Live Updates: Trump’s Manhattan Criminal Trial Begins With Jury Selection (2024)

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Here’s what to know about the trial.

But there was also a ruling that favored the former president: The judge, Juan M. Merchan, rejected a request by prosecutors to introduce accusations of sexual assault that women lodged against Mr. Trump years ago, calling them “rumors” and “complete gossip.”

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case against Mr. Trump, also asked the judge to hold Mr. Trump in contempt and penalize him $3,000 for violating a gag order barring him from attacking witnesses in the case.

On social media over the weekend, Mr. Trump assailed one of the prosecution’s key witnesses: Michael D. Cohen, his former fixer. Mr. Cohen paid $130,000 to the p*rn star, Stormy Daniels, during the 2016 presidential campaign to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump.

After the lunch break — during which Mr. Trump posted a video of an ally yelling about the judge’s wife — Justice Merchan said he would hold a hearing later this month to discuss potential violations of the gag order, which also bars Mr. Trump from attacking the judge’s family.

The jury selection process could take two weeks or more, and the trial may spill into June. Mr. Trump is expected to be in the courtroom for much of it.

Mr. Trump seemed alternately irritated and exhausted during pretrial arguments on Monday, sometimes smirking and scoffing, but also appearing to nod off, his mouth slack and his head drooping to his chest. After the trial got underway in the afternoon, he chuckled when Justice Merchan told the first group of 96 prospective jurors that he would ensure a fair trial.

Mr. Trump, who might take the witness stand in his own defense, has denied the sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels. But prosecutors say that, while serving as president, he allowed his company to falsify records to hide the reimbursem*nts to Mr. Cohen. They argue the payment to Ms. Daniels was part of a pattern: Mr. Trump, faced with damaging stories that could have doomed his campaign, concealed them to influence the election.

Here’s what else to know about Mr. Trump’s trial:

• This is the Manhattan criminal case against Mr. Trump, and it was brought by the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a year ago. Mr. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and, if convicted, could face up to four years in prison. The case, one of four indictments facing the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, may be the only one to make it to trial before Election Day.

• Jury selection will be crucial for both sides. Prosecutors have some advantage, as the jury pool is drawn from Manhattan, one of the most Democratic counties in America. Mr. Trump’s team will be looking for red needles in a blue haystack.

• Mr. Trump has twice sought Justice Merchan’s recusal, citing his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant. Justice Merchan has declined to step aside, noting a ruling by a judicial ethics commission that found his daughter’s work posed no conflict for him. “There is no agenda here,” Justice Merchan said in court on Monday, adding, “we want to follow the law, we want justice to be done.” Mr. Trump has also attacked the judge’s daughter on social media.

• Hundreds of potential jurors have been summoned. Justice Merchan plans to excuse those who say they cannot be fair or otherwise serve. The remaining prospective jurors will answer 42 questions compiled before the trial, and both sides will be able to remove a limited number of them without explanation. The lawyers can also ask to remove jurors “for cause” by providing specific reasons they believe a juror cannot be fair.

• In addition to the payment to Ms. Daniels, Mr. Bragg’s office is expected to highlight two other deals involving The National Enquirer, a tabloid that has longstanding ties to Mr. Trump. In one deal, the tabloid bought the silence of a man who had heard that Mr. Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock, a rumor that turned out to be false, and in the other, it paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, who wanted to sell her story of an affair with Mr. Trump.

• The prosecution’s witness list is expected to include David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former aide to Mr. Trump. Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal could also testify.

Trump turned and stared at possible jurors as they raised their hands indicating they couldn’t be fair in the case.

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The first juror who says he can’t be impartial, a man in a mask, has been excused. He walks past the defense table as he leaves.

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Trump chuckles again when Justice Merchan says he will ensure a fair trial.

Here’s what each side is looking for in a juror.

The process could take two weeks or more — and may be as pivotal as any evidence presented in court.

“It’s the most important part,” said Arthur Aidala, a defense attorney whose firm has had many high-profile clients, including Rudy Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer. “And the hardest part too.”

The stakes of jury selection are particularly high for Mr. Trump’s team, which is aware of the former president’s poor standing among many in New York County — Manhattan, as most people know it — which overwhelmingly voted for President Biden in 2020.

