Trump trial live updates: Judge tells jury to 'set aside any bias' against Donald

Judge Juan Merchan has urged the jurors to ‘set aside’ any bias or opinions in favor of or against defendant Donald Trump.

He has also unstructured them to consider only the evidence.

Merchan reminds the jurors that the defendant is presumed to be innocent.

‘You must find the defendant not guilty unless you conclude the people have proved him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,’ Merchan says.

He also tells the jurors the fact that Trump did not testify is ‘not a fact that any inference may be drawn.’

Merchan reminds them that a defendant is not required to prove he is not guilty.

Judge Juan Merchan began delivering jury instructions at 10:10. ‘Members, of the jury, I will now instruct you on the law,’ he says. The instructions are likely to take about an hour, as he spells out relevant aspects of the law the jurors will need to reach a verdict.

He is an experienced judge and has run a tight case, despite the provocations of Trump, his allies and even one of the defense witnesses (Robert Costello, who was warned his expressions of exasperation put him in danger of being found in contempt to court.)

This is his key moment, making sure the jury knows exactly what is expected of it. He is delivering his speech in a level, even tone. It is soothing and gentle, even as he spells out the limits of what the jury can and can’t do.

The jury is dialed in, even after the late night on Tuesday. Some of the jurors look more smartly dressed, swapping out yesterday’s sweater for a well-pressed shirt in more than one case.

Trump is sitting back in his seat as the instructions are dlivered. He faces dead ahead with his eyes half closed, just as he has for much of the trial.

Judge Merchan greets the jury ‘good morning jurors.’

He is now instructing them on the law.

Merchan will finish instructions by outlining how jury deliberations will work.

He says the process will take about an hour.

Donald Trump’s Truth Social account is firing off a series of posts as jury deliberations are set to begin today.

There could be a lot of activity for him on social media as he is expected to remain inside until a verdict comes in.

In one post he wrote in all caps ‘DEFENSE OF COUNSEL DEFENSE!’

Another reads ‘THE D.A.’s OFFICE WAS ALLOWED TO GO ON WITH 5 HOURS OF BULL…. YESTERDAY. I have no rights against this Crooked Judge’s Gag Order!’

He also posted ‘NDA’s ARE TOTALLY LEGAL AND ACCEPTED!’

Several other posts quote legal experts and personalities on Fox News about the hush money case.

Judge Juan Merchan has begun today just as he has every day, by saying good morning to the defendant Donald Trump.

Trump, just as he has every day, has not responded, setting the tone for the way he has treated proceedings – with a mix of indifference and disdain.

After family and friends day for closing arguments on Tuesday, Donald Trump arrived in courtroom 1530 without much of an entourage. Don Jr has taken a seat in the front row, but the rest of the seats are taken up by the familiar faces of his aides – lawyer Alina Habba, adviser Boris Epshteyn and spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Trump’s friend, the investor Steve Witkoff, seems to be the only extra person with him.

Trump himself did not stop and talk in front of the cameras in the hallway. Perhaps a hangover from last night’s late finish?

The defense was warned last night that none of the retinue will be allowed in or out as the judge delivers his jury instructions.

Harvey Weinstein is expected to appear before a judge this afternoon in the same New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.

Weinstein is awaiting a retrial on rape charges after his 2020 conviction was tossed out.

Wednesday’s court hearing will address various legal issues related to the upcoming trial, which is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day.

Weinstein’s original trial was held in the same courtroom where Trump is on trial now, but the two men are unlikely to bump into each other.

Weinstein is in custody and will be brought to and from the courtroom under guard.

He will be appearing in a courtroom on a different floor than where Trump is currently on trial.

Former President Donald Trump has departed Trump Tower on his way downtown to the Manhattan criminal court.

Trump did not wave or look toward the cameras as he made his way to his motorcade.

Donald Trump raged about the ‘kangaroo court’ and the ‘corrupt and conflicted judge’ just before he left Trump Tower.

He posted on Truth Social:

KANGAROO COURT! A CORRUPT AND CONFLICTED JUDGE. RELIANCE ON COUNSEL (ADVISE OF COUNSEL) NOT ALLOWED BY MERCHAN, A FIRST. HIS RULINGS, ON A CASE THAT SHOULD, ACCORDING TO ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS AND EXPERTS, NEVER HAVE BEEN BROUGHT, HAVE MADE THIS A BIDEN PUSHED WITCH HUNT. THERE WAS NO CRIME, EXCEPT FOR THE BUM THAT GOT CAUGHT STEALING FROM ME! IN GOD WE TRUST!’

Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba was spotted outside Trump Tower with Don Jr. ahead of the ex-president’s departure for the Manhattan criminal court.

She has appeared in the courtroom throughout the hush money trial.

