This transcript reading is getting into the crux of the jury’s request: who was at the Trump Tower meeting, how the Trump Tower meeting came about, etc.

This transcript portion is about Pecker saying he would notify Michael Cohen if any negative stories about Donald Trump came up.

Prosecutor: “Did you believe that would help Mr. Trump’s campaign?”

David Pecker: “I believe it was a mutual benefit.”

The courtroom is packed and a little warm. But most people are rapt. The voices of the “questioner” and “witness” are clear as day, and the only noise in the courtroom is the clickety-clacking of dozens of laptops.

The court employees have moved onto the redirect examination of David Pecker by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass.

This is about Pecker telling Cohen to rip up the agreement.

This read-back is faster than the testimony was on that day because Pecker would speak slower and you don’t have the natural pauses a witness would take after getting asked a question. It’s not a significant detail but explains why they’re blowing through the requests.

They’re now re-reading David Pecker’s testimony on the decision not to finalize and fund Karen McDougal’s life rights. McDougal, a former Playboy model, said she had an affair with Trump, which he denies.

During this testimony, Pecker recalled telling Cohen that he wanted to “tear up” the life rights assignment, and Cohen warned him Trump would be “very mad,” and Pecker confirmed that AMI was never reimbursed for the payment it made to acquire the exclusive life rights to McDougal’s story.

She just reached the part where David Pecker recounted telling Trump, “I think that the story should be purchased, and I think you should buy it.”

That section ends with Trump telling Pecker he will think about it and will have Michael Cohen call him back in a few days.

During this reread, Trump’s eyes are closed.

The court employee who is playing the “witness” just recited the part of David Pecker’s testimony about his phone conversation with Trump at his investor’s office, during which he is asked why he told Trump to purchase the Karen McDougal story.

“I believed the story was true. I believed it would have been very embarrassing to himself and also to the campaign,” she read.

For timing purposes, remember this started at 10:27 a.m., and Merchan said he expected it to take about 30 minutes or so last night. So they should be done around 11 a.m.

A court employee is now beginning to reread the testimony requested by the jury.

“I am going to read the questions as if I am a lawyer, and my colleague is going to read the answers as if she’s a witness,” the staffer, a woman, said.

The blond, bespectacled woman playing the witness is sitting in the witness box; neither was identified by name but were merely introduced as “colleagues.”

Both women who are reading the witness testimony have a New York accent. 

“Under New York State and New York City law, it is unlawful to knowingly supply or submit materially false or fraudulent information in connection with any tax return,” the instructions read.

“Likewise, under federal law, it is unlawful for a person to willfully make any tax return, statement, or other document that is fraudulent or false as to any material matter, or that the person does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter.”

Judge Merchan reread the prosecution’s theories of “unlawful means” and he said he will define the Federal Election Campaign Act.

Under that act, he said, it’s illegal for an individual to “willfully make a contribution to any candidate with respect to any election for federal office, including the office of President of the United States, which exceeds a certain limit.” He said in 2015 and 2016, that limit was $2,700.

“It is also unlawful under the Federal Election Campaign Act for any corporation to willfully make a contribution of any amount to a candidate or candidate’s campaign in connection with any federal election, or for any person to cause such a corporate contribution. For purposes of these prohibitions, an expenditure made in cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate or his agents shall be considered to be a contribution to such candidate.”

He added that the terms contribution and expenditure “include anything of value, including any purchase, payment, loan, or advance, made by any person for the purpose of influencing any election for federal office.”

“Section 17-152 of the New York Election Law provides that any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of conspiracy to promote or prevent an election,” the instructions read.

“Under our law, a person is guilty of such a conspiracy when, with intent that conduct be performed that would promote or prevent the election of a person to public office by unlawful means, he or she agrees with one or more persons to engage in or cause the performance of such conduct.”

As Merchan explains that the jury needs to unanimously find that the conspiracy was to promote Trump’s election by “unlawful means,” but that it does not have to agree on what those means are, Juror 10 appears to nod.

