Former US President Donald Trump sits in a Manhattan criminal courtroom Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York, US.
Gina Moon | Reuters
All 12 jurors were seated Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal hush money trial.
One substitute was also selected. Five alternates in the case had yet to be chosen when the hearing resumed Friday morning.
Initial arguments in the trial could begin on Monday.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchand said Thursday afternoon: “We hope it will be over by tomorrow.”
Trump slammed the incident after the court adjourned.
President Trump said, “The whole world is watching this fraud in New York.”
He left the courtroom carrying a stack of papers consisting of dozens of news articles critical or skeptical of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case. Trump spent several minutes flipping through the newspaper and reading the headlines.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee complained that he was forced to spend hours a day in court and was unable to campaign against President Joe Biden.
He slammed the court itself, saying he was “locked in a freezing room.”
April 18, 2024, in Manhattan State Court in New York City, USA, as trial continues on charges of falsifying business records to conceal funds paid to hush porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 , former President Donald Trump holding a news clipping in his hand.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Earlier in the day, Marchan dismissed two jurors who were originally seated on Tuesday.
The first juror expressed concerns about her identity being made public and whether she could be impartial. She was released after a second juror questioned whether prosecutors had been truthful about her criminal history.
The dismissal of the two jurors appeared to threaten the fast pace of jury selection, which some legal experts had expected to be completed a week ago. But those seats and the remaining 12-person panel were filled by Thursday afternoon.
The 13 jurors and alternates selected Tuesday and Thursday were chosen from a pool of 192 people.
Prosecutors earlier Thursday accused Trump of violating the gag order in the case seven more times on social media since Monday. The gag order prohibits making certain statements about jurors, witnesses, the judge and members of Trump’s prosecutors’ families.
“It’s ridiculous and it has to stop,” Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy told Marchand.
Conroy said Trump’s “most disturbing post” was that of Fox News host Jesse Watters, who claimed that potential jurors included “secret liberal activists who are lying to judges.” He said it reflected the claims.
In this courtroom sketch, far-right former President Donald Trump turns to look at potential jurors who raise their hands to be excused from the jury panel Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. ing.
Elizabeth Williams via Reuters
Conroy said it will be up to prosecutors to decide what sanctions they will seek against Trump. A hearing on President Trump’s alleged violation of the gag order is scheduled for next week.
The rejected female juror said Wednesday she received multiple calls from people asking if she was selected.Watters on Tuesday night’s broadcast. listed He declined to discuss many details about the juror, including her marital status and eating habits in the news, saying he was “not sure” about her.
The juror told Marchand Thursday morning that he “doesn’t believe he can act fairly and impartially in a courtroom without outside influence.”
The judge apologized and immediately excused her from the trial. He advised journalists covering the trial to “apply common sense” and refrain from publishing personally identifying information about jurors who are supposed to be anonymous.
Mr Marchand also ordered the media not to report answers to jury survey questions about past and present employers.
Both parties were tasked Thursday with questioning a group of 96 potential jurors to fill the remaining jury seats. However, half of that group was quickly excused after they signaled to Marchan that they could not be fair and impartial.
One remaining potential juror, who was born and raised in Italy, was rejected for comparing President Trump to the late Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi, who passed away in June last year, scandal-The Troubled Millionaire of 2012 was convicted of a crime About tax fraud.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a plot to silence porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Former President Donald Trump, sitting far left, presides as members of a jury answer questions on a jury survey Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York.
Elizabeth Williams via Reuters
President Trump will be required to sit in court throughout the trial, which will be held every weekday except Wednesday and is expected to last about six weeks.
President Trump denounced the trial as a political “witch hunt” and complained that it would keep him from campaigning.
But Trump has also used the media frenzy surrounding his trial and three other pending criminal cases as an opportunity to spread his campaign message and attack his political opponents. On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump criticized Judge Juan Melchan for “rushing” the trial.
Former President Donald Trump visits a warehouse in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan where an employee assaulted and killed a man in 2022, in New York City, April 16, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
Later, Mr. Bragg visited a North Harlem shopping district to stop campaigning in an attempt to suggest that he was unable to stop crime in New York City because he was too focused on the trial.
On Wednesday, President Trump complained that his legal team was not given “enough” opportunity to reject potential jurors. In fact, he received the exact number of strikes allotted to him under New York state law.