(NewsNation) — Seven people were chosen to serve on the jury for former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial Tuesday in New York.
NewsNation partner The Hill reports the first six jurors are a man originally from Ireland, an oncology nurse who is a native New Yorker, a corporate attorney, a middle-aged man born in Puerto Rico, a Harlem native who taught English Language Arts for eight years and a Disney employee.
Another person was picked for the jury right before court adjourned.
The court is looking to seat 12 jurors and six alternates.
Trump is accused of making payments from his company to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who then gave that money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her from revealing a sexual encounter she says she had with the former president, which he denies. Prosecutors say this was done to bury damaging stories Trump feared could hurt him in the 2016 election.
Many potential jurors were excused on the first day of the trial, some because they said they could not be impartial. On Monday, several housekeeping matters were taken care of. Prosecutors asked the judge to hold Trump in contempt for violating a partial gag order by disparaging Daniels and Cohen on his social media platform, Truth Social. A court hearing is set for next Tuesday.
On the second day of the trial, potential jurors were asked about their social media posts, especially ones where they took a stand on political issues. One person ended up being rejected from being on the jury because of a post they made in 2017 about Trump, saying, “Lock him up!”
Other prospective jurors, like Kara McGee, said they believed they could be fair or impartial about Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“When we first walked in and I saw him as I walked by, my first thought honestly was, ‘Oh, cool, this is the trial I’m on,'” McGee said. “Because it’s so historic and just such an experience.”
However, a scheduling conflict led to McGee being excused from being a juror. Other jury pool members were dismissed for similar reasons, as the trial is expected to last for at least six weeks. One parent was excused because of their child’s wedding, while someone else was because of an already-planned trip.
Another prospective juror who spoke to NewsNation said he also thought he could be impartial but was concerned about “unconscious bias,” as he had Republican friends and attended a Republican-leaning university.
“It just didn’t feel fair to be in a jury like this,” Chris Canton said.
At one point during Tuesday’s proceedings, Judge Juan Merchan admonished Trump for scowling at a member of the jury pool. When someone else said he had read two of Trump’s books, though, Trump broke into a grin, nodding his head.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
