Zinger Key Points
- Old social media posts and the use of social media as a news source were key topics during jury questioning Tuesday.
- The first seven of 18 needed jurors were selected in the Donald Trump hush money criminal trial.
A criminal trial against former President Donald Trump kicked off Monday, April 15 with jury selection and an outline of what's to come for the case.
On Tuesday, the jury selection process continued and the social media accounts of prospective candidates took center stage.
What Happened: On Tuesday, the first seven jurors in the criminal trial against Trump were chosen, as part of the process that will decide if the former president is guilty of alleged hush money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan swore in the jurors who passed the approval process as part of a lengthy process that saw dozens of potential candidates rejected based on not being able to be impartial in the trial or for old social media posts and follows revealed in court, as reported by NBC News.
The jurors were told to return on Monday, April 22 at 9:30 a.m. ET with Merchan assuming the full jury will be selected by then. A total of 18 approved jurors is needed for the case with 12 jurors and six alternates.
While names and ages are not public, court reporters have provided brief descriptions of the seven jurors, which are as follows:
Male: works as a waiter and in sales, likes the outdoors, gets his news from The New York Times, Fox News and MSNBC
Female: works as oncology nurse, engaged and enjoys spending time with family and friends, gets her news from The New York Times, CNN, Google and Facebook
Male: works as an attorney, likes to run and hike, gets news from The New York Times, Google and The Wall Street Journal
Male: works in IT training and consulting, married and has grandchildren, gets news from New York Daily News, New York Times, Google and X
Female: teacher, likes to travel, gets news from TikTok and Google
Female: software engineer, gets news from The New York Times, Facebook, TikTok and Google
Gender not revealed at press time: North Carolina-born attorney is a civil litigator, lives on the Upper East Side and listens to “Car Talk.”
Merchan also brought in another group of 96 potential jurors who will return to court to resume the jury selection process at 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday. The potential jurors were told not to discuss the case with anyone or to read news related to the case.
Related Link: Trump Hush Money Trial Draws Reaction From Congressman, Talk Show Hosts: ‘Worse Than Anything Richard Nixon Ever Did’
Social Media Takes Center Stage: A large number of potential jurors said they get their news from various social media platforms such as Meta Platforms Inc META-owned Facebook, TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk.
While potential jurors were asked where they get their news from, past postings on social media also came into play by lawyers in the case when deciding who could be impartial in the trial against Trump.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche challenged several potential jurors about posts on social media.
"Trump indicted in documents case, No one is above the law," were comments made by a potential juror on social media that Blanche shared in court. Merchan struck the juror candidate for cause.
Another juror was questioned over an anti-Trump post made by her husband on social media in 2015. Merchan allowed the juror to stay in the process and told Blanche that jurors need to be asked if they can be fair and impartial instead of digging up old posts.
There were old posts that did lead to dismissal though, including a 2017 Facebook post made by a potential juror against Trump.
"Good news!! Trump lost his court battle on his unlawful travel ban!!!. Get him out and lock him up," the 2017 post read.
One social media post became a controversial topic over what was meant.
"I have to get in the car and spread the honking cheers. There's an actual party on 96th Street," the person posted.
Blanche took exception as the post was made the Saturday after the 2020 presidential election, which saw Joe Biden defeat Trump. Blanche told Merchan that the posts showed the juror expressing their opinion about Trump, which led to additional clarification by the juror.
"I think I was going to my car for alternate side of the street parking. And there were people honking in the street," the potential juror said comparing the event to people cheering for health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This potential juror exchange led to the X account EndWokeness posting that the "juror who joined a Biden election victory parade is NOT qualified off the jury against Trump."
"The reason? Because the juror claims she thought it was a celebration of essential workers…." the X account said.
The post generated a response from Elon Musk, who replied, "This doesn't seem just."
Social media was the star of the second day of the trial and could be the star again on Thursday as more old social media posts by potential jurors are found. The trial could serve as a reminder that old posts on social media don't disappear and could someday be made public again.
Image created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney using a Zolnierek photo from Shutterstock.
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