Deliberations under way in Donald Trump

a warm welcome to the program I'm Mark Lobel we start in the US where jury deliberations have begun in former US president Donald Trump's hush money trial Mr Trump as you may remember is facing counts of falsifying business records prosecutors accused the former president of an elaborate scheme that violated campaign Finance laws to cover up a $hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels well those business records include entries in business

ledgers kept by the Trump organization checks and check stubs from a Donald J Trump account and invoices from his former lawyer Michael Cohen who testified that he paid Daniels on behalf of trump to suppress her claims of an affair from our North America correspondent Nea toik is in New York with the latest the jury went home without reaching a verdict on the first day deliberating for nearly hours the judge started off the Morning by instructing them telling them to

not let any bias against Donald Trump get in the way and to decide this case on the facts and he instructed them that they need to find two parts to find Donald Trump guilty first that he personally or in concert with others falsified business records and secondly that he did that to conceal with intent to conceal another crime they said that other crime could include a violation of New York or federal election law or even tax violations and he also told them that they

can't convict Donald Trump on Michael Cohen's word alone he said under the law Michael Cohen is an accomplice and they must find corroborating evidence to back up his testimony but here we are day one of deliberations down and they will return again to resume those deliberations on what will be a historic decision well let's speak to Mark linquist former district attorney in seattle-based lawyer Mark we were just listening to Neda there quite a lot of questions um that the

jury have asked actually because of the judge's orders there that they need to listen back to and come into the court today to hear about so any indication of how long it might now take them uh to come back with a verdict questions like these are not unusual nobody else side of the Jury Room really can say how long they might deliberate that said this is a

sort of strange and complicated case that could drag on for days strange and complicated with those terms that the jury has to meet that were outlined by Nea there so How likely is a hung jury do you think in a case like this I think yeah I think that's highly likely in fact I think a hung jury is probably the most likely result given the complications given the political undertones and given people's generally polarized feelings about Mr Trump so you're saying that you think that

the jury themselves might be might be split because of the different factors involved correct I think that's highly likely that they cannot reach a verdict I mean if they did reach a guilty verdict presumably an appeal would follow in any case correct they would set sentencing out into July uh in the meantime Mr Trump's lawyers will file an appeal and I would

expect Mr Trump will stay out of custody pending that appeal so that's important is it so what would happen to Mr Trump and how long would that whole process take yeah that process could drag on for one two three years in other words Mr Trump is going to either win an election or lose an election before that appeal is resolved have you ever seen a

case like this I have never seen a case like this fortunately and I hope to never see a case like this again and and what what have you learned from from this type of case and what does it say about the justice system in America well I'm not sure it says something about the justice system but it certainly has given many people the impression that the

prosecution has been politicized and prosecutions should not be politicized prosecution should be based of course on the evidence so I think the the aftertaste of this case is a sense of our politics spilling into our justice system which is not a good thing all right Mark linquist former district attorney and Seattle based lawyer thank you for your comments on

the case thank you"

warm welcome to the program I'm Mark Lobel we start in the US where jury deliberations have begun in former US president Donald Trump's hush money trial Mr Trump as you may remember is facing 34 counts of falsifying business

records prosecutors accused the former president of an elaborate scheme that violated campaign Finance laws to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels well those business records include entries in

business ledgers kept by the Trump organization checks and check stubs from a Donald J Trump account and invoices from his former lawyer Michael Cohen who testified that he paid Daniels on behalf of trump to suppress her claims of an affair from 2006 our North America correspondent Nea toik is in New York with the latest the jury went home without

reaching a verdict on the first day deliberating for nearly 5 hours the judge started off the Morning by instructing them telling them to not let any bias against Donald Trump get in the way and to decide this case on the facts and he instructed them that they need to find two parts to find Donald Trump guilty first that he personally or in concert with
others falsified business records and secondly that he did that to conceal with intent to conceal another crime they said

that other crime could include a violation of New York or federal election law or even tax violations and he also told them that they can't convict Donald Trump on Michael Cohen's word alone he said under the law Michael Cohen is an accomplice and they must find corroborating evidence to back up his testimony but here we are day one of deliberations down and they will return again to resume those deliberations on what will be a historic decision well let's

speak to Mark linquist former district attorney in seattle-based lawyer Mark we were just listening to Neda there quite a lot of questions um that the jury have asked actually because of the judge's orders there that they need to listen back to and come into the court today to hear about so any indication of how long it might now take them uh to come back with

a verdict questions like these are not unusual nobody else side of the Jury Room really can say how long they might deliberate that said this is a sort of strange and complicated case that could drag on for days strange and complicated with those terms that the jury has to meet that were outlined by Nea there so How likely is a hung jury do you think in a

case like this I think yeah I think that's highly likely in fact I think a hung jury is probably the most likely result given the complications given the political undertones and given people's generally polarized feelings about Mr Trump so you're saying that you think that the jury themselves might be might be split because of the different factors involved correct I think that's highly likely that they cannot reach a verdict I mean if they did reach a guilty verdict presumably an appeal

would follow in any case correct they would set sentencing out into July uh in the meantime Mr Trump's lawyers will file an appeal and I would expect Mr Trump will stay out of custody pending that appeal so that's important is it so what would happen to Mr Trump and how long would that whole process take yeah that process could drag on for one two three years in other words Mr Trump is going to either win an election or lose an election before that appeal is resolved

have you ever seen a case like this I have never seen a case like this fortunately and I hope to never see a case like this again and and what what have you learned from from this type of case and what does it say about the justice system in America well I'm not sure it says something about the justice system but it certainly has given many people the impression that the prosecution has been politicized and prosecutions should not be politicized prosecution should be

based of course on the evidence so I think the the aftertaste of this case is a sense of our politics spilling into our justice system which is not a good thing all right Mark linquist former district attorney and Seattle based lawyer thank you for your comments on the case thank you"

Jury deliberations have started in Donald Trump's hush money trial, where he faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors allege Trump used an elaborate scheme to violate campaign finance laws, paying $130,000 to adult film star

Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair in 2006.
Evidence presented includes business ledgers, checks, and invoices from Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
The judge instructed the jury to decide solely based on facts, warning against bias and emphasizing the need for corroborating evidence alongside Cohen's testimony.
The case's complexity and political implications suggest a hung jury as a likely outcome, with potential appeals

dragging the process for years, indicating a politicization of the justice system.