Trump trial: Biden calls Trump's remarks 'dangerous'

"You guys good to keep going?" prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked the jury after a brief sidebar. They nodded and some smiled.

"All right!" he exclaimed, and launched back into his closing, turning to Trump's alleged efforts to get Cohen not to "flip."

"Whatever else you think about Michael Cohen, it's clear that he was the defendant's fixer. And like all fixers, Cohen knew where the bodies were buried, and it was essential to keep him loyal," Steinglass said.

Steinglass touched on Cohen's communications with his onetime legal adviser Robert Costello -- the only substantive defense witness -- to emphasize that Cohen did not trust Costello and lied to him.

Costello testified that Cohen told him that Trump was not involved in the Daniels' hush money payment before he almost got kicked off the witness stand for irking the judge.

"Cohen never really trusted Costello and can you really blame him?" Steinglass asked. "You saw Costello testify."

"He displayed nothing but disdain for this court and proper decorum and his demeanor on the stand is something you can take into account … when assessing his credibility," Steinglass said.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass again showed the jury the summary chart the DA's office prepared, which outlines each of the allegedly falsified business records.

Steinglass suggested the jury could bring the chart into deliberations if they request it.

He harped on the testimony of former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, who testified that Trump preferred the Stormy Daniels story come out after the election.

"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," Hicks testified before breaking down on the witness stand.

"She basically burst into tears ... because she realized how much this testimony puts the nail into the defendant's coffin," Steinglass told the jury.

Steinglass pressed his argument that the Stormy Daniels payments were in service of the election, rather than Trump's marriage. Any desire to protect his wife was "far less significant to him" than how a negative story about him might affect the 2016 election," Steinglass said.

"The payment was for Trump's campaign," Steinglass stressed.

"It was a campaign contribution, and Cohen knows that better than anyone else -- because he went to prison for it," he said.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass read back some of the quotes from Trump's books to highlight Trump's frugality and micromanaging.

Steinglass mocked the defense argument that Trump didn't have control over the words in the books he wrote.

Steinglass compared it to a Yogi Berra quote: "I really didn't say everything I said," which drew laughs from the jury.

"He doesn't like spending money, and he's proud of it," Steinglass said of Trump, reminding jurors that David Pecker testified to this as well. He's a "micromanager" who "insists on being involved in the details" of his business, Steinglass said.

Steinglass quoted from Trump's book, "Think Like A Billionaire," which urged readers to "pay attention to the small numbers in your finances" and called frugality the "most important money management skill a person can use."

"That has been his philosophy from the beginning," Steinglass said. "The cardinal sin for Mr. Trump is overpaying for anything."

Steinglass read one quote where Trump emphasized to always check invoices, including from decorators.

"If Donald Trump is checking the invoices from his decorator, you can bet he is checking his invoices from Michael Cohen," Steinglass said.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass laid out the DA's case for why Trump should be found guilty of falsifying records, even if he didn't pen them himself and just directed it to be done.

"Tarasoff may be doing the typing, but the defendant is causing the false business records," Steinglass said, referring to Trump Organization accountant Deborah Tarasoff.

Steinglass said Trump "doesn't want to leave a paper trail" and instead would "have his lackeys do it."

"If Trump didn't know about the scheme, why was he just signing the checks 'for services rendered' for $35,000 each month?" Steinglass asked.

"Does he call Cohen and say, 'Why'd I pay you $35000 for nothing?' No. He just signs it. Every month. He never once picks up the phone, he never once makes further inquiry," said Steinglass.

"Despite his frugality and attention to detail, the defendant didn't ask any questions. Because he already knew the answers."