Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York on Wednesday asked to be read key testimony as they began deliberating whether the former U.S. president illegally sought to influence the outcome of the 2016 election that led to him sent to the White House.
The 12-member jury had met for nearly four hours when it sent a note to the judge presiding over the case, requesting to hear a transcript of testimony from David Pecker, former editor of the National Enquirer tabloid, and Trump’s former political fixer, Michael Cohen. about their August 2015 meeting at his Trump Tower office in New York.
Prosecutors have called the meeting the “Trump Tower conspiracy,” because Pecker testified that it was there that he told his old friend Trump that he would be his “eyes and ears” to watch out for negative stories about him while he was running. for the presidency.
Pecker promised to buy the rights to embarrassing stories about Trump, but with no intention of publishing any information [llamada “atrapar y matar” en la lengua vernácula del mundo sensacionalista] while publishing false and unflattering stories about his political opponents.
Pecker later paid $30,000 to a doorman at a Trump building in New York to bury his false claim that Trump had fathered an illegitimate child, and $150,000 to Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal to also bury her claim that Trump had fathered an illegitimate child. She had a month-long affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007.
Trump has denied the affair, although Pecker said Trump later admitted knowing McDougal and asked about her well-being as they walked the White House grounds in 2017, after Trump became president.
Along with Pecker’s testimony, jurors also asked to rehear Cohen’s testimony about the pivotal meeting at Trump Tower, an apparent attempt to understand Trump’s role in the discussions since he did not testify in his defense in the trial, which is now in its seventh week.
Additionally, the jurors – seven men and five women – asked to be read back to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s legal instructions on the case, although it was unclear whether they wanted to hear all of them or just some.
It took Merchan more than an hour to read the long list Wednesday before jurors began their deliberations. The judge sent the jury home the day before the material was read to them again.
The jurors, all New Yorkers chosen at random from voter registration lists, listened for five weeks to testimony from 22 witnesses in the first criminal trial against an American president. On Monday he heard hours of starkly contrasting views on the case offered by Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche and prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.
In a three-hour closing argument, Blanche attacked Cohen, the prosecution’s key witness, who testified that he wanted Trump convicted.
Cohen said during the trial that Trump told him to “just do it”: pay $130,000 in hush money days before the 2016 election to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to silence her claim that she had an encounter. sexual one night stand with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied any relationship with Daniels.
A hush money deal is not illegal. But Trump is accused in a 34-count indictment of falsifying his company’s business records to conceal the 2017 refund of the hush payment to Cohen, which Trump claimed was for money Cohen was owed for legal work on Trump’s behalf. . Defense attorneys claimed that Cohen, of his own volition and without Trump’s knowledge, transferred the money to Daniels’ attorney.
The former president has denied the entire accusation against him.
Under the US legal system, juries must unanimously decide whether to acquit Trump, 77, or find him guilty. If they can’t reach an agreement, which would result in a hung jury, prosecutors would decide whether to retry the case.
For Trump, the result has consequences, not only for his personal freedom but also for his political destiny. He is the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee and will run again in the November election against President Joe Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020.
National polls show Biden and Trump locked in a tight race, but some opinion polls indicate Trump supporters could switch their votes to Biden or not vote at all if the former president is convicted.
If convicted, Trump could be placed on probation or sentenced to up to four years in prison, although he will surely appeal and could continue running for president.
Trump faces three other indictments, including two that accuse him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. But all three cases are mired in legal disputes between his lawyers and prosecutors. As a result, the New York case that is nearing conclusion may be the only one decided before the November elections.
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