Summary
Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:
12 jurors have been selected for Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial. One alternate juror has also been selected, with jury selection for five more alternates to resume tomorrow morning. The confirmations came after two jurors were removed from the jury earlier on Thursday.
The first juror dismissed said she no longer believed she could be unbiased in the case. Since being selected on Tuesday, she had been targeted by Fox News host Jesse Watters, and said she had received a flurry of text messages from friends and family that led her to believe she had been identified.
The second juror was excused after prosecutors expressed concerns that he may not have been truthful on his jury questionnaire. Prosecutors noted they found an article about a person with the same name who had been arrested in the 1990s for tearing down political posters.
Prosecutors accused Trump of violating a gag order seven additional times. They have already filed a previous request to sanction him for breaking the order and a hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week.
Judge Juan Merchan asked the media to stop reporting physical descriptions about potential jurors, concerned about their anonymity. Earlier this week he admonished Trump against intimidating jurors.
That’s it as we wrap the blog up for today. Thank you for following along.
Donald Trump was looking down at his hands on the table in front of him as judge Juan Merchan outlined next steps moving towards opening statements, which he hopes will be Monday.
The confirmed jurors looked somber as they were sworn in, raising their right hands and swearing to hear the case in a “fair and impartial manner,” according to a trial pool report.
Judge Juan Merchan said that jury selection for alternate jurors will continue on Friday and that he remains hopeful that the case will proceed to opening statements on Monday.
'We have our jury,' judge Juan Merchan said after all 12 jurors were selected
All twelve juror confirmations came after a few setbacks, including the removal of two earlier jurors on Thursday.
Updated
An alternate juror has been picked.
According to a trial pool report, the details of the first chosen alternate juror are: B714, seat 18 (alternate 1).
Updated
All 12 jurors seated
All 12 jurors have been seated.
Here are the details for the last two jurors who were selected: B500, seat 16 (juror 11) and B440, seat 17 (juror 12).
The jury selection has now moved on to choosing six alternate jurors.
Updated
Three more jurors selected, bringing total of confirmed jurors to 10 so far
Three more jurors have been seated, bringing the total number of confirmed jurors to 10.
According to a trial pool report, the juror details are: B639, seat 8 (juror 8), B423, seat 12 (juror 9) and B789, seat 14 (juror 10).
Two jurors chosen to take place of dismissed jurors
Two jurors have been seated to backfill the empty spots that were left by two other jurors who were removed earlier.
According to a trial pool report, the jurors are B565 (juror number 2) and B470 (juror number 4).
Updated
Susan Necheles challenged the potential juror who stayed at her house overnight fifteen years ago, according to a trial pool report.
Necheles also pointed to the potential juror’s husband who reviewed New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman’s book on Donald Trump’s crimes.
Judge Juan Merchan asked the potential juror about her and her husband’s friendship with Necheles, to which the potential juror responded:
“About 15 years ago, I met her through my husband, they were both lawyers at the time… We went and stayed at her house.”
She went on to add that she has not spent time with Necheles since and would not have recalled the sleepover if her husband had not reminded her.
The potential juror said that her husband was a general counsel at a company and also reviews books.
Merchan also asked the potential juror if she discussed her husband’s opinion of Trump. In response, the potential juror said that they frequently talk about politics but did not discuss this particular case with him.
The potential juror also said that she could be fair, adding, “I should say I work in publishing also, and I have published voices on both sides, so I do believe everyone deserves a voice.”
After the potential juror left, Necheles renewed her objection, to which Merchan denied.
“She doesn’t really know you,” Merchan said. In response, Necheles said that she did not remember her until her husband reminded her.
“And she had to be reminded of that, yes?” Merchan said, adding, “Your challenge for cause is denied,” according to the trial pool report.
Donald Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles is moving to strike a potential juror for cause because the woman stayed at her house overnight 15 years ago.
Following a quick departure from his bench, judge Juan Merchan returned, saying:
“We started the day with seven, and unfortunately we’re down to five,” according to a trial pool report.
Attorneys are also set to make “for cause” challenges on several of the 18 potential jurors who were questioned earlier.
Judge Juan Merchan has sworn in another group of potential jurors and instructed them to appear at the courthouse at 11:30am on Friday.
According to trial pool reports, Merchan apologized to group for having to wait around all day with nothing happening.
Donald Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles questioned a potential juror on her thoughts towards the former president, according to a trial pool report.
“I don’t have strong opinions, but I don’t like his persona. How he presents himself in public,” the prospective juror said, adding, “I don’t like some of my coworkers but I don’t try to sabotage their work.” The jury box laughed in response.
