Donald Trump scolded over juror intimidation at hush money trial

Former US president Donald Trump has been cautioned by the judge overseeing his criminal trial during a tense process to select the jury that will decide his fate.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial has scolded the former US president for intimidating a potential juror who posted on social media about a celebration of his 2020 election defeat.

On the second day of the historic case in New York, as lawyers for both sides sparred over which Manhattan residents should be on the jury, Judge Juan Merchan ordered the former president’s lawyer Todd Blanche to pull his client into line.

He said Mr Trump was “audible” as he muttered and gestured about the potential juror, a schoolteacher who Mr Blanche claimed had shared “extraordinarily hostile Facebook posts”.

“I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom,” Judge Merchan warned.

“I won’t tolerate that.”

Donald Trump inside the courtroom on the second day of his trial. Picture: Justin Lane (AFP)

Mr Trump – who is the presumptive Republican candidate for this year’s presidential election – had earlier attacked Judge Merchan outside court as a “Trump-hating judge”.

“We have a judge who shouldn’t be on this case. He’s totally conflicted,” he said, after his lawyers unsuccessfully tried to force Judge Merchan to recuse himself over his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant.

Mr Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a $US130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election, silencing her claim that they had a brief affair.

Speaking at the Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday (local time), the 77-year-old offered a brief window into his defence in the case, saying he was “paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense”.

The hush money was transferred to Ms Daniels by Michael Cohen, Mr Trump’s fixer who is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness, despite being sentenced to a three-year jail term for crimes including over the payment. He was later reimbursed by Mr Trump.

“An accountant I didn’t know marked it down as a legal expense,” Mr Trump told reporters.

“That’s exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that?”

Donald Trump arrives at the courtroom as jury selection continues. Picture: Michael Santiago (AFP)

As the laborious jury selection process continued, Mr Blance tried to block the high school teacher who posted on the night of the 2020 election – when Mr Trump was defeated by Joe Biden – about what she called a “full-on dance party” near her house to celebrate his defeat.

“It was just a New York City celebratory moment,” she said, having walked past on the way to her car.

Judge Merchan rejected Mr Blanche’s effort to remove her as a potential juror after she said she believed “very, very strongly” that “the job of the juror is to understand the facts of the trial”.

“Yesterday, when people walked out because they thought they couldn’t … I don’t believe that about myself at all,” she said.

But the judge did remove another potential juror who had posted on social media during Mr Trump’s presidency about his Muslim travel ban and said: “Get him out and lock him up.”

Lawyers for both sides will be able to strike off 10 potential jurors without cause during a process that could extend into next week.

Originally published as Donald Trump scolded over juror intimidation at hush money trial