What the last day of testimony left in the criminal trial against Donald Trump

The trial is now in its final stretch and final arguments are expected to be made next Tuesday, May 28.

Since it began six weeks ago with jury selection, Twenty-two witnesses have sat on the stand. Twenty were called by prosecutors and two by the defense.

Emotions of all kinds were seen in the testimonies: from tears from two former Trump employees due to nervousness, to a tense argument with the judge by the last defense witness, a defiant Robert Costello.

Trump, who is the first former United States president to undergo this procedure, He is accused in this trial of 34 serious crimes of falsifying business records and, if found guilty, he could be sentenced to a sentence between probation and four years in prison.

(Be sure to read: Former President Donald Trump decides not to testify in the trial against him in New York: what comes next?).

This week the defense summoned two people to its case: one of its employees as an expert and Robert Costello a former federal prosecutor who was a legal advisor, and later critic, of Michael CohenTrump’s once right-hand man and “achiever”, and now turned into his greatest enemy.

According to Costello, Cohen told him that the Republican magnate did not know that he had paid Stormy Danielsthe porn actress who claims to have had relations with Trump in 2006, a payment for her not to speak on the subject.

In that sense, he testified that he met with Cohen in April 2018 for two hours and that the former lawyer swore that Trump was not involved in the payments.

However, last week, Cohen said otherwise, testifying that Trump ordered him to pay $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign.

This Tuesday, in his cross-examination, the prosecution stressed that Costello went to Congress last week to testify about Cohen, where he made aggressive comments about him. From the stand Tuesday, Costello responded “no” when attorney Susan Hoffinger asked her if she feels “animosity” toward Cohen.

Another strategy of Hoffinger was to point out that Costello was never part of Cohen’s legal team.

Next week, After final arguments that begin Tuesday, the twelve-person jury must unanimously agree on the verdict.

If, for example, eleven of the jurors agree on a conviction and one disagrees, Merchan will probably ask all twelve people to continue deliberating until they reach a decision.

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If jurors continue to fail to reach a consensus, Merchan could be forced to declare a mistrial, which happens when a trial ends without a joint verdict having been reached.

Trump, who is in the midst of an election campaign but has had to attend the trial four days a week, said repeatedly that he did not have sexual relations with Daniels and denied having committed any crime.

Although Trump assured that he was willing to testify, the legal team decided not to call the magnate to the stand.

During these six weeksor normal has been to see him sitting in the dock or with a frown or with his eyes closed.