- The Washington Times - Thursday, April 18, 2024

A full jury of 12 people and one alternate was empaneled Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, putting the New York court on track to begin hearing testimony next week.

State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said the court needed to pick five more alternates on Friday so it could aim for opening statements on Monday.

“We have our jury,” Judge Merchan said when the 12th juror was chosen. 

The new jurors include transplants to New York, including a wealth manager from Lebanon and a vocabulary therapist from New Jersey.

In a tense moment, a prosecutor refused a request by defense lawyer Todd Blanche to get the names of the first three state witnesses.

“Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses. We’re not telling them who the witnesses are,” said the prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass.

Mr. Blanche offered to receive the names and keep them secret from Mr. Trump, but Judge Merchan said: “I don’t think you can make that representation.”

The day started poorly. The judge had to dismiss a juror who was empaneled two days earlier because she suddenly doubted her impartiality and was afraid the public knew too much about her, despite not being named in court.

Another juror, a male IT consultant, who was supposed to sit for the trial had to be excused after prosecutors tied him to a 1990s arrest for ripping down right-wing posters in Westchester County.

The court scrambled to backfill those spots and selected five more, plus one of the six alternates it will need as a backstop in case any full jurors can’t serve or deliberate.

Large pools of potential jurors filtered through the Manhattan courtroom on Thursday for the arduous process of selecting a panel to impartially judge one of the world’s most famous men.

Dozens were excused after they said they couldn’t be impartial, while others were excused for conflicts or other reasons.

Mr. Trump craned his neck to get a better look at jurors during the day. Some of the candidates said they read his most famous book, “The Art of the Deal.”

Mr. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in the criminal case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Prosecutors allege Mr. Trump funneled payments to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, to conceal hush money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and two others to avoid bad press around the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has pleaded not guilty and says Democratic prosecutors are trying to stop his presidential campaign.

“I’m supposed to be in New Hampshire. I’m supposed to be in Georgia. I’m supposed to be in North Carolina and South Carolina,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the courthouse hallways. “I’m supposed to be in a hundred different places campaigning. But I’m here all day on a trial that really is a very unfair trial.”

The trial is scheduled to last at least six weeks. The court is not convening on Wednesdays.

• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

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