08 June 2024 , 16:57
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Donald Trump is screaming for a retrial after a Facebook post revealed a juror boasted that Trump was going to be convicted after the verdict was handed to the former President.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Mr Trump retweeted a post about the Facebook post in question and wrote "MISTRIAL" alongside another stand alone post that said the same thing. It comes as the judge who oversaw Trump's hush money trial in New York informed the former president's defense team, and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office about the comment in question.
It is said that the comment was posted on the New York State Unified Court Systems’ public Facebook page last week by a poster who claimed to be a cousin of a juror, saying that Trump would be convicted. It read: "My cousin is a juror and says Trump is getting convicted Thank you folks for all your hard work!!!!"
However, it is still not clear if there is any truth to the post, as no evidence was provided to support the claim. Another point is that the jurors' identities continue to remain anonymous. According to CNN, a search of the poster's social media account, he called him self a "professional sh*t poster" among other things.
Trump was found guilty at the trial (Julia Nikhinson/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)In a letter, Judge Juan Merchan said that the court had been made aware on Friday of the roughly week-old post, and that it was posted in response to a routine court system notice on May 29 about an unrelated matter. He did not ask the parties to take further action.
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The post is no longer visible on the court’s Facebook. Al Baker, a spokesperson for the court said that "as appropriate, the Court informed the parties once it learned of this online content."
According to CNN's senior legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor Elie Honig, the judge's notice had no immediate effect on the case. He said: "The judge is being extra careful here to let the parties know any information that might give them the basis for a motion – there’s a long way though between this and any impact on the case.."
However, if the post was found to be true, it would not automatically be grounds for a mistrial, according to the legal expert. The 12-person New York jury began its deliberations on May 29, with the jurors sending two questions to the judge at the end of the court day.
One was asking to be read back portions of testimony from the key two witnesses, David Pecker and Michael Cohen, and another requesting to rehear a portion of the judge’s instruction to the jury. The requested testimonies and instructions were read back to them the next morning. Hours later, just after 4:30 p.m., the jury returned its verdict.