Despite his bluster about the process itself, former President — and now convicted felon —Donald Trump secretly confided to advisors that one juror in his Manhattan criminal trial would come to his rescue.
After he was found guilty on all 34 felony counts, Rolling Stone reported Thursday that Trump's hopes of a man on the jury he reportedly referred to as "my juror" were evidently dashed. Reporters Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng wrote that Trump had his eye on one male juror in particular whose body language he interpreted as friendlier than the rest.
"Body language from the juror throughout the trial, studied closed by the former president’s counselors, led some to believe that the juror was warming to the defense’s views," Rawlings and Suebsaeng wrote. "The warm smiles and tics, they hoped, suggested that there could be a hung jury that would help Trump evade conviction."
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It wasn't immediately clear which juror the Trump team was paying attention to. It could have been juror #2, an investment banker who said during the voir dire process that his primary source of news was Truth Social — the ex-president's far-right social media platform. It could have also been juror #8, who is a retired wealth manager from the Upper East Side, and is originally from Long Island (traditionally more conservative than the rest of the New York City metro area).
However, once jury deliberations began, Trump and his team reportedly began to lose hope. One adviser told Rolling Stone that "I think the juror is going to get beat up in the jury room," and they were worried about "how strong" the juror's resolve would be around the other 11 members of the body.
An acquittal on all 34 counts would have been unlikely, given that Trump has never prevailed in any civil — and now criminal — court proceeding in New York. But the defense was hopeful that they could at least have one or more jurors refuse to sign onto a guilty verdict, thus hanging the jury and effectively ensuring the former president wouldn't get a new trial until after the election, if ever.
But after the jury delivered its unanimous verdict on Thursday evening, a separate Trump adviser told Rawling and Suebsaeng that "the ‘Trump juror’ wasn’t Trumpy enough I guess!"
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Judge Juan Merchan has scheduled Trump's sentencing hearing for July 11 at 10 AM, which will take place less than a week before the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While Merchan could sentence Trump to as much as four years in prison, the ex-president is also a first-time offender, is 77 years old and his class E felony convictions do not require incarceration.
On the other hand, Trump also showed what former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann called a "complete lack of remorse" in repeatedly violating Merchan's gag order. Weissmann said Thursday on MSNBC that Merchan may choose to incarcerate Trump based on his behavior throughout the trial and his refusal to admit culpability after the verdict was announced.
Click here to read Rolling Stone's report in full (subscription required).
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