Prosecution: Trump must have known about hush-money scheme
With Kayla Epstein, Madeline Halpert and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
Related Video and Audio
RTL
With Kayla Epstein, Madeline Halpert and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
Live Reporting
Edited by Brandon Livesay and Tiffany Wertheimer
All times stated are UK
-
It was "inconceivable" that Trump would be allegedly involved in the payouts to Karen McDougal - an ex-Playboy model who has also claimed to have had an affair with Trump - and Stormy Daniels, and then "bury his head in the sand" when it comes to Cohen's reimbursement.
-
Cohen was a self-promoter and would have kept Trump aware of his work on his behalf so he could get the credit.
-
Trump was the beneficiary of the entire alleged scheme. It helped "one person and one person only" - Trump himself.
BBCCopyright: BBC 
Reuters/Jane RosenbergCopyright: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg 
Latest PostClosing arguments wrap up in Donald Trump's hush-money trial
Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York
After a marathon day in court, Donald Trump walked into the hallway with a single fist raised for the cameras and then left without speaking.
He usually gives a statement to the media at the end of his days in court, but we were told by one of his team that he has a private event tonight he needs to get to.
With closing arguments for both legal teams finished, we will pause our live coverage.
You can join us again tomorrow when the jury will hear instructions from the judge.
Then they will retire to deliberate in this truly historic case.
As we reported earlier, court will start at 10:00 local time (15:00 BST). But we will have our live coverage up and running well before then, bringing you the latest analysis.
You can read a full wrap of today in court here.
We had Kayla Epstein and Madeline Halpert in court, while Nada Tawfik, Caitlin Wilson and Ana Faguy contributed.
This page was edited by Tiffany Wertheimer, Jessica Murphy and Brandon Livesay.
Jury to receive instructions in the morning
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Justice Juan Merchan tells jurors court will get started a little later than usual, at 10:00 local time (15:00 BST) tomorrow because of the late finish.
The day will start with instructions for the jurors before they begin their deliberations.
Prosecution wraps closing marathon arguments
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
As he wound up, Steinglass said that everything Trump and his cohorts did was "cloaked in lies".
"The name of the game was concealment,” the prosecutor says.
“I ask you to find the defendant guilty," he tells the jury.
"Thank you.”
And with that, at nearly six hours of closing arguments, Steinglass was done.
Law applies ' to everyone equally', says prosecutor
Kayla Epstein & Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Steinglass thanks the jury for their endurance today and says the system relies on people like them.
“We only get one shot at this," he says as he explains his lengthy closing arguments, which lasted almost six hours.
He tells jurors to focus on the evidence and the logical inferences that can be drawn from them.
“The law is the law. And it applies to everyone equally,” he tells the jurors.
“You, the jury, have the ability to hold the defendant accountable. And like any other case, he can be judged by a jury of his peers.”
After an extremely long closing argument, Steinglass has finished. Court has wrapped for the day.
Steinglass takes arguments to the wire
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
With mere minutes left before court wraps, Joshua Steinglass comes to a very important allegation: the second crimes Trump had to have intended to conceal or commit by falsifying the business records.
Trump faces more serious felony charges because of the supposed second crime.
In pre-trial motions, prosecutors named three crimes that Trump could have allegedly been trying to conceal or commit.
They've kept things relatively vague throughout the trial about these "unlawful means" Trump was allegedly trying to cover up.
Now, Steinglass is claiming that Trump was trying to conceal aspects of all three: a New York State election law, a federal campaign finance statute, and a state tax law.
He reminds the jury they don't have to agree on which unlawful means were involved.
Trump was behind an 'elaborate scheme', prosecutor says
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York
Joshua Steinglass says Donald Trump “devised this elaborate scheme" to reimburse Cohen.
The prosecutor claims the scheme required "The involvement of at least 10 other people. A series of monthly transactions. That’s a whole lot of time, thought and energy to conceal the truth”.
Trump 'set in motion chain of events', says prosecutor
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Joshua Steinglass may be wrapping up soon.
He notes prosecutors have to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt - a burden he argues they have met.
And Trump need not have falsified the business records himself for jurors to convict him, he says.
“No one is saying the defendant actually got behind the computer and typed up the invoices,” he says. “He set in motion a chain of events that led to the false business records.”
Steinglass makes three arguments for Trump's involvement
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Joshua Steinglass, who is trying to tie Trump directly to the events in the prosecution's timeline, makes three key arguments that the former president would have known about the falsified business records. Here they are:
Prosecution outlines what they call Trump's direct involvement
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
We're now moving on to slides titled "The Defendant's Direct Involvement".
