Former President Donald Trump gestures as he returns to the courtroom Thursday during a recess of his criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court.
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Brendan McDermid/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump gestures as he returns to the courtroom Thursday during a recess of his criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Brendan McDermid/Getty Images
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump spent the week in Manhattan Criminal Court. After four days, jurors were selected to decide his fate. This is the first criminal trial of a former president.
Twelve jurors and six alternates were finalized Friday. Opening arguments are expected to begin Monday.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York to conceal damaging information to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump claims the lawsuit itself constitutes “election interference” in because of the way he is disrupting his 2024 presidential bid.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom earlier in the week, Trump lamented that he was unable to make campaign stops in other states because New York law requires him to be present at his criminal trial, which takes place four days a week.
“I’m supposed to be campaigning in a lot of different places. But I’ve been here all day for a trial that is really a very unfair trial,” Trump said Thursday after the hearing ended.
The Trump campaign has announced two upcoming rallies: one in North Carolina on Saturday and one in southern New Jersey on Saturday, May 11.
Nearly 300 potential jurors have been selected. They were asked about their opinions on Trump, their social media history and their background.
Jurors come from all over Manhattan, including Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Murray Hill and the Upper West Side. They are trial lawyers, teachers, physical therapists and investment bankers. Their hobbies range from woodworking and metalworking, hiking, fly fishing, and exploring New York City.
The potential jurors had different views on the case and on Trump himself — opinions they shared in front of the former president, one by one.
“I think that sometimes – as one of the jurors said – sometimes the way he behaves in public leaves something to be desired. At the same time, I can understand being a little unfiltered,” he said. admitted one potential juror. “But at the same time, I see him talking to a lot of people in America, and I think there’s something to be said for that.”
This juror was not selected.
“I don’t have any strong opinions, but I don’t like his personality. The way he presents himself in public,” said another potential juror who served on the jury. “He seems very selfish and egotistical…I don’t really appreciate that from a public servant.”
But she then made a personal analogy, noting that she didn’t like all of her colleagues but hadn’t tried to sabotage their work — so she thought she could be fair and impartial.
Another potential juror, who was not selected, said he saw parallels between himself and Trump and was impressed by his rise as a businessman and politician. The man said that, like Trump, he started out as an entrepreneur. “He was our president. It’s pretty amazing,” he said.
In the end, some self-selected.
“I just couldn’t do it,” one prospective juror muttered as she left the courtroom on the first day.
Through tears Friday, another potential juror said she was nervous and stressed and realized she might not be able to move forward after initially saying she could be impartial.
Selected jurors’ knowledge of the 88 other charges against Trump at the state and federal level ranged from unknown to aware that Trump faced other charges. Several said they read and watch major newspapers, cable networks and social media, but two noted, “I don’t watch any news or follow it too closely” and that they “don’t really care in the news.”
One selected juror said he was “ambivalent” about Trump; another approved of the way Trump “says what he thinks.”
The selected jurors did their best to prove that they would be able to separate their political preferences from the legal facts presented at trial.
One juror said he had “political views regarding the Trump presidency” and thought there were probably Trump administration policies he disagreed with.
Yet, he added, “I don’t know this man and I don’t have a personal opinion about him.”
Judge Juan Merchan attempted to guarantee the jury’s anonymity, citing security concerns. Jurors are identified by numbers, cannot be photographed or recorded, and only lawyers have access to their names.
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