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?
Donald Trump attends his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on 18 April 2024. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trump sits in the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court in New York, US, on Thursday. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
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.
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.
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.
Donald Trump sits beside his lawyer Todd Blanche on the second day of jury selection in his criminal trial in Manhattan criminal court in New York City. Photograph: Christine Cornell/Reuters
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.
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.
