By LARRY NEUMEISTER and MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s company goes on trial Monday in a criminal tax case and the primary task facing the court is an enormous one: Picking a jury of Latest Yorkers who do not have a robust opinion concerning the former president.
Manhattan prosecutors say the Trump Organization helped top executives avoid income taxes on job perks reminiscent of rent-free apartments and luxury cars.
Trump himself is not on trial and is not expected to testify. However the judge and lawyers within the case will likely be seeking to keep people off the jury in the event that they have unshakably strong feelings concerning the Republican, who is not liked in his hometown.
Within the 2020 presidential election, 87% of Manhattan voters supported Democrat Joe Biden for president. Trump got 12% of the vote.
Political Cartoons
Once jury selection is complete, Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has said he expects the trial to last at the very least 4 weeks.
The trial is predicted to center on the actions and testimony of longtime Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to taking in greater than $1.7 million value of untaxed perks from the corporate.
Trump has decried the probe as a “political witch hunt.” The corporate’s lawyers have said it played by the principles.
If convicted, the Trump Organization may very well be fined greater than $1 million. A guilty verdict could hamper the corporate’s ability to get loans and make deals.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg inherited the prosecution when he took office in January. Bragg has taken a cautious approach with Trump, declining to date to bring charges against him personally in what’s now a three-year investigation.
The jury selection process could take several days, especially if people within the pool express reservations about their ability to be neutral.
Getting a panel with an open mind, though, may very well be critical to avoiding a mistrial.
Within the spring, one other trial in a close-by federal courthouse led to the mistrial due to tensions between jurors about political opinions. That case involved associates of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon who were accused of defrauding a charity founded to assist pay for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Eleven jurors in that case sent a note to the judge asking one other juror to be removed because that person had shown an anti-government bias and accused all of the others of being liberals. The judge declined and the jury ultimately couldn’t agree on a verdict.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material might not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.