, they did it to try to embarrass President Trump,” Blanche says.

Judge Juan Merchan overruled an objection from Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass over this statement.

“That’s why,” Blanche says again.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now arguing that Stormy Daniels’ story was “not a doomsday event” for the Trump campaign.

“It was one of many stressful stories that came up during the 2016 campaign. It was not a doomsday event,” Blanche says.

Blanche says Trump “never thought it was going to cause him to lose the campaign, and indeed, it didn’t.”

“Michael Cohen, however, had a different view,” Blanche adds.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is watching defense attorney Todd Blanche as he talks about the “Access Hollywood” tape.

Blanche describes that tape as “an extremely personal event for President Trump.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche addresses the 2016 Access Hollywood tape, saying it “was an extremely personal event for President Trump.”

“Nobody wants their family to be subjected to that sort of thing,” he says. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re running for office, doesn’t matter whether you’re running the Apprentice, doesn’t matter whether you’re a normal everyday person in the city.”

President Trump did not react to the Access Hollywood tape as the government suggested, Blanche says. “I’m not suggesting it wasn’t a big deal for the campaign, of course it was.”

But Blanche notes testimony from former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout that made clear that “President Trump didn’t freak out.” He also notes that Hope Hicks believed it would be a story for the next several days.

“The version that says anything different comes from one witness, Michael Cohen,” Blanche says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche continues to speak about the “catch and kill” stories that prosecutors have brought up in the hush money trial through witness testimony and exhibits.

“So again we’re here talking about a conspiracy between Mr. Pecker, President Trump and Michael Cohen to catch and kill stories….and here you have Ms. Daniels coming forward right after Access Hollywood, this is our chance… this is it and David Pecker says ‘nah, I want nothing to do with it.’ That’s our conspiracy? That’s the three catch and kills?” Blanche says.

“‘I want nothing to do with it. I’m not buying that story.’ That’s what they’re telling you.” Blanche continues, raising his voice, pacing in circles, raising his arms as he acts exasperated to the jury.

After the “Access Hollywood” tape came out in October 2016, Trump attorney Todd Blanche says, “Ms. Daniels and Ms. Rodriguez seized an opportunity,” speaking of Stormy Daniels and her then-publicist Gina Rodriguez.

Blanche says they thought: “Now, now’s the time to strike.”

Blanche shows a text messages between National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Rodriguez saying that he believed David Pecker would pay for Daniels’ story.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche tells the jury “there’s nothing illegal, there’s nothing sinister” about the nondisclosure settlement agreement with Stormy Daniels. 

Trump’s lawyer says again, “There’s no evidence…except for Mr. Cohen’s words that President Trump knew about that agreement in 2016.”

As Trump attorney Todd Blanche continues to deliver his closing argument in the hush money trial, Trump has turned his chair 90 degrees. He is now facing Blanche and the jury.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now playing more of the recordings between Keith Davidson and Michael Cohen.

In the recordings, Davidson, who was Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, says sometimes people “get settler’s remorse.”

“At the end of the day, what really happened is that somebody offered more money to Ms. Daniels. Somebody offered to pay her legal fees if she got out of the NDA she signed with Mr. Cohen,” Blanche says.

“This started out as an extortion. There’s no doubt about that. And it ended very well for Ms. Daniels financially speaking,” Blanche says.

“What is clear from the evidence, now going back to 2016, the agreement that Ms. Daniels entered into, is that there was a separate conspiracy between Ms. Daniels, Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard. And their goal was to make as much money as possible off of President Trump,” Blanche says.

Former President Donald Trump appears in court with his lawyers Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28 in New York City. 

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche is delivering his closing argument, focusing on Donald Trump not knowing about the details of the checks he was signing and trying to discredit the alleged “catch and kill” stories attacking Trump.

Here are the highlights so far:

Trump had nothing to do with the checks: Blanche argued that Trump, who in the White House at the time, was very busy and did not know the details of each check. He said Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., co-signed some of the checks, and former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout testified sometimes Trump would review the checks, but other times he would not.

