The defense made a motion for the dismissal of the case, with defense attorney Todd Blanche telling Judge Merchan, "There's absolutely no evidence the filings were false, the business records were false."
When the invoices for Cohen's payment were sent to the Trump Organization there's no evidence they were entered improperly, Blanche said. "At the start, there is absolutely no false business filings. They're accurate business filings," he said.
Trump looked directly at Blanche as the attorney addressed Merchan.
"There's no evidence that there's any intent to defraud by Mr. Trump in connection to these filings," Blanche argued.
"There are no other crimes," defense attorney Todd Blanche argued about the legal standard in the case -- that Trump falsified business records in furtherance of another crime. "There is no evidence that any one was thinking about a campaign finance charge in 2016 when this payment was made to Ms. Daniels."
"The prosecutors have talked in their opening statement and in papers about some sort of conspiracy to influence the election but as the court knows there has to be something illegal about this effort," Blanche said. "There's no evidence from any of the witnesses who testified of any criminal intent."
"There is no way that the court should let this case go to jury relying on Mr. Cohen's testimony," Blanche said "Without Mr. Cohen, there is no case."
Judge Merchan asked if Blanche was calling for him to rule that Cohen's testimony is "not credible as a matter of law."
"Absolutely, that's exactly what we're calling on the court to do," Blanche replied. "He testified, and he lied under oath -- in this courtroom."
Responding to the defense's motion to dismiss the case, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo Colangelo argued that Trump, at a minimum, can be found responsible for the actions of his accomplices if he set the action into motion.
"At minimum a rational jury can conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that they all contained false information," Colangelo said of the business records that recorded Michael Cohen's hush money repayment as legal expenses.
Trump, at the defense table, jotted down notes as Colangelo spoke.
"The trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element of the offense," Colangelo argued.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche pushed the theory that Trump has argued since the first days of the trial: How else would Trump describe a payment to his lawyer other than a legal expense?
"It's hard to imagine what book -- how was this supposed to be booked by Ms. Tarasoff," Blanche asked about Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff.
Judge Merchan said he will reserve his decision on the motion.
Court was then concluded for the day.
