Former prosecutor: Here’s what Alvin Bragg is doing right now to prepare for Trump’s trial

12 April 2024

Former President Donald Trump's upcoming criminal trial in Manhattan, New York will be a historic first: It's not only the first of Trump's four upcoming criminal trials, but it's the first time ever a former occupant of the White House will stand trial for alleged felonies.

Jury selection in Trump's trial will begin this Monday, April 15, where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team will screen prospective jurors to eventually decide whether to convict the 45th president of the United States on any of the 34 felony counts he is currently facing. In a Friday interview with MSNBC host Chris Jansing, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner laid out what's likely going on behind the scenes as Bragg prepares for the trial.

"This is not a science, this is an art," Kirschner said. "What people are gonna be looking for is, one, making sure there are no moles sneaking onto the jury with nefarious intent, trying to get on there for some ideological reason, and the prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges are usually pretty good at sniffing them out."

Kirschner elaborated that while jury selection alone can't win a trial, it can definitely lose one if prosecutors don't proceed carefully with picking jurors. He noted that while some prosecutors have personal preferences about whether to allow people from professions like lawyers and clergy members on juries, the most important factor is whether a juror can render an impartial verdict.

"Ultimately, we want people who can be fair and impartial, who can divorce from their mind anything that they might know about Donald Trump and these alleged offenses and decide this case only on the evidence they see during the course of the trial," he added.

Trump is accused of orchestrating a "hush money" scheme that involved buying the silence of women claiming they had extramarital affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election. According to Bragg, this was specifically done to prevent the women from going public with their stories and potentially dooming Trump's presidential aspirations. Bragg's indictment further alleges that the former president falsified business records to conceal the payments.

While falsification of business records is typically a misdemeanor charge in New York, Bragg escalated the charges to felonies on the argument that the hush money payments were actually campaign expenditures far in excess of what is allowed under current law. Among the witnesses Bragg is likely to call include adult film star and director Stormy Daniels, former Trump attorney and "fixer" Michael Cohen and even Hope Hicks, who was once a close personal confidant of Trump who served in his White House's press office.

Kirschner told Jansing that Bragg is likely preparing each witness for cross-examination by familiarizing them with "every text message" and "every email" that may come up during the trial, and rehearsing his own opening statements with fellow prosecutors and colleagues.

The Manhattan trial remains the only one of Trump's criminal proceedings with a definitive date on the books prior to Election Day, meaning whatever verdict emerges could be the only criminal verdict to emerge before voters go to the polls in November. Because the charges were filed in the State of New York, Trump would not be able to have his appointed attorney general dismiss any potential conviction even if he wins the election.

Trump's two federal trials are currently on hold: The classified documents trial in the Southern District of Florida is still in limbo, with Judge Aileen Cannon still not scheduling a trial date as of Friday. The former president's election interference trial in the District of Columbia — where Kirschner served as an assistant US attorney — is on hold pending the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's argument of absolute broad presidential immunity. And Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee has not yet picked a date for Trump's election interference trial in Georgia.

Watch the video of Kirschner's remarks below, or by clicking this link.

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