Donald Trump Gets Hold of His Jurors' Identities

Former President Donald Trump will know the names of his jurors—but not their addresses—the judge in his upcoming trial in New York regarding hush money allegations has ruled, citing concerns of harassment and prejudice.

In an order published on Thursday, Judge Juan Merchan granted motions put forward by prosecutors on February 22 to restrict the disclosure of jurors' names to parties involved in the case, and to limit who knew their home or business addresses to either party's lead counsel. In his ruling, he referenced "the likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment."

Trump's legal team accepted the two motions, on the proviso that the jurors' names could be disclosed to other legal staff and consultants involved in the trial, which is due to start on March 25.

Trump is facing 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection to alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, during the 2016 campaign.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claimed to have been paid $130,000 by Cohen to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006. Cohen has said he was reimbursed by Trump.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges and has denied any financial wrongdoing.

Merchan stressed that the courtroom would not be closed to the public throughout the trial and access to the court "will not be tempered in any way as a result of these protective measures."

He also ordered that the parties involved in the trial submit "proposed neutral explanations" for the jurors as to why their names and addresses were being withheld that "minimize any potential prejudice to either party."

A third request from prosecutors asked the court "to explicitly provide notice to [the] defendant that any harassing or disruptive conduct that threatens the safety or integrity of the jury may result in forfeiture of the defendant's access to juror names."

Trump's team asked Merchan to reject the request. The judge reserved his right to issue the warning pending a decision on another request to restrict extrajudicial statements about the trial.

However, as MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin noted, the order contained "verbatim exchanges [from previous hearings] with Trump and/or his lawyer where they acknowledge the court's expectations about his conduct and how it could impact Trump's rights to participate in the trial," suggesting "Merchan is watching closely."

Trump has drawn the ire of judges presiding over other cases he is involved in for his public remarks about the trials.

In Trump's recent civil fraud trial in New York, Judge Arthur Engoron imposed a gag order on the former president after he made several statements claiming a member of the court staff was politically biased against him. Trump was fined twice for breaching the gag order, which he said infringed on his First Amendment rights.

A gag order has also been put in place by Judge Tanya Chutkan for Trump's trial relating to federal charges of allegedly attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, after attempting to "influence and intimidate" a potential key witness. Trump said the order would restrict his political campaigning.

Some commentators speculated that the names of the jurors would be leaked. Newsweek approached Trump's lawyer via email for comment on Friday.