No Quick Verdict In Trump Hush-Money Trial As Jury Is Dismissed After First Day Of Deliberations

The presiding judge in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial in New York dismissed the jury for the rest of the day on Wednesday, meaning a verdict will have to wait.

Jurors are expected to resume deliberations at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.

In the hours leading up to the dismissal, jurors made two requests.

The first note they sent to the judge was to ask for transcripts of witness testimony from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.

A second request asked to rehear the judge’s jury instructions, which is expected to be resolved on Thursday.

The trial, which began last month, has featured jury selection, opening arguments, testimony from nearly two dozen witnesses, and closing arguments. Jury deliberations began on Wednesday.

At the heart of the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg are 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal damaging information around the 2016 election.

Trump is accused of improperly masking reimbursements to repay his former lawyer, Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence on an alleged extramarital affair in 2006 by classifying them as legal expenses.

If a guilty verdict is ultimately dealt, Trump will become the first former U.S. president to have been convicted of a crime. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.

Legal experts doubt the 77-year-old Trump will end up being incarcerated, though efforts have reportedly been made to coordinate with the Secret Service just in case.The presiding judge is expected to schedule a separate hearing to determine a sentence. Possible alternatives to imprisonment include probation or community service.

Trump has also been trying to fend off three other criminal matters ahead of a potential 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden in November’s White House contest.

Biden’s campaign hosted an event outside the courthouse at which actor Robert De Niro claimed that American freedoms “will perish from the Earth” if Trump wins the election.

Some last-minute controversy began on Wednesday with the jury instructions that Merchan gave right before deliberations began, prompting Trump to say the trial was “rigged.”