Trump trial live updates: Jurors begins second day of deliberations in hush money case

As the jury continues deliberations, Donald Trump is posting on Truth Social from somewhere in the Manhattan Criminal Court:

Can anybody believe that our Government would be spending Tens of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars on prosecuting this RIDICULOUS Case? I DID NOTHING WRONG! IN FACT, I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. The testimony in Court was amazing for the Defense!

Having had all the requested testimony read back to them, jurors have now returned to the jury room to continue deliberations.

They now have both speakers and headphones to relisten to audio evidence.

Yesterday, the jury deliberated between 11.30am and 4pm.

And finally, here’s Alex Woodward’s reporting on the jury’s fourth question, this time regarding Michael Cohen’s testimony about the Trump Tower meeting:

“Trump wanted to rely on the ‘power’ of tabloid giant National Enquirer and its placement in ‘supermarkets and bodegas’ to place ‘positive stories’ about him and ‘negative’ ones about his rivals, according to Cohen.

“What [Pecker] said was that he could keep an eye out for anything negative about Trump and that he would be able to help us know in advance about what was coming out for us to stop it from coming out,” according to Cohen.

“Cohen also said he would lead that effort on Trump’s behalf. And he would show Trump the results, ‘so that he knew that David was loyal, on board, and doing everything he said he would do from that August meeting,’ Cohen testified.”

Here’s what Alex Woodward previously reported regarding the jury’s third question about Pecker’s testimony concerning his meeting at Trump Tower:

“The former American Media Inc CEO joined Cohen and Trump during a now-infamous meeting in August 2015 at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he was asked ‘what can I do and what could my magazines do to help the campaign’, Mr Pecker recalled.

“I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump and publish negative stories about his opponents,” he said.

“I would also be the eyes and ears.”

“But when it came to any tips about women selling stories about Trump, Pecker ‘would notify Michael Cohen, and he would be able to have them killed in the magazine, or not be published, or somebody would have to purchase them,’ he said.”

Here’s what Alex Woodward previously reported regarding the jury’s second question about Pecker’s testimony, this one about his decision not finalize the life rights of Karen McDougal:

“[David] Pecker stressed that he worked with [Michael] Cohen to buy the rights to [Karen] McDougal’s story ‘so it wouldn’t be published by any other organisation’.

“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” he added.

“When Trump requested that American Media transfer the rights to McDougal’s story in September 2016, Cohen established a shell company that sent an invoice for the ‘agreed upon “flat fee” for advisory services’.

“Pecker admitted that the transaction was not for that at all.

“It was for the lifetime rights to the Karen McDougal story,” he said.

“Pecker told Cohen that the deal was off after his conversations with counsel about the transaction, according to Pecker.

“He was very, very angry, very upset, screaming basically at me, Pecker said.

“Michael Cohen said ‘the boss will be very angry with you.’ I said, ’I’m sorry, I’m not going forward, the deal is off,’ he added. “He said, ‘I can’t believe it. I’m the lawyer, I’m your friend.’

“American Media has never been reimbursed for the payment, according to Pecker.”

Here’s what Alex Woodward reportedly previously on the subject of the jury’s first question yesterday: ex-National Inquirer publisher David Pecker’s testimony about a key phone conversation with Trump.

“[Karen] McDougal turned down an initial offer of $10,000 to buy the rights to her story, according to Pecker.

“She said she didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky,” Pecker said. “He felt that she had been more interested in having American Media buy the story than anyone else.”

“Trump then called Pecker himself, he said.

“I spoke to Michael,” Pecker recalled Trump saying at the time. “Karen is a nice girl… What do you think I should do?”

“I said, ‘You should buy the story and take it off the market,’”Mr Pecker said. ‘I believed the story was true. I think it would have been very embarrassing for himself and for his campaign.’

“Cohen then called Pecker to negotiate a deal, according to Pecker.

“Who’s going to pay for it?” he asked Cohen. “He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m your friend, the boss will take care of it.’

“A subsequent contract with McDougal granted her a monthly column on aging and fitness for Star magazine, another one for OK magazine, four posts a month on Radar Online, and an agreement that Pecker’s American Media Inc would provide her with ghost writers, according to an agreement shown in court.

“But it granted the company ‘limited life story rights’ that are limited to ‘any romantic, personal and/or physical relationship McDougal has ever had with any then-married man.’”

The portions of testimony the jury asked to re-hear are being read out loud by two court reporters.

Both are women. Both have wonderful New York accents. Both speak clearly.

The first court reporter has a softer slightly higher voice than her colleague, who has a slightly lower and raspier voice. She’s playing David Pecker right now.

The second speaker is sitting on the witness stand. She has greyish hair, just a little longer than shoulder length, and glasses with a navy or black blazer and a white shirt.