After the first day of jury deliberations in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, Will Scharf, an attorney for the former president, told Newsmax on Wednesday there are good signs the jury is taking a measured approach.
The jury, which deliberated for 4.5 hours before being released for the day, asked Judge Juan Merchan for portions of testimony from prosecution witnesses David Pecker and Michael Cohen and at least some of the judge's instructions to be read back to them. The jury will resume deliberations Thursday.
"This is a rigged trial in front of a deeply biased judge, but based on the jury notes that we've gotten so far, it seems at least possible, maybe even probable, that some or all of the jurors are looking through that rigging of this trial and are potentially getting it close to the truth, which is that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong," Scharf told "Rob Schmitt Tonight."
"David Pecker was obviously the first witness in this case. He's also the only witness, other than Michael Cohen, who can put President Trump in the loop of this alleged debunked conspiracy at all. So, if the jury doesn't consider Michael Cohen to be credible, which they obviously shouldn't, given that he's a serial liar and perjurer, the logical first place for them to start would be with David Pecker's testimony.
"So, to me, that first jury note indicates at least that some of these jurors have very deep concerns with the credibility of Michael Cohen and are unwilling to rely on Michael Cohen in their deliberations going forward."
Pecker is a former publisher of the National Enquirer and Cohen is a former Trump attorney who made the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election that is the center of the prosecution’s case that Trump falsified business documents to cover up the payment.
"The fact that the jury, a New York jury, didn't just go back there out of all of the rigging that we've seen in this case from a wildly biased judge, the fact that they just didn't go back and convict, the fact that they're carefully deliberating over the evidence — they want instruction on the law, they want to see the facts again — those are all very, very good signs for President Trump and I think bodes well for the days ahead.
"I'm hopeful that the jury will see through all the smoke and mirrors, and if they carefully consider the facts, there is no alternative but to acquit because President Trump is absolutely innocent here."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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