*** Trump Trial Livewire *** Jury Deliberations Continue for Second Day as Jurors Seek Clarity on Testimony, Instructions

The jury in New York City’s trial against former President Donald Trump is continuing deliberations on Thursday for a second day after failing to reach a verdict on the first day of deliberations.

Jurors have now, over the course of Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, sent several notes out to Judge Juan Merchan seeking clarity on some elements of testimony they heard over the course of the trial and some of Merchan’s jury instructions that he read to them on Wednesday morning.

To acquit or convict Trump, all 12 jurors would need to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges. What’s actually happening in the deliberation room is a mystery, but these notes and other developments over the course of this week may provide clues as to where the jury is headed or not. If all 12 jurors cannot agree, the result could be a hung jury. Jurors are set to continue their deliberations all day Thursday and if no verdict is reached, then again on Friday.

Trump, meanwhile, is forced to stay at the courthouse all day instead of campaigning as the jury deliberates. He is there again right now.

As developments continue on this front throughout the day, follow along here on Breitbart News for live updates on what’s going on in the court.

UPDATE 1:52 p.m. ET:

Some signs from reporters in the courtroom about how jurors reacted to Merchan today as he re-read instructions:

Jurors looked deeply engaged as Merchan went over his instruction and took copious notes during readback of Pecker’s direct exam about the Trump call. One man reacted with an amused smile when the stenographers said they were moving onto cross, which the panel took fewer notes on

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 30, 2024

I also made a note about one of the female jurors turning to the man beside her and smiling when they moved on to Cohen’s cross-exam with Blanche

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 30, 2024

It’s also worth noting that the New York government is so incompetent and decrepit the courthouse WiFi is not working, so it’s hard for reporters to send out live updates:

I would have tweeted this earlier, but I couldn’t connect to WiFi or two hotspots for ONE HOUR. Cool, cool. Nothing to freak out about.

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 30, 2024

I have officially requested the New York State court system turn the WiFi off and on again on behalf of the Fourth Estate and the nation at large

— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) May 30, 2024

UPDATE 1:44 p.m. ET:

The jury has now been deliberating for more than 9 hours with no verdict.

UPDATE 1:41 p.m. ET:

It’s worth noting that the jury does NOT have a written copy of the 55 pages of instructions from Merchan, even though those instructions are public:

The Trump jury instructions are 55 pages long. 55 pages! And insanely confusing because this case is garbage. They are posted online for all to read. Every single person in America can read them in written form except the 18 jurors. What sense does this make?…

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 30, 2024

The big question is why Merchan is not moving to give the jurors the written copy of the very confusing instructions:

It does appear possible for Merchan to furnish the jury with a copy of the instructions unless Trump objects: pic.twitter.com/f8h9zcIHCO

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 30, 2024

UPDATE 1:29 p.m. ET:

The waiting game is in full effect now, as jurors have been deliberating for more than eight hours across two days still without reaching a verdict. Little is known about where they stand or what’s happening in that room, but some tea leaves are emerging based off various questions jurors asked back to the judge in written notes about what testimony they wanted to hear again and what instructions they wanted to hear again. The nation is watching and waiting for any signs of a possible verdict or news from the deliberations, and jurors are expected to continue deliberating until at least 6 p.m. eastern today if they do not reach a verdict by then.

UPDATE 1:20 p.m. ET:

The Trump campaign released a memo from pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis to top Trump advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita revealing that internal polling data shows the trial will not affect the election in any meaningful way across the battleground states. Some key findings from the memo:

We have been routinely surveying thousands of voters in the seven target states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on a weekly basis. We have similar data going back nearly two months since before the New York trial began. In that entire time period, changes to how voters feel about the trial have been negligible at best.

While a total of 60% of target state voters claim to be following the trial, only 21% are following it “very” closely. Furthermore, those following the trial most closely are significantly more partisan and less likely to be persuadable voters. Democrats (66%) and Biden voters (72%), in particular drive awareness of the trial. Conversely, key target groups like Independents (55%), Undecideds (36%), and our key target Persuadables (38%) are much less likely to be following the trial, with almost none following it “very” closely.

