Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York has resumed after a man set himself on fire in a park outside the courthouse
The man is in a critical condition and has been identified by police
Before the emergency incident, the court confirmed a jury of seven men and five women, plus six backup jurors
This is the first time a US president - current or former - has faced a criminal trial
Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 (£104,300) hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before he won the 2016 election
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of fraud and also denies having an affair with Daniels
Before finishing, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked all potential jurors whether they would be able to look at Donald Trump and say "guilty", if the case is proven.
As the former president looked on, Steinglass asked each potential juror. And all 18 of them said that yes, they could.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court
The fact that we currently have fewer jurors than we started with is "pretty significant,” said Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office who is now a criminal defence attorney.
It is not unheard of for a jurist to leave due to illness or other emergencies; this is why juries have alternates.
But Saland told me it was very uncommon for jurors to be seated, only to get excused two days later.
“You’re losing 2 out of 7,” he said. “That’s a bad percentage.”
Concerns about exposure and personal attacks in such a high profile case could lead members of the jury pool to seek an out, he said. That was the case for one woman who was excused after saying that people she knew had started to figure out that she was on the case, due to media reports.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now quizzing prospective jurors about their ability to infer intent.
Intent is a key issue at the heart of this case - the Manhattan District Attorney's Office will have to prove that Trump falsified business records with the intent to cover up another crime.
Steinglass wants to know whether jurors can draw "logical, reasonable inferences" from evidence such as texts, documents and records. All prospective jurors say they are able to.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York
During prosecutors' questioning, we're hearing from one prospective juror who has concerns about being impartial.
She said earlier she has discussed Trump's case in particular at length with colleagues because of her work as an attorney.
"I'm worried that I know too much," she says.
The woman adds that she's worried others' commentary on the case is going to "seep in".
Nada Tawfik
Reporting from New York
A police truck blocks off the street outside court where Trump's motorcade is parked
It’s a cold, windy and rainy day here in New York, which is not ideal for broadcasting.
As a result, a few media outlets have moved to an adjacent court complex where tents are not banned because of security.
The NYPD and Secret Service have protective measures still tightly in place, including barricades and a dump truck to close off access to the street where Trump's motorcade is parked.
But they are far more relaxed about people’s movements today given it is not as crowded or chaotic as earlier this week.
Still, when the defendant is a former president and a current candidate for the White House, everyone from the police to the press has a plan in place to make sure it all goes smoothly.
Several media teams have moved to a nearby location where tents are allowed, so they can shelter from the rain
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
We're starting with prosecutors' questions for prospective jurors.
Lawyer Joshua Steinglass starts with reminding jurors the question at the heart of the trial: “This case is about whether this man broke the law."
"Did he falsify business records in order to cover up an agreement in order to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election?”
One of the excused jurors was born and raised in Italy.
He said he associates Trump with Italy's former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi - in part because Italian media often compare the two men.
He said he would find it difficult to “maintain that impartiality and fairness”.
He was dismissed from jury duty before the lunch break. Speaking of which, lunch is now over and we are back it.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Court is back in session after a short lunch break and a long morning of jury selection.
We will likely begin with prosecutors and the defence team's challenges to a group of 18 prospective jurors.
Stay with us.
Image source, Reuters/Jane RosenbergThe courtroom sketches from this morning's proceedings have landed, providing a glimpse into how Trump is responding to this slow jury selection process.
In the above picture, he is shown turning around to look at a prospective juror who had raised their hand in a request to be excused.
Another sketch shows him sitting with his lawyers, watching on, looking unenthused.
Image source, Reuters/Jane RosenbergDonald Trump sits with his lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove
Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court
Image source, ReutersDonald Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet today.
He hasn’t stopped to speak to the press set up outside the courtroom. Usually, he’ll take that opportunity to denounce the case as a "hoax", or something similar.
Instead, on his way in and out, he’s held up a raised fist, a thumbs up or just walked off.
Inside, his demeanour has also been more muted during jury selection. The reality may be setting in that this will be a marathon.
His campaign, though, is still at full speed with fundraising emails. The latest one’s title is “keep your hands off of me.” They’re hoping his supporters don’t get tired of donating.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
Before the lunch break, the court was still going through 18 more prospective jurors, all who claimed they would not struggle to be impartial and thus give the former president a fair trial.
Afterwards, prosecutors and Trump's legal team will once again have the opportunity to challenge those who they do not want to serve on the jury.
They still have to fill seven seats - plus six alternates.
It's a complicated task, which you can read more about here.
Juror #4 was excused earlier because prosecutors had questions about how credible he was.
Reporters stopped him briefly in the hallway after he was let go, and asked him if he felt he should have been dismissed.
“Nope,” he responded, according to the New York Times.
Nada Tawfik & Kayla Epstein
BBC News, New York
The BBC has been speaking to two former prosecutors about the Trump case, with wildly different interpretations.
Ambrosio Rodriguez, who isn't a Trump fan, thinks the former president is being prosecuted unfairly because of who he is.
Rodriguez says the case relies on old allegations, and says the trial is "a waste of time, and not good for the country".
"This seems just a political need and want to get Trump no matter what the costs are."
Others disagree. Nick Akerman, who worked on the Watergate case, thinks it's far more serious.
"This is about an effort to defraud the American voters in 2016 to keep them from learning material information that would have affected their vote," he said.
Trump's lawyers say he hid the payment to Stormy Daniels to save his family from embarrassment - not to hide it from voters.
Akerman disagrees: "First of all, all of this was done right before the election, it had nothing to do with his family," he added.
You can read the full article here.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
After a long morning in court, we're now breaking for lunch. So far today we have lost two jurors and gained none.
Stick with us for this afternoon's session, where we'll hopefully see more of those remaining seats filled.
Image source, Getty ImagesMuch of this morning's proceedings were spent (again) wrangling over claims Trump breached a gag order that was imposed by Justice Merchan. The prosecution now claims that the former president has broken that order 10 times.
It was initially imposed to stop Trump from verbally attacking court staff, potential jurors and witnesses.
It was then widened to include any criticism of the judge’s family members and relatives of Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg.
That came after Trump posted comments on his social media platform, Truth Social, about Justice Merchan’s daughter, calling her a “Rabid Trump Hater”.
Trump has publicly fumed about the gag, saying the judge should be removed from the case. His lawyers say it violates his freedom of speech.
Justice Merchan acknowledges Trump’s right to speak freely to Americans, but says such attacks “serve no legitimate purpose”.
Today has been all about selecting a jury.
This can be a long process (maybe even two weeks). And the legal teams have been - and continue to - listen carefully to how each member of the jury pool responds to a series of questions.
Some questions are standard, like what neighbourhood do you live in? While others hint at how tricky it can be to find impartial people in New York, the Democratic city where Trump first made his name as a real estate tycoon.
Here are some of the more unique jury questions:
As a reminder of just how complicated this whole process can get, you can read more about the sorts of questions being asked here., external
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from New York
In Donald Trump’s last jury trial, a civil defamation case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll, Judge Lewis Kaplan decided that there would be a secret jury and the precautions were far more stringent than appear to be here.
The names of those jurors were likely not even known to each other – the judge suggested they used pseudonyms – and special transport was arranged to make sure nobody could follow their movements.
After they decided to award $83m in damages to Carroll, Kaplan issued one final word of caution: "My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury.”
Given the drama we’ve witnessed today, Kaplan’s decision to cloak that jury in secrecy looks like a very prescient move.
Image source, Getty ImagesIt's been a busy morning, the third day of jury selection. If you're just joining us, here are the developments:
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
In the overflow room, we've been sitting in silence for about 10 minutes as juror number four, Trump's team, prosecutors and Justice Merchan all had a private discussion.
Some reporters in the courtroom could hear some of the conversation, but not us.
The judge previously said the juror's answers were "very personal".
When we started the day there were seven jurors already selected (out of the 12 required).
Now we are going backwards, there are five jurors.
Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court
We've just been told that another of the already selected jurors has been excused.
That means we're now down to five jurors. We don't know why exactly he was dismissed.