Trump

Brennan Center for Justice -For criminal trials in New York State, the jury must unanimously agree on the verdict. This means that one lone juror can serve as a holdout, forcing what is called a hung jury. If 11 of Trump’s jurors agree on a conviction and 1 disagrees, for example, the presiding judge, Juan Merchan, would likely suggest that they continue to deliberate and try to come to a decision. If the jurors still can’t reach a consensus, Merchan would need to eventually call a mistrial, which is when a trial is terminated before a verdict is handed down. Importantly, a mistrial is not the same as an acquittal of the charges, so a hung jury is not necessarily a win for the former president. It would be up to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to decide whether to retry the case. Trump’s lawyers have already pleaded their case for a mistrial earlier in the case, arguing that Daniels’s testimony was prejudicial, or that it wouldn’t allow the jury to reach an impartial verdict. Merchan denied their motion. It’s also possible that the jurors will agree to convict on some but not all of the charges, which could result in the court accepting a partial verdict. In this event, Manhattan prosecutors would still be able to retry the former president.  

Guardian, UK - Here are the biggest moments from Thursday’s testimony: 

Did Cohen talk to Trump about Daniels – or complain about prank calls?

Blanche poked holes in Cohen’s testimony that he’d talked to Trump on a 24 October 2016 call he placed to Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller. Cohen had testified that he had called Schiller, who was usually at Trump’s side and who put Cohen on the phone with Trump to “discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it”.

“That’s a lie,” Blanche yelled at Cohen, pointing to a text where Cohen sent Schiller the number of a 14-year-old who kept prank-calling him. Cohen admitted that complaining about the prank calls was part of the conversation but insisted he also talked to Trump about Daniels during the 96-second phone call. Whether or not the jury believes him could be a major factor in this case’s result.

Legitimate legal expenses?

Blanche tried to undercut the core charge leveled by the prosecution: that Trump falsified business records by mislabeling the money he sent Cohen as legal expenses. Blanche asked Cohen if the contract he got Daniels to sign was “a completely legal binding contract”, which Cohen affirmed. That could convince jurors that Cohen’s repayment was a legitimate legal expense, blowing apart the charges against Trump.

No gig for Cohen

Blanche sought to paint Cohen as a jilted ex-employee. He asked about Cohen getting another Trump campaign surrogate to advocate for him for a high-up White House job. Cohen insisted he had just wanted to be Trump’s personal attorney, but admitted “it would have been nice to have been invited” to Washington with the Trump crew.

‘Giddy with joy’

Blanche played multiple clips of Cohen’s podcast where Cohen attacked Trump, including one where he said the idea of Trump going to prison made him “giddy with joy”.

A lying liar

Cohen was forced to admit he had lied under oath in previous situations, both in court and to Congress. Cohen admitted he’d falsified the number of times he’d talked to Trump about a real estate deal in Moscow during 2017 testimony to Congress, and Blanche got him to admit that he’d lied to a federal judge about accepting responsibility in a 2018 plea deal in order to keep his wife out of legal jeopardy. “The reason you lied to a federal judge was because stakes affected you personally?” Blanche asked. “Yes,” Cohen responded.