Former President Donald Trump raised over $1 million on Monday during the first day of his Manhattan criminal trial, his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump said.
On Tuesday, Lara Trump, who serves as the co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), appeared on Fox News' Fox & Friends where she criticized the trial against the former president for alleged hush money payments made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
"The people of America spoke up yesterday in support of Donald Trump to the tune of a million and a half dollars raised for his campaign," she said. "The average donation was $28, so even here, in the abysmal Biden economy, people are coming out and they are financially supporting this president."
Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
The Context
On Monday, Trump appeared in a Manhattan court as jury selection began for his criminal trial.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin 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 the daughter of New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case.
What We Know
The first day of the trial focused on jury selection where more than 500 possible jurors from New York filled out questionnaires about their political beliefs. Twelve jurors will be chosen from the pool as well as six alternate jurors.
The process is expected to take one or two weeks.
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 selection process will continue tomorrow.
Views
The former president's son, Eric Trump, who is married to Lara Trump, also made similar comments in the past about his father raising money while appearing in court.
"Every single time he walks into that courtroom, millions and millions of dollars flow in because the American people know exactly what's happening to him," he said last week on Fox & Friends to speak about his father's criminal trial.
What's Next
The jury selection process is expected to take several days as many could continue to be excused.
In addition to the jury selection process, Judge Merchan announced that the court will hear arguments for a potential gag order violation by Trump on April 23. The prosecution introduced a motion to sanction Trump for social media posts that they argue violate his gag order. The prosecution requested Trump be fined $1,000 for each of three potential violations.
Update 4/16/24, 7:37 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 4/16/24, 8:33 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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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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