Former President Donald Trump laughed smartly Thursday after a close encounter involving him with ex-wife Marla Maples that was presented in court.
Trump’s laughter was on the third day of jury hearings in his felon trial in New York. This is the first of four planned criminal trials against the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges and says he is the victim of a political “witch hunt. “
The nominated juror, a retired university administrator who lives in Greenwich Village, told the court she had read Trump’s The Art of the Deal and remembered seeing him once while grocery shopping with Maples, whom Trump married from 1993 to 1999.
“I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. . . I once saw him and Marla Maples buying groceries for baby items,” the jury said, prompting a moment of laughter from Trump.
The juror also commented that two of her cousins had lived in a Trump building and had noticed one under construction, leaving a positive review of the building’s construction. However, he indicated that his private views on the former president would likely be less favorable.
“I had a cousin who moved into the Trump building,” he said. “I had a cousin who had moved across the street. . . I still didn’t have anything to say about the construction. How I feel about him as president is different. “
The prospective juror was not among the 12 others who were sworn in to serve on the jury a short time later.
Trump’s legal team got rid of the nominee through a peremptory strike, a procedure that allows defense lawyers and prosecutors to remove a limited number of jurors without explanation.
The former president and Maples have a daughter together, Tiffany Trump, a 30-year-old daughter. Newsweek reached out to Trump via email Thursday seeking comment.
While the other 12 people who will serve as jurors in the first felon trial of a former or current U. S. president attended, the procedure to choose the six required exchanges did not end on Thursday, with only one exchange being chosen.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, said he expected the remaining five alternates to do so on Friday. They are expected to be selected from a remaining pool of 22 potential jurors.
Two of the seven jurors who sat earlier on Tuesday were removed from their duties the previous Thursday.
One of them expressed doubts about her ability to be independent after saying that the main points of her identity published in the press led members of her family circle to notice that she was on the jury.
The other was fired from his post after prosecutors raised doubts about the veracity of his past statements and suggested he had been arrested for tearing down political posters in the 1990s.
Merchan said opening arguments in the trial, which will begin with prosecution arguments, could begin as soon as Monday. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter founded in New York City. He focuses on reporting on national politics, where he covered the 2020 and 2022 elections, Donald Trump’s impeachments, and several State of the Union addresses. Other topics Newsweek has covered include crime, public health, and the emergence of COVID-19. Aila was self-employed before joining Newsweek in 2019. You can reach Aila by emailing a. slisco@newsweek. com. Languages: English.
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