As prosecutors argued Tuesday that former President Donald J. Trump had repeatedly broken a gag order, they called one episode “very troubling” — his sharing of a commentator’s quote disparaging prospective jurors as clandestine operators for the left.
Mr. Trump posted the remark by Jesse Watters, a Fox News commentator, on his social media site Truth Social last week, as jury selection was underway in his hush-money trial. Mr. Watters’s full quote, as shared by Mr. Trump, was: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
In that Fox News segment, Mr. Watters also shared personal details about the jurors in his segment. The day after that post, the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, ordered reporters to withhold some information that could identify jurors.
“What happened here was exactly what this order was meant to prevent and the defendant doesn’t care,” a prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, said in court Tuesday.
A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, argued that Mr. Trump was simply sharing a quote, a common argument used by Mr. Trump to put distance between him and reposts of other people’s comments.
Judge Merchan did not appear to buy that argument. “It’s not passive,” Mr. Merchan said about how a post is published on Truth Social.
Mr. Conroy said the timing of the “liberal activists” post was important. The next morning, a juror came into court and asked to be excused, saying that friends and colleagues had been able to identify her as a member.
April 23, 2024, 9:58 a.m. ET
Jonah Bromwich Reporting from the courthouse
Conroy points to the timing of the post, last Wednesday evening. The next morning, Juror #2 came into court and asked to be excused. This upset Justice Merchan. He complimented the juror after excusing her, saying she would have done a good job.
(NYT)
