Takeaways from the day a jury was selected to decide Donald Trump’s fate in the hush money trial
CNN
Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money business fraud case began Thursday looking like the task of finding 12 jurors had run aground.
Jury selection in Donald Trump’s hush money business fraud case began Thursday looking like the task of finding 12 jurors had run aground. Two of the seven initial jurors who were seated Tuesday were excused. Judge Juan Merchan’s hopes to begin the trial on Monday with opening arguments appeared to be dwindling fast. By the end of the day, the jury in the first criminal trial of a former president in US history had been seated. Only five alternates are left to be selected on Friday. It’s also clear the trial will be a bumpy one. The Manhattan district attorney’s office, for instance, said it won’t let the defense know who its first witnesses are to prevent Trump from posting on social media about them. A hearing over what prosecutors can say about Trump’s legal history is also likely on Friday. Here are the takeaways from Thursday’s topsy turvy jury selection in Trump’s criminal trial:
President Donald Trump said negotiations to end the Ukraine war will start immediately after holding a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday morning.
The Senate voted Wednesday, to confirm former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.
Elon Musk acknowledged Tuesday that there might not have been a federal plan to spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza – two weeks after the White House press secretary told the false story at an official briefing and more than a week after the president baselessly doubled the phony figure to $100 million.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the war between Ukraine and Russia “must end,” that Kyiv joining NATO is unrealistic, and that the US will no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security as the Trump administration shifts its attention to securing the US’ own borders and deterring war with China.
The phrase “El que se enoja, pierde,” (“he who gets angry, loses”) is a popular refrain in Mexico.
Officials in Sangamon County, Illinois, have agreed to a $10 million settlement with the family of Sonya Massey –– a Black woman who was shot and killed by law enforcement in her home last year.
The inspector general of the US Agency for International Development was fired on Tuesday, a day after his office released a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East is leaving Russia with Marc Fogel, an American teacher who was jailed in Russia and deemed “wrongfully detained” by the United States, according to a statement from National Security Adviser Mike Waltz.
The novelist Salman Rushdie showed a jury his blinded right eye on Tuesday as he testified against the man charged with trying to murder him at a talk at a rural New York venue in 2022.
Conservative firebrand Steve Bannon pleaded guilty to defrauding donors in a fundraising effort to build a wall along the southern US border in a deal that allowed him to avoid prison.
Two American tourists were reportedly bitten by a shark while swimming in the Bahamas, authorities said.
The Trump administration’s effort to cut back on federal funding for the National Institute of Health for research programs at universities and medical systems has been blocked nationwide.
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