The beginning of President Trump’s criminal trial in New York truly marks our nation entering uncharted waters, with all precedent, conventional norms, or concepts of decency completely thrown out the window.

As such, the least President Trump and his team can do is fight fire with fire. If the out-of-control Deep State and rogue judges are going to usurp the Constitution with illegitimate gag orders or arcane decisions such as refusing to let President Trump attend his son’s high school graduation, then President Trump should also respond by breaking precedent and proving that he will not play by the old rules either.

President Trump’s request for face-to-face access with the jury who will be deciding his fate is not unreasonable, given the circumstances. He is being tried in New York City specifically because prosecutors and the corrupt Judge Juan Merchan know they are more likely to get a conviction from a jury that is simply biased against President Trump, rather than a fair ruling based on the facts of the case. But, as clearly demonstrated by his recent appearance at an Atlanta Chick-Fil-A, President Trump’s charisma is so strong that even Americans who might not be inclined to support him will at least give him more consideration upon meeting him for themselves.

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Trump’s trial so far: Former president seeks rare face-to-face access with jurors 

By Kaelan Deese

The first day of the highly anticipated hush money trial for Donald Trump got underway in Manhattan on Monday, beginning the thorny process of finding an impartial jury to sit on a trial for the first former president indicted on criminal charges.

Trump made his way to the New York County Criminal Court on Monday morning where he is facing 34 criminal charges for allegedly falsifying business records, an alleged effort to hide hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair she claims he had with her in 2006. The night before may have been sleepless for the former president, who at times could be seen with his eyes closed during the first full day in court.

Although no video or cameras were permitted inside the courtroom during the proceedings, information about the trial was able to be relayed near-instantaneously with the help of reporters inside the courtroom. While the only words Trump could be heard speaking were mostly muttered to his attorneys, he frequently spoke to the camera outside the courtroom and offered bystanders a thumbs-up when asked how he was doing.

Unlike the former president’s previous jury trial in the defamation case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, Trump won’t be allowed to ditch the court throughout the multiweek event.

“If you read all of the legal pundits, all of the legal scholars today, there’s not one that I see that said this is a case that should be brought for a trial. It’s a scam,” Trump told reporters Monday afternoon while lamenting he couldn’t be campaigning and was forced to miss his son Barron’s high school graduation.

Other times throughout the day, Trump closed his eyes as New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan worked his way through the jury poll and asked up to 42 questions of each person. Following an afternoon recess, members of the press debated in online channels about whether Trump at one point was dozing off or merely resting his eyes.

Here are the top takeaways from the historic first day in court:

Prosecutors want to fine Trump $3,000 for gag order violation

Upon his arrival at the courthouse at 9:30 a.m., Trump decried the entire trial as an “assault on America” and used his Truth Social media account to criticize witnesses.

Trump’s recent attacks on his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, a key witness to the prosecution, became a focus of the first hours of the trial on Monday morning. Prosecutors asked Merchan to hold Trump in contempt and fine him $3,000 for violating the gag order. They also asked to use the attacks as evidence in the actual trial if Trump seeks to discredit Cohen’s testimony. 

Merchan established there would be an April 23 hearing to determine if Trump violated a gag order against attacking people involved in the trial.

Trump wants to get face-to-face with prospective jurors

Trump is undergoing the jury selection process that could take up to two weeks, though it’s the first and arguably the most important part of the nearly two-month trial ahead.

Because of this, Trump made the unusual request through his attorneys to be up close and personal with possible jurors for sidebar questioning. Merchan noted the process could get awkward for a multitude of reasons, noting Trump’s Secret Service detail would also be following along throughout the process.

Criminal defendants in New York are permitted to participate in sidebars because the state has long recognized so-called “Antommarchi rights.” Trump has the right to be present during all stages of relevant questions presented to prospective jurors, including when a judge has a sidebar to discuss a private matter with one of them, so that he can even see their facial reactions to the discussions.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the judge his client “wants to be present at everything.”

Nine qualified potential jurors have been selected

The first day resulted in nine qualified potential jurors being selected, which marks about a quarter of the total number of people who must be deemed qualified to serve on the jury based on a detailed questionnaire that asks questions including what type of news they consume and whether they’ve ever been associated with the “QAnon movement” or if they have ever joined an “anti-Trump group.”

Ultimately, the field of jurors needs to be narrowed down to 12 jurors and six alternates, and the court is expected to begin vetting around 100 possible jurors at a time in the courtroom.

Merchan spent the morning housekeeping and fielding motions

Meanwhile, Merchan reaffirmed his previous ruling that Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood tape could not be used by prosecutors, but the transcript of the audio is allowed to be read.

The strategy behind prosecutors using the transcript would be to show the jury evidence of Trump’s rhetoric about women and why he might need to pay a woman like Daniels or former Playboy model Karen McDougal to stay quiet about an alleged affair.

Merchan also denied a request from the defense team for him to recuse himself from the case and issued a warning to Trump against violating his gag order, which also covers the judge’s family.

Trump has gone after the judge’s daughter Loren for her work at Authentic Campaigns, a Chicago-based progressive firm that rakes in millions of dollars from top clients, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, and the Senate Majority PAC, a major Democratic fundraising arm.

Once the jury pool left the courtroom Monday afternoon, Merchan rejected a request by Trump to be excused from the New York trial so he could attend April 25 oral arguments on the immunity claim he has raised in another one of his criminal cases, the federal indictment over an alleged attempt to subvert the 2020 election results.

Read the original article at Washington Examiner