Trump trial: Dozens of jurors are rejected after declaring they cannot be impartial

MORE potential jurors were dismissed from Donald Trump’s hush money case yesterday as lawyers worked for a second day to find a panel of New Yorkers to decide whether the Republican will become the first former US president convicted of a crime.

The first day of the trial in Manhattan ended on Monday with no-one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates.

In short order yesterday 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 is 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 Republican 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.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told would-be jurors they could still be fair if they knew about the case or discussed it with friends, they just need to keep an open mind.

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.

Before entering the courtroom yesterday, Trump stopped briefly to address a TV camera, repeating his claim that the judge is biased against him and the case is politically motivated.

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

With the trial expected to last for six weeks or more, multiple jury pool members brought up plans they have for Memorial Day and beyond.

One parent was excused on Monday because of a child’s wedding in late June.

Another person was dismissed yesterday because of a trip they have planned.

Several possible jurors were dismissed after saying they were not sure they could be fair.

The charges centre on $130,000 dollars in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen.

He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep adult film actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump has denied the sexual encounter ever happened.