The potential juror went on to add, “He seems very selfish and self serving… I don’t really appreciate that from any public servant.”
“It sounds a bit like what you’re saying is you don’t like him, based on what you’re saying,” Necheles said, to which the potential juror responded, “Yes.”
A potential juror who is in construction said he is impressed with Donald Trump. He said:
He was our president. Pretty amazing. He was a businessman in New York. He forged his way. He kind of made history … I’m impressed with that.
Another potential juror took a long sigh when asked if she had a strong opinion of Donald Trump. She said:
I have got opinions. I’m born and raised in Brooklyn and New York and I’ve kind of spent my whole life knowing about Donald Trump. I once saw him and Marla Maples shopping at ABC Homes shopping for baby stuff. I had a cousin who lived in Trump Tower.
She said had heard positive things about Trump, but then said:
How I feel about him as a president is different.
Another juror said she doesn’t have a strong opinion about Trump, but doesn’t like his persona.
He’s just very selfish and self-serving. I don’t appreciate that in any public servant.
A juror says her son works for Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, but that it wouldn’t affect her ability to be fair in this case.
Susan Necheles, a lawyer for Trump, is now questioning the jurors. She starts off by previewing how aggressively Trump’s team intends to attack the credibility of witnesses.
She asks the potential jurors if they would have any issue taking into consideration people who might have bias against Trump. She says:
Someone who says they want revenge against President Trump may be someone who’s work you should evaluate in that light?
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is already bracing the potential jurors for the difficulty of believing Michael Cohen, who is likely to be the star witness in the case.
“Some of the witnesses have what you might consider to be some baggage,” Steinglass told them, noting some have publicly said they didn’t do what they’re accused of in the case.
One juror said they’d have no problem keeping an open mind. Another said he would “wait to hear everything and see if it’s compelling or not.”
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is beginning to directly question some of the potential jurors who remain.
He’s asking the jurors if they could apply the kind of logic and legal reasoning that would be needed to find Trump guilty. He says:
The number one quality we look for in a jury and in juror is common sense.
The 18 prospective jurors are back in the courtroom after a lunch break.
Now jurors will be questioned by Donald Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors for about 30 minutes each.
Updated
RFK Jr. is a self-proclaimed independent politician and has become a well-known conspiracist, questioning vaccines, Sandy Hook, and 9/11, among other fringe theories. He has also expressed racist, antisemitic and xenophobic sentiments in the past.
In response to the news some of his family is endorsing his opponent Biden in the 2024 presidential race, he said on X: “I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition.
“We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other. I hold this as a possibility for America too. Can we disagree without hating our opponents? Can we restore civility and respect to public discourse? I think we can.”
I hear some of my family will be endorsing President Biden today. I am pleased they are politically active — it’s a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) April 18, 2024
I hold this as a possibility for America too. Can we disagree without…
Kennedy family endorses Biden
Several members of the Kennedy family have joined Biden on the campaign trail in Philadelphia today to give a ringing endorsement of the current president, publicly rejecting their own family member Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., who is also running for the nation’s highest office.
Kerry Kennedy, sister of RFK Jr. and daughter of the late RFK Sr., took the stage to give “unwavering support” to Biden on behalf of her family.
She called Biden her hero and said: “Joe Biden is always running into the flames so that we don’t have to.”
No camera are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom during Donald Trump’s hush money trial, but court sketch artists have been at work.
Interim lunch summary
The court is taking a lunch break and will resume at 2.15pm ET. Here’s what has happened so far:
Two jurors were removed from the jury on Thursday, meaning only five jurors currently remain seated in the case. There will eventually be 12 jurors and six alternates.
The first juror dismissed said she no longer believed she could be unbiased in the case. Since being selected on Tuesday, she had been targeted by Fox News host Jesse Waters, and said she had received a flurry of text messages from friends and family that led her to believe she had been identified.
The second juror was excused after prosecutors expressed concerns that he may not have been truthful on his jury questionnaire about his criminal history.
Prosecutors also accused Trump of violating a gag order seven additional times. They have already filed a previous request to sanction him for breaking the order and a hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week.
Trump arrived at the Manhattan criminal court in the morning for the third day of his hush-money trial and a continuation of jury selection. The former president sat expressionless throughout the session Thursday morning, and appeared attentive.
Judge Merchan asked the media to stop reporting physical descriptions about potential jurors, concerned about their anonymity.
Potential juror dismissed after comparing Trump to Berlusconi
A potential juror was just excused after saying he’s from Italy and Italian media makes strong associations between Donald Trump and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The juror said upon further reflection, he didn’t think he could be fair and was excused.
