April 16 (UPI) — The second day of Donald Trump‘s trial over the alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels got underway Tuesday in New York
Arriving at court ahead of Tuesday’s trial proceedings, Trump called the trial a “disgrace” while speaking to reporters outside Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom.
Trump had, he said, paid “a lawyer and he marked it down as a legal expense, I didn’t know” as he spoke about why he believes he did nothing wrong, adding how instead of being on the campaign trail in “Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states,” he must be in court as he falsely blamed President Joe Biden for bringing charges against him.
“This is all coming from the White House, because the guy can’t put two sentences together. He can’t campaign, he’s using this in order to try to win an election, and it’s not working that way,” Trump said.
Jury selection continued throughout the morning in the Manhattan court for the hush-money trial in which the former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
One potential juror had been excused when he admitted that his ability to be impartial was “probably going to be tough,” noting his Texas roots and a circle of friends who he said identify as registered Republican voters as a possible bias.
“A lot of people tend to intellectually slant Republican…so there could be some unconscious bias,” the dismissed potential juror, an accounting firm partner who was married and had no children, said to Merchan.
Trump is accused of making hush-money payments to adult film actress Daniels, who was born Stephanie Clifford, in an attempt to cover up an alleged affair. He is also charged with falsifying records to hide the payments made when he campaigned for the presidency in 2016 and into his first term as president.
On Monday, more than half of the 96 potential jurors were quickly dismissed, with many signifying that they would be unable to serve.
Trump is required to be present at the trial which began before 10 a.m. local time Monday. It could last up to eight weeks.
The prosecution had also asked Merchan to sanction Trump over an alleged gag order violation.
Next week, Merchan will rule on the gag order sanction request that seeks for Trump to be fined $1,000 for each post that allegedly violate the gag order. A hearing over the request was set for April 24 but Merchan moved it up a day to April 23.