As the second day of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial continued, attorneys engaged in the selection of seven potential jurors.
When the first batch of jurors were brought in for Trump’s trial this week, all the lawyers had to access them. This included getting their names and the answers they gave in court to a set of screening questions.
After gathering the names and responses of the jurors, the lawyers went on to search social media for posts that might reveal whether people in the jury had hidden biases or extreme views.
However, one potential juror was dismissed by Judge Juan Merchan after Trump’s lawyers found a 2017 online post about Trump that said, “Lock him up!”
Trump’s lawyers rejected another potential juror after discovering she had posted a video of New Yorkers celebrating President Joe Biden’s election win.
According to the Daily Mail, Judge Merchan reportedly said that the quote about locking Trump up was not good, and he did not think he could let the juror remain in the trial.
“Everyone knows if Trump is found guilty in this case, there’s a potential jail sentence which would be lock up,” Merchan said.
By Thursday, the court had picked all 12 suitable jurors. This includes a jury foreman who works as a sales professional and is originally from Ireland.
The other chosen jurors include two lawyers, an English teacher, a software engineer and an oncology nurse. However, a local news outlet revealed eleven jurors still need to be sworn in before opening statements begin as early as next week.
The former president is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for his alleged role in a hush-money scheme before the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty, claiming the prosecution is part of a plot by Democrats aimed at preventing him from winning the upcoming election.
The case is reportedly the first of four criminal prosecutions against Trump to make it to trial.
The jurors are expected to weigh the charges against him and render a verdict.