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
Sam Levine
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.
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.”
— 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.
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.
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.
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.
Donald Trump gestures as he returns from a recess in his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/AFP/Getty Images
Donald Trump gestures in the hallway outside the courtroom during a recess in his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/AFP/Getty Images
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.
