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Judge Juan Merchan brought the potential juror who revealed a past conviction back into the courtroom and said he spoke with the Commissioner of Jurors.

He said being a convicted felon does not automatically disqualify her from serving as a juror, but because she doesn't have certain paperwork with her today, she has been excused.

He also commended her for telling her story in the courtroom: "What you just did is something that most people in this courtroom would not be able to do, so thank you." As she was leaving she said, "Good luck."

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now questioning the remaining potential alternate jurors.
Hoffinger tells these prospective jurors, as the district attorney's office has said to kick off voir dire each round:

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"This is not about Mr. Trump being a former president, it's not about his being a candidate for the presidency, it's not about his popularity. And it's not about who you're going to vote for."

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"It's only about whether the evidence proves he's guilty" beyond a reasonable doubt with the crimes he's been charged, she says.

Hoffinger is asking individual jurors whether they will base their decision in this case on the facts and the law. "In criminal cases, there's a burden of proof and I don't see why it should be any different in this case," says one male juror.

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As the prosecution questions the potential alternate jurors, Donald Trump is leaning back in his chair.
At one point, he closes his eyes.
He's also looking over from time to time to the jurors as they respond.

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One potential alternate juror began crying when handed the microphone.

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"I'm sorry. I thought I could do this. I wouldn't want someone who feels this way to judge my case either," she said.

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She said, "(I) don't want you to feel I've wasted anyone time. This is so much more stressful than I thought."
Judge Juan Merchan invited her to come up to the bench to talk privately, after which she was excused..

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now going through Michael Cohen's background, asking the potential jurors whether they will keep an open mind to his testimony. She asked one juror if the fact that he pleaded guilty meant wouldn't stop the person from listening.

"That's correct, I'll keep listening," the juror says.

Cohen is expected to testify in the trial.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked several jurors if they can promise not to pre-judge the witnesses in the trial.

"No pre-judgements," said one prospective juror.

Another juror who is a lawyer also said she'd approach the case with no pre-judgments.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now going through the jurors one-by-one to ask each would be able to return a guilty verdict if the evidence proves it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Donald Trump is looking over at the jury box as they respond.

Hoffinger is also asking the potential jurors if they will return a verdict of not guilty if the evidence doesn't prove the case the question that Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, asked prospective jurors yesterday.

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Haberman's statement confirms a widely held belief among Republicans that former President Donald Trump will not receive a fair criminal trial in Manhattan. President Joe Biden won over 86 percent of the Manhattan vote in 2020.

"One thing that's been striking during this round of voir dire is there a lot of people who, based on their answers, are more left-of-center than not, politically," wrote Haberman, who doubles as a political analyst for CNN.

"But some seem to be trying to show they can consider alternative viewpoints, and others seem to want to show they believe in the concept of jury service as independent from personal opinions," she added.

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In high-publicity court cases, judges and attorneys carefully evaluate "stealth jurors," individuals who want to be selected for the case to steer the verdict.

"Only about 12 percent of the people in this area voted for Trump," constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley told Fox News.

"The jurors you have to worry about are the ones who are sort of 'Trojan horse jurors,' who are hiding bias that doesn't appear on social media or are involved in any formal charges like the one that was just removed today."

Potential jurors in the Trump case face 42 questions during the jury selection. Some say the questions benefit the prosecution. The jurors also face scrutiny from lawyers for the prosecution and the defense.

"Now we have seen jurors who have later been found to have misrepresented their histories in a couple of prior cases involving Trump associates," Turley continued. "In both those cases, the judges in Washington, DC, refused to reconsider the verdict. And so this is a very important stage to try to filter out these types of jurors."

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One of the potential jurors being questioned raised her hand and told the court that as she sits and listens to this line of questioning, she's feeling "anxiety and self-doubt."

She approached the bench to privately discuss the issue with the parties and was then dismissed. She quickly exited the courtroom.

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Donald Trump's attorney Susan Necheles is pushing back on prosecutor Susan Hoffinger's statements about Michael Cohen.

She asked the potential jurors whether any would have a problem considering the "fact people change their stories and that might indicate that they're lying?"

Trump, who is facing the jury box, leaned forward and whispered to his attorney Todd Blanche as Judge Juan Merchan interrupted Necheles to tell the jurors that they'll ultimately make their own determination about the credibility of witnesses who will testify at trial.

