NEW YORK (AP) — A 12-person jury was seated Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s history-making trial. hush money trialpropelling proceedings toward the start of opening statements and weeks of dramatic testimony.
The court will immediately proceed to select alternate jurors, with the process expected to be completed by the end of this week. Prosecutors could begin arguments early next week.
The Manhattanite jury includes a sales professional, a software engineer, a security engineer, a teacher, a speech therapist, several attorneys, an investment banker, and a retired money manager.
The first-ever trial against a former US president is being held in New York during this year’s White House campaign. That means the presumptive Republican nominee will spend his days in court, facing sordid and unflattering testimony about his private life, and at the same time waging a repossession campaign. . He held that position for four years.
He has already made clear his determination to use his legal crisis, which has become a central issue in his campaign against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden, to his advantage. After a full day of jury selection, he complained to reporters that he should have been campaigning, but went to court instead, calling it a “very unfair trial.”
“Everyone is furious about this,” he said. “You know the world is watching this New York scam.”
Jury selection proceeded at a slow pace early Thursday, with two jurors dismissed. One expressed doubts about her ability to be impartial following the disclosure of details about her identity, and the other expressed concern that some of her answers in court may have been inaccurate. It was for the reason.
But after starting the day with just five jurors, lawyers quickly settled for seven remaining jurors and one alternate. Judge Juan Melchan said the goal is to have six replacements.
The jury selection process is an important step in any criminal trial, but it’s especially important when the defendant is a former president and potential Republican nominee. Potential jurors are being grilled about their social media posts, personal lives and political views as lawyers and judges investigate whether they have biases that could impede impartiality.
There is a widespread sense in the courtroom that trying to find jurors who don’t know about President Trump is futile. Prosecutors said this week that lawyers are not looking for people who have been “living under a rock for the past eight years.”
To this end, multiple jurors selected for the panel admitted to having personal opinions about President Trump or his presidency.
One juror, a man who works at an investment bank, previously described Trump as “ambiguous,” adding: “You might not like some of his policies, but there were some that were good for the country.”
The woman selected to serve on the jury said she thought President Trump seemed “very selfish and self-centered,” adding, “I don’t really appreciate that from any public official.” Defense attorneys were exempt from peremptory strikes, which allow them to dismiss jurors without giving a reason.
The lawsuit centers on a $130,000 payment. michael coenTrump’s former lawyer and personal fixer asks porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims about sexual encounters with Trump from going public in the final days of the 2016 campaign did.
Prosecutors say President Trump hid the true nature of the payment in internal records when the company paid compensation to Cohen, who pleaded guilty in a federal case in 2018 and is expected to be a key prosecution witness. claims.
Mr. Trump has denied having sexual contact with Mr. Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Mr. Cohen were legitimate legal fees.
President Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison, but it is unclear whether the judge will choose to send him to prison. Trump will almost certainly appeal the conviction.
Trump faces four criminal charges, but it is unclear whether any other criminal cases will go to trial before the November election. Appeals and legal wrangling have delayed three other lawsuits accusing Trump. They are plotting to overturn the 2020 election results. and Illegal storage of confidential documents.
The jury selection process gained momentum Tuesday with the selection of seven jurors. But on Thursday, Merchan One of the seven, a cancer nurse, told the court, “After sleeping through the night, I felt unsure whether I would be able to act fairly and impartially in this matter.”
The woman also told the judge and her lawyer that she had doubts that some of her identity had been made public, although the names of the jurors were kept secret.
“Yesterday alone, friends, colleagues and family members have been pushing my cell phone regarding questioning my identity as a juror,” she said. “At this time, I do not believe that I can be fair and impartial and keep outside influences from influencing my decisions in court.”
The second juror seated said he had never been accused or convicted of a crime when asked a jury selection question, raising prosecutors’ concerns that he was not answering truthfully. As a result, he was dismissed.
In an interview with The Associated Press, defense attorney Arthur Aidala said lawyers always check potential jurors’ social media pages.
The IT expert was asked to answer questions after prosecutors said they had discovered an article about a person with the same name who was arrested for tearing down political rights posters in suburban Westchester County in the 1990s. summoned to court.
What you need to know about Trump’s hush money trial:
Prosecutors also revealed that the man’s relatives may have been involved in a deferred prosecution agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump’s case, in the 1990s.
On Thursday, jurors were questioned in the judge’s box with their microphones removed and out of earshot of reporters, so it was unclear whether the man was confirming or denying that any of the cases involved him. .
Former President Donald Trump made the comments on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, after visiting a winery whose owner was attacked in New York last year. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
After removing Nurse Merchan, who had already been selected, from the jury; ordered the journalist A potential juror’s answers to questions about current and former employers may not be reported in court.
“We just lost someone who probably would have been a very good juror in this case, and the first thing she said was that the press, all the press, and what happened It was about feeling scared and intimidated by everything,” Marchan said. .
In other developments, prosecutors this week sought to charge Trump with contempt over a series of social media posts.
The district attorney’s office on Monday asked Trump to pay a $3,000 fine for three posts on Truth Social, alleging he violated a judge’s gag order restricting what he can publicly say about witnesses. Since then, prosecutors have announced that Trump has made seven additional posts that appear to violate his orders.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said some of the posts included an article calling former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen a “serial perjurer,” and a Wednesday post in which liberal activists lied to get on the jury. This is said to be a repeat of the Fox News host’s claim that he was watching the video.
Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, said Cohen had “attacked President Trump in public statements” and that Trump had simply responded.
Former President Donald Trump addresses the media after the second day of jury selection in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 in New York. Trump is accused of falsifying his business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 election campaign. (Justin Lane/Pool Photo via AP)
A judge has already scheduled a hearing for next week on prosecutors’ request for contempt charges over President Trump’s posts.
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Tucker reported from Washington.
