Breaking News:
Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York hush money trial.
His sentencing date is set for 10 a.m. on July 11th, four days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
It was thesecond dayof deliberations Thursday after the panel began the weighty taska day before. The jury deliberated for about 9 1/2 hours total: about 4 1/2 hours Wednesday and five hours Thursday.
Atthe heart of the chargesare reimbursem*nts paid to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to p*rn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors say the reimbursem*nts were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
The charges Trump faces are punishable by up to four years in prison. He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
The case is the first ofTrump’s four indictmentsto reach trial and is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.
Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes.
Trump sat stone-faced as the verdict was being read, while cheering from the street below — where supporters and detractors of the former president were gathered — could be heard in the hallway on the 15th floor of the courthouse.
The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks a return to the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.
Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he seeks to return to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week. Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge —who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations— would impose that punishment even if asked. The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.
Trump facesthree other felony indictments, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.
For another candidate in another time, a criminal conviction might doom a presidential run, but Trump’s political career has endured throughtwo impeachments,allegations of sexual abuse, investigations into everything frompotential ties to Russiatoplotting to overturn an election, and personally salacious storylinesincluding the emergence of a recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals.
In addition, the general allegations of the case have been known to voters for years and, while tawdry, are widely seen as less grievous than the allegations he faces in three other cases that charge him with subverting American democracy and mishandling national security secrets.
Even so, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats space to sharpen arguments that Trump is unfit for office, even as it provides fodder for the presumptive Republican nominee to advance his unsupported claims that he is victimized by a criminal justice system he insists is politically motivated against him.
Trump maintained throughout the trial that he had done nothing wrong and that the case should never have been brought, railing against the proceedings from inside the courthouse —where he was joined by a parade of high-profile Republican allies— and racking up fines for violating a gag order with inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses.
The first criminal trial of a former American president always presented a unique test of the court system, not only because of Trump’s prominence but also because of his relentless verbal attacks on the foundation of the case and its participants. But the verdict from the 12-person jury marked a repudiation of Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the proceedings or to potentially impress the panel with a show of GOP support.
The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments toStormy Daniels, the p*rn actor who said she had sex with the married Trump in 2006.
The $130,000 payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixerMichael Cohento buy Daniels’ silence during the final weeks of the 2016 race in what prosecutors allege was an effort to interfere in the election. When Cohen was reimbursed, the payments were recorded as legal expenses, which prosecutors said was an unlawful attempt to mask the true purpose of the transaction. Trump’s lawyers contend they were legitimate payments for legal services.
Trump has denied the sexual encounter, and his lawyers argued during the trial that his celebrity status, particularly during the 2016 campaign,made him a target for extortion. They’ve said hush money deals to bury negative stories about Trump were motivated by personal considerations such as the impact on his family and brand as a businessman, not political ones. They also sought to undermine the credibility of Cohen,the star prosecution witness who pleaded guilty in 2018to federal charges related to the payments, as driven by personal animus toward Trump as well as fame and money.
The trial featured more than four weeks of occasionally riveting testimony that revisited an already well-documented chapter from Trump’s past, when his 2016 campaign wasthreatened by the disclosure of an “Access Hollywood”recording that captured him talking about grabbing women sexually without their permission and the prospect of other stories about Trump and sex surfacing that would be harmful to his candidacy.
Trump himself did not testify, but jurors heard his voice through asecret recording of a conversationwith Cohen in which he and the lawyer discussed a $150,000 hush money deal involving a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump was heard saying on the recording made by Cohen.
Daniels herself testified, offering at times a graphic recounting of the sexual encounter she says they had in a hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. The former publisher of the National Enquirer,David Pecker,testified about how he worked to keep stories harmful to the Trump campaign from becoming public at all, including by having his company buy McDougal’s story.
Jurors also heard fromKeith Davidson, the lawyer who negotiated the hush money payments on behalf of Daniels and McDougal.
He detailed the tense negotiations to get both women compensated for their silence but also faced an aggressive round of questioning from a Trump attorney who noted that Davidson had helped broker similar hush money deals in cases involving other prominent figures.
But the most pivotal witness, by far, was Cohen, who spent days on the stand and gave jurors an insider’s view of the hush money scheme and what he said was Trump’s detailed knowledge of it.
“Just take care of it,” he quoted Trump as saying at one point.
