A nurse, a teacher, a grandfather: These are the New Yorkers who hold Trump’s fate in their hands

A nurse, a teacher, two lawyers, a salesman and a grandfather are among some of the first jurors tasked with hearing the first-ever criminal trial against a president.

A pivotal process is now under way in Manhattan to select the group of jurors in the so-called hush money case against Donald Trump, as he faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal payments to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

During the first two days of the historic trial in a New York City courtroom, the former president snapped awake from the defence table and craned his neck to get a good view of the jury box and the pool of New Yorkers who could ultimately convict him of a crime.

Mr Trump has repeatedly tried, and failed, to move the case out of Manhattan, where he baselessly smeared the borough as hopelessly biased against him. And so now, he is hearing firsthand from a group of Manhattan residents who have pledged that they will be fair and impartial in hearing the case against him.

First, Manhattan residents who received notices to appear in court for jury duty that day were asked whether they can be fair and impartial, or if they have urgent obligations that would prevent them from attending court for four days a week for up to two months.

From that group, jurors were randomly selected to read their answers to a 42-question survey, covering their families and relationships, jobs, news diet, and whether they’ve ever interacted with Mr Trump’s campaign or worked for his business.

Lawyers for Mr Trump and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office then were allowed to ask those potential jurors other questions before making their requests to “strike” or remove any of them from the pool. Defence attorneys and prosecutors each have 10 chances to strike potential jurors from the panel.

By the end of the second day of jury selection on 17 April, seven New Yorkers had been selected to decide the former president’s fate.

The jury will ultimately be comprised of 18 people – 12 who will sit in the jury box during the trial, as well as six alternates.

The jury so far includes three women and four men.

A courtroom sketch depicts Donald Trump watching his attorney Todd Blanche during jury selection in a Manhattan criminal courtroom on 17 April. (REUTERS)

The jurors have been anonymised, and their identities are protected. They are not photographed, and they are off limits to courtroom sketch artists. During jury selection, the courtroom is limited to only a handful of pool reporters. Jurors are also not displayed on the screens in a connected courtroom where other reporters are seated to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit livestream.

Here is what we know about the panel of jurors so far selected in this historic case:

Juror 1

A married Irish salesman and a former waiter who lives in Harlem. He likes “outdoorsy” activities and gets his news from The New York Times, The Daily Mail, Fox News, and MSNBC. Asked whether he is familiar with the cases against the former president, he said he has heard of “some” of them.

Juror number one is also the jury foreperson, who will likely be tasked with delivering notes to the judge, or speaking on behalf of the jurors. He will also likely deliver the verdict against the former president, if one is reached.

Juror 2

A native New Yorker and an oncology nurse who lives with her fiance in the Upper East Side. She enjoys spending time with family and friends and taking her dog to the park and gets her news from The New York Times, CNN, and Google. On Tuesday, she said that “nobody is above the law”.

“I’m here to hear the facts, both sides,” she said.

Juror 3

A corporate lawyer from Oregon who said he gets his news from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Google, then later said he was embarrassed to admit that he doesn’t follow the news closely. He said he was “not super familiar” with the other charges against the former president.

Juror 4

An IT consultant from Puerto Rico who has lived in New York City for 40 years. He has been married a “long time” and has two grandchildren. He joked that he has “no spare time” and his family is his hobby.

“I find him fascinating,” he said of Mr Trump on Tuesday. “He walks into a room and he sets people off. I find that really interesting. … Certainly he makes things interesting.”

Juror 5

A lifelong New Yorker and a schoolteacher who gets her news from Google and TikTok but otherwise “doesn’t really care for the news”. She said she appreciates that Mr Trump “speaks his mind” but admitted that she didn’t know anything about his criminal cases.

Juror 6

A software engineer for the Walt Disney Company who lives with three roommates in Chelsea. “Trump and I probably have different beliefs but that doesn’t invalidate who he is as a person,” she said on Tuesday. “I think I can look at this as a person on trial, as any other American citizen.”

Juror 7

A married lawyer with two children who works in civil matters. He spends time outdoors, and listens to the Smartless podcast and the beloved but now off-air radio show Car Talk. He also listens to WNYC radio. “I have political views” about Mr Trump and his presidency, but “I don’t know the man,” he said on Tuesday.

“I don’t have any particular opinions about him personally,” he said.

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