Trump hush money trial: Trump found guilty on all counts in historic case
Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his hush money trial.
Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty on all 34 felony counts related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been convicted on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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Trump guilty on all 34 counts
Alternate jurors will stay through deliberations
As the 12 main jurors left the courtroom, most appeared to look away from Trump as they passed his counsel table.
The six alternate jurors remained in the courtroom after the 12 main jurors left to begin deliberations.
"We are not going to excuse you just yet," Judge Merchan told the alternates,
He asked them to stick around through the deliberations. though they won't participate in the deliberations themselves.
Jury begins deliberating in historic case
"That concludes my instructions on the law. Counsel please approach," Judge Merchan said when he was done instructing the jury.
He held a sidebar with the attorneys, after which the jurors filed out of the courtroom to begin deliberations.
Merchan tells jurors be firm but considerate of other jurors
Judge Merchan emphasized that jurors each need to come to an individual decision about the verdict after hearing and understanding the view of the other jurors.
"Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but only after a fair and impartial consideration of the evidence with the other jurors," Merchan said.
"You should discuss the evidence and consult with each other, listen to each other, give the others' views careful consideration," he said. "You should not surrender an honest view of the evidence simply because you want the trial to end, or because you're outvoted."
"Your verdict on each count you consider must ... be unanimous -- that is, each and every juror must agree to it," Merchan said.
Merchan said that the jury foreperson will read the verdict for each of the charged counts. Merchan will then poll the entire jury to confirm their verdict.
Judge reviews law on falsifying business records
Judge Merchan read the jury the New York state law related to falsifying business records.
"Under our law, a person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when, with intent to defraud that includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof," Merchan read.
Few of the jurors appeared to be taking the notes at that point.
Jury rehears Pecker's testimony about Trump, National Enquirer
The jury heard a readback of David Pecker's testimony about Donald Trump dating the "most beautiful women," the National Enquirer's coverage of Bill Clinton's "womanizing," and the "mutually beneficial" relationship between the tabloid and the Trump campaign.
Q: Can you explain to the jury how the topic of women in particular came up?
A: Well, in a presidential campaign I was the person that thought that there would be a number -- a lot of women come out to try to sell their stories, because Mr. Trump was well-known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women. And it was clear that based on my past experience, that when someone is running for a public office like this, the -- it is very common for these women to call up a magazine like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories. Or I would hear it in the marketplace through other sources that stories are being marketed.
Q: Did you have or express any ideas about how you may be able to help kind of deal with those stories by women?
A: All I said was I would notify Michael Cohen.
Q: What about Bill and Hillary Clinton, did their names up during this meeting?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you explain how?
A: As I mentioned earlier, my having the National Enquirer, which is a weekly magazine, and you focus on the cover of the magazine and who -- and who and what is the story that is the topic of the week, the Hillary running for president and Bill Clinton's womanizing was the biggest, one of the biggest sales I had for the National Enquirer and the other tabloids, that's the other things that the readers wanted to read about and that's what I would sell weekly. So I was running the Hillary Clinton stories. I was running Hillary as an enabler for Bill Clinton, with respect to all of the womanizing. And I was -- it was easy for me to say that I'm going to continue running those type of stories for the National Enquirer.
Q: And did you believe that that would help Mr. Trump's campaign?
A: I think it was a mutual benefit. It would help his campaign; it would also help me.
The jury also heard the testimony where Pecker testified that he never purchased stories to kill for Trump prior to the 2016 election.
Q: And what was the purpose of notifying Michael Cohen when you came upon stories like that?
A: Well, as I did in the past, that would be in the past eight years, when I notified Michael Cohen of a story that was a negative story, he would try to vet it himself to see if the story was true or not. He would go to the individual publication to get the story to make sure the story wasn't published and getting killed.
Q: Prior to that August 2015 meeting, had you ever purchased a story to not print it about Mr. Trump?
A: No.