Former President Trump is railing against the amount of times his legal team can veto a potential juror choice for his hush money trial, which kicked off Monday.
“I thought STRIKES were supposed to be ‘unlimited’ when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country. Don’t worry, we have the First Worst also, as the Witch Hunt continues! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform Wednesday morning.
The number of strikes is not unlimited, as Trump said he believed they would be. Under state law, the prosecutors and defense are each allowed to strike 10 potential jurors from sitting on the trial, due to the fact that Trump faces Class E felony charges.
Prosecutor and Trump’s attorneys have each used six of the 10 strikes allotted to them.
The first seven jurors were picked to sit for the former president’s hush money case on Tuesday after the judge, Trump’s legal team and prosecutors narrowed down candidates from the initial group of 96 potential jurors. Potential jurors were required to answer a lengthy questionnaire asking them about personal details including where they lived, where they worked and which outlets they get their news from.
More than half of the initial group was dismissed after they signaled they could not be fair or impartial in the case. There will be a total of 12 jurors picked, with six alternates, in the trial that is expected to take six to eight weeks.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, warned Trump Tuesday he would not put up with any juror intimidation.
“I won’t tolerate that,” Merchan said. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.”
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