After Judge Juan Merchán concluded his instructions to the jury, he had one last order for Donald Trump, his legal team and prosecutors.
“I ask everyone to be here,” he said Wednesday, before heading to his locker room. “You can’t leave the building.”
It’s another humbling moment for the man who was leader of the free world for four years and could be again after the November election.
He delayed traffic with his motorcade and closed airspace on Air Force One. But for the past five weeks in a New York courtroom, Trump has had to follow rules set by a judge and enforced by bailiffs.
You must be in place before the judge calls the court to order and you must stand when the jury enters and leaves the room.
Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as the jury began deliberations Wednesday. For once, Trump has little control over his days as he awaits a verdict.
Now she must spend hours each day waiting in one of the court’s faded meeting rooms for the seven men and five women on the jury to finish their deliberations.
He is trapped every day on the 15th floor of a dilapidated courthouse, where his assistants have complained about the state of the bathrooms and where an “asbestos removal” warning is posted next to the elevators.
It’s an all-too-common scenario for a real estate mogul who made his money in gleaming Manhattan towers and whose last name became synonymous with luxury.
The jury deliberated for four and a half hours Wednesday before Judge Juan Merchán sent him home for the night.
Before that, they asked to rehear a series of testimony from a key meeting at Trump Tower, where prosecutors allege a ‘catch-and-kill’ plan was hatched to bury negative stories, and from tabloid king David Pecker, the then editor of the National Investigator.
The jury’s request rang in room 1530 in the form of a bell, which caused the bailiffs to run to alert the judge, the defense and the prosecution.
Trump returned to the courtroom, spoke with his lawyers and listened to the judge read the jury note requesting four testimonies.
They include Pecker talking about a phone conversation he had with Trump and his decision not to make a deal for Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story.
In his testimony, Pecker said Trump told him, “I don’t believe any stories.”
Judge Juan Merchán delivered his instructions to the jury and they began their deliberations late Wednesday morning. They spent 4.5 hours deliberating before being sent home.
David Pecker was the first witness called by the prosecution. The former National Enquirer editor said he offered to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Trump campaign.
Twelve jurors will decide Donald Trump’s fate after six weeks of testimony
And he said, “Every time you do something like this, it always comes out.”
“So I said… then I said, ‘I still think we should take this story off the market.’
“And he said, ‘Let me think about it and I’ll have Michael Cohen call you in a few days.’
Trump denies 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors allege he led a plot to buy negative stories, using his fixer Cohen and his friend Pecker to find and hire women to prevent them from becoming public.
Pecker’s description of the phone call, made during an investor meeting, could be damaging to Trump’s defense, suggesting that Trump was considering a deal and was using Cohen to relay decisions and instructions.
It could also bolster the prosecution’s argument that Trump had never before been interested in buying negative stories but was willing to consider it once the election approached.
Don Jr joined his father in the courtroom on Wednesday as deliberations began.
Natalie Harp (left) and Karoline Leavitt leave court as deliberations begin
Trump supporters demonstrated outside the courthouse on Wednesday.
Trump supporters and his opponents argue outside the criminal court where former President Donald Trump is on trial.
In contrast, the defense has argued that Trump simply wanted to protect his family and was not planning to hide damaging information from voters.
Pecker eventually backed out of a $150,000 deal to transfer McDougal’s life rights to a shell company created by Cohen after consulting with lawyers. He said Cohen told him that “the boss” would be “very angry” with him.
And jurors also wanted to hear testimony from Cohen and Pecker about a 2015 meeting at Trump Tower, when Pecker said he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the newly launched presidential campaign.
That meeting is the starting point of the prosecution’s case, which is a natural point for jurors to direct their attention.
Shortly after the judge read his first request, the doorbell rang again. This time the jury asked to hear his instructions again.
Trump has changed his ties daily. Wednesday was a gold-spotted number.
When you arrive at the courthouse, you pass by the railing that defines where you can go to the cameras.
It was a reminder of where the power now lies in this case: with the seven men and five women on the jury.
The judge has told them to put aside their feelings about Trump and take the time necessary to reach a unanimous verdict.
“You are the judges of the facts and are responsible for deciding whether the accused is guilty or not,” Merchán told them in his final instructions.
At times, Trump has seemed like a caged beast in court. He has looked furiously at the public gallery, at the journalists, and the judge surprised him saying obscenities at the beginning of the process.
Other times he attempts to exercise power almost in plain sight, reclining in his chair with his eyes closed in a show of sleep or disdain for the court around him.
He has changed ties daily in another effort to control what he can. Once a week he sports the usual red tie, with a navy blue suit and a white shirt, but on Wednesday it was gold, with a dot pattern, while plain blue, patterned blue, orange and yellow also appeared butter.
And then there are the press appearances on the 15th floor in front of the cameras, where he can say whatever he wants (as long as he doesn’t violate a gag order that prevents him from talking about witnesses).
“Mother Teresa could not overcome these accusations,” he said at lunchtime Wednesday.
‘These charges are rigged. The whole country is a disaster, between borders and false elections, and in a trial like this the judge is so conflicted that he cannot breathe.
But even then, as he launches his carefree attacks, he is not as free as he seems. The railings define exactly where he can stand while he addresses the cameras.