These are again, mostly events Joshua Steinglass has already talked about in his closing arguments.
But he's trying to highlight Donald Trump's alleged direct participation at each stage of the events he broke down a short while ago.
Cut through the noise with our US election newsletter
Donald Trump’s hush-money case is only part of the legal and political drama playing out in a very busy election year.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter, where our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher will set out what you really need to know from the campaign trail, and help you see the bigger global picture.
If you're in the UK, sign up here.
And if you're anywhere else, sign up here.
A timeline of the prosecution's case
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
In what is likely his last hour of closing arguments, Joshua Steinglass shows the jury a visual timeline of the key events.
It begins in 2015 and stretches into 2018.
It's not just showing the events of each day. On some days, we actually see the events broken out by hour.
Trump watches video from one of his rallies
We have another court sketch to share. This one shows Donald Trump watching a video of himself speaking at a rally in Greensboro.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is to the former president's right.
Steinglass picks up his closing arguments again
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
As he gets started again, Joshua Steinglass returns to what he was talking about earlier. "Feels like yesterday," he quips. But it doesn't get any laughs in the overflow room.
After about five hours into Steinglass' closing arguments, the overflow room has taken on the feeling of an airport gate when a flight has been indefinitely delayed.
Backpacks are strewn about, half open, with charging cords everywhere.
During the break, folks were milling around and chatting because it's better than sitting for hours on end. People are clearly a little tired.
Judge gives prosecution a deadline
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Justice Merchan says prosecutor Joshua Steinglass needs to wrap up his closing arguments by 20:00 local time, the absolute latest jurors said they could stay.
That's less than an hour away.
Trump returns to courtroom after break
Donald Trump has just walked back into the courtroom.
He raised one fist to the cameras as he briskly walked through the hallway.
We don't know for certain, but it feels like this could be the final session of the day.
Cohen was under pressure to fall in line, prosecution says
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Before this latest break, the prosecution's timeline moved on to 2018. That's when Michael Cohen got in trouble with federal authorities.
We see Trump's tweets about Cohen from April 2018.
One of these tweets said: "Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry I don't see Michael doing that".
Joshua Steinglass alleges this was part of a pressure campaign to keep Cohen from telling federal investigators what he knew.
Steinglass then brings up Bob Costello, a lawyer who Cohen believed was trying to keep him in the fold at the time.
Costello was the one major witness the defence called, to rebut Cohen's assertions about what Trump knew.
Steinglass reminds the jury they can consider Costello's conduct on the witness stand when they consider his credibility.
Costello infamously interjected "jeez" from the stand when the prosecution objected, and appeared agitated under questioning.
This caused Justice Merchan to clear the courtroom for a few minutes to reprimand him out of sight.
Court takes a break
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York
Jurors have just been sent off for their last 15-minute recess for the day.
Donald Trump's lawyers are taking issue with Joshua Steinglass implying that Trump's supporters have come after Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen because of Trump's posts on social media.
Justice Merchan seems to side with Todd Blanche.
Given his four hours at the podium, he says to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass: "I think you've gotten as far as you need to go with that, and you don't need to go any further".
How is Trump reacting?
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York
We can't see Trump's face in court today because of evidence displayed on the main screen.
But from what I can see, he seems to be maintaining the same demeanour throughout these long closing arguments.
He's looking toward the screen sometimes and sitting back in his chair, not moving much.
Jury gives Steinglass OK to 'power through'
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
After about four-and-a-half hours of Joshua Steinglass's closing arguments, he asks the judge if jurors want to "power through".
After a short bench conference, he asks the jurors if they're alright to keep going. They nod.
"Alright!" Steinglass says with enthusiasm.
Hope Hicks' testimony was 'devastating' for Trump, prosecutor says
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
In 2018, the Wall Street Journal broke the story that Michael Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush-money.
Steinglass now brings up former White House communications director Hope Hick's testimony from earlier in the trial.
Donald Trump and Hicks discussed the story after it broke.
"I think Mr Trump's opinion was that it was better to be dealing with it now, and that it would been bad to have that story come out before the election," she said in her testimony.
Shortly after, Steinglass notes, she began to cry on the stand.
He called that testimony "devastating" for Trump.
Despite what the defence argues, he claims, this testimony shows Trump covered up the Daniels story not out of concern for his family, but out of concern for his election campaign.