Donald Trump’s hush money trial finds a 12-person jury, rebounding after hiccups
The 12-person jury for Donald Trump includes an investment banker who follows Mr Trump on social media, a physical therapist, a security engineer and a retired wealth manager.
A 12-person jury has been picked to decide the fate of Donald Trump in his hush-money case, setting the stage for the first criminal trial of a former US president to kick off in earnest next week.
The jury was finalised on Thursday local time after three days of questioning nearly 200 prospective jurors and some hiccups along the way that included jurors being dismissed after having been selected.
Five women and seven men are on the jury, which includes an investment banker who follows Mr Trump on social media, a physical therapist who likes to run, a security engineer and a retired wealth manager.
“I don’t think too much about politics and what you hear from people,” the retiree said in court during jury selection.
Another juror said she didn’t have a strong opinion about Mr Trump but wasn’t a fan of his public image and described him as self-serving.
“How he portrays himself in public is not my cup of tea,” she said.
One alternate juror was also selected but five still need to be picked. They are expected to be chosen on Friday.
The judge presiding over the case, Justice Juan Merchan, swore in the selected jurors and instructed them to return on Monday in hopes of beginning opening statements then.
The finalised jury was a remarkable rebound from Thursday morning, when the selection process began to unravel after the judge dismissed two jurors who voiced concerns about identifying information about them being made public.
The judge had previously ruled the jury should remain anonymous to protect members of the panel from threats or harassment. However, one juror, an oncology nurse who lives on the Upper East Side, told the judge that family and friends had guessed her identity based on details revealed in media reports.
“I don’t believe at this point that I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom,” she said in court on Thursday.
A second juror, a consultant from Puerto Rico who has lived on the Lower East Side for 40 years, expressed annoyance at the details put out in public after he was selected for the jury, according to the judge.
The two jurors were among the seven picked on Tuesday to hear the first criminal case against a former president. Their dismissal underscored the challenge of finding jurors in Manhattan who could set aside their opinions about Mr Trump and endure serving on a closely watched trial that is expected to last six weeks.
Jury selection started on Monday with all the prospective jurors not revealing their names but answering questions about their lives, professions and hobbies. While typically juror names are public, in some cases, including in a recent defamation trial involving Mr Trump, jurors remain anonymous for their own protection.
The judge admonished the press on Thursday for including what he called unnecessary details about jurors in their stories – all of which was publicly stated on the record or could be observed in court.
“There is a reason this is an anonymous jury and why we’ve taken these measures,” Judge Merchan said sternly. “That defeats the purpose when so much information is put out there when it’s easy to identify who the jurors are.”
He told the press to refrain from using physical descriptions of the jurors in their reports, warning that further measures would be taken if necessary. He also told media outlets to not report on potential jurors’ answers to questions about where they work and past employers, both of which were asked on a jury questionnaire whose answers were read aloud in court.
The judge, prosecutors and Mr Trump’s defence team spent much of Thursday questioning jurors about whether they could be impartial. One of the selected jurors said she didn’t agree with Mr Trump’s politics and pointed out how polarising he is.
“There is so much information about him everywhere,” she said. “Everyone has opinions on him. He was our president and everyone knows who he is.”
At the trial, Mr Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. The former president, who is required to be in court, has denied wrongdoing and called the case politically motivated.
On Thursday, prosecutors also made a second request to hold Mr Trump in contempt for violating a gag order in the case.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said that in several recent posts on Mr Trump’s social-media platform Truth Social the former president disparaged Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer who is a key witness in the case.
Mr Conroy said Mr Trump wrote in another post, attributed to a conservative commentator, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
Trump lawyer Emil Bove said the posts were political in nature and he was defending himself against Cohen.
Prosecutors earlier this week asked the court to fine Mr Trump $US3000 ($4700) for violating the gag order for previously making critical statements about Mr Cohen and adult-film star Stormy Daniels. The judge has set a hearing on the alleged gag-order violations for next week.
The Wall Street Journal
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