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Trump's motorcade is on its way to court
Donald Trump's motorcade is on its way to the courthouse for the third day of his criminal trial.
Here are some key takeaways from the Day 2 of jury selection in Trump’s hush money trial
From CNN'sJeremy Herb and Lauren del Valle
After being dark on Wednesday – as is expected for the duration of the expected six-week trial – the court will resume jury selection today with a new panel of 96 prospective jurors, looking for the remaining five jurors along with six alternates.
Here are the takeaways from day 2 of the Trump hush money trial:
We have (more than half) a jury: So far four men and three women have been selected to serve on the jury. A man originally from Ireland who works in sales in New York City was appointed as the jury foreperson, who essentially serves as the panel spokesperson. Five of the seven have a college degree or higher education. Two men on the panel are lawyers. All but one juror empaneled Tuesday indicated that they’re aware Trump is facing charges in other criminal cases. The woman was the only one of the 18 jurors questioned who said she wasn’t aware of the other charges. None of them shared particularly strong views about Trump or politics.
Trump’s lawyers scrutinize jurors’ social media: Trump’s side asked the judge to remove five jurors for cause, pointing to alleged anti-Trump social media posts and trying to argue that the jurors were unfairly biased against the former president. When the former president’s attorney Todd Blanche was questioning the jurors, he asked them one-by-one what they thought of Trump, outside of the case. He then tried to argue before the judge that many of the jurors’ answers that they didn’t have an opinion of Trump did not align with their social media. Judge Juan Merchan was generally skeptical, but he did agree on two counts that the jurors should be struck. As for the three jurors Merchan did not strike: Trump’s side used its peremptory challenges to remove all of them anyway. After Tuesday, both Trump’s team and the district attorney’s office have four peremptory challenges remaining each.
Trump gets admonished (again): Trump was admonished for his conduct when Merchan brought in one of the jurors individually to discuss her social media posts raised by Trump’s team. After the juror left the courtroom, Merchan raised his voice and admonished Trump, saying he waswas audibly speaking and gesturing in the direction of the juror. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in the courtroom,” Merchan told Blanche, raising his voice.
Jury selection could end – maybe – by the end of the week: One of the things Merchan has emphasized this week is that the court schedule is fluid. But the judge is hoping to wrap up jury selection this week. After swearing in the seven jurors Tuesday, Merchan told them he hopes they can return next Monday for opening statements – but he emphasized that the schedule could always change and the court would be in touch.
Trump is also facing charges in 3 other criminal cases
From CNN’s Devan Cole, Amy O'Kruk and Curt Merrill
The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is one offour criminal caseshe faces while juggling his presidential campaign.
The former president is facing at least88 chargesover the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases.
Here's a recap of each case:
- Hush money:Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016. Prosecutors allege Trump was part of an illegal conspiracy tounderminethe integrity of the 2016 election. Further, they allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment.
- Classified documents:Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials.The National Archives said in early 2022 that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from the estate, including some that were classified. The charges were brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
- Federal election interference:Smith separately charged the former president last August with four crimes over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator "attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them ... to delay the certification" of the election. That case is currently on hold as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the matter.
- Fulton County:State prosecutors in Georgia brought a similar election subversion case against Trump and others. An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. A trial date has not yet been set in that case.
Read more aboutthe four criminal casesTrump faces.
What we know about the 7 jurors seated so far
Seven jurors were seated in Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial Tuesday. Here's what we know about them:
- The first seated juror, who will be the foreperson on Trump’s jury, is a man originally from Ireland. He works in sales and has some college education. He is married but doesn’t have kids. He reads The New York Times and Daily Mail and watches some Fox News and MSNBC.
- The second juror is an oncology nurse who lives with her fiancé. She’s a native New Yorker. She reads The New York Times and watches CNN.
- The third seated juror is a corporate lawyer. He’s originally from Oregon. He gets his news from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Google. He’s a younger man who’s never been married and doesn’t have kids.
- The fourth juror is an older man originally Puerto Rico who’s married with adult children and two grandkids.When asked about his hobbies, he said, "I guess my hobby is my family."He has an IT business for training and consulting and attended one year of college.He told the court he finds Trump fascinating and mysterious. “So many people are set off one way or the other and that is interesting,” the man said. “Really, this one guy can do all of this, wow.”Trump “makes things interesting,” the man said, but also didn’t indicate any strong feelings about his politics.
- The fifth juroris a young Black woman who teaches English language in a public charter school system. She has a master’s degree in education, is not married and doesn’t have any kids.The juror said that as a person of color she has friends who have strong opinions on Trump, but she personally is not a political person. She said she tries to avoid political conversations and doesn't really care for the news. The juror did say she appreciates Trump’s candor: “President Trump speaks his mind and I’d rather that than someone who's in office who you don’t know what they’re thinking." She was also the only juror of 18 in the box Tuesday morning who said she wasn’t aware that Trump is facing charges in other criminal cases.