He offered jurors the most direct link between Trump and the heart of the charges, recounting a meeting in which they and the then-chief financial officer of Trump Organization described a plan to have Cohen reimbursed in monthly installments for legal services.
And he emotionally described his dramatic break with Trump in 2018, when he decided to cooperate with prosecutors after a decade-long career as the then-president’s personal fixer.
“To keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” Cohen told the jury.
The outcome provides a degree of vindication forManhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had characterized the case as being about election interference rather than hush money and defended it against criticism from legal experts who called it the weakest of the four prosecutions against Trump.
But it took on added importance not only because it proceeded to trial first but also because it could be the only one of the cases to reach a jury before the election.
The other three cases — local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records — are bogged down by delays or appeals.
Original Post (May 29, 2024):
NEW YORK (AP) — Jury deliberations inDonald Trump‘s criminal hush money trialbegan Wednesdayafter the panel received instructions from the judge on the law governing the case and what they can take into account in evaluating the former president’s guilt or innocence.
The historic deliberations followed Tuesday’swhirlwind of closing arguments, which stretched into the evening hours as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass accused Trump of intentionally deceiving voters by allegedly participating in a “catch-and-kill” scheme to bury stories that might obliterate his 2016 presidential bid. Steinglass further suggested that Trump operated with a “cavalier willingness” to hide payoffs and did so in a way that left “no paper trail.”
The defense approached its summation much in the same way it approached cross-examination: by targeting the credibility of star witness Michael Cohen. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche branded Trump’s former lawyer as “the greatest liar of all time” while urging jurors to quickly acquit his client.
Trump faces34 felony countsof falsifying business records, charges which are punishable by up to four years in prison. He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
Atthe heart of the chargesare reimbursem*nts paid to Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to p*rn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Prosecutors say the reimbursem*nts were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.
The case is the first ofTrump’s four indictmentsto reach trial and is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.
Currently:
— Cohen’s credibility, campaigning at court and other highlightsfrom closing arguments
— Rallies and debates used to define campaigns. Nowthey’re about juries and trials
— Biden’s campaign shows up outside Trump’s trial withRobert De Niro and others
— Another big name will be at the courthouse in Manhattan on Wednesday:Harvey Weinstein
— Trump hush money case: A timeline ofkey events
Here’s the latest:
MERCHAN ADDRESSES ALTERNATE JURORS
After the main jury in Donald Trump’s hush money case left the courtroom Wednesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan told the six alternates who remain in the courtroom that they will remain on standby in the courthouse as deliberations get underway.
He thanked them for their service and diligence, noting he saw one of the alternates go through three notebooks.
He said, “There might be a need for you at some point in deliberations.”
The alternates will be kept separate from the main jury and must also surrender their phones to court officers while deliberations are in progress. If a member of the main panel is unable to continue, an alternate can take that person’s place and deliberations will begin anew.
JURY DELIBER
ATIONS UNDERWAY
Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial have begun deliberating after Judge Juan M. Merchan finished instructing them Wednesday morning on the law governing the case and what they can consider as they work toward a verdict.
The trial is the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president.
TWO ELEMENTS PROSECUTORS MUST PROVE FOR A GUILTY VERDICT
Prosecutors are required to prove two elements for each of the counts in order to find Donald Trump guilty, Judge Juan M. Merchan told the jurors.
They must find that he “personally or by acting in concert with another person or persons made or caused a false entry in the records” or a business. Prosecutors must also prove that Trump did so with the intent tocommit or conceal another crime.
Prosecutors allege the other crime that Trump intended to commit or conceal was a violation of a state election law regarding a conspiracy to promote or prevent an election by unlawful means.
The alleged unlawful means that jurors must consider are:
1. Violations of federal campaign finance law
2. Falsifying other business records, such as paperwork used to establish the bank account used to pay Stormy Daniels, bank records and tax forms
3. Violation of city, state and federal tax laws, including by providing false or fraudulent information on tax returns, “even if it does not result in underpayment of taxes”
EXPLAINING ‘CONSPIRACY TO PROMOTE OR PREVENT ELECTION’
In reading instructions to the jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, Judge Juan M. Merchan also went over New York’s law against “conspiracy to promote or prevent election,” a statute that’s important to the case.
Prosecutors claim that Trump falsified business records to cover up alleged violations of the election conspiracy law. The alleged violations, prosecutors say, were hush money payments that really amounted to illegal campaign contributions.
