The proceedings kicked off on Monday as nearly 100 New Yorkers are narrowed down to 12 jurors and six alternatives for a trial expected to last six weeks or more.
The first seven jurors were solidified on Tuesday in the search for people who could fairly and impartially consider a trial related to Trump’s 2016 election.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records revolving around a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels toward the end of the 2016 cycle.
The payment was aimed at silencing Daniels’ allegations of a sexual encounter with Trump, then a presidential candidate, a decade prior. Trump, who denies the affair, paid Cohen back — and Trump’s company logged the reimbursement as legal expenses, which the Manhattan district attorney claims was unlawful, The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee report.
It’s a history-making trial, the first of Trump’s four criminal indictments to reach a jury. The jurors will be anonymous, but general descriptions are available. Read more from Schonfeld and Lee about the seven New Yorkers selected so far.
The trial is also kicking off roughly half a year before the 2024 election, as Trump campaigns for another term in the Oval Office.
Despite his ongoing legal woes, Trump sailed through the Republican primary process and has scored the number of delegates he needs to become his party nominee. Now, he’s set to face President Biden in the fall for a rematch of their 2020 showdown.
Democrats hope that the incumbent will get a boost as Trump gets stuck in the Manhattan courtroom, The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports —though Trump has consistently campaigned off his legal woes, using it as fuel to frame the cases against him as a “Witch Hunt.”
Trump’s campaign is planning to make use of virtual appearances and the weekends to keep attention on the 2024 bid even as he’s set to spend four days per week for several weeks in court, The Hill’s Brett Samuels reports.
The jury is likely to hear from high-profile witnesses, including top aides to Trump’s 2016 campaign and Trump Organization executives, as they try to decide whether to convict the former president as he campaigns to get back into the White House.
