Trump moves attack focus onto the 'North Star' of US justice system: columnist

Former President Donald Trump is crossing yet a new line by presuming any jury seated in Atlanta is incapable of judging him fairly, wrote John M. Crisp for The Eagle-Tribune on Monday.

This comes as several of the former president's indicted associates try to get their Georgia election interference cases moved to federal court, and Trump is broadly expected to do the same. In part the motivation for this would be to try to get a more favorable hearing for claims of immunity — but it could also be to try to avoid the jury pool in Atlanta, and move to a broader catchment area that includes more conservative areas in Northern Georgia.

Trump, wrote Crisp, has "undermined our faith in the Supreme Court, Congress, the media, the medical establishment, the two-party system and the federal bureaucracy (in its best sense), particularly the CIA, the IRS and the CDC" — all while persuading millions of his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen, despite over 60 court cases finding no evidence that was the case.

But now, Crisp warned, Trump "turns his sights on the North Star of our justice system: our right to determination of guilt by a jury of our peers."

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In reality, wrote Crisp, Trump is going to get a jury system "extraordinarily weighted in his favor," which is something all defendants in the U.S. have a right to. His attorneys can strike jurors who show signs of bias and he can only be convicted by a unanimous verdict.

Crisp concluded his writing with an admonition to Trump not to commit further crimes while awaiting trial — and he added one last piece of advice.

"You’ve already eroded Americans’ faith in many of our institutions; don’t undermine our confidence in the jury system along with the rest," wrote Crisp. "You could do your country a great service by showing some faith in juries."