James Cox
An Irishman has been selected as the foreman of the jury for Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York.
The man, known only as Juror B400, reportedly lives in West Harlem, works in sales, and is “outdoorsy”.
He’s one of seven confirmed jurors who’ll decide whether the former US president is guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Ms Daniels claims she and Mr Trump had sex, and that she accepted $130,000 (€121,000) from his former lawyer Michael Cohen to stay silent.
The other jurors are an IT worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a software engineer and two lawyers.
Eleven more people need to be picked before opening statements begin as early as next week.
The trial, which began on Monday, puts Mr Trump’s legal problems at the centre of his closely contested presidential race against president Joe Biden.
Former US president Donald Trump leaves at the conclusion of the second day of jury selection for his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 16th, 2024 in New York City. Photo: Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images
It is the first of Mr Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, and it may be the only one to reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether to elect the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
On the second day of jury selection, New Yorkers were quizzed for hours about their views on Mr Trump and other issues, and eight were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments.
Mr Trump’s lawyers challenged a handful of people over social media posts, and one person was dismissed over a 2017 post about Trump that said “Lock him up!”
Several would-be jurors told the judge they believed they could decide the case fairly, no matter their feelings about Mr Trump or his policies as president.
Mr Trump looked on in the courtroom as his lawyers urged the judge to remove one potential juror for a social media post she made after his 2020 election loss.
The judge admonished Mr Trump at one point after he spoke loudly and gestured while the judge questioned the woman about her post.
“I don’t know what he was uttering, but it was audible and he was gesturing. And he was speaking in the direction of the juror,” Judge Juan Merchan said.
“I won’t tolerate that. I will not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom.” – Additional reporting from Associated Press
