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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...

A juror who was excused from serving on the Manhattan trial of former President Donald Trump provided details about the questions potential jurors were asked.Kara McGee told media outlets outside the courtroom on Tuesday that she was dismissed but said she believes she could be impartial, adding still that it would be “very difficult for anyone really in this country to not come to this without prior opinions.”“We all have prior opinions on the defendant, unless you’ve been living in a cardbox,” she said, adding that she was excused because of her job in the cybersecurity sector.Regarding her personal feelings...

Four men and three women have so far been selected to hear the trial of former President Donald Trump for bookkeeping misdemeanors that have been transmogrified into an election year spectacle meant to help Joe Biden win the 2024 election. The judge demands that the other eleven jurors are to be selected and seated by the end of the week to complete a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. The court is off on Wednesday and will resume Thursday. Judge Juan Merchan, who donated to Joe Biden and whose daughter works for a political company using this trial as...

Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday accused Trump of intimidating a juror who admitted she posted a pro-Biden video to her Facebook page. Jury selection was still underway on Tuesday in the Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ trial after more than 50 prospective jurors were dismissed from the jury pool on Monday. One potential juror was brought in for questioning after Trump’s lawyers discovered she posted a pro-Biden celebratory video in 2020. “You had to get in the car to spread the honking cheer. it’s a full on dance party at 96th street,” the potential juror’s caption read according to Trump attorney...

Thanks to the relentless political targeting of President Trump, there’s been a spotlight on the use of “hush money” and secret funds to sweep indiscretions under the rug in politics. This shouldn’t come as a shock to many, given the nature of fame and power, but where do we draw the line? When is it acceptable for politicians to dip into taxpayer-funded slush funds to settle their sexual indiscretions privately, and without fanfare, and when is it deemed unacceptable for a private political candidate to do the same with personal funds? Here’s the thing that’s got everyone scratching their heads:...

They said they couldn't be fair or impartial Developments on the first day of Donald Trump's historic criminal case in New York:Dozens of potential jurors dismissed. More than 50 of the 96 potential jurors brought in for a preliminary round of questioning were immediately excused after raising their hands to indicate they couldn't be fair or impartial, reports the New York Times. The fail rate was "surpassingly rare," the Times reports. Before the trial ended for the day, Judge Juan Merchan questioned nine potential jurors, CNN reports. He dismissed a woman who said she had strongly held beliefs about Trump...

The judge on Monday rejected Trump’s request to recuse himself as the former president appeared in court. CNN reported: Judge Juan Merchan denied the motion for recusal and says he won’t consider it again until the appellate court rules. Merchan says it’s the opinion of the court that Trump is using a “series of inferences, innuendos and unsupported speculation” to make his claims for recusal. Trump appeared to be looking straight ahead, at a screen, biting his bottom lip as the judge rejected the recusal motion.

New York CNN — For the third time in three days, a New York appellate judge has denied an attempt by former President Donald Trump to delay his hush money trial. Trump on Wednesday asked a New York appeals court for emergency relief to stop the criminal trial scheduled to begin Monday from going ahead so he could appeal a lower court’s ruling on presidential immunity and have the judge recused from the case. It took Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer just minutes after hearing arguments to reject the interim motion to stay the trial.

ALX 🇺🇸 @alx Michael Avenatti is doing MSNBC hits from prison defending Donald Trump.

Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly predicted former President Trump will be easily convicted in the hush money case he faces in connection with adult film star Stormy Daniels. “Oh, he’s getting convicted. I don’t really think there’s a lot of mystery about that,” Kelly said Tuesday during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live.” “He shouldn’t, but he’s going to get convicted. The jury’s going to hate him.” “Manhattan went 92 percent, between 87 and 92 percent for Joe Biden,” she told host Dan Abrams. “That’s where this is going to be tried. These are not Trump lovers.”

Far-left New York Judge Juan Merchan late Monday night released his questionnaire for potential jurors in the Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ trial set to begin April 15. Trump’s attorneys argued that potential jurors and their political affiliations are important. Judge Merchan pushed back and said questions about prospective jurors’ political affiliations and whether they like Trump are “irrelevant.” “Such questions are irrelevant because they do not go to the issue of the prospective juror’s qualifications,” Merchan wrote. “The ultimate issue is whether the prospective juror can ensure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render...

