Trump lashes out on Truth Social as he prepares for start of hush money trial today – The Independent

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Jury selection will get under way in the former president’s first criminal case where he is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a bid to conceal a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016
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Donald Trump will make history once again on Monday morning when he becomes the first American president to ever stand trial on criminal charges.
The former president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a bid to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, in order to silence her over an alleged affair in 2006.
The charges on their own are misdemeanours but have been elevated to felonies because Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg says they were carried out to facilitate another crime – violating state or federal election laws.
Mr Trump denies both the affair and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial will get under way with jury selection at 10am ET in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom.
On Monday morning, Mr Trump instantly unleashed a series of rants on Truth Social blasting “the Biden Manhattan Witch Hunt Case” and claiming he wants “my VOICE back”.
“I want my VOICE back. This Crooked Judge has GAGGED me. Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I am not allowed to talk about them! Rigged Trial!” he wrote.
Just before the weekend, Judge Juan Merchan rejected another Trump attempt to adjourn on the grounds that trial publicity is “exceptionally prejudicial”.
Judge Merchan wrote: “In this County alone, Defendant has had two civil trials, one in State Court and the other in Federal Court. In those two matters, he was personally responsible for generating much, if not most, of the surrounding publicity with his public statements, which were often made just a few steps outside the courtroom where the proceedings were being conducted and with his unrelenting media posts attacking those he perceived to be responsible for his plight. The situation Defendant finds himself in now is not new to him and at least in part, of his own doing.”
Just as that order was publicly filed on Friday, Trump volunteered to testify:
The former president lost yet another 11th hour attempt to stall the trial
The tireless Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is urging Judge Aileen Cannon, presiding over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, to reject Trump’s latest attempt to delay the case against him.
“Each time the Court sets a new deadline in this case and attempts to keep it moving toward trial, the defendants reflexively ask for an adjournment. That must stop,” says Smith in his latest filing.
He’s coming across as increasingly exasperated and who could blame him?
Martha McHardy has more.
‘Each time the Court sets a new deadline in this case and attempts to keep it moving toward trial, the defendants reflexively ask for an adjournment. That must stop’
Alex Woodward reports:
There are only six reporters allowed inside the courtroom during jury selection, so we won’t see the jurors. Their names and identities are also hidden from the parties and the public.
So here’s what the overflow room looks like: It’s typically used as a courtroom, with a judge’s bench and prosecution and defence tables in the front, facing two rows of church-like benches for us. Ten very large square-shaped ceiling lights hang a few feet from the extremely tall ceilings. Between white walls behind the judge’s bench is a wide wooden panel that reaches the ceiling. At the top read the words IN GOD WE TRUST in brass letters. A handful of New York court officers stand at the front of the room and by the doorway.
We’re not able to get in or out once we’re in, so we can’t jump out to see Donald Trump in the hallway.
We might have to get through some unfinished business and Trump-related arguments before the start of jury selection.
Alex Woodward reports from Lower Manhattan:
Hi from inside the overflow room of the 15th floor of New York County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, where I get a view of two large screens broadcasting from the room next door. Cameras there are pointed at Justice Juan Merchan’s bench and the prosecution and defence tables. It’s just about all full in here. There are a few empty seats, including one next to me. Some of us have waited hours, others got lucky.
We’re due to begin jury selection in roughly 40 minutes.
These are the questions for prospective jurors
Eighteen people who live in Manhattan – 12 who will decide the case against the former president, and their six alternates – will be selected, a process that could take several days or weeks.
A note from the judge on the jury questionnaire: “It consists of 42 numbered questions, many of which contain multiple sub-questions, covering all relevant areas of inquiry. Please note, there are no questions asking prospective jurors whom they voted for or intend to vote for, or whom they have made political contributions to. Nor are jurors asked about their specific political party registration, though the answer to that question may easily be gleaned from the responses to the other questions. Counsel is forewarned not to seek to expand the degree of intrusion beyond what is relevant and has already been approved.”
The co-hosts of Fox News’s flagship breakfast show have been doing their man’s dirty work for him again this morning, you may not be entirely surprised to learn.
Incidentally, can there be a clearer image of hypocrisy in existence than this one?
Here’s more from Kelly Rissman.
‘I can’t imagine any objective juror believing anything he has to say,’ a Fox News legal analyst said about Michael Cohen’s credibility
Here’s Ariana Baio to break down Trump’s 2024 calendar of chaos, which grows ever more complicated and exhausting by the day.
Three criminal trials, one civil trial, and 50 primaries all within 11 months. How will Donald Trump manage a presidential campaign and his many legal trials in one year? Ariana Baio breaks it down
Here’s a livestream from the courthouse courtesy of IndyTV.
Watch live from New York City on Monday 15 April as jury selection gets under way in Donald Trump’s first criminal case.
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Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump
Reuters
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