Updated
The second juror who was dismissed today, Juror 4, spoke briefly to reporters after he left the courtroom.
The man declined to give his name but he nodded when asked if he thought he could be unbiased, the New York Times reported.
He shook his head when asked if he felt at all intimidated in the courtroom, it said.
Asked if he thought he should have been dismissed, as he walked hurriedly by, his umbrella pulled low, he gave a one-word answer: ‘Nope.’
One dismissed juror shared her experience of walking into the courtroom with fellow prospective jurors to discover they had been called for the Donald Trump hush money trial.
“Everyone was shocked, everyone was frozen,” the woman told MSNBC.
We went into the courtroom and we saw Donald Trump ... I was shocked, I was sitting in the second row, like six feet away.
The former president “looked less orange … more yellowish” and “bored, like he wants this to finish”, she added.
“[Trump] looked less orange, definitely. Like, more yellowish. … He doesn’t look angry; I think he looks bored.”
— The Recount (@therecount) April 18, 2024
— A person who was dismissed from consideration as a juror for Trump’s New York criminal trial tells MSNBC her impression after she saw him in court pic.twitter.com/jDzo7YO3vU
After the juror was dismissed, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked if the temperature in the courtroom could be turned up “just one degree”, saying “it’s freezing” in the room, per pool reports.
Judge Merchan replied that the issue would be that if court officials tried to turn it up one degree, it would probably go up 30 degrees (fahrenheit). The judge said:
It is cold, there’s no question it is cold, but I’d rather be a little cold than sweaty, and really those are the choices. I agree with you it’s chilly, no question.
Another juror is excused
Juror 4 has been excused, meaning that two jurors have been withdrawn today.
The juror was dismissed after prosecutors raised concerns about the accuracy of his answers. Judge Merchan said:
He does not need to come back and should not come back Monday morning.
The man was summoned back to court today to answer questions after prosecutors said they found an article about a person with the same name who had been arrested in the 1990s for tearing down political posters.
Prosecutors had also disclosed that the man’s wife may have been involved in a corruption inquiry and cooperated with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump’s case.
There are now five seated jurors remaining.
Updated
Here’s some more detail on Juror 4, who prosecutors say may have not been truthful when he answered questions during jury selection earlier this week, per pool reports.
Judge Merchan said the juror, a man, was unhappy at how much information had been publicized about him. The judge said:
I don’t want to overstate it or understate it but he expressed annoyance.
Merchan sealed a portion of the transcript where he said the juror discussed “very personal” information.
The judge is now engaged in conversation with the lawyers.
There’s quite an extraordinary picture in court right now
All of the lawyers are at a bench conference with Justice Merchan and Donald Trump is sitting at the defense table, alone.
There are no aides and the Secret Service agents are in the row behind him.
It’s a striking and unusual image of a president isolated. Trump is expressionless.
Updated
Donald Trump has reentered the courtroom after a break. He did not answer questions but gestured with a wave and clenched fist at the camera.
The court in Donald Trump’s hush money criminal case has been on a short break.
Juror 4, who prosecutors noted may have misrepresented himself when answering the juror questionnaire earlier this week, was brought back into the courtroom.
Journalists weren’t able to overhear the conversation between Juror 4, Judge Merchan and the lawyers, but pool reports say some of the man’s answers led to chuckling from Trump lawyer Todd Blanche.
Donald Trump, who was seated at the defense table, was seen leaning in apparently to hear a little better as the parties spoke in hushed voices.
The conversation concluded and the juror was escorted from the room. The judge has made no immediate decision on the juror.
Allies said that the Republican congressman Mike Gallagher decided to exit after far-right Republicans ejected Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, amid other shenanigans.
But Gallagher’s latest comments suggest that his early exit is tied to fears of rising political violence in the US on all sides, though the majority of threats and concerns come from the far right.
Just this week, two prominent Republican lawmakers encouraged voters to either use violence against protesters or carry weapons.
The Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake, who is vying for a seat in Arizona, told her supporters to “strap on a Glock” ahead of the 2024 elections. A day later, the Republican senator Tom Cotton said Americans should “take matters into their own hands” when dealing with pro-Palestinian protesters, encouraging vigilantism.
An alarming number of Americans are also willing to use weapons to carry out political violence, according to a recent study.
Republican congressman for Wisconsin Mike Gallagher has suggested that he is resigning from his seat in Congress because of death threats and swatting targeted at his family.
