First seven jurors picked in Trump money trial
The first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hush-money trial were seated yesterday 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 United State 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 cast their ballots.
The methodical process unfolding in the Manhattan courtroom highlights the challenge of finding people who can fairly judge the polarising defendant. Even so, jury selection moved more quickly than expected yesterday. It was set to resume tomorrow.
On his way out of the courthouse, Trump stopped in the hallway to rail against the case to reporters, accusing the judge of “rushing” the trial.
“We are going to continue our fight against this judge,” said Trump, who pushed unsuccessfully to have the judge removed from the case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.
With the trial expected to last for six weeks or more, several jury pool members brought up plans they have for Memorial Day and beyond. One parent was excused because of a child’s wedding in late June. Another person was dismissed because of a trip they have planned.
One man was excused after saying he feared his ability to be impartial could be compromised by “unconscious bias” from growing up in Texas and working in finance with people who “intellectually tend to slant Republican”.
The charges centre on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the encounter happened.
Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees. The prosecution has described the money as being part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he made about women. Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment and that it was designed to stop Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter. But Trump has said it had nothing to do with the campaign. He hinted yesterday at the defence his legal team will mount, telling reporters: “I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense”.
He added: “That’s exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that?”
In court papers also filed yesterday, prosecutors urged the judge to fine Trump US$3000 ($5085) over social media posts they say violated a gag order limiting what he can say publicly about witnesses.
In the posts, Trump called Cohen and Daniels “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our country dearly!”
Prosecutors wrote that the judge should admonish Trump to comply with the gag order and warn him that further violations could be punished not only with additional fines but also jail time.
If convicted of falsifying business records, Trump faces up to four years in prison, though there’s no guarantee he will get time behind bars.