Former President Donald Trump‘s loss Sunday night in Washington, D.C.’s GOP primary to former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is a sign that he faces a tough crowd among possible jury members.
Trump is facing 91 criminal charges across four jurisdictions, including a federal court in Democratic Party stronghold Washington. Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election and for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot aimed at stopping the certification of Joe Biden‘s White House win.
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However, the results on Sunday suggest Republicans in the district are not the biggest Trump fans. Democratic attorney Marc Elias suggested on social media that Trump’s loss in Washington could spell trouble for his jury trial.
“In a city of 700,000, Donald Trump got 676 votes in the GOP primary. A tough jury pool,” Elias wrote on X on Sunday.
Haley defeated Trump 62.8% to 33.3%, with 100% of the vote accounted for, according to results from the Associated Press. The win marked Haley’s first primary win of the 2024 election season.
The loss in Washington belies Trump’s dominance in all other previous primaries in this cycle and among the GOP as a whole. The former president won every other nominating contest before Washington, including in Iowa, New Hampshire, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho.
“Republican voters have delivered resounding wins for President Trump in every single primary contest, and this race is over,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesman, in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Our focus is now on Joe Biden and the general election.”
Yet the loss also suggests Trump will face far less sympathy among a jury of peers in Washington.
However, former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller responded to Elias’s post, writing that a “Democrat lawyer openly brags that Trump will never get a fair trial or impartial jury in D.C.”
He scored a victory when U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan vacated the March 4 trial date early last month.
Then, the Supreme Court announced late last month it was taking up Trump’s claims he has immunity from criminal prosecution. The high court will hear arguments the week of April 22, a move that critics, including Smith, argued could delay his trial until after the November election.
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Trump’s campaign also downplayed Haley’s win in Washington and slammed anti-Trump voters in a statement Sunday night.
“Tonight’s results in Washington D.C. reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign — he will drain the swamp and put America first,” said Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign. “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and D.C. insiders that want to protect the failed status quo. The swamp has claimed their queen.”
