Alert – Trump trial live updates: Prosecutor reveals why he thinks Hope Hicks burst into tears on the stand

Joshua Steinglass brings up the testimony of former Trump aide Hope Hicks.

‘I think 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,’ she testified.

She was discussing the Stormy Daniels Wall Street Journal story coming out in 2018.

Steinglass says after this she ‘burst into tears and realized how much this testimony puts a final nail in Mr. Trump’s coffin.’

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass brought up Michael Cohen meeting with attorney Robert Costello in 2018.

Costello was called to testify in the case by the defense last week.

Steinglass claims that Cohen ‘never really trusted Costello’ and questions ‘can you blame him? You saw Costello testify.’

The prosecutor calls Costello’s testimony last week that he was only acting in Cohen’s best interest a ‘bold-faced line.’

Steinglass also brought up Costello’s demeanor on the stand’ as something the jury could take into account when ‘assessing his credibility.’

Costello was admonished by the judge who questioned if he was ‘staring’ him down from the stand.

The judge just called the final recess of the day at about 6:50pm. The jury is taking a break while Judge Merchan thrashes out a couple of legal arguments with defense and prosecution.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argues ‘Cohen knew where the bodies were buried’ and it was ‘essential to keep him loyal.’

As he makes this argument, the jury is being shown Trump’s tweet from April 21, 2018 where he wrote ‘Most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble. sorry i don’t see michael doing that.’

This morning the defense focused their arguments narrowly, drilling down into the documents at the heart of the 34 charges and trying to knock down Michael Cohen’s testimony, linking Trump to business records.

In contrast, the prosecution case is broad. Joshua Steinglass is painting the Stormy Daniels hush money payments as part of a wider effort to influence the election, including working with the publisher of the National Enquirer in a capture-kill conspiracy.

We’ll never know if this effort to hoodwink the American voter impacted the election, but that’s something we don’t need to prove.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reads excerpts from Trump’s books to try and show he is frugal.

From Think Like a Billionaire, he recites: ‘Call it penny-pinching…I call it financial statements’.

From the same book he pinpointed an excerpt where the former president wrote ‘always look at the numbers yourself’ to suggest he is a micromanager.

‘If Donald Trump is checking the invoices for his decorator you can bet he’s checking the invoices from Michael Cohen,’ Steinglass told the jury.

‘It’s this combination of frugality and attention to detail that led Mr Trump to keep tight reins on his checks.’

Joshua Steinglass tells the jury ‘don’t buy the bogus narrative the defense is selling’ that Trump was too busy to realize he was signing checks to Michael Cohen.

The prosecutor argues Trump was in charge of the Trump Organization for 40 years and his ‘entire business philosophy’ was to be involved in everything down to negotiating the price of lightblubs.

Steinglass points out Trump OKed a payment to renew a golf club membership in 2017 after he was president.

He also suggests Trump could have let his wife sign checks or used autopay.

Steinglass calls Trump ‘frugal’ and immersed in the details.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is showing the jury the check cut to Michael Cohen and points out that Trump signed the check using his ‘distinctive sharpie.’

He argues it’s easy to ‘throw a bunch of mud at the wall and see what sticks’ but questions what the defense is actually saying

Steinglass says ‘that’s crazy’ of the defense arguing Trump didn’t know about the reimbursement and that it was all done by Weisselberg and Cohen.

He points out the December 2017 check to Cohen notes services rendered in December but was cut in the morning on December 1.

Steinglass asks how someone can do that much work to earn $35,000 in 11 minutes.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now focusing on Michael Cohen’s work for Trump in 2017.

He says Cohen did less than 10 hours of work for Trump that year and that Cohen spent more time being cross-examined than he did doing legal work for the then-president.

Steinglass questions whether there was any chance Trump would pay $42,000 an hour for legal work? He says it would be a pretty sweet hourly rate and $105 million a year.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass has done nothing to hide his contempt for the defense arguments. In fact, he has made it something of a feature, expressing a rather theatrical disbelief at elements of the defense case.

For example, he points out that the defense tried to say that the existence of notes detailing the payment to Cohen showed there was nothing dubious about those transactions.

The handwritten, chicken scratch notes (setting out the money paid out by Cohen and how he would be repaid) are a smoking gun, said Steinglass.

Yet he points out that the defense said the fact that it was set down on paper shows there could have been nothing illegal about it. Nonsense, he says.

‘These documents are so damning, you almost have to laugh at the way Mr. Blanche tries to explain to you that this wasn’t fraud,’ he said, his voice rising as he makes the point.

At other times he comes with the zingers, as he ridicules the way the defense claimed Cohen was paid for work done in 2017.

Cohen spent more time being cross examined in this trial than he did doing legal work for Donald Trump in 2017.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass calls exhibits 35 and 36 ‘smoking guns.’

He argues the exhibits blow the defense claims the money paid to Michael Cohen was for legal services ‘out of the water.’

Steinglass says he is ‘almost speechless’ the defense is still trying to make the argument the 2017 payments were for legal services rendered.

The exhibits in question are the bank statement from Essential Consultants, the shell company set up by Cohen, which shows Cohen paid Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson $130,000.

At the bottom is a note in former Trump Org CFO Allen Weisselberg’s handwriting that the $130,000 was ‘grossed up’ to $360,000.

The other exhibit is the note written by Jeff McConney, the Trump Org controller, from his meeting with Weisselberg where he wrote about reimbursing Cohen on Trump embossed note paper.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass is continuing with his closing statement. Judge Juan Merchan, who has maintained an even hand throughout proceedings, is keeping an eagle eye on the jury as the clock ticks toward 6pm.

