Donald Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche had to wake up the former president in the courtroom on Wednesday.
“Todd Blanche appeared to gently shake Trump awake, nudging his shoulder, as the six alternates filed out of the courtroom, and he was the only person still sitting down,” New York Daily News court reporter Molly Crane-Newman wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Read More : Federal Judge Suspends Joe Biden’s Plan to Slash Credit Card Late Fees to $8
She added that she was not looking at Trump when the jurors in the Manhattan hush money trial walked out a minute or so before he had to be awakened.
But the former president has countered such claims, saying on Truth Social in one instance: “I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!”
The case is now in the hands of the 12-person jury, which began late Wednesday morning to deliberate the 34 felony charges against the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors say the payment was made to prevent her from coming forward about a sexual encounter she had with Trump and hurting his chances in the election.
Trump has denied having any such encounter with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts. He has accused Bragg, President Joe Biden, Democrats and others of weaponizing the justice system against him for political purposes.
Read More : Can Trump be president if he’s convicted or sentenced to prison?
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek on Wednesday afternoon that the trial’s outcome is hard to predict because of the convoluted charges in one of the most politicized trials in U.S. history.
Rahmani said it’s clear that the business records were false and did not show a legal expense, but it will be difficult for the jurors to determine if the Daniels payment was made for purposes of committing election fraud or was a campaign finance violation.
The fact that the jury has two attorneys when having even one is a rarity is something to take note of, he added.
“Anyone who is trying to predict this particular case is lying,” Rahmani said. “I don’t think anyone knows what these 12 jurors are going to do. There are just way too many unknowns.”
The ex-president has been vocal throughout the day, as has been customary throughout his trial—the first felony case of the four against him that has gone to trial. Two other cases involved election interference charges but are unlikely to go to trial before November’s election.
“I would say that listening to the charges from the judge, who’s, as you know, very conflicted and corrupt…Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom Wednesday morning. “These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged.”
At about 1 p.m., after nearly 1½ hours of jury deliberation, Trump took to social media to express his bafflement about the charges.
“I don’t even know what the charges are in this rigged case—I am entitled to specificity just like anyone else,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There is no crime!”
