Prosecution: Trump must have known about hush-money scheme
With Kayla Epstein, Madeline Halpert and Nada Tawfik reporting from court in New York
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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
A campaign rally in unfriendly territory
Sam Cabral
US Reporter
Donald Trump is coming back to the courtroom after a week-long break.
On Thursday, the former president held a campaign event deep in the South Bronx borough of New York City – a county where no Republican presidential candidate has campaigned since 1980.
The Bronx is one of the most heavily Democratic counties in the country. Trump won less than 10% there in 2016, though he inched up to nearly 16% in 2020.
But it comes at a time when support for President Joe Biden among black and Latino voters appears increasingly shaky.
Trump may have no chance of winning the Bronx, but earning the support of a few more black and Hispanic Americans around the country could well boost his chances of re-election, and may even put him over the top in a tight contest in November.
Trump’s visit to the Bronx came as he has been mostly confined to New York for the past seven weeks during this criminal trial.
Staying at Trump Tower, he has also made stops at a bodega in Harlem, a local construction site, and a local firehouse.
He also made an appearance at the Libertarian Party's national convention on Saturday, where he was booed repeatedly.
It’s by far the busiest day in court
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
As I arrived this morning, there was a line going around the block of the park across the street of reporters hoping to get inside.
Security is much tighter too - there are more officers than ever before, including one who escorted me to my place in the reserved press line to ensure I was not cutting in line (which I wasn't).
Good morning from court
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
Today, we will hear closing arguments from both sides. The stakes are incredibly high: this is the last time they will be able to speak to the jury, so they have to be persuasive. According to New York law, Trump’s defence team will go first. We will hear them trying to convince the jury that the prosecution didn’t meet the threshold of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Next, the prosecutors will walk the jury through their case once more, reminding them of key evidence from six weeks of testimony.
What’s this hush-money trial all about?
It’s crunch time for this trial, but let’s take a step back and remind ourselves what’s at the heart of it.
Donald Trump has been charged with business fraud over hush-money payments to ex-porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Daniels claims she and Trump had sex, and that she accepted $130,000 (£104,500) from his former lawyer before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about the encounter.
Prosecutors allege Trump had his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, make the payments, and then they claim Trump fraudulently recorded the transaction in his company’s books as legal expenses when in fact he was paying Cohen back for the hush-money payments.
Paying hush-money is not illegal, but the prosecution alleges how the payment was recorded amounts to election fraud.
Since the allegations surfaced in 2018, the former president has denied any sexual involvement with Daniels.
He's facing 34 counts of fraud, and has pleaded not guilty to all of them. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
What are closing arguments?
Tiffany Wertheimer
US Reporter
Closing arguments are the lawyers’ last chance to try to convince the judge or jury why they should win the case.
They’re often portrayed as dramatic, mic-drop moments in movies (think To Kill a Mockingbird or even the Jim Carrey comedy Liar, Liar).
But in real life, they are a critical last-ditch opportunity to sum-up all the evidence and explain why the verdict should go a certain way.
The jury has heard five weeks of testimony and evidence in this trial. So the closing arguments are also a chance to remind them of what they’ve heard.
We’re expecting closing arguments to take up most, if not all, of today in court.
Welcome
Brandon Livesay & Tiffany Wertheimer
US Reporters
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York.
After six weeks of finding a non-biased jury, listening to witnesses and seeing pages and pages of evidence, we are on the final stretch of what has been an historic legal case.
Trump is the first former US president to face a criminal trial.
And now we will hear the closing arguments from both legal teams as they try to convince the 12-person jury.
Our colleagues Kayla Epstein and Madeline Halpert are at court, waiting for Trump to arrive.
Stick with us.