In a baffling closing argument, Trump attorney Todd Blanche used DA’s evidence against his own client

Prosecutors say Trump falsified 34 business records to hide a year’s worth of reimbursement payments to his then-attorney, Michael Cohen, who had fronted a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump was not involved with any such conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, Blanche told jurors in great detail on Tuesday, during a three-hour summation.

But if he was, there was no requisite intent, Blanche argued. How could there be, he asked, when Trump freely admitted to reimbursing Cohen?

Blanche then showed the jury three exhibits from the prosecution’s own case.

Each exhibit — showing a tax form, a tweet, and a government ethics form — was shown on the courtroom’s display screens.

Each bolsters the prosecution’s case: that Trump knew full well that the $130,000 he paid Cohen in installments throughout 2017 was for reimbursement, not legal fees as his business- record entries falsely claimed.

“The government has to prove to you that President Trump caused these entries — even if they were false — with an intent to defraud,” Blanche told jurors.

“Where is the intent to defraud on the part of President Trump?” the lawyer asked the jury.

Prosecutors must demonstrate Trump had an intent to defraud in order to prove first-degree falsifying business records, the state charge that Trump allegedly violated 34 times throughout 2017, including when he personally signed nine of Cohen’s reimbursement checks.

Here are the three exhibits that Blanche displayed in court for jurors as “proof” that Trump had nothing to hide.

1. A 1099 tax form from 2017

The Trump Organization — and Trump as an individual — reported that they’d paid Michael Cohen a total of $420,000 in 2017.

Prosecutors say this is the sum Trump’s then CFO, Allen Weisselberg, calculated for what Cohen would be paid as reimbursement for his hush-money outlay, plus taxes and other money Trump owed him.

1. Why would Trump announce these payments to the IRS “if there was some deep-rooted intent to defraud on the part of President Trump?” Blanche asked jurors.

2. A 2018 tweet

On May 3, 2018, Trump posted a somewhat garbled tweet that concedes the payments he’d made to Cohen throughout 2017 were, in his word, “reimbursement.”

This tweet was made just five months after signing the last of nine $35,000 checks to Cohen. Each check was labeled “RETAINER.”

3. A government ethics form

Also during closing arguments, Blanche showed jurors what’s called an “Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report” for the year 2017. This was the then-president’s mandatory disclosure of his assets and liabilities .

3. Under “Liablities” — which is the section where Trump must list the money he’s borrowed — Trump certified that in 2017, he “fully reimbursed” Cohen an interest-free sum of between $100,000 and $250,000.

“President Trump tweeted what happened when it came out,” and then signed a government ethics form that also admitted to the reimbursement, Blanche told jurors Tuesday.

“That’s not evidence of any intent to defraud,” Blanche said.

The defense lawyer spent most of his summation impugning the credibility of Cohen, whose testimony is key to the prosecution case.

Cohen is “literally like an MVP of liars,” Blanche told jurors. Two jurors — a woman in the front row and a man in the back row, smiled when Blanche went on to call Cohen “The ‘Gloat'” — for Greatest Liar of All Time.”

Deliberations are expected to begin on Wednesday.