PinnedStepping out of the courtroom, President Trump addressed the media for the first time today.
He had brought printouts of several news stories, showing them to the cameras.
The court will start with opening statement April 22, and adjourn by 2 p.m. to accommodate for Passover.
April 23 will involve a hearing over gag order violation allegations and possible sanctions.
More jurors were seated after the replacements were filled, bringing the total to 12, a full jury.
Juror 8 is a man who has lived on the Upper East Side since the 1980s and is a retired wealth manager who still consults with some clients.
Juror 9 is a woman who grew up in New Jersey and now lives on the Upper East Side. She said she doesn't watch the news or follow it too closely, but gets the New York Times and CNN morning newsletters.
The two jurors who were dismissed earlier today have been replaced by two others.
The replacement Juror 2 is a man who works in investment banking and follows a lot of news events on social media.
“Except for following Michael Cohen on Twitter, I don’t follow any anti-Trump organizations,” he said. “While I do not have any firmly held opinions or strong beliefs, I do follow the news.”
The next panel of nearly 100 prospective jurors was brought in and sworn in. The judge said they would be sent home and then questioned Friday from 11:30 a.m. onward.
Eighteen prospective jurors remain from the previous panel, and attorneys can now make any challenges to individual jurors.
The juror who had discussed the case at length with her boss, a federal judge, and law clerk colleagues, was dismissed.
Susan Necheles asked prospective jurors, if someone says they want revenge against President Trump, can they understand that testimony should be evaluated in that light.
One juror answered that his politics were different from President Trump, and he might have posted as much on social media.
Another said, "I don't like his persona. He is very selfish and self-serving. How he conducts himself in public, its just not my cup of tea."
One prospective juror who is a law clerk said after thinking it over during the lunch break, she didn't believe she could set aside her prior knowledge of the case. She had spent a year discussing the case with a judge and other law clerks on the legal merits.
Mr. Steinglass asked whether she was concerned she would not be able to put that aside.
"Frankly, yes," she said.
After a lunch recess, attorneys addressed the prospective jurors.
Attorney Joshua Steinglass asked individual jurors whether they felt the government had more to prove just because the defendant is Donald Trump. The remaining jurors answered they believed they could be objective. Mr. Steinglass asked why one juror followed President Trump on social media.
“I followed him years ago,” he said. “Just generally because it was a news item when he put a tweet out, so just to be aware of that."
After a break, Juror 4 was brought back in and questioned by the judge and attorneys.
"I’m directing that juror number 4 be excused," Justice Merchan said after the discussion.
This leaves us with five jurors. The court needs to seat 12 jurors and about six alternates.
Juror 4, who was flagged by prosecutors for his wife's prior arrest for tearing down right-wing political advertisements, has been brought in and will be questioned. President Trump is looking on. The juror said something that made the attorneys laugh. A court officer told reporters in the room not to try and listen.
The remaining 40-some jurors answered the questionnaire aloud one by one.
One juror said they worked in a law firm and had discussed the legal merits of the case at length with colleagues. They had views on the case as a lawyer, but promised to judge based on evidence presented.
Another juror said the only potential conflict might be one of their children works for a U.S. Representative.
About half of the panel was excused for saying they could not be fair and impartial. A handful more had scheduling conflicts.
Now 48 jurors remain of the panel of 96.
President Trump turned around to get a look at them.
The next panel of 96 potential jurors were brought in and given instructions by the judge.
The judge noted that court would not convene on Passover dates, and there is no trial April 29.
He read aloud a list of names of people associated with the case and asked if any prospective juror had an honest, legitimate, and good faith reason to believe they could not be fair and impartial, to alert the court now: Donald Trump, Steven Bannon, Shannon Churcher, Michael Cohen, Kellyanne Conway, Stormy Daniels, Keith Bazin, Sherry Dillon, Rudy Giuiliani, Hope Hicks, DeWitt Hutchins, Jeffrey McConney, Reince Priebus, Bradley A Smith, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, Allen Weisselberg.
Prosecutors raised an issue with Juror 4, finding that he answered on the questionnaire that he had never been accused of a crime but an article revealed he was arrested in the 1990s for tearing down political advertisements in Westchester, New York.
Upon additional research, prosecutors said, it seemed the juror or his wife was previously involved in a corruption inquiry that ended up in agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
The juror was meant to come to court for additional questioning, but was not present.
Prosecutors urged the judge to hold President Trump in contempt.
Defense attorneys argued the gag order did not prohibit reposting of commentary by others and the allegation spoke to the broad nature of the order they were challenging to begin with.
"I think that the comments this morning call to your attention the challenges to the gag order from the outset," said attorney Todd Blanche.
The posts in question relate to Michael Cohen, the key witness in the case. They said President Trump had linked a NY Post op-ed titled "A serial perjurer will try to prove an old misdemeanor against Trump in an embarrassment for the New York legal system" written by legal scholar Jonathan Turley.
A second alleged violation was reposting this article to a campaign website.
President Trump did not post a comment along with the link on social media.
Prosecutors showed the judge four recent social media posts by President Trump, saying this has brought the number of gag order violations up to seven.
On day one of the trial, prosecutors asked for a $3,000 fine on President Trump for violating the gag order by talking about witnesses in three social media posts.
Justice Merchan chided the press for revealing physical descriptions of potential jurors, noting they were seating an anonymous jury and not using names for a reason.
He said the press was allowed to quote what was on the record but said reporters should apply common sense and not include physical descriptions as it "serves no purpose."
"For example, there's no reason for anyone to mention that one of the jurors had an Irish accent," he said.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan called attorneys up to confer shortly after taking the bench.
Justice Merchan said Juror 2 had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial about the case after sleeping on the decision overnight.
She was brought into the room and said after thinking about it, she has friends, colleagues, and family that "push things" and outside influences would likely affect her impartiality. She added that she had been identified as a juror from news reports.
The weather is cold and drizzly, so protestors that have been present in droves on the first two days of trial are notably absent.
Jury selection is underway for the People v. Donald Trump trial in New York.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged former President Donald Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, and President Trump has pleaded not guilty.
A full jury of 12 has been seated, and attorneys will question another panel of nearly 100 prospective jurors to seat five more alternates on Friday.
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