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Jurors in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial are pondering the charges.
After just a few hours of deliberations Wednesday, they asked the judge to read out four key pieces of testimony he had heard.
They focused on parts that suggested he may have been trying to understand the details of a conspiracy to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about her allegations of a sexual relationship with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Meanwhile, Trump has launched new attacks on the lawsuit, saying he doesn’t know what’s going on.
“I have no idea what crime I am being charged with in this rigged trial. I have the right to disclose the details just like anyone else,” he posted on Truth Social after the jury began deliberations. “There is no crime!”
More than a year ago, the New York District Attorney’s Office indicted Trump on 34 first-degree counts of falsifying business records.
For more than a month, Trump listened to testimony from 20 witnesses and five hours of closing arguments from prosecutor Joshua Steinglass laying out his case.
The day-long testimony detailed 34 records – invoices, checks and ledger entries – including nine that Mr Trump had handwritten in his trademark mountain range signature.
The judge has already explained the charges.
Reading Trump’s comments Wednesday and his social media posts, it appears his campaign is trying to sow confusion about a simple part of jury work.
The jury must return a verdict of “guilty” or “not guilty” on all 34 charges, one for each record.
In New York, the crime of “falsifying business records” is considered a misdemeanor on its own, but each charge can be upgraded to a felony if a jury finds that it was done with the intent to commit or conceal another crime that is a felony in itself.
According to prosecutors, the felony statute Trump violated or attempted to cover up was New York State Election Law Section 17-152, which says Trump conspired to benefit himself “by unlawful means” in the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors laid out three “illegal steps” that Trump may have taken in his plan to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels 11 days before the 2016 presidential election.
- Violating federal campaign finance laws.
- Cause certain invoices, bank records, or tax documents to contain false information.
- Submitting false tax documents.
To convict Trump, jurors would need to unanimously agree on each of the 34 forgery charges.
But they do not have They need to agree on which of three “illegal steps” Trump took to falsify each document.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan made that clear during his hour-long instructions to the jury Wednesday morning.
“We must unanimously conclude that the defendants conspired to promote or obstruct election to public office by unlawful means, but we need not be unanimous as to what those unlawful means were,” Judge Marchan told the jury.
Trump’s eyes appeared to be closed as Marchan gave instructions to the jury.
The 77-year-old Republican presidential candidate sat motionless in his chair, hands in his lap, grimacing.
One moment he appears to stretch his back and arms in his seat, then he slumps back down in the padded leather chair.
Judge Juan Merchan is attending President Trump’s criminal trial.
REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Last week, Judge Marchan shot down an attempt by Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, to ask the jury for “very specific findings” on alleged New York election violations. Trump also had his eyes closed for much of the courtroom hearing.
“What you’re asking me to do is change the law, and I’m not going to do that,” Marchan told Trump’s lawyers.
As jurors began deliberations on Wednesday, Trump’s allies made false claims about their jury service.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is widely believed to be under consideration as Trump’s running mate, posted a false claim on X that “the judge in the New York City Trump case told jurors they didn’t have to unanimously agree on what crimes were committed.”
It was reposted by Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign.
On Truth Social, Trump quoted Fox News host Jesse Watters, who falsely claimed that “juries can pick any crime they want.”
Jurors appeared to be trying to clarify their roles: They were not allowed to bring a copy of the judge’s instructions into the deliberation room, and before the end of court deliberations on Wednesday, they asked Marchan to read it to them again.
At the end of the day, Trump seemed confused about what he should be confused about.
“The other confusion is nobody knows what the crime is because there isn’t a crime,” Trump told reporters in a hallway outside the courtroom before leaving. “Nobody knows what the crime is. The prosecutors didn’t name the crime. They don’t know what the crime is.”