NEW YORK (AP) — Jury deliberations in Donald Trump ‘s criminal hush money trial entered their second day on Thursday after the panel began the weighty task a day before.
Deliberations concluded Wednesday with the panel asking Judge Juan M. Merchan to rehear portions of crucial testimony from two key witnesses: former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Jurors also requested to rehear jury instructions.
The jury deliberated for about 4 1/2 hours on Wednesday.
Deliberations in the hush money case will go on for as long as the jury needs. While the standard court day runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a break for lunch, Merchan told the panel it could work as late as 6 p.m. if it wished.
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At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors say the reimbursements were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charges which are punishable by up to four years in prison. He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial and is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.
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IN A COURTROOM DEVOID OF JUDGE AND JURY, REPORTERS WAIT FOR NEWS
As deliberations wear on in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, it’s a bit of the old adage “hurry up and wait” at the New York courthouse.
With the jury working in secret in a separate room, and Trump and his team holed up elsewhere in the building, reporters remain in the courtroom waiting for word — or rather the sound — of a new development.
Each time the jury has a question — and eventually, if it reaches a verdict — it must send a note to the judge. The way it signals that it has a note is by ringing a bell that blares in the courtroom. The sound is akin to that of an old telephone or alarm clock.
So far Thursday, the bell hasn’t rung at all. It tolled twice within an hour on Wednesday signaling notes from the jury to have certain testimony read to them along with a portion of the jury instructions.
That’s made for a somewhat surreal scene in the normally bustling Manhattan courtroom. The front of the room where the action happens is empty, save for a few court officers and staff: no judge, no prosecutors, no defense team, no former president, and certainly no jurors.
The room that reverberated with dramatic testimony and tense arguments over the last six weeks is now eerily quiet, save for the clicks of laptop keys and the din of chatter amongst reporters and members of the public sitting, watching and waiting for the bell to ring.
NORTH DAKOTA’S BURGUM SEEN OUTSIDE OF MANHATTAN COURTROOM
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, seen as one of the potential running mates for Donald Trump, was outside the courthouse in Manhattan on Thursday doing television interviews.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is being tried on 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Burgum was among the Republican officials who accompanied Trump to court in recent weeks as a show of support, but he was not seen inside court with him Thursday.
Also seen outside the courthouse was Trump senior campaign advisor Jason Miller. He said Trump is “doing great” when asked how the former president was doing while waiting for the jury to deliberate. Miller is among the aides who accompanied Trump on Thursday.
The former president is accused of falsifying internal Trump Organization records as part of a scheme to bury damaging stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.
The courtroom has closed for lunch. Proceedings resume at 2:15 p.m.
TRUMP PROCLAIMS INNOCENCE AS JURY DELIBERATES
Former President Donald Trump is continuing to rail against his hush-money trial and proclaim his innocence.
“I DID NOTHING WRONG! IN FACT, I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT,” he wrote on Truth Social. “The testimony in Court was amazing for the Defense!”
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
The jury began its second day of deliberations on Thursday. The panel is deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump of some, all or none of the felony counts he’s charged with.
The former president is accused of falsifying internal Trump Organization records as part of a scheme to bury damaging stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.
JURORS ARE SENT TO RESUME DELIBERATIONS
Jurors have been sent to resume deliberations in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial after rehearing testimony from key witnesses.
The 12 jurors reheard portions of testimony given by former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker as well as Michael Cohen.
The jury deliberated for about 4 1/2 hours Wednesday without reaching a verdict. Before day’s end, they asked to rehear testimony from the tabloid publisher, and Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer. On Thursday morning, the judge responded to a jury request by rereading 30 pages of jury instructions related to how inferences may be drawn from evidence.
Trump faces 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
A guilty verdict would deliver a stunning legal reckoning for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee as Trump seeks to reclaim the White House.
JURY REHEARS PORTIONS OF TESTIMONY FROM NATIONAL ENQUIRER PUBLISHER
After roughly a half hour of rehearing some of the judge’s legal instructions, jurors listened to portions of testimony from former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
Court stenographers reread both witnesses’ testimony about an August 2015 Trump Tower meeting at which Pecker agreed to publish articles that favored then-candidate Trump and assailed his opponents and to serve as the campaign’s “eyes and ears” for potentially damaging stories and rumors so they could be suppressed.
The jury also asked to rehear Pecker’s testimony about a phone call he says he had with Trump about a hush money deal that the National Enquirer’s parent company made with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and about Pecker’s his decision not to sell the rights to McDougal’s story to Trump.
She claimed she had an affair with Trump, which he denies.
Trump faces 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
JURORS REHEAR INSTRUCTIONS RELATING TO MICHAEL COHEN’S TESTIMONY
The 12 jurors who are weighing the evidence in Donald Trump’s ‘hush-money’ trial have reheard instructions relating to Michael Cohen’s testimony.
It was one of many instructions jurors asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to reread on Thursday, the second day of jury deliberations.
Trump fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen is crucial to the prosecution’s case against Trump, jurors were reminded that they can’t convict the former president on Cohen’s word alone.
“Under our law, Michael Cohen is an accomplice,” and a defendant can’t be convicted of any crime based only on the testimony of an accomplice unless it is supported by corroborative evidence,” Merchan said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.
LARA TRUMP: TRUMP WILL TRY TO CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENCY EVEN IF HE’S CONVICTED
It appears that — if he is convicted — a guilty verdict won’t stop presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump from trying to reclaim the White House.
That is according to Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump.
Lara Trump serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee. She told Fox News Channel on Thursday that Trump would still try to campaign for the presidency if he’s convicted. Trump faces 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Lara Trump said if Trump is convicted and given a sentence of home confinement, “We will have him doing virtual rallies and campaign events if that is the case. And we’ll have to play the hand that we’re dealt,” according to a transcript of the interview.
The 34 counts against Trump are all the same charge, a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though it’s not clear that the judge would opt to put Trump behind bars if the jury convicts him.
Other punishments could include a fine or probation.
JUDGE REREADS INSTRUCTIONS TO JURORS IN TRUMP’S ‘HUSH-MONEY’ TRIAL
The 12 jurors weighing the fate of Donald Trump in his ‘hush-money’ trial listened intently as Judge Juan M. Merchan reread a portion of his instructions.
