Trial in New York: Jury pre-selection scrutinized by Donald Trump's lawyers

Pick Twelve Impartial Citizens to Judge Donald Trump: The long and delicate jury selection process entered a critical phase on Tuesday in the former US president's historic trial.

• Read more: Most of the first panel of jurors in Trump's trial say they were unable to convict him fairly

• Read more: Criminal Investigation Begins: New Permit for Trump?

• Read more: Trump condemns 'attack on America' on first day of historic criminal trial

In the afternoon, twelve jurors, the requisite number, were preselected after answering a lengthy questionnaire and revealing to the court entire areas of their lives: their occupations, their family circumstances, their sources of information and even their hobbies.

But the process is far from over: Todd Blanch, one of Donald Trump's lawyers, has begun to cook every juror to find impartial suspicion against his client, the first former president of the United States to appear in the criminal case. fee.

AFP

A litigant also has the right to challenge a specific figure without giving justification.

In the midst of a presidential campaign, 77-year-old Donald Trump must quietly attend this long and arduous process, while his rival, Joe Biden, is campaigning in his home state of Scranton, Pennsylvania. for the November election.

Suspicious payments

“This is a trial that should never have been (…) and we have an anti-Trump judge,” the former Republican president said of Judge Juan Mercant, who was ordered to appear Monday in a four-day-a-week trial.

“I've got to be campaigning in Pennsylvania and Florida, several states, North Carolina, Georgia,” Donald Trump said before taking his chair.

“This is all coming from the White House, from Biden who doesn't know how to put two sentences together,” said the man, who described his legal cases as “political harassment.”

Donald Trump has been indicted for paying former porn star Stormy Daniels, who defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton days before the 2016 election, to buy her silence.

Of the first group of 96 potential jurors admitted into the courtroom Monday afternoon, two-thirds were immediately excused, as the majority declared themselves unable to remain impartial.

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Others, anonymous civilians, are thrown overnight into the frenzy of this unprecedented raid. An oncology nurse, a bookseller, an accountant, a professor from Harlem who “doesn't like news or newspapers,” a “happy retiree,” and a grandmother of four have divided their lives to confront the former president.

“I'm not 100% sure I can be impartial,” said one potential juror before being challenged by the judge.

As potential jurors take their seats in the box, Donald Trump turns his head in their direction, seemingly sizing them up.

This crucial stage of the investigation could extend into next week or beyond.

Makeup of campaign accounts

More than three years after leaving the White House in turmoil, Donald Trump theoretically faces prison time. That won't stop him from running in the Nov. 5 presidential election, where he dreams of revenge against Joe Biden, but it will put the campaign ahead of him in the unknown.

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If he is found not guilty, it would be a huge victory for the Republican candidate.

Especially since he has postponed three other criminal investigations through appeals, two for fraudulent attempts to alter the results of the 2020 election and one for casual handling of classified documents.

Donald Trump has been accused of falsifying accounting documents for his company, the Trump Organization, which was intended to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels by his personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, under the guise of “legal fees.”

In return, the latter agreed to keep quiet about her sexual relationship with the billionaire in 2006. Donald Trump has always denied the relationship, and his security payments are private.

But attorney Alvin Bragg wants to prove that these are actually fraudulent ploys to withhold information from voters days before voting.

“No one can seriously deny that the reason he (Michael Cohen, editor's note) and Trump came up with this tactic was to rob voters of information that could change the outcome of a very close election,” Eason said, according to CNN's website.