All 12 jurors seated for Trump’s historic criminal trial – as it happened

18 Apr 202415.29 EDT

Sam Levine

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.

18 Apr 202415.25 EDT

Sam Levine

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.

18 Apr 202415.17 EDT

Sam Levine

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.

18 Apr 202415.12 EDT

Sam Levine

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?

18 Apr 202415.06 EDT

Sam Levine

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.”

18 Apr 202414.59 EDT

Sam Levine

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.

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.”

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.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen