Donald Trump's defense lawyer may have committed a ruinous blunder during his closing argument.
Attorney Todd Blanche characterized former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who was a key witness for the prosecution, as dishonest and untrustworthy but portrayed former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker as truthful — and MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin said that was essentially a gift to prosecutors.
"Todd Blanche just painted David Pecker as a truth teller in marked contrast to his portrayal of Michael Cohen," Rubin posted on X. "If I am prosecutor Josh Steinglass, I just did a happy dance."
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Pecker told the jury that he purchased damaging stories about Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 election as part of an agreement with his campaign, which prosecutors say amounted to an illegal in-kind contribution that forms the basis of the felony charged against the former president and corroborated much of Cohen's testimony.
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Trump is accused of falsifying business records to conceal his reimbursements to Cohen, who had paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to remain silent about her sexual relationship a decade earlier with Trump.
Cohen and other witnesses have testified that Trump was particularly concerned about Daniels going public with her claims after the "Access Hollywood" tape surfaced, showing him boasting to TV host Billy Bush that he had groped numerous women's genitals and gotten away with it because he was a celebrity.
The 2005 recording came to light weeks before the 2016 election and caused multiple Republicans to rescind their endorsement of the reality TV-host-turned-presidential candidate, and prosecutors say Trump managed to win despite that due in part to the hush money payments that prevented voters from learning about his extramarital affairs.
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