More potential jurors were dismissed Tuesday from Donald’s Trump’s hush money case as lawyers worked for a second day to find a panel of New Yorkers to decide whether the Republican will become the first former president convicted of a crime.
The first day of the historic trial in Manhattan ended Monday with no one yet chosen to be on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates. In short order Tuesday morning, eight others were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Dozens of potential jurors have yet to be questioned.
It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, and it may be the only one to reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether the presumptive GOP presidential nominee should return to the White House.
The trial puts Trump’s legal problems at the center of the closely contested race against President Joe Biden. Trump paints himself as the victim of a politically motivated justice system working to deprive him of another term. It also presents a major test for the criminal justice system because the allegations are being viewed through a partisan lens, and Trump’s attacks on prosecutors and the judge threaten to undermine the public’s faith in the courts.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and the Pacific Northwest on Monday, temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway.
In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading into O’Hare International Airport around 7 a.m. in a demonstration they said was part of a global “economic blockade to free Palestine,” according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organizers.
Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was snarled for hours as demonstrators shut down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and chained themselves to 55-gallon drums filled with cement across Interstate 880 in Oakland. Protesters marching into Brooklyn blocked Manhattan-bound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. In Eugene, Oregon, protesters blocked Interstate 5, shutting down traffic on the major highway for about 45 minutes.
Protesters say they chose O’Hare in part because it is one of the largest airports. Among other things, they’ve called for an immediate cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Anti- war protesters have demonstrated in Chicago near daily since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people. Israeli warplanes and ground troops have since conducted a scorched-earth campaign on the Gaza Strip.
Minnesota Democrats have disavowed a local party chapter’s endorsement of a state House candidate who has a violent criminal history and is accused of stalking and harassing the Republican lawmaker he is challenging.
Judd Hoff was endorsed this month by Democrats in District 12 to run for a central Minnesota seat that has been represented by Republican Rep. Mary Franson of Alexandria since 2011. Republicans were quick Monday to demand that Democrats rescind their backing of Hoff.
“Democrats must withdraw their endorsement of this repeat criminal,” GOP Rep. Josh Heintzeman, of Nisswa, said in a statement. “For years he has harassed and stalked Rep. Franson by digging through her trash, publishing her address and contact information, filming her at her private residence, and relentlessly sending rude and threatening messages online.”
Franson’s district is heavily Republican and is not considered competitive. She won reelection in 2022 with nearly 70% of the vote. She tweeted that she considered Hoff to be dangerous and asked, “Why is this the guy they want as a candidate?”
Ken Martin, chairman of Minnesota’s Democratic Party, said in statement later Monday that the party “strongly disavows this endorsement,” and he asked the local party unit to withdraw its endorsement immediately. He said the state party won’t spend any of its resources to support Hoff.
Owen Larson can be reached at lars6521@stthomas.edu.