Jonah Bromwich
May 28, 2024, 3:05 p.m. ET

Jonah Bromwich Reporting from inside the courthouse

Todd Blanche, this morning, told a narrow story, which he began by distancing his client from documents prosecutors say were falsified and ended by attacking Michael Cohen over and over again. Joshua Steinglass, by contrast, is telling a sweeping story about a fraud on the American people, and using some of the lofty language that you would associate with such an argument. He argues that the American people in 2016 had the right to determine whether they cared that Trump had slept with a porn star or not, and that the conspiracy prevented them from doing so.

This argument, and this is the entirety of the prosecution's case, is fatally flawed. 1) catch and kill was not and is not illegal 2) Trump, the Enquirer and the women had a right to enter into these agreements 3) The American people have to "right" to that knowledge. 4) Those agreements and the hush money were not a criminal conspiracy 4) It was a legal conspiracy to influence the election. As Blanche said in his opening statement, "Spoiler alert: you're allowed to influence an election."