Seymour Flops
Diamond Member
Let's also look at how the media covers it. USA Today has a reasonable take, I think:
NEW YORK − Former President Donald Trump’s fate rests in the hands of 12 Manhattan jurors in his historic hush money trial, with the verdict carrying the potential to alter the 2024 presidential campaign.
The jury sent a note shortly before 3 p.m. EDT requesting to review four sections of testimony from the trial, three from media executive David Pecker, and one from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Almost an hour later, the jurors sent a second note asking to re-hear the jury instructions.
Jurors were sent home for the day at 4:07 p.m. EDT. They will resume deliberations Thursday.
Seems like the selected a foreman without a lot of rancor. Because, I understand, the foreman is responsible for passing notes to the judge. Two requests in just over an hour?
I speculate that this shows that they have already been discussing the case. No one can legally listen to them when they are waiting in the jury room, and they've done a fair amount of that. People talk about what they have in common. Jobs, grandchildren, the weather, get old pretty fast.
The USA Today continues:
Jurors began deliberating Wednesday after hearing six weeks of testimony from a parade of 22 witnesses, including a felon convicted of perjury, a porn actress, and the former head of the parent company for the National Enquirer tabloid.
Yup.
Haven't seen a more accurate and concise summation of the prosecution's evidence than that.
USA Today also reported that Trump complained about witnesses not called.
Trump declined to name them because a gag order prohibits him from commenting on potential witnesses. But he seemed to suggest Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial official, is one of the possible witnesses. Weisselberg is serving time on Rikers Island after being convicted of perjury in an early Trump trial.
“In particular, one witness is now suffering bravely because of the viciousness of these thugs,” Trump said. “You know who I’m talking about. They didn’t call him as a witness.”
Prosecutors had said they wanted to call Weisselberg but couldn’t because he was jailed.
Ok, I call bullshit on that, if the prosecutors really said that. People in jail are called by prosecutors to be witnesses all the time. Often to witness against a defendant that was deliberately placed in the cell of a person willing to be a snitch in exchange for lenient treatment. Not like Weisselberg is Hannibal Lector and would have to be wheeled in wearing a straight jacket and goalie mask. They could have even had him wear his prison uniform to show the jury that Trump's people are in prison.
One more paragraph:
Trump is polling ahead of Biden despite the criminal charges in this and three other cases, but a felony conviction could sway some voters against him. An acquittal could bolster his claims that he was the victim of a politically motivated prosecutor.
I'm not sure either one of those is true. But, I don't have strong feelings either way. It will depend in part on how the media plays it, both the lefties and righties.
Trump trial recap: Jury asks to see testimony from Michael Cohen and David Pecker
Twelve jurors are deliberating in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial.
www.usatoday.com
NEW YORK − Former President Donald Trump’s fate rests in the hands of 12 Manhattan jurors in his historic hush money trial, with the verdict carrying the potential to alter the 2024 presidential campaign.
The jury sent a note shortly before 3 p.m. EDT requesting to review four sections of testimony from the trial, three from media executive David Pecker, and one from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Almost an hour later, the jurors sent a second note asking to re-hear the jury instructions.
Jurors were sent home for the day at 4:07 p.m. EDT. They will resume deliberations Thursday.
Seems like the selected a foreman without a lot of rancor. Because, I understand, the foreman is responsible for passing notes to the judge. Two requests in just over an hour?
I speculate that this shows that they have already been discussing the case. No one can legally listen to them when they are waiting in the jury room, and they've done a fair amount of that. People talk about what they have in common. Jobs, grandchildren, the weather, get old pretty fast.
The USA Today continues:
Jurors began deliberating Wednesday after hearing six weeks of testimony from a parade of 22 witnesses, including a felon convicted of perjury, a porn actress, and the former head of the parent company for the National Enquirer tabloid.
Yup.
Haven't seen a more accurate and concise summation of the prosecution's evidence than that.
USA Today also reported that Trump complained about witnesses not called.
Trump declined to name them because a gag order prohibits him from commenting on potential witnesses. But he seemed to suggest Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial official, is one of the possible witnesses. Weisselberg is serving time on Rikers Island after being convicted of perjury in an early Trump trial.
“In particular, one witness is now suffering bravely because of the viciousness of these thugs,” Trump said. “You know who I’m talking about. They didn’t call him as a witness.”
Prosecutors had said they wanted to call Weisselberg but couldn’t because he was jailed.
Ok, I call bullshit on that, if the prosecutors really said that. People in jail are called by prosecutors to be witnesses all the time. Often to witness against a defendant that was deliberately placed in the cell of a person willing to be a snitch in exchange for lenient treatment. Not like Weisselberg is Hannibal Lector and would have to be wheeled in wearing a straight jacket and goalie mask. They could have even had him wear his prison uniform to show the jury that Trump's people are in prison.
One more paragraph:
Trump is polling ahead of Biden despite the criminal charges in this and three other cases, but a felony conviction could sway some voters against him. An acquittal could bolster his claims that he was the victim of a politically motivated prosecutor.
I'm not sure either one of those is true. But, I don't have strong feelings either way. It will depend in part on how the media plays it, both the lefties and righties.
