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In this courtroom sketch, former President Donald Trump, bottom left, sits in court during the second day of jury selection in his criminal hush money trial in Manhattan criminal court in New York on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (Christine Cornell via AP, Pool)
The second day of jury selection in Donald Trump’s New York City criminal trial offered both productivity and drama as many of the peers who will sit in judgment on the former president came into focus — some apparently to the defendant’s audible chagrin, leading to a concomitant courtroom upbraiding from the incensed judge.
As Law&Crime previously reported, New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan aims to keep a tight grip on the proceedings. While the first day of jury selection went slowly with housekeeping and scheduling issues, the pace substantially quickened on day two.
By the end of the day on Tuesday, seven jurors had been chosen, along with the foreperson, in the first of four criminal prosecutions the 45th president is likely to face in the coming weeks and months.
Before court proceedings ended for the day, however, a minor kerfuffle over one of the juror’s Facebook posts led to a stern warning directed at the defense table.
The defense raised issues about the juror’s posts about the 2020 election, reportedly referring to them as “extremely hostile” and seeking to dismiss the juror for cause, according to a report by Courthouse News reporter Erik Uebelacker.
“It’s clear from the video that it’s a celebration of the results of the election,” Trump’s lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, told the court.
The female juror, for her part, defended the video she posted of the celebration as civic-oriented and ultimately innocuous, according to a report by New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane-Newman.
“[I]t reminded me of the 7 o’clock cheer for the health care workers,” the juror said — recalling a tradition in the five boroughs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — saying she happened upon the street party while moving her car one day on the Upper West Side.
The juror went on to say she understood the importance of impartiality if selected to be a juror; Merchan said he found the juror’s explanation credible and denied the defense’s for-cause challenge.
Trump, for his part, appeared not to like what he saw — at all.
The former president provided auditory and visual displeasure over the juror’s discussion about the “dance party on 96th Street” video she posted in response to the 2020 presidential election results, according to a report by Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld.
Just after the woman left the room, Merchan reportedly gave the defense a terse and angry lecture on etiquette and decorum.
“Mr. Blanche, while the juror was at the podium about 12 feet from your client, your client was audibly muttering something,” the judge said. “I don’t know exactly what he was uttering. It was audible and he was gesturing and it was in the direction of the juror. I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear. Take a minute to speak with your client.”
Other Manhattanites were dismissed or allowed to stay as the day progressed. Gone was a man who insisted that neither janitors nor presidents were above the law — but who also reposted an AI-generated video of Trump saying: “I’m dumb as f–––.” Kept was a woman who said she had “big disagreements” with Trump politically. Gone was a would-be juror who posted: “Get him out and lock him up” in reference to Trump. Kept was a woman whose husband had posted some anti-Trump sentiments over eight years ago.
As late afternoon turned into early evening at 100 Centre Street in downtown Manhattan, the process continued. The defense had used at least six peremptory challenges while the state had used four — but none were used on the juror whose posts had prompted the real estate magnate’s theatrics. When the Upper West Side woman whose Facebook party video had so perturbed the defendant later returned, she was empaneled, along with six others.
Merchan reportedly swore Trump’s first seven jurors in with a warning not to tell anyone they were chosen to serve in the trial. An additional 11 jurors, including six alternates, remain to be selected.
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