Cohen’s payments were disclosed: Blanche reminded the jury the Trump Organization reported the payments to Cohen from the trust and Trump’s personal account in a 1099 filing to the IRS. “There’s nothing criminal about this at all, it’s the way it’s supposed to be done,” he said. Blanche added that Jeffrey McConney, a former Trump Organization controller, kept the hand-written documents about the repayments to Cohen from the organization’s CFO Allen Weisselberg.

Karen McDougal deal: Blanche argued former model Karen McDougal’s deal was not a “catch and kill” story because she did not want it published, so it could not influence the 2016 election.

Stormy Daniels deal: Blanche said Cohen “made a decision to pay that $130,000 to Ms. Daniels, he didn’t tell President Trump about it because he knew he could get credit for doing something to help President Trump at some later time.” He added there was “no way” Trump knew about the payment at the time.

And, through text messages between former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Daniels’ then-manager Gina Rodriguez, Blanche tried to show Howard was not part of the conspiracy.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche is back at the podium. He picks back up with Stormy Daniels in 2016.

“Ms. Daniels has denied that there was ever any sex with President Trump in 2018 and earlier,” Blanche says. “But the government wants you to believe those statements were coerced.”

Blanche is also questioning Daniels’ statements saying she was threatened in 2011 and that’s why she went public with the story involving Trump.

One thing to note: Blanche is saying the denials were in 2018 and earlier, not the alleged sex encounter with Trump.

Judge Juan Merchan says that the jurors are going to go late today, as each side seeks to finish up closing arguments. 

Merchan commented the jurors may need a snack run “and they seemed to like that.” 

He did not specify how late. 

Judge Juan Merchan says the court may take a lunch break early today once Trump attorney Todd Blanche is done with the defense’s closing argument. However, he was non-committal, saying it depends on the time.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says he’s on pace with his closing argument, so he thinks he has about 30 minutes left.

Blanche spoke for one hour and 54 minutes before the break. At the start of the day he estimated his closing argument would take about two and a half hours, maybe a bit longer.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said that he will take between four and four and a half hours. 

Through witness testimony and exhibits, prosecutors tried to prove that Donald Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments made to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniel’s claim of an affair with Trump from becoming public before the 2016 presidential election.

The defense has been poking holes at Michael Cohen’s testimony about the allegations against Trump as it presents its closing argument today.

Soon the decision of whether to convict Trump will be in the hands of 12 jurors.

Here’s a timeline CNN compiled of key events in the hush money case:

See a full timeline on the case.

Court is taking a 10-minute break. Trump attorney Todd Blanche is expected to continue his closing argument when proceedings resume.

The defense’s closing arguments have gone on for about an hour and 54 minutes.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche refreshes the jury on text messages they saw between former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard and Stormy Daniels’ then-manager Gina Rodriguez about selling the Trump story in April 2016.

“If there was really a ‘catch and kill’ conspiratorial relationship, then why did everybody ignore that story in April? Why did it not go anywhere for months and months and months?” Blanche asks.

Blanche also brings up text messages exchanged between Rodriguez and Howard in June 2016, noting that Howard writes: “Not much pisses me off these days. Except Donald Trump.”

Blanche says there’s “no scenario in which Mr. Howard can be part of this conspiracy. It appears he doesn’t like Mr. Trump at all.” Blanche goes on to say that the jury didn’t hear from Howard nor from Rodriguez so he said it is really speculation. 

Daniels and Rodriguez were more aggressively trying to sell her story, Blanche says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche again suggests that because Stormy Daniels’ story was already out there in 2011, it was not election interference and it did not cause panic in the Trump campaign.

“The public was aware of them, so again the idea that when Ms. Daniels surfaced in 2016 that it caused some sort of panic amongst everybody is not true, it’s just not true,” Blanche says.

