The jury selection process for former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial in New York City has not been going quickly nor smoothly — and things took another turn Thursday morning. After struggling to find jurors in the pool who said they could consider the case fairly and impartially, at least one individual who had been impaneled to the jury has now been excused by the judge.
A female juror, “Juror #2,” who works as an oncology nurse and had biographical details — including her occupation and other information from her responses to the juror questionnaire and its 42 multi-part questions — made public told the judge that she had “friends, colleagues, and family push things to my phone questioning my identity as a juror.” Contrary to claims that Trump and his allies are trying to intimidate jurors, mainstream media outlets hostile to Trump reported details about jurors’ identities — apparently enough details to allow at least one juror to have her presence on the panel suspected.
As a result, Judge Juan Merchan excused Juror #2, meaning there are just now just six impaneled jurors and 12 more must still be settled.
Adding to the confusion surrounding jury selection, Juror #2 might not be the only one who was added to the jury only to be subsequently excused.
Juror #4, a man who runs an IT business and said while answering the questionnaire that he finds Trump “fascinating,” was asked to see Judge Merchan at 9:15 a.m. ET on Thursday after prosecutors said they have reason to believe he may not have answered the selection questions accurately. The D.A.’s office reportedly found records matching the juror’s name that called the veracity of his statements into question, but Juror #4 did not show up to see the judge as requested.
Of the original 200 individuals called on Monday to begin the jury selection process, a fresh 96 are being run through the gamut in court on Thursday in attempts to seat a full 18-member panel of jurors and alternates.
