Defense lawyer's closing arguments: Government witnesses lied about El Chapo

NEW YORK (AP) -- A parade of cooperating witnesses who testified against Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman are habitual liars who even lied under oath on the witness stand, Guzman's lawyer told jurors Thursday in closing arguments at a U.S. trial.Prosecutors ``expect you to ignore all the problems in their case,'' attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said in federal court in Brooklyn. ``They expect you to ignore the dishonesty of their witnesses.''The cooperators, he added, ``have lied to your faces.''The argument followed one by a prosecutor Wednesday who told jurors that the evidence against Guzman at a trial that began in mid-November is overwhelming. The jury is expected to begin deliberating Monday.In his closing, Lichtman singled out an allegation by a cooperator that Guzman had paid a $100 million bribe to a Mexican president to call off a manhunt. He argued that made no sense since authorities still arrested his client and sent him to the U.S. in 2017 to face drug-trafficking charges.Guzman ``pays the bribe and gets hunted down like an animal,'' he said. ``Is that logical?''The lawyer said it would make more sense that the bribe was paid by another Sinaloa boss, Ismael ``El Mayo'' Zambada, since he's never been arrested. The defense has sought to portray Zambada as the true leader of the cartel.The bribe allegation was made by Alex Cifuentes, a Colombian trafficker who admitted on cross-examination that he had a history of lying to everyone around him, except when it came to his testimony about Guzman, Lichtman said."Who could believe that garbage?'' the lawyer said.