Steinglass focuses on inconsistencies in defense argument
Steinglass zeroed in on an example of what the prosecution considers an inconsistency in the defense team's case. He told the jury that if the $420,000 payment for Cohen was for legal services, as the defense argued, Cohen could not have stolen $60,000 from the Trump Organization, as the defense also argued. It's either one or the other, the prosecutor argues — not both.
Steinglass: 'I'm not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen'
Steinglass is trying to reason with the jury, telling the jurors that they don't need to feel bad for Cohen, but they should understand where Cohen is coming from.
“I am not asking you to feel bad for Michael Cohen. He made his bed," Steinglass said.
“But you can hardly blame him that he’s making money for the one thing he has left," he added, referencing Cohen's knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump organization.
Steinglass admits that Daniels’ testimony was “messy” — but 'Stormy Daniels is the motive'
Steinglass is laying out how “the defense has gone to great lengths to shame Stormy Daniels, saying that she changed her story” but adds that “her false denials have been thoroughly discussed and explained.”
“She lived 2017 in pure silence, Michael Cohen came out and said sex never happened” and Daniels “felt compelled to set the record straight,” he said.
Steinglass said that “parts of her testimony” were “cringeworthy” and “uncomfortable.”
But details like “what the suite” at Harrah’s “looked like” and how the toiletry bag appeared “ring true.”
“They’re the kind of details you’d expect someone to remember,” Steinglass explained, adding that, “fortunately, she was not asked or did she volunteer specific details of the sexual act itself.”
“It certainly is true you don’t have to prove that sex took place — that is not an element of the crime, the defendant knew what happened and reinforces the incentive to buy her silence,” explained Steinglass.
“Her story is messy,” he said. “But that’s kind of the point. That’s the display the defendant didn’t want the American voter to see.”
“If her testimony were so irrelevant, why did they work so hard to discredit her?” he added. “In the simplest terms, Stormy Daniels is the motive.”
Steinglass undercuts defense argument that Trump was totally in the dark on Daniels payment
Steinglass displayed quotes from one of the state's exhibits: a phone call in which Cohen — well before he started cooperating with prosecutors — tells Davidson that Trump hates the fact that his team settled with Daniels.
The quotes undercut the defense team's insistence that Trump knew nothing about the hush money payments to Daniels.
Steinglass to jury: You don't need to believe Cohen to find there was a conspiracy
Steinglass defended the state's witnesses against the Trump team's accusations of lying, but he added that the jury does not necessarily need to believe every word of Cohen's testimony to find that there was a conspiracy to unlawfully influence the 2016 election.
"You don’t need Michael Cohen to prove that one bit," Steinglass said, referring to the state's accusation of a conspiracy.
He added that Hope Hicks, Rhona Graff, Madeleine Westerhout, Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff were all witnesses who like Trump but confirmed Cohen's testimony.
Steinglass: 'You don't get to commit election fraud or falsify your business records'
Steinglass is appealing to the jury by explaining to them that it doesn't really matter why Trump broke the law, as long as they feel he did break the law. The argument appears to be a response to the claim by Blanche, during his own closing arguments, that Stormy Daniels had attempted to extort Trump.
"In the end it doesn’t really matter, because you don't get to commit election fraud or falsify your business records because you think you’ve been victimized," he said.
"In other words, extortion is not a defense for falsifying business records," he added.
"You've got to use your common sense, here," Steinglass continued. "Consider the utterly damning testimony of David Pecker."
Steinglass rebuts defense arguments about phone records
"The defense seems to be questioning our integrity,” Steinglass told the jury near the top of his summation.
But, he argued, it was the defense that didn't properly depict phone records.
The call summaries were made to help guide you, the prosecutor explained to the jury. The phone records are all in evidence and you can look through them at your leisure, he added.
It’s also an interesting accusation, Steinglass points out, given that the defense’s summary of calls between Cohen and Costello double-counts their calls. He also reminds them that not every phone call is accounted for in their phone records. Cohen had 11 phone numbers for Trump; they had records corresponding to two of them.
Prosecution kicks off closing arguments
The prosecution is now kicking off its closing arguments. Joshua Steinglass will give them.
Merchan told jury to disregard Blanche's 'prison' comment
Merchan, who chastised Blanche for imploring jurors not to send Trump to prison, told the jury that the lawyer's comment was "improper, and you must disregard it."
"If there is a verdict of guilty," the judge added, "it will be up to me to impose a sentence."
He went on to explain that a "prison sentence is not required in the event of a guilty verdict."
We are back
Merchan is at the bench. Trump is seated at the defense table.