The first seven jurors for the New York hush money trial of Donald Trump were seated Tuesday as Judge Juan Merchan said he expects opening statements to begin Monday morning.
Five more jurors and another six alternates remain to be picked. But the jury selection is proceeding at a faster pace than what was expected by many legal experts, who said it could take up to two weeks.
Those selected — a salesman, an oncology nurse, an attorney, an IT consultant, a teacher, a software engineer and a civil litigator — will sit for what is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
After the trial adjourned Tuesday evening, Trump complained outside the courtroom that Merchan is “rushing this trial.”
The charges against Trump relate to an alleged scheme to conceal the nature of a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. His then-lawyer made that payment to prevent Daniels from disclosing her alleged sexual tryst with Trump years earlier.
Before the first group of jurors was selected Tuesday afternoon, Merchan warned Trump against intimidating the jury after he was heard talking toward a prospective juror.
“I will not tolerate that,” the judge said after that would-be juror left the courtroom. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make this crystal clear.”
Merchan told Trump’s lawyers, “While the juror was about 12 feet from your client, your client was audibly saying something in her direction.”
“He was gesturing,” the judge said.
“Take a moment to talk with your client,” Merchan told the defense team.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche then whispered something to Trump, and the former president made a gesture indicating he understood what was said.
Trump’s remarks in the juror’s direction were not intelligible to NBC News reporters in the courtroom.
The judge said Trump was “muttering.”
Merchan’s warning came after the prospective juror was questioned about a social media post flagged by Trump’s lawyer, who claimed it showed her participating in a celebration of the 2020 election results.
Asked about the post, the woman juror said she was celebrating health-care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. She insisted that she was capable of being impartial.
Merchan said he found her credible, apparently allowing her to remain in the jury selection process for now.
The would-be juror, who was identified in court only by a number, was one of 18 people who were being questioned by prosecutors and defense attorneys Tuesday as part of the jury selection process known as voir dire.
On Monday, more than 50 would-be jurors were promptly excused because of self-professed bias against Trump. That was more than half the first panel of 96 prospective jurors who were brought in to the courtroom that day.
More potential jurors were dismissed Tuesday morning after saying they could not be fair in judging the former president.
