America's Talking - Trump Decides Not to Testify in Hush Money Case

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Donald Trump's defense team rested, wrapping up its side of the case after calling two witnesses, including one who contradicted testimony provided by former Trump attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, the prosecution's star witness. Trump had said he would testify at his trial if necessary, but decided not to take the stand in the history-making trial. His defense team rested Tuesday, clearing the way for jury deliberations to begin next week. Justice Juan Merchan told jurors to return for closing arguments next Tuesday after the Memorial Day weekend. Deliberations could begin the next day, Reuters reported. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Greetings and welcome to America in Focus, powered by the Center Square. I'm Dan McAliab, chief content officer at Franklin News Foundation, publisher of the Center Square Newswire Service. We are recording this on Thursday, May 23rd. Prosecutors and the defense both rested their cases this week in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee heading into November's presidential election. All that's left are closing arguments and jury instructions before jurors begin deliberating the case. which is expected to happen next week. Joining me to discuss the case and all of the potential ramifications is KP. Casey Harper,

Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief at the Center Square. Casey, this is only one of four separate criminal cases facing the former president, but it's likely the only one that will come to a close before November's election. Bring us up to date on this week's developments before we get into what could happen next week. Yeah, that's right. I mean, this case, because it comes before November, in some sense, to the American public, will represent all the other cases. And so it is extremely pivotal. It's been highly controversial, as you know. And this week, some big, big developments. The former president, Donald Trump, did not take the stand. Of course, that's a strategic decision by him and his legal team. I think it may have been, you know, if he had taken the stand, it probably talked about making headlines and drawing attention. Of course, it would have given Trump an opportunity to share his side of the story in a very public way. But at the same time, I think he's

his legal team decided it was better that he not accidentally say something that could be used against him that could open up a whole other can of worms. And so they stuck with him not testifying. Now, this expected that jurors will go into deliberations probably next Tuesday, next week, Dan, after Memorial Day. And so, you know, we really don't know how long those deliberations will take. As you said, it's highly likely. I mean, it's going to be in the next few weeks before the election. but we don't know how long they will deliberate. And Trump faces some real prison time. I mean, under New York state law, falsifying business records in the way that Trump is accused of doing carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Right. So, you know, of course, conviction and sentencing are two separate things. But, you know, so Trump didn't testify this week. And then also the Trump team brought out some legal, or brought in their own witnesses who really. contradicted previous testimony from the prosecution and also said that Trump really didn't know about these payments, that he was just totally unaware of it, that it was done without his knowledge. Seems like kind of a plausible deniability argument, right? So it's really wrapped up. Both sides have been heard out. If you remember last week, we talked on the show about how Michael Cohen testified

against former President Donald Trump and laid out all these accusations and tried to bolster the argument and even used a phone call he had with the president. Not a recording, but he talked about a phone call he had with the president many years ago. But Trump's team came back and said that Cohen was biased and even played clips from Cohen's podcast where he says that he wants to get revenge on Trump. And their revenge is a dish best served cold. And so I think they, you know, it's always hard to see into the mind of jurors and not when you're not in that courtroom.

But I think they did do something to discredit Cohen's testimony. and I think that was a big blow to the prosecution. If they can get, you know, I don't know how, I think you've covered more trials that I have over the years, Dan, but these juries can be fickle, and it only takes one person to kind of dig their heels in the sand and throw everything off. Yeah, it's got to be a unanimous verdict of all 12 jurors need to agree. Who knows, right? I think perhaps the likeliest outcome, or at least as likely as a guilty verdict or

not guilty verdict would be a hung jury where not all 12 do agree on a decision on it. As you said, I mean, they could take days deliberating because of that one fact that also takes as one juror to hold out either way. So everybody, the entire nation, will be on verdict watch next week. and it might be a long watch for everyone. Do you have any thoughts on the outcome, Casey? I mean, I think you have a good hypothesis here about a hung jury. I mean, it seems, you know, New York is maybe not, is, of course, not Texas.

It's not a place where you're going to have just Trump supporters walking around everywhere, but at the same time, I can't, I can imagine that some people might balk at the idea of putting a former president in jail, or is this really the best idea of, or is this really the best idea even if they are not a Trump supporter. I mean, do they personally think this case is politically motivated? Our polling that we've done at the CenterSquare.com shows that, you know, people who are kind of skeptical. Some of this, another polling is also shown that there's this idea that these trials are

politically motivated. And, you know, we can talk about that at length than we have. But if someone, if one of the jurors feels like it's politically motivated, is that in their mind, do they feel like they're kind of participating in something that is going to hurt? the country because of you're taking out, you know, a top presidential candidate. We would be naive to say that that's not in people's minds, knowing that, you know, Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, and they know that if they put them in jail, they're going to throw the whole Democratic system into some kind of tailspan, and are they willing to do that? You know, these are the kinds of things

that they have to be thinking about. It wouldn't surprise me if that is too much of a burden for one, at least one of the jurors. And, yeah, I mean, I don't want to discredit the defense's case too much, They do have a real case. This is not a slam dunk case against Trump. I mean, many legal experts have said that this case is very weak and would not have been brought if it weren't, you know, for someone named Donald Trump. And so, of course, every expert, you know, what are opinions worth when it's so politicized? But I think the defense does have a legitimate case. This is not slam dunk.

And the idea that at least one juror would not be willing to go along is totally plausible in my mind. Well, I know this is going to be, this is total speculation, Casey, but let's hypothesize that the jury does reach a guilty verdict. What would that mean for Trump and his presidential campaign? Does that take him out altogether? Does he run, whether it be from prison or while he's waiting sentencing, while he's waiting on appeal? What do you think? I mean, I think that we are going to see, you know, we thought we've been in chaos. in the Trump era so far. I think we're going to see a new level of chaos. I think, I mean, it is, I think it's hard to understate how big a deal that this will be if Trump is convicted. Most of the Republican Party is in lockstep saying at this point that this trial is election interference, that it's coordinated even with the Biden administration to take out a political opponent, that this is the kind of thing you see in, you know, South American countries that are falling apart.

And so I think you're going to see a kind of unity in the Republican Party around the president. that we have probably never seen. You know, police shows that most voters will still support Trump, even if he's in jail. But even before it gets to that point, I think, you know,

people, like, imagine, if we're hypothesizing, what if, what if one of the states, like Greg Abbott says, you're not arresting the president.

Texas is a sanctuary state for Donald Trump, and you'll have to get past the Texas, you know, Texas police officers if you're going to get to the president. You know, what is something like that? I mean, That's, I mean, I don't think that literally is going to happen, but I think we're at the point where some ambitious governor could say Trump is safe and my state is a non-extradition state.

I mean, I think that's totally possible and that's the kind of craziness that's going to erupt if they try to put Trump in jail through this next election. Casey, I don't even know if I want to go down that road. But one thing's for certain. It's going to be a heck of a next week or two as we wait on the jury to the society here. Casey, thank you for joining us today. listeners can keep up with this story and more at thecenter square.com.