Takeaways from Donald Trump's defense in the hush money trial

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% : "Probably so, I would like to, I mean I think so," Trump told a Wisconsin television station on May 7.
50% : "Well, I would if it's necessary," Trump said in an April 25 interview on Newsmax.
47% : Publicly, Trump left open the prospect that he could testify in his own defense, but his attorneys had always seemed to discount the possibility.
45% : But on Tuesday, the opportunity for Trump to testify came and went quickly, with attorney Todd Blanche telling the judge once Costello was off the stand, "The defense rests.
44% : Costello acknowledged he offered Cohen a backchannel to Trump through Giuliani but said that was for Cohen's benefit.
43% : It all added up to the calculation from Trump and his attorneys that he was better staying off the witness stand.
38% : The most dramatic moment in the cross-examination came when Blanche confronted Cohen about an October 24, 2016, call he had with Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, at 8:02 p.m., in which Cohen testified that Schiller put Trump on the phone and Cohen told him he was going ahead with the payment to Daniels.
36% : Part of the reason Trump was never expected to take the stand was the scope of the cross-examination.
30% : Prosecutors tried to rehabilitate Cohen's testimony, introducing a screengrab from C-SPAN showing Trump leaving a Florida rally stage with Schiller five minutes before the call.
29% : "That was a lie," Blanche alleged of Cohen's testimony he spoke to Trump about moving forward with the hush money deal.
28% : "Ultimately, there was little suspense in the decision: the lawyers and the judge have been gaming out the trial's end-game schedule for the past week as though Trump would not testify.
28% : Trump attorney Emil Bove sought to show Cohen used Costello's legal services - and as a backchannel to Trump - though he never signed a retainer agreement and ultimately went with another lawyer to handle his federal case.
27% : Following a routine hearing on what would be allowed - known as a Sandoval hearing - the judge ruled that prosecutors would have been allowed to question Trump about the $464 civil fraud verdict from last fall's case brought by the New York attorney general, Trump's two violations of the judge's gag order in that case, the verdicts against Trump in the two E. Jean Carroll defamation cases and the settlement Trump reached with the New York attorney general that led to the dissolution of the Donald J. Trump foundation.
22% : In addition, Trump would have been subjected to questions related to the case, of course, including his alleged affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
22% : The difference underscored the importance of Cohen - both for the prosecution's case against Trump as well as how the defense's efforts to discredit Trump's former fixer as a witness could be key to an acquittal or hung jury.
20% : According to Costello, Cohen said 10-12 times during the meeting, "I swear to God, Bob, I don't have anything on Donald Trump.
16% : Here are takeaways from the final day of testimony in the Trump hush money trial:Trump doesn't take the standOver the last several months, Trump repeatedly teased that he would take the stand in his own defense.
16% : Blanche tried to undercut Cohen's credibility, accusing him of making up his conversations with Trump, stealing from his former boss and continuing to lie even after pleading guilty to perjury in 2018.
13% : Merchan was skeptical, later asking Blanche: "You said his lies are 'irrefutable,' but you think he's going to fool 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie?"Costello had a bumpy rideArguing against prosecutors' efforts to block Costello from testifying, Trump's attorneys said that Costello would rebut prosecutors' suggestion that Trump put on a "pressure campaign" to intimidate Cohen to keep quiet in 2018.

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