Trump hush money trial: Trump found guilty on all counts in historic case
Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial.
Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 felony counts related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been convicted on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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Trump guilty on all 34 counts
Defense concludes by calling Cohen GLOAT for 'greatest liar'
Finishing up his 10 reasons why he says Trump should be acquitted, defense attorney Todd Blanche listed:
- "There is no evidence of any illegal effort to influence the 2016 election," Blanche said.
- "AMI would have run Mr. Sajudin's story no matter what," Blanche said. "That's not catch and kill."
- "McDougal did not want her story published," Blanche said. "That's not catch and kill."
- Daniel's story was "already public," Blanche said.
- Blanche argued that key evidence was "manipulated" during the trial. He alleged that the district attorney's office made mistakes when analyzing Cohen's phone. "How can you trust that the September 6 recording is actually reliable? The answer is you can't," Blanche said.
- "Michael Cohen. He is the human embodiment of reasonable doubt," Blanche said.
In a play on words, Blanche asked the jurors if the knew of the term GOAT, for the Greatest Of All Time. Some of them nodded.
He then said Cohen was the GLOAT, the "greatest liar of all time."
"You cannot send someone to prison based upon the words of Michael Cohen," Blanche said, concluding his closing statement.
Defense lists their reasons why Trump should be acquitted
Defense attorney Todd Blanche listed 10 reasons why he says the jury should have reasonable doubt about the prosecution's case. The first four:
- "You should have real reasonable doubt is that Cohen created those invoices," Blanche said. "They are accurate and President Trump did not have any intent to defraud."
- "There is no proof that President Trump ever, ever saw anything that Ms. Tarasoff or Mr. McConney did," Blanche said referring to the Trump Organization employees who processed the invoices, adding that Trump was busy running the country when he signed the associated checks.
- "There is absolutely no evidence of an intent to defraud," Blanche said, highlighting the forms that disclosed the Cohen payment to authorities.
- Blanche argued that Trump has "absolutely no intent to unlawfully influence the 2016 election."
Michael Cohen is 'MVP of liars,' defense says
Defense attorney Todd Blanche continued to argue that the jury cannot trust Cohen's testimony as a whole based on the misstatements they highlighted.
"We happened to catch him in a lie," Blanche said. "We put them into evidence, and now you know it happened."
Blanche argued that the lie highlighted that Cohen didn't care about his oath to tell the truth.
"For that we have an oath, we have an oath that every witness takes when they testify before you the jury. It matters -- the oath matters to most. He lied," Blanche said, as the jury watched attentively.
Blanche told the jury that Michael Cohen lied to his banker, his family, his wife, every single reporter he speaks to, prosecutors, and federal judges.
"He lied to you, make no mistake about it," said Blanche.
"He's literally like an MVP of liars," Blanche said of Cohen.
'It was a lie!' Blanche shouts regarding Cohen testimony
Defense attorney Todd Blanche told jurors that Michael Cohen's one-time legal adviser Robert Costello -- the only substantive defense witness -- offered testimony to demonstrate that Cohen lied on the witness stand.
Blanche argued that Cohen lied about what he asked of Costello and how often they communicated.
"It's just another example of Mr. Cohen taking the witness stand and lying to you," Blanche said, suggesting that Cohen lied on the stand enough times that the jury should consider throwing out his entire testimony.
"I don't know how many lies are enough lies just to reject Mr. Cohen's testimony ... big or small, meaningful or not meaningful, but that was a lie," Blanche said.
Blanche argued that prosecutors attempted to prop up Cohen's credibility by offering phone records to corroborate his testimony, but the strategy backfired.
"They showed him phone records and they showed him calls between him and others to help his testimony seem more corroborate and more credible," Blanche said. "We all know how that ended."
Raising his voice, Blanche reminded the jury about the inconsistency he highlighted in Cohen's testimony about a October 24, 2016, phone call.
"It was a lie!" Blanche shouted. "That was a lie and he got caught red-handed!"
"That is perjury!" Blanche shouted, drawing out each syllable.
"They are perfectly happy to have a witness commit perjury to lie to you," Blanche said, prompting an objection from prosecutors.
"Sustained," said Judge Merchan.
Judge says jury notes will be addressed tomorrow
With the jury back in the courtroom, Judge Merchan told them the requested readback of testimony would will take at least half an hour, so announced he would dismiss the jury for the day and address both their notes when they return tomorrow.
Before dismissing the jury for the day, the judge emphasized his standard instruction about the jury not looking up information related to the trial.
"You are at a critical point in the proceedings," Merchan said.
"See you tomorrow morning at 9:30," the judge said before the jury exited the courtroom.