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Jury fails to pronounce verdict in Trump’s hush money trial after day one of deliberations

Deliberations will resume at 09:30 local time on May 30

NEW YORK, May 30. /TASS/. After the first day of deliberations, the jury panel was unable to pronounce a verdict in the trial of former US President Donald Trump on charges of falsifying business records of his company Trump Organization due to a hush money payment to an adult film star Stormy Daniels, CNN reported.

The jury deliberated for around 4.5 hours. After that, Judge Juan Merchan declared today’s session dismissed, adding that deliberations will resume at 09:30 local time (13:30 GMT) on May 30.

The panel of 12 New York residents is working to determine whether Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business documents, in connection with a hush money payment to Daniels before the 2016 US presidential election. The former president and his defense team were present in the court.

The investigation against Trump was prompted by The Wall Street Journal publication in January 2018 that a month before the 2016 presidential election, his lawyer Michael Cohen had paid porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a sum of $0130,000 for her silence about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump some ten years ago.

In 2018, Cohen stood trial on several counts, including violating campaign financing laws by paying Daniels. Back then, no charges were brought against Trump, who enjoyed immunity as the head of state. But in November 2022, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office launched a new probe. Investigators believe that Trump reimbursed his lawyer for the money he had spent via Trump Organization as payment for court fees. On April 4, 2023, a court in New York brought criminal charges against Trump in the case of payments to Daniels.

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