If Donald Trump is soon to be found a felon, he and his defense team can partly blame themselves: They presented implausible arguments against the prosecution’s case throughout the trial, and on Tuesday, Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, sneaked in an IED at the end of closing arguments that exploded in Trump’s face.
“You can’t send someone to jail based on what Michael Cohen says,” Blanche said, trying to portray it as up to the jury to decide whether the president should be jailed.
“It’s outrageous to say that,” Judge Juan Merchan told Blanche after the jury retired for lunch. Mentioning the sentence to gain sympathy from jurors who have no say in the punishment is “totally unacceptable,” the judge said, adding, “I find it hard to imagine that that was unintentional.”
The defense got more than a rebuke. After lunch, Marchand explained to the jury why they had to ignore the vile act. Not a good final impression for the defense.
During his three-hour closing argument, Blanche gave jurors some leeway in exploring reasonable doubt but for the most part he pivoted sharply, setting up the prosecution to present a better argument in the afternoon.
My favorite goofy moment was, “Who else do you think we didn’t hear from in this trial?” Blanche asked. “Don and Eric. Is there any suspicion that they were involved in the conspiracy?” No, the lawyers. But jurors will likely wonder why the defense called Trump’s own sons instead of Robert Costello, who broke under cross-examination.
Mr. Blanche raved about trying to discredit two “smoking guns” presented by the prosecution. The first was a memo scribbled by former Trump Organization financial chief Allen Weisselberg detailing the $420,000 that Mr. Trump paid to Mr. Cohen in 2017. Mr. Weisselberg wrote “grossed up,” meaning the $130,000 in hush money was doubled for tax purposes. “That’s a lie,” Mr. Blanche said, undermining the word by using it more than 30 times in closing arguments.
But it wasn’t a lie: A former Trump Organization executive admitted on the stand that the numbers and “grossing up” were Weisberg’s own doing.
Another smoking gun was the phone call recorded by Cohen, in which Trump said “150” about the hush money to Karen McDougal. Blanche tried, unsuccessfully in my opinion, to prove that Cohen’s phone call was doctored, by playing the tape and disputing the idea that Trump saying “150” had anything to do with Trump saying “cash” on the tape and the hush money. The jury will likely hear the tape and decide for themselves. Trust me, you should hear “150.”
Blanche ended her closing argument by telling the jurors that if they looked at the evidence, “an acquittal would be very easy and quick.” Insulting the intelligence of the jurors? Not wise.
