The prosecution and events have rested their case in Donald
Trump's New York hush money trial,
the former president's first criminal trial,
USA Today's Asia Bag. She explains the cases key takeaways
from the courthouse.
Here's what we know now.
What were the key arguments in the prosecution's case?
The prosecution has argued that Donald Trump falsified business records.
So they put on a lot of evidence to try
to show both sides of the case that this hush
money payment was made that Trump.
Authorized it and that Trump participated in a scheme on
the back end to cover up reimbursement payments he was
making to his former lawyer,
Michael Cohen, for the hush money payment that Michael Cohen
sent just ahead of the 2016 election.
Did the prosecution present a strong case?
Whether the prosecution presented a strong case is ultimately up
to the jury.
They are relying pretty heavily on Michael Cohen for some
important parts,
so they introduced even Donald Trump's own words.
They had book publishers come in.
From his books, things that he said in them,
like I look at all my invoices.
I sign all my checks because I want to know
where my money is going.
I care about every penny.
These sorts of things that they hoped would support the
testimony that they ultimately got from Michael Cohen.
Did Stormy Daniels testimony help or hurt the prosecution?
It'll really be up to the jury to decide whether
they found Stormy Daniels convincing.
Part of that was encouraging the jury to believe that
her story about having a sexual encounter with Donald Trump
was actually true,
because they wanted the jury to believe that Trump would
be afraid.
That the American people would find her story convincing,
and for that reason, that he wouldn't want her story
to get out before the 2016 election.