Donald Trump Criticizes the Limited Number of Strikes Allowed Against Jurors in His Hush Money Trial

Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction on Wednesday, stating that his lawyers were not granted unlimited opportunities to reject potential jurors for his New York criminal hush money trial. However, state law limits the number of potential jurors his legal team can dismiss without cause, as per The Hill.

Trump has been allotted the appropriate number of dismissals based on the nature of the criminal charges against him, which includes 10 peremptory strikes for jurors and an additional two for each alternate juror. This limitation is in place because Trump is facing Class E felony charges. Trump voiced his concerns about this issue on his Truth Social platform.

He wrote, “I thought STRIKES were supposed to be ‘unlimited’ when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country. Don’t worry, we have the First Worst also, as the Witch Hunt continues! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump shared his grievances a day after CNBC reported that the first seven jurors had been selected for the trial in Manhattan Supreme Court. Both prosecutors and Trump's legal team had exhausted six of their 10 strikes each.

Trump's legal team and prosecutors filtered through candidates from the original pool of 96 potential jurors. These potential jurors had to respond to a detailed questionnaire probing into personal information such as their residence, occupation, and news sources.

Over half of the initial pool was dismissed after indicating they couldn't remain fair or impartial in the case. The trial is slated to last six to eight weeks and will involve the selection of 12 jurors and six alternates. Furthermore, Judge Juan Merchan cautioned Trump against any attempts to intimidate jurors.

Merchan said, “I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.” Class E felony trials, which encompass the charges of falsifying business records that Trump is up against, are allocated the fewest number of challenges.

Jeremy Saland, a New York criminal defense attorney, remarked that Trump's grievance on Truth Social reveals a deliberate disregard for the law. Saland finds it hard to believe that Trump is unaware of this basic fact about jury selection rules, especially considering he is involved in four ongoing criminal cases.

Initially, some legal experts anticipated that it would take as long as two weeks to impanel a jury, citing the perceived challenge of finding individuals who could impartially assess the polarizing presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party.

However, following the selection of the first group of jurors on Tuesday, Merchan indicated that opening statements could commence on Monday morning if the current pace of jury selection is maintained. Trump faces charges in the case related to falsifying business records connected to the hush money payment made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.