The jury selection for former President Donald Trump's historic trial for “secret money” in New York was stagnant on its first day, after more than half of the 96 candidates to provide justice were excused by admitting that they could not be impartial in the case.
According to Axios, more than half of the candidates in the first group claimed that they could not hear the case fairly and were immediately dismissed by Judge Juan Merchán.
According to the report, although it is the first day of selection, the refusal to accept all the candidates interviewed today highlights the fact that it will be quite complex to select an impartial jury in a strongly Democratic state like New York.
"The rapid disqualification of at least 50 possible jurors underscores the difficult reality of finding a dozen New Yorkers to form the jury in one of the most high-profile cases in U.S. history," reads Axios.
Reporters outside the courthouse reported that at least nine additional jurors were excused after saying they could not serve in the case for various other reasons. This leaves about 34 of the remaining 96 candidates from the first group to be interviewed tomorrow, starting at 9:30 AM.
Of the roughly 50 candidates who said they could not be impartial in the case, at least a couple dozen were white women, another was a Hispanic woman and four were women of Asian descent.
Likewise, fourteen of the candidates who were excused for the same reasons were white men and another dismissed was a man of Asian descent.
Axios also reported that the remaining candidates in the first group will complete a questionnaire tomorrow. The questionnaire will ask them about “their media consumption habits, where they live, whether they or a relative or close friend has ever volunteered for the Trump campaign, and other questions.”
Legal experts had already anticipated that jury selection would be a complicated process.
In addition to the rejection of, for the moment, all candidates for jury duty, the first day of the trial already left several key moments.
One of them was Trump's complaint that Judge Merchán will not let him attend his son Barron's graduation, which will take place next month, due to the trial itinerary.
Another pivotal moment of the day was when prosecutors asked the judge to present some of the evidence related to the famous 2016 video in which former President Trump allegedly boasted that he could grab women by their private parts.
Although Merchán had already denied the presentation of the video at another time, prosecutors asked to include some emails from the Trump campaign in response to an article where the campaign itself indicated that the president's words were compelling evidence, a request that was accepted by Judge Merchán, who at the same time denied the inclusion of other controversial evidence.
