The mood flips from torpor to high tension in a second on the high-security 15th floor of the grimy old Manhattan courthouse where a jury will resume deliberations on Donald Trump’s fate Thursday morning.
Seven men and five women jurors, headed by a foreperson who grew up in Ireland, were deep into a fourth hour of their historic task when they shattered the oppressive tedium of Wednesday afternoon.
A buzzer demanding the judge’s attention sounded, suddenly sending lawyers, court staff, police and reporters rushing for their seats. Then Trump arrived from his holding room, tugging heavily on his lapels.
In the end, the alarm did not herald a verdict in the hush money trial that could brand the 45th president a convicted felon. It was a note from the jury asking for a read back of several long and dense pieces of testimony, from former tabloid kingpin David Pecker and the star prosecution witness, Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen.
Their testimony gets right to the question of Trump’s intent in seeking to snuff out scandalous stories about his personal life, which may shed light on the payoff to adult film star Stormy Daniels facilitated by Cohen, according to prosecutors, under his boss’ orders. (Trump has denied the alleged affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty in the case.)
As Judge Juan Merchan and lawyers combed transcripts filled with complex and sometimes seedy testimony, the buzzer buzzed again, with a new request from the locked down jury.
Reporters in an overflow courtroom groaned when it emerged that jurors wanted to hear Merchan’s instructions — which he spent a painstaking hour reading aloud Wednesday morning — all over again.
The jury’s desire to wade through testimony suggested that no verdict was imminent — and that they grasped the magnitude of their duty in a case that is critical to Trump’s reputation and the nation’s future.
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