Grading the participants in Donald Trump's hush-money trial

For over a month, the nation and the world have been keeping a close eye on Donald Trump's hush-money trial, and in that time there have certainly been highs, lows, and everything in between. Now, as the trial reaches its conclusion with the jury set to begin deliberations next week, it is the perfect opportunity to evaluate the key participants — and to hand out grades as they head into closing arguments.

So, without further ado, here is their interim report card.

Judge Merchan: C+

Acting Justice of the New York State Supreme Court Juan Merchan was wise during the jury selection to allow potential jurors to articulate for themselves whether or not they could be fair. This greatly reduced the time it took for the parties to seat a jury, as there was no time wasted in follow-up questions challenging the fairness assertion.

The Judge, however, faltered in his Sandoval rulings by deciding that, if Trump testified, then the recent civil verdicts against Trump would be fair game on cross-examination. Should Trump be convicted, the Judge, through this ruling, has given the Trump Team a strong appeal issue, especially given Trump's decision not to testify despite indicating, outside of court, that he would like to.

But, overall, the judge kept the case moving, and this raised his grade from a solid C to a C+.

Prosecution Team: B

It appears that the prosecutors made the wise decision to put off the testimony of Michael Cohen as long as possible. This allowed them to shore up Cohen's testimony on the front end, through the testimony of other witnesses. Although it was a tough task, they missed two significant opportunities to address problems on direct examination with Cohen.

First, there was no mention on direct examination of the text from Cohen to Trump's bodyguard in which Cohen expressed concerns about being harassed yet said nothing about hush money. Second, the prosecution missed an opportunity to clearly explain to the jury on direct examination of Cohen that he charged the Trump organization $50,000 for a vendor, when Cohen had actually only paid the vendor $20,000. These omissions by the prosecution allowed the defense team to spring these "gotcha" moments on Cohen, without any preemption by the prosecutors. These mistakes regarding their star witness dropped the prosecution grade from an A- to a B.

Defense Team: B

The defense team had a great cross-examination of Michael Cohen, and this will give them a leg up on getting an acquittal. They can argue effectively that Trump cannot be convicted unless you believe Cohen, and nothing that Cohen said was truthful.

However, the Trump Team didn't do so well with Stormy Daniels — it was an unforced error to allow her to go on and on about her alleged affair with Trump. And the decision to put Robert Costello on the stand may also have been a mistake, as he was too chippy with the Judge and failed to deliver a solid explanation for his prior emails.

Unlike the prosecution team, the Trump legal team pulled its grade up from the low C/high D range to a B — all thanks to the cross-examination of Cohen.

The Jury: A

So far, no juror has been dropped from the case. By all accounts they are attentive and locked into everything that is happening in the trial. I predict that they will remain a cohesive unit and will reach a verdict. At the outset of the trial, many predicted jurors would drop off the case because of the pressure. The opposite has proven to be true, and the jurors have risen to the challenge. Thus, they have earned a solid A.

Sketch Artists: B+

We all would have benefited from seeing the testimony in this case live, as it happened. Unfortunately, though, cameras were not permitted in the courtroom because New York law limits the use of cameras in legal proceedings. As a result of this ban, courtroom sketch artists have distilled what is going on into colorful portraits, depicting both the players and the mood in the room at key stages in the trial. It won't take much to push their B+ grade into the A range, and I think they will get it. It's just a shade off right now.

The hush-money participants have now received their grades as they are heading into their final exam. It's no secret that closing arguments, jury instructions, and the verdict present each participant opportunities to raise or lower their grade. But they should know I am a tough grader.

John P. Fishwick, Jr. is the founder and owner of Fishwick & Associates PLC, a trial law firm in Roanoke, Virginia. John previously served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.