The only thing missing is their substitutes. Twelve jurors in Donald Trump’s criminal trial were sworn in Thursday in a New York court. “We have our own jury. Let’s choose a replacement,” Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the hearing, said late Thursday. He said he is “optimistic” that the jury will be finalized this Friday, when five more alternate jurors will be selected from the six required.
As the new jurors vowed to try the case “fairly and impartially,” Donald Trump kept his eyes on them. The first former United States president to face criminal charges, Donald Trump, 77, who hopes to return to the White House in 2025, was required to attend the crucial and sometimes time-consuming step of jury selection as of Monday.
Donald Trump gets annoyed
Dozens of citizens came to him one after another, suddenly immersed in this historic case and seeing their lives scrutinized by defense and prosecution for signs of bias. “I will have to campaign in many places,” he again told reporters after the hearing. “I’ve been sitting here for several days, from morning to night, in this frozen room,” he lamented.
Less than seven months before the November presidential election, the Republican candidate is on trial for allegedly making hidden payments to buy the silence of former porn star Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election, which he narrowly defeated Democratic candidate Hillary. . Clinton.
After a break on Wednesday, the trial resumed in a somewhat chaotic manner, with one juror already selected and asked to surrender for fear of being identified while jurors are required to remain anonymous to avoid pressure. Some time later, the judge dismissed another jury member, and prosecutors questioned his sincerity.
Those early clashes especially raised questions about guarantees of juror anonymity throughout the trial, and Donald Trump, who has denounced the witch hunt, has complained several times about being tried in New York, a Democratic stronghold. The Republican candidate took to the social network Pravda this Wednesday to comment on comments from Fox News host Jesse Watters, who claimed without evidence that “they are choosing infiltrated progressive activists who lie to the judge to sit on the jury.
“The question is not whether Trump is likable.”
This Thursday, several dozen candidates were again challenged, admitting that they cannot judge Donald Trump impartially. “The question is not whether (Donald Trump) is likable… I preside over defendants who are not always likable, gang members, murderers, sex offenders,” the judge said.
More than three years after Donald Trump left the White House in chaos, he is theoretically facing jail time. That wouldn’t stop him from running in the November 5 presidential election, where he wants revenge on Joe Biden, but it would project the campaign into the unknown.
However, if he were found not guilty, it would be a great success for the Republican candidate. Moreover, he managed through appeals to postpone three other criminal trials: two for illegal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 elections and one for allegedly careless handling of classified documents.
In a case pending in New York, Donald Trump is charged with falsifying the books of his company, the Trump Organization, which allegedly sought to conceal under the guise of “legal fees” a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels by his personal lawyer. at the time Michael Cohen.
In exchange, the former X-rated movie star agreed to remain silent about her 2006 sexual relationship with the billionaire. Donald Trump has always denied this relationship, and his defense team claims that the payments took place in the private sphere. But prosecutor Alvin Bragg intends to show that these are indeed fraudulent maneuvers to hide information from voters in the days before the vote.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
