In a Manhattan Court, a Jury Is Picked to Judge a
President
Justice Juan M. Merchan warned against identifying the
people who might judge Donald J. Trump, who regularly attacks the justice
system.
Ben Protess
Jonah E. BromwichJesse McKinley Kate Christobek
By Ben
Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek
April 18,
2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/nyregion/trump-trial-hush-money-manhattan.html
At 4:34
p.m. on Thursday, a jury of 12 citizens was selected to determine the fate of
an indicted former president for the first time in American history, a moment
that could shape the nation’s political and legal landscapes for generations to
come.
The dozen
New Yorkers will sit in judgment of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president turned
criminal defendant, who has been accused of falsifying records to cover up a
sex scandal. If the jurors convict Mr. Trump, he could face up to four years in
prison, even as he seeks to reclaim the White House as the presumptive
Republican nominee.
“We have
our jury,” Justice Juan M. Merchan proclaimed as the 12th juror was added.
He then
swore the seven men and five women to an oath that they would render a fair and
impartial verdict, which they accepted with sober expressions as Mr. Trump
stared from the defense table. The jurors could hear opening arguments as soon
as Monday.
The
selection of the 12 capped a seesaw day in which the judge first excused two
people who had been seated earlier in the week, and then hours later replaced
them with two new faces and more.
The moment
was both routine and never before seen, an act performed every day in
courthouses around the country, but never for a former president, a symbol and
source of the nation’s political divide.
Mr. Trump,
under the Constitution, is entitled to a fair trial by a jury of his peers. And
yet he is peerless, a singular force in American politics who was twice
impeached and brought democracy to the brink when he refused to accept his
election defeat.
Now, just
as he bent the political world to his will, Mr. Trump is testing the limits of
the American justice system, assailing the integrity of jury and judge alike.
His attacks have emboldened his base, and might well resonate more broadly on
the campaign trial.
But it will
be the 12 men and women of the jury — in Mr. Trump’s hometown — who will first
decide his fate, before millions more do so at the polls.
The jury’s
makeup and the security of its members will be central to the landmark case.
Mr. Trump claims he cannot receive a fair trial in one of the nation’s most
Democratic counties, a place where he is deeply unpopular, though some of the
jurors who ultimately landed on the panel praised him.
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.
One man
said during the selection that he believed the former president had done some
good for the country, adding, “it goes both ways.” Another juror, in a possible
first for the country, said he didn’t have an opinion on Mr. Trump.
The final
12 were a collection of Manhattanites as eclectic as the city itself. They are
Black, Asian, white, male, female, middle-aged and young, including one woman
in her first job out of college. They work in finance, education, health care
and the law. And they live, among other places, in Harlem, Chelsea, the Upper
East Side and Murray Hill.
One
alternate was also picked before court adjourned. The judge plans to conclude
jury selection on Friday, when the lawyers will select the remaining five
alternates.
The long
day got off to an inauspicious start as Justice Merchan excused the two jurors,
including a woman who had developed concerns about her identity being revealed.
That fear, she added, might compromise her fairness and “decision-making in the
courtroom,” prompting the judge to excuse her.
The precise
reason the judge dismissed the other juror was not clear, but prosecutors had
raised concerns about the credibility of answers he had given to questions
about himself. Asked outside the courthouse whether he believed he should have
been dismissed, the man, who declined to give his name, replied, “Nope.”
The
dismissals underscored the intense pressure of serving on this particular
panel. Jurors are risking their safety and their privacy to sit in judgment of
a former commander in chief who is now their fellow citizen, a heavy
responsibility that could unnerve even the most seen-it-all New Yorkers.
During jury
selection, prospective members are routinely excused by the dozens. And once a
trial formally begins, it is not unheard-of to lose a juror for reasons such as
illness or violating a judge’s order not to read about the proceeding. But
losing two in one day, before opening arguments even began, was unusual — one
of many small ways in which this trial will stand apart.
The ousters
appeared to rankle the judge, who has striven to keep the trial on schedule. He
said he thought the woman who declined to serve would have “been a very good
juror.”
