Prosecutors rested their hush money case against Donald Trump on Monday, turning it over to the former president’s lawyers for a chance to call witnesses.
The defense has said it plans to call a campaign finance expert, a lawyer who offered to represent Cohen after the FBI raided his property in 2018 and a paralegal.
By law, prosecutors bear the burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Trump’s defense doesn’t have to prove anything.
The prosecution could have an opportunity to call rebuttal witnesses if Trump’s lawyers put on witnesses of their own.
Prosecutors’ final witness, at least for now, was also their most important: Trump attorney-turned-adversary Michael Cohen. His credibility could determine the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s fate in the case.
Trump, the first former American president to be tried criminally, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing in the case, which he has slammed as politically motivated.
The trial is in its 19th day.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.
(Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)
