Trump's Trials - Day one of jury selection in hush money case

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

For this episode of Trump's Trials, All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang speaks with NPR's Andrea Bernstein. Today marks the start of former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial. He is charged with 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records. Trump was in the courtroom for the day's events. The morning was filled with pre-trial rulings by Judge Juan Merchan related to evidence and testimony. In the afternoon, 96 potential jurors entered the courtroom where they were asked a series of questions about subjects like their ability to be fair, their occupation and where they get their news. Some were excused while others advanced into the next round of questioning. Jury selection is expected to take two weeks. Topics include:- Trump in the courtroom- Decisions on evidence and testimony - Potential jurors questioned Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify for new episodes each Saturday.Sign up for sponsor-free episodes and support NPR's political journalism at plus.npr.org/trumpstrials.Email the show at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's Trials from NPR. I'm Miles Parks. This is a persecution. He actually just stormed out of the courtroom. Innocent to proven guilty in a court of law. Today was the start of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial. Trump is facing 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Step 1 in the trial process, jury selection.

Hundreds of New Yorkers filed in the Manhattan courthouse today, waiting for hours to be sworn in and questioned. The goal? To find 12 impartial jurors, plus alternates, to sit for a six-week trial. Judge Juan Marchand opened jury selection by asking a group of 96 people if they could be fair and impartial. More than half said they could not and they were excused. It just goes to show you how big of a challenge this is all going to be. Stick around and when we come back, we co-op of small organic family farms.

Farmer Tyler Webb shares why caring for his land has always been a priority. I'd like to contribute to my community an array of ecosystem services beyond just milk. Building top soil and holding on to water and supporting wildlife to build that resilience that will support generations to come. Discover Organic Valley Dairy at ov.coop.org. It's Trump's trials. Elsa Chang spoke with Andrea Bernstein outside the Manhattan courthouse. So I saw that Trump appeared in court today.

He took his seat at the defense table. I mean, what was that like to watch? So that image has by now become commonplace. But Trump's stature as a criminal defendant on trial was really thrown into relief when Judge Juan Mirshan told him, quote, you have the right to be present during the trial, but you can lose that right if you disrupt the proceedings in any way. The court permits me to expel you and send you to jail. Judge Mirshan then asked Trump if this and two other, if he understood this and two other

conditions and Trump said quietly, yes, that was basically all he said in court today. And just to underline this, Trump won't be out on a campaign trail during the day on trial days. He'll be here in this kind of dingy courthouse in lower Manhattan listening to testimony about his alleged illegal effort to alter the outcome of the 2016 campaign by suppressing information about an extramarital sexual encounter. At the end of the day, today, the judge told Trump he can't attend Supreme Court arguments next week in another case because he is a criminal defendant here. Right. Okay, so jury selection started today. How did that go?

So though the case was called for 930 in the morning, the first group of 96 potential jurors didn't even get through security and sworn in until about 230 this afternoon. When some of the jurors entered the courtroom, they seemed to be craning their necks to get a look at Trump. The questioning began with Judge Mershon asking the jurors if they could not be fair and impartial. More than half said they could not be fair and impartial. More than half said they could not and were excused. Nine others said they couldn't serve for other reasons, leaving just a third of the initial group. Then jurors were asked questions about their lives and

to say if they'd worked for or against Trump. Only nine jurors got through that initial vetting before a court was adjourned, they will be questioned further. Okay, so if jury selection didn't happen until well into the afternoon, what happened in the morning? Curious. So the two sides argued about what evidence could be introduced and it was actually pretty enlightening. Quite a bit of information came to light about the case the DA intends to present. Basically, the action takes place beginning in October of 2016. The Washington Post was getting ready

to release the Access Hollywood tape, where Trump says he likes to grab women by the genitals. Trump's team called this, you probably remember, locker room talk. But we learned today the DA has internal Trump campaign emails that show a rising panic. And this is when Stormy Daniels begins to make noises about telling her story publicly. Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglas said today Daniels was, quote, living proof

the defendant wasn't all talk. Well, you know, Andrea, in the last two Trump trials I know that Trump had a bit of a hard time keeping quiet in the courtroom. I'm just wondering how was he today? He was mostly quiet but there was also a great deal of discussion about intimidation of witnesses outside the courtroom starting when he called Michael Cohen rat about five years ago and up into today when Trump reposted a near post story calling Cohen, quote, a serial perjurer.

The day alleged actually that Trump had violated his gag order three times by disparaging witnesses and it wants a $1,000 fine for each incident. The judge said he'll hold a hearing on that next week and the trial is expected to last probably until June. That is NPR's Andrea Bernstein. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you. Thanks for listening to Trump's Trials from NPR. Keep an eye out for more episodes on what's happening inside the courtroom. And if you want to hear more

about the Hush Money case specifically, check out this feed and our most recent episodes. I'm Miles Parks. This is my voice. It can tell you a lot about me, and I'm not changing it for anyone. In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, you'll find a collection of NPR episodes centered on Black experiences. Search NPR Black Stories, Black Truths, wherever you get your podcasts. Black perspectives haven't always been centered in the telling of America's story. Now, we're taking center stage.

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