Judge’s Order Will Prevent Trump From Revealing Names of Jurors
A New York judge on Thursday effectively barred former President Donald J. Trump from exposing the identities of potential jurors at his first criminal trial later this month, emphasizing a need to protect those who might decide the highly sensitive case.
The judge presiding over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, granted a request from the Manhattan district attorney’s office to withhold the names of jurors from the public. The judge also ordered that their addresses be kept from everyone except the lawyers in the case.
Mr. Trump’s legal team, which is defending the former president from accusations of covering up a potential sex scandal during the 2016 election, agreed that it was appropriate to keep the jury’s information private.
A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, declined to comment Thursday.
New York State does not allow juries to operate in full anonymity, meaning that defendants are allowed to know jurors’ names. Justice Merchan, however, moved to shield the names of the jurors in Mr. Trump’s trial from the broader public, underscoring the potential harm in a case involving a polarizing figure like the former president who can whip his supporters into a frenzy.
The restrictions and concerns about juror safety reflect the volatile environment swirling around Mr. Trump’s legal entanglements, including four criminal cases and several civil trials. After Mr. Trump recently lost a civil fraud case in New York, which was brought by the state’s attorney general, envelopes of white powder were sent to both the attorney general’s office and the judge who had overseen the case. The judge was also the victim of a hoax bomb threat on the day of closing arguments.
Jury selection in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial is set for March 25, making it the first prosecution of a former American president. He is charged with a raft of felonies stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign — a payoff that Mr. Trump is accused of hiding from voters.