Judge rips into Trump for trying to ‘trim’ jury

The judge in Donald Trump’s historic hush money case ripped into the former president after he mumbled and gestured at a potential juror. Judge Juan Merchan asked Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche to ‘talk to him’ about his behavior.

It came as Trump already faces jail time for contempt of court if he violates a gag order that prohibits him from attacking people involved in the case. Addressing Mr Blanche, the judge said: ‘Your client made an audible statement. He gestured and muttered in the direction (of the jurors).’

The judge raised his voice and continued: ‘I will not tolerate that. I don’t want any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. Take a moment and talk to your client about it!’ Trump has already been warned that his fury could see him found in contempt of court for violating a gag order imposed by Judge Merchan.

It prohibits him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family. The prosecution has already asked him for a fine. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump about a decade earlier.

The Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election has pleaded not guilty and denies a meeting took place. On day two of jury selection, Trump and his lawyers got a prospective juror dismissed over a social media post from 2017. The prospective juror had posted on Facebook about Trump, who was president at the time. They wrote: ‘Get him out and lock him up’.

When the prospective juror was called into court to explain himself, he said, “I had strong feelings at the time,” but that he could be impartial today. Judge Merchan said the quote about wanting Trump thrown in jail was a problem. He said: ‘Everyone knows that if Mr Trump is found guilty in this case, there is a potential prison sentence that would be locked up’.

As Trump watched, he shook his head. Judge Merchan said: ‘I don’t think I can allow this juror to remain.’ Judge Merchan went on to deny a request to dismiss a female prospective juror over Facebook posts by her husband, leading to a bizarre sequence in court.

The judge described a meme of a character from ‘The Simpsons’ holding Trump’s head with a picture of Barack Obama in the frame. It had a caption that read: ‘I don’t think that’s what they meant by orange is the new black’.

The judge read out another post, which was a meme with the headline: ‘The Avengers Unite against Donald Trump … and to get Mark Ruffalo naked’. Judge Merchan said that if this was the worst they could find about the jurors, her husband’s submissions, which were ‘humor, albeit not very good humour’, from eight years ago, gave him confidence in the jurors.

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