Former U.S. Assistant Attorney Andy McCarthy said the prolonged jury deliberations may spell good news for the defense team in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s trial.
The jury has deliberated on the case for two full days as of Thursday on the 34-count indictment alleging former President Donald Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
“We’ve said again and again that it’s 34 counts, and that puts the idea in people’s minds that there’s an awful lot to work through,” McCarthy said. “I mean, any of us who have had cases with lengthy indictments, it’s not surprising that the jury takes a long time. But this really isn’t 34 counts, Shannon, it’s one count, 34 times. It’s really every count is the same count to the point where logically you would think if they can work their way through one, they should be able to get the other ones really quickly. So, my tendency would be to think the longer it goes on, the better it is for the defense because we shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking they’re having a hard time working through 34 counts. They really have to answer one.”
Andy McCarthy says prolonged jury deliberations is good news for defense pic.twitter.com/cXGdYhStgz
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 30, 2024
The jury requested the testimonies from Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who made out the hush money payment to Daniels, and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker. They further requested New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan repeat his lengthy instructions to the jury, which instructed they do not have to agree on the “unlawful” means prosecutors allege Trump used to influence the 2016 election. (RELATED: ‘A Surprise’: Ex-Judge Tells MSNBC It’s Unusual Merchan Pointed Trump Jury To ‘Specific’ Evidence In Instructions)
Both Trey Gowdy and McCarthy expressed doubt of the jury handing Trump an acquittal, but suspect a high possibility of a hung jury. McCarthy said a conviction “is much more likely” as a result of how Merchan oversaw the trial.
McCarthy accused Merchan of “colluding with prosecutors” by making an acquittal almost impossible with his abnormal instructions for the jury during a Wednesday panel. He further said the jury disagreeing on the alleged “unlawful” means committed are the “antithesis of standard.”
“It’s the antithesis of standard,” McCarthy said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “The idea that they do not have to agree on what the other crime is. We spent six weeks wondering what is the other crime and at the end the thud we all get hit with, there’s three or four of ’em and you could pick one or the other and they don’t have to agree on it.”
Merchan instructed the jurors they could consider three crimes as the “unlawful” means: Either a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), the falsification of other business records or violations of tax fraud.
Trump has repeatedly denied ever engaging in an extramarital affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
