Trump jury search turns to alternates, as opening statements near in "hush money" trial
CBSN
The judge in former President Donald Trump's New York criminal trial has said he wants opening statements in the case delivered on Monday. In order to do that, he'll need to seat up to five more alternate jurors Friday.
Twelve jurors and one alternate were seated in the first three days of jury selection. The process has seen dozens of people immediately excused from consideration for saying they couldn't be impartial, and two seated jurors were excused after being sworn in. One said she became concerned about her ability to be impartial after people in her life figured out she was a juror based on details reported about her in the press. Prosecutors flagged another after discovering a possible decades-old arrest that hadn't been disclosed during jury selection.
The jurors and alternates who have been sworn in were selected from two groups of 96 Manhattanites summoned for jury service. About two dozen potential jurors remain under consideration from the second group. If the remaining five alternates can't be found from that group, a third batch of 96 who were sworn in Thursday will be brought back into the courtroom.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters remained behind barricades on the UCLA campus early Thursday morning despite police orders to leave as officers were poised to move in on their fortified encampment that was ringed by an even larger crowd, including supporters who locked arms and curious onlookers.