Lawyers in Trump hush money case hope lengthy deliberations result in hung jury: sources

As jurors begin their second day of deliberations in former President Donald Trump’s criminal case Thursday, sources say Trump’s legal team believes the longer the jury deliberates, the more they hope for a hung jury.

The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment that his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid to Stormy Daniels to improve her electoral chances during of the 2016 presidential election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump’s lawyers view the jury’s requests to rehear testimony in the case as a mixed bag, the sources said – not positive news that jurors wanted to rehear the former National publisher’s testimony Enquirer, David Pecker, but at the same time feeling optimistic that jurors asked for parts of Cohen’s transcript.

The jury asked to rehear Pecker’s testimony about a June 2016 phone call with Trump regarding the tabloid’s response to a potential story about former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s alleged year-long affair with Trump – which he denied – as did Pecker’s. decision regarding the allocation of rights to its story.

They also asked to hear testimony from Pecker and Cohen about the August 2015 Trump Tower meeting that sparked the plan to capture and kill negative stories.

Trump’s lawyers are looking for any indication that the jury will investigate questions surrounding Cohen’s credibility, which go to the heart of their defense, according to the sources.

“We want chaos…we want evidence of strong disagreements,” a person close to Trump’s legal team said of the jury, signaling his hope that at least one juror will raise doubts about the theories presented by the prosecution.

While it wouldn’t be surprising to Trump’s team if a verdict were reached Thursday, they hope deliberations will continue into next week, a sign that there could be serious doubts among members of the jury that could result in a hung jury, the sources said. .