Well, the lawyers spent the back half of this day
sort of quibbling over the instructions that the jury was
jurors will be given when they finally do get the
case.
This what's known as a a charge conference.
This is important. These are the final words the jurors
will hear,
hear before they decide the guilt or innocence of former
President Trump.
Now let's take a look at the calendar as we
move ahead.
As you mentioned, we're off a long break for the
holiday Friday through Memorial Day,
Monday. That's because the judge decided he didn't want anything
interrupted,
closing arguments and whatnot by the holiday.
So on Tuesday of next week,
we will have those closing arguments.
There's a possibility that could spill over into Wednesday,
but by lunchtime on Wednesday at the latest of next
week,
this will be in the hands of the 12 men
and women on the jury.
They
have no case. There's no crime.
Throughout his criminal trial, former President Donald Trump has had
plenty to say about the process and the judge,
including Tuesday when his defense team rested after calling 2
witnesses.
It's a kangaroo court. There's never been anything like this
that I've ever seen.
But Mr. Trump has been evasive about why he himself
did not take the stand.
Why must he testify about the crime?
The members of the jury cannot hold that against Mr.
Trump during deliberations next week.
What they can consider Did the former president create
34 falsified business records by reimbursing his former attorney Michael
Cohen,
for hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy
Daniels?
And was it done in furtherance of another crime,
like campaign finance fraud or to deceive voters before the
2016 election?
During the last month, we've been captivated by the spectacle
and often explosive testimony that comes with this historic case.
Just as the jury was seated,
a man lit himself on fire in the park across
from the courthouse,
eventually dying from his injuries.
Has a backpack, starts throwing papers.
He starts throwing some gasoline on himself,
lights him off on fire.
Then, midway through the case,
Justice Juan Marshawn explicitly threatened to put Mr.
Trump in jail for violating A gag order protecting witnesses
and the jury.
Focus then shifted to the salacious testimony of porn star
Stormy Daniels,
who described in detail an affair in Lake Tahoe with
Mr.
Trump back in 2006. The former president denies it happened.
Next came the star witness,
Michael Cohen, who connected the dots for the jury.
He stepped them through handwritten notes,
emails, and call logs while describing how he paid Daniels
for her silence and then was reimbursed by then President
Trump during 2017.
In response, the Trump defense got Cohen to admit he
lied several times to a federal judge,
to Congress, and to the public.
He even was forced to admit he stole money from
the Trump Organization.
The extent to which the jury believes Cohen could very
well determine the outcome of the case.
Mr. Trump's main witness was attorney Robert Costello,
who was brought in to call Cohen's credibility into further
question.
But he did so in such a combative way,
often ignoring instructions from Justice Marshawn that the judge partially
cleared the courtroom Monday to scold the witness.
So by mid to late next week,
what we're doing will be is essentially reading the tea
leaves.
The jury will inevitably be passing notes to the judge
asking for a clarification on this piece of evidence or
a read back of that testimony.
We'll be trying to parse out here what's going on
in that jury room,
but it is very likely we could be looking at
either a verdict or a hung jury by the end
of next week.
Live in lower Manhattan. Henry Rossoff Pix 11 News.