Prosecutors say people with ‘strong views’ on Trump may try to game the system to get on the jury for his Florida trial

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — Special counsel Jack Smith wants to seal a proposed questionnaire that will be used to select the jury in the classified documents case against Donald Trump and his two co-defendants.

Smith’s team told the court in a filing Wednesday it’s worried potential jurors could try and game the jury-selection system with prepared answers if the list of questions that will be posed in the process is public.

“Potential jurors may have strong views about Trump, his co-defendants, or the Government in this case,” prosecutors wrote, “and providing advance information about the contents of the questionnaire increases the risk that potential jurors may craft their answers to increase their odds of serving or avoiding service on the jury.”

Trump’s attorneys oppose sealing the questionnaire, according to the filing.

Such questionnaires are used to filter the pool of potential jurors by asking questions that could reveal any bias related to the case or other reasons they might not be fit to serve.

Because the process of selecting a jury, prosecutors wrote, “involves soliciting unprejudiced and unvarnished information and opinions from potential jurors so that parties and courts can make prospective assessments of their impartiality, the proposed questionnaire and the process by which the questionnaire is finalized should be sealed until after jury selection.”

The trial in the Florida case is currently slated for May, though that date could be pushed back given the volume of pre-trial issues already raised by both parties. Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the case, has set a hearing Friday to discuss scheduling in the case as well as certain legal matters.

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