GOP Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is in the running to be Trump’s VP, has filed a misconduct complaint against the judge overseeing the hush-money trial.

Stefanik has called for an investigation into Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s trial in New York state court, to ‘determine whether the required random selection process was in fact followed’.

She has alleged that Merchan, whom she claims is a Democrat Party donor, has repeatedly been assigned to criminal cases linked to Trump and his allies.

The prosecution did a good job of shoring up their unreliable witness Michael Cohen with corroborating documents. But there is one glaring hole. Cohen is the only person who testified that Donald Trump himself signed off on the repayment scheme at the heart of the case during a Trump Tower meeting days before his 2017 inauguration as payment.

Yet one other person was apparently present at the meeting: Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer.

So where is he? That question will almost certainly feature in Judge Juan Merchan’s directions to the jury, who will be wondering why he did not appear as a witness.

His whereabouts are easily answered: He is serving five months at Rikers Island jail complex. But his reason for not appearing is more complex.

He was imprisoned for lying under oath to protect his former boss in a civil fraud case. Not the sort of witness that the prosecution wants.

But he also received a $2m severance deal when he left the Trump Organization, which continues to pay his legal bills. And the defense made no effort to bring him as a defense witness, knowing that all of that would have been brought out to undermine any evidence he delivered.

The result is that Weisselberg is the key witness who never testified. And the judge will likely tell jurors not to draw any conclusions at all from his absence.

Twelve Manhattan residents have Donald Trump’s fate in their hands as the historic hush money case against the ex-president heads to jury deliberations.

Through six weeks of sometimes salacious and other times grueling witness testimony the jury listened closely as prosecutors laid out their case and Trump’s defense team attempted sow doubt.

Seven men and five women – including a corporate lawyer and a woman who called the ex-president ‘selfish’ – will ultimately determine if Trump is guilty or not guilty of hiding a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their alleged affair in an effort to influence the 2016 election.

The defendant in the case has responded to the appearance of Hollywood star Robert De Niro outside court yesterday.

In bizarre scenes on Tuesday, De Niro, 80, spoke on behalf of the Biden campaign, calling Trump a ‘clown’ who wants to ‘destroy the world.’

Writing on Truth Social, Trump said:

I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was. Today, De Niro, who suffers from an incurable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, commonly known in the medical community as TDS, was met, outside the Courthouse, with a force far greater than the Radical Left – MAGA.

Robert, whose movies, artistry, and brand have gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE since he entered the political arena at the request of Crooked Joe Biden, looked so pathetic and sad out there. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio!!!

Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial finally wrapped at 8pm on Wednesday after prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’s marathon four-hour pitch to the jury.

The former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche started the day by telling the jury they could not convict his client on the words of a ‘liar’ and ‘thief’ Michael Cohen.

He was rebuked by the judge for telling the panel their verdict could land Trump in jail.

Steinglass then went through his case in painstaking detail and argued there is ‘overwhelming evidence’ Trump falsified business documents to cover up a $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about their alleged affair.

The hush money deal, Steinglass said, could ‘very well’ have helped Trump win the 2016 election.

Actor Robert De Niro squared off with Trump supporters outside the former president’s hush money trial Tuesday in New York after calling him a ‘clown’ who wants to ‘destroy the world.’

De Niro showed up alongside Capitol Police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone as special guests of President Joe Biden’s campaign.

The actor called Trump a ‘clown’ but also warned that reelecting him would be dangerous.

‘I love this city I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country and eventually he could destroy the world,’ De Niro said.

A group of Trump supporters could be heard in the background chanting, ‘f*** Joe Biden,’ with one person yelling at the actor, ‘your movies suck!’

Donald Trump said nothing in the courtroom as his lead defense attorney delivered his closing argument that the former president should be found not guilty of falsifying business records.

Todd Blanche’s two-and-half-hour statement was shot through with the words and fingerprints of the defendant himself, making it part legal argument, part campaign address.

There was a belittling nickname for a key witness—’Michael Cohen is the GLOAT. The Greatest Liar of All Time’—frequent references to prosecutors as the ‘government’ (when in New York State court it is ‘the people’ who bring prosecutions) and a final incendiary reference to his client facing prison.

‘You cannot send someone to prison … you cannot convict somebody based upon the words of Michael Cohen,’ said Blanche, raising an immediate objection from the prosecution.

Donald Trump’s fate in the Manhattan hush money trial is now in the hands of the jury after marathon closing arguments on Tuesday.

Following six weeks and 22 witnesses, the panel of 12 Manhattan residents will decide if the 77-year-old will be the first former president found guilty of a crime .

The jury returns on Wednesday to hear instructions from the judge before they will be sent out to decide their verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Then the wait will begin for the verdict, which could come as soon as today.