In a unique moment in American history, former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial began Monday with jury selection.

It is the first criminal trial of a former commander in chief and the first of four indictments against Trump. With Trump the presumptive Republican nominee this year, the trial will also feature dizzying split-screen footage of the presidential candidate spending the day in the courtroom, “campaigning at night,” he said.

In part, it was a trial of the justice system itself, as the defendant used his immense popularity to attack the judge, his daughter, the district attorney, some of the witnesses and the charges — all while assailing the legality of the trial. He insists this legal structure has been usurped by his political opponents.

Against this backdrop, dozens of private citizens will be summoned to a spacious room in the Utilitarian Court on Monday to determine whether they can serve on a jury fairly and impartially.

“The ultimate question is whether prospective jurors can assure us that they will put aside any personal feelings or biases and make a decision based on the evidence and the law,” Judge Juan M. Merchan said in the statement. reads the April 8 filing.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, allegedly to prevent salacious stories about his sex life that he said were false from circulating during the 2016 campaign.

The charges center on a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s company to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen. He paid the money on Trump’s behalf to stop porn actor Stormy Daniels from publicly claiming a month before the election that she had a sexual encounter with the married tycoon a decade ago.

Prosecutors said the payments to Cohen were incorrectly recorded as attorney fees to conceal their true purpose. Trump’s lawyers said the expenses were indeed legal fees and not a cover-up.

Trump himself has cast this case, and his other indictments elsewhere, as widespread “weaponization of law enforcement” by Democratic prosecutors and officials. He insists they are plotting false accusations in hopes of derailing his presidential campaign.

After decades of litigation and prosecutions, the businessman-turned-politician now faces trial where he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted, although a life sentence is also possible.

Whatever the ultimate outcome, the trials of former presidents and current candidates are an extraordinarily serious moment for the American political system and for Trump himself. This scenario was once unthinkable to many Americans, even for a president who left behind a legacy of broken norms during his tenure, including two impeachments and acquittals by the Senate.

Scenes inside the courtroom can cause spectacle outside the courtroom. During Trump’s arraignment last year, police broke up skirmishes between his supporters and protesters in a small park near the courthouse, where a local Republican group planned to hold a pro-Trump rally on Monday.

Trump’s lawyers failed to dismiss the hush-money case and have since repeatedly sought delays, leading to a series of last-minute appeals court hearings last week.

Among other things, Trump’s lawyers have insisted that the Manhattan jury, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, has been swayed by negative publicity about Trump and that the case should be moved elsewhere.

An appeals judge rejected an emergency request to delay the trial, while a request to change venue was referred to a panel of appeals judges who will consider it in the coming weeks.

Manhattan prosecutors have countered that much of the publicity stems from Trump’s own remarks and that the questioning will clarify whether prospective jurors can put aside any preconceptions they may have. Prosecutors said there was no reason to believe that 12 impartial individuals could not be found among Manhattan’s roughly 1.4 million adult residents.

The process of selecting the 12 people, plus six alternates, will begin with dozens of people pouring into the Merchan’s courtroom. Their numbers are only known because he has ordered their names to be kept secret from everyone except prosecutors, Trump and his legal team.

After hearing some basic facts about the case and jury service, prospective jurors will be asked to show their hands if they feel they cannot serve or be fair and impartial. Those who do will be forgiven, according to documents filed last week by Merchants.

The rest will be eligible for questioning. The 42 pre-approved, sometimes multi-pronged inquiries include background basics but also reflect the uniqueness of the case.

“Do you have any strong views or strongly held beliefs about former President Donald Trump, or the fact that he is a current presidential candidate, that would interfere with your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?” Ask a question .

Others asked about Trump’s attendance at or anti-Trump rallies, opinions about his treatment in the case, news sources and more — including any “political, moral, intellectual or religious beliefs or opinions.” Case handling methods.

Depending on the answers, attorneys can ask the judge to exclude someone “for cause” if they meet certain criteria for inability to serve or impartiality. Attorneys can also use “peremptory challenges” to eliminate 10 potential jurors and two potential alternates without giving a reason.

“If you were to hit every Republican or every Democrat, you would lose peremptory challenges very quickly,” the judge noted during a February hearing.