Donald Trump’s campaign has furiously denied rumours that the former president fell asleep during the first day of his historic criminal trial in New York.
At various points during proceedings on Monday, Mr Trump, who is making history once again as the first American president to ever stand trial on criminal charges, appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open, earning the nicknames “Sleepy Don” and “Don Snoreleone” – the latter a reference to the mafia kingpin Don Vito Corleone from the Godfather series.
The Republican has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a bid to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election in order to silence her about an alleged affair in 2006.
The charges on their own are misdemeanours but have been elevated to felonies because Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg says they violated state and federal election laws.
Mr Trump denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty.
Jury selection in the trial continues today, with more than 50 people excused so far after admitting they could not be fair or impartial to the defendant.
Court breaks for lunch
Prospective jurors have been excused for their lunch break.
Judge Merchan tells Blanche he wants them to be done by 2.15pm after lunch. There are six jurors from the first panel yet to enter the box and he is keen to start on the second panel of jurors before the court adjourns today.
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 18:09
Trump is attentively watching the jury box. Head held up high, craning to watch as the mic is passed down the line of potential jurors.
Blanche is now asking jurors if the introduction of Trump allies like Hope Hicks and other Trump-era officials as witnesses would make them think twice about being fair and impartial. They all shake their head no.
He also asked if jurors are affected by the other criminal cases against him. They said they don’t know much about them or don’t have an opinion about them, or acknowledged that they’re separate cases that aren’t in the same courts.
“He speaks his mind. That’s something that stirs the pot,” the TikTok grandmother said. “You can’t judge him because he speaks his mind.”
Jurors are now stepping out so the attorneys can go over their notes and make some decisions about who they want to keep.
Alex Woodward16 April 2024 17:52
Jurors are all largely in agreement: they can put their thoughts about Trump aside to focus on the facts of the case.
B38: “I look at the person sitting there as an individual.”
B158, an attorney: “I agree with the others about separating politics in here.”
The guy with a dog who became a citizen in 2017: “Policy of course I disagree with some things, agree with others. … The media or opinions of my Facebook friends or whatever are inconsequential … Feelings are not facts. I’m very grateful to be an American, and that happened the first year he was president.”
Asked for his thoughts on Trump, juror B89 said “I find him fascinating.”
“He walks into a room and he sets people off. I find that really interesting,” he said. “Certainly he makes things interesting.”
Blanche doesn’t really know what to do with that, and as people in court laugh, says: “Um, alright, thank you.”
Alex Woodward16 April 2024 17:38
Juror B14 is “not really into politics, I work in sports.”
But “I’m a female … I know there’s been cases, or maybe not cases, about how he doesn’t treat females correctly, stuff like that,” she said. “I honestly don’t know the story.”
Blanche is trying to press juror B113 – the bookseller – about his opinions of Trump. Yesterday he said that “nobody is above the law, whether it’s a former president, a sitting president, or a janitor.”
“What I think about President Trump outside of this room has nothing to do with what’s going on inside this room,” he said.
Blanche tries again to get some more out of that.
“That’s what I’m saying. My view doesn’t matter. If we were sitting in a bar, I would tell you. But in this room, what I feel about President Trump is not important,” he added.
“I’ll say I’m a Democrat. There you go,” he said. “I walk in here, and he’s a defendant, that’s all he is.”
Blanche moves on to another juror.
Alex Woodward16 April 2024 17:33
Court resumes after quick recess
Alex Woodward reports from the court:
Court resumed after a short recess with Trump lawyer Todd Blanche now addressing the potential jurors.
“It’s easy to read something off a sheet of paper and say yes I’m going to be fair and impartial. What I want to do is test that a little bit,” he said.
“We all know that every one of you knows President Trump, and you all know him in different ways, and you all have different views of him.”
Blanche asks juror B280 for her opinion.
“I don’t really have one,” she said. “Nobody is above the law. I’m here to hear the facts, both sides.”
She said she thought she was “going home yesterday and back to work,” but is now in the jury box. “I’m here to listen to the facts,” she said.
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 17:24
Steinglass says: “This case isn’t about whether you like Donald Trump, it’s about the rule of law.”
He continues by saying that he doesn’t expect jurors not to have heard about the case or have discussed it with friends but does expect an open mind.
Jurors will have access to evidence and testimony that the media has not seen and will be instructed on how this sits alongside the law.
Trump watched the jurors and craned his neck to see who was talking in the jury box.
The court breaks for a ten-minute recess.
Judge Merchan discusses Trump’s right and previous desire to be present at sidebars. The former president has apparently changed his mind since yesterday, and will now waive his right to be present for them.
“Your attorneys indicated to me that you changed your mind,” Judge Merchan said.
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 17:15
Watch: Dismissed Trump juror reveals why she could not take part in trial
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 17:05
Prosecution addresses jurors who passed questionnaire
Alex Woodward reports for The Independent from the courthouse:
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass is up first to speak with the jurors.
“I’m sure many of you are saying to yourself, How am I being considered for this case?” Steinglass said.
He said they’re not trying to “pry into your lives,” only to “pick a jury that will be fair to both sides.”
“Let’s start with the obvious. The defendant in this case is a former president and a current candidate for that office. We don’t expect you to be living under a rock for the last eight years or last 30 years,” he said.
This case has nothing to do with personal politics and is not a referendum, he said.
“This case is about whether this man broke the law. Did he falsify business records to cover up an agreement to unlawfully influence the 2016 election,” he added.
There were no immediate objections when asked to follow the judge’s instructions and promise to focus on the evidence.
Juror B146, the bookseller who answered the questionnaire on Monday, said: “Because of the particulars of this case, it really doesn’t have anything to do with my political inclinations.”
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 16:53
Hush money trial: Only one-third of Americans say they think Donald Trump acted illegally
He has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly denied that the affair ever happened.
On top of this, if a jury found Mr Trump guilty in the hush money case, 50 per cent of Americans would not consider him fit for office, the AP-NORC poll showed.
Oliver O’Connell16 April 2024 16:40
The next potential juror is a school teacher and former juvenile case worker who likes photography, theatre and travelling. She mentioned that she is “not gonna sit here and pretend” that Trump created a “divide” in his country during his candidacy but promised to be impartial. She also asked if it was OK if she came across news about the case while scrolling on social media. Merchan says she can’t do anything about that.
The next juror is a native New Yorker who lives in Chelsea and works as a software engineer for the Walt Disney Company.
Moving on, the next prospective juror has lived in New York for 25 years and lives on the Upper East Side. She runs a healthcare consulting company with her husband.
On these questions regarding being impartial and whether she had strong opinions about Trump, she hesitated, sighed, and said “I’m not sure that I can say beyond a reasonable doubt … but I’m not 100 per cent that I can be fair.”
Finally, a married school teacher who lives on the Upper West Side is the next juror. Her brother was once shot by a stray bullet in his leg and her catalytic converter was stolen from her car.
Lawyers will now address the jurors who remain in the box.
Alex Woodward16 April 2024 16:30
