Jury begins deliberations in Trump criminal hush money trial

Jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial began deliberations on Wednesday, retreating behind closed doors to weigh the evidence and testimony they have heard and seen over the past five weeks.

It was far from certain how long jurors might take to reach a verdict in the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Trump (77) is charged with falsifying business documents to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star shortly before the 2016 presidential election. He has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,” he told reporters outside the courtroom, referring to the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate. “The whole thing is rigged.”

Shortly before deliberations began, the judge overseeing the trial told jurors that they could not rely solely on the testimony of star witness Michael Cohen, who played a central role in the hush money payment at the heart of the case.

Justice Juan Merchan told jurors to apply extra scrutiny to Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, because he testified he was directly involved in Trump’s alleged effort to cover up the payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.

“Even if you find the testimony of Michael Cohen to be believable, you may not convict the defendant solely on that testimony unless you find it was corroborated by other evidence,” Merchan said.

Merchan’s comments were part of his detailed instructions to the 12 jurors and six alternates who have sat silently in a New York courtroom for weeks while prosecutors laid out their case and Trump’s lawyers tried to knock it down.

“You must set aside any personal opinions or bias you might have in favour of or against the defendant,” Merchan said.

2024 presidential race