Jurors selected in Trump’s hush-money trial amid emotional jury selection and dramatic courthouse incident

The jury in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial was completed on its fourth day. Twelve jurors and six alternates will hear the case against the 2024 presidential front-runner.

Emotions ran high as potential jurors teared up during questioning Friday. One woman claimed her father is a close friend of Trump’s political opponent, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and added that she works with — but has no connection to — attorney Michael Cohen’s son.

The hush money case accuses Trump of hiding documents during his 2016 presidential campaign. The documents in question reportedly reveal that Trump paid his former lawyer, Cohen, $130,000 to stop adult film star Stormy Daniels from going public about their alleged affair.

Cohen and Daniels are both prosecution witnesses in the case.

“I feel so nervous and anxious right now,” the juror said to the court and began to cry, per Fox News.

“I don’t want to waste the court’s time,” she added. “I thought I could do this. This is so much more stressful than I thought it was going to be.”

Another female potential juror who had served time in prison also got emotional when questioned and added that while living in New York, she had been called to jury duty multiple times. She initially expressed concerns to the courtroom about being ineligible because of a prior conviction in a different state.

Despite her criminal record not being the cause, she was ultimately disqualified for not having the necessary documents. “What you just did is something that most people in this courtroom would not be able to do, so thank you,” Judge Juan Merchan said to her, per CNN.

Fire breaks out in front of the courthouse

As the court was being dismissed following instructions from Merchan that they would return Monday morning for opening statements, a fire broke out at Collect Pond Park across the street from the courthouse.

Officials reported that a man entered the park at approximately 1:30 p.m., distributed pamphlets promoting conspiracy theories, covered himself with a flammable liquid and then set himself on fire.

It is believed that he had recently traveled from Florida to New York.

“We are very concerned. Of course we are going to review our security protocols,” Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said, per The Associated Press.

Following the incident, the NYPD gave updates that the man, identified as Max Azzarello, lit himself on fire, and was later placed in a burn unit and is in critical condition.

“Al Baker, a spokesman for the court system, says the trial schedule would not be affected by the man setting himself on fire. He said a court officer was taken to the hospital because of the effects of smoke inhalation,” according to The New York Times.

Court continues into Friday afternoon

Merchan ordered Trump and his defense team to return to court Friday afternoon for issues related to the case, including a Sandoval hearing.

A Sandoval hearing is a pretrial proceeding used in New York in criminal cases. The judge determines what evidence of a defendant’s prior uncharged crimes or other misconduct the prosecution can admit during a trial, particularly when the defendant chooses to testify.

The prosecutors in the criminal case reportedly have a list of questions they plan to ask Trump if he testifies.

“That list includes the civil fraud case in which a judge recently ruled against Trump and his companies, finding that they carried out a years-long scheme to use false financial data to borrow money at lower rates,” per The Washington Post. “They also listed the findings in E. Jean Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump, in which one jury concluded that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages, while a second jury weighing the defamation added more than $80 million in damages to that total.”

The New York District Attorney’s office will seek permission from Merchan to cross-examine Trump on these issues.