Former President Donald Trump went on a wide-ranging Truth Social rant Wednesday as a jury deliberated whether to convict or acquit him in his Manhattan hush money case, writing on Truth Social that he doesn’t “even know what the charges are,” falsely claiming the jury doesn’t have to reach a unanimous decision and attacking actor Robert De Niro for criticizing him outside the Manhattan courthouse.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media during his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal ... [+]
Trump said Judge Juan Merchan’s jury instructions are “RIDICULOUS, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND UNAMERICAN,” calling Merchan a “highly Conflicted, Radical Left Judge” and the case a “THIRD WORLD ELECTION INTERFERENCE HOAX.”
Trump also suggested his lack of understanding of the charges was a matter of injustice, writing he is “ENTITLED TO SPECIFICITY JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE.”
Trump later took to Truth Social to claim De Niro’s appearance at a Biden campaign press conference outside the courthouse Tuesday was an effort “to create a little chaos in front of the Courthouse, and to influence the trial.”
Per a 2020 Supreme Court ruling, juries in state criminal courts are required to reach a unanimous verdict.
If the jury convicts Trump of falsifying business records, it must also unanimously agree that Trump did so with the intent to commit or conceal a “predicate” crime, though Merchan rejected a request from Trump’s defense attorneys to require the jury to agree on what that “predicate” crime is.
Prosecutors elevated the 34 counts of falsifying business records, which are typically misdemeanors, to felonies by proposing Trump committed the offenses in conjunction with three potential secondary crimes, including tax violations and/or illegally conspiring to influence the results of the 2016 election.
This is a developing story and will be updated.