Cohen is "a tour guide" through Trump's hush money case, prosecutor says

The defense finished delivering their closing arguments on Tuesday, making their final pitch to jurors that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen should not be trusted, while the prosecution called efforts to make the case about Cohen "a deflection."

Why it matters: Lawyers for the former president hammered Cohen, arguing that jurors cannot convict the former president based on his "lies," as the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president inches closer to its conclusion.

The prosecution, meanwhile, is seeking to re-center the focus of case to Trump, telling jurors that Cohen is "like a tour guide through the physical evidence, but those documents don't lie and they don't forget."

Ultimately, how believable the jurors find Cohen's testimony could determine whether Trump is convicted.

The arguments cap off five weeks of testimony, with Trump facing charges of falsifying business records to obscure an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

In their final pitch to jurors, the defense tried to undercut Cohen's testimony to sow doubt about his credibility. Trump's team maintained its claim that the former president never committed a crime and argued that the reimbursements for Cohen were for legal work.