Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Good morning from the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump’s criminal trial enters its fourth day.

It’s a nice but overcast morning, and I’m lined up with the press as we await our security screening.

As is fitting for a Friday, things have calmed down a bit since earlier this week.

There are far fewer TV crews set up outside and a much shorter standby line. No protesters that I can see. The court barrelled through jury selection yesterday, swearing in all 12 jurors and one alternate.

Today, the judge could seat the final alternates and set the court on the path of opening arguments next week.

However, we’re all prepared for some twists. Yesterday, the judge surprisingly excused two already seated jurors before lunchtime.

But he was able to refill the seats and keep things on track.

Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York

Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York City.

It’s day four of a courtroom saga that could run for six to eight weeks.

We’re still at the jury selection phase, which is incredibly important.

A single juror can make or break a case for either legal team, so both sides have been carefully examining each candidate.

It’s been anything but smooth sailing at times - but in a flurry of activity on Thursday afternoon, a full jury was finally confirmed - that’s 12 people.

They’re now looking for alternate jury members, with Judge Juan Merchan aiming for six.

Stay tuned as we follow today’s proceedings.

We are pausing our live coverage on Donald Trump's hush-money trial now.

After three days of intense questioning, a full jury of 12 people was finally confirmed this afternoon.

Dozens of people were dismissed after saying they could not be impartial.

• To read our news story about the jury selection, click here
• Read up on Trump's hush-money trial here
• Find out why jury selection was especially complicated for this trial here

This page was edited by Brandon Livesay, Tiffany Wertheimer and Graeme Baker. Madeline Halpert and Nada Tawfik were reporting from the court, and the writers were Johanna Chisholm, Imogen James and Ali Abbas Ahmadi.

Image source, Reuters/ Elizabeth Williams

The judge has asked the media not to disclose any details of the jurors to the public - especially their employment history.

The court artists have their own way of interpreting this order, effectively erasing the jurors by depicting them as a grey silhouette - as in the above image.

Earlier, one of the previously selected jurors was excused after she said that friends and family had discovered she was part of the jury through media reports that revealed her employer, how long she had worked there, and where she lived.

Image source, Reuters

After being uncharacteristically quiet today, Trump spoke outside court, raging against what he calls "a really unfair trial".

He says he is meant to be in different parts of the country campaigning for the White House, but is instead stuck in this courtroom in New York.

Brandishing a stack of printed news articles, he says they all talk about "legal experts saying how this is not a case and the case is ridiculous".

He attacks his opponent Joe Biden, saying "he is the one that should be in trouble".

"Justice is on trial," he says. "The whole world is watching this New York scam."

Kayla Epstein
in New York

Image source, Getty Images

The jury in this case is anonymous, meaning their names are not supposed to be made public.

Trump and the prosecutors need to know the names of the jurors in order to check their backgrounds for bias or other compromising factors, explained Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School.

“What makes this case really different is, we usually see the jury secrecy - an anonymous jury - when it’s the defendant or potential witnesses who we’re concerned about [learning their identities], she said. “This became common with mafia cases.”

“This is so different because it’s not people inside the courtroom we’re concerned about - it’s people outside the courtroom we’re concerned about,” Cominsky said.

Trump inspires both intense criticism and loyalty from different corners of the public. A juror who is publicly identified, even by online sleuths, could face a deluge of threats and vitriol.

Justice Merchan, Cominsky said, must walk a fine line between protecting the jurors and maintaining transparency in such an important case.

There are many reasons as to why a prospective juror may be dismissed - from their political leanings to childcare responsibilities.

Many have simply said they could not be impartial in the high-profile case.

Artist Mark DeMuro was one of the hundreds of prospective jurors, but he never made the cut because his art satirizes the former president.

His pieces include a depiction of Trump as a golden calf - referencing the Biblical story in which people start worshipping a false god shaped as a cow.

Jurors are meant to be impartial and have no biases for or against Trump, which has made this selection process especially difficult.

DeMuro told Reuters news agency that he withdrew because he knew his portrayals of Trump could be found online.

