Jury in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial ends 1st day of deliberations without verdict
Twelve jurors weighing the evidence in former U.S. president Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial ended the first round of deliberations without a verdict on Wednesday, meaning there will be at least one more day in the first criminal trial for an American president.
Two and a half hours after jurors began closed-door deliberations, the group asked the judge for transcripts of some witness testimony.
It was unclear how long they would take to reach a verdict.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charges that are punishable by up to four years in prison, though the judge would have discretion to issue a probationary sentence in the event of a conviction.
At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump had pleaded not guilty to the offences.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,” he told reporters outside the courtroom, referring to the late nun and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “The whole thing is rigged.”
Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial have begun deliberations, weighing the evidence and testimony they have heard and seen over the last five weeks.
After jurors left the courtroom to begin deliberations, Judge Juan M. Merchan told Trump and his lawyers that they were required to remain in the courthouse.
“You cannot leave the building. We need you to be able to get here quickly if we do receive a note,” Merchan said.
Intent to conceal crime needed, judge says
It is the first time a jury has ever considered criminal charges against a former president.
Trump, who is expected to the Republican candidate for president a third consecutive time, also faces three criminal indictments in other jurisdictions, though those cases have been bogged down in delays and over outstanding legal issues.
The historic deliberations followed Tuesday’s whirlwind of closing arguments, during which 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.
The defence targeted the credibility of star witness Cohen. Defence lawyer Todd Blanche branded Trump’s former lawyer as “the greatest liar of all time” while urging jurors to quickly acquit his client.
Prosecutors are required to prove two elements for each of the counts in order to find Trump guilty, 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” of a business. Prosecutors must also prove that Trump did so with the intent to commit or conceal another crime.
Actor Robert De Niro had strong words when asked about a character he would never choose to play. His answer was former U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he is ‘not even a human,’ and went further by refusing to call him a pig, because doing so would be a ‘disservice to pigs.’
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:
- Violations of federal campaign finance law.
- Falsifying other business records, such as paperwork used to establish the bank account used to pay Daniels, bank records and tax forms.
- 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.”
Merchan also went over New York’s law against “conspiracy to promote or prevent election,” a statute that’s important to the case. Under New York law, it’s a misdemeanour 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.
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, because while Trump signed some of the cheques at issue, people working for his company processed Cohen’s invoices and entered the transactions into its accounting system.
The prosecution and defence make their arguments at the Donald Trump hush-money trial, where the prosecution is arguing the evidence is irrefutable and the defence argues Trump is the real victim and key witness Michael Cohen can’t be trusted.
‘No particular formula’ to assess witnesses: judge
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.
The judge 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.”
Merchan also reminded jurors of their vow, during jury selection, “to set aside any personal bias you may have in favour of or against” Trump and decide the case “fairly based on the evidence of the law.”
He also reminded them that the burden of proof remains on the prosecutor and that Trump is “not required to prove that he is not guilty.”
The Current10:50Jury deliberates in Trump hush money trial
The jury is set to deliberate in Donald Trump’s hush money trial. The Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett takes us inside a wild trial that is already having political ramifications.
After the main jury left the courtroom Wednesday, 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.
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.
Published at Wed, 29 May 2024 17:08:51 +0000
‘Finish them’: Nikki Haley’s message on Israeli artillery shell condemned amid Rafah assault
Amnesty International is among those criticizing Nikki Haley, a former Republican presidential contender and one-time U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, after she wrote “Finish Them!” on an Israeli artillery shell during a recent visit to Israel amid the ongoing assault on Gaza that has left tens of thousands dead in the past eight months.
An image of Haley crouched in front of pallets of shells, writing with a marker on one, was shared on social media Tuesday by Danny Danon, an Israeli politician and former ambassador to the UN who accompanied Haley during her visit this past weekend to Israel’s border with Lebanon.
A second image he shared showed Haley’s signed message: “Finish them — America Israel, Always.”
The Israeli military and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have been engaged in cross-border hostilities since the aftermath of the Hamas-led militant attacks on Oct. 7 and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Finish them!<br><br>זה מה שכתבה היום חברתי, השגרירה לשעבר, ניקי היילי על פגז במהלך ביקור במוצב של תותחנים בגבול הצפון. <br><br>הגיע הזמן לשינוי משוואה – תושבי צור וצידון יתפנו, תושבי הצפון יחזרו.<br><br>צה”ל יכול לנצח! <a href=”https://t.co/qvLNCXPl7o”>pic.twitter.com/qvLNCXPl7o</a>
—@dannydanon
“All eyes need to be on Lebanon,” Haley said in an interview with Israeli media the same day. “Because what everybody is doing is talking about Gaza — and that’s a real war, that’s a real fight — but what you’re seeing up north, Israel is having to fight off attacks from Lebanon every single day.
“The pressure needs to be put on Lebanon,” she said, “and make sure that Lebanon knows that if Hezbollah gets away with anything, hurting anyone, that there should be a price to pay.”
Haley highlighted that 60,000 Israelis have been unable to return to their homes in northern Israel amid the exchanges of rocket fire over the border that have also claimed 24 lives in Israel, including 10 civilians and 14 soldiers.
Nearly 94,000 people have been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon, according to the most recent update from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), while at least 83 Lebanese civilians have been killed since October, along with nearly 300 Hezbollah fighters.
But Haley’s photo-op and her controversial message followed a global outcry over an Israeli airstrike on Sunday that killed at least 45 people when a blaze ignited in a tent camp in a western district of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a former haven for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians until the Israel Defence Forces began its offensive there more than three weeks ago.
The World Court last week ordered Israel to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide. Israel denies genocide allegations.
Haley’s trip to Israel also included stops in areas attacked by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, including the site of the Nova music festival and the community of Kibbutz Nir Oz.
During the visit to the kibbutz on Monday, Haley defended Israel’s invasion of Rafah and the war in Gaza, making similar remarks about that the Israeli military needs to “finish” Hamas.
“And what they are having to do now is surgical, to go in there and make sure they eliminate Hamas. You’ll remember when this happened, I said finish them. They need to finish Hamas. Don’t stop until they finish.”
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and one-time Republican presidential candidate, visited Kibbutz Nir Oz — which was among the places in Israel that Hamas attacked on Oct. 7 — and spoke to a woman whose parents were taken hostage. ‘I will always push America to do what I think is the right thing, which is you stand by your friends,’ Haley said on May 27.
Human rights groups were quick to criticize Haley.
“Conflict is no place for stunts. Conflict has rules. Civilians must be protected,” Amnesty International said in a statement on Wednesday reacting to Haley’s action.
“Why not just sign ‘I favour Israeli war crimes,'” Kenneth Roth, a former Human Rights Watch executive director, said Tuesday night of Haley in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Later on Wednesday, Haley posted on X: “Israel must do whatever is necessary to protect her people from evil,” adding that Israel was fighting “enemies” of the United States.
Reuters could not reach Haley for comment on Wednesday.
Haley has been a longstanding supporter of Israel, whose war in Gaza has come under mounting international criticism, divided U.S. lawmakers over the Biden administration’s support, and prompted protests at campuses across the United States and Canada.
According to Israeli tallies, the militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized more than 250 hostages in the attacks.
Israel has also reported that 132 hostages remain in Gaza, but at least 38 of them have been declared dead. At least three hostages were killed by IDF fire in what the military called a case of mistaken identity.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza puts the death toll from the Israeli airstrikes and military operations at over 36,000.
Among the victims identified as of the end of last month, approximately 5,000 were women and 7,800 were children.
There is also widespread hunger in the narrow coastal enclave and nearly its entire 2.3 million population has been displaced.
Published at Wed, 29 May 2024 23:00:03 +0000
