Jury begins deliberating in criminal tax fraud trial of 2 Trump companies – By Kevin McCoy (USA Today) / Dec 5, 2022
NEW YORK – Jurors in the criminal tax fraud trial of two companies in former President Donald Trump’s business empire began deliberations Monday following spirited closing arguments and a rejected call for a mistrial last week.
The panel of eight men and four women started deliberating after Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the trial judge, gave them instructions about the law and a directive about Trump.
The former president became the subject of the mistrial motion after Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass asserted Friday that Trump “explicitly” sanctioned the alleged tax fraud scheme at the heart of the case.
Defense lawyer Susan Necheles stressed that evidence showed Trump was not involved. The former president is not charged in the case and did not appear in the courtroom during the trial. However, Trump criticized the prosecution in a social media post late last month.
