Donald Trump hush money trial LIVE: Trump says ‘amazing things happened today’ as 50 prospective jurors excused

Addressing media after Monday trial, Trump said: "Amazing things happened today." 

Trump mentioned that the judge might not allow him to attend his youngest son's high school graduation. 

“My son is graduating from high school. It looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son who's worked very, very hard and he is a great student. This is a SCAM trial.”

Out of 96 jurors, fifty have  been excused after admitting that they can't be fair and impartial. 

Judge introduced first batch of Manhattan residents on Monday and they were sworn in to see if they qualified for the jury that will decide the fate of Trump ahead of presidential elections.

While leaving the room, a potential juror was heard saying, "I just couldn't do it".

Citing pool reporters, CNN reported that the juror has been replaced.

According to Judge Juan Merchan, nearly 40 people can be included in the hush money trial. These include Trump family members, Michael Cohen, Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon and Hope Hicks.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre chose to stay silent when asked about Trump’s criminal trial, citing the Trump’s position as the presumptive Republican nominee for president and nature of hush money trial.

Judge Merchan said that if potential jurors would rather not respond to some questions in public, they would be permitted to speak to the bench and attorneys in private prior to the first group of potential jurors being called in. He said the first panel of potential jurors will include 96 people.

 According to Merchan, doing so would require removing other jurors from the courtroom and assigning them to a different chamber.  

There will be Sandoval hearing hearing on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET, said Judge Juan Merchan. According to CNN legal analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo, during the Sandoval hearing, a judge is asked if the accused past wrongdoings can be brought up in the case.

The lawyers on both sides will be aware of the jurors' identities as Judge Merchan promised to give both sides a copy of the jury lists with names and numbers and copies of the lists with just the numbers. He instructed the attorneys not to take pictures of the jurors.

After Prosecutors claimed that the attorneys for Trump have not been forthcoming in supplying the necessary documents for their case, judge gave them twenty-four hours to specify the exhibits they plan to utilise during the trial. 

"You have 24 hours," Judge Merchan declared, informing Trump's lawyers that they are already in breach of a directive he issued two months ago.

Judge Merchan laid out next steps for the prosecutors' attempt to hold Trump in contempt for multiple social media remarks against trial witnesses.

On Wednesday, April 24, the judge announced that he will hold a hearing on the matter. The deadline for Trump's lawyers to provide a written response is April 19.

According to police, they are looking into a bomb threat that was issued at the residence of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg this morning.

Bragg has earlier faced threats in connection with his involvement in the prosecution of Donald Trump.

In a mailroom at Bragg's offices, a powdery substance and a threatening note with the words "Alvin, I am going to kill you" were discovered last year.

Judge Merchan denied the prosecutors' request to play 'Access Hollywood' tape during the trial, but allowed the transcript of the tape that was made public just before the 2016 election. In the tape, Trump can be heard saying that he "grabs [women] by the pussy," which can be considered as his desire to keep Daniels' accusations under wraps.

Todd Blanche, the attorney for Trump, contended in court that former president's social media posts do not violate the gag order.

"It’s not as if President Trump is going off and targeting individuals. He’s responding to salacious repeated .. attacks by these witnesses," Blanche argued.

The judge has not made a decision yet and the court is on lunch break until 1:30 p.m. ET.

Prosecutors have introduced a motion to sanction Donald Trump for allegedly violating the gag order by posting on Truth Social. 

They urged the judge to hold Trump in contempt for breaching the gag order issued by him and fine the ex-president $1,000 for each of the three posts. 

Prosecutor Chris Conroy also appealed to the judge to issue an order to remove all the three posts and warn Trump that he may face jail time if he violates the order.

Judge Juan Merchan states that attorneys often have 15 minutes for the first round of questions and 10 minutes each for additional rounds.

However, Merchan and DA office agreed when Trump lawyer Todd Blanche sought 30 minutes for first round and 20 minutes for subsequent rounds.

Judge Merchan allowed into evidence the transcript of Access Hollywood in order to let prosecutors read the entire Trump quote, "grab them by the pussy."  

The judge also included an email exchange that took place on 2015 in which Hope Hicks forwarded the transcript to Kellyanne Conway, who then asked Michael Cohen to handle damage control after Conway asked if it was Trump's voice.

Reporters questioned Donald Trump on the trial's progress during the short break. Responding to them, the former US President gave a thumbs up and also waved, reported The Guardian.

In the sketch made by Elizabeth Williams, Donald Trump can be seen having a discussion with his attorney Todd Blanche inside the Manhattan criminal court.

Trump has returned to the courtroom and the proceedings are re-start following a short break. The jury selection process has not yet started. 

Meanwhile, Josh Steinglass, the Manhattan District Attorney, has stated that the prosecution may request the judge to find Trump guilty of contempt for insulting witnesses.

As court has taken a short break, Donald Trump left the courtroom but didn't say a word, reported CNN.

The prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argued that the latest posts that Trump made on Truth Social violated the gag order, which was issued to ban him from mentioning possible witnesses. 

Prosecutors also referred to Trump's Wednesday post in which he mentioned "two sleazebags," referring to Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen.

Following the district attorney's request to introduce evidence about the Access Hollywood tape pertaining to Donald Trump, Judge Juan Merchan expressed his opinion that the recordings "should not come in" due to their strong bias. The E. Jean Carroll deposition, he added, shouldn't be included because it would be "building in a trial into a trial."

Karen McDougal's testimony will be allowed in the hush money case, according to Judge Juan Merchan. He, however, said it is not required for the jury to be informed that McDougal and Trump affair both during and after his wife Melania Trump's pregnancy.

While Donald Trump arrived in the New York criminal court for his hush money trial, former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss declared that it "has to be" the former president in the White House following the November presidential elections. Read more here