Trump's historic New York hush money trial begins today with jury selection
Category: News & Politics
Via: jbb • 2 weeks ago • 67 commentsBy: New York Attorney General (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
April 15, 2024, 11:00 AM UTCBy Adam Reiss and Dareh Gregorian
Donald Trump will make history Monday as the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges, a watershed moment for American politics, the presidential election and Trump himself.
Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee for president — is required to be present for the entire trial, which could last as long as eight weeks. He's pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison. The trial kicks off Monday with juryselection.
The charges relate to Trump's first run for president, in 2016. Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office allege he took part in a scheme with his then-lawyer Michael Cohen and the publisher of the National Enquirer to suppress scandalous stories about him in the run-up to Election Day.
One of those stories involved porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the claim, and Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 to keep quiet about the allegation. After he was elected, Trump repaid Cohen in payments recorded as legal fees at his company —documents the DA alleges were falsified to keep the hush money payments secret.
Trump has maintained he didn't do anything wrong and derided the case as being part of a politically motivated "witch hunt" against him, a claim he's used to galvanize his supporters and rake in millions of dollars in fundraising for his campaign.
The criminal case was the first of four brought against Trump in four different jurisdictions and is the only case definitively set to go to trial before the election.
Because Trump is required to be in court four days a week (the trial does not take place on Wednesdays), his ability to campaign in person is limited to times the court is not in session. But as he did during his previous New York trials, Trump is likely to speak publicly during breaks and after court adjourns for the day.
The start of the trial comes despite numerous last-ditch efforts by Trump to delay it, including by filing appeals accusing Judge Juan Merchan of having a conflict of interest because his daughter's media firm does work for Democratic candidates, arguing the judge's partial gag order against him is "unconstitutional," and claiming that it's impossible for him to get a fair trial in Manhattan given the huge amount of pretrial publicity surrounding the case.
The DA's office countered in a court filing that "given the sheer size of New York County, it is absurd for [Trump] to assert that it will be impossible or even impractical to find a dozen fair and impartial jurors, plus alternates, among more than a million people."
The jury selection process is expected to take one to two weeks. Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News that 6,000 jurors have been called to the Manhattan criminal courts this week — 2,000 more than in a typical week.
Merchan announced a methodical system of whittling down the large jury pool to 12 jurors and six alternates who can be "fair and impartial" about the deeply polarizing Trump.
Eighteen jurors will be put in the jury box at a time and each one in succession will read out loud their answers to a series of 42 questions. The questions include inquiries about what news sources they follow, whether they've ever attended any Trump rallies or anti-Trump protests, and whether they've ever supported the QAnon movement or antifa.
The form does not ask about party affiliation, political contributions or voting history, but the judge said answers to those questions "may easily be gleaned from the responses to other questions." After the 42 questions are answered, prosecutors can ask the jurors a series of follow-up questions, and then Trump's attorneys can ask their own follow-ups.
Merchan warned both sides "not to seek to expand the degree of intrusion beyond what is relevant and has already been approved," and rejected a request from Trump's attorneys that jurors be asked whether they "like" the former president.
"Such questions are irrelevant because they do not go to the issue of the prospective juror's qualifications," he wrote in an order made public on April 8. "The ultimate issue is whether the prospective juror can ensure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law," the order said.
The trial will have an anonymous jury, meaning the jurors' identities and addresses will not be made public. The judge said the move was necessary because of "a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment of juror(s)."
While the trial is the first criminal trial involving a former president, it's the fourth trial in New York involving Trump as a defendant since he left office. He was sued twice by writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation and he and his company were accused of fraud in a civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The verdicts against him in the three cases — all of which he is appealing — total about $550 million.
Adam Reiss
Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.
Dareh Gregorian
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Zoe Richards contributed.
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... aim higher.
More reality television and memes too!
No Whining!
The new right wing excuse for Trump - "it's nothing but reality tv"
I don't know when you listen to the discourse in the courtrooms of late (and the press conferences even more so) it is more fantasy television than any semblance of reality.
He has seized on what Chris Sununu said Sunday.
to paraphrase the exchange on Sunday
ABC News - So you support a traitor to be president of the United States ?
Sununu - I do, because America wants cultural change
Like all radicals George can't understand why Biden must be defeated.
What is your answer ?
Biden is the traitor.
And Biden must be defeated.
on NT we cannot respond properly to such delusional comments without being threatened with suspension
and i oughta know
According to Sununu , Trump played a role in an insurrection. That makes Trump a traitor.
And Sununus support for him makes Sununu unAmerican.
So according to ONE persons opinion. Even the J6 shitshow failed to prove he played a role. But as long as that opinion fits the narrative, you'll run with it.
From the point of view of fascists and Putinites.
Chris Sunumu is an idiot. He said Trump was complicit in a criminal action and that he still supports him for president - that is both ludicrous and insane. The fact that you dislike Biden (I do too) should not delude you or anyone else into thinking that Trump has not committed criminal and civil transgressions and that he has no business being president.
This country does not need a cultural change we need a change in the way politics and public service are conducted.
I am mostly on your side with this article and the argument about Sunumu being an idiot.
But would you concede the point, that while most of us are convinced that Trump was complicit in the activities of Jan 6 that he is not a traitor until and if a court says that he committed those acts of complicity.
