0:00

Nearly two dozen witnesses and 21

0:03

days of court later, Donald Trump's New

0:05

York hush money trial is coming to

0:07

a close. And NPR has been bringing

0:09

you reports of this historic trial throughout.

0:13

For the first time in American history,

0:15

a former president is going on trial

0:17

as a criminal defendant. Former President Trump

0:19

faces 34 felony counts, alleging

0:21

that he falsified New York business

0:23

records in order to conceal damaging information

0:26

ahead of the 2016 presidential

0:28

election. And the Manhattan DA, which

0:31

has struggled to articulate its theory of

0:33

the case, took a page from Trump's

0:35

book by really repeating the idea that

0:37

this is about election fraud and conspiracy

0:39

to affect the outcome. The

0:42

12 New Yorkers tasked with evaluating

0:44

the evidence have listened to testimony

0:46

from some of the most prominent

0:48

characters in Trump's orbit, like adult

0:50

film actor Stormy Daniels and Trump's

0:53

former fixer Michael Cohen. Meanwhile,

0:55

the former president has been under

0:57

a gag order, which he has

0:59

violated multiple times. Before and after

1:01

his days in court, Trump has

1:04

given reporters his read on the

1:06

trial. Today,

1:13

jurors had a chance to hear

1:15

the closing arguments, first from the

1:18

defense and then the prosecution, to

1:20

determine whether Trump falsified business records

1:22

to cover up an alleged affair

1:24

with Daniels ahead of the 2016

1:27

presidential election. The

1:29

most important thing is being able to

1:31

observe the jury. And I

1:34

did that really as intently as

1:36

I could. Former deputy assistant

1:38

attorney general Harry Litman has been

1:41

a first person observer over the

1:43

course of Trump's trial. They're a

1:45

pretty fastidious bunch, kind of close

1:48

to the vest. They're aware, I think, of

1:50

the gravity of the case. Consider

1:53

this, Donald Trump may be facing the most

1:55

important week of his landmark hush money trial

1:57

as 12 New Yorkers decide to go to

1:59

the court. The feel of the

2:01

former and possible future President of

2:03

United States. What final impression said?

2:06

The closing arguments: Elite And what

2:08

could this mean for Donald? Trump.

2:16

From Npr. I'm on a

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centers. Under

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Six episode of Wild Card Poet Laureate

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eight of the Most tells us how

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Rachel Martin. You probably know how interview

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ripped up the typical scrapped the new

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about some of life's biggest questions. Listen

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to Wild wherever you get your podcast

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only from Npr. It's

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consider this from Npr through

3:32

Court room. Sketches and impressions

3:34

from reporters inside the courtroom. Americans

3:36

have been learning about Donald Trump's

3:38

historic hush money trial for more

3:41

than a month. Today, twelve jurors

3:43

who has been sequestered finally heard

3:45

closing statements from the prosecution and

3:48

defense. With those final impressions in

3:50

mind, jurors will decide whether Trump

3:52

committed election fraud ahead of the

3:55

Twenty sixteen Presidential election by falsifying

3:57

business right Hurt and arranging hush

3:59

money payments and would prevent damaging

4:02

stories about him from coming out.

4:04

Item slot had has been following

4:06

the case. He is a jury

4:09

expert and a professor at Fordham

4:11

Law. School in New York. He joins me

4:13

now. hello nice to be your hand you. Think

4:15

so Animal Point out that you have not

4:18

actually been inside the court room, but you've

4:20

been paying close attention to reports of the

4:22

defense closing arguments and it's you. Told us

4:24

you are watching for to possible types of

4:26

final arguments from the defense. Tell us about

4:29

that. Yeah, I think

4:31

there's two. Scenarios

4:33

One is what a white collar

4:35

criminal defense attorney would do in

4:37

this case, which is a precise.

4:40

Strategic. Very clear

4:43

Case theory Closing argument

4:45

com or the closing

4:47

argument that. Don't have

4:50

one which is more scorched earth.

4:53

Kind. Of closing argument where everyone's a

4:55

liar, everyone that to get. Com.

4:58

The president and our and it

5:00

seems like blanched it a little

5:02

mixture of both. Say more about

5:04

that. He actually tried

5:06

to focus on the case on

5:08

Michael Cohen but unfortunately the defense

5:10

and it's a sub blanche assault

5:13

a difference does. Didn't really have

5:15

a story to tell. The closest

5:17

thing to have to story was

5:19

no taunton know what he was

5:21

signing a doesn't even if he

5:23

did know what he was signing.

5:26

It was perfectly legitimate legal expenses

5:28

and dust of not all that

5:31

compelling was. Stained. Glass on

5:33

the Prosecution has a very compelling

5:35

stories to. Or and

5:37

I want to stay with the former President

5:39

slayer taglines that you were just talking about

5:41

here he said miss closing argument to the

5:44

judge that he shouldn't send Donald Trump to

5:46

present over of as an such. Marshawn apparently

5:48

had a pretty strong reaction to that statement.

