CNN legal analysts said the jury selection process for the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump will be tough and the relevant questionnaire is a key tool in weeding out potential bias.
“It's very common in terms of things like where you're from, but not questions about who you voted for,” said CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates.
Prosecutors want to know the jurors' views on the case and their media sources, he noted — which can pretty much reflect who they are, their beliefs on a particular issue and their political activism, “whoever you are or whoever you are. Your real circle, not just you, Trump or anti-Trump.” You attended the rally.
Potential jurors may be eliminated based on strikes and challenges to answers to lengthy questionnaires. And each party in the case will have the opportunity to dismiss up to 10 jurors — meaning they can dismiss a juror without reason or explanation, explained Eli Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. CNN.
Finally, the big elephant in the room will be the election. “This is a tough jury pool for Donald Trump,” Honig noted. “This is a jury loaded against Donald Trump — politically.” Honig continued that in Manhattan, New York County, Trump received only 12.3% of the vote in 2020. “It's important to remember, there's no Bronx, there's no Queens, there's no Staten Island, there's no Brooklyn. It's Manhattan and Manhattan only.”
