Daily Reports
Trump Hush Money Trial: Defense Rests as Cohen Faces Scrutiny
In a significant development in the ongoing hush money trial, the defense team for former US President Donald Trump has officially rested its case. This comes after 90 minutes of testimony without Trump taking the stand. The former president's lawyers introduced phone records and testimony from Robert Costello, who had interactions with Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, following the 2018 FBI raids.
Michael Cohen, a key witness in the trial, faced extensive cross-examination by Trump's defense. The testimony spotlighted phone calls and text messages questioning Cohen’s credibility. Trump’s lawyers sought to undermine Cohen, accusing him of fabricating conversations with Trump and highlighting Cohen's past guilty pleas for crimes including perjury.
Cohen’s Credibility Under Attack
During Cohen’s cross-examination, defense attorney Todd Blanche confronted him with an October 2016 phone call with Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller. Cohen claimed this call included a conversation with Trump about proceeding with the payment to Stormy Daniels. However, Blanche presented evidence suggesting the call was instead about harassing calls Cohen was receiving from a teenager.
Fox News legal expert Gregg Jarrett has publicly doubted Cohen's credibility, describing his testimony as misleading. Jarrett emphasized the jury’s responsibility to dismiss unreliable testimony and pointed out that without Cohen, the case against Trump becomes significantly weaker, as no other witness directly ties Trump to the alleged hush money payments.
Trump's legal team also argued that prosecutors wanted to undermine Trump’s credibility by bringing up unrelated past misconducts, ranging from civil fraud verdicts to defamation cases. This strategic decision led to Trump not taking the stand.
Now, as the trial progresses towards its conclusion, the jury is scheduled to receive final arguments next Tuesday. A keenly awaited verdict is expected late next week, determining the former president's fate on the 34 charges of falsifying business records related to the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
- The trial, which sees Trump as the first former president in US history to face criminal charges, has gripped national attention, partly due to its proximity to the 2024 US election, where Trump is a leading Republican candidate.
- The decision not to have Trump testify was influenced by potential damaging cross-examinations, where prosecutors planned to probe Trump on various other legal issues. These included the dissolution of the Trump Foundation and verdicts from other defamation cases involving E. Jean Carroll.
- Cohen's transformation from Trump's lawyer to a critical witness against him adds a layer of complexity and drama to the case. His past convictions for tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations have given the defense ample grounds to question his trustworthiness.
- Closing arguments and jury instructions will mark the final phase of the trial. Both sides will present their perspectives, hoping to sway the jury's decision on whether Trump intentionally falsified business records in a bid to cover up the hush money payments.
