This is it!
The trial to decide whether or not Donald Trump employed unlawful means to help him win the 2016 presidential election resumes today, commencing with the final summation by the prosecution. I applaud Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to give the jury five days off. They will be at their best, unwound from a process that can be tedious and confusing, ready to hear words of inescapable logic with fresh ears. They are, as the saying goes, tanned, rested and ready.
There can be but five final outcomes. First, the jury can find the defendant guilty on all counts. Second, they can find the defendant guilty on some counts and not guilty on the rest. Third, their deliberations can end in no unanimous decision, that is, a “hung jury.” Fourth, they can acquit Trump on all counts. And fifth, in the words of the news outlet Politico, “Merchan could take the decision out of the jury’s hands by issuing a ‘directed verdict’ for acquittal — in essence, a determination by the judge that no reasonable jury could find that the prosecution has proved its case.” This last will never happen, of course, but I must list it, because it is an option.
My ordering from first to fifth is no accident. I have listed the possible outcomes in what I believe to be from most likely to least likely. The overwhelming likelihood, in my view, is number one, the jury will find the defendant guilty on all counts.
I believe this for two simple reasons. First, because I have faith in the jury system. My faith derives from extensive readings of the works of Vincent Bugliosi, in my view one of the greatest prosecutors who ever lived. Bugliosi says that no system is perfect and the jury system is no exception. But he believes that the vast majority of jurors want to do the right thing. They take their obligation seriously and want to deliver a verdict that is commensurate with justice. In the course of their deliberations they ultimately become one mind.
Second, I believe the jury will find Trump guilty on all counts because the prosecution has a secret weapon. That secret weapon is the undeniable, incontrovertible truth. The documentary and witnesses evidence in favour of guilt is overwhelming and inescapable. No reasonable person would conclude otherwise.
Moreover, to go against the majority opinion will place an incredible burden on any juror who holds out for a not guilty verdict. The glaring light of history will shine on that juror for the rest of his or her life. In the light of the current political climate that could be an awful reality, and it is the rare individual who would welcome the jaundiced stare of such monstrous publicity. I have no doubt that the majority of the jury will find in favour of guilt, and any juror reluctant to agree would carry that burden forever.
But why guilty on all counts? Even though this is a prosecution on 34 counts, they are all really of a single piece. To find Trump guilty on one count is to find him guilty on all. Each count technically pertains to the method Trump used to unlawfully disguise the means and documentation used to cover up Trump’s repayment to Michael Cohen for the bribery of Stormy Daniels. Those details have been documented in each and every instance.
Above all, as already stated, the prosecution has a secret weapon, the unassailable truth. What’s more, the defence has already displayed uncommon incompetence throughout the course of the trial. The only option they have left themselves is to show their brazen contempt for the intelligence of the jury by using silly conspiracy theories that a child could see through. They can’t fall back on the barely plausible defence that Trump hid the truth because he didn’t want to hurt his wife, since Trump has insisted on a defence that denies that he knew Stormy Daniels at all.
So get ready for a tour de force of prosecutorial brilliance. Donald Trump is guilty as charged, and a fascinated world is about to see truth triumph in the greatest system of justice on earth. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.