Thread by @Jose_Pagliery

Yet another Monday morning—and maybe the last—at this trial in Manhattan's criminal court.

A jury of New Yorkers is about to start privately discussing whether or not the Trump Organization cheated on its taxes for more than a decade.

I'm here, as I've been for weeks. Thread.

Justice Juan Merchan is finally giving the jury instructions. It's hard to hear.

We're on the 15th floor. It's freezing outside & radiators are blasting, so windows are cracked open.

Some cop outside is rapidly toggling the car siren, which echoes in the concrete canyons below.

"The only defendants before you are the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation," judge says.

He adds a warning.

"Mr Trump & his family are not on trial... .although you heard numerous references..."

Judge: "You must not allow any such bias to influence your judgment."

Keep in mind, the former president called for dismantling the US Constitution on Saturday. And he's being investigated by the DOJ for an insurrection and swiping classified docs. And so much more.

Judge: "When you judge the facts you need to consider only the evidence... testimony of witnesses, exhibits that were received in evidence, & stipulation of the parties..."

Jurors won't know that witness Jeff McConney took the fall to save his boss.

thedailybeast.com/jeff-mcconney-…

Judge: "You might consider if a witness had a motive to lie."

Jurors won't know that 3 witnesses—controller Jeff McConney, CFO Allen Weisselberg & outside accountant Donald Bender—had a yearly ritual in which they'd figure out how to cook the books.

thedailybeast.com/jeff-mcconney-…

Judge : "You may consider if a witness hopes to... receive a benefit for testifying."

Trump Org claimed to fire its CFO when he got indicted. It secretly kept paying him & threw him a birthday bash when he pled guilty. And it'll pay him $500k in Jan!

thedailybeast.com/the-trump-orga…

And now to the nitty gritty. Judge lists the various criminal charges:

• scheme to defraud
• conspiracy
• criminal tax fraud
• falsifying business records

8 total counts against Trump Payroll Corp
9 total against Trump Corp

Judge lists the six core questions:

1. Did Allen Weisselberg and Jeff McConney engage in a systematic scheme?
2. Did they do it with the intent to defraud?
3. Did they obtain property worth more than $1,000?
4. Were they "high managerial agents?"
(continued)

5. Were they engaged in this conduct themselves recklessly tolerate it?

And here's the doozy...

6. When they did so, were they "acting within scope of his or her employment and in behalf of the corporation?"

Buckle in, friends.

Judge: "It is not necessary that the criminal act to actually benefit the corp. But the agent's acts are not 'in behalf of' if they were taken solely to advance the agent's interest. If the agents acts were merely taken for personal gain, they were not 'in behalf of' the corp."

This entire trial could come down to the jury's interpretation of those 3 words.

@MerriamWebster only gets you so far this time.

It's "in behalf of," not "on behalf of."

NY law is different & the judge is relying on a merger of 2 legal treatises to figure out a solution.

Thankfully, the judge keeps repeating this definition with every criminal count, so we've now heard it four times already.

The judge is giving final instructions to the jury. Here's the makeup, by the way:

12 jurors, plus 4 alternates
• 9 men, 7 women)
• 8 are masked at the moment (trial was paused halfway because of COVID outbreak)
• 8+ people of color
• 4+ seniors

Merchan was about to send jury into deliberations when lawyers had even more nitpicking.

Trump Org attorneys Susan Necheles & Michael van der Veen complain about how judge has been "shifting" in defining "in behalf of." They want judge to stress intent.

"Noted," he says. No go.

Judge is now excusing the alternate jurors. The makeup is now clear.

Alternates were 3 women, 1 person of color.

Judge laments taking them away from school, work, families... just so they could serve as a safety precaution.

We heard a loud buzzer. Everyone in the courtroom is sitting down. Bailiffs just warned to put away all cell phones. Did this jury just come to a conclusion?

Nope. Jury has a question about the conspiracy to defraud count. They want to better understand "the elements" of the charge. Looks like they're being careful here.