'Cheap gimmick': Legal expert pans hush money prosecutor's closing argument theatrics

Manhattan prosecutor Joshua Steinglass' attempt to reenact a phone call submitted into evidence during former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial got two thumbs down from one legal expert.

CNN's Elie Honig panned Steinglass' theatrics during closing arguments given to the jury argument, saying he needn't have relied on parlor tricks to prop up testimony from Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen.

"The bit with the phone is a good piece of stagecraft," Honig said. "But it's also a cheap gimmick that's not the point of what Michael Cohen got caught in there."

Steinglass was propping Cohen's account of a call made to Trump which Honig argued needed no further garnishing.

"It was a very clean story: 'I just called Donald Trump,"' Honig said.

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Cohen claimed in his testimony this was the moment that he confirmed payments to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who says she had an affair with the former president in 2006.

Trump pleaded not guilty to charges and denied the affair.

During cross-examination, Trump's attorney Todd Blanche tried to challenge Cohen's account of the call by adding another element: he had been seeking help from Trump's then-bodyguard Keith Schiller to intervene about a 14-year-old crank calling prankster.

Steinglass was trying to show the jury that Cohen could have discussed the annoying teen and the hush money payments during a 96-second phone call, the panelists explained.

“It was actually a really strong moment," CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins said. "What he was trying to do was restore Michael Cohen's credibility."

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