The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money case directed the press not to report physical descriptions of jurors, according to multiple reports.
Judge Juan Merchan told the press to “appl[y] common sense” and avoid reporting details about jurors’ physical appearance or about their employers, multiple reporters in the courtroom said Thursday. Seven jurors have been sworn in since selection began Monday, though at least one was excused Thursday morning, according to reports.
“There’s a reason why this is an anonymous jury, and we’ve taken the measures we have taken,” Merchan said, according to The New York Times. “It kind of defeats the purpose of that when so much information is put out there.”
Merchan’s admonition came after one of the seven selected jurors expressed concern about her ability to be impartial, stating that friends and colleagues had asked if she was on the jury based on press reports, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Trump’s New York Trial Has Officially Begun. Here’s What’s At Stake)
“I don’t believe, at this point, that I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influences not affect my thinking in the courtroom,” the juror told Merchan, according to Politico.
Merchan: “I’m directing that the press simply apply common sense and refrain from simply writing about anything that involves physical descriptions” about jurors.
— erica orden (@eorden) April 18, 2024
Merchan ruled in March that the jury would remain anonymous, with no names being released to the public.
Stunning: Justice Merchan issues a gag order *on the press* directing us not to use physical descriptions of the jurors or answers about their current or past employers.
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) April 18, 2024
Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump last April on 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 election. The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
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