The End Is Near: Trump Trial Heads Toward Finish

Former President Donald Trump’s business records trial is drawing to an end, with closing arguments possible on Tuesday.

The trial will resume Monday, as disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen is set to take the stand for his third day of cross-examination after a strong showing on Thursday for Trump’s defense, as Politico notes.

The New York Times reported that Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s attorneys, predicted to Justice Juan Merchan at the end of court Thursday that Cohen’s cross-examination would conclude sometime Monday morning.

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers in New York, Thursday, March 14, 2024. Merchan could become the first judge ever to oversee a former U.S. president’s criminal trial. He’s presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York (AP Photo/Seth Wenig).

Trump’s team would then put on a defense with prosecutors seemingly done presenting their case. Blanche “predicted the defense case, if they present one at all, would likely be quick,” and it could start and finish on Monday, according to Politico.

It remains to be seen what witnesses the defense could call other than Trump, who is reportedly still deciding if he will take the stand, as the Times reported Thursday:

The defense lawyers also alerted the judge that if they were to put on a witness or witnesses, it wouldn’t take very long. They did not name any potential witnesses in particular besides Trump, who they said had yet to decide whether he would testify.

But the judge, operating off the defense lawyers’ comments, felt it appropriate to warn both sides to be ready for closing arguments on Tuesday. That could mean the case will go to the jury as early as next week.

Jurors, who received an atypical day off on Friday as Trump is attending his son Barron’s high school graduation, have an extra day to stew on Blanche’s cross-examination of Cohen on Thursday, which has been regarded even by left-wing media as a stellar performance.

Blanche, at one point before lunch Thursday, accused Cohen of lying about a phone conversation he claimed was about a payment to Stormy Daniels. Blanche, who has worked to cast a shadow on Cohen’s credibility to the jury, seemed to suggest the October 24, 2016, call, which was to Trump’s bodyguard, was actually about harassing calls Cohen had received from a teen prankster.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper lauded Blanche’s tactics as “incredible”:

“Elie Honig on my program last night had talked about on a cross-examination, lawyers want to kind of … build a box around the witness and then slam it shut – that’s what Todd Blanche did to Michael Cohen,” Cooper said.