Federal Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order against Donald Trump in the classified documents case, saying that prosecutors’ request was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy,” CNN reports.

“As former President Donald Trump’s first — and, perhaps, only — criminal trial crawls to a conclusion, conventional wisdom holds that even if he’s convicted, he’s unlikely to do prison time. After all, the charges he faces are among New York’s mildest felonies, and if found guilty he would be a first-time offender,” Politico reports.

“Don’t be so sure, according to former prosecutors from the office now charging him.”

“The case, in which Trump is accused of falsifying business documents to conceal a payoff to a porn star, is unlike any other. So it’s hard to predict how Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, would handle any sentencing.”

Donald Trump’s “hush money” criminal trial is coming to an end with prosecutors and defense lawyers set to deliver closing arguments to the jury.

Court is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Attending the trial today, per the Associated Press: Don Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, daughter Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos.

Donald Trump’s social media post attacking E. Jean Carroll over the weekend caught the attention of her lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who indicated that her team is considering more legal action against the former president, the New York Times reports.

Said Kaplan: “We have said several times since the last jury verdict in January that all options were on the table. And that remains true today—all options are on the table.”

“Before indicting Donald Trump last year for allegedly mishandling classified documents, federal prosecutors had to decide where to bring the charges: Washington, DC, or Florida,” CNN reports.

“Ultimately, they charged the former president in Florida, a decision that has proven to be a fateful one — underscored by the vastly different approaches taken by DC judges as compared to the federal judge now presiding over the criminal case in Florida.”

“Those approaches became apparent in the past week as opinions were unsealed from two DC federal judges indicating how much more quickly and harshly for Trump the case might have played out had it remained in Washington.”

“WHY IS THE CORRUPT GOVERNMENT ALLOWED TO MAKE THE FINAL ARGUMENT IN THE CASE AGAINST ME? WHY CAN’T THE DEFENSE GO LAST? BIG ADVANTAGE, VERY UNFAIR. WITCH HUNT!”

— Donald Trump, on Truth Social, as his “hush money” criminal trial heads to closing arguments.

CBS News: “What exactly would happen if the jury finds Trump guilty is difficult to predict. Trump is being tried in New York state court, where judges have broad authority to determine when sentences are handed down after convictions and what exactly they will be… That differs from federal court, where there’s typically a waiting period between a conviction and sentencing.”

Playbook: “In recent days, Trump appears to have twice violated the gag by publicly assailing prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. And on Monday evening, he again arguably violated it by posting on Truth Social about a witness in the case. Early in the trial, prosecutors had diligently notified Merchan about every potential violation. Now, it seems they just want to get the case to a verdict.”

“But as Ben Feuerherd reported over the weekend, if Trump is convicted, his continued defiance of the gag could be a reason for the judge to enhance his sentence.”

“Donald Trump’s attorneys asked a federal judge Monday to reject special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order in the classified documents case and to find the federal prosecutors who wrote the request in contempt,” CNN reports.

“Smith’s office has requested that the Florida judge overseeing the classified documents case, Aileen Cannon, place a gag order on the former president that would limit his ability to publicly talk about law enforcement that searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022.”

“Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, has repeatedly and misleadingly criticized the FBI for having a policy in place around the use of deadly force during the search – as the bureau does with every warrant it executes.”

“The New York jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial is returning to court after a week-long hiatus for closing arguments that will set the stage for historic deliberations,” Bloomberg reports.

“Prosecutors and defense lawyers on Tuesday will give dueling takes on the evidence and testimony presented over nearly five weeks. The jurors, who are expected to get the case as soon as Wednesday, could reach a verdict in a matter of days.”

ABC News: Ahead of summations in Trump trial, here’s a brief look at what every witness said on the stand.

Donald Trump on Truth Social:

Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for DEFAMATION. She didn’t know when the so-called event took place – sometime in the 1990’s – never filed a police report, didn’t have to produce the “dress” that she threatened me with (it showed negative!), & sung my praises in the first half of her CNN Interview with Alison Cooper, but changed her tune in the second half – Gee, I wonder why (UNDER APPEAL!)? The Rape charge was dropped by a jury! Or Arthur Engoron, the N.Y. State Wacko Judge who fined me almost 500 Million Dollars (UNDER APPEAL) for DOING NOTHING WRONG, used a Statute that has never been used before, gave me NO JURY, Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 – Now for Merchan!

Just 36 hours before closing arguments in his “hush money” criminal trial, Donald Trump tested his gag order by suggesting that the jury is being tampered with.

New York Times: “Prosecutors never called Mr. Weisselberg to testify, because, although he knows the truth, he has not always told it. He is serving time in the Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to perjury in an unrelated civil case involving Mr. Trump, the man he served for nearly half a century.”

“The defense did not call Mr. Weisselberg either, nor did Mr. Trump take the stand in his own defense. And for weeks, Mr. Weisselberg’s absence has loomed large over Mr. Trump’s case, the first criminal trial of an American president.”

“So far, Donald Trump has faced only fines for repeatedly violating a gag order in his hush money case,” Politico reports.

“The consequences might not end there. If he’s convicted, Trump’s defiance of the judge’s order — including two recent comments posing a new test of its boundaries — could make things worse for the former president at sentencing.”

“For a while after the jail threat on May 6, Trump was better behaved in his public commentary. But as the trial nears its end — with closing arguments scheduled for Tuesday — he has resumed making comments that seem to dare the judge into taking further action.”

New York Times: “It is the silver lining for Mr. Trump, as he spends his first sustained period of time in Manhattan since he moved to Washington in 2017. He passes the days in a dingy courtroom downtown, where he faces 34 felonies, listening to people from his old life describe him as a depraved liar who sullied the White House. At the end of it all, he could be sent to prison.”

“But in the evenings, people who have spoken to him say, he has been enjoying being back in the penthouse apartment that he moved into four decades ago. He still considers it home — and a permanent reminder of the easiest period of his life.”

“That period was the greed-is-good era in which Mr. Trump sold himself nationally as a titan of industry, despite a relatively small, and local, real estate portfolio.”

“Special counsel’s office prosecutors have asked a federal judge in Florida to place a gag order on Donald Trump that would limit his ability to comment about law enforcement that searched his Mar-a-Lago resort,” CNN reports.

“The request – a first in the classified documents mishandling case – comes after the former president has been repeatedly and falsely criticizing the FBI for having a policy in place around the use of deadly force during the search and seizure of government records at his resort in August 2022.”

“Peter Navarro, a former top White House adviser to Donald Trump, isn’t interested in a pardon should ‘the boss’ return to power,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Navarro: “I will not give the Supreme Court any excuse to duck what is otherwise a landmark constitutional case regarding the separation of powers and executive privilege.”

“Perhaps no one has demonstrated loyalty to Trump like Navarro, the polarizing, wiry former White House China hawk and pandemic troubleshooter. And no one has quite paid the same price: Navarro is the first White House official in history to be imprisoned for contempt.”

“I was sort of like a hot guy. I was hot as a pistol. I think I was hotter than I am now and I became president. Okay. I don’t know. I said to somebody, was I hotter before or hotter now? I don’t know.”

— Donald Trump, at a campaign rally in the South Bronx.