Former U.S. President Donald Trump exits Trump Tower to attend his hush money trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York City on May 28, 2024.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
The judge presiding over the New York criminal hush money trial of Donald Trump blasted a defense lawyer Tuesday for arguing to jurors that “you cannot send someone to prison based on the words of Michael Cohen,” the one-time fixer for Trump.
After jurors had left the courtroom at the end of defense attorney Todd Blanche’s closing argument, Judge Juan Merchan laid into him.
“I think that statement was outrageous, Mr. Blanche,” Merchan said in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“Someone who has been a prosecutor for as long as you have and a defense attorney as long as you have,” the judge said.
“It’s simply not allowed. Period. It’s hard for me to imagine how that was accidental in any way,” Merchan said.
Assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass complained about Blanche’s remark about Cohen, who had testified paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump a decade earlier.
Steinglass called Blanche’s comment a “blatant and wholly inappropriate” move.
Merchan said he would give jurors a so-called curative instruction on Blanche’s “prison” comment.
Jurors in criminal cases are instructed to consider whether a defendant committed a crime, not to factor in the potential punishment for that crime, such as prison.
Blanche began his closing argument by telling jurors that Trump “is innocent” of the charges of falsifying business records.
Trump “did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof. Period,” Blanche said.
Those records described as legal expenses Trump’s reimbursements to then-lawyer and fixer Cohen for paying off Daniels.
Prosecutors said the payment was designed to prevent the adult film actor from damaging Trump’s chances to win the White House in 2016.
Blanche argued, “You should want and expect more than the testimony of Michael Cohen” to convict Trump.
“President Trump is not guilty,” Blanche said.
In this courtroom sketch, defense lawyer Todd Blanche presents closing arguments as Justice Juan Merchan presides during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City on May 28, 2024.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Blanche told jurors the records were not false, and there was no intent to defraud anyone by labeling the records as legal expenses.
“Cohen lied to you, Cohen lied to you,” Blanche said of Trump’s former lawyer, who testified at length about Trump directing him to pay off Daniels, and how he did little if any legal work for Trump on the heels of that payment.
“The story Mr. Cohen told you on that witness stand is not true,” Blanche said. “There is no proof that President Trump knew about the payment before it was made.”
But Blanche argued that Cohen had believed that Daniels’ shopping over her story about Trump to media outlets “was an extortion attempt” against Trump.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump sits with his lawyer Todd Blanche as his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 continues, at Manhattan state court in New York City on May 28, 2024.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
“And, by the way, it was another opportunity for Mr. Cohen to take advantage,” Blanche said. “He paid $130,000 to Ms. Daniels because he knew he could take credit whether they won the election or lost the election he would get credit.”
“He was very worried about his future,” the lawyer said about Cohen. “You saw and heard multiple, multiple examples of that. He was worried about if President Trump won, he was worried about if President Trump lost.”
Referring to Daniels, who also testified at the trial, Blanche said, “She wrote a book, and she has a podcast. And a documentary.”
“This started out as an extortion. There’s no doubt about that, and ended very well for Ms. Daniels – financially speaking,” Blanche said.
Blanche said that even if jurors determined there was a conspiracy to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, he expected them to conclude that Trump was innocent.
“As I said to you in the opening statement, it doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy to win the election,” Blanche argued. “Every campaign is a conspiracy to promote a candidate.”
Steinglass, a prosecutor from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, on Tuesday afternoon is set to begin his closing argument.
On his way into the courtroom, Trump called Merchan “highly conflicted” and “corrupt.”
“This is a dark day in America,” Trump told reporters. “This is a very dangerous day for America. It’s a very sad day.”
Trump is the first former U.S. president ever to be tried in a criminal case. If convicted, Trump faces a possible maximum sentence of four years in prison for each felony count.
He denies Daniels’ claim that the two had sex once in 2006, months after his wife Melania gave birth to their son, Barron.
In his opening statement, assistant D.A. Matthew Colangelo had told jurors that the hush money payment to Daniels, and the reimbursements to Cohen, amounted to “election fraud. Pure and simple.”
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