Merchan has been clear that he wants to get the closings done by the end of Tuesday, which means working late. But any sign that the jury is tiring or struggling to concentrate and he is likely to call it a day and bring us all back tomorrow.

Donald Trump, in typically overstated form, cries foul, posting to his Truth Social website during the break earlier. He calls the proceedings ‘boring,’ and seems to think it is a ‘filibuster.’

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is focusing on the repayment to Michael Cohen.

He points to a meeting after Trump got elected when he claims Trump approved the repayment plan to Cohen for the $130,000 he paid porn star Stormy Daniels.

Steinglass argues the money was paid back $35,000 a month for twelve months under the guise of a legal retainer.

He says it would be $420,000 as it was ‘grossed up’ for tax purposes and included some other payments.

He says directing Cohen to submit false invoices is what kicked off the whole series of false records.

Judge Juan Merchan has called for the jury so prosecutors can continue closing arguments.

We could be looking at an 8pm finish so the panel can start deliberating tomorrow after receiving their instructions.

Trump VP contender Republican Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., says there may have been a ‘scheme’ hatched by the NY Supreme Court to ensure Dem donor Judge Merchan would oversee Trump’s case. She’s demanding an investigation and sanctions slapped on any law official involved.

‘One cannot help but suspect that the “random selection” at work in the assignment of Acting Justice Merchan, a Democrat Party donor, to these cases involving prominent Republicans, is in fact not random at all,’ she writes in the letter shared first with DailyMail.com.

She points out that Merchan was also appointed to oversee Trump crony Steve Bannon’s upcoming trial and a case into the Trump Organization.

‘The probability of three specific criminal cases being assigned to the same justice is infinitesimally small.’

‘The simple answer to why Acting Justice Merchan has been assigned to these cases would seem to be that whoever made the assignment intentionally selected Acting Justice Merchan to handle them to increase the chance that Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, and Steven Bannon would ultimately be convicted.’

Trump’s best surrogates have been going to bat for him over the last several weeks of the trial as the race to be vice president heats up.

Stefanik also filed an ethics complaint against Merchan last week citing his daughter who is the president of Authentic Campaigns, which promotes Democrats.

Last year, a separate ethics advisory committee found that Merchan’s over two-years-old political contributions would not create bias in the case.

Judge Juan Merchan says the jury was ‘pretty insistent’ about carrying on and they will finish closing arguments tonight.

Donald Trump is back in the courtroom from a short break.

Court could go until 7pm or 8pm.

Donald Trump said nothing in the courtroom as his lead defense attorney delivered his closing argument that the former president should be found not guilty of falsifying business records.

He didn’t need to.

Todd Blanche’s two-and-half-hour statement was shot through with the words and fingerprints of the defendant himself, making it part legal argument, part campaign address.

There was a belittling nickname for a key witness—’Michael Cohen is the GLOAT. The Greatest Liar of All Time’—frequent references to prosecutors as the ‘government’ (when in New York State court it is ‘the people’ who bring prosecutions) and a final incendiary reference to his client facing prison.

‘You cannot send someone to prison … you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen,’ said Blanche, raising an immediate objection from the prosecution.

Sentencing is the judge’s domain. And no one really believes Trump faces a prison term, other than the writers of Trump campaign press releases.

It meant Tuesday morning had something of the rhetoric of a Trump rally, much to the fury of Judge Juan Merchan. He rounded on Blanche, pointing out that as a former prosecutor he should know better than to use such language.

The court takes another break. After the jury has left, Judge Juan Merchan says he has been watching the jurors and he thinks they look alert, despite the long day. ‘We haven’t lost anyone,’ he says.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass will resume his closing statement after a 20-minute break and the judge wants us to get finished tonight.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going through multiple pieces of evidence including emails, texts, call logs and other records as he lays out a timeline while making his closing arguments.

As part of the timeline he highlights two calls to Trump where he claims Cohen got ‘final approval to fund the deal’ on October 26, 2016.

Steinglass argues it was half an hour before Cohen went across the street to the bank and initiated the paperwork.

He also focuses on October 28, 2016, arguing Trump didn’t sign the NDA himself. Steinglass claims it wasn’t necessary to have a binding NDA. The objective was to keep Stormy Daniels quiet.

Steinglass says it was ‘no coincidence’ the sexual encounter happened in 2006 but the payoff didn’t happen for 10 years, less than two weeks before the election.

‘The defendant’s primary concern was not his family, but the election,’ he argues.

Joshua Steinglass argues Stormy Daniels was a ‘walking talking reminder that the defendant was not only words.’

He claims the porn star would have ‘totally undermined’ Trump’s strategy as he was trying to ‘sell distinction between words and actions’ in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape’s release.

Joshua Steinglass rejects the defense downplaying the Trump campaign’s reaction to the Access Hollywood tape, calling it a ‘Category 5 hurricane.’

He points to former Trump aide Hope Hicks’ testimony that it ‘eclipsed the coverage of a Category 4 hurricane.’

‘So I guess it was a Category 5 hurricane,’ Steinglass says.

He claims it was a ‘crisis.’

The jury is shown the Trump video statement that came out October 8.

Steinglass says the defense wants the jury to think the tape was just a blip, but the tape and reports that followed were capable of costing Trump the election.

‘Hope Hicks was in the room when it happened, and she said the defendant knew he was in crisis,’ Steinglass says.

‘You can’t understand this case without understanding the climate in the wake of the Access Hollywood tape. It caused pandemonium in the Trump campaign and at the time the defendant himself believed the fallout could tip the election.’

‘The video was vulgar, to say the least,’ he added.

As we broke for afternoon recess, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he was maybe a third of the way through his closing. Cue sharp intake of breath around courtroom 1530.