Gallagher shared more insight into his decision to vacate his seat while talking with reporters on Tuesday, the NBC affiliate WLUK reported. Gallagher, 40, said:
This is more just me wanting to prioritize being with my family ... I signed up for the death threats and the late-night swatting, but they did not. And for a young family, I would say this job is really hard.
Gallagher is married, with two young daughters. He announced last month that he would be resigning from his congressional seat before the end of his term, effective 19 April.
Gallagher, a rising star within the Republican party, announced his retirement in February after breaking with other House Republicans and refusing to vote to impeach the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, a Democrat.
But, in March, Gallagher said that he would be exiting Congress in April, before the end of his term. He has represented Wisconsin’s eighth district since 2017.
The 39 potential jurors remaining after 57 were excused are now being asked about the juror questionnaire.
The first potential juror has worked as a law clerk in a courthouse, and says she has discussed the Trump hush money case at length with her co-workers and boss, including the Mark Pomerantz book.
Asked if her ability to be fair and impartial had been affected, the potential juror says she will put her legal training aside, though “it’s hard to unring a bell”, per pool.
Two lawyers have already been selected to sit on Trump’s trial. One is a civil litigator at a large white-shoe law firm, and another is a corporate lawyer at a firm focused on start-ups and venture capital, according to Politico.
Judge has concerns about truthfulness of juror
Before the new panel of potential jurors entered the courtroom, Judge Merchan said he had concerns about one of the selected jurors and how truthfully the person had answered questions.
One of the questions on the juror questionnaire asks if the potential juror or any of their family members were accused of a crime. Under questioning earlier this week, Juror 4 had said he hadn’t been convicted of a crime.
Prosecutors found an article from the 1990s about a person with the same name as the juror who was arrested for tearing down political advertisements. The posters were on the political right, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.
Steinglass also disclosed that the man’s wife may have been involved in a corruption inquiry and cooperated with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump’s case.
Judge Merchan noted that he had instructed the man to come to court this morning to answer questions and verify whether the people involved were him or his relative. He noted the juror’s apparent “reluctance to come in” and asked both sides if they would consent to having him removed without further inquiry.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche declined, saying he wanted to first hear from the man before deciding to dismiss him.
Updated
From the current panel of 96 prospective jurors, 48 were excused after saying they could not be fair and impartial in the case, per pool.
Another nine were excused for other reasons without explanation.
Juror who withdrew was targeted by Fox News host
The juror who withdrew was targeted by Jesse Watters, the Fox News host, on Tuesday evening.
Watters said on his show:
I’m not so sure about juror No. 2.
Watters spoke directly about the juror during his show and questioned whether she could really be fair.
The juror told Justice Juan Merchan on Thursday she had been contacted by friends and family asking if she was a juror.
Updated
Trump lawyers ask judge to force Stormy Daniels to comply with subpoena
Donald Trump’s lawyers are asking Judge Juan Merchan to force Stormy Daniels to comply with the subpoena. In their filing, they included a photo they said process server Dominic DellaPorte took of Daniels as she strode away.
Daniels’s lawyer Clark Brewster claims they never received the paperwork. He described the requests as an “unwarranted fishing expedition” with no relevance to Trump’s criminal trial. Brewster wrote in a 9 April letter to Merchan:
The process – instituted on the eve of trial – appears calculated to cause harassment and/or intimidation of a lay witness.
Daniels is expected to testify about a $130,000 payment she got in 2016 from one of Trump’s lawyers at the time, Michael Cohen, in order to stop her from speaking publicly about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.
Updated
Donald Trump’s legal team has said it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the adult movie actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president’s criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
A process server working for Trump’s lawyers said he approached Daniels with papers demanding information related to a documentary recently released about her life and involvement with Trump, but was forced to “leave them at her feet”, according to a court filing made public on Wednesday.
“I stated she was served as I identified her and explained to her what the documents were,” process server Dominic DellaPorte wrote.
She did not acknowledge me and kept walking inside the venue, and she had no expression on her face.
A new panel of potential jurors have entered the courtroom. Some of the jurors look surprised to see Donald Trump at the defense table, per pool.
Judge Merchan addresses the new batch of potential jurors, and introduces the lawyers on each side as well as the defendant, Trump.
According to pool reports, Trump does not stand up to face the potential jurors seated in the audience when he is introduced, unlike his legal team.
Prosecutors say Trump has violated gag order seven times
Prosecutors are submitting another order to show cause, saying that Donald Trump has violated the gag order seven more times, starting on Monday.
Trump’s new posts came after prosecutors initially sought a $3,000 fine on Monday for three other Truth Social posts.
