Jurors at Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial asked to revisit testimony about his role in an alleged « conspiracy » to hide sex scandals from 2016 voters as deliberations kicked off Wednesday.
Jurors at Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial asked to revisit testimony about his role in an alleged conspiracy to hide sex scandals from 2016 voters as deliberations kicked off Wednesday in the unprecedented case.
The seven men and five women on the panel — including two lawyers, a retired wealth manager, a speech therapist, and people who both praised and criticized Trump — weighed the evidence for nearly five hours before breaking for the day.
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,” a glum Trump, 77, told news cameras in the courthouse hallway shortly after deliberations started at around 11:37 a.m.
“The charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,” the presumptive GOP presidential nominee claimed to reporters.
About three-and-half hours into their work, jurors came back with a note for the court asking to rehear testimony describing Trump’s alleged knowledge of what prosecutors say was an illegal scheme to buy and bury stories before the 2016 election from women who claimed to have affairs with him.
Jurors asked to revisit National Enquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony about a June 2016 phone call in which he said Trump asked him whether they should pay Playboy model Karen McDougal to buy her silence about her alleged affair with the real estate mogul.
Pecker testified that he advised Trump to make the payment to “take the story off the market.”
“I believed the story was true,” he recalled telling Trump in the phone call.
“I believe it would have been very embarrassing to himself and also to his campaign.”
Pecker also recalled Trump telling him that he feared McDougal’s story would eventually get out anyway.
“[Trump] said, ‘I don’t buy any stories.
