New York
CNN
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Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money business fraud case began Thursday looking like the task of finding 12 jurors had run aground.
Two of the seven initial jurors who were seated Tuesday were excused. Judge Juan Merchan’s hopes to begin the trial on Monday with opening arguments appeared to be dwindling fast.
By the end of the day, the jury in the first criminal trial of a former president in US history had been seated. Only five alternates are left to be selected on Friday.
It’s also clear the trial will be a bumpy one. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, for instance, said it won’t let the defense know who its first witnesses are to prevent Trump from posting on social media about them.
A hearing over what prosecutors can say about Trump’s legal history is also likely on Friday.
Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s topsy turvy jury selection in Trump’s criminal trial:
Once Trump’s attorneys and the district attorney’s office used up their 10 peremptory strikes to remove jurors, things moved quickly.
The judge rejected Trump’s challenges to remove jurors for cause because they had expressed negative opinions about Trump, telling the former president’s attorneys that not liking his persona was not enough.
The seated jury includes seven men and five women. The new jurors empaneled Thursday include an investment banker, a security engineer, a retired wealth manager, a speech therapist and a physical therapist.
The jury pool was quickly whittled down from a second panel of 96 Thursday morning, after nearly 50 prospective jurors said they did not feel they could be fair and impartial and another nine said they had other conflicts.
03:29 – Source: CNN
Hear what Trump said minutes after jury was seated in hush money trial
Compared to Tuesday, there were fewer jurors who had a change of heart once they began reading the questionnaire in the courtroom – just one of the initial 18 jurors was dismissed during that process on Thursday. (Court was dark on Wednesday.)
Perhaps one reason: The second pool of jurors knew that Trump was the defendant on Tuesday, giving them time to think about being on the panel. The first panel of 96 jurors had to say whether they thought they could be fair just minutes after walking into the courtroom, seeing Trump as the defendant and hearing the judge explain the case and the jury’s role.
Trump’s legal team ran out of peremptory challenges to remove a couple jurors who voiced negative opinions of the former president and his politics.
One woman who will eventually decide Trump’s fate called him selfish and self-serving.
Juror 11 was seated on the jury after Merchan denied Trump’s challenge to the juror for cause. Trump’s lawyers argued she should be dismissed because she said she does not like Trump’s “persona.”
“I don’t like his persona,” she said. “I don’t like some of my coworkers, but I don’t try to sabotage their work.”
“He just seems very selfish and…
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