Donald Trump won’t testify in his criminal trial as his defense team ended their case on Tuesday. His lawyers will speak for him in their closing statements next week.
Trump told the press outside the courtroom that he believes there was no crime.
Legal experts note it’s common for defendants not to testify to avoid tough questions from prosecutors and scrutiny of their past.
Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records related to payments made to his lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid $130,000 in hush money to an adult film star before the 2016 election. Prosecutors allege this was to hide or commit another crime.
The defense called only two witnesses, compared to the prosecution’s 20. The judge dismissed the jury until Tuesday for closing statements and spent the afternoon setting up jury instructions for deliberations.
Both sides discussed how the jury should use the evidence and apply the law. Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, argued for instructions on jury bias due to Trump’s controversial reputation but was denied a request for the jury to agree on which specific crime Trump allegedly tried to hide.
Prosecutors have mentioned three possible crimes but haven’t specified which one they believe Trump committed.
A humorous moment occurred when the judge decided to remove the complicated word “eleemosynary” from the instructions because he didn’t know how to pronounce it.
The jury will soon deliberate on the 34 charges, deciding whether Trump is guilty or not.
Credit: BBC News.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-69046433