Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Former President Donald Trump has been indicted. He has plead not guilty to 34 felony counts linked to a hush money scheme.
The ink is barely dry on the indictment, but the question is already being asked, with the partisan divide that exists today, can he get a fair trial? Are there 12 people in the United States who have no prior opinion of Trump?
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"We'll find that out when jury selection starts," said WBEN legal analyst Paul Cambria. "Obviously he's looking for Conservatives. The other side is looking for liberals. You never know. There are business people in New York who are Conservative. Jury selection is going to be the absolute most important thing that happens in this case. Conservative jurors may very well think that this is just a political thing and that his real intent was to protect his family from embarrassment, as opposed to influencing an election."
Make no mistake, Cambria added "it's going to be a political thing. That's never going away."
Republican strategist Carl Calabrese was more direct when asked about the former President getting a fair trial. "Not in New York," he answered. "You have 87% of people in Manhattan, where the jury pool will be drawn from, who voted against him (in 2020). I don't think it's possible to get a fair trial in Manhattan."
Calabrese added, just when you thought politics couldn't get any hotter or turbo-charged, it has just gone up a couple of notches.
"This is right where the Democrats want him. They want to see Trump as the nominee of the Republican party. But they also want him to be the nominee while a trial is going on because it keeps Trump in the spotlight and it detracts from everything else. And it forces Donald Trump into grievance mode. That way, he's talking about the past, not the future.
As of March 31, a polling average by FiveThirtyEight showed Trump's unfavorable rate at 54% while his favorable rating was 40%.
ABC Legal analyst Royal Oakes weighed-in on the question of a fair jury trial. "The problem with jury selection in high profile cases over the years, such as OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson, is that you have to talk to them long enough in court to find out which ones seem like they will be fair-minded
and open minded, in spite of prior attitudes and biases and that's almost an impossible task."