Mr. Trump’s legal team sees the case as winnable, although some believe a full acquittal is less likely than the prospect of finding jurors willing to cause a mistrial by holding out against a unanimous guilty verdict, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers want a jury that includes younger Black men and white working-class men, particularly public employees like police officers, firefighters and sanitation workers. Those who have had bad experiences with the legal system will also be prized by the defense, which has cast the case as politically motivated.

Prosecutors, conversely, will probably be looking for more educated voters from Democratic neighborhoods, fishing for those who consume news from sources like MSNBC, known for its outspoken liberal hosts, and who are fond of late-night comedians like Stephen Colbert, who hosted a presidential panel with Mr. Biden on March 28.

Unlike most trials, where many potential jurors are loath to serve, some may be actively trying to get seated in this case. Michael Farkas, a defense attorney, said that those who seem to be angling for the jury “are the people who are most likely to have a partisan agenda.”

Some may not be completely forthcoming.

“In a case like this, both parties can pretty much rest assured that they are going to have people on the jury that aren’t being completely honest about how they feel,” Mr. Farkas said.

Mr. Aidala was blunter about potential jurors.

“They lie,” he said, adding, “People want to be on that jury because they think they’re going to write a book or they’re going to be on ’20/20’ or ’48 Hours’ or one of those things.”

The jurors are all staring straight at Merchan as he speaks, a reminder of the fact that jurors are often heavily reliant on judges.

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Susan Necheles is jumping in, arguing against the prosecution. She has vastly more state court experience than her colleagues sitting with her at the defense table, and seems to have a clearer grasp of the nuances. That said, Merchan didn't seem especially receptive to her arguments.

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Trump appears to doze off in court, but also shows signs of irritation.

The former president’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, passed him notes for several minutes before Mr. Trump appeared to jolt awake and notice them.

At other times, Mr. Trump whispered and exchanged notes with Mr. Blanche. He sat motionless while his own words from the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape — on which bragged about grabbing women’s genitals — were read from a transcript by a prosecutor.

At times, Mr. Trump’s emotions were characteristically on display. He smirked and scoffed, and appeared frustrated when the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, did not immediately agree that he could miss court to attend the graduation of his youngest son, Barron.

But when Justice Merchan warned that Mr. Trump could be ejected or thrown in jail if he disrupts the proceedings, the former president indicated that he understood.

The only time Mr. Trump showed a flash of humor was when he laughed at one of his own social media posts, which attacked his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who is expected to be the prosecution’s central witness.

Jurors won’t hear the infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, but can be told what Trump said on it.

“You can do anything,” Mr. Trump said on the recording.

The tape rocked Mr. Trump’s campaign. And prosecutors in Manhattan say it led him to agree to pay off Stormy Daniels, a p*rn star, who was shopping a story of a 2006 sexual encounter with the candidate.

Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer, paid Ms. Daniels $130,000. The payment is at the heart of the 34 felony charges against Mr. Trump, who is accused of falsifying business records to cover it up.

The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, had previously ruled that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office could question witnesses about the tape, but found that it would be prejudicial to allow the actual video to the played. He reaffirmed that ruling on Monday.

“You can bring out what was said in the tape,” Justice Merchan said, adding that he didn’t want jurors “to hear Mr. Trump’s voice and his gestures” in the tape.

In a victory for the defense, the judge also ruled that the prosecution could not introduce evidence about sexual assault allegations against Mr. Trump that surfaced in the aftermath of the tape becoming public, calling them “complete hearsay.”

However, Justice Merchan said that prosecutors could introduce emails that followed the tape’s disclosure, showing frantic efforts by Trump advisers to contain the fallout. The correspondence, he said, “bolsters the people’s claim that this was a crucial event.”

Todd Blanche, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, had called on Justice Merchan to reconsider admitting “this extremely salacious evidence,” which he described as “very prejudicial.”

Mr. Trump, who is again the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has denied any wrongdoing and has cast the case against him as politically motivated.

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The judge faces the glare of a trial that has made his daughter a target.

Mr. Trump’s trial on charges that he covered up a sex scandal before and after the 2016 presidential election will bring a maelstrom that no other judge in New York’s vast judiciary has ever experienced.

