First 7 hush-money jurors selected
Trump rebuked by judge for disruption during questioning
NEW YORK — The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush-money trial were chosen Tuesday after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide whether they can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
The panelists who were sworn in are an IT worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers.
Eleven more people still must be picked before opening statements begin as early as next week in the Manhattan case accusing the Republican of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign.
The trial, which began Monday, puts Trump’s legal problems at the center of his closely contested race against President Joe Biden. It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, and it may be the only one to reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether to elect the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
On the second day of jury selection, New Yorkers were quizzed for hours about their views on Trump and other issues; eight were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Trump’s lawyers challenged a handful
of people over social media posts, and one person was dismissed over a 2017 post about Trump that said “Lock him up!”
Several would-be jurors told the judge they believed they could decide the case fairly, no matter their feelings about Trump or his policies as president.
Trump looked on in the courtroom as his lawyers urged the judge to remove one potential juror for a social media post she made after his 2020 election loss. The judge admonished Trump at one point after he spoke loudly and gestured while the judge questioned the woman about her post.
“I don’t know what he was uttering, but it was audible and he was gesturing. And
he was speaking in the direction of the juror,” Judge Juan Merchan said. “I won’t tolerate that. I will not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass took Trump’s notoriety head-on, telling would-be jurors that attorneys were not looking for people who had been “living under a rock for the past eight years.” They just need to keep an open mind.
“This case has nothing to do with your personal politics … it’s not a referendum on the Trump presidency or a popularity contest or who you’re going to vote for in November. We don’t care. This case is about whether this man broke the law,” he said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.
Before entering the courtroom, Trump stopped briefly to address a TV camera in the hallway, repeating his claim that the judge is biased against him and the case is politically motivated.
With the trial expected to last six weeks or more, multiple jury pool members brought up plans they have for Memorial Day and beyond. One parent was excused Monday because of a child’s wedding in late June. Another person was dismissed Tuesday because of a planned trip.
One man was excused after saying he feared that his ability to be impartial could be compromised by “unconscious bias” from growing up in Texas and working in finance with people who “intellectually tend to slant Republican.”
“I’m not sure that I can say beyond a reasonable doubt that I can be fair,” another potential juror told the judge. “I can try. But I’m not 100% sure I can be fair.” She was also dismissed.
One woman who said she disagrees with Trump’s policies — and sometimes finds herself frustrated by him — pledged to be fair and impartial, telling defense lawyer Todd Blanche that she would give her “levelheaded best” if she were picked for the jury.
“I didn’t sleep last night thinking about could I do that,” she said.
The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied that the encounter ever happened.
Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees. The prosecution has described the money as being part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he made about women.
Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment and that it was designed to stop Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter. But Trump has previously said it had nothing to do with the campaign.
In court papers filed Tuesday, prosecutors urged the judge to fine Trump $3,000 over social media posts attacking Cohen and Daniels that they say violated a gag order limiting what he can say publicly about witnesses.
Prosecutors wrote that the judge should admonish Trump to comply with the gag order and warn him that further violations might bring not only additional fines but also jail time.
If convicted of falsifying business records, Trump faces up to four years in prison, although there’s no guarantee he would get time behind bars.