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Jury selection for People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump, the first-ever criminal trial of a former president, continued Tuesday morning.
The quest to find a jury of 12 people and six alternates came as more than half of the 96 potential jurors called to a Manhattan courtroom said they could not be “fair and impartial” when it came to Trump. It was a slow start on Monday. , a polarizing New York native and former commander-in-chief.
The trend continued Tuesday, when the first prospective juror of the day, a Texas native who works in the financial industry, was released after suggesting he could not be impartial because he grew up around Republicans. “I think there is unconscious bias,” he said. A second juror was excused after telling the judge that he had thought about it overnight and decided he “couldn’t be fair and impartial.”
Just before entering the courtroom, Trump told reporters he had done nothing wrong and attacked Judge Juan Machan, who is overseeing the trial, as a “Trump-hating judge.” He also complained that the incident was keeping him out of the presidential race, saying, “I should be in Pennsylvania and Florida and a lot of other states right now.”
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is required to attend the trial, which is expected to last six to eight weeks. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn stars in the final stages of the 2016 presidential campaign. Low-level felonies carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
After Monday’s court, Trump complained that Marchand would not allow him to miss the May 17 court date to attend his son’s high school graduation, but Marchand has not yet made the request. He said he had not actually ruled on the matter and planned to do so at a later date.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche also weighed in on whether Trump could be granted immunity on April 25, when the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear Trump’s presidential immunity arguments stemming from the federal election interference case against him. I asked. Marchan refuses the request after Blanche says, “You shouldn’t be here right now.”
“Don’t you think you should be here now?” the furious judge replied. “He needs to be here. He doesn’t need to be on the Supreme Court.”
The issue was among several raised by attorneys for both sides in court Monday, resulting in the jury selection process not starting until the afternoon. Prosecutors found Trump guilty of contempt for social media posts involving his former lawyer Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels, two key witnesses in the case, and sentenced him to 3,000 yen. asked for a fine of $1. Mr. Cohen admitted that he paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 late in the 2016 campaign to keep her quiet about her claims that she had a sexual relationship with Mr. Trump in 2006. The records that Trump is accused of falsifying stem from Daniels repaying the money to Cohen.
The prosecutor’s office argued that Mr. Trump’s posts violated the gag order in the case, and in a filing released Tuesday, told the judge, “Going forward, the courts will not respond to Mr. Trump’s extrajudicial statements.” Violation of the restrictions will result in additional fines as well as up to 30 days in jail.
By the end of the day Monday, only nine potential jurors had answered questions from Marchand’s 42-question form before court ended. It included several questions about his political affiliation and his views on himself.
During part of Monday’s trial, Trump closed his eyes while Marchand read instructions to potential jurors, leading to speculation that he was asleep or just lost in thought. It spread.
The remaining jurors in the first group will continue to answer questions Tuesday morning, after which prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and Mr. Trump’s lawyers will take additional questions.
Then move on to the next pool of 96 people. Marchan estimates this process will take him one to two weeks.
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