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Trump trial live updates: Prosecutors and defense lawyers to deliver closing arguments
Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)
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Donald Trump’s hush money trial is coming to an end with prosecutors and defense lawyers set to deliver closing arguments to the jury. Court is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET.
What happens during closing arguments?
Prosecutors and defense lawyers will have their final opportunity to address the jury in closing arguments expected to last for much of the day, if not all of it.
The arguments don’t count as evidence in the case charging Trump with falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election to a porn star who alleged she had a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. They’ll instead function as hourslong recaps of the key points the lawyers want to leave jurors with before the panel disappears behind closed doors for deliberations.
WATCH: Donald Trump’s defense rests in the former president’s New York hush money trial
Donald Trump’s lawyers have rested their defense in the former president’s New York hush money trial, bringing the case one step closer to final arguments. (AP Video: John Minchillo)
As the trial nears an end, some would-be spectators camped out for days to get inside
While some New Yorkers headed to the beach for Memorial Day weekend, a few set up camp outside the courthouse where Trump’s criminal trial is set to resume, hoping to snag a seat inside the courtroom for the start of closing arguments.
Friday found a handful of people already in line for today’s court session.
They included professional line sitters with pup tents — and Richard Partington, 43, of East Hampton, New York, sitting on the hard pavement with a sleeping bag, pillow and blanket plus a journal to write in. He said he got in the line for the courtroom on Thursday.
▶ Read more about the trial spectators.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are poised to make final pitch to jury
Former President Donald Trump sits in court at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 21, 2024 in New York. (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool)
Prosecutors and defense lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are set to deliver closing arguments to the jury Tuesday, each side looking to score final points with the panel before it starts deliberating the fate of the first former American president to be charged with felony crimes.
The arguments, expected to last the entire day, will give the attorneys one last chance to address the Manhattan jury hearing the landmark case.
After more than four weeks of testimony, the summations tee up a momentous and historically unprecedented task for the jury as it decides whether to convict the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in connection with payments during the 2016 election to prevent a porn actor from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump.