NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump returned Tuesday to a New York courtroom as the jury selection process in his historic hush money trial enters a second day. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee began the day by railing against the trial and complaining about a gag order that bars him from from publicly commenting on jurors, potential witness and others related to his criminal cases.
“This conflicted, Trump Hating Judge won’t let me respond to people that are on TV lying and spewing hate all day long,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “He is running rough shod over my lawyers and legal team.”
The first day of Trump’s Manhattan trial ended on Monday with no one picked to sit on the 12-person jury or as one of six alternates. Dozens of people were dismissed after saying they didn’t believe they could be fair, but a second batch of about 100 prospective jurors have yet to be questioned.
The criminal trial is the first of any former U.S. commander-in-chief and also the first of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal Trump Organization records as part of a scheme to bury stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign, particularly as his reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.
The allegations focus on payoffs to two women, porn actor Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said they had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump years earlier, as well as to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child he alleged Trump had out of wedlock. Trump says none of these supposed sexual encounters occurred.
Currently:
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— Only 1 in 3 US adults think Trump acted illegally in New York hush money case, AP-NORC poll shows
— Trump trial: Why can’t Americans see or hear what is going on inside the courtroom?
— Donald Trump brings his campaign to the courthouse as his criminal hush money trial begins
— A jury of his peers: A look at how jury selection will work in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial
Here's the latest:
Former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump started Tuesday complaining about his hush money trial, calling it “AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA!” and railing about a gag order that bars him from publicly commenting on the cases’ jurors, potential witness and others.
“This conflicted, Trump Hating Judge won’t let me respond to people that are on TV lying and spewing hate all day long,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “He is running rough shod over my lawyers and legal team.“
“I want to speak, or at least be able respond,” he went on, demanding the order be lifted. “Election Interference! RIGGED, UNCONSTITUTIONAL TRIAL! Take off the Gag Order!!!”
On his way into the courtroom, Trump stopped briefly to address a TV camera stationed in a hallway and denounced the proceeding and the judge.
“This is a trial that should have never been brought,” he said. “’I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense … and you get indicted over that?”
Judge Juan M. Merchan will hold a hearing on April 23 over the prosecution’s assertion that Trump violated the gag order when he disparaged prosecution witnesses Cohen and Daniels as “ two sleaze bags,” circulated an earlier statement from Daniels and lashed out at what he claimed was a double standard by prosecutors.