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Post by Webster on Apr 19, 2024 15:23:05 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Court is in sessionJudge Juan Merchan is also now inside the courtroom and the court is in session. Donald Trump is sitting at the defense table along with his lawyers, Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and Susan Necheles. Sitting in the back row of the courtroom are Trump aide Steven Cheung and lawyer Cliff Robert, who was one of Trump’s main attorney’s in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud trial.
Donald Trump entered the courtroom in his hush-money trial just before 9.30am local time. His brassy hair was more mussed up than normal, almost side-swept, and his face carried a dour demeanor.
efore jury selection starts, judge Juan Merchan addresses the chilly temperature in his courtroom, which Trump complained about on Thursday, looking yesterday to his aides in the gallery and saying “it’s freezing”. Merchan told both sides before jurors were brought in this morning: We’re also still working on the temperature in the courtroom.Merchan apologized to jurors for the frigid conditions on Thursday, telling them: I want to apologize that it’s chilly in here ... We’re trying to do the best we can to control the temperature, but it’s one extreme or the other.
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Post by Webster on Apr 19, 2024 15:27:18 GMT -5
(The Guardian) One potential juror has been excused this morning after saying that her anxiety is too intense, and will only worsen as “as the more days that go on”. Her family will ultimately piece together that she’s on the jury, she said. -- I have really bad anxiety, so I think I might not be completely fair and not impartial, so that concerns me.
A moment of levity in the overflow courtroom. The second prospective juror, going through her questions to the juror questionnaire, did not seem keen on one form of contemporary media. Do I ever listen to podcasts, she said aloud: No, never!
The identities of the jurors who will judge Donald Trump will remain anonymous in the case out of security concerns. The dismissal of one juror on Thursday who feared she had been identified prompted judge Juan Merchan to rebuke reporters covering the case for revealing too much about the physical descriptions of jurors. Earlier this week he admonished Trump against intimidating jurors. The judge said: I would recommend the press simply apply common sense and refrain from anything that has to do, for example, with physical descriptions. It’s just not necessary, it serves no purpose.He went on to prohibit the press from reporting on the employers of jurors.
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Post by Webster on Apr 19, 2024 15:28:25 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Trump appears to fall asleep just 10 minutes into trialMeanwhile, the overflow courtroom was once again abuzz with whispers about Donald Trump’s soporific state. Just 10 minutes into trial this morning, it appears that his eyes lowered, prompting the perennial question: Did he doze off again? He’s since spoken to two of his lawyers, so whatever cat-nap the former commander-in-chief might have enjoyed was brief.
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Post by Webster on Apr 19, 2024 15:33:29 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Another would-be juror is excused without objection from either side after expressing her concerns about serving with regard to impartiality. She said: I want to jump ahead. After the last day and some introspection, I don’t think I can be impartial. I want to be and I had every intention … I think after the questions posed to prospective jurors and asking those questions to myself I don’t think I can be impartial.
Another one bites the dust. A prospective alternate juror just now tells the court: I don’t think I could be impartial. After thinking about this yesterday, when I read the questions, I don’t think I could be impartial.The potential alternate juror is excused without objection from either side.
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