POLITICO Nightly: How much do we really know about the Trump jury?

BY CALDER MCHUGH Former President Donald Trump returns to the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, April 16, 2024. | Pool photo by Justin Lane MANHATTAN PROJECT — The first week of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial has concluded and a full jury has been chosen — twelve jurors and six alternates. Beginning next week, they’ll put to the test Trump’s contention that he can’t get a fair trial in liberal Manhattan. What we’ve learned after a week filled almost entirely with the process of jury selection is that the jurors appear to represent a reasonable cross section of the kind of people you generally find in Manhattan. There’s a salesperson from West Harlem, an engineer from the Upper West Side, a businessman from Murray Hill, two lawyers, two people who work in education and two people who work in finance. That’s in addition to a health care worker, a product manager, and a tech worker. Many of them get their news from their hometown paper, The New York Times. Three are married without kids (who can afford them in New York these days)? And many of them come from elsewhere: Ohio, Oregon, California, even Ireland. One juror, who was seated after Trump’s legal team had used up all of their peremptory challenges, says that she “doesn’t like [Trump’s] persona, how he presents himself in public.” But she made sure to add, eliciting laughs in court, that “I don’t like some of my co-workers, but I don’t try to sabotage their work.” Based solely on the demographic makeup of these jurors, they largely code as Democratic voters. That’s no surprise. Manhattan voted in favor of Joe Biden over Trump by 87 percent to 12 percent. It has one of the most liberal jury pools in the country. While all of the jurors (and the alternates) say that they can be impartial and unbiased about the facts of the case, many are sure to know and have some opinion of Trump (not only as the former president, but also as a former famous Manhattanite himself) that might get in the way. His legal team is acutely aware of it. During jury selection, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche repeatedly brought up potential jurors’ old social media posts that appeared to be pro-Democrat or anti-Trump in an attempt to dismiss them for cause, allowing Blanche to save his precious peremptory challenges. Trump’s last experience with a Manhattan jury didn’t go so well. At the conclusion of his defamation case against E. Jean Carroll in January, Trump was ordered by the jury to pay $83.3 million in damages. This latest group of 12 is certainly different from the group of nine that hit Trump in the wallet. And a criminal trial is altogether different and higher stakes than a civil one. But there are already clear signs that the former president doesn’t trust them to be any different. Not long after his indictment last year, Trump complained about it on social media. “Very unfair venue, with some areas that voted 1% Republican. This case should be moved to nearby Staten Island—would be a very fair and secure location for the trial,” he posted on Truth Social, referring to the most Republican borough of New York City. Today, he again took to Truth Social, this time to attack the judge and prosecutor. “Judge Merchan is ‘railroading’ me, at breakneck speed, in order to completely satisfy his ‘friends.’ Additionally, he has ‘GAGGED’ me so that I cannot talk about the most important of topics, including his totally disqualifying conflict of interest, and taking away my Constitutional Right of Free Speech.” Every single day this week, Trump has suggested the trial is rigged, the judge has conflicts of interest, New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg is corrupt and more. He hasn’t provided evidence to back up any of these claims, but that’s not the point. The posts are there to dismiss the trial as unserious and signal to his supporters that he’s being tried solely as a political tactic. While Trump’s legal team will be forced to win in court, Trump is fighting a bigger political war on the trial. In response, prosecutors are asking Judge Merchan to hold Trump in contempt for violating the gag order that prohibits him from commenting on witnesses, jurors and other people involved in the case. Merchan has scheduled a hearing for next week where Trump will have to show cause as to why he shouldn’t be held in contempt. We’ve only just finished jury selection — Trump is going to have a lot more thoughts as the trial begins in front of the jury next week. But in a Manhattan courtroom, he’s far from his base. As opening statements begin Monday and witnesses are called over the next few weeks, Trump and his legal team will have to play to a group of 12 people who might not be walking into the courtroom as his biggest fans. That will dictate their strategy. And unless Trump testifies, which appears unlikely, he’ll be forced to do something that doesn’t come easy to him — sit in silence. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh .   THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. 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Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY .     TRUMP ON TRIAL SELF-IMMOLATION — A man who set himself on fire across the street from Donald Trump’s trial is in critical condition, officials said.  The New York Police Department identified the man as Maxwell Azzarello of St. Augustine, Florida. Officials believe he traveled from Florida to New York sometime in the past week. Azzarello, who was born in 1987, walked into Collect Pond Park near the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse around 1:30 p.m., according to police. He removed pamphlets from a book bag, threw them around the park and pulled out a canister, pouring liquid on his body and lighting himself on fire. Azzarello appears to have posted a long, conspiracy theory-laden statement on Substack earlier today, titled “I have set myself on fire outside the Trump trial.” CIVIL VS. CRIMINAL — If Donald Trump takes the witness stand in his own defense, his lawyers want to limit what prosecutors can ask him about under cross-examination. Prosecutors and defense lawyers argued about the issue this afternoon. In particular, defense attorney Emil Bove raised several recent civil lawsuits that Trump has lost and requested that Justice Juan Merchan not allow prosecutors to introduce them if they are given the opportunity to grill Trump under oath. The civil suits include E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against Trump, New York Attorney General