Before resuming the afternoon session, Judge Juan Merchan held a sibebar to discuss scheduling. He has been keen all along to keep things moving and get through closings today.

He has just told the court we will take another break at about 5pm, ‘pick things up’ at about 5:30pm and then see how the jury is feeling.

At this rate, we might finish around 7pm.

The court is taking a short break.

Before the break, Joshua Steinglass is asked by Judge Merchan how it’s going.

He reponds he’s ‘about a third of the way through’ his closing arguments.

The September 2016 recording of Donald Trump and Michael Cohen appearing to talk about the Karen McDougal payment is played for the jury.

‘The recording is nothing short of jaw dropping,’ Joshua Steinglass claims. He argues it shows Trump’s willingness to hide the payoff.

Steinglass rejects defense attorney Todd Blanche suggesting Trump does not say ‘150’ on the tape in a reference to the $150,000.

He argues it shows the defendant paying in cash and that it does not matter if it’s a bag of cash or financing but that he’s trying to do it in a way that doesn’t leave a paper trail.

Joshua Steinglass continues to focus on the National Enquirer involvement, saying that David Pecker never intended to publish the Karen McDougal story under any circumstances.

He argues a story about a Playboy playmate having sex with a presidential candidate would be ‘National Enquirer gold.’

‘Pecker was willing to sacrifice AMI’s bottom line in service of Mr. Trump’s campaign,’ he claims. He calls it the very definition of an unlawful corporate campaign contribution.

Steinglass also shows the jury a Dylan HOward text to Keith DAvidson saying ‘I’m going to make great again.’

‘Trump is looming behind everything they’re doing,’ Steinglass says.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is focusing on the Karen McDougal story.

The jury is being shown multiple phone and text logs from 2016 with Michael Cohen, David Pecker and Dylan Howard that Steinglass says showed the deal being done.

Steinglass highlights Pecker’s testimony where he was giving a presentation in 2016 and was interrupted by being told Trump was on the phone.

‘The defendant explained that Cohen had told him about McDougal,’ Steinglass says. He notes in the testimony, Pecker said Trump told him he found out about the McDougal story from Cohen, just as Cohen said.

Steinglass notes Pecker believed the McDougal story to be true. He says how they were talking about buying the story, not about helping jumpstart McDougal’s career.

Steinglass argues the call makes it impossible to claim Cohen was acting on his own and taking it upon himself to buy the McDougal story.

He says the transaction amounts to an unlawful corporate campaign contribution and shows Trump knew about it and actively participated, calling the testimony powerful evidence of Trump’s involvement apart from Cohen.

The jury will be sent out tomorrow to begin their deliberations. It is an historic responsibility, to decide the guilt or otherwise of a former president for the first time.

Throughout the more than four weeks of the trial, all 12 jurors plus the alternates have shown an admirable focus. Today is no different. Their eyes are focused on prosecutor Josh Steinglass, who is about an hour and a half into what he says will be a four-hour closing. At times they cast their eyes down to their monitors to look at tables of text messages or emails or other exhibits.

The courtoom, which was chilly when this began in April, is warm and stuffy now. But no one is nodding off. Except maybe the defendant.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury that the National Enquirer’s ‘catch and kill’ scheme could have ‘very well’ been what ‘got President Trump elected.’

He argues at the August 2015 meeting there were three rich men high up in Trump Tower ‘trying to become even more powerful by controlling the flow of information that might reach voters.’

He says catch and kill was the ‘illegal part’ of the meeting.

‘Once money starts changing hands, that’s campaign finance violations,’ Steinglass claims.

He mocks Blanche’s comment that there is ‘nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.’

Steinglass says the agreement was the opposite: ‘a subversion of democracy.’

He claims AMI became a ‘covert arm of the defendant’s campaign’ and while NDAs are not illegal on their own, it depends on what they are for.

‘A contract to kill your wife, that’s illegal’ he says as an example.

Steinglass responds to who cares that Trump slept with a porn star ten years before the election by saying it’s harder to say the American people don’t have the right to say whether they care or not.

‘The value of this corrupt bargain cannot be overstated,’ he says. ‘This scheme could very well be what got President Trump elected.’

Joshua Steinglass says the defense wants to make the case about Cohen but ‘it isn’t.’

He argues it’s about Doanld Trump and whether he should be held accountable.

He argues Cohen was in the best position to know because he was Trump’s right hand.

Steinglass describes Michael Cohen as ‘like a tour guide through the physical evidence.’

He claims Cohen provides context and color to the documents.

‘But those documents don’t lie and they don’t forget,’ Steinglass says.

The prosecutors argues the jury doesn’t need Cohen to connect the dots, but as an ultimate insider, he can help do that.

Joshua Steinglass says prosecutors did not choose Michael Cohen as their witness saying ‘we didn’t pick him out at the witness store.’

He says Trump chose Michael Cohen to be his fixer ‘because he was willing to lie and cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.’

Steinglass argues Trump chose Cohen for the same qualities his attorneys are now urging the jury to reject.

He says Cohen had enough loyalty and enough moral flexibility to be perfect for the role.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass mocks Trump’s defense leaning into the Keith Schiller call in his closing.

He then goes on to act out a call imagining Trump’s aide Scheiller and Cohen discussed a prankster who might be a 14-year-old and passing the phone on to ‘the boss.’

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is addressing the credibility of Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen.

He notes the defense argued Cohen is biased saying ‘guess what? We agree.’

‘Michael Cohen is understandably angry,’ he says. He says Cohen is the only one who has paid the price for his role in the conspiracy so far.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argues the defense has gone to great lengths to discredit Stormy Daniels but says her story has not changed over the years.

