Donald Trump took a phone call while in court at the start of his hush money trial.
The former President took a call on his mobile phone while sitting at the defence table.
Taking phone calls in a courtroom is not permitted.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump also denies having sex with Daniels.
Trump is appearing in court in Manhattan
Reuters
Seven jurors have already been selected after two days of grilling by prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers, who are tasked with finding New Yorkers who can be fair to the presumptive Republican presidential candidate.
The judge has said the identities of the 12 jurors and six alternates will remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers and prosecutors. Opening arguments are expected to take place next week.
A juror was excused earlier today from the trial after saying she felt intimidated because some aspects of her identity had been made public, the judge overseeing the case said.
Addressing the court, the juror said family, friends and colleagues had reached out to her after deducing through press accounts that she was on the jury.
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Trump in the courtroom in Manhattan
Getty
The juror said: “I don’t believe at this point that I can be fair and unbiased, and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom.”
Justice Juan Merchan said: “We just lost what probably would have been a very good juror.”
Trump has criticised witnesses, court officials involved in the case and their relatives, prompting Merchan to impose a partial gag order on him.
Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor, said Trump had violated the gag order with recent posts about former Trump attorney and potential star prosecution witness Michael Cohen and an April 17 post saying undercover liberal activists had been lying to the judge to try to get on the jury.
A motorcade carrying former President Donald Trump arrives to his hush money criminal trial
Reuters
Meanwhile another selected juror’s fate is up in the air after prosecutors suggested they may have lied about whether he had committed a crime in the past.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it discovered Wednesday that a person with the same name as “Juror No.Four” was arrested for tearing down political posters from the “political right” in Westchester in the 1990s.
A guilty verdict would not bar Trump from office, but half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for him if he were convicted, according to a recent poll.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, and Trump could potentially be convicted and sentenced before the election.
Source Agencies
