According to a report from Newsweek, Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case involving former President Donald Trump, has ruled in favor of Trump’s legal team. This ruling grants them access to the private information of the jurors. The decision was made in response to concerns raised by some potential jurors regarding the leakage of their private information and the disclosure of their identities.
“Merchan sided with Trump’s attorneys on Thursday, agreeing that it was ‘necessary’ for counsel to know the current and previous employers of the potential jurors, but that those details did not need to be publicized by the press,” the report said.
The prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office have suggested that jurors avoid answering two specific questions, labeled as 3A and 3, which are considered to be the most revealing. These questions pertain to the juror’s current and previous employers.
On Thursday, Trump returned to the Manhattan Criminal Court to continue with the jury selection for the hush money case. Although seven jurors had already been chosen earlier in the week, one of them raised concerns about impartiality on Thursday. The juror mentioned that external influences from friends and family had impacted her ability to make an objective decision in the case.
After dismissing the juror, Merchan chided the media: “We just lost what would have been a very good juror for this case.”
Later, another “selected on Tuesday returned to the court to express ‘annoyance’ about the amount of information that had been put out there. He was also excused,” Newsweek reported.
Adam Klasfeld, a contributor for MSNBC, stated that Merchan addressed the media immediately after the removal of the juror. Merchan emphasized that revealing excessive personal details about the jurors goes against the intention of maintaining their anonymity, which is crucial for protecting them from external influences and ensuring their well-being.
“The press is certainly able and permitted to write about anything that’s on the record, because it’s on the record,” said Merchan. “But I’m directing that the press simply applies common sense.”
Merchan addresses the press:
He says revealing too many juror details “defeats the purpose” of anonymity.
“The press is certainly able and permitted to write about anything that’s on the record, because it’s on the record.”
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 18, 2024
At the end of the day, there were a total of 12 jurors and one alternate present in the courtroom. The court’s objective is to choose the remaining five alternates by Friday, in order to ensure that the scheduled opening remarks can take place on Monday. Throughout the week, Trump has been present at a Manhattan courthouse and has openly expressed his discontentment with the ongoing criminal case against him.
“I’m supposed to be in New Hampshire, I’m supposed to be in Georgia, I’m supposed to be in North Carolina, in South Carolina, I’m supposed to be a lot of places campaigning. But I’ve been here all day on a trial that really is a very unfair trial. These are all stories, this is from the last few days,” Trump declared while holding a stack of news articles slamming his trial.
In an endeavor to vindicate himself, Trump perused articles from the Wall Street Journal and National Review. He then turned to Fox News legal analysts for support.
“‘The whopping outrage in Trump’s indictment,’” he said, reading the headline from an article by Fox News’ Andrew McCarthy. He then cited two more Fox News analysts. “Jonathan Turley. Gregg Jarrett. Andrew McCarthy. Every one of them saying, they call it a zombie case, meaning it is no case. And they say it’s unconstitutional.”
Trump then went off about the temperature in the courtroom.
“And I’m sitting here for days now from morning until night in that freezing room,” he went on. “Everybody was freezing in there. And all for this. This is your result.”
WATCH:
??TRUMP: THE WORLD IS WATCHING THIS HUSH-MONEY TRIAL HOAX
“You’ve got an out-of-control DA, a highly conflicted judge, and the whole thing is a mess.”
I thought there was a gag order in place?
Source: @bennyjohnson Fox News https://t.co/nAEbkOoHMO pic.twitter.com/N9FOqFnLHT
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 18, 2024
