Trump trial live: Closing arguments set to begin in former president’s hush money case

Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial enters its final stages on Tuesday as the prosecution and defense prepare to deliver their closing arguments in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom.

The Republican presidential candidate stands accused by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg of falsifying business records in order to conceal a $130,000 payment made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in October 2016 in order to ensure her silence about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with the politician a decade earlier.

Mr Trump denies both the extramarital affair and the 34 charges he faces and has repeatedly insisted that the case is a “scam” brought against him by his political enemies in order to keep him cooped up in court and off from the campaign trail.

After five weeks of often explosive testimony, the prosecution hopes to convince the jury of 12 Manhattanites that the misdemeanour offenses with which the defendant has been charged should be elevated to felonies because they were carried out in order to subvert a presidential election, an accusation the defense denies.

The jury could begin its deliberations as soon as Wednesday.

Alex Woodward is covering the trial for The Independent live from court.

The defendant was sounding distinctly rattled on his social media platform last night as he raged against Judge Merchan and Bragg, complaining about witnesses that did not appear and the order in which the prosecution and defense get to present their closing arguments in among the usual baseless gripes that the justice is “Highly Conflicted” and the DA “Soros backed”.

He fears being labelled “a common criminal” should he be convicted, it appears.

Trump also belatedly got Biblical on Memorial Day, this after a less