Jury selection resumes in Trump’s criminal trial

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Five more prospective jurors were dismissed from Donald Trump’s historic hush-money trial on Tuesday, as lawyers try to choose a panel of 12 residents of heavily Democratic Manhattan to hear the Republican former US president’s criminal case impartially.

The proceedings so far have underscored the challenges of the task.

Roughly half of 96 potential jurors summoned on Monday were dismissed after saying they could not impartially judge the polarizing businessman-turned-politician, who is mounting a comeback White House bid while battling four separate criminal cases.

Those dismissed on Tuesday said they had scheduling conflicts, concerns about balancing juror service with their jobs, or had thought more overnight and come to the conclusion they could not be fair.

Justice Juan Merchan excused one juror who said many of his family, friends and colleagues in finance were Republicans and it would be hard for him to be impartial.

“Being in the finance and accounting world, a lot of people tend to intellectually slant Republican,” said the juror, who grew up in Texas. “Even though I feel like I can be impartial, there might be some implicit bias surrounding that.”

The jurors allowed to stay on for now after answering questions on Tuesday included an asset manager at Lazard who is originally from Mexico and enjoys scuba diving and skiing, and a corporate lawyer from Oregon who hikes and runs in his spare time and reads the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Trump, wearing a blue tie, at times held a piece of paper up to his face as jurors read out answers to a list of 42 questions. Occasionally he yawned and leaned back in his chair at the defense table.

A New York native who now lives in Florida, Trump was a fixture in the city’s tabloid press for decades before he won the presidency in 2016. But as a Republican politician, he has never been able to count on the heavily Democratic city for votes.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade beforehand.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies an encounter took place.

In other jurisdictions, he stands accused of mishandling classified information and trying to overturn his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. But the hush-money case may be the only one to go to trial before Trump faces Biden again in the Nov. 5 election.

If convicted, Trump would still be able to run for office and serve as president if he won. But a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that half of independents and a quarter of his fellow Republicans would not vote for him if he is found guilty.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four criminal cases, and says they are a plot by Biden’s Democrats to neutralize him politically.

GAG ORDER

Though the New York case is centered on events that took place more than seven years ago, prosecutors are trying to hold Trump accountable for more recent conduct as well.

On Monday, they asked Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 for each of three social media posts this month that criticized Daniels and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer who is expected to be a prominent witness in the trial.

Under a gag order imposed by Merchan, Trump is barred from making statements about witnesses, court staff and family members that are meant to interfere with the case. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said the former president was only responding to their criticism of him.

“A finding of criminal contempt, imposition of sanctions, and stark warnings from this Court are the minimum remedies necessary to achieve this indispensable objective,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing made public on Tuesday.

Merchan said he will consider the fines on April 23.

Speaking to reporters before entering the courtroom, Trump said it was unfair that he was at the trial rather than on the campaign trail.

“This is a trial that should never have been brought,” he said.

Jury selection is expected to consume the rest of the week, and the trial is scheduled to last through at least May.