Trump’s hush money trial day 3 highlights: 12 jurors seated
A jury of 12 people was seated Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s history-making hush money trial. (AP Production: Javier Arciga)
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Twelve jurors and one alternate have been picked for former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York. Lawyers are still working to select five alternates.
Here’s what to know:
- The jury: The list of 12 seated jurors includes a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher, multiple lawyers and an investment banker. Keeping them anonymous during selection came with its own set of challenges.
- The case: Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to bury stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign.
- Man set himself on fire outside court: The man took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories and spread them around the park before dousing himself in a flammable substance and setting himself aflame, officials said. He was in critical condition Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors declined to tell Trump’s legal team who the trial’s first witnesses would be, complaining that he has been posting on social media about witnesses in the run-up to the trial.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche offered to assure the court that it wouldn’t happen, saying he would “commit to the court and the people that President Trump will not Truth about any witness.”
“That he will not tweet about any witnesses? I don’t think you can make that representation,” the judge said.
Before adjourning for the day, Trump watched as they raised their right hands and swore to hear the case in a “fair and impartial manner.”
Holding a stack of print-outs of articles and op-eds criticizing the case, he addressed cameras to complain that he’s supposed to be campaigning across the country but is instead stuck in court.
“Everybody’s outraged by it,” he said, criticizing Bragg. “They’re doing this for Joe Biden,” he claimed, calling the charges “a scam.”
“Everybody’s outraged by it,” he insisted. “You know the whole world’s watching this New York scam.”
He also expressed frustration over the courtroom temperature, a theme addressed throughout the day. “I’m sitting here for days now, from morning ‘til night, in that freezing room — freezing, everybody was freezing in there — and all for this,” he said.
Five more still need to be seated.
Lawyers have moved on to discussing alternates.
The total number of jurors has returned to seven, the same number it was at the start of the day.
The third panel of prospective jurors were told to return at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Judge Merchan apologized that they had to wait all day without anything happening.
The former president looked toward the jury box as the potential jurors offered their often critical views of him as a person and president.
After a string of responses taking issue with Trump’s politics and “persona,” at least one spoke of the former president in glowing terms.
“He was our president. Pretty amazing,” the man said, adding that he was “impressed” with Trump’s ability to forge a career as a successful businessman.
“I started as an entrepreneur as well. I’ve made a lot of things happen, just as he has, so I take that as a positive thing,” he added.
Asked about her opinions of Trump, one prospective juror mused about a lifetime of being aware of — and sometimes crossing paths — with the New York businessman-turned-celebrity-turned-politician.
One of her cousins lived in a Trump building, while another relative was involved with a separate Trump building and had only positive things to say about the experience. She even recalled once glimpsing Trump himself and then-wife Marla Maples shopping for baby items, years ago.
“How I feel about him as a president is different. So I have feelings in both directions,” said the woman, a retired university administrator.
Another prospective juror, a lifelong New Yorker, said he had a fondness for Trump — at least when it pertains to one issue near to his hockey-loving heart.
“As a wannabe hockey player, I still thank him for fixing that Wollman Rink that nobody couldn’t fix,” said the man, referring to an ice skating rink in Central Park that Trump’s company managed for many years through a contract with the city.
A woman from the Upper West Side acknowledged, in response to questions from Trump’s attorney, that she did have strong feelings about the former president. “Yes. I disagree with most of his policies,” she said.
Shortly after, another woman spoke in even stronger terms. “He just seems very selfish and self-serving, so I don’t really appreciate that in any public servant,” she said.
Trump appeared to perk up during both comments, turning around to look in the direction of the box. Both women said it would not impact their ability to act impartially.
In response to the first woman, Trump’s lawyer Necheles launched into a lengthy speech about implicit bias.
“The problem with biases is they color the way you look at the world. What you may believe and may not,” Necheles said. “We wouldn’t allow someone who has a strong dislike for a certain type of people to sit on a jury of that type of person.”
