(TargetLiberty.org) – On Monday, former President Donald Trump officially became the first former President to stand in court for criminal charges. However, the first day of the hush money trial included both parties debating over a number of legal issues, giving it a fairly sluggish start.
The two sides started with discussing legal issues for a few hours, which meant that they did not examine prospective jurors until mid-afternoon. During the early hours of the trial, Judge Juan Merchan focused his attention on the type of evidence that could be admitted, with a focus on whether or not Trump had previously violated his gag order.
For the majority of the trial, Trump appeared detached, and his head even dropped a number of times as he struggled to remain still and motionless for the prolonged hours. The press corps has been debating whether the former president even drowsed off in certain moments during the first day.
Still, the arguments continued for several hours, which even appeared to frustrate Merchan who informed the lawyers that they would “work it out” just so he could get the proceedings moving.
The process for choosing 12 out of the hundreds of New Yorkers who could be jurors in this case did not start until after 2:30 p.m. At the time the first 96 prospective jurors had been sworn in after going through security in order to enter the courtroom. Many of the prospective jurors were trying to get a glimpse of Trump who was seated at the counsel table, while a few of them were seated close to Margo Martin and Jason Miller, two of Trump’s political aides.
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