Half of the possible jury were barred from serving on the panel of judges in just a couple of minutes due to partiality for or against Trump, marking the start of the landmark criminal trial of Donald Trump.
The accused Trump denies that he falsified corporate documents to hide the payment of blackmail money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
In the New York courtroom, sixty out of ninety-six prospective jurors quickly declared that they were unable to be impartial.
The prospective jurors that remained were then interviewed extensively, including on topics such as their tastes for literature and journalism.
“I just couldn’t do it,” one prospective juror was heard saying as she left court on Monday.
The removals showed the difficulty in gathering a jury of twelve unbiased witness in a case involving a prominent former president in sex scandal, with the accused running for president 2024.
The charge Trump is facing
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office says that in exchange for Ms. Daniels’ silence on an alleged sexual encounter—which the former president disputes occurred—Mr. Trump, the accused gave his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, an order to pay her $130,000 .
His objective, according to the prosecution, was to “unlawfully influence” the 2016 election. Trump filed a not guilty plea to ultimately end up here in the criminal trial.
Trial began, Jurors removed
In the late afternoon, jury selection got started. The court began to remove the approximately 34 jurors who had raised their hands in order to indicate they were unable to serve as impartial.
The remaining individuals were then subjected to a barrage of 42 questions from the juror questionnaire, which covered topics such as news reading preferences, participation at Trump events a lot were left disqualified.
One after the other, the eighteen people who were randomly assigned to the jury box answered the questionnaire.
An individual from Manhattan’s Midtown neighbourhood claimed to be a Wall Street Journal subscriber.
Another Upper West Sider claimed that one of his radio-listening routines was tuning in to whatever show was playing while taking a shower. Later, he explained that he meant NPR.
What questions did the jurors face to get selected?
A lady was asked: “Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former president Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current candidate for president, that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?”
She only gave a “yes” response and was ignored, despite Mr. Trump’s strong objection to her being disqualified for reasons they did not disclose.
Due to the high-profile nature of the case, all of the witnesses will stay anonymous, but prosecutors and Trump’s defence team will be aware of who they are.
