Trump’s New York Jury
Scanning the WSJ front page, I came across the headline “Meet the 12 New Yorkers Who Will Decide Donald Trump’s Fate in Hush-Money Trial.” Thankfully, this wasn’t a doxxing but a fairly vague listing of descriptions. Alas, it did very little to assuage my concern that these are indeed people who wanted to be on this particular jury.
This is a direct quote with redactions of seemingly irrelevant information and some minor editing for formatting:
Juror 12 on Trump: “I have no opinions until I am presented with the information in the courtroom.”
Gender: Woman
Job: Physical therapist
News sources: CNN, among others; listens to sports and faith podcasts
Juror 11 on Trump: “How he is in public and how he himself portrays himself in public…it is not my cup of tea.”
Gender: Woman
Job: Product development at an apparel company
News sources: Nightly news
Juror 10: “I don’t have a strong opinion about Mr. Trump.”
Gender: Man
Employer: E-commerce company
News sources: Doesn’t follow the news, “but if anything, it’s the New York Times.”
Juror 9 on Trump: “I do not agree with a lot of his politics and his decisions as president, but…I could leave that at the door and be a totally impartial juror.”
Gender: Woman
Job: Speech therapist
News sources: New York Times, TikTok and other social-media platforms
Juror 8: “I don’t think too much about politics.”
Gender: Man
Job: Retired, previously worked in wealth management
News sources: BBC, CNBC, among other outlets
Juror 7: “I have political views as to the Trump presidency…I don’t have any particular opinions about him personally.”
Gender: Man
Job: Lawyer
News sources: New York Times and The Wall Street Journal
Juror 6: “Trump and I probably have different beliefs, but I don’t think that invalidates anything about who he is as a person.”
Gender: Woman
Job: Software engineer
News sources: TikTok, Facebook and the New York Times
Juror 5: “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.”
Gender: Woman
Job: Teacher at a charter school
News sources: Google and TikTok; “I don’t like news or newspapers.”
Does Juror 4 have strong feelings about Trump? “No, not really.”
Gender: Man
Job: Security engineer for 25 years
News sources: “Scattering of all things here and there.”
Juror 3: “I don’t think I need to read someone’s mind to determine their intent or at least make a good guess as to it.”
Gender: Man
Job: Lawyer
News sources: The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times
Has Juror 1 heard of the other criminal cases against Trump? “I’ve heard of some of them.”
Juror 2 on Trump: “I might not like some of his policies, but there has been some good for the United States.”
Gender: Man
Job: Investment banker
News sources: He reads “basically everything,” and follows Michael Cohen, Trump and “anyone who might affect markets” on social media
Has Juror 1 heard of the other criminal cases against Trump? “I’ve heard of some of them.”
So, offhand, it would appear that Jurors 2 and 5 are Trump fans.
And, frankly, a whole lot of them are almost certainly lying about not having opinions about Trump personally. I suppose that’s possible if you ignore the news entirely or get it primarily from TikTok. But for someone who regularly reads the New York Times? Bullshit.
And there’s just no way in hell that the two lawyers—a suspiciously high number—don’t already have strong opinions about Trump and this case.
Juror 12’s “I have no opinions until I am presented with the information in the courtroom” sounds like someone who was coached on how to be selected. Why she wants to be on the jury is unclear. Her listening to “faith podcasts” for news would seem to be a sign that she’s a Trumper. But she also claims to be a CNN viewer, so who knows?
As noted when selection was getting away, I don’t think this is a fixable problem. Trump is as high-profile a defendant as one could imagine and almost certainly the single most polarizing figure in the country. Finding 12 people who are smart enough to process the information presented to them and who don’t have strong opinion about him is next to impossible.
To be sure, it’s possible to both have a strong opinion about Trump and to be fair-minded in the hearing of his case. I’m reasonably confident that I could do so. But, again, I would do everything within the bounds of ethics to avoid having to spend several weeks in that courtroom. These are 12 people who, for whatever reason, want to be part of this particular trial.