Jury selection continues in Trump’s hush money trial
NEW YORK: More potential jurors were dismissed Tuesday from Donald’s Trump’s hush money case as lawyers worked for a second day to find a panel of New Yorkers to decide whether the Republican will become the first former president convicted of a crime.
The first day of the historic trial in Manhattan ended Monday with no one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. In short order Tuesday morning, several others were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Dozens of potential jurors have yet to be questioned.
It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial and may be the only one that could reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether the presumptive GOP presidential nominee should return to the White House.
The trial puts Trump’s legal problems at the centre of the closely contested race against President Joe Biden. Trump paints himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system working to deprive him of another term.
It also presents a major test for the criminal justice system because the allegations are being viewed through a partisan lens, and Trump’s attacks on prosecutors and the judge threaten to undermine the public’s faith in the courts. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony 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.
Trump arrived at the courthouse just before 9 am, giving a quick wave to reporters as he headed inside.