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Donald Trump won’t do it testify at his criminal trial in New York.
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The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
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He has relentlessly attacked the charges against him as a political “witch hunt” and “sham.”
Donald Trump did not take the witness stand in his own defense during his historic event Trial in New York on criminal charges linked to a secret payment done to a porn star.
The GOP frontrunner’s plans were made clear Tuesday morning, when his lead attorney, Todd Blanche, told the judge they had finished presenting their brief, volatile and ultimately backfired defense case.
“Your honor, the defense rests,” Blanche told the New York Supreme Court judge. Juan Merchan just after 10am
Trump’s final decision follows weeks of speculation. Last Thursday, Blanche told the judge that the defense team still needed time to “think” about whether Trump would take the stand.
First-ever criminal trial of former US president draws to a close after several weeks of testimonies.
Without any testimony from Trump, the trial is expected to end as early as next week. The judge told jurors the trial would take an extended break, accounting for a long Memorial Day weekend, and return for closing arguments Tuesday before receiving jury instructions Wednesday morning and beginning its deliberations.
Before closing their case, Trump’s lawyers finalized testimony from Robert Costelloa lawyer whose misbehavior on the stand during Monday’s testimony nearly got him kicked out of the case.
The judge threatened Costello with contempt, ejecting him from the courtroom and striking his testimony from the trial after he repeatedly ignored and even heckled the judge’s instructions.
“Damn,” Costello muttered at one point after being asked not to answer an inappropriate question posed by Trump lawyer Emil Bove. “Ridiculous,” Costello also muttered.
Costello had a legal affair with the prosecution’s key witness, Michael Cohenin 2018. Cohen feared that Costello was a “back channel” for Trump, who he said was orchestrating a “pressure campaign” while in the White House to prevent Cohen from cooperating with prosecutors.
During cross-examination Tuesday morning, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger suggested the pressure campaign was continuing. She pointed out that Costello, at the invitation of Republican lawmakers, criticized the case during a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives last week — while Cohen was in the middle of his trial testimony.
“Intimidating Michael Cohen?” Costello scoffed. “Ridiculous. No.”
Trump has relentlessly attacked the case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, calling it a “witch hunt,” a “scam” and a political “sham.”
Almost every morning and afternoon since the trial began on April 15, the former president has told reporters gathered in the hallway of the 15th-floor courtroom in downtown Manhattan that he There was “no crime” and that the charges against him should never have been brought. brought.
Trump, in the courtroom hallway, also repeatedly criticized Merchantthe judge presiding over the case, as “totally conflicted” and “corrupt.”
In some of these appearances in the hallways earlier in the trial, Trump told reporters that he planned to testify. But in recent weeks, as more witnesses testified against him, Trump ignored questions from reporters in the hallway asking whether he would still testify.
As he left court Tuesday morning, he clenched his left fist and raised it, but he did not answer questions from reporters.
Trump’s legal team only called two witnesses to the stand
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office accused Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors allege Trump illegally falsified records reimbursing his lawyer-turned-nemesis Cohen for a $130,000 secret payment made to the adult film actress. Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 elections.
The prosecution called 20 witnesses to testify during the trial. Trump’s defense attorneys called only two witnesses to the stand in his defense.
One of them, Costello, is a criminal lawyer who met Cohen in 2018. At the time, Cohen was having his own legal problems after being raided by the FBI. He later pleaded guilty to a range of crimes, including violating campaign finance laws by making a secret payment.
Costello supported Trump lawyers’ arguments that Cohen – not Trump – conducted the plan to silence Daniels. He told jurors that Cohen told him Trump knew nothing about the payments. Cohen, for his part, earlier said he didn’t trust Costello and misled him, viewing him as a “back channel” to Trump because of his proximity to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani.
During his court testimony Monday afternoon, Costello acted with disdain toward the judge’s decisions, sighing heavily and audibly muttering his disapproval when Merchan upheld prosecutors’ objections to the lawyer’s questions. Trump, Emil Bove. At one point, Merchan ordered the removal of journalists from the courtroom and disguised Costello, threatening to hold him in contempt.
“If you don’t like my decision, don’t look at me sideways or roll your eyes,” Merchan told Costello before leaving the room.
Trump’s lawyers also called Daniel Sitko, a paralegal working for lead defense attorney Todd Blanche, as a prosecution witness so jurors could see recordings of phone calls between Costello and Cohen.
The Trump team also planned to call former Federal Election Commissioner Brad Smith to the stand. he would serve as an expensive expert witness, earning $1,200 an hour to testify on campaign finance law. But on Monday, Merchan ruled that Smith’s planned testimony would have little relevance, finding that as a judge, he is the final arbiter of how the law should be applied.
On social networks Monday evening, Smith called Merchan “biased” and the trial a “farce.” He told the Washington Examiner that he allegedly testified about past applications of campaign finance law and that he did not believe that a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to silence her before the 2016 election through a non-disclosure agreement amounted to a campaign expense.
“My personal belief is that paying hush money or paying for a nondisclosure agreement is not a campaign expense,” he said.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from Daniels and Cohen, key witnesses for the prosecution.
Cohen finished his testimony Monday. He told jurors how Trump approved his payment to Daniels and knew he was reimbursing Cohen for the hush money in 2017.
Much of Cohen’s most damning testimony took place when he cited what he described as Trump’s own words.
Trump”I wasn’t thinking of Melania — it was all about the campaign,” Cohen told jurors.
This story has been updated.
Read the original article on Business Insider