One prospective juror told Trump’s lawyer that the former president’s “politics aren’t my politics” but also that she doesn’t “have strong feelings about President Trump at this point.”
Trump’s attorney pressed the woman on whether she ever posted negative things on social media about the former president.
The woman, who has served on numerous other juries, said that her social media posts are often “negative about politicians” but that she’d eased off posting about politics since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“Politics seems like a nasty thing to be posting about during a national crisis,” she said.
Steinglass extolled potential jurors about how they would be required to analyze the evidence and apply “common sense” to draw conclusions.
As an example, he asked one juror, a parent, what he’d conclude if he saw that a cookie jar that usually sat atop a refrigerator had been opened and that his child was coming away from the fridge with a chocolate mustache on her face. Would the man conclude that she’d gone into the cookie jar, Steinglass asked, or that someone else had broken in, taken the cookies and spread chocolate on the child’s face?
“Depends,” the juror said. “I don’t know. It’s possible that she took it,” but also that something else happened.
According to Judge Merchan, she told a court staffer during the break that she had previously met one of Trump’s lawyers, Susan Necheles.
As Steinglass questioned the jurors later, the woman explained that she’d met Necheles through her husband on one occasion two years ago. The prospective juror said she had no concerns that the encounter would affect her ability to be fair.
Steinglass began his questioning of the prospective jurors much the same way he did earlier this week, acknowledging the unusual publicity surrounding the criminal trial and asking the group of 18 seated in the box whether it would impact their ability to evaluate evidence fairly.
He called first on a lifelong Manhattan resident who works in law enforcement. “I could be objective,” the man tells him.
During subsequent questioning of an attorney who’d previously said she’d followed the case closely and could still be impartial, the individual told Steinglass that she had now changed her mind.
“I thought about it during lunch and … I’m worried that I know too much,” she said. “I’m worried that it’s going to seep in, in some way,” she added.
Steinglass thanked her for her candor and moved on.
Before instructing prospective jurors on how voir dire works — lawyers from both sides asking them questions — Judge Merchan addressed the chilly nature of the courtroom.
“I want to apologize that it’s chilly in here,” Merchan says, eliciting laughs. “We’re trying to do the best we can to control the temperature, but it’s one extreme or the other.”
They announced Thursday that he will hold a rally on the beach in Wildwood, New Jersey, on May 11.
Trump held a rally in the same resort city in 2020.
New Jersey has long been considered a Democratic stronghold, but Trump has said he intends to try to make a play for the state, along with his hometown of New York.
The Courier-Post in New Jersey reported that the city will also be hosting a cheer competition, a hot rod and muscle car show and a “Spring Fling Festival” that day.
Proceedings are set to resume at 2:15 p.m.
The most recent crop of 18 potentials in the jury box — an initial juror was excused and replaced by another man — have now gone through the standard screening questionnaire. After lunch, they will be questioned by lawyers.
While multiple seated and prospective jurors are lawyers, another potential jury member has a good deal of experience specifically being a juror.
The longtime Manhattanite said that over the years, she’s been a juror in a criminal trial and a civil insurance-fraud case that both reached verdicts. She also served as an alternate juror on a malpractice case that was resolved during deliberations, she said.
The woman, who works as a paralegal, said there was no reason she couldn’t serve as a juror in Trump’s case, too.
A chill of sorts had come over the proceedings by midday when Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked the judge whether the temperature in the courtroom could be raised a bit.
Manhattan’s main criminal courthouse is over 80 years old, and the building has many quirks. Merchan said that if he tried to raise the heat even slightly, the room would probably end up getting way too hot.
“There’s no question it’s cold, but I’d rather be a little cold than sweat,” the judge said.
The move follows after prosecutors raised concerns that he may not have been truthful about whether he had ever been accused or convicted of a crime.
“He does not need to come back and should not come back Monday morning,” Merchan said.
The IT professional was summoned to court to answer questions after prosecutors said they found an article about a person with the same name who had been arrested in the 1990s.
The issue arose after prosecutors raised concerns that he was not truthful when he answered during jury selection that he had never been accused or convicted of a crime.
