After more than six taxing weeks of Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial on felony charges of falsifying business records, lawyers presented their closing arguments on Tuesday and the case was moved into the hands of 12 jurors the next day.
Prosecutors worked meticulously on Tuesday to remind the jury of documents and evidence they maintain support their case that the former president falsified 34 financial records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election. A lawyer for Mr. Trump argued there wasn’t a “shred of evidence” that tied Mr. Trump to the scheme, which prosecutors said was meant to conceal an extramarital tryst from voters.
Both parties, in a court day that stretched well into the evening, focused on Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s fixer, who became the prime witness against him.
Mr. Trump has denied the charges and the sexual encounter, and said money paid to Mr. Cohen was not reimbursement for the hush payment but legitimate legal expenses. If convicted, Mr. Trump faces probation or prison.
Here are the most memorable words uttered during the summations:
‘Michael Cohen is the G.L.O.A.T.’
Todd Blanche, one of Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers, spent a substantial portion of his closing argument attacking the credibility of Mr. Cohen, who had been the defendant’s former personal attorney.
“He’s the human embodiment of reasonable doubt,” said Mr. Blanche in his nearly three-hour summation. “An M.V.P. of liars,” he added.
The defense has tried to cast Mr. Cohen as a jaded employee bent on exacting revenge from the man he once called “the boss.”
Mr. Blanche presented jurors with the sports-world acronym of G.O.A.T., saying that quarterback Tom Brady was the “greatest of all time.”
He paused. “Michael Cohen is the G.L.O.A.T. He’s literally the Greatest Liar of All Time!” said Mr. Blanche, his voice rising.
“It doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy.”
Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen plotted alongside David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, to boost flattering stories about Mr. Trump and quash those that made him look bad.
But Mr. Blanche revived an argument from opening statements last month: There is nothing wrong with influencing an election. Mr. Blanche impressed upon jurors the realpolitik idea that it is common for candidates to bend public opinion to help them win.
“Every campaign in this country is a conspiracy,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if there was a conspiracy to try to win an election.”
‘The smoking guns’
For more than five hours, Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, made his case to the jury.
Mr. Steinglass flipped through business records from the Trump Organization that contained handwritten notes from two of Mr. Trump’s top moneymen, which prosecutors said outlined the mechanism to reimburse Mr. Cohen.
“They are the smoking guns,” Mr. Steinglass said.
The documents “completely blow out of the water the claim the money paid to Cohen was for legal services,” he added.
Mr. Steinglass also named former and current employees of Mr. Trump who had testified.
“These people like the defendant. If anything, they have an incentive to skew their testimony in a way that would help the defendant,” said Mr. Steinglass. “Yet, each of them provides critical pieces of the puzzle, building blocks that help establish the defendant’s guilt.”
‘He made his bed.’
In attempts to shore up Mr. Cohen’s credibility, Mr. Steinglass crafted an image of him as a product of the Trump Organization who provided a crucial look into its inner workings.
“We didn’t choose Michael Cohen to be our witness. We didn’t pick him up at the witness store,” said Mr. Steinglass. “The defendant chose Michael Cohen to be his fixer, because he was willing to lie and cheat on Mr. Trump’s behalf.”
The prosecutor said that Mr. Trump hired Mr. Cohen precisely because he was willing to behave in unscrupulous says.
“Mr. Trump chose Mr. Cohen for the same qualities that his attorneys now urge you to reject his testimony because of,” said Mr. Steinglass.
He told jurors they did not have to feel sympathetic to Mr. Cohen to believe him. “I’m not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen,” Mr. Steinglass said. “He made his bed.”
