97% of burning uv rays. it's light, but it's working hard like me, neutrogena ultras yourself on screen. >> i'm zachary cohen and washington. and this is cnn hello and welcome to cnn special coverage of the closing arguments in former president donald trump's criminal hush money trial. >> i'm wolf blitzer in washington alongside abby phillip, who's outside the courthouse in new york a very consequential de, as we enter the home stretch of this truly historic trial korda's out now for lunch following a morning of blistering closing arguments by trump's defense team on surprisingly, trump attorney todd blanche made the case that payments made to michel cone the heart of the prosecution's charges were not illegal abbe over to you that's right. >> well, a blanche ripped into potential pivotal testimony delivered by trump's former fixer and personal attorney repeatedly calling michael cohen a liar, whose words should not be trusted, and the claims that the alleged tryst between trump and adult film actress stormy daniels he implied that it never even happened. and one point, blanche told jurors you cannot convict president trump of any crime beyond a reasonable holdout on the words of michael cohen. so now that the defense has finished with its summation, the prosecution, they'll have their final word before jurors begin their deliberative patients were expecting that to begin in about an hour. so while we wait, let's bring in chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid and with us also as cnn national correspondent, kristen holmes ladies, i was just in the courtroom not that long ago listening to the vast majority of blanche's summations. and as a good defense attorney might do, the main thing that he was trying to accomplish was just the state of the jury. you don't have to overthink this. this is really easy. you've got a liar on the stand. all of this is hinging on his word. and that's it. i mean it struck me that there wasn't an attempt to create some kind of smoking gun. the main thing was just to tell the jury, don't overthink it. it's right in front of your eyes? michael cohen as a liar, it took them a long time to get there though. i mean, as we laid out in our reporting before court started today, we expect that he was going to argue that the documents here there allegedly falsified or not false because michael cohen was working as an attorney. that's what he hit right off the bat. then at the end, he did really start to hammer, specifically michael cohen's credibility, calling him the mvp of wires, right? >> the greatest liar of all time of the globe had a lot of good leinz. >> but in between there wow, he got really deep the weeds talked about a lot of things like karen mcdougal app or catch and kill. >> the impact of the national enquirer on the election. a lot of things that maybe he could have touched on to undercut the way this was charged as a felony, alleging it's conspiracy to help trump in 2016, but he did not have to spend a third of his time on a lot of these topics. so it was meandering, but eventually he got there focusing on really his thesis statement which is that you can't believe michael cohen. yeah. i mean, it was it didn't seem listening to it as an attempt to do death by 1,000 cuts by poking holes and all these different elements of it. part of the strategy of poking holes was also about this idea that there was even conspiracy to begin with he's sort of suggested, well, if there was a conspiracy between ami and donald trump and michael cohen while ami was a terrible partner in that conspiracy because they were willing to throw donald trump under the bus if that story about the love child turned out to be true so was that in your view something that was effective to suggest that maybe am i really wasn't well that in on it. >> i think part of what they're doing right now is trying to lay out back after fact, after fact about reasonable doubt and the reason being that i had talked to a number advisers who do say that there is some concern or they are playing a little bit to the fact there are these two lawyers that are present on the jury. they want this to if case to be made to them directly, essentially saying they want kristen, i think we're having some issues with your microphone, though. let me know when that gets resolved. but in the meantime apala just picking up on what she's saying here. there are two lawyers in that jury box. if you try to make this the sort of open and shut, this so simple, you just can't trust this guy. go with your gut, does not work with those two lawyers know it's unlikely to work with these lawyers because this is also a complicated case, right? and they're going to understand that a lot of the things that you can type. leyen said, either just strained credulity, the argument that these hush money payments were not made to help trump when 2016, you don't have to be a lawyer to wonder if that's true. so it's just a little confusing as to why they spent so much time on things like the doorman, like karen mcdougal is certain things that that came into evidence, why they spend so much time on that when the case is really going to be won or lost by putting distance between the defendant and the documents in question and under cutting michael cohen's credibility but this was really what we saw throughout the case, right? todd blanche would get there. >> he would land the occasional punch, but he's a long and winding path, particularly in the cohen, the on cross-examination, of stormy daniels cross-examination went on for so long when she is really well, she's a character at the heart of the story. >> she is not really a material witness that is going to can make or break this case for frost. i do. >> one thing about the todd blanche thing though, because this is something that donald trump actually really liked. we know that donald trump has a number of very contentious relationships with lawyers but he was raving about todd blanche over the weekend saying that him catching michael cohen and the library particularly about stealing the money from trump organization was a pivotal