Trump trial live: Jurors resume deliberations as Trump braces for verdict on 34 felony counts

Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial has been turned over to the jury, putting the first-ever criminal case against an American president in the hands of his fellow New Yorkers.

Deliberations began late on Wednesday morning and continued on Thursday after the jury reheard some testimony and a portion of the jury instructions.

In closing arguments, defense lawyer Todd Blanche hammered the credibility of Mr Trump’s ex-“fixer” Michael Cohen, the trial’s star witness, labeling him the “GLOAT” (or “Greatest Liar Of All Time”) and listed 10 reasonable doubts about the case against the former president.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass meanwhile methodically laid out the chronology of the case over a near-five-hour address, tying key pieces of “smoking gun” evidence together as he reminded the jury the case was about Mr Trump, not Cohen.

The defendant stands accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to ensure her silence about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with him a decade earlier.

Mr Trump denies both the affair and the charges.

Alex Woodward is covering the trial for The Independent live from court.

Donald Trump is bothered that his wife, Melania Trump, has not shown up to his criminal trial in New York despite other family members backing the former president in person, his former press secretary says.

Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House Press Secretary from 2019 to 2021, told CNN that a reporter’s relentless questions about the whereabouts of Melania “absolutely” perturbs the former president.

Ariana Baio has the story:

Trump’s wife, Melania, and daughter, Ivanka, have been absent from supporting the former president