Celebrity
Potential Jurors Called Into Courtroom For Start Of Trump’s Historic Hush-Money Trial
NEW YORK — The historic hush-money trial of Donald Trump began Monday, with scores of prospective jurors crammed into a courtroom where the former president will face allegations that he fabricated business records to suppress revelations about his sex life.
The first criminal prosecution of any former US president will take place as Trump seeks to recover the White House, producing a fascinating split-screen spectacle in which the probable Republican nominee spends his days as a criminal defendant while also campaigning for government. Over the last year, he has combined both roles by portraying himself to supporters on the campaign road and social media as the object of politically motivated prosecutions intended to destroy his candidacy.
Potential Jurors Called Into Courtroom For Start Of Trump’s Historic Hush-Money Trial
After a norm-breaking presidency shadowed by years of investigations, Trump’s trial is a legal reckoning. Four indictments accuse him of crimes ranging from hoarding confidential data to attempting to overthrow an election. However, the political stakes are less obvious because a conviction would not prevent him from becoming president, and the charges, in this case, reach back years and are viewed as less serious than the conduct behind the other three indictments.
The day began with hours of pretrial arguments, including potential penalties for Trump before jury selection began Monday afternoon. The first members of the jury pool, 96 in total, were summoned to the courtroom, where the parties would select who among them would be chosen to decide the legal fate of the former, and possibly future, American president.
Trump craned his neck to glance back at the pool, talking to his lawyer as they entered the jury box.
“You are about to stand trial by jury. Judge Juan Merchan told the jurors that the jury trial system is one of the pillars of our legal system. “The name of this case is the People of the State of New York vs. Donald Trump.”
Trump’s notoriety would make selecting 12 jurors and six alternates a near-herculean task in any year, but it’s likely to be especially difficult now, as the election takes place in the heavily Democratic city where Trump grew up and rose to celebrity status decades before winning the presidency.
Merchan has said that the question is “whether the prospective juror can assure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law.”
Regardless of the verdict, Trump is determined to gain from the proceedings, portraying the case and his other indictments as a broad “weaponization of law enforcement” by Democratic prosecutors and authorities. He claims they are staging bogus allegations to derail his presidential campaign. He’s been criticizing judges and prosecutors for years, a pattern of attacks that persisted until Monday, when he entered court and declared, “This is political persecution.” “This is a new kind of persecution.”
Earlier Monday, the judge dismissed a defense request to disqualify himself from the case after Trump’s lawyers alleged a conflict of interest. He also stated that the prosecution could not show the jury the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump was caught describing sexually assaulting women without their permission. However, prosecutors will be able to interrogate witnesses about the recording made public in the last weeks of the 2016 campaign.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office also urged Merchan on Monday to pay Trump $3,000 for social media statements that they said breached the judge’s gag order prohibiting him from assaulting witnesses. Last week, he used his Truth Social platform to label his former lawyer, Michael Cohen and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our country dearly!”
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, contended that Trump was only responding to the witnesses’ comments.
“It’s not like President Trump is going out and targeting people. “He is responding to these witnesses’ salacious, repeated, vehement attacks,” Blanche stated.
Merchan did not rule out the request immediately but scheduled a hearing for next week.
Potential Jurors Called Into Courtroom For Start Of Trump’s Historic Hush-Money Trial
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying company documents. Prosecutors believe the alleged fraud was part of an effort to prevent scandalous — and, Trump claims, false — tales about his personal life from surfacing during his 2016 campaign.
The allegations are based on $130,000 in payments made by Trump’s firm to Cohen. He paid that cash on Trump’s behalf a month before the election to prevent Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with the married mogul a decade ago.
Prosecutors claim the payments to Cohen were falsely recorded as legal expenses to conceal their true purpose. Trump’s lawyers claim the disbursements were legal expenditures, not a cover-up.
After decades of fielding and bringing lawsuits, the businessman-turned-politician now faces a trial that may result in up to four years in prison if convicted, while a non-jail sentence is also an option. Trump is also expected to appeal any conviction.
Trump’s lawyers lost their quest to dismiss the hush-money case and have subsequently attempted to postpone it, resulting in a frenzy of last-minute appeals court proceedings last week.
Among other things, Trump’s attorneys argue that the jury pool in largely Democratic Manhattan has been corrupted by bad news about Trump and that the case should be transferred elsewhere.
An appeals judge denied an emergency motion to delay the trial, and a group of appellate judges will consider the change-of-venue request in the coming weeks.
Manhattan prosecutors have replied that most of the publicity derives from Trump’s words and that questioning will reveal whether prospective jurors can overcome their preconceived notions. They claim there is no reason to believe that 12 fair and impartial people cannot be identified among Manhattan’s roughly 1.4 million adult citizens.
The prospective jurors will only be identified by number since the judge has ordered that their names be kept secret from everyone save prosecutors, Trump, and their legal teams. The 42 preapproved, sometimes multi-pronged queries cover the basics while reflecting the case’s individuality.
Potential Jurors Called Into Courtroom For Start Of Trump’s Historic Hush-Money Trial
“Do you have any strong opinions or firmly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current candidate for president, that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?” asks a single inquiry.
Others inquire about attendance at Trump or anti-Trump rallies, opinions on how he is being treated in the case, news sources, and other factors — including any “political, moral, intellectual, or religious beliefs or opinions” that may “slant” a prospective juror’s attitude to the case.
Based on the responses, the attorneys can request that a court remove persons “for cause” if they fulfill certain criteria for being unfit to serve or impartial. The lawyers can also use “peremptory challenges” to dismiss 10 potential jurors and two prospective alternates without explaining.
“If you strike everybody who’s either a Republican or a Democrat,” the judge noted at a February hearing, “you’re going to run out of peremptory challenges very quickly.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.
In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.
As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.
Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.
“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”
“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”
Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.
Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg
— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024
Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.
Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.
“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.
The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.
The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Celebrity
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.
On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.
However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.
Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”
He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.
Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.
Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.
According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.
“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.
The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.
SOURCE | CNN
Celebrity
Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.
Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”
Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.
Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.
She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.
In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.
Teri Garr, a comedian
Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”
Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.
A gift for spontaneous humor
Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.
She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.
During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.
Source: AP
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