Welcome to the news hour. Former President Donald Trump's future now rests in the

hands of a jury in New York City. Jurors in the criminal Hush Money case

against Mr. Trump began deliberating this morning. Seven men and five women received instructions from Judge Juan Mershahn,

and were then sent off to decide this historic case.

William Bringham has been covering the trial from the start and he joins us now.

So William, let's start with those instructions that the judge gave to the members of the jury.

They're very important in this case, the subject of a lot of debate between the defense and the prosecution.

Tell us more about what exactly the judge instructed those jurors to do this morning.

You're right, Honor.

They are always, they're important in every case but particularly in this one

because it is such a complicated case and the judge laid out a several key issues

first off he stressed to the jury that a defendant can be held liable for the criminal acts of other people

if the defendant basically instructed or asked or helped them to do so and did so intentionally.

Secondly, the judge then went through the 34 different charges,

which all accused Donald Trump of falsifying business records.

And those are 34 different checks and invoices and ledger

entries all in relation to the payment made to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Third, he explained that for those 34 charges

to become felonies, not just misdemeanors,

they must have been done to commit

or to conceal another crime. And in this case it is alleged that he was

committing a violation of New York State election law, which basically prohibits someone's

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