Judge Merchan reread the charge of falsification of business records. He said a person is guilty of that in the first degree “when, with intent to defraud that includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof, that person: makes or causes a false entry in the business records of an enterprise.”

He said enterprise “means any entity of one or more persons, corporate or otherwise, public or private, engaged in business, commercial, professional, industrial, social, political or governmental activity.”

Merchan said business record “means any writing or article, including computer data or a computer program, kept or maintained by an enterprise for the purpose of evidencing or reflecting its condition or activity.”

Note the accomplice liability instruction, which still requires that Trump instruct/command/solicit, etc. the person actually committing the falsification, is separate from the word “cause,” which appears in the falsification of business records statute and charge.

The charge does note define the word “cause,” despite the prosecution’s request. But in his closing, proseuctor Joshua Steinglass subtly encouraged the jury to use an expansive understanding of “cause.”

Robert Burck, the Times Square performer knows as The Naked Cowboy, confirms with police that he’s in the right place before walking into the area for Trump supporters.

Trump’s head is bobbing slowly forward until his chin rests on his chest before he jerks it back every so often. He is resting his hands on his lap.

At one point, his eyes closed.

Inside the pro-Trump area, a Trump supporter (a guy in a cape) is loudly arguing with an anti-Trump protester. Three police officers are walking over now to break them up.

Merchan reread his instructions on charged crimes from yesterday:

“I will now instruct you on the law applicable to the charged offenses. That offense is Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree — 34 Counts.”

The judge reread instructions on motive.

Merchan said yesterday:

“You may consider whether a witness had, or did not have, a motive to lie. If a witness had a motive to lie, you may consider whether and to what extent, if any, that motive affected the truthfulness of that witness’s testimony. If a witness did not have a motive to lie, you may consider that as well in evaluating the witness’s truthfulness.”

“Under our law, Michael Cohen is an accomplice because there is evidence that he participated in a crime based upon conduct involved in the allegations here against the defendant,” the judge read aloud.

Merchan is now reading instructions on the “credibility of witnesses.”

“You must decide whether a witness told the truth and was accurate, or instead, testified falsely or was mistaken,” the instructions read. “You must also decide what importance to give to the testimony you accept as truthful and accurate. It is the quality of the testimony that is controlling, not the number of witnesses who testify.”

Many of the jurors are taking diligent notes as Merchan goes over the jury instructions. Juror 7, who is a civil litigator, seems to be the most prolific.

Judge Merchan is getting into the “fundamental principles” related to the burden of proof in the jury instructions.

Here’s what the judge said yesterday:

“The defendant is not required to prove that he is not guilty. In fact, the defendant is not required to prove or disprove anything. To the contrary, the People have the burden of proving the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That means, before you can find the defendant guilty of a crime, the People must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the crime including that the defendant is the person who committed that crime. The burden of proof never shifts from the People to the defendant. If the People fail to satisfy their burden of proof, you must find the defendant not guilty and if the People satisfy their burden of proof, you must find the defendant guilty.”

Judge Merchan has begun reading the jury instructions. It is estimated to take up about 20-25 minutes to do so.

Several of the jurors are taking diligent notes as he reads.

There was one Trump supporter in Collect Pond Park attaching a banner to one of the metal barricades: “Black Lives MAGA.” The person is masked and wearing another pro-Trump banner (“F— Biden”) as a cape.

Judge Merchan is telling the jurors that he can provide them with headphones or speakers: “The choice is yours.” Merchan asks them to send him a note clarifying which one. He also asks whether they want the instructions first or the testimony first. The foreperson says they want the instructions first.

Judge Merchan just gave a rundown of the requests submitted by the jury so far during deliberations.

He said yesterday the jurors requested certain testimony from David Pecker and Michael Cohen, as well as a rereading of the judge’s instructions. They also just requested headphones to use for the laptop containing the evidence.

The Trump campaign said that his only “courthouse guest” today would be Steve Witkoff, a longtime friend and real estate investor. But Eric Trump was spotted in court too.

The jurors enter the room. Several of them are toting notebooks.

As always, Trump is sitting low in his chair, stone-faced, bordering on a scowl. He conferred with lawyers briefly as the new note was handed to them.

