Trump trial live updates: Jury prepares to deliberate in hush money case as world awaits verdict

Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial finally concluded at 8 pm Wednesday after prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’ marathon four-hour speech to the jury.

The former president’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, began the day by telling jurors that they could not convict his client because of the words of “liar” and “thief” Michael Cohen.

The judge chastised him for telling the panel that their verdict could put Trump in jail.

Steinglass then analyzed her case in painstaking detail, arguing that there is “overwhelming evidence” that Trump falsified business documents to cover up a $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about their alleged affair.

The silent agreement, Steinglass said, could “very well” have helped Trump win the 2016 election.

Actor Robert De Niro confronted Trump supporters outside the former president’s secret trial Tuesday in New York after calling him a “clown” who wants to “destroy the world.”

De Niro appeared alongside Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone as special guests of President Joe Biden’s campaign.

The actor called Trump a ‘clown’ but also warned that re-electing him would be dangerous.

‘I love this city, I don’t want to destroy it. “Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country and eventually he could destroy the world,” De Niro said.

A group of Trump supporters could be heard in the background chanting, ‘fuck Joe Biden,’ and one person yelled at the actor, ‘your movies suck!’

Donald Trump said nothing in the courtroom as his lead defense attorney made his closing argument that the former president should be found not guilty of falsifying business records.

Todd Blanche’s two-and-a-half-hour deposition was littered with the defendant’s own words and fingerprints, making it part legal argument and part campaign speech.

There was a derogatory nickname for a key witness: “Michael Cohen is the GLOAT.” “The Biggest Liar of All Time”: frequent references to prosecutors as the “government” (when in New York state court it is “the people” who initiate proceedings) and a final incendiary reference to his client who faces to prison.

“You can’t send someone to prison…you can’t convict someone based on Michael Cohen’s words,” Blanche said, prompting an immediate objection from the prosecutor’s office.

Donald Trump’s fate in the Manhattan hush money trial is now in the hands of the jury after Tuesday’s marathon closing arguments.

After six weeks and 22 witnesses, a panel of 12 Manhattan residents will decide whether the 77-year-old will be the first former president convicted of a crime.

The jury returns Wednesday to hear instructions from the judge before being sent to decide their verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Then the wait for the verdict will begin, which could arrive today.