Tish James’ civil fraud case against Trump and his business associates, and a failed lawsuit that Trump himself filed against Hillary Clinton in Florida. WHAT'D I MISS? — Pentagon prepares to send artillery, air defenses to Ukraine as House approaches vote: The Pentagon is preparing to quickly approve a weapons package for Ukraine that includes urgently needed artillery and air defenses as Congress lines up votes to pass additional funding for the country, according to two U.S. officials. The Biden administration has not made a final decision on how large the tranche would be and what will be in it, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to speak about sensitive internal deliberations. But Defense Department officials are working on putting together a package of U.S. equipment that can move quickly through the bureaucratic process once the legislation passes and is signed by the president, one of the officials said. — Durbin squares off against Biden administration on spy powers amendment: It’s not often the Senate whip finds himself at odds with his own party’s administration , yet the controversial surveillance bill has prompted that exact split — with only hours left until the law expires. The Biden administration is moving to crush an amendment from Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that would prohibit access to American communications without a warrant. Durbin said this week that he will not be able to support reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s section 702 program, which allows warrantless surveillance of foreign targets, without changes. The program incidentally sweeps up information from Americans, which has worried privacy advocates in both parties for years. — Biden moves to limit oil drilling and mineral mining in Alaska: The Interior Department made a series of moves today putting millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness outside the reach of oil drilling and critical mineral mining , drawing praise from environmental and conservation groups and native tribes while angering Republican lawmakers. The moves show the Biden administration continuing its efforts to win favor with the environmental voters put off by his administration’s approval of the massive Willow oil project in Alaska and its defense of an oil pipeline running through the Strait of Mackinac in Michigan. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 President Joe Biden points to a member of the audience as he departs after speaking at a campaign event at the Scranton Cultural Center on Tuesday. | Alex Brandon/AP FLORIDA MAN — President Joe Biden will deliver an abortion-focused speech in Florida next week , capitalizing on a looming abortion ban there to make a broader case for reproductive rights, reports NBC News. At a campaign event in Tampa on Tuesday, Biden is expected to tie the 2024 election to access to reproductive rights across the country. WE DON’T KNOW HIM — Several of the nation’s top environmental groups publicly disavowed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , calling the independent presidential candidate and former green group leader a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier” who could pave the way for former President Donald Trump’s reelection. The remarks in a letter today amount to a sharp rebuke of Kennedy, who until 2020 led environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, but whose views casting doubt on the effectiveness of vaccines had long caused a rift with other green organizations. AROUND THE WORLD ‘LIMITED STRIKE’ — Israel launched a strike on Iran early today in what appeared to be a limited response to Tehran’s drone and missile assault last weekend, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the discussions. The retaliatory strike was designed to be “limited” in scope in order to avoid a wider regional war, said the person familiar. The people were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. Both Iran and Israel seemed to want to prevent escalation in the hours after the strike. Israel has not claimed responsibility or commented, while Iranian officials have played down the attack. Iranian media reported that sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program had not been damaged. Iranian officials said the country’s air defense systems in the cities of Isfahan and Tabriz shot down a “suspicious object” that did not cause any damage, state media reported overnight. The comments came after explosions were heard close to a military airbase near Isfahan, home to Iran’s fleet of F-14 Tomcat fighter jets. The city is also home to facilities associated with Iran’s nuclear program. Iran did not identify the source of the strike.   POLITICO IS BACK AT THE 2024 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO will again be your eyes and ears at the 27th Annual Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles from May 5-8 with exclusive, daily, reporting in our Global Playbook newsletter. Suzanne Lynch will be on the ground covering the biggest moments, behind-the-scenes buzz and on-stage insights from global leaders in health, finance, tech, philanthropy and beyond. Get a front-row seat to where the most interesting minds and top global leaders confront the world’s most pressing and complex challenges — subscribe today .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 100,000 The number of attorneys and volunteers Donald Trump’s campaign plans to deploy across battleground states to monitor — and potentially challenge — vote counting in November . The campaign and the Republican National Committee describe the initiative as “the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history.” RADAR SWEEP GOT INFLUENCERS? — If you’ve watched TV or flipped through a magazine in recent decades, you’ve probably seen advertising from organizations that want you to consume more of whatever agricultural product they represent—from dairy (Got Milk?) to California raisins (I Heard It Through the Grapevine) to beef (It’s What’s for Dinner). But in recent years, a new genre of food industry ads has grown on social media — influencers shilling blueberries, butter, and much more — and it’s operating in legal and ethical gray areas, writes Tim Forster for Bon Appetit. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1994: French U.N. troops prepare their vehicles for a multinational U.N. convoy into Gorazde at Sarajevo's airport. The convoy departed for the besieged Bosnian enclave. | Peter Northall/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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