NYPD officers stand guard as they wait for the arrival of former President Donald Trump near Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28 in New York City.

There are no immediate plans to increase security around the courthouse amid Trump’s historic criminal hush money trial, law enforcement officials have told CNN’s John Miller.

However, when the New York Police Department learns that a verdict is in, the department will likely move more personnel into the area.

The NYPD does expect to get some heads up from the court before the verdict is read, though exactly how much is unclear. 

In the meantime, NYPD is monitoring social media, looking for any calls for rallies, demonstrations or threats. They can mobilize quickly should the need arise.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now turning to Stormy Daniels, noting it’s a “story” that took place in 2006, 18 years ago.

“President Trump and Ms. Daniels have repeatedly denied it took place,” Blanche says.

Blanche argues that Michael Cohen “made a decision to pay that $130,000 to Ms. Daniels, he didn’t tell President Trump about it because he knew he could get credit for doing something to help President Trump at some later time.” 

Blanche says “people were not happy with him on the campaign so he made this decision. The only person who suggests otherwise and tells you President Trump knew everything about this is Michael Cohen himself. That’s it. There’s no other proof of that.”

“There’s no way that you can find that President Trump knew about this payment at the time it was made without believing the words of Michael Cohen, period. And you cannot — you cannot — believe his words,” Blanche says.

Blanche says Daniels wanted the allegations about Trump pulled down from the website The Dirty in 2011 because then she couldn’t sell the story.

What prosecutors say: According to prosecutors, Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to her attorney in October 2016 through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments.

Prosecutors say Daniels first brought her story to AMI, whose executives brought the story to Cohen on Trump’s behalf. According to prosecutors, Trump directed Cohen to delay making the payment as long as possible, telling him if they delayed paying until after the election they could avoid paying it at all.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche reminds the jury that phone records show Michael Cohen did not pick up the phone call that he says interrupted the recording of his conversation with Trump.

“He lied to you when he said he answered that call,” Blanche says.

Blanche is now showing the AT&T phone records and the AT&T witness testimony that the phone call went to voicemail and was not answered.

Attorney Todd Blanche zeroes in on the end of the recording when Donald Trump says “check” before the audio cuts off. 

Blanche suggests Trump was starting a new sentence. “You have no idea what was said afterward.”

“But it’s not what he told you,” Blanche says. “He told you that he got a phone call. He told you that he knew who the call from. Someone who worked at a bank. He said it was someone named Cathy Babble.”

“You don’t know about the integrity of this file and this recording,” Blanche says of Michael Cohen’s 2016 recording.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche notes that Trump didn’t know what Michael Cohen was talking about when he talked about “financing” on the call.

“President Trump clearly has no idea what he’s talking about. This conversation, Mr. Cohen and President Trump are literally talking past each other about what’s going on,” Blanche argues.

Donald Trump is leaning forward to look closely at the testimony displayed on the monitor in front of him.

His attorney Todd Blanche is discussing a 2016 recording from Michael Cohen.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche has turned to the 2016 recording Michael Cohen made of Trump which he said he taped to prove to David Pecker that he would be paid back. He argued that Karen McDougal was not discussed in the recording.  

Blanche played a few seconds of the recording with Trump. Rhona Graff, Trump’s former longtime assistant, can be heard in the recording.

Blanche points out that no questions were asked of Graff related to the recording.

Trump’s defense attorney focused on Cohen telling Trump that it was “all the stuff” on the call.

Blanche references the concern about buying the documents that Pecker supposedly had of Trump.

“If it is really 150 said. Why is the next thing you hear from Cohen saying we’ll have to pay him something?” Blanche asks. “Bottom line is there is no doubt this recording discussed AMI and Mr. Pecker. There is a lot of doubt that it discussed Karen McDougal.”

As Trump attorney Todd Blanche delivers the defense team’s closing argument, some jurors are intently watching him.

