Trump’s Trial Enters Third Day With 7 Jurors Chosen

 

Trump’s Trial Enters Third Day With 7 Jurors Chosen

 

Jury selection in the trial of former President Donald Trump accelerated on Day 2. He is accused of falsifying business records to conceal hush money to a porn star.

 

Ben Protess Jonah E. Bromwich

By Ben Protess and Jonah E. Bromwich

April 18, 2024, 3:00 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/nyregion/trump-trial-third-day.html

 

Seven jurors down, five more to go. The complicated process of picking a jury in the first criminal trial of an American president will continue for a third day on Thursday as lawyers on both sides choose the panel that will decide Donald J. Trump’s fate.

 

The case against Mr. Trump stems from a hush-money payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who during the 2016 presidential campaign threatened to go public with her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump. Prosecutors say Mr. Trump concealed her story, and others, to influence the election.

 

Mr. Trump has denied having sex with Ms. Daniels or breaking any laws. But prosecutors say he falsified business records to cover up the sex scandal, and charged him last year with 34 felony counts. If convicted, he faces up to four years behind bars.

 

A historic trial begins. Donald Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree to cover up a sex scandal, is on trial in Manhattan. He is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted. Here are answers to some key questions about the case:

 

What is Trump accused of? The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 to suppress her story of a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006. While serving as president, Trump reimbursed Cohen, and how he did so constituted fraud, prosecutors say.

 

Why did prosecutors cite other hush-money payments? Although the charges relate to the payment to Daniels, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is expected to highlight two other hush-money deals. Prosecutors say that the deals show that Trump had orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.

 

Who will the key witnesses be? Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness for prosecutors. Bragg is also expected to call David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former Trump aide, to shed light on the tumultuous period surrounding the payments. Trump said he plans to testify in his own defense.

 

Who is the judge? Juan Merchan, the judge, is a veteran of the bench known as a no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist. During the trial, Justice Merchan will be in charge of keeping order in the courtroom and ruling on objections made by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The jury will decide whether Trump is guilty.

 

What happens if Trump is convicted? The charges against Trump are all Class E felonies, the least severe felony category in New York. If convicted, Trump faces a prison sentence of four years or less, or he could receive probation.

 

How is The New York Times covering the trial? The Times will provide comprehensive coverage of the trial, which is set to last six to eight weeks. Expect live updates from the courtroom in Manhattan, daily takeaways, explainers and analysis from our reporting team.

 

Many expected jury selection to be a weekslong slog, but seven jurors were seated on Tuesday afternoon. Those initial members of the panel, four men and three women, reflect the diversity of the city they were drawn from: a man originally from Ireland who will serve as foreman, an oncology nurse, a grandfather originally from Puerto Rico, a middle-school teacher from Harlem, two lawyers and a software engineer for Disney. The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, has ordered the identities of the jurors be withheld from the public.

 

Once the 12 jurors are picked, the lawyers will shift to selecting several alternates who will sit through the entire case in the event that one of the main jurors gets sick or is forced to leave the panel.

 

Justice Merchan has said that if jurors continued to be seated at this pace, opening arguments would most likely begin Monday.

 

Here’s what else to know about Day 3:

 

On Day 2, prosecutors quizzed potential jurors on topics including the rule of law, flawed witnesses and whether they believed people could be guilty of crimes that they helped plan but did not carry out. But the defense is heavily focused on a single question: “What is your opinion of President Trump?” The defense team repeatedly questioned prospective jurors’ over their feelings about the former president. Read our takeaways from the trial’s second day here.

 

Mr. Trump has often complained that he is treated “unfairly” — whether by the news media, political opponents and critics, or the prosecutors who have brought charges against him. Now the question of fairness — how people view Mr. Trump’s treatment by prosecutors, and whether prospective jurors can judge him impartially — is at the heart of a laborious process of jury selection.

 

Before the prospective jurors can even be queried by the lawyers, they must respond to a series of 42 questions. The inquiries range from the neighborhood they live in and their marital status to the programs they might listen to on talk radio or whether they’ve attended one of Mr. Trump’s rallies. See the full list of questions here.

 

Justice Merchan’s order to protect the jurors’ identities underscored the possible risks to their safety in a case involving a polarizing figure like the former president, who can whip his supporters into a frenzy. But several prospective jurors have revealed information that could identify them, reflecting the difficulty of having an anonymous jury in a case with an intense media spotlight.

 

Ben Protess is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies. More about Ben Protess

 

Jonah E. Bromwich covers criminal justice in New York, with a focus on the Manhattan district attorney’s office and state criminal courts in Manhattan. More about Jonah E. Bromwich