The 12 jurors who will decide the outcome of the first criminal trial of a former president are an accomplished group of Manhattanites, including lawyers, teachers and other highly educated professionals.
On the third day of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, Judge Juan Merchan dismissed two of the seven jurors selected Tuesday. But they made up lost ground and selected the remaining five, as well as one alternate. The legal teams will finalize the remaining alternates on Friday.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment issued to porn star Stormy Daniels while Trump was first running for office to keep her quiet about their alleged affair in 2006.
While jury selection may be a straightforward process in many cases, it proved a unique challenge in this case to find someone who could be impartial towards Trump. Here is what we know about the jurors.
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Jury includes seven men, five women, according to reports
Merchan told the press Thursday to exercise caution in reporting on the jury as to not include any personally identifiable information.
The instruction came after Juror #2, who was selected Tuesday, was dismissed because she said she was concerned about her identity becoming public. (She said friends and colleagues had reached out to her Wednesday, following media coverage of jury selection.)
But we do know seven men and five women make up the jury, according to multiple reports. Here is what else we can immediately share:
These jurors were selected Tuesday, as reported by CBS News:
- Juror #1 – The foreperson is a man who works in sales. He reads The New York Times, the Daily Mail, Fox News and MSNBC, he said.
- Juror #3 – A corporate lawyer who said he is not very familiar with the other charges Trump faces.
- Juror #5 – A woman working as a middle school teacher who indicated she doesn’t care to follow political news closely. “President Trump speaks his mind. I would rather that in a person than someone who’s in office and you don’t know what they’re doing behind the scenes,” she said during questioning.
- Juror #6 – A software engineer who said she can see Trump as a normal person on trial.
- Juror #7 – A man who is a civil litigator and has children.
These jurors were seated Thursday, as reported by CNN:
- Juror #8 – A retired man, married with two kids, who is more interested in his hobbies than news regarding Trump.
- Juror #9 – A woman with a masters degree who works as a speech therapist. She lives alone.
- Juror #10 – A man working in retail who does not follow the news, except to listen to psychology podcasts. He is unmarried.
- Replaced Juror #2 – A married investment banker with a master’s degree. He follows Trump on social media and read “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”
- Replaced Juror #4 – A married man working as a security engineer with a high school degree. He said he is not on social media.
- Juror #11 – A woman who works for an apparel company and said she did not like the president’s “persona,” calling him “selfish and self-serving.” Trump’s team asked for her to be dismissed but Merchan denied the request.
- Juror #12 – A married physical therapist with a doctorate and no children. She reads The New York Times, USA TODAY and CNN.
What is Donald Trump on trial for?
District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up $130,000 paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about a previous sexual encounter they had. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to concealing more than $4 million from the IRS and “causing $280,000 in payments to be made to silence two women who otherwise planned to speak publicly about their alleged affairs with a presidential candidate, thereby intending to influence the 2016 presidential election,” according to court records.
The other $150,000 was paid to former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Bart Jansen
