Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday it’s a “very dangerous day for America” ahead of closing arguments in the NY v. Trump case.
“This is a very dangerous day for America. It’s a very sad day,” Trump said in remarks to the media before heading into the Manhattan courtroom Tuesday morning.
“Make no mistake about it, I’m here because of crooked Joe Biden. The worst president in the history of our country, he’s destroying our country. This country is being destroyed rapidly, not slowly, rapidly. On the borders, on energy, on inflation, on everything you can name, Afghanistan removal. Everything about what he’s done, he’s destroying our country and he’s also destroying it with weaponization. And this is purely is weaponization,” Trump added in his remarks.
Trump, who has been flanked by a handful of allies in recent days during court proceedings, was joined by his children Tiffany, Eric, and Don Jr. on Tuesday. Trump has repeatedly slammed the trial as a “sham” promoted by the Biden administration to politically injure him ahead of the 2024 election.
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Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via AP, POOL)
Trump is facing the end of the trial in Manhattan, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former pornographic star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied any affair with Daniels.
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Presiding Judge Juan Merchan said last week he anticipates closing arguments to last all of Tuesday and perhaps part of Wednesday. Merchan, this week, will also deliver his instructions to the jury, which he anticipates will last roughly an hour.
Trump has been required to sit in the courtroom throughout the trial, and is also required in the courtroom during deliberations in the event of any jury notes.
Closing arguments follow Trump’s defense team motioned for dismissal of the case following the prosecution team’s star witness, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, departs his home for Manhattan Criminal Court for the trial of former US President Donald Trump for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs in New York City, on May 14, 2024. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump attorney Todd Blanche said last week there were “absolutely no false business filings” and no evidence of connection to Trump.
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“How on earth is keeping a false story from voters criminal?” Blanche said.
“There is no way the court should let this case go to the jury with Mr. Cohen’s testimony,” he added.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his lawyer Emil Bove watch as Michael Cohen is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 14, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
Cohen testified before the court he personally paid Daniels $130,000 by taking out a home equity line of credit, which he said he concealed from his wife. Cohen also admitted in testimony that he stole thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization.
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Cohen said that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization by overstating how much he paid a tech company that provided services for the company. Cohen said he told former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in 2017 that he had paid tech firm Red Finch $50,000 out of his own pocket, and that he still needed to be reimbursed for the payment.
Weisselberg and Cohen in 2017 calculated a $420,000 repayment to Cohen for his $130,000 payment to Daniels, as well as the alleged $50,000 payment to Red Finch.
“You stole from the Trump Org, right?” Blanche asked Cohen last Wednesday morning.
“Yes, sir,” Cohen responded.
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Justice Juan Merchan presides as Michael Cohen is questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger during former U.S. President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. May 13, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
On Tuesday morning, Trump also said his team had an election expert who was set to testify last week and show that “everything was perfect” referring to former FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is working to prove to the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to payments to Daniels, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime: conspiracy to promote or prevent election.
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The election expert did not testify after Merchan ruled that Smith could speak before the court on the basic definitions surrounding election law but not expand beyond that scope.
“And we had a lot of other people. I can give you a list of 40 people that would say the exact same thing as these people said,” Trump said Tuesday before continuing it’s a “dangerous day for America.”