OAN’s Brooke Mallory
3:48 PM – Friday, April 19, 2024
After a dramatic day in which two prospective jurors broke down in tears, an appeals court judge denied President Trump’s request to halt the case, a man attempted to self-immolate in front of the courthouse, and Donald Trump’s historic The criminal trial begins next week when opening statements are scheduled.
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“We will have opening statements Monday morning. This trial will begin,” Judge Juan Melchán said near the end of the day after safely seating the remaining five required alternate jurors. .
Twelve jurors and six alternates will hear the case, which will be the first criminal prosecution of a former president. It is expected to last approximately 6 weeks.
The six finalists chosen Friday include an executive at a clothing company, a project manager at a construction company, an audio specialist and an unemployed married woman who loves the arts and considers herself apolitical. It is included.
The process to select the 18 jurors lasted four days.
In the early afternoon, the man also self-immolated outside the courtroom as the judge announced that “everyone is here.”
The victim was identified as Max Azzarello, was certified as mentally ill by a New York City Police Department spokesperson. Authorities say he appears to have distributed fliers “describing the details of the Bitcoin conspiracy” before he self-immolated.
Trump’s lawyers appeared in state appeals court later that afternoon, again asking for the trial to be halted immediately. Trump’s lawyer, Cliff Robert, said his client would receive a fair trial in the historically liberal borough of Manhattan, where Trump lived for a long time before moving to Florida after his election in 2016. He claimed he had no right.
In response, Stephen Wu of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said, “What we learned from last week’s results is that jury selection was successful.”
“We have 18 ordinary New Yorkers ready to serve. It’s unfair to them and the public to delay this further,” he said. A judge quickly rejected President Trump’s request for a detention.
Some prospective jurors were in tears, and some jurors expressed that they were too nervous to serve on a jury during Friday’s particularly rigorous jury selection process.
The court will convene 22 potential jurors from an initial pool of 96 jurors to test whether they can be impartial and fair to the real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate. It started by answering the questions shown.
One potential juror was removed because, in her own words, she could not be impartial. She told the judge: “I have really bad anxiety and people know where I am.” Shortly thereafter, the judge disqualified two other potential jurors who, after careful consideration, said, “I don’t think I can be impartial.”
One potential juror was a married parent who claimed to be a listener of the podcast “Order of Man,” which is about “reclaiming what it means to be a man.”
Some of the podcast’s previous guests have publicly supported Trump and criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against the former president. This person was selected as an alternate sound expert.
A married fund manager who claims to have supported former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 opponent, was also a potential juror. As the jury spoke, Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche exchanged notes. But he was later fired after being questioned over a 2020 Facebook post in which he allegedly called Trump “the devil and a sociopath.”
Jurors whose answers raised questions about their political beliefs appeared to be of particular interest to Mr. Trump. When he heard from a potential juror that he was “watching.” fox news” Trump tilted his head and whispered to his lawyer, Todd Blanche.
Another prospective juror broke down in tears when it was revealed that she had been jailed for two years on drug charges, but insisted she would remain “fair and impartial”.
Marchan on Thursday accused reporters of divulging too much information about prospective jurors, but said during a morning break that a woman told him “some very personal things about her life” and that she was “very brave.” ” he said.
“I just wanted everyone in the press to be nice. Please be nice to this person,” Marchan said. He then fired her stating that he needed her release certificate to qualify her for further assignments. As she was leaving, she shouted, “Good luck!” Smile.
After that juror left, the prosecutor’s office began interviewing the other jurors in turn. Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked the woman, who had previously revealed that her father was a lifelong friend of Trump ally and critic Chris Christie, to prove the case. When the woman spoke about responsibility, she began to cry.
“I’m feeling very nervous and anxious right now. I’m sorry,” she answered through tears. “I thought I could do this,” she added. “I don’t want someone who feels this way to judge my case.” She was also quickly fired.
Susan Necheres, also a lawyer for Mr. Trump, asked prospective jurors who have started their own companies how they would rate the credibility of witnesses after Mr. Hoffinger. The woman later requested a meeting with the court, saying that Necheres’ series of questioning had “caused her anxiety and loss of self-confidence.” she was released.
Necheres then asked another woman who had previously said she had been sexually assaulted whether she would blame Trump for other women accusing him of sexual assault. Although she said she had no problem getting her charges dismissed, the judge ultimately granted her an exception, stating that “prudence is wiser.”
Although he disagrees with some of Trump’s policies, another man said he still thinks the former Republican president is “just plain great.” He was also not committed to the jury.
As he entered the courtroom, Trump reiterated that the case against him was “unfair” and that the gag order, which prevents him from speaking about witnesses, prosecutors, court officials and jurors, was not “constitutional.”
“Everyone else can say what they want to say about me. They can say whatever they want to say. They can keep making up lies and everything else. They’re real scum. But you know what? They’re not allowed to talk about it,” Trump told the media.
The jury consisted of two lawyers, one teacher, a former asset manager, a product development manager, a security engineer, a software engineer, a speech therapist, and a physical therapist, with a total of seven men and five women. It is configured. The foreman is a married salesman who receives “news from.” Fox News, MSNBCand new york times” is a juror who essentially acts as the leader and speaker of the panel.
The only other candidate selected on Thursday was a female wealth manager.
Shortly after the final jurors were selected, Trump took to social media to discuss the progress of the process, claiming that the judge was “moving me at breakneck speed to completely satisfy my ‘friends’.” “It became a railway.”
Additionally, Marchan held what was called a Sandoval hearing later that day. This type of hearing educates the defendant about the scope of questioning that he or she may encounter from the prosecutor during cross-examination and allows the defendant to make an informed choice about whether to testify on his or her behalf. It is intended to.
As Mr. Trump left the courtroom Friday, someone asked him if he still planned to testify, and Mr. Trump said yes.
In a court filing, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office announced a number of other charges, including a $464 million civil judgment on fraud charges against Trump and his businesses, totaling $88 million in judgment and liability. He said he wanted to question Trump about the issue. Findings of a lawsuit filed by author E. Gene Carroll.
President Trump has categorically denied any wrongdoing in either case, and is currently appealing both the Carroll decision and the wrongful conviction.
Prosecutors said they hope that if the defendant goes to testify, the results can be used to “impeach the defendant’s credibility.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, during arguments over the conclusion of the fraud case, told the judge that prosecutors “would rather question Mr. Trump than a judge’s finding of persistent and repeated guilt. “It’s difficult to think about things more squarely than this.” fraud and illegality. ”
Trump’s lawyer, Emile Bove, countered that prosecutors should not be allowed to take up the case at all because Trump’s appeal is still ongoing. He offered a similar defense to the prosecution’s argument that it should be allowed to question the judge about his conclusion that he violated a gag order in the case and lied on the witness stand during a fraud trial. went.
“Is it your position that it cannot be used because the case is or could be appealed?” Ms Marchan asked the lawyer. “Not necessarily,” Bove answered.
according to NBC News“The judge said he would rule on the dispute Monday morning.”
Meanwhile, social media users on Twitter also commented on the trial process and Judge Marchan.
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