Trump trial set to pick final alternate jurors for hush money case

The New York criminal hush money trial of Donald Trump is poised to get its final five alternate jurors Friday after a full 12-person panel and one alternate were seated a day earlier.

Judge Juan Merchan anticipates opening arguments in the Manhattan Supreme Court trial to begin Monday.

But like in the previous three trial days, the process of filling out the jury has not always been straightforward.

Dozens of potential jurors were dismissed after saying they could not be impartial in the case involving the former president. And at least three people said Friday that they were suffering from anxiety or “self-doubt” at the prospect of having to serve on the jury.

The fourth day of the former president’s historic trial is also expected to include a hearing aimed to inform Trump about what his prosecutors could grill him on if he decides to testify under oath.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said that if Trump takes the stand, they want to challenge his credibility by asking him about his various other legal battles, including two high-profile civil judgments he has been ordered to pay in New York.

Trump in February was ordered to pay $454 million in fines and interest after a state judge found him liable for fraudulently inflating his asset values to boost his net worth and obtain financial perks.

In a January verdict in New York federal civil court, Trump was ordered to pay $83 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her when he denied her claims that he raped her in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s. A separate federal jury previously found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll.

Trump is appealing both the business fraud and defamation verdicts. Merchan will determine during the so-called Sandoval hearing whether that line of questioning is permissible.

Trump has said that he would testify in the hush money trial. He is not required to do so.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has fumed that the trial is a “scam” and a “witch hunt” aimed to damage his electoral chances against President Joe Biden.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had sex with Trump while he was married years ago.

The payment from Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen was aimed to influence the 2016 presidential election by burying damaging information from voters, Bragg alleges. Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.

This is developing news. Check back for updates.