NEW YORK — The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial deliberated for several hours Wednesday in the first criminal case against a former U.S. president, weighing a momentous decision that could brand the presumptive GOP presidential nominee as a felon just five months before Election Day.
The judge emphasized that the verdict is solely theirs to make and that they should not take anything he has said or done from the bench as suggestive of whether Trump should be found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to an adult-film actress ahead of the 2016 election.
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The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has begun deliberating. Here’s what happens next and what Trump could face if he’s convicted.
The jurors began deliberating shortly before noon. Around 3 p.m., they sent out a note asking to rehear testimony that had been presented during the trial on four distinct topics, which suggested they were focused on Trump’s alleged involvement and knowledge of the scheme.
Three of the jury requests were for certain pieces of testimony from David Pecker, a friend of Trump’s and the former chief executive of the company that published the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid. Pecker testified about his efforts to buy potentially damaging stories about Trump to prevent those details from harming his candidacy during the 2016 election.
Specifically, the jury asked to hear testimony about a phone call between Trump and Pecker, as well as Pecker’s testimony on discussions between Pecker’s organization and Trump’s camp about money paid for a Playboy model’s story of an affair with Trump. The jury also wanted to rehear Pecker’s testimony about a key August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower that prosecutors say was central to the conspiracy, and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s testimony about that same meeting.
When juries ask for readbacks of testimony, it has to be read to them in court, because transcripts are not provided to jurors. That rule reflects concern that if printed transcripts were provided during jury deliberations, the papers would take precedence over jurors’ understanding and memories of the evidence that was presented during the trial.
While lawyers conferred on exactly which parts of the trial transcript to read back to them, the jurors sent another note, asking to have the judge’s legal instructions read to them again — meaning the panel could spend much of Thursday morning hearing readbacks.
On Tuesday, the jury heard lengthy closing arguments from the prosecution and defense. The legal instruction from Merchan, also known as the judge’s charge, lasted more than an hour.
Speaking to reporters outside court, Trump — who must stay inside the courthouse throughout the deliberations — offered a much shorter legal analysis.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges, but we’ll see,” he said, referring to the late nun who cared for the sick and dying in India.
Trump is accused of orchestrating a scheme to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels in 2016 — buying her silence about an alleged sexual interaction with him years earlier, and then reimbursing Cohen for having paid the money to Daniels.
The charges of falsifying business records are based on the allegation that Trump wrongly classified the payments to Cohen as a legal expense, rather than a campaign expense.
“Everything Mr. Trump and his cohorts did in this case was cloaked in lies,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said at the end of his nearly five-hour summation Tuesday. “The name of the game was concealment, and all roads lead inescapably to the man who benefited most: the defendant, former president Donald Trump.”
Steinglass said the alleged conspiracy “could very well be what got President Trump elected.”
Defense attorney Todd Blanche told jurors that the prosecution’s evidence was so weak that they should return “a very quick and easy not-guilty verdict.”
While giving his instructions, Merchan reminded the panel that Trump cannot be acquitted just because Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to a campaign finance violation related to the same payment. The judge also told jurors that it was improper for them to consider any potential consequence of convicting Trump.
“If the verdict is guilty, it will be my responsibility to impose the appropriate sentence,” said the judge, who on Tuesday scolded Blanche for telling jurors that Trump could go to jail if convicted.
Merchan also addressed whether Trump may be found guilty regardless of whether he was personally responsible for making false entries in records. He could be convicted, the judge said, if it was proved that “he solicited, requested, commanded, importuned or intentionally aided [another] person to engage in that conduct.”
As the judge walked the jurors through his instructions, Trump closed his eyes on and off.
Merchan explained key terms for the panel such as reasonable doubt, redactions in documents and implicit bias. He also spoke to them at length about how to weigh witness testimony, particularly from Cohen, who has admitted to crimes and testified against Trump.
“You may consider whether a witness has any interest in the outcome of a case,” the judge said. “You are not required to reject the testimony of an interested witness. … You may, however, consider whether an interest in the outcome will affect the truthfulness of a witness’s testimony.”
