Full jury selected for Trump hush money trial

NEW YORK — A full jury was sworn in Thursday for Donald Trump’s historic hush money criminal trial in Manhattan.

The seven jurors selected late in the day join the five panelists chosen earlier this week, and comes after two were dismissed Thursday morning.

The newest selections include someone who follows Trump on Truth Social and former fixer Michael Cohen on Twitter, and another who said they didn’t “like his persona.”

“He’s very selfish and self serving, so I don’t appreciate that in any public servant,” the juror said during voir dire.

The group will determine whether Trump is guilty or not guilty of his 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and others ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Still left to be chosen are six alternates.

Two jurors in the trial were excused Thursday, one after telling the court she was too scared and intimidated to serve, as prosecutors renewed their request to hold Trump in criminal contempt over alleged gag order violations.

The first juror, one of seven initially chosen to serve on the case, told Judge Juan Merchan that she was afraid to proceed after her friends, family and colleagues guessed that she had been chosen. Merchan has ruled that the jurors will be anonymous to protect their safety and privacy.

The second juror was excused after prosecutors raised questions about a juror who Tuesday had called Trump “fascinating and mysterious” — after discovering a man with the same name was arrested for tearing down right-wing political posters in the ‘90s. The juror was later excused after a minutes-long sidebar inaudible to members of the media in the courtroom.

As jury selection continued Thursday morning, half of a new panel of prospective jurors — 48 of the 96 total people — said they could not be impartial toward the former president and were excused. As they left the courtroom, Trump turned his head to stare at them.

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