First Preliminary Report of New York State Sen. Y.C.R. Trump’s Electoral’ Explicit Campaign”
It is a New York criminal law for Trump to not campaign as much as he wants since the court is in session. He accused the judge of being biased.
There’s no dispute about the fact of the payments. What prosecutors needed to prove is that Trump made them in order to cover up other crimes, such as violating campaign finance law and mischaracterizing the payments for tax purposes.
The verdict needs to be unanimous. If all 12 jurors can’t agree, the jury is considered “hung,” and the judge will declare a mistrial. The case will be looked at by the district attorney in deciding whether or not to try it again.
The jurors wanted to know how they should consider certain testimony and New York tax law in their deliberations.
Trump lied to hide another crime: jury testimony in Pecker’s 2015 meeting with Donald Pecker and his former communications aide David Pecker
According to prosecutors, Trump lied in order to hide another crime. The instructions say the other crime could be tax or campaign finance violations and does not need to be agreed upon or proven.
In order to determine this, the jury may look at three of the prosecution’s theories: Federal Election Campaign Act violation, falsification of other business records or violation of tax laws.
After giving up their cellphones, the jurors will begin to deliberate. They have a single laptop with all the evidence. They will deliberate until at least 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. The legal teams and Trump have been instructed not to leave the building in case there is a jury note that could indicate a question or a possible verdict.
On the stand, Cohen described a repayment scheme that formed the basis of the 34 counts of falsified business records: 11 falsified invoices, 12 falsified ledger entries and 11 checks falsely recording the repayment as legal “retainers.” Trump signed all but nine of the checks.
In August 2015, two months after Trump announced his 2016 presidential bid, David Pecker, then the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower, according to Pecker’s testimony.
At that meeting, Pecker testified, it was agreed that he would be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign. He was looking for negative stories of women and buying the rights to their stories so that they would never be published.
According to the testimony of a former Trump communications aide, when the Access Hollywood tape was released, the campaign was dealt a huge blow. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the p****.”
The next day, according to Pecker, Cohen and Davidson, Daniels threatened to go public with accusations she’d had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite during a celebrity golf tournament.
She testified that Trump had dangled a possible role on his TV show Celebrity Apprentice. The defense requested a mistrial because of this detail, which was denied. It provided an excuse for Trump to suppress the story. Trump knew what happened in that hotel room, but he didn’t want it to come out. Some of the intimate details of her alleged sexual encounter that were included in the testimony of an adult film actor were not necessary according to the judge.
The bank statement shows Cohen’s wire transfer. That record included handwritten notes from Cohen and Trump’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, describing the $130,000 payment that would be “grossed up” to cover Cohen’s taxes. A bonus and reimbursement of more than $400,000 was paid out over 12 months at a monthly rate of $35,000.
A number of other witnesses were able to point out that Trump paid to influence the election in favor of women voters. She was told that it was better for the story to come out last year, rather than in 2016 as they had said before.
The payments would be described as pursuant to a “legal retainer.” Weisselberg is currently serving jail time for perjury and did not testify.
Cohen said he and Weisselberg met with Trump on or around January 17th, 2020 before he left for Washington. Cohen said Trump approved the deal, saying at the end of the meeting that “it was going to be one heck of a ride,” in Washington. Cohen said he had another conversation with Trump in the Oval Office in February. White House records show that the two met in the Oval Office.
Associated Trials in New York City During the 2016 Election: Trump’s Attorney General Michael Cohen and his Clients, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal
If Trump is convicted, Merchan would later issue the sentence, which may or may not include prison time; some legal experts believe imprisonment for a former president is unlikely. A conviction won’t stop Trump from continuing his bid for president or the GOP nomination. The legal team will likely appeal the decision, which is common in civil trials in New York.
The jurors range from all over Manhattan, including Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Murray Hill and the Upper West Side. They’re lawyers, teachers, physical therapists and investment bankers. Their hobbies include hiking and travel to New York City. There are seven men and five women.
There are safety concerns that make it difficult to ensure that the jury is anonymous. Jurors are identified by numbers, are not allowed to be photographed or recorded, and only lawyers have access to their names.
The jury returned to the courtroom at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday to review the requests they had made during their first five hours of deliberations. They wanted portions of the testimony read back to them.
The jurors wanted to know about the phone call, the negotiation of a story, and the meeting between Trump and Karen McDougal. They requested Michael Cohen to testify about that Trump Tower meeting. The transcript was read by the stenographers.
During the trial prosecutors said that during the meeting at Trump Tower, the three of THEM entered into a pact to find stories against Trump that would hurt his campaign. This deal is what lead to the payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Both were paid to keep quiet about alleged affairs with Trump in the months leading up to the 2016 election.