NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers concluded their presentation Tuesday without calling the former president to the witness stand in his ongoing trial in New York over accusations that he paid to suppress unfavorable news, bringing him closer to the moment when the jury will begin to debate his fate.
“Your Judge, the defense concludes its presentation,” said Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers, following the testimony of a former federal prosecutor summoned by the defense to cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness.
The jury was excused until May 28, when closing arguments will be made, but attorneys will return Tuesday to discuss instructions the judge should give the jury. Trump, the first former US president to be criminally prosecuted, did not speak to reporters as he left court and ignored a question about why he would not testify as a witness. The presumptive Republican presidential candidate had previously said he wanted to take the stand to defend himself against what he considers to be politically motivated accusations.
After more than four weeks of testimony, the jury could begin deliberating next week to decide whether the former president is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business documents.
After the defense concluded, Judge Juan M. Merchan told the jury that the session would be extended so that the prosecution and defense could give their summaries, in what will be the last time the jury will hear from both sides. Merchan told the panel that his instructions on the deliberations will last about an hour, after which they can begin discussing the case, possibly as early as May 29. Until now, jurors had been asked not to discuss the case among themselves or with anyone else.
Merchan noted that usually the summaries immediately follow the conclusion of the defense arguments, but that in this case they would take at least a day and, given the proximity of the Memorial Day holiday, “there is no way to do everything that needs to be done” before it.
“See you in a week,” Merchan said.
Trump is accused of concocting a scheme to pay to silence allegations that would have affected his 2016 presidential campaign, and then falsifying company records to cover it up. Trump claims innocence and denies having committed any illegality.
The charges stem from internal Trump Organization documents according to which a $130,000 payment to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and confidant, was classified as legal expenses. Prosecutors maintain that, in reality, it was a reimbursement to Cohen for the money he paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her keeping quiet about her version that she had a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump insists he did not have sexual relations with Daniels.
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Long, Eric Tucker and Alanna Durkin Richer reported from Washington; Jill Colvin and Michelle Price in New York; and Meg Kinnard at Columbia.