He says there were parts of her testimony that were ‘cringeworthy’ noting the ‘whole episode in the suite was uncomfortable.’

But he argues details like the contents of Trump’s toiletry bag are the ‘kinds of details that kind of ring true’ and ones ‘you expect someone to remember.’

He says it was fortunate she was not asked nor volunteered many details ‘about the sexual act itself.’

Steinglass says despite Blanche arguing Daniels’ testimony doesn’t matter, the defendant knew what happened in the hotel room.

‘That only reinforces his incentive to buy her silence,’ Steinglass says. ‘If her testimony were so irrelevant, why did they work so hard to discredit her?’

The prosecutor also called her testimony ‘messy’ and ‘uncomfortable to hear’ but says that’s ‘kind of the point.’

‘That’s the display the defendant didn’t want the American voter to see.’

Turmp’s supporters assembled outside the courtroom holding ‘Trump 2024’ flags and dressing in patriotic red, white and blue.

Across the way, protestors against the ex-president put up a massive blow up of Trump dressed in a prisoner’s outfit labeled ‘Prisoner #1.’

‘LOCK HIM UP!’ a sign attacked to the truck hauling the Trump blow up read.

Trump’s children Tiffany, Don Jr., Eric and daughter-in-law Lara sit together as proceedings continue Tuesday afternoon.

Notably absent is Trump’s wife Melania, who is said to be in Florida.

Legal experts tell DailyMail.com that her absence isn’t likely to have a big impact on the outcome of the case.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass began by calling the case a ‘conspiracy and a cover-up.’

He says the conspiracy was to corrupt the 2016 election and the cover-up was to disguise the payment to Stormy Daniels.

Steinglass is calling on the jury to focus on the facts and logical inferences from hard evidence.

He tells the jury to tune out the noise and ignore the sideshows.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now at the podium delivering closing arguments for the prosecution.

Donald Trump is turned toward Steinglass as he begins.

He is expected to go on for about four hours before the judge will wrap up proceedings for the day.

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench after a lunch break.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is expected to make closing arguments this afternoon.

Upon returning to courtroom, Donald Trump appears to be in a reasonable mood, chatting with his lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove who are smiling.

‘To the jury, when they realize these people who have wasted five weeks of their time in there, that they’ve been part of a political game, as New Yorkers, I’m pretty sure they’re going to be upset about it,’ said Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara.

‘And if they can profit off it on the other side, so can we,’ she added.

She went on to plug DonaldJTrump.com where supporters can make donations to Trump’s re-election campaign.

Lara was joined by Don Jr., Eric Trump and spokespeople Karoline Leavitt and Steven Cheung outside the court.

The jury today is listening to closing arguments from Donald Trump’s defense team and prosecutors, but the jury has already heard testimony from 22 witnesses over six weeks.

Jury expert and attorney Renato Stabile suggests closing arguments might not matter so much.

‘I think with such a long break, most of the jurors have made up their mind and know what they are going to do,’ Stabile said as the jury returned from a long holiday weekend.

‘That doesn’t mean we will have a quick verdict, because these jurors will be dug in, but the decision has already been made.’

Stabile says the arguments today will matter ‘very little at this point.’

‘The summations will just serve to confirm whatever the jurors are already thinking,’ he says.

Trump gave journalists a fist pump in the air as he and his team exited the courtroom for lunch.

The prosecution is set to begin their closing arguments at 2:00 p.m. ET when court resumes. They are expected to present their case against Trump for about four hours.

The jury agreed to stay later today, beyond the usual 4:30 p.m. end time. Court could go on into the 6 p.m. hour as the prosecution wraps up their arguments.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche spent the past 3.5 hours delivering his best defense of the president.

The court erupted in drama at the end of Donald Trump attorney Todd Blanche’s closing statement when he told the jury to not send someone to prison based on Michael Cohen’s ‘lies.’

Judge Juan Merchan sustained an objection from the prosecution and called his comments ‘outrageous’ and ‘highly inappropriate.’

‘It’s simply not allowed period,’ the judge says. ‘It’s hard for me to imagine how that’s accidental in any way.’

Blanche finished by thanking the jurors and insisting the case is not a ‘referendum’ on Trump.

Todd Blanche is not done tearing into Michael Cohen calling him the ‘GLOAT’ or ‘Greatest Liar of All Time.’

‘Have you guys heard of the GOAT, the greatest of all time?’ Blanche asks. ‘Michael Jordan is the GOAT. Tom Brady is the GOAT. The best among peers.’

Michael Cohen is the GLOAT,’ says Blanche. ‘The Greatest Liar of All Time.’

Blanche says Cohen’s words ‘cannot be trusted.’

Todd Blanche is closing up with a list of reasons that should raise ‘reasonable doubt’ in jurors’ minds: ‘Each one of these reasons makes a not guilty verdict a very easy path and a very quick path.’

1. The invoices – were sent by Cohen (nothing to do with Trump), and were accurate
2. Valentine’s Day communications – no evidence that Trump ever saw the payment vouchers
3. No evidence of intent to defraud
4. No intent to unlawfully influence the 2016 election – no Federal Election Campaign Act violations have been demonstrated
5. No illegal agreement to influence the election – any deal with the National Enquirer was just a normal part of working with the media
6. AMI would have run Sajudin’s story – the story of the Trump Tower doorman was not true, that’s why it wasn’t run
7. McDougal did not want her story published
8. Stormy Daniels’ story was already public
9. Manipulation of evidence – Cohen’s phones were wiped and synced at different times, before data were taken from them
10. Michael Cohen – ‘He’s the human embodiment of reasonable doubt,’ says Blanche

Todd Blanche is out to destroy star witness Michael Cohen in his closing arguments.

