Opinion: Donald Trump’s Defense Case Just Helped the Prosecution
Donald Trump’s defense team rested their case on Tuesday after putting on what The New York Times described as a “minimal defense.”
The Times likely did not intend any disparagement of Trump’s defense with its wording. The article describes how Trump’s team had put on only two witnesses compared to the prosecution’s twenty–hardly an uncommon ratio given that the prosecution bears the burden of proving all aspects of the case while the defense need not put on any evidence at all. The truth is Trump’s defense wasn’t minimal. It was terrible.
After the prosecution laid out its case, Trump’s lawyers could have just relied on what they had done in cross-examination and woven that into their closing argument. Instead, they chose to put on two witnesses: a paralegal at Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche’s firm and Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor who has represented many notable clients, including Rudy Giuliani and former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and who at one point advised Michael Cohen.