Late Tuesday, seven jurors were chosen to determine whether Donald Trump should be the first president ever convicted of a crime. Thursday morning, when the Manhattan trial resumed, there were only six left.
According to Judge Juan Merchan, the juror was excused after expressing doubts about his ability to remain fair and impartial. In particular, she said friends and family had already asked her if she was a juror.
The calls came after several media outlets reported that the woman's biographical information could be identified, including her job and the neighborhood in which she lived. Fox News' Jesse Watters highlighted the juror details while reading public remarks about the selected members. “That nurse would scare me if I were Trump,” Watters said.
Other media outlets, including NBC News, CNN, CBS News and ABC News, also published details about the juror, including additional identifying information.
Watters claimed without evidence that "liberal activists" were lying to get on the jury, a claim that Trump himself repeated on Truth Social, which would violate an order of silence.
Jury selection continues Thursday. Trump faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal a sum of money and having an affair with Stormy Daniels to illegally influence the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.
Judge Merchan implored journalists to be more careful in the future, telling them to use "common sense" before releasing biographical information to jurors, NBC News reported.
“Jurors are real people with families, lives and jobs,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted. "If a juror comes forward and loudly expresses concern about their safety, that concern will likely be on the minds of *other* jurors. Their safety must be ensured for our legal system to function."