A seven-person jury has been seated in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan. Court was not in session Wednesday, and jury selection will continue Thursday until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates are selected.
But before anyone was seated Tuesday, jurors went through a questionnaire phase in which the district attorney's office and Trump's attorneys questioned them. As jurors spoke, Trump was seen frequently flipping through the jury questionnaire, often leaning back in his chair.
Trump attorney Todd Blanch challenged several prospective jurors, calling for some to be dismissed because of social media posts.
Remember: Each side has 10 formal strikes to remove a juror from the pool — no questions asked. In cases where either party succeeds in rejecting a potential juror for cause, it need not use a strike.
The prosecution and defense used six preemptive strikes each. This means each side has four attacks left.
These are some of the challenges:
- Trump's team found social media posts by a potential juror referring to Trump as “get him out” and “lock him up.” Judge Juan Merson dismissed a potential juror because of that language.
- Merchn struck another potential juror who admitted to retweeting a negative AI video about Trump in March. Trump's lawyers shared a photo of display tables with a Biden-Harris poster and pointed to posts that sold buttons to support the non-voting political establishment.
- Trump's team issued another potential juror challenge in 2018 regarding posts on his Facebook page. He said Trump said things that “I don't care about.” Merson denied the challenge, saying the potential juror was honest about his differences with Trump.
Who are the judges? We know of seven seated jurors: oncology nurse, corporate lawyer, English teacher.
Trump and the judge: Merson issued a stern warning to the former president for reacting openly and audibly to one of the jurors in court. “I will not intimidate any jurors in court,” the judge said after the potential jurors left.
Looking ahead: The next batch of 96 potential jurors were sworn in on Tuesday and dismissed until Thursday morning.
