Seven jurors were selected on Wednesday as jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan moved into the final stretch, the Associated Press reported.
A total of 18 jurors must be sworn in for the case, with Judge Juan Merchan saying he expected opening statements to begin as early as the week of April 22.
CBS News reported that the seven anonymous jurors selected on Wednesday included a sales associate, whom Judge Merchan selected as jury foreman, an oncology nurse, a corporate lawyer, an IT consultant, a middle school teacher, a software engineer, and a civil litigator.
During the jury selection process which began on April 15, prospective jurors were grilled by the prosecution and defense on their social media use, political views, and personal lives to search for possible biases that would prevent them from rendering an impartial verdict.
By Thursday, one of the seven jurors had already been excused after expressing concern about her ability to remain impartial while another was on the brink of being dismissed due to questions about undisclosed conduct.
It was broadly acknowledged in the court that it would be impossible to find jurors who had no knowledge of or familiarity with Donald Trump. The prosecution said last week that the lawyers did not expect to find people who had been “living under a rock for the past eight years.”
Some of the jurors selected did acknowledge their views or opinions of the infamous defendant during questioning.
Juror #4, the IT consultant, described Trump as “fascinating and mysterious.” He told the court that he thought it was “interesting” how Trump was able to “walk into a room” and set people off “one way or the other.”
The middle school teacher (Juror #5) told one of Trump’s lawyers that the former president “speaks his mind,” a characteristic she said she preferred in elected officials.
Jury selection moved much faster than the court had expected, much to Donald Trump’s frustration.
When leaving the courtroom on Tuesday, Trump complained to reporters that Judge Merchan was “rushing” the trial.
