Trump reads Wall Street Journal article to reporters ahead of closing arguments in hush money trial (2024)

Former President Donald Trump read excerpts froma story published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) to reporters outside the Manhattan courtroom while claiming the hush money trial against him amounted to election interference.

Speaking to reporters, Trump read an excerpt from a WSJ article published on 24 May titled: Alvin Bragg hasn’t proved his case in the Trump trial.

Trump read excerpts from the story, including:

“After 20 days in court and atrial transcript of 4,000 pages,the missing piece is still themissing piece.”

At times, Trump interjected his own opinion. He also took aim at the gag order imposed on him, which he claimed was “unconstitutional.” He finished speaking to reporters claiming that it was a “dangerous day for America.”

Trump has entered the courtroom followed by his attorney Todd Blanche and Secret Service personnel.

Trump scanned the rows to his left as he walked down the center aisle pursing his lips.

Prosecutors entered the courtroom ahead of the start of closing arguments in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, who will give closing arguments for the prosecution, was seen carrying a large box of files.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also entered the courtroom. He is sitting in the second row on the prosecution side.

Former President Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse to attend his criminal hush money trial.

Closing arguments are expected to begin soon.

For over six weeks now, Donald Trump has woken up at his usual early hour and started phoning his friends and allies with a familiar grievance: his criminal hush money trial.

As he has endured long hours inside a stuffy courtroom with little grandeur, Trump has complained about the proceedings, as well as the room itself, to nearly anyone who will listen,sources familiar with the matter say.

But in recent days, Trump has zeroed in on a new issue, or at least new to him: that the final argument the jury hears will come from the prosecution’s team, not his,according to those sources.The former president only realized in the last several days that the closing arguments will happen the opposite way the opening statements did, where his team presented after the prosecution had first laid out its case.

Trump took that complaint public on Sunday.

While both sides will ultimately be telling different versions of the same story to the jury today, they have one concern in common. The prosecution and the defense both feel the need to reiterate key parts of the story, worried about how the jury has just had a week off and needs to be reminded about much of what they heard and saw.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche will present first Tuesday morning with closing arguments expected to take 2.5 to 3 hours, a person familiar tells CNN.

While the lawyers have no time limit, the Trump team thinks three hours is the maximum time a jury wants to listen to a closing argument — and also, the timing is also part of a strategy to discourage prosecutor Joshua Steinglass from continuing his closing into Wednesday morning.

Essentially, Trump’s lawyers do not want the lead prosecutor to have another crack at the jury before they retire to deliberate. The goal is to wrap up early enough to make it hard for Steinglass to continue into another day — all without annoying the jury, the source explained.

What prosecutors are expected to say today: In their closing, Trump’s team will revisit many of the arguments they made during the trial — that allegedly falsified documents were not falsified because Michael Cohen was working as a lawyer to President Trump in 2017, according to the person familiar.

They will revisit documents to support this argument and how the $420,000 Cohen made in 2017 was similar to what he made on 2016 from working for Trump. Lawyers will also go back to the January 2017 email from former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg to Cohen asking Trump's then-lawyer and fixer to send the agreement they had just discussed.They will also argue that if documents were falsified, it was Cohen who falsified them by lying about how much he was owed, according to the source.

Lawyers will also dispute this was part of a conspiracy to influence the election. They will steer clear of any arguments about political motivations for bringing this case, but might mention the case is old and let jurors draw their own conclusions.

Lastly, they will focus on how Cohen cannot be trusted, hitting all the obvious points, trying to personalize for the jury why nobody would want their personal freedom to rest on the word of Cohen.

The Trump team does not feel that Robert Costello’s disastrous appearance on the witness stand last week will ultimately hurt their case or their arguments about Cohen.

Donald Trump departed Trump Tower moments ago and is en route to the Manhattan court.

His defense attorneys will be first to present their closing arguments as his historic criminal trial winds down. Trump's attorney Todd Blanche will present first, followed by Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a presentation of summations which is expected to last all day, according to people familiar with the matter. There are no rebuttals.

Judge Juan Merchan previously said he expects to give the jury instructions on Wednesday which should take about an hour. While this portion is expected to happen at some point on Wednesday, as with all court-related matters the timing is not set in stone.

What happens next: Then a jury of 12 — seven men and five women — will determine whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records in connection with allegedly concealing reimbursem*nts to his then-lawyer for a purported hush money scheme to silence an adult film star about an affair shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

CNN's Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.

Former President Donald Trump will be joined in court by several family members and allies today including:

Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Lara Trump have attended court prior to today's proceedings.

Ahead of the hush money trial, Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Donald Trump which blocks him from speaking out about potential witnesses and most people in or associated with the court or the New York district attorney’s office.

In that initial order — imposed in March — Merchan also said thatTrump can’t make statements about attorneys, court staff or the family members of prosecutors or lawyers intended to interfere with the case. Trump is also barred from making statements about any potential or actual juror.

The ruling also prevents Trump from criticizing his former attorney, Michael Cohen, or adult film star Stormy Daniels, both witnesses in the trial.

The former president, Merchan said in his order, has a history of making “threatening, inflammatory, denigrating” statements against people at all levels of the justice system, including jurors. The order does not prevent Trump from talking about New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is a public figure, or Merchan himself.

The gag order was imposed after Trump repeatedly attacked the district attorney’s case and those involved with it ahead of what would be the first criminal trial of a former president. Trump criticized Merchan, his daughter and one of Bragg’s prosecutors in the hours before Merchan issued his order in March.

Since then, Trump has been fined for violating the order 10 times and the judge warned on May 6 that "this court will have to consider a jail sanction" if the former president violates it again. Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for the violation ruling on May 6. A week prior, thejudge fined Trump $9,000for nine previous violations of the judge’s gag order. Violations of the gag order are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, by jail time of up to 30 days, or both.

During remarks before entering the courtroom for the trial's proceedings, Trump has repeatedly railed against the gag order and the case. He has also relied on allies to deliver attacks outside the court.