- The Washington Times - Tuesday, May 21, 2024

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NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump declined to testify Tuesday as the defense rested in his hush money trial, setting the table for closing arguments and deliberations after Memorial Day.

Mr. Trump wasn’t expected to take the stand, but hadn’t ruled it out publicly. The former president is known for keeping people in suspense.

State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said closing arguments would take “at least a day” and jury instructions would take at least an hour. He told jurors that he didn’t want to break up the process, so he dismissed the jury until after the holiday weekend.

“At the end of the day, the best thing we can do is adjourn now until next Tuesday,” the judge said.

Defendants are not required to testify in criminal trials, nor do they have to mount a case at all because the burden of proof is on the prosecution.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers say he did nothing wrong and that payments to his lawyer, Michael Cohen, were legitimate legal expenses and not part of a cover-up scheme as alleged in the indictment. During breaks in the trial, Mr. Trump has defended his actions repeatedly in comments to the media.

Prosecutors allege Mr. Trump, using Mr. Cohen, paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels near the 2016 election and concealed the payments with a criminal scheme in 2017.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and says the trial is a sham designed to stop his campaign against President Biden.

Testimony finished Tuesday with the main defense witness, Robert Costello, a lawyer who conferred with Mr. Cohen after FBI raids in 2018.

The judge cleared the courtroom Monday to scold Mr. Costello for his remarks and glances during testimony, saying he risked being found in contempt and removed.

The witness was better behaved on Tuesday but had chippy exchanges with prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, as she cut him off when he tried to go beyond the scope of her questions.

Mr. Costello said Mr. Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, told him he had “nothing” on Mr. Trump.

Mr. Cohen claimed he didn’t trust Mr. Costello, fearing anything he said to him would get back to Mr. Trump through former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.

Prosecutors say Mr. Costello had a “back channel” to Mr. Trump through Mr. Giuliani to try and keep Mr. Cohen from flipping. Ultimately, Mr. Cohen opted for another lawyer.

“You lost control of Mr. Cohen for Mr. Trump?” Ms. Hoffinger said.

“Absolutely not,” Mr. Costello said.

Mr. Trump’s attorneys said talk about a pressure campaign was much ado about nothing.

“Did you ever pressure Michael Cohen to do anything?” attorney Emil Bove asked.

Mr. Costello said he never did.

The defense did not call any witnesses beyond Mr. Costello and a paralegal who briefly testified about phone records.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

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