Trump showing jurors 'he's a bad guy who doesn't respect anything': George Conway
April 17, 2024
Donald Trump was admonished by Judge Juan Merchan this week for making comments toward a prospective juror on the second day of his criminal trial, and attorney George Conway said he wasn't surprised by the outburst.
Seven jurors have already been sworn in after a brisk second day of jury selection, and Conway told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that he was surprised by how quickly the pace has been so far in the unprecedented criminal trial of a former president.
"It is going faster than it seems to at first," Conway said. "They started with a panel of 96 people, and I think the way that it was expedited, the way he expedited is asked everybody up front, if you can't be impartial, raise your hand, essentially. That got rid of about two-thirds of the veneer of the pool so they began focusing on the remaining 30 or so. It was done very efficiently. There was a questionnaire, and they made each person get into the box, and go through the questionnaire, answer questions yes, no, explain if there were complicating factors. The judge would intervene if there was a question that, you know, that required a little elucidation, and the lawyers asked, and they came up with six people, and it was all very efficiently done."
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"I think it's going to speed up because each side gets 10 peremptory challenges, meaning they can challenge without stating a reason, and both sides have used six to strike jurors," Conway added. "They only have four left, there's a limit to what they can do."
A total of 18 jurors – 12 to sit on the jury and six alternates – must be chosen, and Conway sees no reason for that to last beyond Friday, but he doubts the ex-president can behave himself even within that short window of time.
"It's great that the judge is clamping down on that early," Conway said. "His conduct in the courtroom is really very demonstrative, and very emotional at times, and I actually don't think he has a complete ability to control himself. I think we saw that during the E. Jean Carroll trial. I think we're going to see it again, and I think it's important for the judge to give him warnings that he can't do that in front of the jury. The fact is, to the extent he does that in front of the jury shows disrespect for the jury and doesn't necessarily help him."
"That's one of the reasons why I think he was hit with the $83.3 million verdict during the second E. Jean Carroll trial," Conway added. "He sat in front of the jury and showed contempt for the entire process and contempt for the jury, which dovetailed nicely that the other side was trying to prove: This is a bad guy who doesn't respect anything."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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