5:50

Can you explain why. The

5:52

I thought I was really shocked

5:55

except would say that because that

5:57

is something that a first year

5:59

assistant District Attorney the first year

6:01

criminal defense attorney. They know that

6:04

you're not supposed to talk about.

6:06

Potential. Sentences during a closing argument

6:08

or any time during the trial

6:10

cause the jury is not supposed

6:13

to be considering what the punishments

6:15

gonna be the last person considering

6:17

what a sentence might be the

6:19

only supposed to be considering the

6:21

facts and whether or not somebody

6:23

is guilty or not guilty of

6:25

a crime. So. By. Blanche

6:27

say that don't send them to prison

6:29

like she's almost asking the jury to

6:32

nullify whatever verdict they were going to

6:34

have. Yes, you might be guilty, but

6:36

it's not worth selling into prison industry

6:38

nullification and that is totally improper. Is

6:41

A and Switching Gears Heroin or Talk

6:43

About the Prosecution And said broadly speaking,

6:45

how would you characterize their tactics in.

6:47

His closing arguments. but it's

6:49

it's. a pretty impressive feat

6:52

to. Try to marshal this

6:54

evidence and it's taking a long

6:56

time and bird the jury is

6:58

going to the Mustang after five

7:00

which is unusual and a probably

7:02

a little exhausted and a bad

7:04

bad sunglass with the prefer different

7:06

is tomorrow morning for them. Soldiering

7:08

on. Going through all of the

7:11

evidence is going to a timeline

7:13

with incredible precision in detail on

7:15

and he's been doing what a

7:17

good prosecutor needs to do in

7:19

this kind of case which is

7:21

the of the jury just. Kind

7:23

of global view, right? A wide angle

7:25

lens to be able to see all

7:28

of the evidence and how it fits

7:30

together instead of what the difference was

7:32

a jury to do. That is absolute

7:35

focus on Michael Cohen. And if you

7:37

don't like Michael Cohen, you can kinda

7:39

and it's. Just a sign. Last, as

7:41

he was time arguing that no matter what,

7:44

Michael Cohen good, no matter what started a

7:46

new thinks about former President Trump, their testimonies

7:48

are valid. You think you succeeded in making

7:50

a case. While

7:53

it's hard to know, but he certainly

7:55

has given the jury enough to one

7:57

hundred percent believe that, right? I think.

7:59

Yeah, Photo: Michael

8:01

coalescing on the stand did not

8:03

act. Irrationally or unreasonably

8:05

or to lose his temper. he

8:08

was very even the entire time.

8:10

Don't matter of fact and. You.

8:13

Know stone was have a title of

8:15

evidence to support what Michael Cohen A

8:17

shame. So you know Dd is Michael

8:19

Cohen lying about his and making this

8:21

whole thing up and that he did

8:23

his own his own. For.

8:27

Are all these people many of whom

8:29

are loyal to Trump simply telling the

8:31

truth about what happened. On

8:33

a much so that you know Steiner said

8:35

a lot of evidence is corner. You.

8:38

Know and it's really hard for me

8:40

to imagine any twelve people from Manhattan.

8:42

He did not know a whole lot

8:45

about Donald Trump going into this trail.

8:47

I mean, he is a former President.

8:49

Even before that, he was a public

8:51

figure and he's currently running for the

8:53

presidency. Did judge one Marshawn? Think about

8:55

this Juri These twelve people any differently

8:57

Because Trump was the defendant. Or

9:01

eating machine was kind of in

9:03

an impossible situation, right? Because the

9:05

idea of finding twelve people who

9:07

don't have an opinion about Donald

9:09

Trump. Or system possible. Second

9:11

husband was looking for years. the

9:14

not find. Twelve people haven't heard

9:16

of. Don't Talk Show Marshawn decided

9:18

early on the he was going

9:21

to be satisfied is a juror.

9:23

I told him that they could

9:25

be fair and impartial and way

9:28

in just base there are verdict

9:30

on what happened in the courtroom

9:32

and Marshawn. Some people

9:34

love box set aside said

9:37

machine or that was the

9:39

case. I'm. But. You

9:41

know that? process one really quickly. And

9:44

some. You know

9:46

it's It's hard to know what

9:48

to Juri thinks of of this

9:50

de sac so far because when

9:53

one has this idea about Donald

9:55

Trump and everyone has a perspective,

9:57

it's very difficult to look at

9:59

the evidence. Not only that

10:01

was slow, So I wonder

10:03

if they just asked? Guess Juri told the

10:05

jury before days evidence even started coming in.

10:08

What are not.will do the same verdict as

10:10

a we're going to get a couple days

10:12

we're going. To have to wait A fair?

10:14

That was Adam Slimmer had you security expert

10:16

in the Director of the Brendan More Trail

10:18

Advocacy Center at Fordham University Law School. Things

10:21

you can do. This

10:24

episode was produced by To Not He Met

10:26

Our It was edited. By Courtney Dawning

10:28

or executive producer is Sandy and

10:31

Again and. And if you haven't

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