moment in the cave. he is ending this case despite the bob costello testimony and the back forth and there are two camps there some believe that it could affect them. others say it's not going to be a big deal, but he was actually ending this case. any very good place with todd blanche to whatever the stylus is working with their client, which obviously we know is a huge part of being reasonable people can agree or disagree about how this is going for the defense. and specifically toddler but i think you're right, paula, there is a lack of narrative that unfolds when you listen to it, especially when you're in that courthouse, you can hear he's hitting a bunch of different points, but i'm not sure he's making a through line that's easy for the jury to follow. >> ladies, hold that thought for just a moment. >> i want to go to kara scannell. she just got out of the courthouses. they're taking their lunch break here kara the qarrah. what is new what was your impression of how this defense summation went down? the jury where they following where he was going with all of this i mean, i did see a number of the jurors their eyes pretty locked on todd blanche adjourned. >> thank his summation. i mean, sums had one person. it kind of had a half a smile on their face another person's lips were purse for most of the closing arguments other jurors, their eyes were wondering during a bit, some looking down at the monitors on their screen where blanche put up some of the testimony to excerpts that he was citing to the jury as well as from the emails and the phone logs that who is using in his demonstration. so the juror is seem pretty attentive. it's very hard to read their faces, but they were paying close attention to what blanche was saying. throughout this multi our closing argument in donald trump was two at one point, he had turned his chair so that he was facing blanche and the jury as blanche was addressing them, blanche is at the podium. in which was slightly turned as well. so it appears that trump had a clear view of the jury as he was watching both his lawyer and the jury as they were hearing. blanche has arguments what of this was focused on michael cohen that he has blanche put it was the mvp aligher's, the gloat of liars, the greatest liar of all time, just really trying to underscore or why the jury could not convict donald trump based on michael cohen's words alone and focusing the jury to other parts of the evidence that he is hoping that thank you. in his favor, such as david pecker being part of this alleged conspiracy, but saying that david pecker wanted nothing to do with the stormy daniels story, david pecker testified to that. and so saying, how could this be a conspiracy if one of the catch-and-kill deals that's at the center of it with something that david pecker wanted nothing to do with. so trying to raise questions in the minds of the jury, focusing in on them saying that michael cohen is the human embodiment of reasonable doubt, and that is why they should not convict based on his time. testimony, his words arguing that cohen lies about things big and small. he lives his family. he lies mostly for his own benefit. so a lot for the jury to digest over for this quick lunch break and then the prosecutors will have their turn to do their closing arguments. we are now expected to go later than the usual four 30 close today. exactly how it really depends on how long the prosecuting gutter goes, but the jury gave the thumbs up that they would be willing to stay to hear this through the end today the prosecutor said he thought his closing could go four hours, but he also said he would react to what todd blanche said during his closing arguments. so we expect this will continue much later than court usually ends today. so the jury can hear arguments from both sides before they head home for the night and before the judge instructs them tomorrow, abbe all right kara scannell. >> thank you very much, paul and christian, you guys will stay with me. wealth over to you panel of experts to assess what's going on on this important de and elie honig, your senior legal analyst, what's your major takeaway so far from what we've heard today the defense closing started solid when he was talking about the documents that saying i can't tie them back to donald trump, i could get ended straw when he was attacking michael cohen. >> and i think the middle was just a bunch of mush they should have skipped. i think it was almost de dispense so much time so deep in the weeds of karen mcdougal and doorman since 40 games get the back of the head, i think the way what i think todd blanche hopes that uri takes away from this is this. you cannot make this case about when i'm on level cohen and you can not trust that michael cohen got there. what he could have done it more powerfully, more succinctly. >> how are your williams is with us to a trump attorney, todd blanche, as you know, he seemed to be making some contradictory statements in the course of his arguments today. what do you make of that? >> once again, it's time for our daily reminder of the fact that we are at a great disadvantage by not having cameras in the courtroom because this is exactly the kinds of thing that jurors are assessing in real time. do they, number one, how are the house the jury reacting to this individual, the argument, but number two, what does this person look like as they're arguing, is he putting people to and so on. very important point that the state of new york puts the rest of america at a huge, disadvantage. and now a few things and picking up on some of the points that eliot made there's a lot time that todd blanche spent today on things that they ought to have let go the affair, whether it happened spending any breath, denying whether it happened did not benefit their case. and any way. now, he made the argument that the prosecution nearly brought in my testimony, certainly daniel's so as two and ashes of maturity but don't go down that road. it's not a relevant fact i'm quite frankly, most people probably believed that it happened, so it's almost insulting to the jury in many