At 9:32 a.m., the judge said he received another note from the jury asking for him to reread his instructions to the panel from page 7 through page 35.

The jury has also requested that it be provided with headphones for the laptop.

In asking for the headphones, the jurors likely want to listen to certain recordings, which could include the September 2016 conversation that Steinglass encouraged them to revisit in his closing. He had told them that if they listened to it with the volume up, they would hear a reference to a possible $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal during that conversation.

The park outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump supporters gathered yesterday is nearly empty right now. But there are at least two men in “Make America Great Again” hats and a few photographers spotted.

No anti-Trump protesters have been seen at the park either. (Compared to yesterday, when at least six people stood across the street with “Sleepy Don” signs.)

Court is now in session as of 9:37 a.m.  Judge Merchan said he would rule now on what transcripts can come in.

Before walking into the courtroom, Trump once again read off several statements from legal scholars expressing support for him.

“The judge unfortunately is corrupt,” Trump said about Judge Merchan.

“This is a very sad day for America,” he said. “The whole world is watching.”

The DA’s team has entered with Josh Steinglass toting a large box, presumably of binders. Their two paralegals, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider and Georgia Longstreet, also came in toting binders that they handed to prosecutors Becky Mangold and Matt Colangelo.

As they set up, there are at least four women in the courtroom who appear to work for the court and are consulting with Steinglass over individual pages of the transcript that one of the women is adding to a massive binder.

Jurors began deliberations yesterday in Trump’s hush money trial, kicking off a crucial and delicate phase in the case that will see 12 ordinary citizens decide whether a former and potentially future president becomes the first to be convicted.

As many as 22 witnesses took the stand over six weeks, as the seven men and five women who make up the jury sat for more than 80 hours of testimony in New York City. Then, after nearly eight hours of closing arguments, the judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, began instructing the panel of 12 New Yorkers yesterday on how to weigh whether the Manhattan district attorney’s office had left any room for doubt in what prosecutors deemed a “mountain” of evidence. 

“The defendant is not required to prove that he is not guilty,” Merchan said. “The defendant is not required to prove or disprove anything.”

As Merchan reviewed the burden of proof, Trump kept silent, his eyes closed and his head tilted softly back. He broke that up with short bursts of activity.

Here’s what you missed on Day 22 of the trial.

In the hours after court adjourned yesterday, Trump again took to Truth Social to quote political allies and pundits criticizing the trial and Democrats.

Trump quoted Ohio Sen. JD Vance, former Trump adviser Stephen Miller and multiple Fox News hosts. Earlier in the day, he released a torrent of posts in the same vein, saying in one, in all-caps: “I don’t even know what the charges are in this rigged case — I am entitled to specificity just like anyone else. There is no crime!”

In fact, Judge Juan Merchan had read the charges in full detail.

The jury will rehear the judge’s instructions today, though it is unclear whether Merchan will reread all of the instructions or a just a portion.

It took Merchan about a little over an hour to read the full instructions yesterday.

The jury’s request to revisit Merchan’s instructions was their second of the day yesterday after they asked to rehear portions of testimony.

Jurors yesterday afternoon requested to rehear parts of witness testimony, including three portions of David Pecker’s testimony and a section of Michael Cohen’s testimony.

The requests include revisiting Pecker’s testimony about a phone call with Trump in which he advised the then-candidate to purchase Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story to “take it off the market,” his testimony about the life rights discussions on McDougal, and Cohen’s testimony about a Trump Tower meeting involving him and Pecker where they discussed how the National Enquirer parent company, American Media Inc., could help Trump’s campaign.

Court reconvenes at 9:30 this morning, and some of the first orders of business will be related to jury requests from yesterday.

Amid deliberations, the jury requested to rehear portions of witness testimony, as well as Merchan’s jury instructions. It’s not yet clear whether Merchan will reread the instructions in their entirety. It took him about an hour to read the full instructions yesterday.

After that, jurors will continue deliberating — but how long those discussions will take is unclear. It’s possible a verdict comes today.