The judge presiding over Donald Trump's hush money case has called prospective jurors into the courtroom as the first criminal trial of a former president begins.The process involves selecting 12 jurors, plus six alternates.
The judge denied a defence request to recuse himself from the case after Trump's lawyers said he had a conflict of interest. He also said prosecutors could not play for the jury the 2005 "Access Hollywood" recording in which Trump was captured discussing grabbing women sexually without their permission. However, prosecutors will be allowed to question witnesses about the recording, which became public in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.
When jury selection begins, scores of people are due to be called into the courtroom to start the process of finding 12 jurors, plus six alternates. Trump's notoriety would make the process of picking a jury a near-herculean task in any year, but it's likely to be especially challenging now, unfolding in a closely contested presidential election in the city where Trump grew up and catapulted to celebrity status before winning the White House.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records that arose from an alleged effort to keep salacious -- and, he says, bogus -- stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign. Trump's attorneys lost a bid to get the hush-money case dismissed and have since repeatedly sought to delay it, prompting a flurry of last-minute appeals court hearings last week.
The process of choosing those 12, plus six alternates, will begin with scores of people filing into Merchan's courtroom. They will be known only by number, as he has ordered their names to be kept secret from everyone except prosecutors, Trump and their legal teams. Others ask about attendance at Trump or anti-Trump rallies, opinions on how he's being treated in the case, news sources and more -- including any "political, moral, intellectual, or religious beliefs or opinions" that might "slant" a prospective juror's approach to the case.
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