Twelve jurors have been appointed to decide former president Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in Manhattan.
“We have our jury,” Manhattan Supreme Court judge Juan Merchan said after the twelfth juror was selected on Thursday afternoon. “Let’s go pick our alternates.”
The selection of six alternates remains ongoing.
Seven new jurors were picked in quick succession on Thursday afternoon. Hours earlier, two other previously-selected jurors were excused.
One juror was dismissed after she expressed concerns that her identity could become public — despite prospective jurors’ names having been kept private— after identifying information about the woman and other jurors was released in court, including employment details.
Merchan then told reporters not to report on prospective jurors’ current or former employers and asked that answers to those questions be redacted from the court transcript.
A second juror was dismissed after prosecutors questioned the validity of his responses to questions he answered about himself. The man told reporters he did not believe he should have been dismissed.
Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records over his alleged involvement with a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels claimed in the final days of the 2016 presidential election that she had previously had a sexual affair with Trump. Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about her claims. Bragg’s investigation centered on whether Trump falsified internal business records to conceal the reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal expenses.
Merchan previously imposed a gag order on Trump, barring the former president from making statements about potential witnesses and jurors in the trial.
Trump also may not make comments about lawyers involved in the case, court staff, or family members of lawyers or staff if the comments are made with the “intent to materially interfere” with the case. New York district attorney Alvin Bragg was excluded from the order.
On Thursday, prosecutors asked Merchan to hold Trump in contempt of court for allegedly violating the gag order. Merchan said he would consider prosecutors’ arguments on the topic next week.
Prosecutors claimed Trump violated the order on several occasions, including when he quoted a comment Fox News’ Jesse Watters made about the prospective jurors in the case: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”
“This is the most disturbing post in light of what happened this morning,” prosecutor Christopher Conroy said, referring to the dismissal of the juror who expressed concern she would be identified.