Trump’s lawyer Jesse Binnall criticized the jury selection process in Trump’s New York criminal trial as biased in favor of the prosecution.
He said the questionnaires ask detailed questions about potential jurors’ support for Trump over the years through activities like attending rallies or volunteering, but do not ask about support for Biden.
This is an attempt to “weed out Trump supporters” in a jurisdiction that voted heavily Democratic.
“So for instance, these questionnaires ask a whole bunch of questions that are meant to weed out Trump supporters, but apparently they don’t have many questions that actually focus on who might be biased against President Trump,” Binnall said.
Binnall argued the questionnaires should also ask about political biases against Trump to give a fair trial.
“What media organizations do you get your news from, and, you know, looking for people who might be listening to talk radio, you know, watching cable news shows that might be seen as favoring President Trump, etc., etc. And they focused a lot of questions trying to find out if you have ever been involved in supporting President Trump at all over the years,” he said.
“They don’t ask any questions if you’ve been involved in supporting President Biden, if you might have political bias and biases that show that you might want to convict President Trump in order to affect the presidential election as a juror.”
He said if even one or two impartial jurors are selected, Trump will likely be acquitted, so prosecutors are trying to stack the jury against him.
Binnall expressed concern that Judge Merchan and District Attorney Bragg will not address the one-sided nature of jury selection.
“As you’ve said, when you’re in a jurisdiction that was 85-15 Biden in 2020, that would be something that would be extremely important, and they just kind of whistle past the graveyard on that. So these jury questionnaires are — are very, very one-sided,” Binnall said.
He noted that Bragg’s office and Judge Merchan are “not likely to step them back on this.” But Binnall stressed that if there are just one or two jurors who actually give President Trump a fair trial, “then he’s going to be acquitted. .. And so they’re terrified of that.”
“And so they want to do everything they can at this point to stack the deck against President Trump,” he said.