Although
the judge has kept prospective jurors’ names private, they disclosed their
employers and other identifying information in open court. But Justice Merchan
instructed reporters to no longer divulge prospective jurors’ current or past
employers, a decision that some media law experts questioned.
Inside a
chilly courtroom on Thursday, as lawyers on both sides scrutinized a new round
of prospective jurors, Mr. Trump stared intently at the jury box and prodded
his lawyers, prompting one, Todd Blanche, to shake his head in response.
Already
this week, the judge has admonished Mr. Trump for his comments about jurors,
warning him not to intimidate anyone in the courtroom.
And the
Manhattan district attorney’s office, which accused Mr. Trump of falsifying the
records to hide a hush-money deal with a porn star, on Thursday renewed a
request that Justice Merchan hold Mr. Trump in contempt of court after he
recently reposted attacks on prospective jurors on social media.
The
prosecutors have argued that Mr. Trump violated a gag order in the case 10
times, and the judge said he would consider the request next week, when he
weighs a related effort to penalize the former president for attacks on
witnesses in the case.
Mr. Trump
constantly tests the boundaries of the gag order. His political allies, who are
not covered by the order, routinely attack the judge and his family. And now,
they are attacking the impartiality of the jury.
In early
March, Justice Merchan issued an order prohibiting the public disclosure of
jurors’ names, while allowing legal teams and the defendant to know their
identities.
But before
the trial, Mr. Trump’s lawyers requested that potential jurors not be told that
the jury would be anonymous unless they expressed concerns. Justice Merchan
said that he would “make every effort to not unnecessarily alert the jurors” to
this secrecy, merely telling jurors that they would be identified in court by a
number.
After the
two jurors were excused Thursday, selection continued as lawyers on both sides
vetted potential replacements in a courtroom so drafty that even the former
president was compelled to acknowledge it, asking reporters, “Cold enough for
you?”
Some
prospective jurors opted out, acknowledging they might not be fair to Mr.
Trump.
One
potential juror who was dismissed said he was from Italy and noted that the
Italian media had pushed comparisons between Mr. Trump and Silvio Berlusconi,
the country’s former prime minister, a media magnate caught up in sex scandals.
“It would
be a little hard for me to retain my impartiality and fairness,” he said.
The
potential jurors were all questioned about their politics, media diets and
views on Mr. Trump. The lawyers were then expected to scrutinize them for any
signs of bias, including old social media posts about the former president.
One
prospective juror, who had a long career in law enforcement, seemed unlikely to
have made any problematic posts. He disclosed that he only had a flip phone.
“And
therefore I do not watch any podcasts,” he says, eliciting laughter from the
courtroom on an otherwise tense day.
The
prosecution used one of its challenges to oust that juror, who “as a wannabe
hockey player” had also complimented Mr. Trump on the skating rink his company
used to operate in Central Park. It used another to dismiss a man who said he
had been “impressed” with the path the former president forged.
The defense
ousted several additional potential jurors, including a woman who once stayed
overnight at the home of one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers. Justice Merchan had
declined to remove her himself at the request of that lawyer, Susan Necheles,
even though Ms. Necheles said the woman’s presence was “awkward.”
The judge
removed a woman who had assailed Mr. Trump on social media as a “racist sexist
narcissist.” When she reread the posts in court on Thursday, the potential
juror added, “Oops. That sounds bad.” She later apologized for the tone of her
posts.
One woman
who expressed skepticism about Mr. Trump made it onto the jury. She said that
she didn’t have strong opinions about Mr. Trump, but added, “I don’t like his
persona. How he presents himself in public.”
She then
went on, though, “I don’t like some of my co-workers, but I don’t try to
sabotage their work,” drawing laughter from the jury box.
Nate
Schweber, Maggie Haberman, Wesley Parnell and Matthew Haag contributed
reporting.
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
Jesse
McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics.
More about Jesse McKinley
Kate
Christobek is a reporter covering the civil and criminal cases against former
president Donald J. Trump for The Times. More about Kate
Christobek
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