A prospective juror was dismissed from Donald Trump's trial after comparing the former U.S. president to the late Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
New York Justice Juan Merchan dismissed the prospective juror, who was born and raised in Italy, who pointed out that media in his home country had promoted similarities between the two populist leaders. He told the court that he didn't believe he could be impartial toward Trump at his criminal trial, reported Politico.
Trump became the first former president to be tried on criminal charges with the start of jury selection Monday in his trial for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
He has been indicted a total of four times on 91 felony counts, including federal charges for election subversion and mishandling classified documents, but the U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments in his claim of broad immunity to prosecution as a former president.
ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how Trump is using existential fear to win the election
Berlusconi, who died last year, was convicted of tax fraud in 2013, sentenced to four years in prison and banned from holding public office for two years.
Three years of that sentence were automatically pardoned under Italian law, but Berlusconi was barred from holding legislative office for six years and expelled from the Senate, and he was ultimately elected to the European Parliament in 2019 and then won another term in the Italian Senate in 2022.