Known as a no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist, Justice Merchan, 61, has already reprimanded Mr. Trump’s lawyers for arguments that he considered frivolous and issued a gag order intended to protect prosecutors, witnesses and his own family from Mr. Trump’s vitriol — and yet the former president has continued to post articles with pictures of the judge’s daughter, a political consultant who has worked with Democratic candidates.

Although Justice Merchan is a registered Democrat, records show he was previously a Republican, and people who know him described the judge as a moderate, law-and-order former prosecutor.

Two people close to Justice Merchan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the judge had privately expressed pain over the attacks on his daughter, but the people said that those attacks won’t compromise his ability to oversee the case. Other people who know the judge said that he will cast aside Mr. Trump’s drama — and exert control over the trial.

“It is Judge Merchan’s show,” said Jill Konviser, a retired judge who has known Justice Merchan for more than 15 years. She added: “He will do everything he can to, one, control his courtroom and two, ensure a fair trial for the defendant.”

In Justice Merchan’s 17 years on the bench, 13 as presiding judge in the Mental Health Court he created, he has had his share of unusual cases. There was a murder trial involving a supposed curse on the defendant; the daredevils who jumped off the World Trade Center with parachutes; and a so-called soccer-mom madam accused of running a high-end brothel on the Upper East Side. In that case, an appeals court reduced the steep bail Justice Merchan had set, calling it “unreasonable.”

None of those defendants challenged the judge quite like Mr. Trump, who claims that the case is a witch hunt and declared that Justice Merchan’s gag order had infringed on his First Amendment rights.

The former president has tested the order’s limits by posting articles that named and attacked Justice Merchan’s daughter, Loren, and his wife, Lara. The articles, by the conservative activist Laura Loomer, included photos of Loren Merchan and copies of a 2007 mortgage statement for a house owned by Justice Merchan and his wife. Previously, Mr. Trump falsely accused Loren Merchan of posting an image of him behind bars on social media.

The trial, which could last two months as a parade of former aides and allies takes the stand against him, will dominate Justice Merchan’s calendar this spring.

On off-days, he will continue to preside over Mental Health Court. The program is for defendants charged with felonies and diagnosed with a serious mental illness. People who are accepted enter a guilty plea and then begin a period of treatment and judicial supervision. Those who complete the program successfully can have their charges reduced or dismissed.

During one recent session, Justice Merchan showed particular interest in the relationship between a defendant and his child, and praised him for his dedication.

“You want to do better by your daughter,” Justice Merchan said. “I’m sure she’s going to appreciate that.”

Justice Merchan says he will not step aside.

“There is no agenda here,” Justice Merchan said Monday before rejecting the request. “We want to follow the law,” he added. “We want justice to be done.”

Mr. Trump’s lawyers had called on Justice Merchan to recuse himself in a recent court filing, citing his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case that accuses Mr. Trump of falsifying records to conceal a sex scandal from voters, had argued that no conflict of interest existed. And judicial ethics experts cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s request, noting that the judge was not responsible for his daughter’s career.

It was just the latest attempt by Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, to both delay the trial and oust Justice Merchan. Nor will it be the last: In a separate civil action filed last week, Mr. Trump asked an appeals court to pause the case while it considers whether to remove Justice Merchan. It is a long-shot bid that a single appeals court judge rejected and will be likely to fail before a full five-judge panel.

When Mr. Trump tried last year to have Justice Merchan kicked off the case, Justice Merchan rejected it then as well, citing a state advisory committee on judicial ethics that determined that his impartiality could not reasonably be questioned based on his daughter’s interests.

The repeated attempts reflect the former president’s long-running effort to delay all four of his criminal cases past Election Day. Stalling is one of Mr. Trump’s favored legal tactics, and he uses it liberally in Manhattan, as well as in the three other cities where he faces criminal charges. If Mr. Trump reclaims the White House, the criminal cases against him would most likely grind to a halt.

In the attempt in appeals court to compel the judge’s recusal, Emil Bove, a lawyer for the former president, argued that certain facts had changed since Justice Merchan first declined to step aside last year, including that Mr. Trump was now the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

But a lawyer for the court system, Lisa Evans, said that there was no reason that the judge should step aside.