‘He’s repeatedly lied under oath. He’s lied to his family, to his wife about the $130,000,’ Blanche says. Blanche also rattles off Cohen’s kids, his banker, the FEC and reporters.

‘He’s literally like an MVP of liars,’ Blanche declares. ‘He lies constantly. He lied to Congress, his family, his boss, to federal judges.’

Blanche also blasts Cohen as a thief who ‘literally stole on his way out the door.’

He claims Cohen has been ‘obsessed’ with Trump for over two decades until 2018.

Blanche says Cohen went from loving Trump to ‘outright hatred.’

Todd Blanche asks why Stormy Daniels testified.

Prosecutors objected, but the judge allows Blanche to continue.

‘To inflame your emotions, to embarrass President Trump,’ says Blanche. ‘That’s why ladies and gentlemen.’

Trump has swiveled around in his chair again as Todd Blanche tears into key witness Michael Cohen, and the Oct 24 phone call in which he claimed to have been updating his boss about the Stormy Daniels deal.

‘That was a lie and he got caught red-handed,’ says Blanche, reminding jurors of evidence that Cohen wanted to discuss a 14-year-old who had been harassing him.

Blanche raises his voice and breaks the key word down into syllables: ‘That is PER-JUR-Y.’

Trump clearly likes it. He leans back and soaks it in, eyes narrowed, as he gazes at his attorney.

Trump’s defense lawyer Todd Blanche claims after the Access Hollywood tape came out in October 2016, Stormy Daniels and Dylan Howard ‘seized an opportunity’ and were thinking ‘now is the time to strike.’

Blanche is delivering his arguments mockingly when he claims it was a conspiracy between Daniels, Howard and Rodriguez.

Blanche calls the Access Hollywood tape release an ‘extremely personal event’ for Trump and claims nobody wants their family to be subjected to that sort of thing.

He argues the government wants the jury to believe the release of the tape was ‘so catastrophic’ it provided a motive for Trump to do something criminal, but he argues there’s no evidence of that.

Blanche claims Trump did not react to the Access Hollywood tape in the way the government suggests.

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

Blanche resumed his closing argument with a focus on Stormy Daniels.

He says the claim that she was threatened in a gym parking lot in 2011 is a lie.

Blanche says it never happened.

‘This started as an extortion, there’s no doubt about that,’ Blanche says. ‘It ended very well for Ms. Daniels financially speaking.’

He claims there was a separate conspiracy between Daniels, Rodriguez and National Enquirer’s Dylan Howard to make money off Trump for Daniels selling her story.

After our brief morning recess, Judge Juan Merchan announces that the jury is prepared to work late tonight in order to complete closing arguments. Merchan says they were told there would be a snack run to help them get through maybe an extra hour. ‘They seemed to like that,’ he says.

Then the jurors file in, just 10 feet or so in front of the defendant. They all look dead ahead as they walk past, while Trump looks at each in turn.

Normally the day’s work ends at 4:30pm but the judge is keen that the closings do not run on into a second day, disrupting everyone’s train of thought.

Blanche says both Donald Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels repeatedly denied an alleged sexual encounter in 2006 took place.

But he notes the story was published in 2011, long before the 2016 election.

‘People already knew about the allegations,’ Blanche says.

‘What really happened here is there was a group of people that wanted to extort money from President Trump,’ Blanche claims. He names Daniels, her agent Gina Rodriguez, and her lawyer Keith Davidson.

Blanche says they asked Cohen if he believed it was an extortion attempt and he said yes.

Blanche called it another opportunity for Cohen to take advantage. He claims the only person saying Trump knew everything is Cohen.

‘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,’ Blanche says. ‘And you cannot believe his words.’

Blanche also rejects that Daniels surfacing in 2016 caused panic.

‘That’s just not true,’ he says.

Police were forced to intervene outside Donald Trump’s hush money trial after his supporters got into a fight.

Cops jumped over the barriers to break up the MAGA fans who got in a spat in the Manhattan heat during closing arguments.

Watch the video below.

There were chaotic scenes outside court as Robert DeNiro got into a heated row with Trump supporters.

Deniro was leavijng after speaking on behalf of the Biden campaign.

The Hollywood actor told Trump supporters ‘You are gangsters, you are gansters!’ and jabbed his finger at them.

A man in a MAGA hat responded, shouting: ‘You’re washed up!”

DeNiro shouted back: ‘F*** you!’

The MAGA supporter shouited back:

You’re a nobody! Your movies suck! You’re trash! You’re trash! You’re done!

Tempers flared as Robert DeNiro got into a row with a Trump supporter outside the Manhattan Criminal Court.

The Hollywood star, who famously played boxer Jake LaMotta in the movie ‘Raging Bull’ was speaking outside court on behalf of the Joe Biden campaign.

Todd Blanche argues Michael Cohen’s recorded conversation with Donald Trump is a conversation of Trump and Cohen ‘talking past each other.’

He says when the transcript talks about cash and Cohen said he was referring to green ‘it makes it more sinister.’

‘It makes it sound more criminal if there’s a big duffel bag filled with cash,’ Blanche says.

But Blanche says Cohen admitted in cross-examination cash means financing.

‘That’s Mr. Cohen lying to you, painting a picture which fits his narrative,’ Blanche says.

Blanche claims there was ‘no scenario Mr. Trump was going to walk around with a duffel bag with $150,000 in cash.’

In a separate legal case Trump is battling in Florida, Judge Cannon rejected Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request to slap a gag order on the ex-president.

It will be a total win in the eyes of Trump, who has slammed being under a gag order in his hush money case for months.

