By Graham Kates, Katrina Kaufman
/ CBS News
Jury begins deliberations in Trump trial
The jury in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York will resume their deliberations toward reaching a verdict on Thursday, one day after they received their instructions for deciding the case.
The 12 Manhattan residents who sit on the jury met behind closed doors for nearly five hours on Wednesday. They ended the day by asking to review several portions of testimony from two witnesses in the case, David Pecker and Michael Cohen, about key interactions both men said they had with Trump in 2015 and 2016.
The jurors also asked the judge to repeat the instructions that will guide their deliberations. The testimony and instructions will be read in court when the jury returns at 9:30 a.m.
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from reimbursements for a “hush money” payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Prosecutors say Trump tried to cover up the payment by disguising the purpose of the reimbursements.
The testimony that the jurors asked to review dealt with several interactions involving Cohen, Trump and Pecker, who was the CEO of American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. Prosecutors say the three engaged in a “catch and kill” scheme to bury negative stories about Trump.
The jury asked to hear portions of the testimony dealing with Pecker’s testimony about a phone call he had with Trump; his decision to decline to transfer to Cohen the life rights of a former Playboy model who said she had sex with Trump; and a meeting at Trump Tower in 2015. They also requested Cohen’s testimony about the Trump Tower meeting.
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
