NEW YORK — The uncomfortable details Stormy Daniels divulged about a years-old tryst with Donald Trump were precisely what the former president sought to hide from the electorate in 2016, a prosecutor charged in closing arguments Tuesday.
“Why did they work so hard to try to discredit her?” Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked.
Beginning his summation after jurors heard from Trump’s side, the prosecutor asked them to consider why Trump’s attorneys tried so hard to undermine the adult film actor’s claims of an extramarital tryst, unrelated to his guilt or innocence in the falsifying business records case.
“What I’m saying is her story was messy,” Steinglass said. “But that’s kind of the point — that’s the display the defendant didn’t want the American voter to see. In the simplest terms, Stormy Daniels (was) the motive.”
To prove Trump’s guilt, prosecutors had to prove there were false business records, that they intended to cover up a conspiracy to promote or prevent the election of a candidate to public office, and that Trump was involved and had an intent to defraud, Steinglass said.
The prosecutor said they’d hit all three, presenting “powerful evidence” of Trump’s guilt.
Asking the panel to ignore the sideshows sold by the defense,