A 53% majority believe the New York trial is politically motivated, exactly the same number we saw two months ago before the trial began and a number that has not significantly changed during the entire period. Further among the key groups who will untimately decided this election like Independents, 54% say the trial is politically motivated as do 55% of our target Persuadables. Even as many as one in five Democrats have said the trial is politically motivated.

Furthermore, a plurality of voters feel that the prosecution has failed to prove their case against President Trump by a 42% – 34% margin. Republicans overwhelmingly feel this way, but even Independents say they have failed to prove their case by an 11-point margin. Only Democrats are driving the belief that the New York prosecution has proved that the President committed a crime.

Most importantly, when we asked voters how they would vote given a conviction or an acquittal, the changes were insignificant. President Trump’s lead fell by two net points among those asked how they would vote if he was convicted. His lead increased by one net point among those asked how they would vote if he was not convicted. Both of these shifts are statistically insignificant, meaning that by mathematical standards, no real change in the race.

The full memo is available on the Trump campaign website here at this link.

UPDATE 1:00 p.m. ET:

The courthouse in Manhattan is closed for lunch now, but jury deliberations are continuing over lunch in the jury room. No news has come out since the deliberations continued a couple hours ago.

UPDATE 12:05 p.m. ET:

ABC News reports that Trump’s legal team wants “chaos” and “evidence of strong disagreements” among the jurors in hoping for a hung jury here:

NEW: Lawyers in former Pres. Trump’s hush money case are hoping that long deliberations lead to a hung jury, sources tell @ABC News.

Jurors begin their second day of deliberations in former Pres. Trump’s criminal hush money case Thursday. https://t.co/MDe8F6YBTJ pic.twitter.com/Q0gMJ1710U

— ABC News (@ABC) May 30, 2024

Quoting anonymous sources familiar with the defense’s view of the notes the jury sent out to the judge on Wednesday and Thursday, ABC News notes that the Trump team sees it as a “mixed bag” at this point and it’s too early to tell which way it will break.

UPDATE 11:24 a.m. ET:

The read-back of the testimony for the jury is complete and the jury is continuing deliberations now. Trump is also back out of the courtroom. The second day of deliberations is under way.

UPDATE 11:08 a.m. ET: So this apparently just happened in the courtroom:

Some Leftist reporter just farted around me and it STINKS!!!

— Andrew H. Giuliani (@AndrewHGiuliani) May 30, 2024

UPDATE 10:53 a.m. ET: As everyone looks for clues about what’s happening in the jury deliberation room, here is an interesting graphic the New York Times released a while back in late April when the jury was selected that details where the 12 jurors get their news from:

Where the jurors in the bogus Trump trial say they get their “news”

Majority say NYTimes

Trump can’t get a fair trial in NYC but all he needs is one honest, unbiased juror. Pray for TRUMP 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/TK9qc5gnix

— KK Berd 🇺🇸 (@keny_berd) April 26, 2024

Notably, juror number 2 said when selected that their news sources were Truth Social–Trump’s social media company–and X, the platform run by Elon Musk and formerly known as Twitter. Juror number 1 said they read the U.K. Daily Mail, a conservative-leaning tabloid, and watched the right-leaning Fox News and the left-leaning MSNBC but also read the New York Times. In addition to juror 1, jurors 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 all said they read the New York Times. Juror number 4, interestingly, said they did not get news from anywhere–perhaps another interesting person.

UPDATE 10:46 a.m. ET: The pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. just released this video showing how much of a sham this whole thing is:

Joe Biden and the Democrats don’t get to use a sham trial to decide an election. The only verdict that matters is at the ballot box on November 5th. Vote Trump! pic.twitter.com/YH4YDAyuQ7

— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) May 30, 2024

UPDATE 10:45 a.m. ET: This morning, the jury asked Merchan to re-read part of his instructions:

HAPPENING NOW: The jury says it wants Merchan to begin the instructions with the part about how they are supposed to consider the evidence and draw inferences — including the metaphor about how if the ground is wet in the AM, you can infer it rained over night.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 30, 2024

Court reporters are also re-reading parts of testimony transcript to the jury:

The re-reading of transcript portions by two court reporters has the vibe of a reading by actors seeing a script for the first time. And of course they are intentionally reading without the emotion or inflection that jurors would have heard it with the first time.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 30, 2024

It’s unclear when the jurors will return to the deliberation room to continue discussions. The jury is made up of seven men and five women.