By Javier Otazu - EFE
New York.- The trial against Donald Trump, the first criminal trial in the history of the United States against a former president (2017-2021), begins tomorrow, Monday, with jury selection, a moment that in other processes is a mere formality but In this case it already has a political charge.
Trump will sit on the bench for irregular payments of $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence during the 2016 election campaign and to prevent an extramarital relationship that the magnate had with her in 2006, when he had not entered, from being aired. still in politics.
The twelve members of the jury, as is usual in any judicial process, must demonstrate that they literally have no prejudices about the accused or preconceived ideas that could cloud their verdict, something difficult with a personality as divisive as Donald Trump.
Jury selection can take up to two weeks, in which potential members must pass the scrutiny of the defense and the Prosecutor's Office, which will investigate, for example, whether any of them have participated as volunteers in campaigns for or against Trump. but also for more difficult to gauge issues such as whether his feelings towards the accused can influence his decisions.
The New York Times newspaper claimed a few days ago that the Prosecutor's Office prefers jurors with university education, who are assumed to have progressive opinions that are closer to the Democratic Party, and therefore more severe towards the former president.
On the contrary, the defense will rely on citizens from security forces such as the police and firefighters – where conservative sensitivities abound – and even cleaning workers, as well as people who have had some negative experience with the judicial system.
It is no coincidence that on March 28, the same day that the Democratic Party brought together Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in New York for a fundraising event, Trump chose to counteract them with his presence at the funeral of the Police officer Jonathan Diller, shot dead at point-blank range in the umpteenth armed incident in the Big Apple.
In a city that is initially disaffected by Donald Trump – the Democratic Party always sweeps New York – the issue of insecurity is being profusely exploited by the Republican candidate, who does not hesitate to link armed violence with the wave of immigration and policies ( of the city and the country) of tolerance towards newcomers.
Gag order against Trump
The judge who will handle the most media case of the decade, Juan Merchan (of Colombian origin) has not hesitated when it comes to decreeing a gag order against Trump himself, a relatively common tool in the US judicial system and which consists in prohibiting an accused from making public comments – including on social networks – about those involved in his trial.
In the case that begins tomorrow, the measure requires Trump to refrain from making comments about witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court personnel, as well as their family members; That same order was expanded on April 1 to include the judge himself and his family, as well as prosecutor Alvin Bragg.
The former president had been playing with fire by attacking Loren Merchan, daughter of the magistrate, on his Truth Social network, who - he wrote - “earns money working to 'catch Trump'”, and said of his own father that he was “a real and certified Trump 'hater' who suffers from a severe case of insanity syndrome” against him.
Merchan, like other judges who have ruled against Trump in recent months – the case of Judge Arthur Engoron – are part, according to him, of a radical leftist conspiracy that has unleashed a 'witch hunt' against Trumpism, the preferred expression with the that Trump presents himself as a victim of the system.