The final act of Donald Trump’s trial will take place on Tuesday as the jury’s final arguments are heard – the Daily Star reported.
Trump faces an election trial less than six months before the election. He is accused of falsifying business records to buy porn star Stormy Daniels’ silence about a sexual encounter between them in 2006, which could damage his 2016 presidential bid.
If found guilty, he is likely to receive up to four years in prison on each of the 34 counts, but legal experts say that as a first-time offender he is unlikely to receive jail time. But conviction will not prevent Trump from standing in the election as a Republican rival to Democrat Joe Biden.
It took nearly five weeks, testimony from more than 20 witnesses and several courtroom fireworks to arrive at closing arguments. Now is the last chance for the prosecution and defence to present their case to an anonymous 12-person jury on Tuesday. In the meantime, Trump chose not to testify in his own defence as such move would have put him in unnecessary legal jeopardy and forensic cross-examination.
The politics of the case have been in full view in recent days as a group of leading Republicans – including several vice presidential contenders – came to the court and backed Trump in a gesture of support as he spoke to the press.
Judge Juan Merchan held him in contempt 10 times over Trump’s remarks about him and fined him $10,000 for failing to heed a non-disclosure order barring him from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff or their relatives.
Merchan said he expects closing arguments to be heard all day Tuesday. He will then give final instructions to the jury, who are likely to begin deliberations the next day and decide later whether to hand down the first-ever criminal conviction of a former US president.
In addition to the Stormy Daniels affair, a key witness for the prosecution was Michael Cohen, Trump’s former “fixer” turned bitter opponent who orchestrated the $130,000 hush money payment. Trump’s defence team, in turn, devoted much of their questioning to trying to discredit Cohen, recalling that he admitted to lying to Congress and spent time in prison for tax fraud.
Trump also faces charges in Washington and Georgia for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and charges in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents after he left the White House.
Despite, neither trial is expected to take place until after the November election.
