Half the jurors in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial in Manhattan empanelled as Trump team struggles to find favourable jurors
Judge tells Donald Trump to ‘stop muttering’ as a juror who posted he was pleased the former president is being tried for fraud is removed from the courtroom.
Donald Trump’s legal team struggled to happen across jurors likely to be friendly toward the former president as day two of his historic criminal trial got under way in Manhattan on Tuesday morning local time (Wednesday AEST).
The former president’s motorcade took what will become a routine morning trip of around 30 minutes from Trump Tower to the southern Manhattan court, where Mr Trump will spend most of his days over what could be weeks as he and his legal team try to fend off 34 felony charges for falsifying business records to pay off a porn star illegally.
Mr Trump, who has long derided the accusations as a politically orchestrated witch hunt, entered the court once again at 9.30am local time, wearing his trademark red tie and suit, periodically giving thumbs up to the throng of journalists packed inside the court and overflow areas.
As on day one, when 50 of 96 jurors were dismissed for potential bias, numerous of the approximately 500 who have been called from what is a deeply pro-Democratic party district were similarly sent away on Tuesday morning.
But by afternoon half of the 12 jurors required had been picked for the case expected to last up to six weeks.
As the court reconvened in the afternoon Judge Juan Merchan told the former president to stop “muttering” during questioning of a juror whose social media posts were being queried.
“He was audible … He was gesturing,” the judge, whom Mr Trump has accused repeatedly of bias against him, said. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom”.
The judge granted the defence’s request to remove a juror who had posted on social media. “Good news!! Trump lost his court battle on his unlawful travel ban!!! Get him out, and lock him up,” the post from 2020 read when Trump was still president.
“This is a person who has expressed the desire … that Mr. Trump be locked up,” the judge said, agreeing with Trump’s legal team.
Juror B193, previously a lawyer with Davis Polk, said he’s followed the news around Trump “I was a big fan of the Apprentice when I was in middle school,” he offered, prompting laughter in the courtroom.
A slim older man with greying hair and dark-rimmed glasses said that he’d read several of Donald Trump’s books including Art of the Deal and How to be Rich, and that a few of his wife’s family members were lobbyists for the Republican Party.
“I don’t think there’s anything that would prevent me from being a fair and impartial juror,” the juror said. Trump gave the man two slow nods and a wide smile.
A small group of pool reporters inside the court, where recording devices are not allowed, gave updates to reporters outside on the jurors, who together form a fascinating insight into Manhattan demographics, a district that voted 87 per cent for President Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
This trial expected to last up to six weeks, time that Trump will be prevented from campaigning for his re-election for president in November. Under New York law he must attend in person.
The first and only dismissed juror so far to speak to the army of TV journalists set up outside, Kara McGee, said she couldn’t do the trial because of a scheduling clash.
“I don’t like him,” the young woman said of Mr Trump to CNN after she left the building. “I don’t approve of what he did as president, but the right to a fair trial is extremely important.”
A young black woman, juror B374, told the court her friends had strong opinions on Trump but she kept out of politics, revealing to courtroom astonishment she had no idea Trump was facing other criminal charges.
“President Trump speaks his mind and I’d rather that than someone who’s in office who you don’t know what they’re thinking,” she said.
In April last year Democrat New York district attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which, if convicted, attach jail terms of up to four years.
Around a third of Americans a little over a third of Americans said they believe that Trump acted illegally in making the payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, according to an AP-NORC poll released on Tuesday. The state argues Trump made the payments in contravention of federal campaign finance laws, which would have deemed the US$130,000 payments a campaign expense.
A grandma with four children and four grandchildren, “happily retired” from the New York public transport authority, said she worked in a dog training program. She “loves the theatre, loves music, and went to a pro-choice rally in 2017”, she said. Next up was a single bald man with beard who lived in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, and worked in marketing.
“Speaking with a slight accent, he said he is not married, has no kids, has a dog, and likes to travel, scuba dive, and ski. He reads the New York Times Huffington Post and gets information from MSNBC”. He would probably be another no for the Trump team.
But each team must use their 10 strikes carefully. In a normal criminal trial the judge would remove jurors who knew the defendant personally. In this situation it’s impossible given Mr Trump’s renown, so only those with obvious or clear biases will be let go.
At one moment the Trump team thought they’d struck gold: a white man in his 30s or 40s with thinning hair and a beard, an accountant from Dallas, Texas who’d moved to New York.
He said in his free time he liked to play golf, watch sports, hang out with friends, and travel. “A lot of people tend to intellectually slant Republican … so there could be some unconscious bias,” he told the court, referring to his profession.
His background from Texas could make him have bias, but he was “not sure”, he said.
Judge Juan Merchan presiding demanded a less ambiguous answer. “It’s probably going to be tough for me to be impartial,” the prospective juror answered before being dismissed.
The trial continues.
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