Cannon wrote in an order Tuesday that Smith’s prosecutorial team failed to ‘confer’ with the defense which is ‘wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.’

Donald Trump’s eldest child, Donald Trump Jr., claimed Tuesday that the Biden campaign’s plan to hold a press conference outside of the former president’s ongoing hush money trial is election interference.

He added that the Biden camp is acting as cheerleaders for the New York prosecutors leading the case against Trump.

‘In case you needed more evidence that all of these BS cases were quarterbacked by Team Biden to interfere in the 2024 election, the Biden campaign is now showing up in NYC to explicitly cheerlead the political prosecution of my father,’ Trump Jr. posted on X.

Junior was joined at the trial by his siblings Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump.

Todd Blanche is addressing Trump’s alleged affair with former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal.

He says there was never any money paid by Michael Cohen or Donald Trump to American Media Inc.

‘Catch and kill?’ Blanche asks.

He points out McDougal didn’t want her story published. She wanted to kick start her career, not sell her story.

‘How is that a catch and kill? It’s not.’

Blanche says it matters because there was never any risk that her allegation would influence the election.

He says the government has alleged a conspiracy to influence the election, but the second of three catch and kill allegations didn’t want to influence the election at all since she didn’t want it published.

Donald Trump has twisted around to his right to watch his lawyer Todd Blanche discuss the role of American Media (owner of National Enquirer) in a supposed catch-and-kill scheme.

Blanche is pointing out that a story supplied by a Trump Tower doorman (a false tale of Trump fathering an illegimate child) was never published because it was not true, and that model Karen McDougal never wanted her story made public – she was using it to kickstart her career with magazine columns and covers. So much for a catch-and-kill plot to protect Trump, is his point.

Trump is watching Blanche’s back and looking directly at the jury, his right arm over the back of his chair. It makes a change from his usual pose, leaning back in his seat with eyes closed.

Todd Blanche is arguing that the idea that the National Enquirer had the ability to influence the 2016 election ‘is preposterous.’

He says the government wants the jury to believe that David Pecker, Trump and Cohen all got together and said they were going to commit a crime.

Blanche points to the negative stories about Trump’s primary opponents but claims there was no in-depth discussion about how they would get together and publish negative stories. He calls it a general discussion of an effort to try and help Trump.

‘The idea the National Enquirer could corruptly and criminally influence an election by republishing stories should hopefully make you shake your head,’ Blanche says. ‘It makes no sense.’

Blanche argues ‘there is no crime, period’ while addressing the alleged conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.

He argues Trump is not guilty of conspiracy.

Blanche claims the government’s theory is in 2017 after the election Trump caused false filings to promote the candidacy in an election he already won.

He says even if it were true, it does not matter if there was a conspiracy to try and win the election.

‘Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate,’ Blanche says.

He argues in order for you to find there was an attempt to conceal an election-related crime, they have to find it was done by unlawful means.

Robert DeNiro just can’t help himself when it comes to attacking Donald Trump.

The Hollywood icon, who lives in New York and has had his share of legal issues, appeared on behalf of the Biden campaign outside court.

He said: ‘Donald Trump wants to destroy this city. And not only this city, but this country. And then the world.’

The actor also doubled down on calling MAGA fans ‘clowns’ in the press conference alongside Capitol police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone.

Todd Blanche said the idea that Trump would agree to pay Michael Cohen $420,0000 even though he only owed him $130,000 ‘is absurd.’

Blanche notes Cohen said he saw Allen Weissleberg hadn the piece of paper over to Trump and claims Cohen wants the jury to believe Trump saw the paper with the $130,000, $50,000 for Red Finch which Trump said he was not going to pay, but then out of the blue said he was going to pay it, and double it.

Blanche notes throwing in the additional $60,000 bonus, calling it absurd.

He points to all the evidence heard about Trump watching his finances.

Todd Blanche just made a little slip as he continues his closing argument for the defense. He talked about evidence introduced by the ‘government.’

In fact, prosecutions in Manhattan Supreme Court are brought by the ‘people’ not the ‘government.’ The slip is a reminder that Blanche spent a chunk of his career before private practise in the federal prosecutor’s office, where prosecutions are brought by the government in the form of the Department of Justice.

Blanche is relatively inexperienced in this court. Will it matter?

Todd Blanche is arguing the ex-president was essentially too busy to notice what was happening with the checks he was signing.

Blanche notes there was a lot of evidence on how Trump signed checks beginning in 2017.

He points out Trump was ‘very busy’ and was ‘running the country.’

He recalls how witness Madeleine Westerhout testified that sometimes Trump would look at the checks and invoices and sometimes he would not.

Blanche claims sometimes there were a lot of checks and only he could sign them.

He argues Trump was constantly moving, multitasking: ‘he was President of the United States.’

Donald Trump Jr. posts an instagram that shows former President Donald Trump on his phone.

There’s a post pulled up in super sized font.

Trump Jr. included a caption that starts with ‘Mean tweets world peace… LFG!!!’

Based on the color of Trump’s tie, the image used is not from Tuesday.

As we get to the business end of the case, the jury looks tuned in and focused. They have listened to weeks of evidence, now Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead defense attorney, is knitting together an argument that his client is innocent.

The 12 jurors and the alternates are sitting, eyes trained on Blanche. They watched him closely as he tried to dissect one of the key planks of the prosecution case, that Trump’s fixer was paid $35,000 a month through 2017 as reimbursement for the hush money payment. Instead he says, it was part of a retainer agreement paid to Trump’s personal lawyer.

‘There’s a reason why in life the simplest answer is the right one,’ says Blanche. ‘Thet’s certainly the case here.’

The jury, to a man and woman, followed the point closely. A good moment for the defense. But the prosecution gets the advantage of the last word later today.

