The defense in Donald Trump’s “hush-money” trial rested Tuesday morning, without the former president taking the stand.
Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche rested his case after testimony from Robert Costello, a former legal adviser to star witness and disbarred former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Closing statements are scheduled to take place next Tuesday and a charging conference will take place this afternoon. On his way out of the courtroom, Trump did not answer questions about his decision not to testify.
Outside the courtroom, Trump strongly criticized Judge Juan Merchan for his handling of the trial and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution against him. The former president has routinely cast the criminal prosecutions against him as election interference efforts by partisan prosecutors.
Trump is facing 34 charges for falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements sent to Cohen after he paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels alleges she and Trump had an extramarital affair, a claim Trump denies. She testified earlier in the trial and offered salacious details of her alleged sexual intercourse with Trump, despite its lack of relevance to the criminal charges. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Cohen is a convicted felon who previously plead guilty to perjury and an assortment of financial crimes. During his testimony, Cohen admitted to stealing from Trump and the defense grilled Cohen over his criminal history and anti-Trump commentary.
The prosecution is attempting to portray the Daniels payment as part of a broader conspiracy to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, rather than focusing solely on the business-records charges. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified at the beginning of the trial and described his publication’s agreement to help the Trump campaign kill negative stories during the 2016 election cycle.
Bragg is prosecuting Trump on felony charges for allegedly concealing underlying campaign-finance crimes by falsifying the business records. He is an elected Democrat and typically takes a soft-on-crime approach. Merchan previously donated to President Joe Biden and his daughter is a Democratic strategist.
The supposed federal campaign-finance violations are not being pursued by the Justice Department. Former Federal Election Commission official Brad Smith defended Trump on X Monday after the defense decided not to bring him as an expert witness due to restrictions from Merchan.
Merchan’s expansive gag order is preventing Trump from criticizing witnesses, relatives, and line prosecutors. However, Trump’s Republican allies have accompanied him to the trial and defended him against the prosecution.