“There is absolutely no evidence to show that Judge Merchan will stand to benefit from the outcome of this trial,” Ms. Evans said.

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Supporters, protesters and journalists assembled outside the Manhattan courthouse.

Cameras lined the sidewalks outside the courthouse, a glowering edifice at 100 Centre Street, just blocks from New York’s City Hall. TV crews were going live in intervals since before dawn, even as the police manned metal barricades. As the sun rose, some anti-Trump demonstrators had arrived, including one toting a sign reading “Loser,” a favorite insult of the former president.

Nadine Seiler, 58, took a midnight bus from Waldorf, Md., to get to the courthouse by dawn. “This is the first and possibly only trial he’s going to be on,” she said, holding up a spray-painted sheet reading “Convict Trump Already.”

Mr. Trump also had fans outside the courthouse, including Laura Loomer, a far-right political activist who argued with an anti-Trump protester as a gaggle of journalists surrounded them.

Andrew Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City and lawyer for Mr. Trump, also came by to show support, arguing that the trial was a political persecution.

“He’s somebody who I consider to be a mentor, almost like an uncle to me,” said Mr. Giuliani.

Noting Mr. Trump’s status as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Giuliani claimed: “They want to tie him up for months at a time.”

Others were simply there to witness the moment. “I think it’s a really difficult moment in American history,” said Sue Scarlett Montgomery, a filmmaker. “It’s a sad day, but here we are.”

Here’s what to know about the start of jury selection.

The task won’t be easy. Lawyers for Donald J. Trump and prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office will narrow the pool to 12 jurors and several alternates. Both sides will try to discern biases that could alter the outcome of the trial, posing dozens of questions that have been discussed and debated for weeks.

The jurors, for their part, will be expected to answer each question honestly in an intimidating environment, just steps away from the former president, who is expected to attend much of the trial.

Here’s what we know about the process:

Who are the prospective jurors?

The jury pool is composed of Manhattanites. Beyond that, little about the group is known, even by prosecutors and defense lawyers. Both sides will use the next several days, or weeks, to find out all they can.

Because New York State does not allow juries to operate in full anonymity, the parties, including the former president, will know the jurors’ names. The lawyers will also have access to their addresses. (Mr. Trump will not.)

The public may never know the jurors’ names. The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, granted the prosecutors’ request to withhold them.

What will they be asked?

After reading a summary of the allegations, Justice Merchan will ask the prospective jurors whether they believe they can be fair and impartial. They will also be asked if they have any scheduling conflicts that would prevent them from attending every day of the trial, which could last more than six weeks. Those who raise concerns will most likely be removed from the pool.

The jurors who remain will all be asked the same set of questions. One by one, they will talk — briefly and vaguely — about what they do for a living, their education and their families. They will be asked where they get their news, what radio and podcasts they listen to and whether they’ve read books written by Mr. Trump or his former fixer Michael D. Cohen, who is expected to be a central witness.

Other questions will be more pointed. Jurors will be asked if they’ve ever volunteered or attended a campaign event for Mr. Trump or one of his opponents. They will also be asked to divulge feelings or opinions they have about how Mr. Trump is being treated in this case.

But the jurors will not be asked how they voted in past elections, whom they plan to vote for, whether they have made political contributions or their party registration.

How do potential jurors get removed?

Mr. Trump’s legal team and prosecutors for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, can challenge the inclusion of prospective jurors by providing specific reasons they believe a juror cannot be fair and impartial. The judge has the final say.

Both sides will also receive a certain number of chances to remove jurors without explanation. After all of the challenged jurors are removed from the jury pool, Justice Merchan will seat the jury with those who remain.

How will Mr. Trump be involved?

If Mr. Trump’s behavior at previous trials is any guide, he is likely to be very involved in jury selection. In a previous defamation case, Mr. Trump was fixated on the jurors from the moment they walked into the courtroom. He pivoted in his chair to study them as they answered biographical questions. He frequently talked to his attorneys.

But Mr. Trump’s comments about the jurors in this case should start and stop in the courtroom. In addition to being ordered not to reveal their names, Mr. Trump is also subject to a gag order issued by Justice Merchan preventing him from making public statements about them.