ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – More than two dozen potential jurors have been excused from serving during the first day of selecting the panel that will hear former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s bank and tax fraud trial in Virginia.
According to court documents, a total of 80 jurors were summoned to the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, but only 73 appeared.
After completing a joror questionnaire “it appears that 30 jurors must be stricken based on their responses,” U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III wrote in a three-page order released Wednesday.
The jurors “clearly demonstrated their inability to judge the case fairly and impartially based solely on the evidence presented at trial and the court’s instruction on the law,” he added.
Another 25 potential jurors will be called on Friday to complete the questionnaire.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and Manafort’s defense attorneys, Kevin Downing and Thomas Zehnle, will have until midday Friday to lodge objections.
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