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
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