On Tuesday, the Former President of the USA, Donald Trump, chose not to testify in the criminal hush money trial about a payment that was to be made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.
By doing so, he brought his defense to an early conclusion and cleared the way for the judges to start the deliberations soon. The former President was advised by the legal experts or his lawyers not to stand up as a witness as it could damage his case.
The speculations about whether Trump will be taking the stand as a witness against allegations of falsifying business records to hide the hush money payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels weeks before the 2016 Presidential Elections have been going around for the past few weeks. It was revealed that if Trump had to testify, it would have been the third time he has taken the stand since the past year.
Donald Trump’s lawyers called two other witnesses to the stand instead of him to testify in his defense, Juan Merchan. The judge stated that the jury will return next Tuesday to hear the closing arguments from both sides and will give the final verdict.
However, the lawyers from Trump’s side have asserted to Juan that they should dismiss the case before it reaches the court’s jury next Tuesday. They have mentioned that the case relies on the testimony of Michal Cohen, an estranged fixer of Donald Trump who has a history of lying several times at a trial.
However, Juan stated that the dismissal of legal cases before reaching the jury happens in the rarest of cases, and she is determined to let the jury decide Michael Cohen’s credibility. The prosecutors have also emphasized that other pieces of evidence corroborate or align with Cohen’s testimony, making it more convincing.
Michael Cohen is the last witness from the prosecution’s side. He wrapped up his testimony yesterday, making way for the defense to present their evidence and witnesses to the court.
The second witness from Trump’s side, Robert Costello, stated in the court that Michael Cohen told him outside the court that he didn’t have any information or proof about Donald Trump’s involvement in the hush money trial, and he also presented some emails in the court which contained some conversations between them.
However, Robert’s cold personality got on the nerves of Judge Juan, and she cleared the court on Monday by telling Robert not to roll his eyes in the court of law. After this, Costello started his testimony on Tuesday before the defense rested its case.
Michael Cohen testified in the court that he had held discussions with Donald Trump about the hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels when Trump was already in the middle of facing several sexual misconduct allegations.
Cohen stated that he was all worried about his appearance getting tarnished in front of the female voters if this story got out in public. The legal team has also stated that Trump has confessed that he made this $130,000 payment to protect the respect of his family.
The former president, who is 77 years old, has pleaded not guilty and has refused to be involved in any criminal activity. He has asserted that the accusations of him getting intimate with Cohen are all false and baseless and are solely a political attempt to damage his presence in the country so that he could not stand a chance to win the White House Back.
