Jury selection in the hush money trial of Donald Trump enters a pivotal and potentially final stretch Thursday as lawyers look to round out the panel of New Yorkers that will decide the first-ever criminal case against a former president.
Quick Read
- Jury Selection Progress: As of Thursday, jury selection in the trial is nearing completion with seven jurors already selected. The panel so far includes a diverse group of professionals—an oncology nurse, a software engineer, an IT professional, a sales professional, an English teacher, and two lawyers. Eleven more jurors need to be selected, with opening statements expected as early as next week.
- Nature of the Trial: This trial marks the first-ever criminal case against a former U.S. president, Donald Trump, who is also a presumptive Republican nominee. The case focuses on a $130,000 payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, to prevent her from publicizing claims of a sexual encounter with Trump during the 2016 election campaign.
- Challenges in Jury Selection: The selection process is heavily scrutinized, with potential jurors being questioned about their social media activity, personal lives, and political opinions to identify any biases. The difficulty lies in finding jurors who are impartial yet inevitably aware of Trump due to his significant public presence.
- Juror Opinions: Some jurors have expressed their views on Trump, with one describing him as “fascinating and mysterious” and noting his impact on people.
- Defendant’s Reaction: Trump has criticized the pace of the jury selection, suggesting that the trial is being “rushed.”
- Legal Stakes: Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, with a potential sentence of up to four years in prison if convicted. Regardless of the outcome, an appeal is likely.
- Broader Legal Context: This trial is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as he attempts another presidential run. Other charges involve allegations of plotting to overturn the 2020 election results and mishandling classified documents, though this hush money case might be the only one to go to trial before the upcoming presidential election.
The Associated Press has the story:
Jury selection in Trump hush money trial faces pivotal stretch as he returns to court
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP) —
Jury selection in the hush money trial of Donald Trump enters a pivotal and potentially final stretch Thursday as lawyers look to round out the panel of New Yorkers that will decide the first-ever criminal case against a former president.
Seven jurors have been picked so far, including an oncology nurse, a software engineer, an information technology professional, a sales professional, an English teacher and two lawyers. Eleven more people must still be sworn in, with the judge saying he anticipated opening statements in the landmark case to be given as early as next week.
The seating of the Manhattan jury — whenever it comes — will be a seminal moment in the case, setting the stage for a trial that will place the former president’s legal jeopardy at the heart of the campaign against Democrat Joe Biden and feature potentially unflattering testimony about Trump’s private life in the years before he became president.
The process of picking a jury is a critical phase of any criminal trial but especially so when the defendant is a former president and the presumptive Republican nominee. Prospective jurors have been grilled on their social media posts, personal lives and political views as the lawyers and judge search for biases that would prevent them from being impartial. Inside the court, there’s broad acknowledgment of the futility in trying to find jurors without knowledge of Trump, with a prosecutor this week saying that lawyers were not looking for people who had been “living under a rock for the past eight years.”
To that end, at least some of the jurors selected acknowledged having their own opinions about Trump.
“I find him fascinating and mysterious,” one juror selected for the case, an IT professional, said under questioning. “He walks into a room and he sets people off, one way or the other. I find that really interesting. ‘Really? This one guy could do all of this? Wow.’ That’s what I think.”
The process has moved swifter than expected, prompting Trump when leaving the courthouse on Tuesday to complain to reporters that the judge, Juan Merchan, was “rushing” the trial.
The case centers on a $130,000 payment that Trump’s lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, made shortly before the 2016 election to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from becoming public in the race’s final days.
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of the payments in internal records when his company reimbursed Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 and is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could face up to four years in prison if convicted, though it’s not clear that the judge would opt to put him behind bars. Trump would almost certainly appeal any conviction.
The hush money case is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump is confronting as he vies to reclaim the White House, but it’s possible that it will be the sole case to reach trial before November’s presidential election. Appeals and other legal wrangling have caused delays in cases charging Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election results and with illegally hoarding classified documents.
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