We’re at THAT stage of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial now
For all the talk about how Donald Trump was going to be able to push all of his criminal trials past the election, the odds of that were always infinitesimally small. Statistically speaking, Trump was maybe going to get lucky on one trial, or two if everything went his way, but not all four.
To that end, we’re now just five days from the start of Trump’s first criminal trial. As tends to happen once we get this close to the start date, Trump’s last minute nonsense filings are being rejected in real time. That April 15th start date isn’t going to budge.
In a sign of just how real this all is, we’ve now reached the point where the questionnaire for potential jurors has been released to the media. It includes direct questions about whether potential jurors are members of certain political groups, whether they’ve read any books about the scandal, and whether they have strong feelings about how Trump is being treated in the case.
It’s also important to keep in mind that these kinds of jury questionnaires also tend to include much less direct, more subtle questions aimed at rooting out potential jurors who might be inclined to lie about their political bias. In short, the courts are highly skilled at selecting unbiased juries and keeping troublemakers from sneaking in.
But the real story is that we’re now at the jury selection stage in a Donald Trump criminal trial. The questionnaire has been finalized. Juror screening will begin on Monday, and as soon as enough jurors have been seated, we’ll be on to the opening statements. It’s just that real now.