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Donald Trump's attorney Susan Necheles spoke with a female juror who attended the women's march, asking her what she thinks of Trump and if she has strong opinions about him.

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She replies, "Not at the moment. I believe that my primary biases, I think my personal biases or opinions about President Trump are more focused on his base."

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The prospective juror added that "his rhetoric at times enables people to feel as if they have permission to discriminate or act on their negative impulses."

She said she did not hold Trump responsible for the way his base responds to his rhetoric, saying it's an issue for the "ballot box" and not necessarily in the courtroom.

She also said she's embarrassed that she doesn't know his policies. "Every time I've tried to listen to one of his rallies," she said, "it feels like I'm intruding on a personal conversation."

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One of the prospective jurors said she has a balanced opinion of Donald Trump.

"I actually have a favorable opinions about some of the policies he enacted tax policy and foreign policies," she said.

Defense attorney Susan Necheles asked the juror if she would feel pressure from friends who don't like Trump. "I have never felt pressure," she responded.

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Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked potential jurors if they are bothered by allegations that the former president has been unfaithful in his marriage.

Trump leaned over and whispered to his lawyer Todd Blanche at the defense table as Necheles asked the line of questioning.

Trump is watching the alternates' answers very closely as they share their opinions of him. He turned toward the jury box as they responded.

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One prospective juror who is a native New Yorker said Donald Trump, in his view, is "just a normal person."

"We don't really get star struck or really care about anything like that," the man said. "He's just a normal person like me. That's the way I see it."

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One potential juror, asked about his opinion on Donald Trump, said that there has been "so much thrown around" in recent years.

"I simply disregard it as much as I can," he said.

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aggiehawg said:

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger is now going through Michael Cohen's background, asking the potential jurors whether they will keep an open mind to his testimony. She asked one juror if the fact that he pleaded guilty meant wouldn't stop the person from listening.

"That's correct, I'll keep listening," the juror says.

Cohen is expected to testify in the trial.

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Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked several jurors if they can promise not to pre-judge the witnesses in the trial.

"No pre-judgements," said one prospective juror.

Another juror who is a lawyer also said she'd approach the case with no pre-judgments.

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This is smart pre-suasion by the state. Taking the potential sting out of Cohen's multiple convictions that surely will come out during cross when he's on the stand.

One other thing about Cohen, he has asked a court five times to terminate his probation early because he has cooperated in the James trial. He has repeatedly been denied...because of his lying to the court. So there is a Giglio matter to be raised.

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For those that don't know a Giglio matter is a variation of an objection raised when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez make a movie together.

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Susan Necheles, a member of Donald Trump's legal team, has finished questioning the potential alternate jurors.

They have left the room.

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The defense attorneys and prosecutors are now huddling to discuss strikes.

Each side has two peremptory strikes per alternate and those strikes do not carry over. These strikes allow both sides to remove a potential alternate without cause.

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Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench. He is starting with challenges, going seat-by-seat.

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One of the people in the jury pool has been selected as the second alternate juror.

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One of the people in the jury pool has been selected as the second alternate juror.

She is originally from Spain, is not currently working and is married with adult children. Earlier, she said she does not follow the news and does not have any social media accounts. She likes to travel and said she's "very fortunate in life" not to have health issues.

"I don't have strong opinions about former President Donald Trump that would interfere" with the ability to be a fair and impartial juror, she said.

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A potential juror is now being brought in to discuss what she said about former President Donald Trump's rhetoric, as Trump's side is challenging her for cause.

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A potential juror is now being brought in to discuss what she said about former President Donald Trump's rhetoric, as Trump's side is challenging her for cause.
She says she believes Trump's followers act "almost like they're devout to him."

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"People felt emboldened by what Trump was saying to discriminate against me as a woman or discriminate against others based on genders, sexual orientation, or things of that nature," she continued.

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Judge Juan Merchan asks whether she can give an assurance that if she is a juror, she would be able to separate those issues from Trump as a defendant in this case.
"I can do that," she says. "Just on the basis I think these are issues that are outside this courtroom."

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A third alternate juror has been selected. The juror is a native New Yorker.

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We're now up to four alternate jurors.

Alternate juror No. 4 said she's "not a big news person" but looks at The New York Times, Reuters and the BBC. She does have social media profiles but doesn't post or use them

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We are now in another challenge for cause from Donald Trump's side, reviewing social media posts for a prospective alternate juror.

The juror has been brought into the room.