A fine, but important point I think that is lost in the rhetoric
“I am mostly on your side with this article and the argument about Sunumu being an idiot.
But…”
No ifs, ands, or buts about it. All one needs are ears to hear and eyes to see…
Our former 'president' is traitor many times over and his magats continue to project, deflect, deny, and delude.
We don't need the courts to prove that the former 'president' is a traitor many times over due to what we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears.
Tessy
Well if you say it is so, then the U.S. legal system can surely not be important enough to look into the matter.
The form does not ask about party affiliation, political contributions or voting history, but the judge said answers to those questions "may easily be gleaned from the responses to other questions." After the 42 questions are answered, prosecutors can ask the jurors a series of follow-up questions, and then Trump's attorneys can ask their own follow-ups.
What a wonderful judge / S. He seems to think people will answer those questions honestly.
How about the accused being judged by his peers? There is nothing to guarantee that this won't be a jury of Bragg's peers.
Then the judge tells us: "The ultimate issue is whether the prospective juror can ensure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law," the order said.
Exactly how does he intend to do that?
Hopefully at least one fair minded juror will get through.
The trial will have an anonymous jury, meaning the jurors' identities and addresses will not be made public. The judge said the move was necessary because of "a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment of juror(s)."
It sounds like the judge thinks he has Al Capone on trial. Anonymity also prevents the people who know them exposing them, as Christine Blasey Ford's old boyfriend did. I have a feeling their identities will eventually be known.
We have allowed the justice system to be weaponized to this extent. After the jury is selected the trial will be tied to a serial perjurer and a lot of bad law and biased decision making by a partisan judge. The New York justice system is about to go on trial.
He seems to think maga will answer those questions honestly.*
Hopefully at least one trump deluded moron juror will get through.*
*fixed
A jury composed of the citizens residing in New York are Trump's peers, unless, of course, you believe that only philandering billionaire traitors are Trump's peers. Then, you might have a point.
I'm sure there's a bunch of billionaire white supremacists that think justice is for sale in NYC. too bad they always find a way to get out of jury duty...
I definitely would not want one of them on a jury.
What about Harlan Crow? He has Token thomas in his pocket.
Nice racist comment
The whole story is bullshit.
So Trump is his own accounting department and does the books himself. Amazing man right there. Where is/are the person/persons responsible for making those book entries? "But the boss told me to do it" didn't mean jack when the Nazis tried it and it still doesn't to this day.
Currently in prison for the next 5 months on a perjury charge in the NY Civil case.
If Trump signed documents certifying they were true when they were not, he can be found guilty. If it can be proved he knowingly signed false documents then can be found guilty of fraud.
Sorry Trump defenders, i cant with good conscious accept any of your excuses, this clown should be incarcerated, not representative of the incompetent party known as the gop. 'group of pigz', asz they choose to wallow in the mud, with those not worthy of mud, and may history be unkind, and it will.
fat floats
I stopped going to the beach because green peace always showed up and threw water on me until the tide came in.
lolol
so does shit
lol
Yep, Donald Trump sure is a piece of dogshit. I mean, Trump cheats prostitutes. How low can a person go on the liberal morality meter? Yet Biden polls as badly as Trump. And liberals are gaslighting voters to defend Biden's record.
The important question is whether or not Biden can use this news to wrangle another quarter percentage point out of the polls. The politicization of the courts doesn't seem to be helping Biden.
The best our political system can offer is Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Two of the shittiest of shitty candidates. (Thank God Clinton didn't run again.) And the liberal elite will tell us elections aren't rigged, with a straight face. Seems our political society is ass-less because they've lied that off a long time ago.
more like 20 million unamerican deluded morons that don't support the constitution, and that number is rapidly diminishing...
That's a whole lot of white trash . . .
What a fat delusional fuck the former 'president' is. I think the syphilis has nearly finished rotting what's left of what passes for a brain.
Manhattan's first black District Attorney has arrived along with the most ridiculous charges we've ever heard of aimed at putting Biden's political opponent in prison during an election.
New Yorkers voted for that. How disgraceful.
the key aspect of the opposition to Bragg
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It's just so blatantly obvious
[✘] If you want to call people racist come out and say it.[✘]
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I see it every day you post
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why did you bring up his race ? it isnt relevant to the case
Because it was part of his resume when elected.
it isnt relevant to the case
He is the first black Manhattan DA. That is a fact. There is nothing relevant to this case other than Bragg's predecessor refused to go forward with it as did the DOJ and everyone else. One mean-spirited progressive wrote a book (during a trial which itself is inappropriate) and Bragg was intimidated into going forward with this absurd case.
But you do admit that you were calling me a racist, correct?
i said the opposition to bragg seems , for some, to be based on his race. i didnt mention you.
that "fact" seems to mean a great deal to you.
Yes, it does. There are many very qualified black lawyers who would have made excellent DAs.
New York's voters chose the likes of Bragg. That should tell everyone something.
The same goes for the city of Chicago.
you should quit this argument before it gets worse for you
Remember what Sununu said about the progressive bubble?
Most people got my point.
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There are reports trump has been sleeping in court during the first day of his trial today
Shame on the voters of New York.
Shame on anyone who would vote for that traitorous turd.