How many peremptory challenges was the Defendant allowed? Apparently they were all used up.
New Yorkers who said they couldn’t approach the case fairly were excused during jury selection. But one of the women with the harshest assessments of him will be among those who will determine his fate on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“I don’t like his persona, how he presents himself in public,” said the woman, who has lived in upper Manhattan for the last 15 years. The woman said she didn’t agree with some of Trump’s politics, which she called “outrageous.”
“He just seems very selfish and self-serving, so I don’t really appreciate that in any public servant,” she said, adding that while she doesn’t “know him as a person,” how he “portrays himself in public, it just seems to me it is not my cup of tea.”
Trump’s legal team took issue with her responses, but they were out of challenges by the time she was up for consideration.
I'm betting on Hung Jury. Even if no closet MAGAts were seated, and even if no jurors are fearful enough of MAGAt murderers to vote for acquittal, aren't the charges confusing? Paying the hush money was legal; isn't the underlying felony just the failure to report the bribe as campaign spending?
A hung jury is a possibility, but as far as the underlying crime, there's falsifying business records in there as well...and if the fraud trial is any indication, that'll be an easy lift for the prosecution. IIRC it's not an "all 34 counts or he walks" proposition, either. He can be acquitted on some, convicted on others. Even if they only get him on half, that's still a "multiple felony convictions" label pulling him down with independent voters.
Another thing I noticed (aside from him being a pouty little bitch in court) is that when he delivers his rants going in and coming out, it's all the same stuff.
"The corrupt district attorney, the crooked judge, it's a political witch hunt by Joe Biden and the Democrats" yada, yada, yada. If this trial goes on for 6-8 weeks as expected, those little tirades are going to lose their punch pretty quickly, because if it's not new, it's not news. Trump is making a mistake if he thinks that making the same tired statement outside the courtroom every day is newsworthy, and in case you haven't noticed, his last rank took a backsteat to "dude sets himself on fire."
And while his accusations of it being timed to hurt his campaign are off base, it IS hurting his ability to campaign. He's sitting sullenly in a cold courtroom all day when he could be having staged photo ops at factories with him awkwardly wearing a hard hat.
