Former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan lost two jurors on Thursday morning as New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan issued a warning to media members.
At the start of proceedings this morning, juror number two was brought into the courtroom and expressed that she had "concerns" about her ability to be fair and impartial.
"Yesterday alone, I had friends, colleagues and family push things to my phone, questioning my identity as a juror," the juror reportedly said.
The juror was later excused from the case and Newsweek's Katherine Fung reported on X that Merchan said, "We just lost what would have been a very good juror for this case."
Merchan also issued a warning to the press saying that providing too many details to the public "defeats the purpose," of jurors remaining anonymous.
"The press is certainly able and permitted to write about anything that's on the record, because it's on the record ... But I'm directing that the press simply applies common sense," Merchan reportedly said.
Another juror was also later dismissed during the trial, Newsweek's Katherine Fung reported.
"We are officially down 2 jurors from where we started this morning. That means we now have 7 seats to fill, plus another 6 alternates," Fung wrote on X.
Matthew Russell Lee of the Inner City Press also confirmed that the juror was dismissed on X writing that Merchan said "I'm directing that Juror 4 not to come back Monday. Excused."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
The context:
Thursday marks the third day of Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan following an indictment by District Attorney Alvin Bragg for alleged hush money payments made to ex-adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Bragg indicted Trump last April accusing the former president of "fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing in the case. He was previously placed under a gag order after criticizing the daughter of Merchan.
What we know:
Earlier this week, seven total jurors were selected for the trial, until one was dismissed on Thursday. Members of the jury pool were required to fill out a series of 42 questions and faced scrutiny from both sides of the case before being seated.
A total of 12 jurors are expected to be picked for the trial, as well as six alternative jurors.
Views:
On Wednesday, Trump criticized the jury selection process on his Truth Social account saying "I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country."
What's next:
The jury selection process in Trump's criminal trial is expected to continue over the next few weeks.
Prosecutors also argued on Thursday that Trump violated the gag order against him several times. His defense, however, said there are no "willful violations," of the order.
Update, 4/18/24, 10:55 a.m. EST: This story has been updated with further information.
Update, 4/18/24, 12:21 p.m. EST: This story and its headline have been updated.
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