Dozens of prospective jurors were dismissed immediately on Monday upon showing up for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump in New York City.
According to Axios, at least 50 of the 96 people who were called for jury duty left the courthouse upon expressing they would not be able to be fair and impartial in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal trial of Trump.
Bragg has charged that alleged “hush money” payments to two women — porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal — eight years ago equated to felonies.
Both Daniels and McDougal alleged they had affairs with Trump, which he has denied.
The Republican presidential candidate has argued the case should be thrown out and the trial is an example of election interference — an opinion that many legal experts share.
However, Bragg is prosecuting Trump on 34 counts of allegedly “falsifying business records.”
As Axios noted Monday night, finding jurors for the trial is proving challenging, even though hundreds of people have been ordered to show up to the Manhattan courthouse this week.
It was apparent how difficult jury selection would be on Monday when the first wave of dismissals began in a city made up of mostly Democratic Party voters.
Those dismissed on Monday morning included more than two dozen white women, 14 white men, four Asian women, one Asian man and one Hispanic woman.
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The demographics of the others were not disclosed, but all of those who left the courthouse said they would not be able to hear the case without any bias.
“I just couldn’t do it,” said one prospective juror who spoke to Axios after being sent home.
Of the 96 individuals who were initially ordered to report for the case as potential jurors, only 36 remained by the end of the day.
Those people will have to answer questions before the court about their political leanings, the political leanings of their families and how much media they consume and from where.
Those who remain after answering those questions then will have their social media pages pored over by Trump’s defense team and prosecutors.
Jury selection continued on Tuesday.
The beginning of Monday’s trial marked the first time a former president had ever appeared in a courthouse on criminal charges.
Trump has accused Bragg and others of attempting to prevent him from serving another term in the White House by instead serving time behind bars.
But the former president is limited in what he can say throughout the trial, thanks to a gag order put in place by Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump ripped Merchan in an early morning post on his Truth Social account Tuesday, calling out both the judge and the trial as being stacked against him.
“This conflicted, Trump Hating Judge won’t let me respond to people that are on TV lying and spewing hate all day long,” he said.
“He is running rough shod over my lawyers and legal team. The New York System of ‘Justice’ is being decimated by critics from all over the World,” the former president said. “I want to speak, or at least be able to respond.
“Election Interference! RIGGED, UNCONSTITUTIONAL TRIAL! Take off the Gag Order!!!”
