The jury in former U.S President, Donald Trump’s hush money trial has resumed deliberations after asking to rehear potentially crucial testimony about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the history-making case.
Jury deliberations on Donald Trump’s hush money trial began on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
The 12-person jury deliberated for about four and half hours on Wednesday without reaching a verdict.
In their first note of communication with the court, jurors asked to rehear testimony from Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher, David Pecker about an August 2015 meeting with Trump at Trump Tower where the tabloid boss agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of his fledgling presidential campaign.
Pecker testified that the plan included identifying potentially damaging stories about Trump so they could be squashed before being published.
That, prosecutors say, was the beginning of the catch-and-kill scheme at the heart of the case.
Jurors also want to hear Pecker’s account of a phone call he said he received from Trump in which they discussed a rumor that another outlet had offered to buy former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s alleged story that she had a yearlong affair with Trump in the mid-2000s.
Trump has denied the affair.
Additionally, the jurors requested Pecker’s testimony about his decision in October 2016 to back out of an agreement to sell the rights to McDougal’s story to Trump through a company Cohen had established for the transaction, known as an “assignment of rights.”
Besides asking to rehear testimony from a tabloid publisher and Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, the jury also requested to revisit at least part of the judge’s hourlong instructions that were meant to guide them on the law.
Rehearing testimony is going to take some time.
Prosecutors estimated to Merchan that the sections of testimony from Pecker and Cohen that jurors have asked to rehear are about 30 pages and will take about 30 minutes to be reread.
Assistant District Attorney, Joshua Steinglass said that the testimony that jurors want involves “a lot of little snippets that are not very long.”
Nonetheless, it is unclear how long the deliberations will last.
A guilty verdict would deliver a stunning legal reckoning for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee as he seeks to reclaim the White House while an acquittal would represent a major win for Trump and embolden him on the campaign trail.
Since verdicts must be unanimous, it’s also possible the case ends in a mistrial if the jury can’t reach a consensus after days of deliberations.
Trump Calls Trial Costly
As Trump returned to the court on Thursday, he called the trial “costly.”
Amid the trial, Trump has repeatedly noted that security surrounding the trial has prevented most people from coming within blocks of the courthouse, which he again cited while lamenting the trial is costing the city “millions.”
“It’s a disgrace. The millions and millions of dollars that are spent daily on this case. Outside, it looks like it’s Fort Knox … I’ve never seen so many policemen. Now, with Columbia University, you can plant a tent right in front of the main door no problem. NYU, just put your tent, don’t worry about it … But I just want to say that this is a very sad day for America. The whole world is watching, and it’s a very sad day for New York.”
Donald Trump
“It’s all rigged, the whole system is rigged,” he said.
“The outside world is watching, and the outside world is just not going to bring their business to New York. And that’s going to cost the city trillions and the state trillions and trillions of dollars,” he said.
“Businesses are leaving and people are fleeing,” Trump added before heading into the courtroom.
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