Trump jurors to be asked their views on his treatment in hush money case

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prospective jurors in Donald Trump's trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star will be asked their opinions on how the Republican presidential candidate has been treated in the case, as the judge strives to seat a fair panel.

Jury selection for the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president is due to start on April 15 in a New York state court in Manhattan. Justice Juan Merchan made public the questionnaire late on Monday that all people called for possible service will answer before being questioned by lawyers.

Trump has called the case, brought by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a partisan witch hunt and election interference.

Last month the judge barred Trump from publicly commenting about witnesses and court staff after the former president made statements in various legal cases that the judge called "threatening, inflammatory" and "denigrating."

The 42-question form asks jurors which media outlets they read or watch, whether they have ever attended a Trump rally, and whether they support movements such as QAnon, Proud Boys or Antifa. It also asks if they have strong beliefs about Trump or the way the hush money case has proceeded.

"Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about whether a former president may be criminally charged in state court?" one question reads.

Another reads, "Do you have any feelings or opinions about how Mr. Trump is being treated in this case?"

Trump is accused of covering up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 presidential election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denied any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Trump lost on Monday a last-ditch bid to delay the trial while he tries to move the case out of heavily Democratic Manhattan. His lawyers said a survey of Manhattan residents they conducted showed that 61% of respondents thought Trump was guilty and 70% had a negative opinion of him.

Steven Wu, a lawyer with Bragg's office, argued in court on Monday that the relevant question was not whether prospective jurors liked Trump, but whether they could set their opinions aside to decide the case fairly and based solely on the evidence presented in court.

The hush money case is one of four criminal indictments Trump faces as he prepares to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in their Nov. 5 U.S. election rematch.

The others stem from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden and his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving the presidency in 2021. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)