Trump trial: Prosecutors liken Cohen to a ‘tour guide’ for hush money crimes

NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors began their closing arguments Tuesday afternoon in the hush money case against Donald Trump, comparing the former president’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen to a “tour guide” for the 34-count indictment.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass acknowledged that the defense used Cohen’s history of credibility issues as a theme for their own closing arguments, accusing Trump of wanting to make Michael Cohen the focus of the case during his attorney Todd Blanche’s closing arguments earlier in the day.

“This case is not about Michael Cohen. It’s about Mr. Trump and whether he should be held accountable for making false business entries in his own business records. Whether he and his staff did that to cover up election interference,” Steinglass said, adding that Cohen’s role as the star witness was to provide “context and color” to the alleged falsified records at issue in the case.

“He’s like a tour guide through the physical evidence, but those documents don’t lie and they don’t forget,” Steinglass added.

Trump was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office last year on charges stemming from reimbursements made to Cohen for a hush money payment he made before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair Daniels claimed to have had with him years earlier.

Each specific criminal count Trump faces is related to a specific entry among the business records of the Trump Organization from February to December 2017, according to the indictment.

Steinglass later sought to help the jury make sense of two other key hush money payments featured in the trial, including a payment to the former Trump Tower doorman who threatened to come forward with the false story that Trump had a child out of wedlock.

The prosecutor recalled former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker agreeing to pay more than average for the story and pointed out that Pecker said it would have been an even bigger deal if the doorman’s story was true.

“They were willing to wait because that would help the defendant’s campaign. And that was the only reason,” Steinglass said, adding, “That is catch and kill”

Finally, Steinglass moved toward Trump’s supposed “cavalier willingness” during a September 2016 recorded conversation between him and Cohen to purchase the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged affair with Trump for $150,000.

“You should take this recording to the back,” Steinglass said, referring to when the jury is told to begin deliberations on a verdict. “You can play this many times and as loudly as you want to hear Mr. Trump say 150 on this tape. It’s your decision what the tape says.”

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Steinglass said before an afternoon break that he was about “a third of the way” through his closing arguments.

Presiding Judge Juan Merchan told the jury that there will be another break at around 5:30 p.m., indicating that the jury will be staying later today to finish out the closing arguments before they are told to begin deliberating on a decision.