Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan began on Monday, marking the first criminal trial of a former president in the history of the nation, the Associated Press reported.
Hundreds of potential jurors from Manhattan received a notice earlier this month to appear at the Manhattan criminal court on Monday to begin the process of determining whether they could fairly and impartially serve on the jury.
In an April 8 filing, Judge Juan Merchan wrote to prospective jurors that the “ultimate issue” was whether they could assure the court that they would “set aside any personal feelings or biases” to “render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law.”
To that end, potential jurors were asked to fill out a questionnaire featuring 42 questions, including standard queries like “Are you a native New Yorker?” and “In what neighborhood do you live?”
Other questions were more specific to Donald Trump, with potential jurors answering questions about their “feelings or opinions” of the former president and how they think he was been treated in the case.
The questionnaire also asked if potential jurors had ever attended a Trump rally or if they or anyone they knew worked on one of Trump’s presidential campaigns or the campaigns of a candidate “affiliated” with Trump.
Potential jurors were also asked if they belonged to any extremist groups like the QAnon movement, Oathkeepers, Proud Boys, Antifa, or Boogaloo Boys.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the purpose of a payment to former fixer Michael Cohen that was used to buy the silence of former adult film actress Stephanie Clifford (AKA Stormy Daniels) ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Last week, an appeals court judge rejected the defense’s last-minute motions to delay the trial, including a request to delay the trial until after a panel from New York’s Appellate Division rules on a change of venue request later this month.
