Donald Trump's criminal trial could be wrapping up as soon as next week. The former President leaving court Thursday on a confident note as his defense attorneys cross-examined Trump's former fixer, Michael Cohen. Under questioning, Cohen appeared to contradict himself on the topic of a phone call with this former boss, potentially raising doubts over his testimony altogether. Former Trump attorney, Tim Parletori, is joining us now. He's also a CNN legal commentator. Tim, nice to see you. I'm curious what you think. Could the outcome of this trial hinge on Cohen and that phone call, or is that blowing it out of proportion?

No, I think it really does come down to that. When you look at the evidence in this case, they have a lot of corroboration for a lot of the story. But the problem is that all the things that they have corroboration for are not the actual elements of the crime. It's all the background, all the hush money, and catch and kill, things like that. The evidence that they need to actually tie Donald Trump personally to the false business records is Michael Cohen and him coming in to testify about conversations like this one. To the extent that you have text messages that you can then use to cross-examine them and show that phone calls he claimed were about this were actually about something else, that does undercut really the only connection that they can make between him and the false business record entries. I think it can certainly have a big impact, particularly, don't forget, there are two lawyers on this jury, and so I think that the two of them can have significant sway in cutting through all the noise and getting down to that element.

And the prosecutors are likely going to try and firm up Cohen's credibility next week before this all comes to a close. How do you foresee them going about that?

A lot of it is going to depend on what they can do as far as the actual facts of that phone call. They'll try and to go to them and say, Do you think that you actually talked about this as well? They'll try and make it where it packs both conversations into that 90 seconds. I think that they'll probably try to focus on all of the other things that they I would have corroboration for and try and shore up some of that part of it to see if they can make the jury believe that this phone call really was what he said it was.

And given the way- It's a difficult Yeah.

It's a difficult position for him, no doubt.

And given that we could hear closing arguments next week, if you're Trump's attorneys, what is that last message you want the jury walking away with? What do you want to emphasize?

Really, it is that credibility piece that they have not been able to corroborate his connection to the business records. And what I always try to think about on closing arguments is you have a complex case with a lot of different moving parts. To the extent that you can figure out, separate what is in dispute from what's not in dispute, and set all this stuff aside, and basically focus on the one key element that really the case rises and falls on, I think that If they keep laser-focused on that and use this phone call to really focus the jury, I think that that's where they're going to have the most success.

And the former President had complained he wasn't getting... He felt enough support in the courtroom. So this week, we did see several Republican members of Congress showing up and others, but the speaker of the House was there. There are obviously politics involved here, but what do you think their appearance in that courtroom? What impact, if any, do you think it has on the jury?

I always tell clients that when it comes to a criminal trial, there are only 12 opinions that matter, and yours is not one of them. And so what impact is that going to have on the people in the box? And I am concerned that by parading these figures in and out, that that would have a negative impact on the jury. I know that there was an incident where a couple of members of Congress came in, not during a break, and they were somewhat disruptive, and the judge was looking angrily down. That's the thing that jurors notice. So it's not something that I would be encouraging, but whether the jury actually takes something from that or if they just set it aside, jury's there funny things.

Yeah, they get to decide. That's the bottom line, right? A former Trump attorney, Tim Parletori. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Thank you.