Jury reaches verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial

The jury in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial has reached a verdict but jurors have requested extra time to complete forms related to their decisions on the 34 felony counts the former US president faces.

It was the second day of deliberations after the panel began the weighty task a day before.

The jury deliberated for about nine-and-a-half hours in total: about four-and-a-half hours on Wednesday and five hours on Thursday.

At the heart of the charges are reimbursements paid to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen for a 130,000 dollar (£102,000) hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for not going public with her claim about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.

Prosecutors say the reimbursements were falsely logged as “legal expenses” to hide the true nature of the transactions.

The charges Trump faces are punishable by up to four years in prison.

He has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

The case is the first of Trump’s four indictments to reach trial and is the first-ever criminal case against a former US president.

Trump is sitting in the courtroom with his arms folded across his chest as he awaits the reading of the verdict.