A juror on former President Donald Trump’s hush money case was dismissed Thursday after prosecutors raised concerns that he may not have answered jury selection questions truthfully, according to multiple reports.
Prosecutors questioned Thursday morning whether the man, an IT consultant who was one of the seven jurors sworn in on Tuesday, had been honest in answering a question about whether he or a relative had been convicted of a crime, accordingto The New York Times. They voiced concerns after discovering an article describing an individual with the same name who was arrested in the 1990s for tearing down right-wing political posters, though it is not known if the juror confirmed this was him because he was questioned out of reporters’ earshot, according to the Associated Press.
Merchant said the juror had “expressed annoyance about how much information was out there about him in the public,” according to NBC News.
This is the juror whom prosecutors said shared a name with someone once arrested for tearing down political posters — something that wasn’t disclosed during voir dire. https://t.co/VjtAMppdDV
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) April 18, 2024
The juror’s dismissal brings the count back down from seven selected jurors to five.
Another juror was released earlier after she expressed concerns about her ability to be impartial after friends and others asked whether she was a juror, according to NBC News.
The judge directed reporters Thursday not to report physical descriptions of jurors or note their place of employment, according to multiple reports.