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The judge is asking the prospective juror Donald Trump's team is challenging about his social media posts from 2016 that were flagged by Trump's side, asking if he remembers the posts.

"I don't remember. I guess they're mine," the prospective juror says.

The judge showed him pictures from a rally he attended in 2017 where he took pictures of signs in the crowd. One had the caption, "my sentiments exactly." The judge asked him whether he agrees with the signs.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked him if he considered the rally an "anti-Trump rally," and the prospective juror said he thought of it as a "women's rights rally." Necheles noted he used the phrase "anti-Trump rally" in his posts.

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Judge Juan Merchan dismissed the potential juror Donald Trump's lawyers had challenged, saying it's out of an abundance of caution.

"Too many people worked too hard to get the case this far to see it jeopardized," he said.

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aggiehawg said:

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Retired FBI Agent said:

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Checking in.

I'm in the jury pool.

Will report back.

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Well?

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Donald Trump's side is challenging another juror over social media posts.

As Trump attorney Susan Necheles reads the posts including one describing Trump's "egomaniacal, sociopathic incompetence" and another saying that Trump is "the devil" the former president does not appear to react as he's sitting back in his chair.

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The potential alternate juror was dismissed after a review of his social accounts.

When referencing a quote in which he called Donald Trump "egomaniacal," he said, "it's not too far off base" from what he felt at the time.

He also said the top image of the Facebook account is his, but then suggests the posts in question are not his.

Prosecutors withdrew their opposition to the Trump team's challenge for cause.

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One more alternate juror has been added to the jury. We're up to five alternate jurors now.

Alternate No. 5 said she is married, works for a clothing company and gets her news from Google.

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Jurors are being called up to be sworn in now.

The last five alternates sworn in include four women and one man.

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Judge Juan Merchan tells the jurors, "I expect we're going to begin the trial on Monday."
Merchan is giving the jurors instructions not to discuss the case with others or research it.
"There are 18 jurors in total," and we cannot start until all are present each day, Merchan says.

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Here is my distillation of the presumptive Republican nominee’s adjudicated bad acts, drawn from the People’s Sandoval motion, as determined by 5 judges & 3 juries in 3 jurisdictions. (Doesn’t include the 4 pending indictments on 91 unrelated felony counts.) ...
1/2 pic.twitter.com/jP8udr5Igg

— Roger Parloff (@rparloff) April 18, 2024

pdc093 said:

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Guy lights himself on fire in front of courthouse....
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/man-lights-himself-fire-outside-courthouse-during-trump-trial-reports/NJC42U7QMNDYLCENTUD7LIFVDU/


"loonies" indeed....

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BREAKING: A man sets himself ON FIRE behind CNN outside the New York City Courthouse.
"I can smell the burn of some sort of flesh."
"I see a totally charred human being." pic.twitter.com/fHqZaBt33P

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 19, 2024

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Former President Donald Trump is standing in the gallery. A Secret Service agent is speaking to him.

He glanced over at the press pool as he walked out.

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The five remaining alternate jurors were sworn in Friday, meaning the full jury panel has now been seated in the hush money trial against Donald Trump.
There are 12 jurors and six alternates who will hear the case against the former president.
Opening statements are expected to start Monday.
Here's a recap:

• A group of 22 potential jurors from the most recent panel returned to the courtroom to answer their questionnaires. From there, lawyers from the prosecution and defense each got 25 minutes to ask the potential jurors questions.
• Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger started her questioning by telling the potential jurors that this case is "only about whether the evidence" proves Trump is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. She also asked the potential jurors whether they could keep an open mind if former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies.
• Trump attorney Susan Necheles focused her line of questions on biases toward Trump. "You all bring biases, and you particularly bring biases about someone who is as publicly and outspoken as President Trump," she said.
• Jurors dismissed: Six potential jurors were excused throughout the questionnaire and questions from the lawyers. The judge then dismissed three people for cause. Lawyers used their preemptory strikes to dismiss another two potential jurors.
• Trump in court: The former president watched the alternates' answers very closely as they shared their opinions of him, turning toward the jury box as they responded.
• A man lit himself on fire outside of the courthouse where the trial is underway, two law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN. Further details were not immediately available.

The judge said there will be a Sandoval hearing after the lunch break around 3:15 p.m. ET. That routine hearing will address Trump's criminal history and assess how much prosecutors can ask if a defendant testifies.

