On Friday, former President Trump characterized the approaching jury selection in his first criminal trial as “largely luck”.
Trump was questioned about his hush money trial, which starts on Monday in New York, at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
“Jury selection is largely luck,” the former president said. “It depends on who you get. It’s really unjust that I’m on trial there.”
The multi-step jury selection process will begin Monday morning, with hundreds of potential jurors being called to the courtroom. They will be reduced to a list of 12 jurors and six alternates. Each party may challenge jurors for cause, and they will be restricted in the amount of strikes they may use without stating a justification.
The former president said on Friday that he may testify at the trial once it begins, as he has already stated.
Yeah, I would testify, absolutely,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago. “This is a hoax. It’s a swindle; that’s not a trial.”
If Trump refuses to testify, jurors cannot hold him accountable.
Trump’s legal team has pulled out all the brakes to postpone the approaching trial until the last minute, but four different courts have denied the former president’s postponement requests only this week.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) has accused Trump of falsifying business documents when he paid his former fixer, Michael Cohen, for a 2016 hush payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump, who denies the affair, has pleaded not guilty.