Under New York law, it’s a misdemeanor for two or more people to conspire to promote or prevent a candidate’s election “by unlawful means” if at least one of the conspirators takes action to carry out the plot.
The judge noted that the law also requires that a defendant have the intent unlawfully to prevent or promote the candidate’s election — not just that a defendant knows about the conspiracy or be present when it’s discussed.
In the defense’s closing argument Tuesday, Trump attorney Todd Blanche urged jurors to reject prosecutors’ election conspiracy assertions, insisting that “every campaign in this country is a conspiracy to promote a candidate.”
EXPLAINING ACC
ESSORIAL LIABILITY
Judge Juan M. Merchan instructed jurors on the concept of accessorial liability, under which a defendant can be held criminally responsible for someone else’s actions.
That’s a key component of the prosecution’s theory of Donald Trump’s hush money case because while Trump signed some of the checks at issue, people working for his company processed Michael Cohen’s invoices and entered the transactions into its accounting system.
To hold Trump liable for those actions, Merchan said jurors must find beyond a reasonable doubt that he solicited, requested or commanded those people to engage in that conduct and that he acted intentionally.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass touched on accessorial liability in his closing argument Tuesday, telling jurors: “No one is saying the defendant actually got behind a computer and typed in the false vouchers or stamped the false invoices or printed the false checks.”
“But he set in motion a chain of events that led to the creation of the false business records,” Steinglass said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
HOW TO JUDGE THE TRUTH
The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial gave the jury some guidance on factors it can use to assess witness testimony, including its plausibility, its consistency with other testimony, the witness’s manner on the stand and whether the person has a motive to lie.
But, the judge said, “There is no particular formula for evaluating the truthfulness and accuracy of another person’s statement.”
The principles he outlined are standard but perhaps all the more relevant after Trump’s defense team leaned heavily on questioning the credibility of key prosecution witnesses, including the ex-president’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.
Jurors appeared alert and engaged as Judge Juan M. Merchan instructed them Wednesday morning. Several took notes as he recited instructions.
JUDGE TO JURORS: PERSONAL BIAS MUST BE PUT ASIDE
The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial reminded jurors Wednesday morning of their solemn responsibility to decide Trump’s guilt or innocence, gently and methodically reading through standard jury instructions that have a special resonance in the former president’s high-profile case.
“As a juror, you are asked to make a very important decision about another member of the community,” Judge Juan M. Merchan said, underscoring that — in the eyes of the law — the jurors and Trump are peers.
Merchan also reminded jurors of their vow, during jury selection, “to set aside any personal bias you may have in favor of or against” Trump and decide the case “fairly based on the evidence of the law.”
Echoing standard jury instructions, Merchan noted that even though the defense presented evidence, the burden of proof remains on the prosecutor and that Trump is “not required to prove that he is not guilty.”
“In fact,” noted Merchan, “the defendant is not required to prove or disprove anything.”
READING OF JURY INSTRUCTIONS UNDERWAY
The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has entered the courtroom and taken their seats. Ahead of deliberations, Judge Juan M. Merchan has begun instructing the panel on the law that governs the case and what they can consider as they work toward a verdict.
Jurors will not receive copies of the instructions, but they can request to hear them again as many times as they wish, Merchan said.
“It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here. It is yours,” he told them.
Trump leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as Merchan told jurors that reading the instructions would take about an hour.
TRUMP ARRIVES AT
COURT
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan as proceedings in his hush money trial are set to resume.
He did not stop to speak to reporters as he typically does before entering court each day.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined him in the courtroom Wednesday morning and was in the first row of the gallery behind the defense table, sitting alongside Trump lawyer and spokesperson Alina Habba.
TRUMP POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE HEADING TO COURT
Donald Trump posted again on his social media network before he left Trump Tower to head to the courthouse Wednesday morning, making another all-caps rant about the hush money trial, the judge and Michael Cohen.
He called it a “KANGAROO COURT!” and falsely claimed that Judge Juan M. Merchan barred him from defending himself by claiming that his alleged actions were taken on the advice of his then-lawyer, Cohen. Trump’s lawyers in March notified the court that they would not rely on that defense.
“THERE WAS NO CRIME, EXCEPT FOR THE BUM THAT GOT CAUGHT STEALING FROM ME!” Trump said, apparently referring to Cohen. He added: “IN GOD WE TRUST!”
Trump is prohibited under a gag order from making out-of-court statements about witnesses in the case, and he was previously penalized for comments about Cohen.
It’s unclear if Trump’s latest rant would rise to the level of a violation — or if prosecutors would seek to have the former president sanctioned for it. The judge has also indicated that he’d give Trump leeway in certain instances to respond to attacks from Cohen.
TRUMP’S MOTORCADE HEADS TO COURT
Donald Trump’s motorcade has left Trump Tower and is on its way to the courthouse in lower Manhattan where his hush money trial will resume.
The jury in the case is expected to begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge later in the day.
WHO IS ON THE JURY?
The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trialis comprised of 18 Manhattan residents.
The main jury includes seven men and five women. There are also six alternate jurors who’ve listened to the testimony but won’t join in the deliberations unless one of the main jurors needs to drop out or is removed.
The jury members represents a diverse cross-section of the borough and come from various professional backgrounds, including a sales professional, a software engineer, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech therapist, multiple lawyers, an investment banker and a retired wealth manager.
Jurors’ names are beingkept from the public.
A RECAP OF TESTIMONY JURORS HEARD IN THE CASE
Across more than four weeks of testimony, prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two.
Among the prosecution’s key witnesses: Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, p*rn actor Stormy Daniels, tabloid publisher David Pecker and lawyer Keith Davidson, who negotiated hush money deals for Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Cohen testifiedthat he paid $130,000 in hush money to Daniels at Trump’s behest weeks before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about her claims of a sexual encounter with him a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounter took place. Cohen also said Trump was involved in an arrangement to repay him and log the payments as legal expenses.
Daniels gavean at-times graphic account of the alleged encounter.
Pecker testifiedabout agreeing to be the “eyes and ears” of Trump’s campaign by tipping Cohen off to negative stories, including Daniels’ claim.
Davidson talkedabout negotiating the deals and what he said was Cohen’s frustration after the Daniels deal that Trump still hadn’t repaid him.
The defense’s big witness wasattorney Robert Costello, who testified last Monday and Tuesday about negotiating to represent Cohen after the FBI raided Cohen’s properties in 2018.
HOW WILL THE JURY DELIBERATIONS WORK?
Jury deliberations in Donald Trump’s hush money trialwill proceed in secret, in a room reserved specifically for jurors and in a process that’s intentionally opaque.
Jurors can communicate with the court through notes that ask the judge, for instance, for legal guidance or to have particular excerpts of testimony read back to them.
But without knowing what jurors are saying to each other, it’s hard to read too much into the meaning of any note.
ANOTHER FAMOUS FACE AT THE COURTHOUSE
Donald Trump will not be the only big name appearing before a judge in lower Manhattan on Wednesday — fallen movie mogul Harvey Weinstein isexpected to appear for a hearingrelated to the retrial of his landmark #MeToo-era rape case.
The hearing will take place in the same courthouse where Trump is currently on trial and where Weinsteinwas originally convicted in 2020.
Weinstein’sconviction was overturned in Aprilafter the court found that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case. His retrial is slated for sometime after Labor Day.
A MOTION THAT STILL HASN’T BEEN DECIDED
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial might have one last piece of business to address on Wednesday before jurors receive instructions and can begin deliberations.
Last Monday, defense lawyers filed a motion asking the judge to dismiss the case, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove their case and there was no evidence of falsified business records or an intent to defraud.
Prosecutors rebutted that assertion, saying “the trial evidence overwhelmingly supports each element” of the alleged offenses, and the case should proceed to the jury.
Judge Juan M. Merchan did not indicate at the time when he would issue a decision on the request. More than a week later, it remains unclear whether he will address it before the case goes to the jury.
WHAT MUST BE PROVED FOR A CONVICTION?
Jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are expected to begin deliberations on Wednesday after receiving instructions from the judge on the law that governs the case and what they can consider as they strive toward a verdict in the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.
The panel has a weighty task ahead of them — deciding whether to convict or acquit Trump of some, all or none of the 34 felony counts he’s charged with.
But what had to be proved for a conviction?
To convict Trump of felony falsifying business records, prosecutors had to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely but also did so withintent to commit or conceal another crime. Any verdict must be unanimous.
To prevent a conviction, the defense needed to convince at least one juror that prosecutors didn’t prove Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard for criminal cases.
If the jury deadlocks after several days of deliberations and are unable to reach a unanimous verdict, the judge may declare a mistrial.
