Hunt for Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ jury gets off to slow start in Manhattan
On Monday, the process of selecting a panel to oversee the first criminal trial of a former US president began in a Manhattan courthouse. Many New Yorkers stated that they could not act as unbiased jurors in the case involving hush money and Donald Trump. The selection process was difficult and time-consuming.
After just one hour of starting the selection process for the jury, over 50 potential jurors were let go due to their inability to remain impartial and make an unbiased decision in the high-profile case involving former President Trump. The case revolves around accusations of Trump trying to conceal payments made to a pornographic actress who claimed to have had an affair with him during the 2016 presidential campaign. Due to Trump's divisive reputation, the court is being especially careful in selecting jurors who can remain impartial and fairly determine the outcome of the case.
As she was leaving the courtroom after being excused from jury duty, a young woman was overheard saying "I was unable to fulfill that obligation."
The trial for the likely Republican nominee for the presidency started off slowly and is projected to continue for six weeks. Essentially, the nominee needs to be present for a minimum of four days each week during the duration of the trial. However, Justice Juan Merchan, who is in charge of the proceedings, did not ensure that Wednesdays would always be available for campaign activities, nor could he guarantee that the nominee would be permitted to attend his son Barron's graduation from high school.
However, Trump tried to turn the situation to his advantage. While he was in court, his followers were sent emails encouraging them to contribute to his presidential campaign. Moreover, on the Truth Social platform created by the ex-president, people posted messages criticizing the proceedings as a "witch hunt" and "election meddling."
The current legal proceedings are a result of Trump's initial indictment in 2020. The charge held him accountable for 34 counts of illegal tampering with business records. The accusation pertained to supposed payments totaling $130,000 that were meant to secure the cooperation and complicity of adult film actress, Stormy Daniels. Daniels had claimed to have engaged in an extramarital affair with Trump in the past - a claim which was met with fierce denial from the billionaire.
The person who is 77 years old was in court on Monday for a long time. They seemed tired and sleepy in the hot courtroom. This individual is dealing with three different legal cases. They are being accused of trying to stop the 2020 election results from being valid and keeping secret documents after they were not the president anymore. Out of the three cases, the one in Manhattan will probably be the only one that is finished before the election in November.
Around 500 individuals are scheduled to undergo questioning throughout the week, as lawyers from both parties aim to choose 12 jurors and six backups.
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The group of people swimming in the pool, who are all from Manhattan, will be inquired about their sources of news - whether they come from channels that lean towards the left side of politics, like MSNBC, or towards the right, like Fox News. Additionally, they will be asked if they have ever shown support for a Trump rally or have shown their allegiance to extremist groups such as QAnon.
On Monday, the court only questioned ten jurors before finishing for the day. These ten included someone from West Harlem who was born in Ireland, two male lawyers, a woman from the Upper East Side who works in social media marketing for FanDuel, and an oncology nurse. As for those previously dismissed, more than half of them were females.
A male employee at the Drama Book Shop, who used to work at Shakespeare and Company, made it clear that he can stay neutral. He mentioned that nobody, regardless of whether they were a past or present leader or just a janitor, should be exempt from the law, according to him in a courtroom.
Prior to the commencement of selecting jurors, the lawyers representing the prosecution team and Trump engaged in ongoing disputes regarding several matters, including the admissibility of evidence during the trial. Additionally, the office of Alvin Bragg, the district attorney responsible for initiating the case, requested that Merchan impose financial penalties upon Trump for making hostile comments about potential witnesses involved in the New York hush money case.
During a court hearing, Bragg's attorney accused Trump of breaking the gag order that was imposed earlier. According to the attorney, Trump posted on social media platforms at least three times in the recent days which went against the imposed order. The lawyer requested the judge to impose a fine of $1,000 per post on Trump and cautioned him that if he continued to violate such orders, he might face imprisonment.
Over the weekend, Trump once again cast doubt on the trustworthiness of Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who is set to play a key role in the case. He referred to Cohen as a "disgraced attorney and felon". He also shared a statement about Cohen and another potential witness, Stormy Daniels, thanking the original author for "exposing the truth" about these two individuals.
Merchan announced that he will listen to debates regarding the suppression directive problem in the upcoming week.
On Monday morning, Trump's legal representatives were able to achieve a few minor successes. This happened after Merchan conceded that presenting evidence of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which the former reality TV personality boasted about forcibly touching women's genitals, could harm the defendant's case.
Merchan also prevented prosecutors from using a video of Trump's testimony in a civil case against E Jean Carroll and accusations of sexual assault against the ex-president. He said that they were "pure hearsay."
The courthouse premises had high-level security measures in place, and only a few protesters had assembled outside, with some supporting and others opposing the previous head of state.
After departing from the court, Trump briefly conversed with journalists in the hallway and labeled the case as a "fraud." Previously, he declared his intention to testify during his defense in the trial.
He remarked, "We will not be granted a just trial. This is extremely disheartening."
Extra coverage provided by Steff Chávez located in Washington.
