Donald Trump was accompanied by longtime aide Margo Martin on Friday as he headed to court for the fourth day of his historic hush money trial and demanded the gag order be lifted.
The former president, 77, stepped out of Trump Tower with his communications aide and entered a motorcade in preparation for the final part of the grueling jury selection process.
He waved and fist bumped at the waiting crowd of fans and photographers as he walked down the sidewalk as Martin looked at her phone.
The full 12-person panel that will decide his fate has already been chosen, but the court needs six alternates in case anyone drops out.
Arriving in court Friday, he demanded the gag order be “lifted” after prosecutors pushed to hold him in contempt over social media posts
Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower and heads to court for the fourth day of his historic hush money trial
He was joined by loyal aide Margo Martin in the motorcade as he prepared to select jury replacements
‘The gag order must be lifted. People are allowed to talk about me and I have a gag order. Just to show how much more unfair it is,” he told reporters.
‘And the conflict must end in court.
‘The judge has a conflict, the worst I have ever seen. And it must end with the judge. The gag order must be lifted. I should be allowed to speak.
Every time I come to talk to you, I want to be open because we have done absolutely nothing wrong.
‘I showed you 30 stories yesterday, 32 stories from legal experts. I don’t have the other way around. Thirty-two stories from legal experts who say very forcefully that there is no case, that this case should never have been brought, that Trump did nothing wrong
On Thursday night, he left court and launched into the “scam case” in which he is accused of hiding a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their alleged affair.
He has denied 34 allegations of falsifying company documents, saying all legal experts believe the allegations are exaggerated.
After three days of legal wrangling, a panel of seven men and five women has now been selected, which will assess his guilt or innocence in the coming weeks.
Moments after the last of the twelve was selected, Judge Juan Merchan declared, “We have our jury,” and they were led out of the courtroom.
Along the way, they passed Trump, who had his elbows on the table, and looked at the dozens of New Yorkers who will rule over his future.
The judges include a corporate lawyer, an investment banker, a software engineer and a teacher.
One of the female jurors called the ex-president “selfish” when questioned about her opinions in court.
When the jury foreman was asked where he gets his news from, he said, among other things, Dailymail.com.
After the jury was selected, Trump stepped out of the courtroom and expressed his frustration with the trial process, carrying a thick stack of newspaper clippings.
The former president read several headlines that declared the trial a “spectacle and outrage” and that it showed America was a “third world country.”
He flipped through it and said, “The whole world is watching this New York scam. Of all the cuttings, I have not yet seen one that says it is a good test. It’s politics. It is a pity.
Trump waved and fist bumped at the waiting crowd of fans and photographers as he walked down the sidewalk as Martin looked at her phone
The former president, 77, stepped out of Trump Tower with his communications aide and entered a motorcade in preparation for the final part of the grueling jury selection process.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass talks to jurors as defense attorney Todd Blanche and former U.S. President Donald Trump pay close attention during Trump’s criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to hide money paid to film porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to silence, in Manhattan State Court in Manhattan. New York City, USA, April 18, 2024 in this courtroom sketch.
‘I’ve been sitting here for days now, from morning until late at night, in that freezing cold room. It’s freezing there. Everything for this. It’s very unfair.’
Trump continued, “I should be campaigning in New Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, a lot of places, but I’ve been here all day for a trial that is actually an unfair trial.
‘Very bad thing. The whole world is watching. You have a DA that is no longer under control. You have a judge who is very contradictory.’
He added: “The whole thing is a mess and you have the leading candidate, Joe Biden – he’s the one who should be on trial. We have a corrupt president.
“He should be on trial, but he’s the one in charge. His top people are here working with the DA’s office to make sure everything goes well because they don’t have a case. It’s really a shame, this country is evolving into a third world country without orders and without justice.’
The judge previously dismissed two jurors as the court struggled to assemble a panel for one of the most high-profile criminal cases in American history.
Prosecutors said one juror had no previous brushes with the law, and Judge Merchan excused him after bringing him into court for further questioning.
It happened shortly after the judge released another juror, a nurse, who said she felt intimidated because some of her personal information had been made public.
It highlighted the unprecedented pressure surrounding the first ever criminal trial of a former US president.
One juror who had to be dismissed was a grandfather and IT consultant who previously told the court that he finds Trump “fascinating.”