Donald Trump returned to a New York courtroom Tuesday as a judge works to find a panel of jurors who will decide whether the former president is guilty of criminal charges alleging he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 campaign.
Quick Read
- Trump’s Court Appearance in New York: Donald Trump returned to a New York courtroom as jury selection continued for his trial involving charges of falsifying business records related to a 2016 sex scandal cover-up.
- Challenges in Jury Selection: The process to select a jury panel of 12 members and six alternates has proven difficult, with many potential jurors excused for bias, and the questioning of many others still pending.
- First of Multiple Criminal Cases: This trial is the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to proceed and could influence the November presidential election, where Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
- Allegations and Trump’s Defense: Trump faces 34 felony counts for allegedly hiding payments made to silence porn actor Stormy Daniels about a supposed sexual encounter. He has denied the encounter and claims the payments were not campaign-related.
- Potential Consequences: If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison, although imprisonment is not certain. His ongoing cases involving election interference and classified documents are unlikely to conclude before the election.
- Political Implications: Trump has criticized the trial as politically motivated, aimed at preventing his reelection, and hinted at possible interventions if he returns to power, including dismissing federal cases or self-pardoning.
- Jury Selection Delays: The selection process in Trump’s native New York City, a predominantly Democratic area, could extend for days or weeks, complicating the trial’s timeline.
The Associated Press has the story:
Trump returns to court after 1st day of his hush money criminal trial ended with no jurors picked
Newslooks- NEW YORK (AP) —
Donald Trump returned to a New York courtroom Tuesday as a judge works to find a panel of jurors who will decide whether the former president is guilty of criminal charges alleging he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 campaign.
The first day of Trump’s history-making hush money trial in Manhattan ended Monday with no one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. Dozens of people were dismissed after saying they didn’t believe they could be fair, though dozens of other prospective jurors have yet to be questioned. Trump arrived at the courthouse just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, giving a quick wave to reporters as he headed inside.
It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial and may be the only one that could reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether the presumptive Republican presidential nominee should return to the White House. It puts Trump’s legal problems at the center of the closely contested race against President Joe Biden, with Trump painting himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system working to deprive him of another term.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.
Before entering the courtroom, Trump stopped briefly to address a TV camera in the hallway, repeating his claim that the judge is biased against him and the case is politically motivated.
“This is a trial that should have never been brought,” Trump said. After he went inside, reporters saw him wink at one of the court officers and mouth, “How are you?” while he walked down the aisle. Trump then took his seat at the defense table with his attorneys.
The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the sexual encounter ever happened.
Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees. Prosecutors have described it as part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.
Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen for the payment and that it was designed to stop Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter. But Trump has previously said it had nothing to do with the campaign.
If convicted of falsifying business records, Trump faces up to four years in prison, though there’s no guarantee he will get time behind bars.
Trump’s cases involving allegations of election interference and hoarding classified documents could lead to lengthy prison sentences, but those cases are tied up with appeals or other issues that make it increasingly unlikely they will be decided before the election.
And if Trump wins in November, he could presumably order a new attorney general to dismiss his federal cases, or he potentially could seek a pardon for himself.
Jury selection could take several more days — or even weeks — in the heavily Democratic city where Trump grew up and catapulted to celebrity status decades before winning the White House.
Only about a third of the 96 people in the first panel of potential jurors brought into the courtroom on Monday remained after the judge excused some members. More than half of the group was excused after telling the judge they could not be fair and impartial, and several others were dismissed for other reasons that were not disclosed.
Another group of more than 100 potential jurors sent to the courthouse Monday has not yet been brought into the courtroom for questioning.
