The jury in former president Donald Trump’s “hush-money” criminal trial did not deliver a verdict on the first day of deliberations.
The group of 12 jurors deliberated for over four hours on Wednesday and submitted two notes, the first related to former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony, and the other asking Judge Juan Merchan to re-read juror instructions, according to multiple reports.
Merchan dismissed the jurors Wednesday afternoon and they will reconvene tomorrow morning to re-read parts of the testimony from Pecker and former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, a disbarred ex-lawyer and convicted felon.
The jurors will re-hear specific Pecker’s testimony about a phone conversation with Trump and his agreement with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleged she and Trump had an affair.
In addition, they will re-hear testimony from Pecker and Cohen about a meeting they had with Trump at Trump Tower where Pecker decided to assist Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign by shutting down negative stories.
Cohen previously pleaded guilty to financial crimes and perjury in connection with his work for Trump. Nonetheless, he was the prosecution’s star witness in its attempt to implicate Trump for allegedly falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements for Cohen’s $130,000 payment to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The defense cast doubt on Cohen’s credibility because of his anti-Trump commentary and history of lies.
Pecker’s testimony is relevant to the prosecution’s portrayal of the Daniels payment as part of a broader conspiracy, although the business records charges only apply to the reimbursements for Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
Merchan will also re-read the jury instructions after his commands generated confusion among commentators. Earlier today, Merchan instructed the jury on how to approach the case and the legal issues at play. New York State forbids judges from giving jurors a paper copy of the instructions to use while they deliberate.
Merchan, who had several hostile exchanges with the defense team and its witnesses over the course of the trial, appeared to depart from established precedent when he instructed the jurors that they could return a guilty verdict without agreeing unanimously on what that underlying crime was, allowing the 12 jurors to choose between several alleged offenses, including a violation of federal campaign-finance law and a violation of tax law.
Should all twelve jurors agree that Trump was guilty of some combination of those offenses, they should return a guilty verdict, Merchan instructed.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting Trump for 34 felony falsifications of business records on the basis of Trump allegedly covering up underlying crimes. The prosecution only went into the alleged underlying campaign finance crimes during closing arguments.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,” Trump said at the courthouse on Wednesday.
Trump is the 2024 Republican presidential nominee and routinely criticizes Merchan and Bragg for waging a political prosecution against him to derail his campaign.