Other jurors are glancing down at the monitors where the testimony and documents are displayed. A few seem to be looking around more.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argues that Michael Cohen also lied about conversations with Trump related to the Karen McDougal deal.

Blanche highlights ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony that Trump told him, “I don’t buy stories” and Cohen saying Trump told him, “no problem I will take care of it.”

This was the conversation Trump had with Pecker in summer of 2016 over the phone while Pecker was meeting with investors at Chatham.

Blanche alleges that Cohen made up his testimony about a lunch with Pecker in September 2016 when Cohen said Pecker told him, “I need to get this money back.”

Blanche tells the jury, ““That lunch did not happen. Cohen made it up.”

Blanche suggests that even if Pecker just forgot about the lunch, he argues there was no other proof that the lunch happened, like a credit card receipt.

Donald Trump has turned to face his attorney Todd Blanche who is now talking about the Karen McDougal deal now.

“This is not a catch and kill either,” Blanche says. “Ms. McDougal did not want to publish her story, she wanted to jumpstart her career.”

Blanche says again, “Tt was not Ms. McDougal’s intention to publish her story. The reason why this matters… is that there was never any risk that her allegations would influence the election because she didn’t want her story published.” 

Blanche argues that this matters because the government is alleging a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, arguing that the second of the three alleged “catch and kill” stories “didn’t want to influence the election at all. She didn’t want her story published.”

Blanche says nothing about the McDougal situation was illegal. “None of that was criminal,” Blanche says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche showed four instances where Michael Cohen admitted he’d report his work on things like the Dino Sajudin story to “get credit” from Trump.

Blanche says this is consistent with Hope Hicks’ testimony that Cohen often sought credit.

Blanche says Cohen used the phrase “credit” repeatedly and tells to the jury, “That’s the same phrase that Hope Hicks used in describing Mr. Cohen. She described Mr. Cohen as being somebody who always wanted credit.”

“Mr. Cohen admitted to you that he was following this trial before he testified. Just think about that for a minute,” Blanche continues.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now pulling up excerpts from Michael Cohen’s testimony

Cohen testified during the prosecutors’ first round of questions that he told Trump about the doorman’s allegations because he wanted to get credit with Trump. When questioned by the defense team during cross-examination, Cohen said he didn’t tell Trump all of the details.

“Again on direct, he says one thing, on cross, he says another. He’s not telling the truth. He’s lying,” Blanche says.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche shows the jury another excerpt from ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony where he says the National Enquirer would only publish about half the stories it would buy.

Referencing Pecker’s long-running experience in the industry Blanche says it’s “meaningful” when he says this and that he hadn’t heard the phrase “catch and kill” before reading an article about the allegations linked to this case.

Blanche highlights Pecker’s testimony involving Dino Sajudin, a Trump Tower doorman who was selling information about Donald Trump allegedly fathering a son, Pecker said if it proved to be true, he would have published it after the election.

“That doesn’t sound like a catch and kill at all,” Blanche says. “This isn’t a catch and kill. It’s an opportunity.”

Todd Blanche sits in the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, on Thursday, May 16.

Todd Blanche is speaking from a lectern angled towards the jury. He’s calm and conversational. There are no histrionics and he’s methodically taking the jury through his argument with the repeated use of excerpts from the court transcript and exhibits including entries in Trump Organization business ledgers. He’s had a week to prepare this, and he is ready. 

“You cannot convict President Trump,” Blanche said, before repeating himself for emphasis while impressing on the jury the gravity of the historic deliberation that lies before them. “You cannot convict President Trump of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt based on the words of Michael Cohen.”

Blanche is creating multiple angles that might lead a juror to adopt reasonable doubt about the prosecution’s case, related to payments made to Cohen, the accounting practices of the Trump Organization, the chaos that surrounded the then new President’s move to the White House and the testimony of Cohen himself. That is all he must do: if he creates one such doubt in the mind of one juror that sticks, a guilty verdict may become impossible and the trial ends.

