First 7 jurors are chosen for ex-prez Trump’s hush money criminal trial
The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were seated on Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president.
The panellists who were selected are an information technology worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers.
Eleven more people still must be sworn in before opening statements begin as early as next week in the first criminal trial of a former commander in chief. It’s a moment of reckoning for Trump, who has tried to put off his prosecutions until after the November election and casts himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system.
The trial puts Trump’s legal problems at the centre of his closely contested race against President Joe Biden. It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to reach trial, and it may be the only one to return a verdict before voters decide whether to elect the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
The methodical process unfolding in the Manhattan courtroom highlights the challenge of finding people who can fairly judge the polarising defendant in the city where he built his real estate empire before being elected president in 2016. Even so, jury selection moved quicker than expected Tuesday on afternoon. It was set to resume on Thursday.
On his way out of the courthouse, Trump stopped in the hallway to rail against the case to reporters, accusing Judge Juan Merchan of “rushing” the trial. He has denied any wrongdoing. “We are going to continue our fight against this judge,” said Trump, who pushed unsuccessfully to have Merchan removed from the case.
During an appearance later on Tuesday at a bodega in Harlem, Trump was asked what he thought of the jurors he had seen. He said it was “a little bit early to see,” adding, “We’ll see what happens.”
Over two days, dozens of potential jurors have been 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 potential jurors — whose names are known only to prosecutors, Trump and their legal teams — shared details of their lives and impressions of him. The judge admonished Trump at one point after he spoke loudly and gestured while the judge questioned one woman about a social media 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,” Merchan said. “I won’t tolerate that. I will not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom.”
Half of Denmark’s Old Stock Exchange was completely burnt-out with only outer walls remaining after flames engulfed the building and caused the roof to collapse in Tuesday’s devastating fire, Danish officials said on Wednesday.
The blaze that ripped through the 400-year-old landmark, toppling its spire in a scene reminiscent of the 2019 fire at Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral, was still burning in some hard-to-access places.
Roughly half the Dutch Renaissance-style building was saved, although massive damage still occurred as fire fighters had drenched it in water.
“Everything that was once part of the storey partitions and building structures inside has been burnt away,” Copenhagen fire department Operations Chief Frank Trier Mikkelsen told Reuters, referring to the part of the building worst hit.
“Only the outer walls remain, leaving an empty shell.”
Emergency services were joined by passers-by on Tuesday in carrying large paintings away from the building shortly after the fire broke out in a race to save historic artefacts from the flames. “There are probably a thousand objects in there but the things I would say are the most important have been saved,” Brian Mikkelsen, CEO of the Danish Chamber of Commerce which owns the building, told public broadcaster DR.
He said employees and firefighters knew what to get out as they already had a “worst case” emergency plan in place.
Putting out the fire was taking longer than expected due to lingering pockets of flames found in the rubble and the work was expected to last at least until Thursday morning.
Large containers had been installed overnight to support damaged walls and prevent the historic brickwork from collapsing, fire officials said.
The building no longer houses the stock exchange but serves as the Chamber of Commerce headquarters.
No decision has yet been made about who will reconstruct the building, a project which would cost millions, if not billions of kroner (dollars).