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Group of Potential Jurors Dismissed on First Day of Trump Criminal Trial

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Group of Potential Jurors Dismissed on First Day of Trump Criminal Trial
Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. Angela Weiss/Pool/Getty Images
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Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. (Angela Weiss - Pool/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. Angela Weiss - Pool/Getty Images
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Former President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he arrives for the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. (Angela Weiss/ Pool/Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he arrives for the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024. Angela Weiss/ Pool/Getty Images
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Former President Donald Trump waves as he departs Trump Tower for Manhattan Criminal Court, to attend the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, in New York City on April 15, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump waves as he departs Trump Tower for Manhattan Criminal Court, to attend the first day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, in New York City on April 15, 2024. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images
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Everything You Need to Know About Trump’s Trial in New York This Week
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Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images

The first of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trials is set to begin on April 15 after New York prosecutors accused him of falsifying business records related to an alleged affair with adult performer Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels.

The trial is occurring on the heels of a $175 million bond payment the former president posted in a civil fraud lawsuit, also in New York.

The impending trial raises the prospect that he could face additional penalties, including a criminal conviction, before the 2024 election.

Trump Makes Accusation Against Judge 1 Day Before ‘Hush-Money’ Trial Begins
Jack Phillips
Trump Makes Accusation Against Judge 1 Day Before ‘Hush-Money’ Trial Begins
(Left) Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York on March 14, 2024. (Right) Former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on March 25, 2024. Seth Wenig/AP Photo; Spencer Platt/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday accused the judge overseeing the “hush-money” case of giving his lawyers a short period of time to review “hundreds of thousands” of documents a day before his New York trial is scheduled to start.

In a post on Truth Social, the former president alleged Judge Juan Merchan is “conflicted” in the case, only giving his team “a short period of time to read and study hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that [Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg illegally hid, disguised, and held back from us.”

“Of course, and as the Judge knows, we need far more time than that,” President Trump added. “They could have started this Fake Biden Trial many years ago, not right in the middle of my campaign for President, and time would not be a problem. This is a blatant and unprecedented attack on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent.”

Jury Selection Process in Trump Criminal Trial Falls Short, Says Legal Expert
Jury Selection Process in Trump Criminal Trial Falls Short, Says Legal Expert
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Jan. 14, 2019. Holly Kellum/NTD

The process of selecting jurors and alternates for the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, on charges related to allegedly falsified business records connected to a “hush money” payment, is highly unlikely to result in a jury that will weigh the evidence and render a verdict objectively, a legal expert has told The Epoch Times.

An April 8 letter from Judge Juan Merchan to defense lawyer Todd Blanche and government prosecutor Joshua Steinglass presents, in full, the questionnaire that prospective jurors in People v. Trump will need to answer during the vetting process beginning on April 15.

While some of the questions on the form directly address potential political biases and animosities on the part of respondents, it conspicuously fails to account for personal and political agendas that jurors are likely to bring with them into the courtroom, making a fair trial an impossibility.

Trump Blasts ‘Communist’ NY Case at Rally Ahead of Criminal Trial
Janice Hisle
Trump Blasts ‘Communist’ NY Case at Rally Ahead of Criminal Trial
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Schnecksville, Pa., on April 13, 2024. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa.—When former President Donald Trump denounced the New York criminal case against him as a “communist show trial,” thousands of people at his April 13 rally here responded with a thunderous chant: “We love Trump!”

“Thank you; I love you, too. ... That’s why I put up with this stuff,” President Trump said, referring to the repeated allegations and investigations he has faced ever since entering politics.

He expressed appreciation for the crowd at the Schnecksville Fire Company Fairgrounds, which he estimated at 42,000 people; most shivered in chilly, damp conditions with gusting winds for at least five hours.

Trump Says He'll Testify in Upcoming Criminal Trial
Trump Says He'll Testify in Upcoming Criminal Trial
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during a joint press conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 12, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

During a joint press conference on April 12 with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), former President Donald Trump said he would testify at his upcoming criminal trial in New York if called to do so.

“I’m testifying, I'll tell the truth,” President Trump said. “I always tell the truth, and the truth is they have no case.”

In a previous press conference, President Trump said he was willing to testify but had added that he expected the trial to be delayed past the April 15 trial date. After three back-to-back rejections from the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court to stay the trial pending appeals, the case is set to go to trial Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.