One links to a NYPost article calling Michael Cohen a “serial perjurer” and the case “an embarrassment for the New York legal system, per pool.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy also notes “the most disturbing post” that Trump posted on social media quoting Jesse Watters on Fox News that they are “catching undercover liberal activists lying to the judge” in order to get on the jury. “It’s ridiculous and has to stop,” Conroy says.
The defense argues that reporting statements from others should not violate the gag order.
Judge Merchan does not make an immediate ruling, saying he will wait for a hearing on the prosecution’s request for contempt sanctions over Trump’s posts scheduled for 23 April.
Updated
Judge Merchan, in directing the press not to use physical descriptors to describe jurors, complained specifically about mentioning one of the jurors had an Irish accent.
“We just lost” what would have been a good juror for the case, Merchan said, after one of the jurors was excused after she told the court that she had concerns about her ability to be impartial. Merchan added:
She said she was afraid and intimidated by the press, all the press.
The judge ruled that the media can no longer report on jurors’ answers to question 3a and 3d of the questionnaire.
Questions 3a and 3d ask: Who is your current employer and who is your previous employer?
Judge Merchan just admonished the press for using physical descriptors to describe jurors. He said:
I would recommend the press simply apply common sense and refrain from anything that has to do, for example, with physical descriptions. It’s just not necessary, it serves no purpose.
He said that if the press continues to write about physical descriptors, he is willing to take additional steps to conceal the identities of jurors.
Juror excused after concerns over aspects of identity made public
Judge Merchan says Juror 2 contacted the court and said she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial. This is the oncology nurse from the Upper East Side.
Speaking in court, she says she “definitely has concerns now” about what has been reported about her publicly.
She says she had friends, colleagues and family conveying to her that she had been identified as a potential juror.
Updated
Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench, and court is now in session.
Seven jurors have been selected so far. They include an information technology worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers.
Five more jurors and six alternates remain to be chosen.
Trump takes his seat in the courtroom
Donald Trump has taken his seat at the defense table in Manhattan criminal court for day three of the criminal hush money trial against him.
He is talking on his cell phone.
Donald Trump’s motorcade arrived at the Manhattan courthouse shortly before 9am ET, and jury selection is expected to resume at about 9.30am.
Trump and his lawyers have entered the courtroom, as have prosecutors including Susan Hoffinger, Joshua Steinglass, and Matthew Colangelo.
There have been some surreal scenes in the jury selection process so far, where potential jurors have had to explain how they feel about Donald Trump as he sits in front of them and listens.
Here’s a look at how ordinary New Yorkers have responded as they were asked their thoughts on the former president.
Good morning from the overflow room in the Manhattan criminal court building in lower Manhattan.
We’re about to kick off day three of jury selection in Donald Trump’s criminal trial over his efforts to conceal hush money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Seven jurors have been picked so far. Five more regular jurors and six alternates still need to be selected.
It’s been a rainy quiet morning here at the courthouse. There wasn’t much activity in the park across the street.
Trump, meanwhile, continues to push the envelope with a gag order that prohibits him from attacking jurors. Last night, he reposted a quote from the Fox News host Jesse Waters suggesting that undercover liberal activists were trying to get on the jury.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the trial, has already warned Trump once about threatening jurors. We’ll see if the judge brings it up this morning.
Trump hush-money trial resumes for third day of jury selection
Good morning US politics readers. Donald Trump is due to return to Manhattan court this morning as the process continues in the jury selection for the former president’s historic trial and one of the most high-profile criminal cases in US history.
So far, seven people have been selected after two days of intense grilling by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers that has sifted through prospective jurors’ political views, personal lives and social media posts to decide who gets to sit in judgment over Trump just months before his upcoming rematch with Joe Biden in the November general election.
Five more jurors and six alternates remain to be chosen. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of the alleged effort to cover up hush money paid to adult actor Stormy Daniels. Trump also faces other trials involving his actions on January 6, attempts to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia and charges related to his keeping of classified documents at his resort in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, after he had left office.
Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know
A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far
The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump
From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players
Here’s what else we’re watching:
Joe Biden is traveling to Philadelphia, where he is scheduled to participate in a number of campaign events before returning to the White House
Biden is expected to receive the formal endorsement of a large contingent of the Kennedy family who have shunned independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, the Biden campaign has said.
Kamala Harris will take part in a conversation about gun violence prevention ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
10am ET. Alejandro Mayorkas, the US secretary of homeland security, will testify before the homeland security and governmental affairs committee.
12pm. The Senate will meet to take up the motion to proceed to the Fisa section 702 reauthorization, with a cloture vote at 1pm.
