Donald Trump’s hush money trial moved into a new phase Tuesday, drawing closer to the moment when the jury will begin deciding his fate after testimony concluded without the former president taking the stand in his own defense.
“Your honor, the defense rests,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge. Trump’s team ended with a former federal prosecutor who was called to attack the credibility of the prosecution’s key witness, one of two people summoned to the stand by the defense. The Manhattan district attorney’s office called 20 witnesses over 15 days of testimony before resting its case Monday.
Previously..
The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial was sent home for a week, set to return on May 28 for closing arguments. Meanwhile, attorneys reconvened in the courtroom to discuss the judge’s instructions to the jurors before deliberations. These instructions serve as a guide to help jurors apply the law to the evidence and testimony. Both sides debated over word choices, legal phrases, and how to address various campaign-related issues.
Trump, the first former American president to face criminal trial, did not explain his decision not to testify.
Why?
Although he had previously expressed a desire to take the witness stand, there was neither a requirement nor an expectation for him to do so, as defendants often choose not to testify. Instead of proving Trump’s innocence, his attorneys focused on challenging the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, a common defense strategy since the burden of proof lies with the prosecution.
Despite denouncing the trial as a politically motivated sham, Trump has leveraged the proceedings as an extension of his presidential campaign. He has used the trial as a fundraising tool, criticized President Joe Biden during his appearances, and highlighted a procession of his political supporters.
Prosecutors have accused the presumptive Republican presidential nominee of a scheme to scoop up and bury negative stories in an illegal effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records to conceal the alleged scheme and denied any wrongdoing. It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, and quite possibly the only one before the 2024 presidential election.
“They have no case,” Trump said outside court. “There’s no crime.”
He also again attacked the prosecutor, despite repeated warnings from Judge Juan M. Merchan not to violate a gag order that bars him from publicly commenting on witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or the judge’s family.
Jurors have been given a lesson on the underbelly of the tabloid business world, where Trump allies at the National Enquirer launched a plan to keep seamy, sometimes outrageous stories about Trump out of the public eye by paying tens of thousands of dollars to “catch and kill” them. They watched as a porn actress, Stormy Daniels, recounted in discomfiting detail an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel room. Trump says nothing sexual happened between them.
What is Hush Money Case?
Trump charged with 34 felony counts in hush money scheme
A stone-faced Donald Trump made a momentous courtroom appearance Tuesday when he was confronted with a 34-count felony indictment charging him in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his first White House campaign.
The accusation centers on allegations that Trump falsified internal business records at his private company while trying to cover up an effort to illegally influence the 2016 election by arranging payments that silenced claims potentially harmful to his candidacy. It includes 34 counts of fudging records related to checks Trump sent to his personal lawyer and problem-solver to reimburse him for his role in paying off a porn actor who said she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
