Ex-federal prosecutor: Here’s what needs to be done to protect identities of Trump jurors

18 April 2024

On Thursday, one of the seated jurors in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial was excused amid concerns her identity could be revealed. A former federal prosecutor is suggesting that questions used to screen jurors be fine-tuned in order to better protect their anonymity.

The juror — an oncology nurse — told Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing trial proceedings, that she was concerned she could no longer be impartial, and that friends and family had been asking her if she was selected for the jury. After the juror was dismissed, Merchan instructed journalists to not publish jurors' answers to questions about their current and former employers. Those answers are also being redacted from public courtroom transcripts.

In a recent segment on MSNBC, former US Attorney Barbara McQuade — who served in the Eastern District of Michigan during the Obama administration — said both the prosecution and the defense should tweak their screening questions so jurors' identities won't become public knowledge.

"Revealing things like not only the community where they live, but where they work, and where they worked previously, there's enough information out there for which members of the public can reasonably conclude who these people are," McQuade said. "They're going to have to start asking these questions in more generic terms."

"Asking more about the nature of their work rather than the identity of the employer is probably all they need to be able to assess this person's suitability for this case," she added.

Another juror was also let go after it became known that he was previously arrested for tearing down political posters. With the two jurors being dismissed, that means there are now just five jurors who have been impaneled. The trial can't officially kick off until 12 jurors and six alternates have been seated. Jury selection is ongoing on Thursday, with the goal of all 18 spots being filled in time for opening statements in the trial to begin next week.

The former president has lately been attacking the jury selection process on his Truth Social platform. On Wednesday, he complained about not being able to have the ability to unilaterally dismiss any number of jurors for any reason.

"I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country," he wrote.

The Manhattan trial is the first of the ex-president's four upcoming criminal trials. And because the other three don't yet have firm dates scheduled, the ongoing trial could be the only one that concludes with a jury verdict prior to the November election.

Trump is defending himself against 34 felony counts of falsifying business records relating to payments he made to women buying their silence in 2016. While the act of paying hush money isn't a crime on its own, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is arguing that the payments were illegal campaign contributions since they were allegedly made in the furtherance of his presidential campaign.

Watch McQuade's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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