New York Jury Resumes Deliberations On Day 2 In Trump’s ‘Hush Money’ Criminal Trial

The jury in former President Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ case in New York has resumed deliberations today (Thursday).

It’s Day two of jury deliberations in the Trump case.

Judge Juan Merchan dismissed the jury for the day on Wednesday after they requested testimony on a meeting with Trump, his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen and former tabloid publisher David Pecker, according to CNN.

On Thursday, Judge Merchan read the part of his instructions covering reasonable doubt to the jury, according to CNN.

The instructions say in part, “Whatever your verdict may be, it must not rest upon baseless speculation. Nor may it be influenced in any way by bias, prejudice, sympathy or by a desire to bring an end to your deliberations or to avoid an unpleasant duty.”

The jurors on Wednesday asked to hear testimonies from Trump’s former lawyer Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker read back.

The court has heard from 22 witnesses over six weeks, including Stormy Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with Trump is at the centre of the case.

The former U.S. president faces over 34 felony counts, meaning the country now awaits a verdict in the first trial of a former president in its history.

According to BBC, the jury asked the judge for more information about the evidence they had heard over the last few weeks, including part of the testimony given by Pecker about a conversation he had with the former president.

Pecker, who is also a former CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), told the court how he and Cohen pursued a practice known as “catch-and-kill” to support Trump’s presidential run in 2016.

This involved buying the rights to stories that cast Trump in a bad light, and then never printing them, describing it as “an agreement between friends”.

At the heart of this case is a payment made days before Trump was elected president in 2016.

His attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair. Trump has denied the allegation.

According to prosecutors, Cohen was reimbursed by Trump in 12 monthly payments from the Trump Organization that were logged and characterised as checks for ongoing legal services.