Seven jurors seated in Trump's hush money trial

NEW DELHI: After two days of

jury selection

in

Donald Trump

's hush money trial, seven jurors have been seated as of Tuesday's adjournment.
Eleven more need to take their oaths before the initial statements can commence. The process will continue on Thursday morning, with prospective jurors being brought to the jury box in groups of 18. Lawyers then move to eliminate certain individuals "for cause" or through peremptory challenges, which do not require a reason, according to an AP report.
The selected jurors were chosen from the first wave of approximately 100 potential jurors.

Several others were dismissed earlier on Tuesday due to their inability to remain impartial or conflicts with the trial's expected duration of several weeks.
Trump, the first former US president to face

criminal charges

, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of

falsifying business records

. The charges stem from an alleged scheme to bury stories he feared could harm his 2016 campaign. The allegations involve payoffs to porn actor

Stormy Daniels

, Playboy model

Karen McDougal

, and a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child Trump allegedly had out of wedlock. Trump denies that any of these alleged sexual encounters occurred.

As the trial progresses, key developments include the seating of the first seven jurors, New York City Mayor Eric Adams inspecting the police presence at the courthouse, and the swearing-in of a second pool of potential jurors. Judge Juan M Merchan also allowed attorneys to question prospective jurors about their social media posts after Trump's lawyer raised concerns about posts that contradicted their answers during questioning.
Trump initially insisted on being present during one-on-one sidebar questioning of prospective jurors but later changed his mind. Prosecutors have also requested that Trump be fined and admonished for violating a gag order by disparaging prosecution witnesses on social media.