A jury that will decide Trump’s fate begins to take shape as first criminal trial powers ahead

CNN
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There are two Donald Trump Criminal trials are now underway.

there One in a courtroom in Manhattanas the judge, lawyers on both sides, and potential jurors struggle to lay the foundation for the fair trial to which the former president and every other citizen is entitled.

There is the fictional trial involved Trump’s speechLed by “heartless thugs” and a “deeply conflicted judge” who are “rushing through a trial” that the presumptive GOP nominee claims is a “Biden-inspired witch hunt.”

In court on Tuesday, Trump made eye contact with potential jurors and admonished him Judge Juan Merchan Because of mumbling while interrogating someone. But the sudden pace of the process has confounded initial expectations that the trial of the most famous man on earth would be a long, arduous process. While there were occasional moments of humor in court and reminders that Trump’s status makes him a defendant like no other, the conversations the jury members had with the judge, defense attorneys and prosecutors hinted at the seriousness of what was to come. Weeks. For example, one potential juror noted: “This is real. This man’s life is at stake, the country is at stake, this is serious.”

As Trump’s hush money trial accelerates Her second day, convincing — With seven jurors seated — Trump intensified his efforts to discredit the proceedings and the legal system itself. He reinforced the argument that is his primary defense and his main campaign message — that he is a persecuted victim who is on trial because he is on track to reclaim the White House in November. The former president’s strategy encapsulates one of the most significant challenges to the American court system in recent memory — one that will likely leave him tarnished in the eyes of tens of millions of his supporters whatever the jury decides. It captures the unprecedented circumstances of putting the first former president on trial in the midst of an election campaign now taking place in more courtrooms than in battleground states.

But outside the courtroom, the former president became angry, offering a sidetracked comment on the good-faith efforts at home.

When the search for 12 jurors plus alternates for the day stalled, Trump drove to a bodega uptown, to highlight what he says is rising crime faced by owners of small stores that are often open all night and particularly serve immigrant communities. Trump was in his element, waving to a crowd of people who chanted “Four more years” and “We love Trump,” while repeating quotes that dripping with words. Lies About foreign countries emptying their prisons and asylums to send a wave of immigrants to American cities.

At a raucous event in which he sounded more like a mayoral candidate than a presumptive presidential candidate, he made two points. First, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should be going after the “real” criminals, not him, and his commitment to attending the trial was keeping him off the campaign trail, where his rival, President Joe Biden, is sweeping a swing state this week. Pennsylvania.

“It’s Alvin Bragg’s fault that he’s going after people like Trump, who have done nothing wrong,” the former president said as he stood under a sign pointing to an ATM, in a scene that appeared to show the longtime self-promotion guru facade. Page in the New York Post. “This gets me campaigning locally and that’s a good thing,” Trump said, concluding his political term on the streets in the city that made his name and that will send 12 jurors with his legal fate, and perhaps even his freedom, in their hands.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments to Stormy Daniels, the porn star, who claimed to have had an affair with Trump before he became president. Bragg’s theory in the case is that the alleged behavior led to Trump withholding vital information about voters before the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having a sexual relationship with Daniels. This is just one of four looming trials involving Trump; Others focus on his attempts to cancel the 2020 elections and his hoarding of secret documents.

The current trial is not televised, meaning that Trump is deprived of an electoral platform. But that restriction allows him to make daily misleading comments about what’s happening inside the courtroom, and that’s likely the most many conservative media viewers know about the case.

In keeping with the four-day-a-week trial schedule, proceedings will stop on Wednesday. Trump is expected to have dinner with Polish President Andrzej Duda, a nationalist who was one of the former president’s favorite foreign leaders during his term. Criminal defendants generally don’t take a break from their trials to enjoy visiting presidents. The visit will serve as another reminder of the extraordinary circumstances of the election intertwined with Trump’s legal fate, and may be seen as a highly symbolic endorsement by Duda of his friend during his hour of need.

As the trial reaches its first break, two things have already become clear.

First, the conventions of a criminal trial — such as those found in thousands of courtrooms every day — mean that this case will continue unabated. There is little the former president can do to stop this, despite the pretrial delaying tactics and complex litigation common to all his cases. This sense of order was reflected in the strong lead in jury seating on Tuesday.

“It’s striking how normal this situation is,” Mimi Rocca, a former division chief in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, told CNN. “The criminal justice system, the jury system, works the way it’s supposed to work.”

The second major thing two days later is that Trump – who has created a public persona as a ruthless shark who told victims “you’re fired” in “The Apprentice” – sees himself as a powerful president with his own Boeing that can take him where he wants, when he wants. – Must relinquish complete control when court is in session. He cannot act, and is forced under a gag order not to attack witnesses or family members of court officers.

As he muttered in court on Tuesday, Merchan told the former president’s lawyer: “I will not be intimidated by any jurors in the courtroom.” The incident is likely just a taste of the clashes that have occurred between Trump and the judge. In previous civil trials, Trump has defied the dignity of the court’s ruling and feuded with other judges. The fact that his time is not his own is also highlighted by his complaints about his inability to attend a US Supreme Court hearing arising from next week’s federal election interference trial. He also complains that the judge will not allow him to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation — although Merchan has not yet ruled on that case.

For anyone wondering whether the Republican former president alienating his opponents could get a free trial in New York, Tuesday’s jury selection process may come as a bit of relief. There is significant debate among legal scholars and partisans about whether the Bragg case is a legal stretch and whether Trump is guilty of the alleged conduct. But potential jurors seem to take their obligation seriously. It was striking that a large group admitted that they could not honestly say they could judge Trump fairly — a testament to the extreme reactions the former president provokes.

“I don’t think I can be as neutral and impartial as I thought,” said one excused man.

But other potential jurors said they would be able to put aside any political feelings about Trump and focus on the evidence and the law. “I feel that politically, your client and I have major differences,” one person said. “There are certain things he said that I don’t care about. But a lot of people say things that I don’t care about.” “But when I come here, it can’t be counted, it has to go away,” she added.

In a sign of the times, the judge and attorneys spent hours combing social media posts of potential jurors and family members, looking for evidence of bias. In another revealing trend that hinted at the former president’s political appeal, some potential jurors reported that they viewed his rhetorical outbursts as those of someone speaking his mind, unlike conventional politicians.

When a potential juror asked Merchan whether attending her sister’s wedding in September could be grounds for failure to serve, the judge drew laughter in court with his answer: “If we were still here in September, that would be a big problem.”

Trump should be happy with the process so far, jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn told CNN’s Burnett. “It’s a mixed bag, which is exactly what you want.” He added: “The former president found some good jurors for himself today.”

Trump asked the Supreme Court to approve his expanded claim of presidential immunity in an attempt to obstruct his trials. But so far, his silent financial trial suggests that despite the former president’s absolute lust for power, every American remains equal before the law.

Courtroom artist Christine Cornell has drawn drawings of some of the most famous defendants in modern history, including crime family boss John Gotti and financier Bernie Madoff, and has been drawing Trump for years. She best captured Trump’s new reality when she told CNN on Tuesday: “He’s just another human being. “He’s just a man in trouble.”