A potential juror in former President Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York City spoke to the media shortly after she was excused from the pool, highlighting the "serious" mood inside the courtroom.
"Definitely serious," former potential juror Kara McGee, who works in cybersecurity, said on Tuesday. "…Everyone was really taking it upon themselves to step in and do civic duty here, regardless of what people came into it thinking about the defendant."
McGee said that she told the court she could serve as juror in an unbiased manner, while noting in her comment to the media it would be "very difficult for anyone really in this country to not come to this without prior opinions."
"We all have prior opinions on the defendant, unless you've been living in a cardbox," she said. McGee said she was excused from the jury pool due to scheduling conflicts with her employment in cybersecurity.
"I’m not a fan," McGee added of her personal thoughts on Trump. "During COVID-19, I lived with someone who was immunocompromised, and I think his handling of COVID-19 was abysmal," she said.
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The trial kicked off Monday with a pool of 96 jurors, before roughly 50 were excused on the first day for saying they could not be impartial in the case. An additional nine were removed Monday for other reasons. Of that pool, an estimated 35 candidates remained on Tuesday morning, with 14 of those excused by early Tuesday afternoon.
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McGee said two of the questions asked of potential jurors most clearly indicated how they felt about Trump and the case.
"One of which is: Do you have opinions about the ability for a former sitting president to be tried in a court of law? Which I think the way people answered that showed how they felt about case," she said.
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"The other one was: Do you have any opinions about legal limits for campaign finance donation amounts? Which I believe was another one that was kinda meant to gauge feelings about the particular case," she said.
McGee said she did make eye contact with Trump as she was excused from the trial.
"I looked at him after I had finished giving final answer … I glanced over at him again, and made eye contact with him, and have no idea what he thought at that moment," she said of her interaction with Trump.
Tuesday is the second day of trial in the hush money case, which marks the first time a former president has stood trial on criminal charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced last year that Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The charges stem from the 2016 election cycle, when former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly silence her claims she had an extramarital affair with Trump back in 2006.
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Prosecutors say the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen for the payment to Daniels and falsely recorded the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified the records with an intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.
Trump has repeatedly denied the affair and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Trump spoke to the media earlier Tuesday morning, ahead of entering the courtroom, where he railed against presiding Judge Juan Merchan as a "conflicted" judge.
"We have a Trump-hating judge. We have a judge who shouldn't be on this case. He's totally conflicted. But this is a trial that should never happen. It should have been thrown out a long time ago," Trump said Tuesday morning.
"It's a trial that is being looked upon and looked at all over the world. … They're looking at, analyzing it. Every legal pundit, every legal scholar said this trial is a disgrace," he added.
The trial is anticipated to last at least six weeks, with jury selection expected to last at least a week.
