The jury on Wednesday afternoon began deliberations that will decide the outcome of the business records trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan.
The deliberations began shortly after Judge Juan Merchan gave jurors instructions on how they should consider the charges against the former president and current Republican presidential candidate.
A verdict could be reached as early as Friday.
Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.
There were varying reports as to whether Merchan told the jurors that they needed to agree on each count in order to convict Trump.
CNN reported the jury “must be unanimous if they find Trump guilty on each count — on whether he committed the personally, acted in concert with others or both.”
However, according to Fox News’s John Roberts, Merchan told the jury they did not need unanimity to convict.
Lawyer Bradley Moss said that the jurors have to be unanimous about Trump falsifying business records and agree that he did so with the intent to commit another crime but do not have to be unanimous on what the other crime was.
People keep harping on this but are missing the context. They have to be unanimous that Trump falsified the records and did so with the intent to commit another crime.
They do not have to be unanimous on what the other crime was: that’s the rule under NY law. https://t.co/jLdLU7a0g2
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) May 29, 2024
This is a developing report.