Todd Blanche is addressing the question over why there wasn’t a written retainer agreement between Donald Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen.

The jury is shown Cohen’s testimony where he said there was never an expectation of a retainer agreement.

Blanche says that was a lie.

‘A lie is a lie, and this was a significant lie,’ he argues.

He claims Trump was paying his personal attorney in 2017 $35,000 a month pursuant to an agreement he made with Cohen right before he took office.

Todd Blanche shows the jury Michael Cohen invoices.

He argues that Cohen was rendering services to Donald Trump in 2017 as his personal attorney and admitted that.

The jury is also shown an email in May 2017 from Cohen to Weisselberg where he asks him to call to discuss the ‘last open foundation matter.’

Blanche argues prosecutors want the jury to believe Cohen, Weisselberg and Trump had some sort of conspiratorial agreement to falsify the records and Cohen was working for free.

But he claims the email shows Cohen telling Weisselberg to call to discuss something he was doing on behalf of Trump.

Todd Blanche tells the jury they cannot convict Donald Trump of any crimes based on the words of Michael Cohen.

He argues the words Cohen said on the stand matter.

Blanche claims Cohen took an oath, ‘swore to tell you the truth and told you a number of things that were lies, pure and simple.’

A yellow sticky note underlining Trump’s message was clearly visible when snappers were allowed into the courtroom to photograph Trump.

Writing in all capital letters in thick black ink said ‘This case should be dismissed by the judge but he is totally …’ The remainder was obscured by Trump’s fingers.

Printed text beneath it showed the comments Trump read from earlier on camera.

The note was also visible earlier when Trump spoke outside the courtroom. When he was president photographers frequently captured cards with

Defense attorney Todd Blanche slams the prosecution’s star witness and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

‘You should want and expect more than the testimony of Michael Cohen,’ Blanche says.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, said at the start that he’ll need about two and half hours for his closing. But we get to the nub within 10 minutes in a graphic put up on the big screens.

‘This case is about documents. It’s a paper case. This case is not about an encounter with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago,’ he says.

Trump is accuses of falsifying 34 documents – invoices, vouchers and checks.

But the invoices, says Blanche, were sent by Cohen; the vouchers were entered by the accounting department; and the checks were generated by the accounting department, automatically based on the voucher entries.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche argues the ex-president is innocent, similar to his arguments at the beginning of the trial.

‘President Trump is innocent,’ says Blanche.

‘He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof – period.’

Judge Juan Mercahn tells the jury that they alone are the ‘judges of the facts in this case.’

He reminds them that nothing the lawyers say is evidence, so nothing the lawyers say in summations is evidence.

‘Whatever the lawyers say, it is simply arguments for your consideration,’ he says.

The defense will present closing arguments first, followed by the prosecution before the judge dismisses the jury to deliberate.

On his way into the courtroom, Trump smiled at his blonde daughter Tiffany.

Immediately before, he told reporters: ‘Make no mistake about it, I’m here because of crooked Joe Biden. The worst president in the history of our country. He is destroying our country. This country is being destroyed rapidly. Not slowly, rapidly on the borders, on energy, on inflation, on everything you can measure. Afghanistan removal.

‘Everything about what he has done, he is destroying our country and he is also destroying it with weaponization and this is purely weaponization.’

Trump went on to quote a series of news articles by legal experts which included saying there was ‘no crime’ and the prosecution did ‘not have a leg to stand on’.

‘We have a judge who is conflicted. You know what the conflict is. I can’t say it. I’m under a gag order. Another unconstitutional thing,’ Trump said.

‘A leading candidate and I have a gag order and not allowed to speak. It’s a first. Everybody says it is crazy. This is a dark day in America. We have a rigged court case that should have never been brought.

‘So, thank you all very much. We’ll see how it goes. This is a very dangerous day for America. A very sad day, thank you.’

Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche is expected to deliver closing arguments first.

He will be followed by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass who will present summations second.

Judge Merchan has said he expects to give jury instructions Wednesday.

Trump tore into Rep. Bob Good Tuesday as the former president headed to court – calling him ‘BAD FOR THE USA’ just 12 days after Good appeared at his hush money trial in solidarity.

‘Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA,’ Trump posted about the conservative House Freedom Caucus chair.

‘He turned his back on our incredible movement, and was constantly attacking and fighting me until recently, when he gave a warm and “loving” Endorsement – But really, it was too late.’

‘The damage has been done!’ Trump wrote. Good was involved in the effort to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the presidential primary.

He came to Manhattan criminal court on May 17 and blasted the gag order as well as the ‘corrupt judge,’ echoing Trump’s own attacks on Juan Merchan.

Trump instead endorsed Virginia state Del. John McGuire, who has accused Good of disloyalty to Trump in a bitter primary.

Donald Trump arrived in court at 9:25 am, a minute after his nemesis Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took his seat on the other side of his courtroom.

Front row is family today. Tiffany Trump took the aisle seat, with Lara Trump beside her, then Eric and Don Jr. in the middle of the row.

Behind them, top Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles is also in court.

Donald and Tiffany smiled at each other before he took his seat ahead of closing arguments.

Tiffany Trump seemed in good spirits as she heads to court with Donald Trump Jr. to support their father.

They were spotted departing Trump Tower at the same time as their father.

Picture by: Elder Ordonez/SplashNews.com

Donald Trump has left Trump Tower to make his way downtown to the Manhattan courthouse for closing arguments.

He was joined by daughter Tiffany and her husband Michael Boulous in the motorcade.

The former president was wearing a signature red tie and waved to the waiting crowd before getting into a SUV.

Tiffany Trump will appear in her father’s support team in court after a stunning blackmail plot was revealed in testimony.

