The Trump jury selection continues in chaos while Republicans squabble on Capitol Hill

The hush money trial of former president Donald Trump experienced a hiccup on Thursday as it became clear that the public hunt for details and in some cases the identity of jurors was becoming an issue.

Judge Juan Merchan excused one woman who told the court that members of her family and close friends — having seen people searching for her identity online — had questioned her directly about being a member of the jury.

«I definitely have concerns now, one of them especially being that aspects of my identity have already been out there in public,» she told the judge before her dismissal. She added that it made it unlikely that she could be an unbiased juror in the case.

Later on Thursday, the judge dismissed a second juror for an unrelated reason, but told attendees in the courtroom that the seated juror had “expressed annoyance about how much information about him had been out in the public”.

The judge lectured members of the media present on Thursday against including current or former employers in their reporting going forward, and added that such information would now be redacted from court transcripts.

“It kind of defeats the purpose of that, when so much information is put out there that it is very easy for anyone to identify who the jurors are,” Judge Merchan said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the fight over the former president’s gag order continues. Mr Trump is currently appealing the order, and continues to disparage the judge as biased in social media postings and campaign-related messaging. One text message sent by the ex-president’s 2024 campaign bemoaned how the court is “forcing” Mr Trump to miss his son Barron Trump’s high school graduation. Mr Trump also continues to attack others in the case, including his