Trump hush money trial: With court off today, Trump criticizes jury selection process

Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

MORE: Donald Trump is on trial in New York. Here’s what to know about the historic case

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

MORE: Who is Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing Trump’s New York criminal trial?

Jury selection could take up to two weeks, with the entire trial expected to last between six and eight weeks.

Latest Developments

Apr 17, 12:06 PM

Trump criticizes jury selection process

On his day off from his New York criminal trial, Donald Trump is complaining about the jury selection process on his social media platform.

The former president is claiming that in the process of picking the jury, he doesn’t have enough strikes — i.e., allowances to remove prospective jurors that his legal team objects to.

“I thought STRIKES were supposed to be ‘unlimited’ when we were picking our jury?” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country.”

Trump does get unlimited strikes to remove a juror for cause, which means for a specified reason — but both the defense and prosecutors have a limited number of preemptory challenges, which allow for the removal of a juror for any reason.

-Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Peter Charalambous

 Apr 17, 8:27 AM

Court is in recess today

Court is not in session today in former President Trump’s criminal hush money trial, as the trial schedule has a full-day recess every Wednesday.

Yesterday saw the first seven jurors in the case seated. Eleven more jurors — six of them alternates — remain to be chosen.

The selection of the first jurors was one of the four big takeaways from Day 2 of the trial Tuesday.

 Apr 16, 6:01 PM

Trump vows to continue fight against judge

Former President Donald Trump vowed to continue his effort to have the judge overseeing his case removed, as he exited the courtroom after a lengthy trial day.

“We are going to continue our fight against this judge,” Trump told reporters, acknowledging he is having a “hard time with the New York state system.”

Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s second recusal motion on Monday, and an appellate court denied his effort to have the case delayed over the recusal effort last week.

“We have a very conflicted, highly conflicted judge. He shouldn’t be on the case. He’s rushing this trail, and he’s doing as much as he can for the Democrats,” Trump said, without evidence, before his motorcade departed the courthouse.

 Apr 16, 5:50 PM

Day ends with 7 jurors selected, 11 more to go

After seating the seventh juror in the case, Judge Juan Merchan reiterated his hope that opening statements could commence Monday if the remaining jurors are selected by then.

Until then, “put the case out of your mind,” Merchan told the seventh juror. “Don’t think about it, don’t talk about it.”

The judge then concluded the proceedings for the day. Court will be in recess on Wednesday, and jury selection will resume Thursday with the fresh batch of 96 prospective jurors.

With seven jurors now seated, 11 more jurors — six of them alternates — remain to be chosen.

 Apr 16, 5:42 PM

Judge swears in 7th juror

Judge Juan Merchan has sworn in and seated a seventh juror, selecting the North Carolina-born civil litigator who now resides on the Upper East Side, after neither party challenged his selection.

Prosecutors used two preemptory strikes on the real estate developer and former police photographer, who had both made it to the final round of questioning.

Merchan excused them both before swearing in the seventh juror.

The trial’s first six jurors were sworn in and seated earlier Tuesday.

 Apr 16, 5:30 PM

First 6 jurors represent cross-section of New York

The first six jurors selected to serve in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial represent a diverse cross-section of New York City, according to their biographical information. Here’s a brief sketch of each juror, whose identities are being kept private for security reasons.

Juror No. 1 is a middle-aged salesman who immigrated to the United States from Ireland. He lives in West Harlem and said he normally gets his news from the New York Times, Daily Mail, Fox News and MSNBC. In his spare time, he said he enjoys doing “anything outdoorsy.”

Juror No. 2 works as an oncology nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering. She lives with her fiancé and enjoys taking her dog for walks in the park. She said she gets her news from The New York Times, CNN, Google, and Facebook.

Juror 3 is a corporate attorney who moved to New York from Oregon five years ago. He has worked at two major white-shoe law firms in New York. He said he normally gets his news from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Google. In his spare time, he said he enjoys hiking and running.

