The jury was instructed on the concept of accessorial liability, which states that President Trump did not have to commit the crimes himself to be held criminally liable.

Competing Narratives

During closing arguments on May 28, defense attorneys spent 2 1/2 hours trying to convince the jury that the government had failed to prove its case.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche reminded jurors that key elements of the case—President Trump’s knowledge and involvement and the method for the allegedly misclassified payments—hinged on ex-lawyer and witness Michael Cohen, who shared personal reasons for wanting to see his former boss punished.

“He lied to Congress. He lied to prosecutors. He lied to his family and business associates,” Mr. Blanche said of Mr. Cohen, calling him the “MVP of liars.” He asked jurors to question whether Mr. Cohen truly seemed the type to do work for President Trump for no pay in 2017 and 2018, after receiving a $525,000 salary during his decade at The Trump Organization.

Prosecutors spent five hours, twice the time the defense took, to recap their case and try to convince the jury that there was “overwhelming” evidence.

Prosecuting attorney Joshua Steinglass acknowledged their flawed witnesses, arguing that the government didn’t “choose” Mr. Cohen to be their key witness but that President Trump “chose” him to be his “fixer.” He claimed that Mr. Cohen was the only alleged co-conspirator to have paid for his role in a scheme to influence the election, and his animosity toward the former president was only to be expected.

“He made his bed. But you can hardly blame him for making money from the one thing he has left, which is his knowledge of the inner workings of The Trump Organization,” Mr. Steinglass argued.

Mr. Cohen testified that he paid $130,000 to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult performer Stormy Daniels, in a nondisclosure settlement agreement, to prevent the publication of a story that then-candidate Trump believed would hurt his campaign.

Ms. Clifford claimed that she had a story about a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006 and that media outlets were interested in this story after an Access Hollywood tape of Mr. Trump recorded via a hot mic was released. At trial, Ms. Clifford testified about this alleged sexual encounter, which President Trump has denied.

Mr. Cohen testified that he made this payment in 2016 with the understanding that his employer, then-candidate Trump, would reimburse him. The deal was closed less than a month before the election, and Mr. Cohen testified that he originally intended to delay payment until after the election, after which he claimed that his boss said it would not matter if the story was published and thus the $130,000 would no longer need to be paid.

On the witness stand, Mr. Cohen painted the picture of urgency in mid-October 2016, when representatives for Ms. Clifford pressed him for payment and said he only wanted to make his boss happy. He testified that, with then-candidate Trump’s approval, he made the payment.

Mr. Cohen also testified to being intensely angry later that year, when he discovered that his bonus had been cut by two-thirds from what he typically received.

It prompted discussions with former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, who purportedly drew up plans to reimburse Mr. Cohen $130,000 for the payment to Ms. Clifford and $50,000 for an earlier payment to Red Finch, which he said he still hadn’t been reimbursed for. The sum was then doubled to $360,000 to account for taxes, and Mr. Weisselberg added $60,000 to supplement Mr. Cohen’s bonus.

Prosecutors had claimed that Mr. Weisselberg’s “grossing up” the figures for tax purposes was evidence that he intended to “camouflage” reimbursement as income.

This $420,000 was then paid to Mr. Cohen via monthly checks throughout 2017. At trial, prosecutors sought to show that President Trump had caused false records to be entered when Mr. Weisselberg, acting as a co-conspirator, directed his comptroller Jeffrey McConney and bookkeeper Deb Tarasoff to process these payments.

President Trump was not directly charged with conspiracy, and prosecutors had no burden to prove either the goal or the state of mind behind any alleged conspiracy.

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