Donald Trump Judge's Unusual Instructions to Jury Raise Eyebrows

A decision by the judge in Donald Trump's E. Jean Carroll case to make jurors in the case remain anonymous has caught the attention of commentators.

Jury selection has started in the former president's second defamation trial in New York.

In May 2023 Carroll, a journalist, was awarded $5 million in damages in May following a ruling that Trump had sexually assaulted her and was civilly liable for defamation.

Carroll's lawyers are seeking another $10 million in compensatory damages and "substantially more" after the former president continued to deny the accusations that he assaulted her in a New York City department store changing room in the mid-1990s, claiming he has no idea who she is and that Carroll was not his "type." Trump also called Carroll's account "fake" and labeled her a "whack job" during a CNN town hall broadcast. In early September, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump's comments against Carroll were defamatory.

Judge Kaplan said Trump will face an anonymous nine-person jury, with the names, addresses and places of employment of prospective jurors kept secret, saying he found "strong reason" to provide special protections for jurors at the civil trial.

He cited the Republican criticizing Carroll in public and the "extensive media coverage" of her case as well, as his conduct in New York Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit against him, where Trump has been fined twice for violating a gag order with comments about his clerk.

If juror identities were disclosed, "there would be a strong likelihood of unwanted media attention to the jurors, influence attempts, and/or harassment or worse by supporters of Mr. Trump [and/or by Mr. Trump himself]," Kaplan wrote.

These measures were used in the first trial regarding Trump and Carroll. Jurors will also be transported together to and from the courthouse and be looked after by U.S. marshals during breaks in the trial.

Newsweek contacted a representative for Trump by email to comment on this story.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Harry Litman said anonymizing the jury showed "how much Trump has twisted and corrupted the system."

In another tweet, he said Trump was being treated like a "mob boss" and that he had not heard of anonymous jurors being used in a civil case.

X user Christopher Webb said Judge Kaplan "is clearly not messing around" and suggested jurors should be concerned.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent critic of the former president, said he had only worked on cases with anonymous juries in two cases in over 30 years and that they were in cases involving large criminal organizations.

In a video posted to YouTube, he called the "extraordinary security measures" showed Trump "poses the kind of danger to jurors" that made Judge Kaplan act. He added that Trump's supporters may have reacted to social media posts criticizing the jury had they been named.

Trump used social media to attack Carroll at the beginning of the trial, calling the trial "fake" and repeating claims he has never met Carroll.

The case resumes on Wednesday and Carroll is expected to testify.