For The Washington Post

nat-trumpnyjurytracker-12

Trump Manhattan criminal court

The Washington Post

Former US President Trump attends hush money hearing over porn star payment, New York, USA - 25 Mar 2024

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears at court in New York

FILE PHOTO: David Pecker, chair and CEO of American Media, speaks at the Shape and Men's Fitness Super Bowl Party in New York

Donald Trump

for The Washington Post

Former U.S. President Trump's criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records continues in New York

Photographer

Donald Trump Presents New Proposal For World Trade Center Site

Staff

Getty

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

A full jury of 12 jurors and six alternates has been seated in the historic hush money trial of former president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a>, after four days of jury selection in the Manhattan-based court case.

“We have a full panel,” Justice <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/31/trump-judge-merchan-indictment/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Juan Merchan</a> said Friday afternoon.

In a typical trial, prospective jurors who know the defendant would not be allowed to serve on the jury because such familiarity would interfere with their ability to remain unbiased. As for Trump, the judge said the key issue was not whether jurors know him or have an opinion of him, but whether they can set aside their feelings and render a verdict based on the evidence and law.

Subscribe to The Trump Trials, our weekly email newsletter on Donald Trump's four criminal cases

During questioning, some of the selected jurors acknowledged having personal views of Trump or his presidency but said they could remain impartial in the case. One spoke favorably of him, saying she liked that he “speaks his mind.” Another told the court, “I don’t like his persona.” Overall, the jurors showed a range of knowledge about his court cases, with several saying they didn’t follow the news closely.

Trump faces <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/04/trump-charges-34-counts-felony/" target=_blank>34 counts of falsifying business records</a>, part of what prosecutors have described as a scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign to cover up an alleged affair with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Here is what is known about the jurors, according to The Washington Post’s reporting and pool reports:

Sophia Deng

This juror gets his news from the New York Times, the Daily Mail, as well as “some” Fox News and MSNBC.

“I’ve heard some of them,” the juror said about Trump’s other cases.

He lives in West Harlem and works in sales.

This juror said he follows former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen on Twitter. Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and confidant, arranged the hush money payment to Daniels in 2016 and is expected to be a key witness in the case.

He said he also follows former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway on Twitter, as well as other figures on the right and left. The juror, an investment banker, said he did so because of his work in finance.

“Anything that might move the markets, I might need to know about,” the juror said.

During questioning by Trump’s defense team, he said Trump had done some good for the country. “It’s ambivalent. It goes both ways,” he said.

He said he has listened to “Mueller She Wrote,” a podcast about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and consumes news about Ukraine and Israel. He told the court he hadn’t read “The Art of the Deal,” Trump’s book on business strategy, but had seen quotes from it.

He lives in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

This juror said he doesn’t need to be a mind reader to determine intent.

“I am actually not super familiar with the other charges. I don’t really follow the news that closely — a little embarrassing to say,” he said.

He works as a lawyer and lives in Chelsea. He reads the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In middle school, he enjoyed watching “The Apprentice.”

Asked by the prosecution if he had any concerns about returning a guilty verdict, this juror said, “No.”

He is not on social media and gets his news from a range of news outlets, he said.

He is an engineer who lives in the Upper West Side. He served on a criminal jury in California a long time ago but said he couldn’t recall if there was a verdict.

This juror said that, as a “woman of color,” she has friends with strong opinions about Trump but that she tries to avoid politics and is not very interested in the news. While most of the jurors in the box indicated they were aware Trump faced other criminal cases, this woman signaled she did not.

She said she likes Trump’s candid style.

“President Trump speaks his mind,” she said. “I’d rather have that than someone in office that we don’t know what he’s doing behind the scenes.”

This juror lives in Harlem and works in education. She gets her information from Google and TikTok, and she listens to “The Breakfast Club,” a radio show in New York City.

During questioning, this juror said she could treat Trump like any other person on trial. “I would say that I think that Trump and I probably have different beliefs,” she said, “but I don’t think that that invalidates anything about who he is as a person.”

This juror lives in Chelsea, works in software, and gets her news from the New York Times and TikTok.

This juror said he has “political views as to the Trump presidency” and thinks there were probably Trump administration policies he disagreed with.

“I don’t know the man, and I don’t have opinions about him personally,” he added.

The juror also said he does not have any opinions about Trump’s character.

“I certainly follow the news. I’m aware there are other lawsuits out there,” he said. “But I’m not sure that I know anyone’s character.”