Merchan spoke with the juror and the parties for five minutes at the bench, out of earshot of reporters. He then said that because “very personal information was elicited” he was sealing the transcript of that questioning, meaning the public and press won’t know what was said.
Merchan noted that the juror had “expressed annoyance about how much information about him had been out in the public,” echoing concerns of the previously dismissed juror.
Merchan gave the sides several minutes to confer and offer their opinions on what to do with the juror before he was to rule.
Currently on a break, the former president did not stop to speak to reporters in the hallway.
Instead of saying the names of the companies where they work, as other potential jurors had done earlier in the week, the latest group gave more generic answers.
The shift in demeanor comes after Judge Merchan scolded the press for reporting identifiable details about the potential jurors, ordering them not to report on questions about their current and former employers, noting the answers would be redacted from court transcripts.
“There’s a reason that this is an anonymous jury,” Merchan had said. “It kind of defeats the purpose of that when so much information is put out there that it is very easy for anyone to identify who the jurors are.”
It wasn’t clear if they were directly instructed to avoid giving specifics about their employers.
The first prospective juror of the day was an attorney who mentioned having attended the Women’s March and reading a book by former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. Pomerantz previously oversaw the investigation into the allegations at the center of this trial, and his book detailed his work on the case.
“I’ve discussed the legal merits of this case with many coworkers,” she added. When asked whether she could still be a fair and impartial juror despite that, she let out a deep sigh before responding, “Yes.”
As she spoke, Trump sat sideways in his chair, looking intently in her direction.
Fifty-seven out of the second round of 96 potential jurors have been excused after saying they can’t serve.
Some 48 people indicated that they could not serve fairly and impartially. An additional nine said they couldn’t serve for some other reason, which they were not asked to state.
“PRESIDENT TRUMP: I JUST STORMED INTO COURT!” reads an email solicitation sent shortly after jury selection resumed Thursday morning. (Trump did not actually storm into the building.)
The former president has raised many millions of dollars off of his legal cases, including a record haul after his mug shot was taken in Georgia.
No protesters or supporters were seen around the lower Manhattan building. The only people gathered were members of the media, many huddled under umbrellas as a light rain fell.
The scene was a stark contrast from the first day of jury selections Monday, when the streets were filled with sunlight and a colorful array of characters — including “The Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and a protester repeatedly playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on a flute.
Because the large pool of prospective jurors is taking up much of the main courtroom, most of the reporters covering the trial are seated in an adjacent overflow room where video of the trial is piped in through three video monitors.
The jurors are not visible to reporters, but their voices can be heard. A rotating group of six reporters are inside the main courtroom, sharing observations by email with the larger press.
As with the first big group, the judge will explain the basics of jury service along with the case, then ask for a show of hands from any panelists who don’t believe they can serve fairly and impartially. After, he’ll ask for a similar indication from any who don’t believe they can serve for another reason.
More than half of the 96 potential jurors in the first group were dismissed after they said they couldn’t be fair and impartial.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said that some of the juror’s answers in court on Tuesday may not have been accurate.
Prosecutors found an article from the 1990s about a man with the same name as the juror being arrested for tearing down political advertisements in suburban Westchester County. The posters were on the political right, Steinglass said.
Steinglass also disclosed that a relative of the man may have been involved in a deferred prosecution agreement in the 1990s with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump’s case.
Judge Merchan had instructed the man to come to court at 9:15 a.m. Thursday to answer questions and verify whether the people involved were him or his relative.
Merchan noted the juror’s apparent “reluctance to come in” and asked both sides if they’d consent to having him removed without further inquiry. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche declined, saying he wanted to first hear what the man had to say.
Under questioning earlier this week, the man had said he hadn’t been convicted of a crime.
They told the judge they wanted the former president held in contempt and sanctioned for seven more posts they said violated his gag order.
