The jury is believed to retire to consider its decision today. If the former president is found guilty, a fine is likely to result.
Satu-Maria Niikko,
Roni Kuronen
In New York in the United States, the country’s former president Donald Trump’s the accounting criminal trial continued on Tuesday with the closing statements of the defense and the prosecutor. Trump is accused of a former adult entertainment actress by Stormy Daniels for paying to keep quiet during the 2016 presidential election campaign, and for trying to hide the payment made through incorrect financial accounting.
New York prosecutors say Donald Trump participated in a conspiracy to corrupt the 2016 presidential election and then tried to cover it up.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told jurors they should consider whether Trump falsified accounting records to keep quiet the payment of Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In addition, Steinglass said jurors should consider broader political concerns when considering the case, such as the possibility that Trump and his allies influenced the election by controlling what information voters received.
– The plan that those men came up with at the time could very well have been the reason that President Trump was elected to office, the prosecutor said.
A 12-person jury is expected to retire today to consider whether Trump is guilty or not guilty. They must come to a unanimous decision, or there will be no solution. If found guilty, Trump would likely face a fine or even some jail time. However, he could still appeal the verdict going forward.
Defense: This isn’t about weighing your opinion of Trump
The defense of 77-year-old President Trump made his closing arguments earlier on Tuesday. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche urged jurors to set aside their personal views of the former president in their deliberations.
– Your opinion about Trump is not weighed here. If you focus on the evidence presented in court, you will very quickly come to the conclusion that Trump is innocent.
The judge of the court Juan Merchan wasn’t entirely happy with how Trump’s legal team was doing. Merchan is said to have reprimanded Blanche shortly after the jury exited.
The reason for the reprimand was Blanche’s statements to the jury that the evidence presented was not sufficient for a prison sentence. The jury’s job is not to decide on Trump’s sentence, but to determine whether he is guilty of a crime.
Source: Reuters