Donald Trump advised to ‘flee from New York City immediately’ ahead of hush-money trial verdict

Newsmax host Todd Starnes urged Trump to flee from New York City immediately, suggesting, “President Trump needs to get out of New York City RIGHT NOW! Fly back to Mar-a-Lago or another state that will provide him safe harbor,” on X, (formerly Twitter), on Thursday.

Trump has been facing allegations of covering up hush money payments to former pornstar Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election through his then “fixer” Michael Cohen. The former president stands trial in Manhattan after pleading not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has accused Trump of “fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information—including a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels from the public during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

The Republican presidential hopeful has consistently denied any wrongdoing in this case. He has repeatedly called for the case’s dismissal and criticized New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.

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Trump called his hush-money trail ‘rigged’

Trump even called the charges against him are “rigged,” and blamed Merchan for that. “The judge, who, as you know, is very conflicted and corrupt. Because of the confliction, very, very corrupt. Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged. The whole thing is rigged,” he said.

Merchan gave jury instructions on Wednesdayand sent the jury to begin deliberations.

During their deliberations, the jurors sent two notes to the judge.

The first requested to rehear testimonies from Cohen and David Pecker. The second asked to review Merchan’s instructions, per Newsweek.

During his instructions, Merchan outlined the charges, the prosecution’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, definitions of terms like “enterprise” and “intent,” and what could be considered “unlawful means.”

He also explained to the jurors, “It’s not my responsibility to judge the evidence here.” He responded, “It’s yours.”

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Earlier in the week, former White House lawyer Ty Cobb told Semafor, “If the jury begins deliberations Tuesday afternoon, expect a verdict no later than Friday afternoon.”

“I expect a ‘guilty’ verdict, but only because the jury instructions as urged by the DA and adopted by the judge, over strenuous and well-founded defense objections, virtually require conviction.”