Jury selection continues in Trump’s NYC trial
Many of pool already dismissed, saying they couldn’t be impartial
NEW YORK – Which is harder to find: a seat on the subway during rush hour or the jury needed for former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial?
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels via his former lawyer Michael Cohen. Prosecutors allege the falsification was done to conceal federal campaign finance violations, making the crimes felonies. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
The court called upon 500 New Yorkers to glean the 12 jurors and several alternates. An interaction Tuesday morning with one of them showed the challenge.
Jurors aren’t expected to have been living under a rock, Joshua Steinglass from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office told prospective jurors Tuesday. The important thing is that they are able to be fair.
One potential juror, originally from Texas, said he believed he had unconscious bias that could get in the way.
Judge Juan Merchan told him there was a need for an unequivocal assurance that he could be impartial. The man said he had a bunch of Republican family and childhood friends and it would “probably” be hard to be fair and impartial.
Merchan excused the man from service.
Trump continued to vent his spleen before entering the courtroom for the unprecedented trial’s second day.
Wearing his trademark blue suit and a striped blue tie, he said he should be campaigning. He argued that the payments were accurately described as “legal expenses.” He alleged again without evidence that White House was directing the trial “to try and win an election.” And he repeated his fruitless call for Merchan to recuse himself.
When Merchan entered the courtroom and greeted Trump, the former president grimaced. When a potential juror said she believed Trump was being treated fairly, he could be seen muttering.
Would-be juror Kara McGee was excused Tuesday for conflicts with her cybersecurity job. “You felt like history was happening which was a really, really cool sensation,” she told a crowd of reporters afterwards. “I wish I could have stayed.”
She reported being pleasantly surprised at the honesty of fellow jurors − some disclosed they were on Trump mailing lists or watched Fox News, while others said they had volunteered for anti-Trump causes, giving a clearer picture of the political makeup of the jury, which she said seemed fairly balanced.
“You got a sense that people were really trying to put anything they had brought to this aside and step in and do their civic duty,” McGee said.
Still, she thought he should get his day in court.
“Something extremely important in this country, especially in this age where en masse we do not trust each other, is the right to a fair trial,” McGee said.
Despite the crush of reporters, the protesters were gone and for all intents and purposes Tuesday, Trump became just another (former) New Yorker getting his day in court.
The trial will reconvene Thursday morning.