7 jurors have been picked in Trump’s hush- money trial

NEW YORK » T he first seven jurors for Donald Trump’s hushmoney trial were seated Tuesday after lawyers grilled the jury pool about their social media posts, p olitical v iews a nd personal lives to decide who can sit in fair judgment of the former president.

The panelists who were s elected are an information technology w orker, a n English teacher, a n 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 a t the center o f 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 v oters decide whether t o elect the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

The methodical process unfolding in the Manhattan courtroom highlights the challenge of finding people who can fairly judge the polarizing defendant in t he c ity where he built h is real estate empire before being elected president in 2016.

Even so, jury selection moved more q uickly t han expected Tuesday afternoon. I t was set to resume Thursday.

On his way out of the courthouse, T rump s topped i n 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 j udge,” s aid Trump, who pushed unsuccessfully to have the judge removed from the case.

Over two days, dozens of potential jurors h ave been e xcused after saying t hey could not be i mpartial o r because they h ad o ther commitments. Trump’s lawyers challenged a handful of p eople over s ocial

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