Trump’s Lawyer Says Ex-President Was ‘Very Much Involved’ in Picking the Jury That Convicted Him

Lawyer Todd Blanche said his client Donald Trump was “very much involved” in the jury selection that ultimately yielded 12 New Yorkers who opted to convict the former president.

On Thursday, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to obscure hush money payments to cover up extramarital affairs. The jury found that Trump arranged the payments to prevent the salacious stories from coming to light during his 2016 presidential campaign.

The former president has been critical of the case throughout and has emerged from court on most days to address the press and attack the prosecution and the judge while Blanche stood stolidly by his side. Trump did so again after the verdict was handed down, declaring, “I am a very innocent man.”

Hours later, Blanche appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime on Fox News where he was asked about jury selection.

“Were you satisfied with jury selection and was the former president involved in that in any way?” Jesse Watters asked.

Blanche replied:

I mean, very much involved. He was right there with the whole team talking about the potential jurors. Look, was I satisfied? We put a motion in because we said we could not get a fair jury in Manhattan. And that’s not a– I’m not being disparaging to the jurors, man. They were great. They showed up on time every day. They were committed, they paid attention.

But, we’re in a situation where we had a very limited number of people we could strike. And most of the folks, an overwhelming number of folks had a very strong opinion of President Trump and it wasn’t positive. And so, imagine you– imagine you, Jesse, going to trial, facing 34 felony counts and 100 people walk in the room and the judge says basically, “If you have a strong view of Jesse Watters, you can go ahead and leave.” Half the room leaves! Half the room just walks out. Ok, so, that’s what we were dealing with. And look, that’s not a reflection of the jury pool, that’s not even a reflection of the judge. That’s just the reality of New York City.

During jury selection, Judge Juan Merchan asked a room of potential jurors if they would have difficulty being impartial if seated on the jury. Sixty of 96 jurors raised their hands and were dismissed.

Watch above via Fox News.