Judge excuses juror from Trump’s hush money trial for being arrested for ripping down conservative political ads

04/25/2024 / By Belle Carter

New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan excused a second juror from the jury of former President Donald’s Trump’s hush money trial rafter it was revealed the man was once arrested for tearing down right-leaning political advertisements.

According to the office of Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg, the dismissed juror had been arrested in Westchester County for tearing down political advertisements. “I believe the propaganda that was being ripped down was political posters that were on the right, the political right,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said on April 18. He added that following additional research, it also appeared that the juror’s wife had been previously accused of, or involved in a “corruption inquiry” that needed a “deferred prosecution agreement with the DA’s office.”

Another juror was dismissed before this after she admitted that she could no longer be fair. Juror No. 2, a woman who lived on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and works as a nurse, returned to court Thursday morning and said she had concerns about being fair and balanced in the case.

Merchan excused her and warned the press about covering the trial: “You can write about anything on the record, but apply common sense when writing about jurors using physical descriptions and descriptors.” He also lamented the loss of “what would have been a good juror.”

Trump arrived at the Manhattan criminal court on April 18 for the third day of his hush-money trial, He reportedly sat expressionless throughout the session and appeared attentive.

He also faces other trials involving his actions on January 6, attempts to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia and charges related to his keeping of classified documents at his resort in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, after he had left office.

Despite all his legal battles, he dominated the Republican nomination race for 2024, running a close race with President Joe Biden, often leading in head-to-head polls and performing strongly in the crucial battleground states he needs to win the U.S. presidency for a second time. (Related: Trump will be found guilty in NYC and Bragg will try to imprison him.)

Alternate jurors for Trump’s hush money trial set

Meanwhile, after dismissing two jurors, Merchan swiftly moved through consideration of roughly 200 potential jurors to find a jury pool of 18 by the mid-day of April 19. He already swore in 12 jurors and alternates who will decide Trump’s fate in the hush-money case.

Four women and one man were added to the jury as five of the six alternates for the case. They will sit in the jury box and will hear the duration of the trial, but they will only be put on the jury should one or more of the 12 jurors be excused from the case.

The first alternate juror is a currently unemployed married woman originally from Spain, who does not follow the news and does not have any social media accounts. She claimed she doesn’t “have strong opinions about Trump that would interfere” with her ability to be a fair and impartial juror. The next one is a native New Yorker who is a fan of martial arts. The other one is a married woman who is a contract specialist who has previously lived in New Jersey and Oregon. She said she is “not a big news person” but looks at The New York Times, Reuters and the BBC and is not active on social media.

The other juror is a married woman who works for a clothing company and admits she gets her news from Google. The fifth one is a project manager for a construction company and is divorced with three sons but her current boyfriend is in law enforcement. Her father was convicted of a federal crime when she was in high school.

Check out Trump.news for more stories related to the ongoing legal battle the former president is fighting.

Watch the video below that talks about how Trump won’t be able to get a fair trial in New York.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.