Per the pool, Trump had looked up at the 'Citizen's United' juror when he said he was a “born and bred New Yorker,” piquing his attention piqued. The prospective juror appeared to speak directly to Trump when he said: “I never read any of your books.”
The next prospective juror jumps to Q35, no issue about being fair or impartial he says, but he is loosely and tangentially tied to Michael Cohen's podcast Mea Culpa. Merchan allows him to proceed.
The juror also says he worked on get out the vote efforts for the Democratic Party and attended the Women's March, as some members of the press laugh.
Though Trump is physically here, his mind may be elsewhere. This morning, he fired off a series of posts related to the pending outcome of his presidential immunity case at the Supreme Court.
"I'm good with the time, as long as we get to eat," one potential juror says, when asked whether the schedule and timing of the trial works for her. Grunts of approval from the press corps.
The next potential juror jumps to Q29A, and discloses that a family member is a lifelong friend of former NJ Gov. Chris Christie. When asked if that would be a problem: "I don't believe so." Merchan: "Is that a figure of speech or—" Her: "Sorry, a figure of speech. I'm nervous."
Later, on the podcast question, she says, “I used to listen to The Daily, but it’s too depressing, so I stopped.” Note to self: More "happy" content on the @lawfare podcast.
The next juror says he knows a court officer. He clarifies, "A court officer...in this room." Another day in small town Manhattan. Later he says, "I try to find a wife in my spare time, but it's not working."
More context from the pool on the papers Trump is hunched over studying so intently: "Trump is flipping through papers right now that contain either charts, photos or graphics, definitely not text."
The next juror starts by jumping to Q14-19, saying she's disqualified because she served time. Tearing up she says, "I wrote down all my crimes, it was over 10 years ago, and you guys keep calling me back for jury, and I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to be here."
Merchan seems genuinely concerned as he asks if she'd like to approach the bench to discuss this more privately. She was summoned for jury duty as recently as January, and had to go through this then. It sounds like a very painful experience that she now keeps having to recount.
It's not disqualifying. She apologizes for crying and proceeds with the rest of the questionnaire.