Trump trial live: Defense calls Cohen ‘MVP of liars’ in hush money closing argument

To date, Michael Cohen is “the only one who paid the price”, says Steinglass.

“Cohen did the defendant’s bidding for years” add was his “right-hand man” and “consigliere, as one person put it in a text.”

“And when it got bad the defendant cut him loose, dropped him like a hot potato, and tweeted out that he’s a scumbag.”

And Cohen’s election-related federal convictions were at the defendant’s direction.

There were parts of Stormy Daniels’ testimony “that were cringeworthy” but “those were the kinds of details that rang true.” Those were the kinds of things that you’d remember, Steinglass says.

“We don’t have to prove that sex took place … But the defendant knew what happened in that hotel room, and the extent you credit her testimony only reinforces his intent.”

“Why did they work so hard to discredit her? … Her story is messy … but that’s kind of the point. That’s the display the defendant didn’t want the American voter to see. In the simplest terms, Stormy Daniels is the motive. And you can bet Mr Trump wouldn’t want to pay $130,000 … just because he took a photo at a golf course.”

Steinglass is going to poke at the defense’s “extortion narrative”.

“You don’t get to commit election fraud … because you think you’ve been victimized,” he tells the jury.

Steinglass notes that the prosecution’s witnesses were largely Trump’s allies, and yet testimony from Mr Pecker and others is “utterly devastating”.

“These people like the defendant.”

“If anything,” he says, they may have “skewed their testimony in order to help the defendant.”

Steinglass is first digging into phone records that were under scrutiny from the defense, and the accusations that “we somehow hid evidence” with the texts admitted into evidence.

He notes that there were no phone records for Cohen’s landline or the White House, and records of no outgoing calls, which are only kept for three years.

“The absence of a phone record does not prove that a particular call did not (happen).”

Steinglass begins by noting that prosecutors must prove the following:

— That there were false business records

— That there was an intent to promote a conspiracy to promote a candidate by unlawful means

— And that Trump was involved, and that he had the intent to defraud

Judge Juan Merchan told the jury that Blanche’s “prison” comment “is improper and you must disregard”.

“If there is a verdict of guilty, it will be my responsibility to impose an appropriate sentence.”

He notes that a prison sentence is not required for the charges in this case.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass is up now to deliver the prosecution’s closing argument.

Before the jury comes back, they go over those proposed jury instructions after Blanche said prosecutors wanted to put Trump in prison, which they were already on notice about.

Prosecution attorney Susan Hoffinger also stated again that Blanche misstated the law on retainer agreements, and relied on, in part, Davidson’s testimony “which at best relies on California law,” and then “doubled down on misrepresenting the law” in New York after prosecutors had raised the issue last week during the charge conference.