Former President Donald Trump had a laugh during jury selection at his hush-money criminal trial in New York City. The proceedings are the first of four expected criminal trials for the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims to be the victim of a political “witch hunt.” A prospective juror, a retired university administrator from Greenwich Village, told the court that she had read Trump’s The Art of the Deal and recalled seeing him on a shopping trip with Maples, to whom Trump was married from 1993 to 1999.
“I am born and raised in Brooklyn, New York … I once saw him and Marla Maples shopping for baby things,” the juror said, prompting a moment of laughter from Trump.
The juror also mentioned that two of her cousins had experiences of living in a Trump property and seeing one being built, leaving a positive review for the building’s construction. However, she indicated that her personal views of the ex-president may be less favorable. Trump’s legal team removed the candidate from consideration using a peremptory strike, a procedure that allows defense attorneys and prosecutors to dismiss a limited number of jurors without explanation.
The former president and Maples share one child together, 30-year-old daughter Tiffany Trump. Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Thursday. While the 12 people who will serve as jurors in the first criminal trial of any former or current U.S. president were seated, the process of choosing six required alternates was not completed on Thursday, with only one alternate being selected. New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan indicated that he hoped the remaining five alternates would be seated on Friday.
Two of the seven jurors who had previously been seated on Tuesday were dismissed from serving on the jury earlier on Thursday. One expressed doubts about her ability to be impartial after saying that details of her identity that were published in the press had resulted in family members figuring out that she was on the jury. The other was dismissed after prosecutors raised concerns about the truthfulness of his previous statements and suggested that he had been arrested for tearing down political posters in the 1990s. Opening arguments in the trial could begin as soon as Monday.