The bell just tolled for Donald Trump
As the jury in Donald Trump’s criminal trial gets back to its deliberations today, it’s worth pointing out that they have a bell they can ring whenever they have a question or a request, which prompts everyone on both sides to be brought back into the courtroom. This means they literally have a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command.
It’s a symbolic indicator of just how thoroughly the tables have turned. Trump reportedly used to have a device on his desk that he could use to force someone to immediately show up with a soda for him. Now Trump is on the other end of that. And rather than having to serve a beverage, he has to show up and find out if he’s going to serve a sentence.
The jury rang the bell twice yesterday, and while it was fun watching Trump get bossed around, the real story is in the specific nature of the notes. First the jury requested a read back of testimony from David Pecker which helps corroborate Michael Cohen. Then, as the courts were assembling that testimony, the jury informed the judge an hour later that it wanted to hear the judge’s jury instructions again.
It’s difficult to interpret this as anything other than the jury deciding that Pecker’s testimony nailed Trump and wanting to rehear it just to make sure, and then deciding that it would be ready to deliver a verdict once it heard that testimony. Yet we’ll have to wait until today for confirmation of that.
It’s important to keep in mind that the jury wasn’t sent home due to any difficulty in reaching a verdict. The judge only sent the jury home after he concluded that the court wouldn’t be able to pull together the requested testimony before the court day was over.
When court is back in session in a few minutes, the jury will immediately rehear the testimony it requested, and then the jury will rehear the instructions it requested. That could take an hour or more. Then the jury will go back to its deliberations. If my interpretation is correct, then the jury is already close to reaching a unanimous conviction, and we should get the verdict by perhaps lunchtime.
This is all a good reminder that the criminal justice system works the way it works, without regard for how outside observers wish it worked. We’d all like to have seen the verdict happen yesterday. That didn’t happen. But yesterday’s events make a conviction feel even more likely than ever. Stay tuned. It may not be long now.
