Full 12-person jury seated in Trump criminal case
By Madeline Halpert & Kayla Epstein
A full jury has been sworn in for ex-US President Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial in New York City.
“We have our jury,” Justice Juan Merchan declared after selecting the final member of the 12-person panel. Two jurors had to be excused earlier.
Some experts thought the process might take two weeks, but things moved quickly after Mr Trump’s team ran out of challenges.
The court could hear opening arguments as soon as Monday.
The trial, the first ever in which a former US president is the defendant, stems from a hush-money payment to a porn star.
As Mr Trump left court on Thursday evening, he showed dozens of printed media articles criticising the Manhattan charges against him, which he said were “political”.
“It’s a very unfair, very bad thing,” said the Republican, who will challenge President Joe Biden, a Democrat, for the White House in November’s election.
“The whole world is watching this hoax.” He also took issue with the temperature in the courtroom, saying it is “freezing in there”.
