There was a gruesome alleged bedroom scene, a judge whose patience eventually gave out, a furious defendant who was once and maybe will be president, and a sleazy story of deceit, vengeance, and hush money.
The first criminal trial of Donald Trump has entered its last phase, and the evidence, witnesses, and harsh cross-examinations have all been concluded. The jury will now retire to discuss the result in this historic case, which is connected to the 2024 election.
The unusually long week-long recess between Tuesday’s last testimony and the closing summations in which the attorneys for both sides will present their respective narratives is due to the Memorial Day weekend. At this pivotal point in the case, the judge will give the jury his instructions, during which they will learn to apply the law, consider competing claims, and evaluate various forms of evidence.
At that point, seven New York men and five women will have to decide if Trump would become the first former president to have a criminal conviction and the first presumptive nominee to run with a criminal record.
This moment has been in the works for the ex-president for weeks. Every day, he launches an attack on the credibility of the court, Judge Juan Merchan, and the Democrat who initiated the case, Alvin Bragg of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. You need only glance at the judge’s background to see that he despises Donald Trump. In his latest daily media tirade in the hallway, the former president remarked, “He can’t stand Donald Trump.” This happened on Tuesday. The judge even threatened to arrest the ex-president if he persisted in breaking a gag order that protected important witnesses; this was a boundary he had not yet crossed.
It was all part of Trump’s bizarre strategy to build resentment surrounding the trial, which he has used to support his central campaign platform, which is that he is a victim of weaponized justice. He even read out loud criticisms of the case from his conservative media allies.
A group of Republican lawmakers began joining Trump at the court as the weeks progressed, demonstrating the complete dominance of Trump within the GOP following his third consecutive nomination and the party’s ongoing submission to a leader who sought to undermine American democracy in order to retain power following the 2020 election.
He has pled not guilty in the case, but it is too soon to tell if the verdict would sway voters’ decisions in the upcoming election. The trial has failed to captivate the nation, however, because television cameras are not allowed to be present.
The complex duty that lies ahead for the jury
It’s hard to predict how jurors will perceive the constant courtroom drama in any given case.
But there’s a lot to figure out in a case that could be the last of Trump’s four criminal trials to conclude before the election, has major political connotations, and could have serious consequences for his future, including his freedom.
After a month of intense testimony, the prosecution claimed that Trump interfered in the 2016 election by illegally altering financial documents to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Although hush money payments are not technically illegal, Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels. However, central to the case is a complicated legal equation that the jury must solve. In order for a guilty conviction to be reached, the jury must acknowledge that the prosecution from New York State has established beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump committed the minor offense of falsifying business documents. After that, the jury has to decide that Trump did this to commit another crime—one having to do with the election—in order to find him guilty of a felony. “The defendant Donald Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors in his opening statement in April.
Trump, according to the defense, is completely innocent of all charges. His attorneys have attempted to discredit Michael Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, and put doubt on the prosecution’s paper trail by claiming Trump was uninvolved with the falsification of financial records. Because he was the sole witness to directly implicate Trump in an alleged plot to violate the law by covering up the payment, the self-described former “thug” of the president is pivotal to the case. Additionally, the defense aimed to prove that Trump had no intention of concealing information about his alleged affair with Daniels from the public. He was concerned it might anger his loved ones, they countered.
Additionally, Trump attorney Todd Blanche warned the jury, “I have a spoiler alert,” during his opening remarks. It’s called democracy, and attempting to sway an election is perfectly acceptable.