Defense rests without Trump testifying; focus turns to jury instructions

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

47% : Cohen says he was reimbursed by Trump the following year in payments disguised as a legal retainer.
40% : In this historic trial, the judge's charge will be more important than most, because of the legal framework that prosecutors built toward indicting Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
39% : Costello was less confrontational toward the judge on Tuesday, but quickly got testy when a prosecutor suggested he was operating on behalf of Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump when he gave Cohen legal advice in 2018.
29% : The key witness against Trump, his former lawyer Michael Cohen, has said he paid $130,000 to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to prevent her from going public with her claim of a night of sex with Trump years earlier.
26% : They did not call Trump to testify in his own defense, a highly risky legal option that never seemed likely but that Trump teased as a possibility in many of his public diatribes about the trial.
22% : When that happens, ornate legal framework will describe the legal parameters for the jury to consider whether prosecutors have met their burden of proof to find Trump guilty.
22% : "When she asked a follow-up question, Costello replied sarcastically, "Now, you do want me to explain it?"The defense had called Costello as part of their broader effort to paint Cohen, the most critical witness against Trump, as an untrustworthy liar.

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