- The sixth juroris a software engineer at a large broadcast company who recently graduated from college.She voiced no strong feelings about Donald Trump one way or the other and said, “I will be fair and impartial." She is not married and has no kids, currently living with three roommates in Chelsea.The juror gets her news from The New York Times, Google, Facebook and TikTok. She asked the judge whether her sister’s wedding on a Sunday in September would be a scheduling conflict. Merchan quipped, “If we were still here in September that would be a big problem,” garnering laughs in the courtroom.
- The seventh juror is a civil litigator who is married with two kids and lives on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. Originally from North Carolina, he reads The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post and The Washington Post. He said he has "political views as to the Trump presidency" and that he thinks there were likely Trump administration policies he disagreed with. "I don't know the man and I don't have opinions about him personally," he said. "I certainly follow the news, I'm aware there are other lawsuits out there. But I'm not sure that I know anyone’s character."
Fast pace of jury selection runs counter to Trump's delay strategy
From CNN's Aditi Sangal
Before Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial began, experts had deemed that selecting a jury would be a long and challenging task. But seven jurors had already been seated by the end of Day 2.
Five more jurors, as well as six alternates, are required for jury selection to conclude.
“Remember, the tactichere from defense counsel formonths and months, it was to delay this trial. This pace isabsolutely antithetical to trying to delay thatprocess. In other words, thisdefendant, Donald Trump, hasthe pacing of most defendants who are charged with the crimein New York City,” CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates said Tuesday.
Remember: For months now, Trump’s team has pushed to delay the New York trial, as part of the former president’s broader strategy of trying to push back all four of his trials until after the 2024 election.
What to know about the charges against Trump
From CNN's Kara Scannell, Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle, Julian Cummings and Laura Dolan
Donald Trump has faced three civil trials in NewYork since he left the White House, but this is the first time he faces possible jail time.
The former president is charged with34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, stemming from reimbursem*nts made to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for hush money payments he made before the 2016 election to an adult film star alleging an affair with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.
Each count represents a separate instance of the alleged misconduct, pointing to different business records associated with a series of repayments to Cohen (ledger entries, checks, stubs, invoices, etc.) that were allegedly falsified to conceal his criminal conduct.
Penalty:The maximum penalty for each count is four years in state prison. However, the judge has discretion on how longanysentence shouldbe and whether to allow anysentences to be served consecutively. He could also sentence Trump to probation.
New York caps sentencing for this type of felony at 20 years.
A president hasnoauthority to pardon state crimes.
Dismissed potential juror says she realized she was considered for Trump trial when she walked into court
From CNN's Maureen Chowdhury
Kara McGee, a juror dismissed from the hush money criminal trial, told CNN Tuesday she wasn't sure if she was being considered for the case against Donald Trump until she walked into the courtroom and saw the former president.
"So yeah, it was when we walked into the courtroom and sawhim that it was — that I was sure, that it was definitely this case," McGee said. She said that Trump made eye contact with her, which she said was "odd."
McGee said that it was a fascinating experience because on the one hand, she was aware that "this is history in the making and whatever the outcome of this is, everything going forward will be affected by it" and at the same time she walked into the courtroom and saw Trump sitting there and realized, "Oh it's just a guy ... he's just a dude."
McGee said that she believes she was dismissed because of her answer to a question regarding additional things that may impact her ability to serve on the jury. McGee said she mentioned her work schedule conflicting with her being able to be in court from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for an extended period of time. She said she was dismissed right after that question, even though they did not specify why she was dismissed.
Trump team concerned about political makeup of Manhattan as it aims for a hung jury
From CNN's Kaanita Iyer
Donald Trump's legal team is frustrated after one juror was dismissed for having a pro-Trump bias, CNN's Kristen Holmes reported.
The former president's attorneys have been concerned about the political makeup of Manhattan and worried that they were not going to get anyone sympathetic to Trump, according to Holmes.
The defense team is not optimistic that it is going to win this case outright, Holmes says, but they are trying to get at least one sympathetic juror to try and aim for a hung jury.
Remember: A unanimous verdict is required for conviction.
Here's how Trump's first criminal trial will work
From CNN's Lauren del Valle,Jhasua RazoandGillian Roberts
Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial is expected to take six to eight weeks from start to finish.
This trial, related to ahush money paymentto adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, is the first offour ongoing criminal casesthat are expected to head to trial for the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee.
Read more about the stages of the case, and what they mean here.