The former president’s attorney Todd Blanche pressed star witness Michael Cohen during cross-examination about the apparent ‘extortion’ attempt involving the president’s daughter.

The reason: to establish that Cohen had multiple reasons to be speaking with Donald Trump during a critical period, beyond the Stormy Daniels matter that he testified about.

Read more below:

Expect the defense to throw the kitchen sink at the jury during its closing argument. It will try to unpick every line used by the prosecution, undermining its key witness Michael Cohen, questioning the relevance of most of the evidence presented, and asking what sort of politician WOULDN’T be involved in trying to influence in the outcome of an election.

But its main message to the jury will be to remember that this is a case about falsifying documents. Forget the sex and the money. Was there really any evidence that Donald Trump knew the purpose of the checks he was signing? Or any real evidence that he knew Michael Cohen was being reimbursed illegally? Or was it the case that lower level employees handled the invoices, the ledgers and the check cutting?

Documents, documents, documents will be at the heart of the defense closing.

CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen was co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.

He tells CNN a conviction is ‘not a slam dunk’.

It still is not a slam dunk in my view, having been there every day, for the prosecution. I think the odds of a conviction are somewhere upwards of 80 percent.

The defense, in part because of this scattershot approach, the defense is not really gunning for an acquittal. That’s out of reach here. What they are hoping for is one angry juror.

A host of TV network anchors and hosts have lined up outside the Manhattan court to watch the historic case unfold.

Tuesday’s media celebrity is Jen Psaki, who was the White House press secretary before Karine Jean-Pierre and is now a host on MSNBC.

Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany will make her debut at her father’s hush money trial on Tuesday for closing arguments.

The former president has invited family and friends – including Tiffany’s husband Michael Boulos – as the case wraps up.

His support group includes.

• Tiffany Trump
• Michael Boulos
• Donald Trump Jr.
• Eric Trump
• Lara Trump
• Steve Witkoff – Investor and landlord
• Will Scharf – Attorney
• Deroy Murdock – Political commentator

Tiffany rang in the new year at Mar-a-Lago with the rest of the Trump family.

Donald Trump’s long-time lawyer has warned that the New York jurors in his hush money case could be infected with ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ by liberal friends and families over the holiday weekend.

Closing arguments are set to begin when the court returns on Tuesday before the jury is sent to consider its verdict on 34 charges of falsifying business records against the former president.

And Alina Habba, who represented Trump in his civil fraud case, slammed judge Juan Merchan for not sequestering the jurors in a hotel for what could be the final weekend of the six-week trial.

For them to be able to be out and about on a holiday weekend with friends and families who have opinions, who are watching the news, TV’s on the background at the pool party, I have serious concerns,’ she told Sean Duffy on Fox News.

His fiercest critics including Michael Cohen have shared their dreams of seeing Donald Trump behind bars.

But a far more realistic outcome if he is convicted in New York is he ends up having weekly phone calls to check in with a probation officer or has to visit Bronx school kids to teach them about crime, legal experts say.

The defendant who complains he is a victim of ‘sham’ prosecution in a ‘rat’s nest’ of corruption may even get to design his own community service program.

Convicted criminals and lawyers agree probation is far better alternative to jail time – but it has its inconveniences and shouldn’t be minimized.

He writes on Truth Social:

…and then, of course, there’s the BIGGEST EVENT OF THEM ALL, but I’m not allowed to talk about it because I’m under an illegal and unconstitutional GAG ORDER. This is the Biden White House at work. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!

On Monday night Trump wrote on Truth Social:

WHY IS THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT ALLOWED TO MAKE THE FINAL ARGUMENT IN THE CASE AGAINST ME? WHY CAN’T THE DEFENSE GO LAST? BIG ADVANTAGE, VERY UNFAIR. WITCH HUNT! DJT

After closing arguments wrap up, the jury will be given instructions by Judge Juan Merchan and set out to deliberate.

They will go through each of the 34 counts of falsifying business records and decide if Trump is guilty or not guilty.

To reach a verdict on each charge, the jury has to be unanimous.

The members have been away from the courtroom for a week mulling over evidence from the past five weeks from 22 witnesses.

They are anonymous, but some details were revealed in court: Here’s what we know about them.

Donald Trump did not take the stand during his criminal trial, but prosecutors used plenty of his own words against him.

They mined his books for examples of how he micromanaged the Trump Organization, how he was motivated by revenge, and how he saw sexual potential in encounters with women.

In so doing they sought to show the jury that he monitored every cent coming in and out of his business, bolstering their case that he must have known that hush money payments to Stormy Daniels were being hidden as legal expenses.

Trump denied 34 charges of falsifying business records.

And his defense team tried to show he was a busy executive who left handling invoices, ledger entries and check cutting to lower level managers.

As the trial of Donald Trump over hush money payments to a porn star heads into its final stage, Trump’s wife Melania Trump has been noticeably absent from the courtroom.

Over the course of five weeks, a series of Trump supporters including Republican lawmakers, former administration officials, vice presidential hopefuls and a few of his own kids have been in court.

They’ve sat through hours of salacious testimony as the ex-president stands trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment for pornstar Stormy Daniels.

Melania Trump, however, has remained far away from the New York criminal court room home in Florida.

Legal experts told DailyMail.com what it could mean

Donald Trump will return to court for the first time in a week for closing arguments in the historic hush money trial.

The former president’s lawyers and the prosecution will make their final pitches to the 12 jury members who will decide his fate.

The panel of Manhattan residents has listened to 22 witnesses over five weeks of testimony in the case that is quickly coming to an end.

Here is what to expect as attorneys from both sides make their case to the jury: