Here are three things the Trump defense team won’t do in their closing statement:
- They won’t offer a counternarrative. There are no plausible options, and there is no evidence in their favor.
- They won’t spend a lot of time talking about Stormy Daniels, other than to describe her as a grifter trying to extort money from their client. They don’t have any testimony disproving her story, and it is peripheral to the case in any event.
- They won’t dare bang on and on about how the case is bogus, and Trump is being crucified by New York liberals. You may hear a little bit of that just to keep the client happy, but emphasizing that narrative is insulting to both the judge and the jury.
The defense will spend the vast majority of their time talking about what an incredible scumbag Michael Cohen is. If the judge’s instructions permit it, they will also make legal arguments about the connection between the records in question and an underlying felony. Those are the two weakest points of the prosecution’s case.