Jurors Out In Hush Money Trial As Trump Remains Defiant

Donald Trump's criminal hushmoney case in New York inched towards its conclusion yesterday with jury deliberations starting just before 11.30 am local time.

- Victoria Bekiempis

After the jurors began considering the former president's fate Trump railed against the proceedings and compared himself to a saint, saying outside court: "Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. The charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged."

Before the start of the deliberations Judge Juan Merchan instructed jurors about how they should assess the case, saying they should not look to his comments during the trial as suggestions that Trump was innocent or guilty. "It is not my responsibility to judge the evidence here," Merchan said.

"You are the judgers of the facts." He also told jurors that they should not take Trump possibly ending up in jail into consideration when deliberating on their verdict. "You may not speculate with matters related to sentencing or punishment," Merchan said. The judge remarked that it was his responsibility to determine a possible sentence, not the role of jurors.

The former president is charged with falsifying business records in relation to paying off the adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump is the first US president, former or present, to face a criminal trial.

Manhattan prosecutors allege that Trump's lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, had shuttled $130,000 to Daniels days before the election so that her claim of an extramarital sexual liaison would not go public and sink his chances at the polls.