As jury selection for former President Donald Trump 's infamous hush money trial began on Monday, over half of the potential jurors were dismissed after they admitted that they were unable to be impartial, harbouring biases for or against the former president.
Exactly 96 individuals were called to a courtroom in Manhattan on Monday to serve as potential jurors and undergo a vetting process designed to determine whether they can render a verdict impartially. Sixty-three of them were sent home, however, after Judge Juan Merchan deemed them unable to serve, either because of bias or another reason.
Hundreds of Manhattan residents were chosen to serve as potential jurors in the trial — a pool that will be narrowed to just 12 official jurors and an additional six alternates. The belief was that gathering hundreds to narrow down would eventually lead to the selection of that magical 18 who would be able to be unbiased or put aside their feelings about the former president to render justice impartially.
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Trump faces 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records to cover up a massive hush money payment to Stormy Daniels (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Hundreds more will be presented to Judge Merchan, Trump and his team and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for selection over the coming days as the selection process could drag out as long as two weeks. The key, according to Merchan, will be to determine "whether the prospective juror can assure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law."
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Trump reportedly craned his neck back to look at the group when they entered the courtroom as Merchan described what the trial would be and how it would work. The case is officially called the People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump, he said.
By the end of Monday, only 33 individuals remained in the pool to be narrowed down to serve on the jury. About half of the 96 were dismissed because they told Merchan they wouldn't be able to be fair and impartial, and an additional nine were dismissed because they raised their hands when he asked if there was anyone who had another reason to be taken out of consideration. About two dozen of those dismissed were white women, according to NBC.
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Many of the potential jurors were dismissed after admitting they would be biased in the case and had strong feelings about the former president (AFP via Getty Images)One juror in particular from Harlem said she had strong opinions about Trump as she provided a contradictory set of answers to Merchan's screening questions. She was asked via a questionnaire whether she could be neutral in the case, and she answered yes, but then also answered yes when asked if she had strong opinions about the businessman.
Taken aback, Merchan asked her to repeat her answer, and she confirmed that she had said yes. She was promptly dismissed, and the selection process continued.
Monday began with hours of pretrial arguments, including one that involved a potential fine for Trump. During the proceedings, Trump was seen falling asleep, nodding off as the pretrial discussions occurred and his defence lawyer, Todd Blanche, desperately passed notes to him. Then, in the afternoon, the selection process began, and the first of the 96 were ushered into the courtroom.
Trump faces 34 felony charges related to falsifying business records in an attempt to cover up a $130,000 payment he made to pornstar Stormy Daniels to silence her amid the 2016 election. She claimed around the time that she had an affair with the businessman in 2006, something Trump and his team believed at the time could hurt his campaign for the presidency — a campaign that ended up being successful and saw him take over the Oval Office, beating out former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
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