Judge Will Ask Trump Hush Money Jurors If They Believe In QAnon, Attend Trump Rallies
Judge Juan Merchan made public the questions potential jurors will be asked in a court filing Monday afternoon—just seven days before jury selection in the Manhattan criminal trial for falsifying business records is scheduled to start.
In addition to questions about potential jurors’ demographics, Merchan intends to ask them what print publications, online media or cable or network television they follow, whether they listen to any podcasts or talk radio or if they’ve read books or listened to podcasts by Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen or Mark Pomerantz, a former employee of the Manhattan district attorney’s office who called for Trump to face charges.
The jurors will also be asked whether they, their relatives or close friends have been employed by or volunteered with the Trump campaign or the Trump administration—or anti-Trump organizations or campaigns—and whether they follow the former president on social media, including on his Truth Social platform.
Jurors will also be asked if they have ever “considered (themselves) a supporter of or belonged to any of the following: the QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys (or) Antifa.”
There will also be questions on how potential jurors feel Trump has been treated so far in the case and if they have “strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about whether a former president may be criminally charged in state court.”
Merchan noted “there are no questions asking prospective jurors whom they voted for or intend to vote for, or whom they have made political contributions to.”
KEY BACKGROUND
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records brought against him by Manhattan prosecutors who allege he misidentified a series of payments in 2017 as being for legal services when they were actually reimbursements to Cohen, who made payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors say Cohen was instructed to pay Daniels in an effort to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 election about an affair she said she had with the former president. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but has repeatedly attempted to get the trial pushed back or delayed. Merchan has rejected these efforts, which included Trump trying to get Merchan to recuse himself and Trump attempting to claim he had “presidential immunity,” a move he has tried in all of his ongoing criminal trials.
TANGENT
In what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to delay the trial against him, Trump moved to sue Merchan on Monday. Two sources told the New York Times that Trump’s lawyers plan to file a suit with the New York Court of Appeals asking for a delay and challenging the gag order Merchan has put Trump under. Merchan placed Trump under a gag order—and expanded it—after the former president repeatedly attacked the judge and his daughter on social media.
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