Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial got underway Monday with opening arguments and the first witness testimony in a Manhattan courtroom. Prosecutors said that shortly before the 2016 election Trump ordered “hush money” payments to a porn star who claimed she had an affair with him years earlier, then tried to cover up the payments by falsifying business records. As he arrived at the trial, which Politico described as “indisputably historic,” Trump said the case was “election interference” intended to derail his 2024 bid to win back the White House from President Joe Biden.
Jury selection got off to a bumpy start last week, as dozens in the first batch of 96 potential jurors were weeded out after saying they couldn’t be fair to the twice-impeached former president. One seated juror was replaced over old anti-Trump social media posts. Judge Juan Merchan admonished Trump for making audible comments about a prospective juror, warning that he would not have “jurors intimidated in this courtroom.” By the end of the week, though, Merchan declared, “We have our jury,” and swore in 12 jurors and six alternates who vowed to be “fair and impartial.”
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Jurors set aside their prejudices all the time
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