Trump's lawyers could "say that I clearly, having satirized him in the way that I have, would not be an acceptable jurist", he says.

"So that's why I withdrew."

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

The most action happened in the last hour of court today, after a slow afternoon.

After more than half of a new group of prospective jurors were dismissed because they said they could not be impartial, Trump's team and prosecutors began to run out of challenges.

This means we saw seven jurors seated on the panel in rapid time.

It comes after two jurors had to be replaced - one because of potential lies about his criminal history, and another because of worries about privacy and impartiality.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg

Court is ending with an argument.

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche is asking prosecutors to share the names of the first three witnesses so they can prepare for opening statements on Monday.

The DA's Office denies that request.

"Mr Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses," Joshua Steinglass says. "We're not telling the president who the witnesses are."

"I don't fault you," Justice Merchan says, adding they don't have to share the names.

Remember, Justice Merchan expanded a gag order on Trump, after his own daughter was targeted in online attacks by the former president.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

The jurors' numbers have just been read out loud and they are now being sworn in, alongside one alternate.

Some experts predicted this process could take as long as two weeks, but things moved quickly today after Trump's team ran out of challenges without cause.

Court will soon end for the day. Justice Merchan seems hopeful that opening statements can begin on Monday as he had planned. We still have as many as five alternates to seat.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

After some back and forth with the defence team, we now officially have 12 jurors, the full amount.

Justice Merchan is starting to pick alternates - he is aiming for six.

They're rolling in thick and fast now - we have three more jurors.

They include a wealth manager who lives on the Upper East Side and practices yoga every morning, and a speech therapist who listens to reality TV podcasts.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

The defence team has raised concerns about old social media posts from a prospective juror, in which she called Trump a "racist, sexist, narcissist".

Justice Merchan forces the juror to read the post aloud to the court.

"Oops, that sounds bad," she says.

Justice Merchan asks her to explain the post.

“I was in a disturbed frame of mind in that election cycle," she says.

"I do not hold those positions today.”

We now have two more jurors, replacing numbers 2 and 7, who were excused earlier today.

One is a man from the West Village who is a security engineer.

The other is a married investment banker who enjoys concerts.

There are now five left to find, plus alternates.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Both sides have agreed to excuse a lawyer who said she had concerns about being impartial.

Now, they're bringing in another prospective juror for questioning after she claimed she had met one of Trump's lawyers, Susan Necheles, but only once 15 years ago.

"She stayed at my house overnight," Necheles tells the court.

Image source, EPA

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Justice Merchan has just sworn in a new batch of 96 prospective jurors.

He tells them that they can now go home after waiting around all day, but will need to come back tomorrow morning, around 11:00 ET.

Presumably, he does this to line up some more potential jurors more quickly in case many in today's group are rejected.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

All trials need 'back up' jurors in case someone who has already been selected can no longer serve.

The court may appoint as many as six alternate jurors.

In this case, the judge may choose the full amount, given that this trial could last from six to eight weeks. The length of the trial makes it more likely that a juror could become unable to serve due to illnesses, emergencies and other major scheduling conflicts.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Lawyer from both sides are now taking some time to decide who they want to be removed from the jury.

After they come back, we could end up with a few more confirmed jurors - right now seven are still missing.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters/Jane Rosenberg

For the past 10 minutes, Trump's legal team has been quizzing prospective jurors about whether they have strong feelings on the former president.

It's an uncomfortable position for Trump, who's watching from the sidelines as some admit that they don't like him.

"I disagree with most of his policies," one says.

"I don't like his persona," another says.

A third admits she also "has opinions" on Trump.

"I spent my whole life knowing about Donald Trump," she says, adding that she once saw him and his ex-wife Marla Maples shopping for baby items.

But most insist that their views on him as a politician would not impact their views of him in this courtroom.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Now Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, is grilling the potential jurors.

She asks one if she has strong opinions about Trump, to which the juror replies, "no". The juror admits that she may have posted some "concerns" about Trump on social media.

"But I just don't have strong feelings about President Trump at this point," she says.

Necheles asks if her partner posts about Trump on social media.

"I wouldn't know," she says.