The former president’s new posts came after the prosecutors initially sought a $3,000 fine on Monday for three other Truth Social posts.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said several of the new posts involved an article that referred to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen as a “serial perjurer” and another from Wednesday that repeated a claim by a Fox News host that liberal activists were lying to get on the jury.
Trump lawyer Emil Bove said Cohen “has been attacking President Trump in public statements,” and that Trump was just replying.
Judge Merchan had already scheduled a hearing for next week on the prosecution’s request for contempt sanctions over Trump’s posts.
After dismissing a seated juror, Judge Merchan admonished the media for reporting details about the seated and potential jurors that could be used to identify them, ordering them not to report prospective jurors’ answers to questions about their current and former employers.
“As evidenced by what’s happened already, it’s become a problem,” he said.
He also directed reporters to “abide by common sense” and avoid writing about the physical characteristics of the people called to serve.
“We just lost what probably would have been a very good juror,” the judge continued. “She said she was afraid and intimidated by the press, all the press.”
A nurse who had been selected for Trump’s criminal trial was dismissed Thursday after she told the court she’d become concerned about her ability to be impartial. Although the jurors’ names are being kept confidential, the woman “conveyed that after sleeping on it overnight she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in this case,” Judge Merchan said before calling her into the room for questioning.
The woman said her family members and friends were questioning her about being a juror.
Trump looked sternly ahead while being photographed, a stark contrast from a moment earlier when he was casually chatting with lawyer Todd Blanche before the photographers arrived.
While the trial cannot be televised, Judge Juan M. Merchan is allowing a handful of still photographers to shoot photos of Trump before each day’s proceedings start.
Harvey Weinstein was famously admonished for playing with his phone by a different judge during his trial in the same courtroom four years ago.
Trump’s cell phone usage happened while court was not in session and before the judge had taken the bench.
Generally, cell phone usage — and certainly making or taking calls — is prohibited in New York courtrooms.
The former president sat at the defense table talking on a cell phone for about 30 seconds before his lawyers came over and put it away.
The process of picking a jury is a critical phase of any criminal trial but especially so when the defendant is a former president and the presumptive Republican nominee.
Prospective jurors have been grilled on their social media posts, personal lives and political views as the lawyers and judge search for biases that would prevent them from being impartial. Inside the court, there’s broad acknowledgment of the futility in trying to find jurors without knowledge of Trump, with a prosecutor this week saying that lawyers were not looking for people who had been “living under a rock for the past eight years.”
To that end, at least some of the jurors selected acknowledged having their own opinions about Trump.
“I find him fascinating and mysterious,” one juror selected for the case, an IT professional, said under questioning. “He walks into a room and he sets people off, one way or the other. I find that really interesting. ‘Really? This one guy could do all of this? Wow.’ That’s what I think.”
▶ Read more about how jury selection works.
The first of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials is underway in New York on April 15. Here is a look at some of the key figures in the case. (AP Video: Ted Shaffrey)
Donald Trump’s legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president’s criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
A process server working for Trump’s lawyers said he approached Daniels with papers demanding information related to a documentary recently released about her life and involvement with Trump, but was forced to “leave them at her feet,” according to a court filing made public Wednesday.
“I stated she was served as I identified her and explained to her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote. “She did not acknowledge me and kept walking inside the venue, and she had no expression on her face.”
▶ Read more about what’s in the court filings.
Jury selection in the hush money trial of Donald Trump enters a pivotal and potentially final stretch Thursday as lawyers look to round out the panel of New Yorkers that will decide the first-ever criminal case against a former president.
Seven jurors have been picked so far, including an oncology nurse, a software engineer, an information technology professional, a sales professional, an English teacher and two lawyers. Eleven more people must still be sworn in, with the judge saying he anticipated opening statements in the landmark case to be given as early as next week.
The seating of the Manhattan jury — whenever it comes — will be a seminal moment in the case, setting the stage for a trial that will place the former president’s legal jeopardy at the heart of the campaign against Democrat Joe Biden and feature potentially unflattering testimony about Trump’s private life in the years before he became president.
▶ Read more about where the trial stands.