Juror No. 4 said he finds the former president to be “fascinating and mysterious.” Originally from Puerto Rico, he has lived in the Lower East Side for the last 40 years. He is a self-employed IT consultant who attended one year of college and has been “married for a long time.” He normally gets his news from the Daily News, The New York Times, Google.

Juror No. 5 was the only potential juror who raised her hand when lawyers asked if they had ever heard of Trump’s other criminal cases. A life-long New Yorker, she currently works as an ELA teacher in a charter school and lives in Harlem. She normally gets her news from Google and TikTok but said that she “doesn’t really care for the news.”

Juror No. 6 is a software engineer who works for the Walt Disney Company, which is the parent company of ABC News. She grew up in New York City and lives in Chelsea with three roommates. She said she gets her news from The New York Times and TikTok. In her spare time, she said she enjoys plays, restaurants, dancing, and watching TV.

 Apr 16, 5:23 PM

3 prospective jurors remain from original 96

Three prospective jurors now remain from the first group of 96, and they’re facing questions from Trump attorney Todd Blanche after fielding questions from prosecutor Susan Hoffinger regarding their jury questionnaire.

The three are a civil litigator, a real estate developer, and a retired New York Police Department photographer.

Asked what he thought about Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal,” which he previously stated that he had read, the real estate developer said, “I felt it was entertaining.” He added that, as a developer, he was “an admirer from afar of some of the work” Trump has done, but he has no opinion on “how he conducts himself.”

The civil litigator claimed to know “virtually nothing” about criminal law.

Trump, watching from the defense table, leaned back in his chair slightly and alternated looking ahead and in the direction of the prospective jurors as they read aloud their answers from the questionnaire.

 Apr 16, 5:10 PM

Handful of jury prospects remain from initial group of 96

Four of the six remaining prospective jurors from the initial batch of 96 have ticked through their jury questionnaire, after which two were excused, leaving two still in the running to be selected.

A fifth prospect, a retired New York Police Department photographer, was going through his questionnaire.

A prospective juror who is a real estate developer advanced to the next round. He said he read “The Art of the Deal” a “long time ago” and alerted the court to tangential relationships with the former president.

“There are people that I know that know the president,” he said. “It wouldn’t in any way influence my thinking … but I just wanted to state for the record that that’s out there.”

Among prospective jurors who were excused in the latest round was a North Carolina-born civil litigator and a doctor who asked to be excused to care for her patients. A history teacher at an all-girls’ school was excused after she said her opinions about Trump might interfere with her ability to serve impartially.

 Apr 16, 4:23 PM

Judge swears in 2nd group of 96 prospective jurors

With six seats filled on the jury that will determine the outcome of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial, a new group of 96 New Yorkers was ushered into the courtroom and sworn in as prospective jurors.

Many of them craned their necks to get a look at the defendant.

“Ma’am, ma’am, put your cellphone away,” a court security officer told one woman who tried to pull out her phone after spotting Trump.

One man and woman were seen whispering feverishly to one another.

After members of the group were sworn in, Judge Merchan told them he was sending them home for the day.

“I know that you’ve been sitting around all day, waiting for something to happen, and I want you to know that that wasn’t lost on us,” Merchan said, telling them the proceedings would start right away when they return Thursday morning following Wednesday’s day off.

Before the new panel was brought in, the judge asked Trump’s defense team to confirm that the social media posts it’s been digging up are all are public. Trump attorney Todd Blanche confirmed they were.

 Apr 16, 4:01 PM

Judge suggests arguments could begin early next week

After selecting and swearing in the first six jurors, Judge Juan Merchan asked them to return on Monday unless they hear otherwise from the court — suggesting that opening statements could happen as soon as early next week.

The judge, however, cautioned that seating the remaining jurors may not happen by then.

“We don’t know exactly how long that will last,” Merchan said.

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Trump hush money trial: With court off today, Trump criticizes jury selection process