NEW YORK (AP) – The first seven jurors in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial were selected Tuesday after lawyers questioned the candidates about their social media roles, political affiliations and personal life to decide who could give an impartial judgment to the former president.
The jury members include an information technology worker, a literature professor, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers.
Eleven more people still need to be chosen before opening arguments begin, something that could happen as early as next week, in the first criminal trial against a former president. It’s time to reckon with Trump, who has tried to delay his legal proceedings until after the November election and has said he is the victim of a politically motivated judicial system.
The lawsuit puts Trump’s legal problems at the center of the tight election campaign. This is the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go to trial, and could be the only one to be decided before voters decide whether to endorse the Party’s nominee. To elect a Republican or his main competitor, President Joe Biden.
The systematic trial at the Manhattan courthouse highlights the challenge of finding people to fairly try the divorced defendant in the city where he built his real estate empire before he became president in 2016. Despite this, the selection of jury members proceeded faster than expected. Tuesday afternoon. It is scheduled to resume Thursday.
As he left court, Trump stopped in the hall to raise the issue, accusing the judge of “rushing”.
“We are going to continue our fight against this judge,” said Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to get the judge to withdraw the case.
Later, at an event at a Harlem winery, Trump was asked what he thought of the jurors he saw. He replied that it was “very fast. We’ll see what happens”.
And your perfect juror? “Whoever is fair.”
Over two days, dozens of candidates have apologized after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Trump’s lawyers questioned a handful of people about their social media posts, and one person apologized for a 2017 post about Trump that said, “Lock him up!”
Several jurors told the judge they believed they could decide the case fairly, regardless of their feelings about Trump or his policies as president.
Trump watched in the courtroom as his lawyers urged the judge to dismiss a juror for a social media post she made after his 2020 election loss At one time, Trump spoke loudly and with gesticulation as the judge questioned the woman, which caused the magistrate to criticize the former president.
“I don’t know what he was saying, but he could be heard and he was moving. And he spoke to the direction of the jury,” said Judge Juan Merchan. “I’m not going to accept that. “I’m not going to accept to intimidate any lawyer in this courtroom.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass made direct reference to Trump’s reputation, telling prospective jurors that he is not looking for someone “who has been living under a rock for the last eight years gone. They just need to keep an open mind, he instructed them.
“This issue has nothing to do with anyone’s personal political views, it is not a referendum on Trump’s presidency or a contest of who is the most popular or who to vote for in November. We don’t care. “This case is about whether this man broke the law,” he said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying corporate records to prevent false — and, he says, false — reports about his sex life during the 2016 campaign.
2024-04-17 01:43:16
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