On Monday, April 15, President Donald Trump will become the first former president and the first major presidential candidate in American history to face a criminal trial. Not only is this unprecedented, it's happening with one of the weakest criminal cases in recent memory. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office searched for any way to charge the former president since 2017. The investigation poured over President Trump's personal and business life, and they settled on charging the former president with 34 felonies for the non-felony of his attorney Michael Cohen settling a nuisance claim. The case is so weak that The...

Lara Merchan, the wife of the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” case in Manhattan, once worked for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the massive $350 million civil fraud case against the former president, with the revelation reviving claims of bias and calls for the judge’s recusal. Records reviewed by The Epoch Times show that Ms. Merchan worked for 21 years as a Special Assistant to the AG in New York, including three years under Ms. James. She changed jobs over two years ago.Ms. James is a Democrat who fixated on President Trump as...

Judge Juan Merchan, who silenced President Donald Trump from talking about his family’s financial ties to the current hush money case he is presiding over against President Trump in New York City, shot down his bid to use presidential immunity as part of his defense. Trump previously raised the immunity argument in a March 20124 legal filing. He asked Merchan to postpone the trial until after the Supreme Court has ruled on the extent of presidential immunity in a separate Trump case involving Special Counsel Jack Smith, which deals with bogus federal election interference charges. The 45th President claimed the...

A 2018 letter from Michael Cohen’s lawyers admitting Trump knew nothing about the Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ transaction re-emerged as the judge set the trial for April 15. Last year the Daily Mail obtained a 2018 letter from Michael Cohen’s lawyer stating Cohen used his own personal money to pay Porn Star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The letter also states that the Trump Org nor the Trump campaign reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. This directly contradicts Cohen’s testimony – not surprising given Michael Cohen is a convicted perjurer. Trump has been accused of paying Daniels...

Michael Cohen, the ex-personal attorney of former President Trump, said his former boss “should be worried” about the prosecutors, witnesses and evidence that are coming his way after a judge set his hush money trial start date. “He shouldn’t be worried about me. He should be worried about the Manhattan district attorney, the district attorney of New York prosecutors, he should be worried about the documentary evidence, he should be worried about all of the witnesses that are going to be coming into that trial simply because, as others have also appropriately put it, this is a simple case,” Cohen...

Just when you thought we’d had enough of Stormy Daniels, the former porn star is back on the scene in a brand spanking new documentary released just in time for the general election. The film, which details her alleged entanglement with former President Donald Trump, also comes as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pursues a politically motivated prosecution against Trump over the Stormy Daniels affair.As if this weren’t already absurd enough, Daniels makes a questionable claim in the production: She agreed to take hush money from Trump because she thought he would kill her if she didn’t.Porn Star Stormy Daniels...

Judge Juan Merchan delayed Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial which was originally scheduled to begin March 25 to mid-April. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday filed for a delay of up to 30 days in the Trump-Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ trial in New York City. The judge overseeing the case cited discovery concerns for his decision to allow for a delay. Trump’s lawyers asked for a 90-day delay. ABC News reported: The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York hush money case has delayed the start of the trial from its original March 25 start date, due to discovery...

A New York judge says former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will go ahead as scheduled with jury selection starting on March 25. Judge Juan Manuel Merchan said Thursday that he made the decision after speaking with the judge in Trump’s now-delayed federal election interference case in the nation’s capital. Donald Trump arrived at NYC court Thursday, where a judge will finalize a trial date in the criminal case charging the real estate mogul with concealing payoffs to alleged lovers to hide potential sex scandals from voters in the 2016 presidential election. Trump, 77, took a seat at the defense...

A New York attorney grievance committee on Tuesday dismissed a complaint filed by adult film performer Stormy Daniels alleging one of former President Trump’s lawyers in his hush-money case has a conflict of interest. Daniels, who in 2016 was paid the money at the center of Trump’s criminal case, filed the complaint earlier this year after claiming attorney Joe Tacopina had a conflict because of his prior dealings with her. “Following an investigation of the allegations in the above-referenced complaint filed against you, the Committee has determined to take no further action,” Jorge Dopico, chief attorney for the Attorney Grievance...