The first two days of jury selection have been marked with heated exchanges between attorneys and the judge, and a stern warning from the bench about attempts to intimidate jurors.
On Tuesday, seven jurors – four men and three women – were seated on the panel that will ultimately decide Trump’s guilt or innocence in the New York hush-money case.
However, this initial progress was overshadowed by the aggressive tactics employed by Trump’s legal team, who meticulously combed through prospective jurors’ social media posts in an effort to uncover potential anti-Trump biases.
While Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass focused on outlining the case and managing jurors’ expectations regarding witness testimony, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, devoted significant time to probing jurors’ perceptions of the former president.
The defense’s line of questioning prompted Judge Juan Merchan to issue a stern admonishment to Trump himself. The former president was reprimanded for his audible gesturing and utterances directed at a juror during questioning, with the judge explicitly warning that he would not tolerate any attempts to intimidate members of the jury.
“Mr. Blanche, while the juror was at the podium, maybe 12 feet from your client, your client was audibly uttering something, I don’t know exactly what he was uttering, he was audibly gesturing, speaking in the direction of the juror. I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.”
Jury selection continues today and may even last to the end of the week. 5 more jurors are needed together with six alternates.