After deliberating for around four hours on Wednesday in former President Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial, jurors were dismissed and court ended for the day without a verdict.
Court will resume at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Earlier on Wednesday, Judge Juan Merchan detailed instructions to the jury as they decide whether Trump is guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to prevent it from becoming public during his 2016 presidential bid.
Here’s a list of the 34 felony counts Trump faces.
Attorneys for both sides rested their cases last week after 20 days of testimony, including that of Daniels herself and Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and so-called fixer turned foe, who said Trump directed him to pay Daniels for her silence with the promise of reimbursement.
Throughout the trial, Trump has been joined in court by a number of high profile supporters, including Republican politicians and officials. The former president has been held in contempt of court and fined $10,000 for violating a gag order issued by the judge at the beginning of the trial to protect jurors, witnesses and other court staff.
Below, get live updates on the case, including direct quotes and other details from media reports.
Live73 updates
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Here’s what happened today
Day one of jury deliberations in Trump’s hush money trial ended without a verdict. But the 12 jurors on the panel that will decide whether Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records did get down to work. Here’s a recap of what transpired:
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Before court resumed, Trump attacked Judge Juan Merchan and appeared to again violate his gag order by going after witness Michael Cohen. “Kangaroo court! A corrupt and conflicted judge,” Trump wrote in all caps on Truth Social. “There was no crime, except for the bum that got caught stealing from me!”
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When court began, Merchan instructed the jury on how they should go about rendering a verdict in the case. “You and you alone are the judges of the facts,” he said.
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Jurors should not “speculate about matters related to sentence or punishment,” Merchan said, adding that he alone would be responsible for deciding those questions if Trump was found guilty.
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“If you are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged crime, you must find the defendant not guilty,” Merchan told the jury.
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Merchan then went over the specific charges Trump is facing. “A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when with intent to defraud, which includes the intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof, he makes or causes a false entry in the records of a business enterprise.” He then sent the jury to begin their deliberations.
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After nearly four hours, the jury sent the court two notes. One requested that portions of the testimony be reread. The second asked the judge to repeat his instructions.
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