Former President Donald Trump raged at New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday before heading into a Manhattan courtroom.
"We have a Trump-hating judge. We have a judge who shouldn't be on this case, he's totally conflicted but this is a trial that should never happen," Trump said. "This is a sham trial and the judge should recuse himself."
The second day of Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan is expected to begin on Tuesday following an indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for alleged hush money payments made to ex-adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Newsweek reached out to the New York State Supreme Court via email for comment.
The Context
Bragg indicted Trump in April 2023, accusing the former president of "repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."
The former president has continued to deny any wrongdoing in the case and was previously placed under a gag order after criticizing Merchan's daughter.
What We Know
Jury selection for Trump's criminal trial began on Monday, and over 500 New Yorkers were asked an array of questions, including their political beliefs. The first group of 96 potential jurors made their way into the courtroom today and were sworn in. More than 50 were dismissed fairly quickly for saying they could not be fair and impartial. A handful of others were excused when asked if there was another reason they could not serve. Those reasons were not disclosed.
The process is expected to take one or two weeks.
Views
On Monday, the prosecution in Trump's case filed a motion to sanction Trump for possibly violating a gag order. The prosecution requested Trump be fined $1,000 for each of three potential violations.
Merchan set a date of April 23 to hear arguments on Trump possibly violating the gag order.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said, "Alvin Bragg's case against Trump rests on the ludicrous legal premise that a candidate must use *campaign* funds to make personal hush money payments."
"Yet if Trump had done that, they'd undoubtedly be going after him for that. This isn't the pursuit of justice, it's a political persecution that is tearing our country apart," Ramaswamy wrote.
What's next:
The jury selection process is expected to take several days as many could continue to be excused. Court will not be in session on Wednesdays throughout the duration of the hush money trial.
Update 4/16/24, 9:55 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 4/16/24, 10:46 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
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