A 12-person jury has been selected and sworn in to serve on former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial after three days.
On Thursday, prosecutors and the defense team agreed on 12 jurors-- and an alternative-- who would be able to remain impartial during the trial in which Manhattan District Attorney General Alvin Bragg alleges that Trump made payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The jurors will include seven men and five women who were chosen after answering extensive questions regarding their personal lives, political views, social media posts, and the ability to remain unbiased despite any past opinions they may have about the former president.
The selected jurors include people who work in areas of law, finance, nursing, and technology. Eleven more jurors are expected to be selected and sworn in the next week.
The jury selection will continue on Friday since six alternate jurors are needed before the trial can begin its opening arguments.
“We have our jury," Judge Juan Merchan said, insisting that they were selected in a “fair and impartial manner.”
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche requested to know who the first three witnesses Bragg plans to call testify against the 2024 hopeful. Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor in Bragg's office, refused to release the names to Trump’s legal team despite admitting that it is something they normally do in other cases.
Steinglass claimed that Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses.
“Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses. We're not telling them who the witnesses are," Steinglass said.
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Merchan said he "can't blame them” the prosecutors for refusing to give Trump’s attorneys the names of the witnesses they plan to call.
In response, Blanche offered to "commit to the court and the [prosecution] that President Trump will not [post] about any witness" on Truth Social.
However, Merchan said, “I don't think you can make that representation.”
To attempt to come to a compromise, Blanche asked if only the attorneys could know the names of the witnesses, promising to share the information with Trump.
“I'm not going to order them to do it, no," Merchan replied. ”I'll see you tomorrow morning."
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