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Trump trial live: Seven jurors sworn in as ex-president is scolded for potential jury intimidation

Second day of jury selection in New York criminal case sees former president hear how some New Yorkers feel about him as attorneys question prospective jurors

Supporters and protesters rally outside Trump's criminal trial

Donald Trump was scolded by Judge Juan Merchan for audibly muttering and gesturing at a potential juror after his lawyer Todd Blanche challenged her possible inclusion on the hush money trial jury.

The former president’s legal team unearthed a video on her Facebook of celebrating New Yorkers following his 2020 election defeat. When asked for clarification, Judge Merchan was satisifed with her explanation but told Mr Trump: “I won’t tolerate that,” he said. “I will not let any jurors be intimidated in this courtroom.”

Mr Trump is making history once again as the first American president to ever stand trial on criminal charges.

He is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a bid to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election in order to silence her about an alleged affair in 2006.

The charges on their own are misdemeanours but have been elevated to felonies because Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg says they violated state and federal election laws.

Mr Trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty.

So far, seven jurors have been confirmed. Jury selection continues on Thursday.

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The second potential juror is married, lives in midtown and has worked as creative director for Lands End, previously Kenneth Cole. He likes hiking, cooking and playing with his dog.

He reads The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal, “that’s about it.”

The third juror sounds young, is from Texas, lives in Harlem, works at a company and likes to “sing, watch TV, go shopping, and go to the club” in her free time.

She gets her news from Google, TikTok and Al Jazeera.

To this question: “Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current candidate for president that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?”

She said yes. So they chat with her about that to see whether she should be excused— and she is.

Alex Woodward15 April 2024 20:35
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Classified documents trial: Judge urged to reject Trump’s latest delay attempt

It comes after Mr Trump’s attorneys asked US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Saturday to push back a May deadline for reviewing classified evidence in the criminal case over his alleged mishandling of classified and sensitive government information stored at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The former president’s legal team argued that they cannot meet the May deadline because Mr Trump is currently on trial in Manhattan for a separate case in which he is accused of falsifying business records in order to conceal a “hush money” payment made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies all charges against him.

Martha McHardy reports:

Judge urged to reject Trump's latest attempt to delay classified documents trial

‘Each time the Court sets a new deadline in this case and attempts to keep it moving toward trial, the defendants reflexively ask for an adjournment. That must stop’

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 20:30
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First potential juror begins answering questions

The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports:

The first prospective juror is a married woman with an MBA who likes restaurants in the city and reads The New York Times, CNN and Wall Street Journal and listens to The Daily.

On this question — “Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current candidate for president that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?” — she said “no.”

Trump is following along with the list of questions. He’s holding up the paper close to his face and leaning back to read it.

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 20:25
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34 potential jurors remain out of initial 96

A further nine jurors were excused after Judge Merchan asked if they could not serve for any other reason, leaving 34 of the original 96 from which the 18 were selected to answer the jury questionnaire.

Of the excused jurors, more than two dozen were white women.

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 20:23
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Kathryn Watson of CBS News notes that for many of the prospective jurors, their first time ever seeing a current or former president in person is in criminal court:

Alex Woodward reports on the process of selecting a jury:

This is the first step in a two-step “hybrid” selection process intended to weed out people who cannot serve quickly before getting to the 42-question survey.

The video feed has been cut off but it sounds like at least a dozen jurors said they can’t be fair and impartial.

And now we’re doing another round, asking jurors to “raise your hand if you are unable to serve for any other reason,” like travel, medical or family obligations, etc.

18 prospective jurors are now being randomly called be seated to answer the questionnaire.

Per pool reporters in the courtroom: At least 50 jurors of the pool of 96 people were excused after they said they couldn’t be fair and impartial...

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 20:09
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Alex Woodward reports from the court:

Trump’s eyes are closed.

He then leans back, looking at the judge. He’s occasionally been turning towards the jury box but he’s been pretty tuned out the last 20 minutes.

Trump’s attorneys don’t seem to care, none of them have nudged him or acknowledged him, so this might just be standard Trump to them.

Meanwhile, Judge Merchan has asked first-round question to potential jurors, whether they believe they can’t be fair and impartial, considering the circumstances.

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 20:00
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#SleepyDon trends as Biden campaign reposts video clip saying Trump fell asleep in court

Not missing a beat, the Biden-Harris campaign retweeted the CNN clip in which journalist Maggie Haberman said that Donald Trump fell asleep in court:

Here’s Kelly Rissman with reaction from social media as #SleepyDon trends:

‘Sleepy Don’: Trump sparks Twitter hilarity as he appears to fall asleep at trial

His ‘Sleepy Joe’ nickname for his rival seems to have come full circle, with social media users now calling Mr Trump ‘Sleepy Don’

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 19:50
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Judge reads potential jurors instruction on allegations against Trump

The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports from the court:

Judge Juan Merchan read a portion of the jury instructions to the court.

The allegations are in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election. Specifically, it is alleged that Donald Trump made or caused false business records to hide the true nature of payments made to Michael Cohen, by characterizing them as payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a retainer agreement. The People allege that in fact, the payments were intended to reimburse Michael Cohen for money he paid to Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, in the weeks before the presidential election to prevent her from publicly revealing details about a past sexual encounter with Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations.

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 19:43
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First batch of psotential jurors sworn in

The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports from the court:

Judge Merchan returns to the courtroom and says the hearing on Trump’s alleged gag order violations and contempt charge will now take place next Tuesday 23 April at 930am and not on 24 April as previously reported.

Video and audio feeds to the media room were switched off as the first 96 potential jurors were brought into court. We presumably will get them back once the cameras are reset to block them out. There are about two hours left in today’s proceedings, and attorneys get 30 minutes for this batch of jurors.

They are now being sworn in and Judge Merchan tells them instructions will take 30 minutes.

Trump is leaning forward at the table, he appears to be reading something, bobbing his head left to right as he scans the page.

The judge introduced the defence team, and Trump stood up with them and turned to the jurors in the room.

Oliver O'Connell15 April 2024 19:38

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