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A family man of Puerto Rican descent, Herson Cabreras, previously known as Juror Number 4, was impaneled as part of the original seven jurists in former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan. Before the IT professional and political consultant was dismissed from the jury on Thursday, he had caused a media storm over his description of Trump as "fascinating and mysterious."

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Now he has another descriptor to share, calling the presiding Judge Juan Merchan "a cowardly judge."
Cabreras expressed his surprise when the judge dismissed him from jury service, telling USA Today :

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That surprised me, that really surprised me. I said, 'Wow, something else is going on here.' But they decided not to take me, and that's it. What can I say? So I said, 'Fine.'

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Cabreras felt that he was placed into a "competition" between Judge Merchan, the prosecution, and the defense, saying:

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Everybody wants to look good and fair in front of the public, but they don't act fair.

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The commotion surrounding his jury service started when prosecutors brought up a 1991 incident where Cabreras and a companion were accused of removing political campaign signs in Harrison, New York, a suburb of New York City with most signs belonging to Republicans. At the time of his 1991 arrest, Cabreras had been working with staffers of then-New York City Mayor David Dinkins, a Democrat.

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Cabreras, a man in his 70s, said that he didn't remember the 33-year-old incident and was surprised that they had brought it up. He mentioned that he had previously served on civil juries in the region and had never been required to disclose the poster incident, which he believed the prosecution was using as an excuse to remove him from the jury.

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Cabreras said:

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I didn't expect they were going to go into my history of 30 years and pull out something I didn't even remember. I just thought it was an excuse.

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Cabreras felt that Judge Merchan should have intervened. saying:

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I looked at him, like, ' Aren't you going to say something? ' I'm sitting there, I'm the target, and he's supposed to be judging. And he just let it happen , he didn't say anything.

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The questionnaire given to jurors mandated disclosing past interactions with law enforcement or the criminal justice system.
The incident left Cabreras with doubts about Judge Merchan's courtroom management and the potential treatment of other jurors. Cabreras called him a "cowardly judge" for allowing the prosecution to bring up details from decades ago.

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I feel sorry for the other jurors, because if the way they treated me is any indication of how they're going to treat other potential jurors, then I feel sorry for them.

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Cabreras said that ultimately, "they did me a favor," adding that while he felt he could be an impartial jurist, his family "was not happy with all this."

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Although Donald Trump has been accused by the Manhattan district attorney's office of violating his gag order at least 10 times, the consequences for the former president might be minimal, CNN legal analyst Elie Honig told Kate Bolduan on Friday morning.

In a hearing Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan will have to decide between fining Trump up to $1,000 per violation and imprisoning him for up to 30 days.

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"(Trump) is not going to care at all about that, he'd gladly pay a thousand dollars per Truth Social to lash out at Michael Cohen and other witnesses," Honig said. "But I think Donald Trump has done the calculation probably correctly that there's just no way this judge is going to lock (him) up for violating the gag order, and certainly not at this point."

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Honig noted that it's a problem for trial management and courtroom order and could eventually become an issue for Trump as well.

Earlier today, Trump said outside the courtroom that the gag order "has to come off," telling reporters that he "should be allowed to speak."

Remember: A gag order was issued by Merchan in late March to stop Trump from making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the family members of prosecutors and court staff.

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Jury consultant Renato Stabile weighed in on the makeup of the jury after the selection process wrapped Friday afternoon.
"For sure alternates are going come into play because in a case like this, you're going to lose some of the regular jurors," he told CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates.
Now that jury selection is complete, Stabile says lawyers on both sides will be monitoring the jurors' social media posts to make sure they don't comment publicly on the case.
The jury also includes at least two lawyers, a "very unusual" move that Stabile says is a big gamble.

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"They're going to be leaders in the jury room. The other jurors are going to be looking for them for their legal analysis even though they're not supposed to be instructing on the law. ... On the defense, I think it's a very bold move."

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Having people with legal expertise on the jury could pose a risk for either side.
It could negatively affect the prosecution by diverting clarifying questions that would otherwise go to the judge, Coates said. But lawyers on the jury could be beneficial to the defense, as they might be able to raise questions about the burden of proof that might otherwise go unasked.

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Meiselas: What I’m hearing from credible sources is that Donald Trump is actually farting in the courtroom… I’m hearing it from actual credible people that as he’s kind of falling asleep, he’s actually passing gas and that his lawyers are really struggling with the smell. pic.twitter.com/wa6F3iRDgX

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 19, 2024