An ex-employee of Ivanka Trump ended up in the pool of prospective jurors in former President Donald Trump's civil lawsuit against journalist E. Jean Carroll.
The jury for the civil damages trial was selected Tuesday, with Donald Trump appearing in the New York City courtroom just days after closing arguments wrapped up in his civil business fraud trial last week, a case in which he also maintains his innocence.
A New York City jury in May found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation against Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist who has accused him of assaulting her in a New York City department store changing room in the mid-1990s. Carroll's attorneys are seeking an additional $10 million in damages after the former president said she was lying about her accusations, saying he has no idea who Carroll is and that she was not his "type." Trump maintains his innocence in the case.
One of the prospective jurors was a former employee of Ivanka Trump, the former president's daughter, according to Molly Crane-Newman, a journalist for the New York Daily News who reported on the jury selection Tuesday.
"A woman says she worked for Ivanka Trump's company doing communications work in 2017/18 and also says it won't impact her ability to be fair to both sides," Crane-Newman posted to X, formerly Twitter.
The prospective juror's identity, nor her position for Ivanka Trump, has not been made public. It is unclear if she was one of the nine jurors selected.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the potential juror's former employment under Ivanka Trump would not be enough to have her removed from the case.
"Ivanka isn't a party to the case, or even a witness, in the case against Donald Trump," Rahmani said. "If the potential [juror] says she can't be fair and impartial, that would be grounds for the judge to remove her for cause. But otherwise, the lawyers will have to use one of their limited peremptory strikes to get rid of the juror."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign and Carroll's attorney via email for comment.
Among other prospective jurors were a man who says he was worked on cases at the law firm of Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's attorney, a woman who works on policy advocacy work and has spoken at the White House, and a woman who worked with a moving company that previously worked with Trump buildings.
All prospective jurors said they could remain fair if selected, but it remained unclear whether they were picked.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the trial will likely last three to five days, with testimony beginning Wednesday. Opening statements were Tuesday. Jurors will decide how much money Trump may have to pay to Carroll for his remarks.
Trump appeared in the courtroom for jury selection and appeared to shake his head after Judge Kaplan said it has been determined Trump "did sexually assault Ms. Carroll."
Judge Kaplan had rejected Trump's attorneys' request to postpone Thursday's proceedings so Trump could attend his mother-in-law's funeral in Florida. Trump is under no obligation to attend the trial. According to Trump's campaign website, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has a campaign event scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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