ways, it was an odd argument to make. and the other thing that i'm struck by is there are a number of places where he used absolutes using arguments and i tried to stay away from this whenever i was arguing a case, there is not a shred of evidence that establishes blank well, there is a shred of evidence that establishes virtually everything in the case. now, the jury doesn't necessarily have have to believe it, but you lose credibility as a practitioner when you start saying absolutely yes or absolutely no, anything, i write it. everything comes down to whether the jury trust what they heard, but that doesn't mean that they heard the evidence. if they didn't hear the evidence and they dead. it was there. it was presented by the prosecutor's. >> we heard todd blanche, the trump attorney, david chilean, talk about this idea of catch-and-kill. the catch and kill date. let me quote from what he said. you have decades, decades, decades of ami that's the company that owns the national enquirer doing exactly the same thing with respect to the stories, working with celebrities and politicians to promote campaigns. there are zero criminal intent in that 2015 meeting. what did you make that argument? >> well, i think this is part of the mush that elie was referring to section of a legal term summation. >> yeah, exactly because at the end of the day it's not really clear that the catch-and-kill scheme is part of the 34 counts here of the paperwork. >> and therefore, the additional crime campaign finance violation, if that's what jurors end up assessing here. i wouldn't say though that as we saw during the testimony, not just in the summation, this whole notion that the defense team has been focused on it i'm making this stormy daniel scenarios just one of a normal order of business for a place like the enquirer. >> this this happens with celebrities, this happens with every they brought up arnold schwarzenegger they all of this was to try to convince the jury that there's nothing really to see here about the salacious stuff, the hush money the catch and kill the porn star that that is not part of what is going on here. so you see even in the summation, blanche, just trying to dismiss that as run-of-the-mill standard practice for a company like what i appreciate about what you're saying is it also plays into what we often hear from trump's supporters, which is that they may understand or may believe that he may be the unethical in some respects or certain behaviors they don't agree with, but there's a sense that everybody does it in politics. everybody does this, everybody does that and he's just getting picked on because it's a witch-hunt in that way, it actually plays into something that's sort of like commonly held and discussed when people have talked about this case, in particular, that while it's unsavory is it illegal? and i realize there's a lot of evidence to be talked about in here, but as an overall theme, i actually don't find it all that while to say, or everybody standby, there's a lot more you need to assess this. a dramatic, very important day up next we'll ask a retired judge for their opinion on the closing arguments, at least so far, what those presentations could mean for the case against donald trump, lots going on, stay with us in one of the most active 22 seasons. you can't control what kinds of interventions can we design? go inside the store. >> premiere of violent birth within bm schreiber sunday at nine on cnn did you know you could save with goodrx even if you have insurance amount of medicare, i check good rx because it can be my copay who don't like that even if you have insurance we've got our x cannot be saved another good reason to check, good rx. >> i'm nfl hall of famer dan marino, you know, i used to be afraid of things like the defensive leinz, losing games. but what's insane is that years later by biggest fear became trying to fall asleep. but the insanity stop ryan learned about relaxing them sleep i started sleeping again. the first night while i might not be worried about winning games anymore, i still want to perform at the top of my game. relax him sleep completely changed how i live my life, and it will change yours to join the hundreds of thousands of people who've experienced the relief and health benefits from getting a great night's sleep and get relaxation sleep. i've been using relaxing them for about ten years now. >> i love the product when i take relaxin, i fall asleep much faster and then always wake up much fresher. >> i love getting a great night sleep with relaxing during the day. i enjoy more energy, better mood, sharper focus, and i accomplish so much more with the benefits of a great night sleep. i am set to live a long, happy and healthy life. relax him is safe, not habit forming, and it's not a prescription drug. the best part is it worked for me from the very first night and it can do the same for you, relaxing them. sleep has studied, tested, and design by a neurologist to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed, relax him sleep worked from the very first night i took i had more focus and mental clarity then i've had a year join me and hundreds of thousands of other americans in call relaxing them right now then marino is so confident that will axiom will work for you. >> he's asked us to give away 1,000 bottles. >> if you're not getting calm enough to go to sleep, take relaxing them, sleep. our farmers shoe, it'll work, get your risk-free bundle of real axiom sleep. now, it's guaranteed to work are your money back. visit trial axiom.com or call 800 get rid 421, 8716. that's try relax em.com or call 804 218716 its terms de but neutrogena ultra hsi or sunscreen is still on the clock. >> vital sun protection goes six layers deep, blocking 97% of burning uv rays. it's light, but it's working hard but like me, neutrogena ultras year sunscreen. >> i'm jonathan larson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if your h 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget remember the three ps what are the three p's? 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