So Much Would Have To Be Ignored To Find Trump Not Guilty, Prosecutors Argue

May 28, 2024
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after lunch for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Trump was c... NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after lunch for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records last year, which prosecutors say was an effort to hide a potential sex scandal, both before and after the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face trial on criminal charges. (Photo by Mark Peterson - Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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May 28, 2024

After weeks of testimony, lawyers for Donald Trump and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office are making their closing arguments to the jury in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.

For the DA’s office, it is a chance to bring the witnesses’ statements into context, and tie what the jury has heard to the crimes with which Trump is charged.

Follow along with us.

What to expect

  • Each side will make their closing argument to the jury on Tuesday, capping off a trial that has run roughly five weeks.
  • The DA's office will outline why it alleges Trump falsified business records, and the ways in which those records were in furtherance of a crime. Attorneys for the DA have argued multiple crimes were committed with the records, leaving the jury with multiple paths to find Trump guilty.
  • Trump's legal team's defense, so far, has been scattershot, seeking to simply present witnesses as hopelessly mired in the same seamy muck that prosecutors accuse Trump of swimming in. How they seek to undermine the actual charges during closing arguments Tuesday will be one point of interest. Here is a rundown of what to look for.
  • Judge Juan Merchan suggested last week that the jury could expect to begin deliberating Wednesday.
  • The jury must reach a unanimous verdict. If they can't, this attempt to try Trump may end in a mistrial.
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After weeks of testimony, lawyers for Donald Trump and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office are making their closing arguments to the jury in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.

For the DA’s office, it is a chance to bring the witnesses’ statements into context, and tie what the jury has heard to the crimes with which Trump is charged.

Follow along with us.

Notable Replies

  1. zzzzzzzzzzzzzlaughing-cat-vitamin-l2
    FRIST!

  2. Meanwhile……

    Donald Trump has already lost two defamation lawsuits brought against him by E. Jean Carroll, and there could be another one on the way. In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump once again targeted Carroll and the judges who awarded her $83 million in her most recent defamation case. Though he didn’t refer to Carroll by name, it was clear she is the “woman” he once again called a liar in his post, which also targeted “the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country.” The post quickly caught the attention of Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who indicated that her team is considering more legal action against the former president amid his continued attacks against Carroll. “We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today—all options are on the table,” Kaplan said in a statement to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

  3. Representing E. Jean Carroll in defamation lawsuits against Donald Trump is officially a cottage industry.

  4. Sunday night, and it is time for the TPM pre-game show.

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