A gag order. The Speaker of the House of Representatives appears outside the court. Angry accusations from the judge overseeing the case.
Some of the most explosive moments in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial have been visible to most of the world — except for the people who actually decide his fate: the jury.
The 12-member panel will see evidence and witness statements so they can decide whether the former president engaged in a scheme to buy and bury seamy stories in an effort to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. But it’s a very curated experience; jurors don’t get the full picture of those watching every day.
They don’t even see Trump enter or leave the courtroom. By the time they are brought into the room, he is already there, and he remains there until they are sent away.
This is by design. Laws carefully determine how a criminal case is handled to ensure that a jury’s decision about guilt or innocence is not influenced by fights over evidence or other legal sparring. It is routine to hold back a jury while trial attorneys argue with the judge about what can and cannot be recorded for the jurors during the trial. And lawyers often gather quietly on the judge’s bench to talk about sensitive topics out of earshot.
Jurors also agree to a number of rules when they are chosen for a trial. They can’t investigate the case. They should avoid all news about it. They also agree not to discuss the case outside of court or talk about it among themselves until deliberations, when all the evidence has been presented and they decide whether the suspect should be convicted. If they violate any of these rules, they may be removed from the panel and replaced by an alternate juror, or a mistrial may be declared.
So if they take their civic duty seriously, the Trump jury has never heard the Republican presidential candidate criticize Judge Juan M. Merchan as “totally conflicted.” Little do they know, Trump has been threatened with jail time and a $10,000 fine for violating a gag order that prohibits him from talking about witnesses in the case, including the prosecution’s key witness, Michael Cohen. They didn’t watch Cohen’s TikTok livestreams. They didn’t see this week when House Speaker Mike Johnson held a press conference outside the courthouse, using his powerful position to show that his party was turning against the justice system by declaring the criminal trial in Manhattan illegal.
And they are unaware of the hours-long legal battle over which witnesses can be called to testify, and what they can say if they are called.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying company records and denies any sexual encounters took place. For example, Trump’s lawyers last week asked the judge to declare a mistrial over the testimony of a crucial witness, Stormy Daniels, who spoke to jurors in disturbing detail about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump that prompted the payment of hush money, just weeks before the presidential election. election in 2016. Jurors saw Daniels on the witness stand for 7.5 hours over two days.
The panel was sent home early the day Daniels finished testifying. And then Trump’s lawyers argued with the judge that the case should be dismissed because of her testimony. They disagreed with Daniels’ testimony describing the power dynamics between her and Trump, and the visceral reaction she had when she said she saw Trump sitting on the bed of his hotel suite, stripped down to his boxers and T-shirt .
“That is so biased and so unbelievable for a jury to hear,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued. He accused prosecutors of asking questions that revealed intimate details of the alleged encounter.
Judge Merchan declined to dismiss the case.
Trump’s lawyers also wanted to change a gag order that bars him from talking about witnesses in the case. “He needs a chance to respond to the American people,” Blanche argued.
Judge Merchan also denied that request. And an appeals court upheld the silence order on Tuesday; finding that Trump did not claim that the restrictions violated his right to a fair trial. He argued that the ban on talking about the case could have a negative effect on his 2024 presidential campaign.
But Trump’s lawyers have won a few, too. Merchan said no to prosecutors’ request to play jurors in a 1999 CNN interview in which Trump discussed his familiarity with campaign finance laws. And just before the court cleared last Friday, Merchan told prosecutors to inform Cohen “that the judge is asking him not to make any more statements outside of court” about the case or about Trump.
More routine actions are also decided without the watchful eye of the jury. The judge and lawyers talk about scheduling and days off — including next Friday, when the Republican presidential candidate will attend his son Barron’s graduation ceremony. And they’ve talked about potential upcoming witnesses.
Merchan asked Trump’s lawyer Blanche if his client would testify. Blanche said, “No.”
“No decision yet?” Merchan clarified this, according to a transcript. “No,” Blanche said.
Even before the jury was seated, Merchan made a litany of statements about what could be brought to trial, including that prosecutors could ask about the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without their consent, but they couldn’t. play the tape itself. He laid out strict ground rules for the defense’s planned expert testimony on campaign finance law. And he denied three requests from Trump’s lawyers to delay the trial.
Once all evidence has been presented and both parties are resting, the judge will instruct the jury on how to begin deliberations. Only after the process has formally ended are they released from the rules, meaning they can read, watch or listen to whatever they want. And for the first time since being sworn in, they can talk about a process no other American has ever experienced: ruling on a former president on trial for a crime.
Until then, they will be reminded every day by Merchan: “Please do not talk to each other or anyone else about anything related to the case.”
And the judge says, “Please keep an open mind.”
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.