What to watch for in Trump trial’s closing arguments, from a law school professor who teaches and studies them

After more than four weeks of often sordid testimony, accusations of lying and even a warning from Judge Juan M. Merchan to a witness to stop giving him the side-eye, lawyers in the hush-money case involving former President Donald Trump are expected to make their closing arguments on May 28, 2024. In a jury trial, opening statements are meant to provide jurors a narrative framework to organize all the bits and pieces of evidence and testimony. Closing arguments are not meant to simply regurgitate the testimonies of all 22 witnesses or review the roughly 200 exhibits. For both prosecutors and defense attorneys, the closing arguments serve to tell the jury why the evidence is believable or not, why and how the facts are linked or not and, most importantly, why their decision to either acquit or convict is moral and just. As a I teach law school students and practitioners, that moral message in closing arguments should link back to themes already woven into the trial. In this criminal case, one of four filed against Trump, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn actress...