The full 12-person jury for Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial has been seated Thursday, with Judge Juan Merchan overseeing a productive afternoon despite starting the day with two previously empaneled jurors getting dismissed.
To recap: We started the day with seven seated jurors, with the goal of empaneling 12 jurors overall and likely six alternates. Instead, the process moved backward, with one seated juror excused over concerns that her identity was being shared publicly, and another dismissed after the prosecution raised questions about the truthfulness of his answers to screening questions (the judge did not publicly specify why the juror was excused).
But the court made up ground, whittling down a batch of 96 potential jurors through questions about scheduling conflicts and the potential jurors' ability to impartially judge the case. In the end, seven new jurors were selected.
Each side raised flags about potential jury members, requesting their dismissal without cause. Prosecutors and Trump's attorneys started jury selection with 10 strikes, and used all the ones they had remaining in the process of filling the jury today.
Each side also had the ability to request a juror be dismissed for cause, which would not expend one of their limited strikes, but required the approval of Merchan. At least one potential jury member was dismissed for cause at the request of Trump's team.
