7 jurors picked; Don hit by judge for trying to ‘intimidate’ at least one
Seven diverse New Yorkers were sworn in as jurors at Donald Trump’s hush money trial on Tuesday, securing their places in history as those who will weigh the first criminal charges ever brought against a former U.S. president.
Among the three women and four men chosen to serve were an oncology nurse who lives on the Upper East Side; a corporate attorney from Oregon who lives in Chelsea; an English teacher from Harlem who said she respected that Trump “speaks his mind;” an IT worker originally from Puerto Rico who said he found Trump’s ability to walk into a room and set everyone off was “fascinating,” and a software engineer and recent college grad who lives in Chelsea and said she could be impartial.
The jury foreman identified himself to the court Monday as a native of Ireland who lives in West Harlem, works in sales, and consumes liberal and conservative-leaning media. The seventh juror selected to serve was a civil litigator from the Upper East Side who grew up in North Carolina.
Before the trial, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled that the jurors set to decide whether Trump is a felon will remain anonymous to the public and their addresses unknown to the defendant, mentioning their safety.
Merchan told them to plan on coming back to court on Monday for opening statements unless notified otherwise. The remaining five members of the jury and six alternates are still to be selected for the trial, which is expected to last up to two months — all of which Trump has to be present for.
Trump was back in the judge’s bad graces before the first jurors were chosen when his lawyer asked a few prospective panelists about their social media activity. The judge said he spotted Trump acting hostile toward a woman summoned for further questioning, whom Merchan ultimately deemed credible.
“He was gesturing, and he was speaking in [their] direction,” Merchan said. “I won’t tolerate that — I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom.”
The Manhattan DA’s historic case is the culmination of a yearslong investigation into Trump and his alleged efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election by paying hush money to silence stories of his sexual trysts with porn star Stormy Daniels and others.
The trial is expected to resume on Thursday. Here are highlights from the second day:
Prosecutors file to hold Trump in contempt
Prosecutors filed their motion asking Merchan to hold Trump in criminal contempt after saying they would do so Monday.
They’re asking Merchan to impose $3,000 in sanctions for a set of Truth Social posts that appeared to violate a gag order prohibiting comments about anticipated witnesses and other trial participants, issue a “stark warning” to Trump, and make him delete the posts.
Prosecutors for Bragg said there could be “no question” Trump violated the gag order in the posts over the weekend denigrating Daniels and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, expected to be critical witnesses, and did so on purpose.
In a signed order, the judge instructed Trump and his lawyers to appear before him on April 23 to address the matter or risk his immediate arrest and imprisonment.
Trump slams case as ‘disgrace’
The former president arrived at the lower Manhattan courthouse at 9:30 a.m. after journeying downtown from Trump Tower, decrying the case to reporters as a “disgrace” — and taking a swipe at President Biden.
“I was paying a lawyer and marked it down [as a] legal expense. An accountant I didn’t know marked it down as a legal expense,” Trump said. “That’s exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that? I should be right now in Pennsylvania and Florida, in many other states — North Carolina, Georgia — campaigning. This is all coming from the Biden White House because the guy can’t put two sentences together. He can’t campaign.”
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsification of business records, alleging that during his first year in the White House, in 2017, he illegally reimbursed his then-lawyer Cohen for a hush money scheme to hide sex scandals from the 2016 electorate.
Cohen, Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal are among the characters from the salacious hush money saga expected to take the stand at the trial.
The Manhattan charges are among 88 he’s battling in state and federal courtrooms across four states.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.