NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s lawyer cast the former US prez as a victim of a porn star’s blackmail and argued that prosecutors had failed to prove he covered up a hush money payment to her as Trump’s criminal trial neared conclusion on Tuesday.
In closing argument, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said Stormy Daniels had been trying to extort Trump by threatening to go public with her story of a sexual encounter as he battled a string of unflattering stories in the final weeks of the 2016 election.“She was trying to use the 2016 election as leverage to try and get paid,” he told the 12 jurors who will decide whether Trump, 77, becomes first US prez to be convicted of a crime. The jury could begin deliberations as soon as Wednesday.
His lawyers have said he paid her off to protect his family from embarrassment, not to boost his campaign. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.