This juror lives on the Upper East Side and works as in law. He gets his news from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post and The Washington Post. He also listens to NPR’s “Car Talk,” WNYC public radio and the “SmartLess” podcast.

This juror paused before answering “yes” when asked if he had feelings about Trump that could prevent him from being impartial.

The judge stopped him, asked him to be clear, then repeated the question. “No,” the juror responded.

He said he gets his news from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the BBC.

He is retired from a financial firm and lives on New York’s Upper East Side. He said he once served on a jury but the case settled before trial began.

This juror said she had opinions about Trump but insisted she could be impartial.

“I fully believe that I can follow the judge’s instructions,” she said. She added that she appreciated an analogy offered by prosecutors during questioning because, she said, “I’m not very well-versed in the legal world.”

She said she gets morning newsletters from the New York Times and CNN and listens to podcasts about reality television. “I don’t watch any news or follow it too closely,” she said.

She said she works as a speech therapist and lives on the Upper East Side.

This juror said he prefers podcasts about behavioral psychology to following the news. When it comes to his media consumption, he said, “If anything, it’s the New York Times.”

He lives in New York’s Murray Hill neighborhood and works in e-commerce.

During questions from the defense team, this juror was blunt about how she views Trump. “I don’t have strong opinions, but I don’t like his persona, how he presents himself in public,” she said.

“I don’t like some of my coworkers, but I don’t try to sabotage their work,” she continued, drawing laughs in the courtroom.

Merchan asked her to repeat herself for the record, which she did.

“He seems very selfish and self-serving,” she continued. “I don’t really appreciate that from any public servant.” The way he portrays himself publicly, she said, “it’s not my cup of tea.”

Trump defense lawyer Susan Necheles said, “It sounds a a bit like what you’re saying is you don’t like him.”

The juror lives in Upper Manhattan and works in product development. She follows fashion publications and watches late-night television but doesn’t follow the news closely, she said.

This juror said she reads the New York Times, CNN and USA Today. She also listens to sports and faith-based podcasts.

She lives on the Upper East Side and works as a physical therapist.

This juror, the first alternate to be seated, gets her news from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

She works in finance and lives in Midtown East.

Necheles, Trump’s defense lawyer, asked this alternate juror about witnesses changing their stories. “I will base my verdict on the proofs presented,” the juror said. “I won’t take into consideration whatever happened in the past.”

She added that she “will be objective and neutral for this case or any case the justice system needs me to do.”

The juror lives in the Murray Hill neighborhood and is not currently employed. She said she doesn’t watch the news, only skims through headlines, and isn’t on social media.

This alternate juror told the court he doesn’t have a strong opinion of Trump. “My opinion is Donald Trump is a man, just like I am,” he said.

He said he agreed with the legal burden of proof of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“If there is evidence found against a man,” he said, “there should be consequences.” He said he thought that Trump had been treated fairly in the case.

He said he reads the New York Times and The Washington Post. He works in IT and lives in the Inwood neighborhood.

Like several others on the jury, this alternate juror said she doesn’t have strong opinions about Trump.

She told the court she was “not a big news person” but reads the New York Times, Reuters, the BBC and social media.

She works in the financial sector and lives in Chelsea.

This alternate juror said she gets news from the New York Times and Google.

She works in fashion and lives in Chinatown.

This alternate juror said she follows local news and listens to true crime podcasts.

She works in construction and lives on the Upper East Side.

Northeastern University, BA in journalism

Derek Hawkins is a reporter and editor on The Washington Post's National desk focusing on visually-driven stories. 

Derek Hawkins

Northwestern University, B.S. in journalism

Patrick Svitek

National Press Foundation Paul Miller Fellow, 2018

New York University, BA in journalism and social and cultural analysis

Maegan Vazquez is a politics breaking news reporter. She joined The Washington Post in 2023.

Maegan Vazquez

What to know about the jurors in Trump’s New York hush money trial

the-washington-post

nat-trumpnyjurytracker

Illustration by Sophia Deng for The Washington Post 

Live updates

The jury

The charges

Key people

The judge

Trump's lawyers

The prosecutor

Balance of Power Pair

U.S. House Aggregate

U.S. Senate Aggregate

Trump hush money trial

washpost

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/courts-law&limit=20

Courts & Law

Latest news and coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/national&limit=20

National

The Washington Post's national news coverage. Get the latest national news, featuring national security, science and the courts. Read breaking national news headlines from across the U.S.

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.

Politics

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6

The jurors in Trump’s New York hush money trial

Trump New York hush money case