The outcome of President Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York, where he's charged with falsifying business records to cover making hush-money payments to a porn star, could come down to one juror.
Pam Bondi, the former attorney general for Florida, told Newsmax on Monday it was very important for Trump's defense team to get jury selection right. Jury selection in the Trump trial began Monday in a Manhattan court.
"Everyone in the world knows who President Trump is and everyone in the world has formed an opinion about him one way or the other, so it’s whether you can be a fair or impartial juror in this trial," Bondi said on "Newsline."
Bondi said she hopes Trump's defense team is combing the social media posts of prospective jurors to see if they posted negatively about the former president.
"You don't want people on the jury who are going to lie to get on the jury," Bondi said.
If one juror follows the law and votes to acquit Trump, that could lead to a hung jury, Bondi said.
"Hopefully you will find 12 jurors who say he didn’t do anything wrong because he did not," Bondi said.
The defense and prosecution each are allowed to strike 10 prospective jurors for any reason but have unlimited challenges to strike a juror for cause, Bondi said.
"The judge is going to have to let President Trump's defense attorneys really delve into detailed questions with all these potential jurors," Bondi said.
The former Florida attorney general noted both the Southern District of New York and the Justice Department declined to take the Trump case.
"[Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg took this case and created 34 felony charges," Bondi said. "It was never even a felony to begin with. It’s really ludicrous."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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