Trump warned, social media found: Day 2 hush money trial findings

In the historic hush money trial of Donald Trump, seven jurors were seated on Tuesday. The trial is being held in the United States. This event marked the beginning of the very first criminal prosecution of a former president in the history of the United States of America. Within the next few days, there is a likelihood that opening arguments will be presented.

During the hearings that took place on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan issued a warning to the individual who has the potential to become the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president. The magistrate made the observation that there is a possibility that the jurors could be intimidated. In addition, a significant number of potential jurors were confronted with statements that were made on social media platforms. These statements, according to the attorney for Trump, demonstrated bias toward the defendant who was a former reality TV star.

Donald Trump has been charged with a total of thirty-four felony counts for allegedly falsifying company documents in order to conceal a hush money payment of six figures that was made to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the election in 2016. The allegations date back to the time that Trump was running for president in 2016. Alvin Bragg, who serves as the District Attorney for Manhattan, is the individual who came forth with these claims against Donald Trump.

At the same time that Daniels has asserted that they engaged in sexual activity in 2006, not long after the birth of Trump’s youngest kid, Trump has stated that he is not guilty of the allegations that have been made against him. Daniels has come forward to claim that they engaged in sexual activity.
According to statements made by the former president to media outside of the courthouse on Tuesday afternoon, Merchan is “rushing this trial.” There are allegations that Merchan has hurried the proceedings. These kinds of assertions were made by other people. “And he’s doing as much as he can for the Democrats.”

The trial that will take place in Manhattan, which will involve Trump, his felonious former fixer, and Daniels, is expected to start in earnest in the coming days, according to those who are keeping an eye on the activities that involve the court. When the current circumstances are taken into consideration, there will be an additional five jurors and six alternates seated in the following days.
Please keep in mind the five main points that are listed below:

Donald Trump will have a jury in days, not weeks

It was estimated that it would take several weeks to seat twelve impartial Manhattanites who were willing to weigh the case of the district attorney against the most contentious person in the United States. However, after two days of hearings, seven jurors had already been selected. This was in contrast to the initial projections, which stated that it would take these weeks.

John Moscow, who had previously served as a top prosecutor in the office of the District Attorney, had the following to say about the community: “There are a lot of people out here in this town.” You have access to the jury at this time.

On Monday, more than half of the first 96 possible jurors were asked to resign from their posts. The majority of them indicated that they were unable to remain impartial during the trial of the former president, which led to the majority of them being asked to resign. By the time Tuesday arrived, the attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense had begun conducting interviews with prospective jurors, one by one, to inquire about their feelings on Trump.

“This historic prosecution of a man who held the highest office in the country is so monumental,” said Ron Kuby, a veteran defense attorney, in an interview with USA TODAY. “It’s so monumental.” On the other hand, when it comes to the actual proceedings that take place in the courtroom, everything is absolutely mundane and monotonous. The elimination of those individuals was the catalyst for a rapid acceleration of the process.

Among the seven jurors who were seated on Tuesday, one of them was a man who is originally from Ireland, who enjoys doing “anything outdoorsy,” and who follows both MSNBC and Fox News. Others on his jury included a woman who works as an oncology nurse and enjoys taking her dog to the park. Another juror was a corporate lawyer who indicated that he does not usually follow the news. Both of these individuals were members of his jury.

Defense confronts possible jurors with anti-Trump social media posts

The defense team dug through the social media histories of some possible jurors in an effort to uncover any indications of bias against the boisterous former president. The results were mixed for Trump, who was the subject of the investigation.

Following her admission that she had witnessed the street party that was taking place outside of her residence, Judge Merchan allowed a lady who was related to a video of anti-Trump celebrations to continue to be considered for the jury. However, she insisted that she was capable of being neutral and fair.

The footage was described by Susan Necheles, a lawyer for Trump, as “clearly an anti-Trump event that she’s out celebrating and partying at.” Despite the fact that the video was not presented to the reporters, Merchan acknowledged that there was an anti-Trump event of some kind. However, he stated that it was unclear whether or not the possible juror was present.

Some individuals did not make the cut.
The potential juror who submitted a parody film that was made by artificial intelligence and featured Trump and was titled “I’m dumb as f—” was disqualified by Merchan.

Another person posted the phrase “Get him out and lock him up” amid a court dispute on Trump’s ban on Muslims from a number of countries entering the United States while he was in an office of power.

At the moment that the potential juror was presented with his incriminating statements, Trump gave the potential juror a noticeably smug grin.

“I don’t think that I can allow this juror to remain,” Merchan responded to reporters.
Due to the fact that the defense was able to obtain a post that was made by her husband eight years ago, a different potential juror was permitted to continue to be considered.

In an interview with USA TODAY, Moscow provided the following statement: “The question is, could one be fair and impartial in weighing whether he committed these crimes?” “It is not the question of whether or not they dislike him.”

Judge Merchan calls out potential intimidation by Trump 

The tolerance of the judges in recent legal trials, in which Trump was accused of defamation and corporate fraud, has been put to the strain by his outbursts in the courtroom and his attacks on witnesses.

Merchan issued a warning to the former president on Monday, advising him to avoid any direct interactions with the pool of potential jurors. The judge informed both sides that Trump had been openly grumbling and gesturing during the questioning of a prospective juror on a social media post. This occurred after the prospective jurors had left the courtroom.

It was Merchan who stated, “I will not tolerate that.” “I will not have any jurors intimidated in the courtroom.”He instructed the defense attorney, Todd Blanche, to have a conversation with his client.
Kuby stated that Merchan “is being proactive,” referring to the fact that the judge had also conducted a tax fraud trial in 2022. This trial resulted in the imprisonment of Allen Weisselberg, who had previously served as the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and included a fine of $1.6 million against Trump’s organization.

In contrast to the behavior of federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the defamation case, according to Kuby, who described him as “abusive and yelled at everybody,” and Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the real estate fraud trial, “wanted to be everybody’s friend,” Merchan “is different.” It is with a calm and unwavering sense of dignity that he manages his courtroom.

Trump: Payments to Cohen were legal expenses

Before entering the courthouse on Monday morning, President Trump made a statement to reporters in which he stated that his payments to his former attorney Michael Cohen, which prosecutors and Cohen claim were reimbursements for hush money to Stormy Daniels, were appropriately labeled as “legal expenses” on his company’s records. Because of his involvement in the payments, Cohen was found guilty of violating campaign finance laws in a federal court by the judge.

Trump stated, “I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense – some accountant, I didn’t know – marked it down as a legal expense.” Trump may have been referring to an accountant. Indeed, that is precisely what it was. Are you going to be charged with a crime for that?

Trump makes a bodega campaign stop

In the aftermath of the hush money trial, President Trump made his first campaign tour of the trial after leaving the courtroom in lower Manhattan. He went to a bodega in Harlem, which is the place where a clerk was initially charged with murder for the death of an armed robber two years ago. He went there to confront it.

Following his statement that “It’s a rigged trial,” Donald Trump responded by saying, “There’s no crime.” Have you been able to identify the location where the criminal action took place? It was in the bodegas that I was.

“We are going to make a heavy play for New York,” Trump declared, despite the fact that Republican candidates have not been successful in winning the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. “We are going to make a heavy play for New York.”

There is a meal scheduled to take place in New York City on Wednesday between President Trump and Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland.