Evening Report — Day 3 of jury selection in Trump hush money trial

© Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / POOL / AFP

Today marked day three of jury selection in former President Trump‘s hush money trial in New York. Trump is accused of paying adult film actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election to keep quiet after she alleged they had an affair in 2006.

The jury will be made up of 12 people and six alternates, and as of Tuesday, seven jurors had been selected. During today’s questioning, two of those jurors were dismissed, one for expressing concern over her ability to be impartial and the other for allegedly lying on their jury questionnaire.

But late Thursday afternoon, two more jurors were selected, bringing the total back to seven.

Another batch of 96 jurors were brought in Thursday morning to be vetted. But half were dismissed for indicating they couldn’t be impartial, and another nine were dismissed for yet-unknown reasons, leaving 39 potential jurors from this batch. 

Other jury selection highlights:

Trump is a polarizing figure, which means it may be difficult to find jurors who can be impartial about the former president, who is facing 91 felony charges across two state courts and two federal districts and was found liable in a sexual assault and defamation case earlier this year.

During Thursday’s juror questioning, prosecutors also alleged Trump has violated a gag order seven times since Monday. The order bars him from posting about or attacking witnesses, court staff, prosecutors or potential jurors involved in the case.

They pointed to a social media post from Wednesday where Trump quoted a Fox News host, saying, “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

Trump’s attorneys pushed back on those allegations.

Earlier this week, prosecutors asked Merchan to hold him in contempt for three separate violations of the gag order. 

Merchan also lambasted the press Thursday for sharing identifying information about the selected jurors, calling it a “problem” and directed media members not to publish information regarding jurors’ employers.

“Really, this is just a matter of common sense,” Merchan said.

Follow along with The Hill’s live blog here.

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© The Hill, Allison Robbert

Following the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, various military and civilian personnel have set up inside a Baltimore cruise terminal, using as it as a command center for cleanup efforts.

The Unified Command post, which is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency — as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maryland Department of the Environment, Maryland Transportation Authority and Maryland State Police — was set up the day after the collapse and has more than 370 personnel.

The command post is largely responsible for clearing the debris of concrete and steel left from the collapse, as well as large pieces of the container ship that crashed into the bridge and working to reopen the port by end of May. 

This is a tight turnaround, but U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Roberto Concepcion in an interview with The Hill said the command has “to establish aggressive goals … because a lot of jobs are on the line, there’s a lot of stakeholders,” he said. But he also acknowledged that there are “so many different factors and things that can happen” in the meantime.

The Navy is largely responsible for dive efforts, overseeing commercial diving companies who are helping by clearing debris beneath the water, reporting on water conditions, and search operations.

The Coast Guard patrols the area surrounding the site to make sure no boats crosses the 2,000-yard boundaries, as well as ferries press people to take photos and video.

The bridge collapsed in the early hours of March 26 when container ship Dali lost power and collided with the bridge, killing six construction workers that were on the bridge. Four bodies were recovered, but two bodies have yet to be found.

(The Hill)

The Kennedy family endorsed President Biden in the 2024 presidential race, despite the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running a long-shot bid as an independent.

More than a dozen Kennedys, arguably America’s most famous political family, endorsed Biden at a campaign stop in Philadelphia Thursday afternoon.

“In 2024, there are only two candidates with any chance of winning the presidency,” Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s sister, said, referencing Biden and Trump and not acknowledging her brother.

“We want to make crystal clear our feeling that the best way forward for America is to reelect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to four more years,” she added.

The endorsement was not a surprise, as some of the Kennedys have sought to distance themselves from RFK Jr. and his campaign due to his stances and the worry his bid could help Trump get reelected.

Fifteen Kennedys in attendance Thursday, including Kerry Kennedy, Joe Kennedy II, Christopher Kennedy, Maxwell Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, all of whom are RFK Jr.’s siblings.

Related coverage:

“I think there’s a cover up.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) suggested Wednesday that the U.S. government may be intentionally concealing information on UFOs from the American public.

The Department of Education acknowledged it’s been a “challenging year” for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process.

“We’re not at the point we would like to be at,” Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal told reporters.

According to Kvaal, about 7.7 million FAFSA applications have been received from college applicants, which is not even half of the roughly 18 million that are filed in a typical year. 

“Here’s my message: If you have been waiting for the dust to settle before you fill out a FAFSA, make a correction, the time is now,” Kvaal said. “If you’re a student waiting for your college to send a financial aid offer, please know that you are not alone. Colleges are working hard to get you the information you need.” 

Out of the FAFSA applications that have been received, 1.2 million require corrections from students or contributors, and another 700,000 forms “have errors due to incorrect tabulation of contributions from assets,” writes The Hill’s Lexi Lonas. More than 1.2 million applications had incorrect tax data.  

The department noted that this week, dubbed FAFSA Week of Action, various workshops and events are available around the country to make sure students are able to fill out their applications.

Due to the numerous delays in the FAFSA process, schools have had to delay their decision deadlines, which normally happen May 1. 

(The Hill)

A report from anti-death penalty group Reprieve says Black inmates on death row are 220 percent more likely to be subject to botched lethal injections than white prisoners.

“It is well-established that the death penalty is infected with racial bias at every stage of the process,” the report states. “This report reveals that the racial disparities in capital punishment extend all the way into the execution chamber.”

Lethal injection as a method of execution was first introduced in 1977 in Oklahoma, and supporters argued it was faster and painless, with the person supposedly dying within a few minutes. 

But this study found that more than 1 in 3 botched lethal injections took more than 45 minutes, and more than 1 in 4 lasted beyond an hour. In 2022, a Black man on death row in Alabama underwent lethal injection, which lasted more than three hours.

(The Hill)

87 days until the Republican National Convention.

122 days until the Democratic National Convention.

200 days until the 2024 general election.