“We have no burden to prove anything,” Blanche told the jury. “The burden is always on the government.”

With a PowerPoint screen titled “No Election ‘Influence,’” Trump attorney Todd Blanche is now showing the court many of the negative headlines about Trump’s 2016 political opponents.

Blanche notes there was no discussion of “catch and kill” at the August 2015 meeting “when this supposed criminal conspiracy was formed.”

“It wasn’t even discussed at the time the conspiracy was formed. No financial discussion. No discussion about catch and kill. Think about that,” Blanche says to the jury.

The Biden campaign held a news conference outside the Manhattan courtroom where closing statements for the hush money trial against Donald Trump are underway.

“We’re not here today because of what’s going on over there,” Biden campaign adviser Michael Tyler said, referring to the hush money trial, “We’re here today because you all are here,” Tyler said addressing reporters.

“We’re here primarily because of the threat that Donald Trump poses to the United States of America and to our democracy,” Tyler said.

Tyler was joined by actor Robert de Niro and officers who defended the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone. Dunn, Fanone and de Niro spoke on the dangers Trump poses to the country.

This is a noticeable departure from the Biden campaign who has been keeping their distance from the hush money trial.

Pressed by reporters on why the news conference was held outside the Manhattan courthouse, Tyler reiterated that the media is already outside the courthouse. “It’s easy to talk about the choice in this election when the entire news media is camped out here day-in and day-out,” he said.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says it’s “preposterous” to think Trump and David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc., believed stories in the National Enquirer could determine the result of the 2016 election.

“The idea, even if there was something wrong with it, the idea that sophisticated people like President Trump and David Pecker believed that positive stories in the National Enquirer could influence the 2016 election is preposterous,” he argues.

He notes the circulation of the National Enquirer at the time was 350,000

“Millions and millions of people voted in the 2016 election, so the idea that they really thought that this meeting in 2015 at Trump Tower would ultimately influence the election makes no sense,” Blanche says.

Blanche also tells the jury to remember that the National Enquirer usually repurposed stories from other outlets.

“The idea that the National Enquirer could criminally influence the election by republishing stories that had already been out there in other forms should make you shake your head. It makes no sense,” Blanche says.

Actor Robert De Niro joins the Biden campaign for a press conference Tuesday outside the New York criminal courtroom where closing arguments are being heard in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

Actor Robert De Niro spoke at a news conference for the Joe Biden 2024 election campaign outside the courthouse where Former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial is underway.

De Niro said he joined the Biden campaign after Trump’s last presidency.

“Somehow, he even got self-styled patriots to support a man who called for terminating the constitution,” he added.

De Niro said Trump would “ use violence against anyone who stands in the way of his megalomania and greed,” he said.

As he spoke, protesters yelled “f**k you” and “Robert de Niro’s a pedophile.” Referencing the protesters, De Niro said “he should be telling them not to do this.”

De Niro urged voters to not vote for Trump, suggesting that: “If Trump gets in – he will never leave. He will never leave. He will never leave.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche turns to the 2015 Trump Tower meeting with David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc., the National Enquirer’s parent company.

Blanche notes that Pecker had agreed to publish flattering stories about Trump and attack his opponents.

“This is the same thing AMI had been doing for decades. They had been doing it for President Trump since the 90s,” Blanche says. “This was good business for them. A mutually beneficial relationship with celebrities.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks to his attorney Todd Blanche before the start of proceedings in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday in New York.

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche is delivering the closing argument, starting off by maintaining Trump is innocent and hammering on the testimony of Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen.

Here are the highlights so far:

“President Trump is innocent”: Blanche reiterated the argument he made at the start of the trial. “He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof — period. The evidence is all in.”

Who didn’t testify: During former Cohen’s testimony, key people who were mentioned did not testify. Here are the names Blanche mentioned:

Michael Cohen: Blanche slammed Cohen’s testimony, saying, “They were lies. Pure and simple.” Here are some of Blanche’s key lines on Cohen: