NEW YORK — Jurors in former President Trump’s hush-money case began deliberations just hours ago Wednesday before returning their first two letters, requesting to reconsider key testimony four times and asking to hear the judge’s instructions again before recessing.
Jurors will receive the requested information Thursday morning and continue to consider Trump’s fate.
In the first memo, 12 New Yorkers made four demands, one each concerning the testimony of key witnesses David Pecker and Michael Cohen.
The first notice was announced three and a half hours after the jury began its verdict, with a loud bell ringing in the courtroom. Within minutes, Trump and lawyers for both sides were back in the courtroom and the judge was seated announcing that the jury had sent in its notice. Another bell rang an hour later, as the jury sent in its second notice.
In their opening memo, the jurors first asked for recorded testimony from Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, about phone conversations he had with Trump during an investor meeting in New Jersey, and from Karen McDougal about the rights to her articles.
The other two requests in the initial jury requests relate to a key meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015 that prosecutors say sparked the so-called “catch-and-kill” arrangement that is the basis of Trump’s case.
Pecker said that in the call, Trump called McDougal, who claims to have had an affair with Trump, a “nice girl” and expressed concern about the execution of the hush money deal with the former Playboy model. Trump eventually told Pecker that Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, would be in touch about the arrangement.
In closing arguments Tuesday, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass pointed to the phone call as a key moment linking Trump to a plot to pave his way to the White House in 2016, a charge his lawyers have denied.
Jurors also requested recorded testimony about Pecker’s decision to vest and not fund McDougal’s life interest.
Pecker testified that he believed McDougal’s story would be “very embarrassing” to Trump and his campaign and needed to be bought. He coordinated with McDougal’s lawyers to pay $150,000 for the lifetime rights to McDougal and a host of other benefits, with Cohen promising that the tabloid would be repaid by “the boss” — Trump.
The original plan was to transfer McDougal’s life interest to a shell company set up by Cohen, but Pecker backed out at the last minute after consulting with lawyers. Pecker testified that an infuriated Cohen told him “the boss” was “going to be very angry” with him.
The New Yorker has demanded a review of the testimony of Pecker and Cohen, two men who attended an all-hands meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in August 2015 and who made hush money payments to porn actresses just before the 2016 election.
Both sides began scrambling to gather relevant records culled from the thousands of pages that recorded every word of the trial.
A second note was received from the jury requesting that they hear the judge’s instructions again. It took more than an hour to read the instructions Wednesday morning, with Marchan asking jurors to clarify whether they wanted the entire thing or just parts of it reread.
But for now, Judge Marchan dismissed the jury for the day after more than four hours of deliberation.
Updated 4:42 p.m.
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