1 of 5 | Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves the courtroom after the final jurors were selected in his criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Friday. Opening statements will begin on Monday on charges Trump allegedly falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal during the 2016 campaign. Pool Photo by Sarah Yenesel/UPI | License Photo
April 19 (UPI) — Opening statements in former President Donald Trump’s New York hush-money trial are set to begin Monday.
Next week’s legal drama will come after an historic and eventful week that saw the labored selection of jurors for the case on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as an incident in which a man set himself on fire outside the courthouse on Friday.
Judge Juan Merchan on Friday declared opening statements will begin Monday morning after admonishing the defense for filing pre-motion letters and motions trying to again litigate decisions he’d already made.
“I’ve entertained your motions. I’ve entertained your arguments,” Merchan told Trump’s team. “There’s nothing else to clarify. There is nothing else to argue. We are going to have opening statements on Monday. We are starting on Monday.”
An appeals court judge on Friday denied an emergency appeal from Trump’s team to move the venue of the trial from Manhattan.
Trump’s attorney Cliff Robert called for an interim stay in the trial and argued that seating a jury in just three days after dismissing so many potential jurors was “untenable.”
Robert cited a woman who was seated Tuesday but was dismissed Thursday after she said she felt pressure from the media surrounding the case. Robert argued the publicity surrounding the case made it unfair to Trump.
Steven Wu, the district attorney’s appeals lawyer, argued “jury selection has worked” and there has been a “robust process” to ensure a fair and impartial jury.
A full 12-person jury and one alternate juror were sworn in Thursday. The remaining five alternates were selected Friday.
Exiting the court room at about 5:14 p.m. EDT Friday, Trump told reporters that Merchan “wants this to go as fast as possible.”
“The trial starts on Monday, which is long before a lot of people thought. The judge wants this to go as fast as possible. That’s for his reasons, not for my reasons,” Trump said.
Trump denounced the trial as a “witch hunt” orchestrated by his political opponents but said that he will testify.
Adding to the disruption inside the court on Friday a man unexpectedly set himself on fire outside while the trial was underway.
It happened as CNN anchor Laura Coates was reporting outside the courthouse. She first said there was an active shooter before quickly correcting that to say a man had set himself on fire.
According to the New York Times, the man doused himself with a liquid around 1:35 p.m.