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NEW YORK — Lawyers in Donald Trump's historic criminal trial on Thursday selected 12 jurors who will assess his guilt or innocence over the coming weeks in a case stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Lawyers for the defense and the prosecution still must select alternate jurors for the trial, the first ever in which a former U.S. president is the defendant.
Earlier in the day, the judge overseeing the trial dismissed a juror who said she felt intimidated that some personal information was made public.
Merchan, who is overseeing the case, told news outlets not to report where prospective jurors said they worked. There had been no such restrictions before Thursday. The decision highlighted the extraordinary pressures around the first criminal trial ever of a former U.S. president.
Trump is one of the most controversial figures in American politics, and roughly half of the 192 potential jurors screened so far in heavily Democratic Manhattan have been dismissed after saying they could not impartially assess his guilt or innocence.
Trump is on trial on 34 felony counts brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, who said she had had a sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump denies having had sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in this case and in three other criminal cases against him in Washington, Georgia and Florida.
The New York trial could be the only one he faces before the election. A conviction would not bar Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, from running for or taking office
Trump says, without providing evidence, that all four criminal cases are part of a broad-ranging effort by allies of Democratic President Joe Biden to hobble his candidacy.
Officials in some of those cases have reported receiving death threats and harassment after being criticized by Trump.
Merchan has taken steps to shield the 12 jurors and six alternates in the case from harassment, saying they will remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers and prosecutors.
He has also imposed a partial gag order on Trump, who has criticized him, witnesses, and prosecutors and their relatives.
Prosecutors say Trump has violated the gag order seven times since they flagged three potential violations on Monday, and have asked Merchan to impose fines or other penalties.
On Thursday, prosecutor Christopher Conroy pointed to posts about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a star prosecution witness, and a post saying undercover liberal activists had been lying to the judge to try to get on the jury.
One of Trump's lawyers, Emil Bove, said those posts "do not establish any willful violations" of the gag order.
Opening statements could take place on Monday if the full jury is seated this week.
While a guilty verdict would not bar Trump from office, half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for him if he were convicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on April 8.
The same poll found that 64% of registered voters thought the hush money charges were at least "somewhat serious."
Trial dates have not yet been set for the cases in Georgia and Washington that charge him with trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, and another case in Florida that charges him with mishandling classified documents.
