Trump trial live updates: Jurors begins second day of deliberations in hush money case – The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Unanimous verdict needed to secure conviction or acquittal, with deliberations back underway after re-hearing portions of testimony
Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile
Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial has been turned over to the jury, putting the first-ever criminal case against an American president in the hands of his fellow New Yorkers.
Deliberations began late on Wednesday morning and continued on Thursday after the jury reheard some testimony and a portion of the jury instructions.
In closing arguments, defense lawyer Todd Blanche hammered the credibility of Mr Trump’s ex-“fixer” Michael Cohen, the trial’s star witness, labeling him the “GLOAT” (or “Greatest Liar Of All Time”) and listed 10 reasonable doubts about the case against the former president.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass meanwhile methodically laid out the chronology of the case over a near-five-hour address, tying key pieces of “smoking gun” evidence together as he reminded the jury the case was about Mr Trump, not Cohen.
The defendant stands accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to ensure her silence about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with him a decade earlier.
Mr Trump denies both the affair and the charges.
Alex Woodward is covering the trial for The Independent live from court.
Around one in six voters say that a guilty verdict in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial will make them less likely to vote for him, according to a new poll.
Gustaf Kilander looks at the numbers:
New survey also finds that Joe Biden struggling with younger voters who helped bring him to victory in 2020
Donald Trump is bothered that his wife, Melania Trump, has not shown up to his criminal trial in New York despite other family members backing the former president in person, his former press secretary says.
Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House Press Secretary from 2019 to 2021, told CNN that a reporter’s relentless questions about the whereabouts of Melania “absolutely” perturbs the former president.
Ariana Baio has the story:
Trump’s wife, Melania, and daughter, Ivanka, have been absent from supporting the former president while many other family has been in attendance
The former president posted:
Does anybody ask why the Government, under Soros backed District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, failed to bring in a Long List of Witnesses that they so viciously threatened everybody with? I’m not allowed to say the names BECAUSE OF THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL GAG ORDER THAT I AM UNDER, but there are plenty. The prosecutors didn’t use them because these people would have been very bad for the Government’s Case! But remember, this is all under the auspices of the DOJ and White House, for the purpose of Election Interference – These are the Thugs and Monsters who are destroying our Country.
Mr Trump’s defence brought two witnesses (one a paralegal from the law firm) and opted not to bring any others including the defendant himself.
Jimmy Kimmel agreed with Donald Trump’s wild claims that Mother Teresa herself would also not be able to beat the allegations faced by the former president – paying off a pornstar “after a round of golf”.
On the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, broadcast hours after the historic criminal hush money trial was turned over to the jury, the late show host discussed the explosive final days of the trial, including the absence of former First Lady Melania Trump and the appearance of Hollywood star Robert De Niro.
Mike Bedigan reports from Los Angeles:
Deliberations in the former president’s historic hush money trial began late on Wednesday morning and will continue on Thursday at 9.30am
Here’s the judge’s condensed explanation of what the jury needs to find beyond a reasonable doubt for a guilty verdict:
In order for you to find the defendant guilty of the crime of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree under Count 1 of the Indictment, the People are required to prove, from all of the evidence in the case, beyond a reasonable doubt, each of the following two elements:
1. That on or about February 14, 2017, in the county of New York and elsewhere, the defendant, personally, or by acting in concert with another person or persons, made or caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, specifically, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept or maintained by the Trump Organization; and
2. That the defendant did so with intent to defraud that included an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.
If you find the People have proven beyond a reasonable doubt each of those two elements, you must find the defendant guilty of this crime. If you find the People have not proven beyond a reasonable doubt either one or both of those two elements, you must find the defendants not guilty of this crime.
And for the remaining 33 counts:
There are thirty-three remaining counts in the indictment. Each for Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree and each occurring in New York County. The only difference is that each count pertains to a different business record and possibly a different date.
He describes each record with each count starting on page 35 of the jury instructions.
Reminder: The jury does not have the option to convict him only on misdemeanor counts: the falsifying business records that are not in service of committing another underlying crime.
Trump’s attorneys never asked and the judge’s directions don’t say they can.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Donald Trump sits in court on the second day of jury deliberations in his hush money trial
EPA
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Log in
New to The Independent?
Or if you would prefer:
Want an ad-free experience?

source