The trial of Obama White House counsel Greg Craig was delayed Tuesday after the jury pool was dismissed by the judge.
Both the prosecution and defense took issue with the pre-selection of potential jury members and the public’s being barred from Monday’s proceedings.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who handled former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s case and is overseeing the upcoming trial of Trump associate Roger Stone, said the jury selection process which began Monday would be scrapped and start over Wednesday.
“It’s a little bit of a setback,” Jackson said. “But I think it’s ultimately only going to delay this thing by a couple of days.”
The Justice Department’s case against Craig, 74, spun off from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and focuses on the public relations work the well-connected Democratic attorney and the law firm he worked for — Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, and Flom — did for the pro-Kremlin government in Ukraine facilitated by Manafort in 2012. Craig faces one count of misleading investigators in the Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit.
Jackson revealed Monday some of the jury pool who said they couldn’t serve for the two weeks the trial is expected to last were prescreened out, which the defense said meant the pool was no longer random.
The judge also closed a significant portion of yesterday’s jury selection to the public because she believed the courtroom was too small to accommodate the 70 possible jury members along with journalists and members of the public there to observe All but eight journalists and all members of the public had to leave, raising questions about Craig’s right to a public trial.
Chris Reed, 64, said she and her twin sister Roberta arrived at 7 a.m. Monday to get a spot. Reed said she didn’t understand why “Joe Public” were barred yesterday and didn’t like the idea that some press members got to stay.
“Why did they get to stay and we don’t?” Reed asked. “We should be equal.”
“The right to a public trial doesn’t belong just to the lawyers — it belongs to the public too,” said Dan Toomey, 76, a former member of the U.S. attorney’s office who was there to observe.
These issues were raised by Craig’s lawyers during Tuesday’s hearing.
“Are you telling me we need to start over?” Jackson asked.
“Yes, unfortunately,” one of Craig’s lawyers replied.
Attorneys on both sides worried finding a new jury pool might push the trial back weeks, but the prosecution didn’t want that delay.
Following a brief recess, Jackson said the current jury pool would be dismissed and she’d bring in 120 new possible jury members to start the process over Wednesday. She also switched the venue from her relatively small courtroom to the ceremonial courtroom to let everyone to fit.
The new jury selection process will now likely take up much of Wednesday and Thursday, with opening statements by Friday. Craig faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
