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More jurors have been dismissed on the second day of Donald Trump’s hush money case – as he claimed outside court that the trial “should never have been brought”.

No one has yet been chosen on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates in the historic trial which started on Monday.

Several others were excused on Tuesday morning after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments.

Donald Trump speaks before entering the courtroom .
Pic: AP
Image:
Trump speaks before entering the courtroom. Pic: AP

Dozens of potential jurors have yet to be questioned.

It is the first of Trump‘s four criminal cases to go to trial and may be the only one that could reach a verdict before the presidential vote in November.

If convicted, Trump – the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – would become the first former US president convicted of a crime.

He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious and, he says, bogus stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.

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Trump has claimed the trial is the result of a politically motivated justice system working to deprive him of another term as president.

Donald Trump during the second day of  jury selection.
Pic: Reuters
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Trump during the second day of jury selection. Pic: Reuters

Before entering the courtroom this morning, he stopped briefly to address a TV camera in the hallway, repeating his claim that the judge is biased against him.

“This is a trial that should have never been brought,” Trump said.

Among the potential jurors dismissed on Tuesday was a woman who had previously notified the judge she had a trip planned around Memorial Day.

A man was excused after saying he could not be impartial.

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The key figures in the hush money case

Another man, who works at an accounting firm, was dismissed after saying he feared his ability to be impartial could be compromised by “unconscious bias” from growing up in Texas and working in finance with people who “intellectually tend to slant Republican”.

Jury selection could take several more days – or even weeks – in New York, which is a heavily Democratic city.

Around a third of the 96 people in the first panel of potential jurors in court on Monday remained after the judge excused some members.

Donald Trump  outside Trump Tower.
Pic: Reuters
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Trump outside Trump Tower. Pic: Reuters

More than half were excused after saying they could not be fair and impartial, and several others were dismissed for other reasons that were not disclosed.

The trial centres on $130,000 (£104,400) in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen.

He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actress Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.

The former president has denied the sexual encounter ever happened.

Read more: Who is Stormy Daniels?

Prosecutors say the payments – which they claim were falsely logged as legal fees – were part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as his reputation was suffering at the time from comments he had made about women.

Trump said the payments, which he acknowledged reimbursing Mr Cohen for, were designed to stop Ms Daniels from going public about the alleged encounter.

The former president previously said it had nothing to do with the 2016 campaign.

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If convicted of falsifying business records, Trump faces up to four years in prison, though there is no guarantee he will get time behind bars.

His three other legal cases, involving allegations of election interference and hoarding classified documents, could lead to lengthy prison sentences.

But those cases are tied up with appeals or other issues that make it increasingly unlikely they will be decided before the election.

If Trump wins in November, he could order a new attorney general to dismiss his federal cases.

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Looting and violence breaks out after Los Angeles Dodgers win baseball’s World Series

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Looting and violence breaks out after Los Angeles Dodgers win baseball's World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers have won baseball’s World Series for the second time in five years but the celebrations were marred by looting and violence.

The Dodgers took the title by beating the New York Yankees 4-1 in the best-of-seven final in New York on Wednesday night, US time.

But soon after the match ended and jubilant Dodgers fans spilled on to the streets to celebrate, there were reports of a bus being set on fire, shops being looted and fireworks thrown at police in scenes of “absolute chaos” in downtown LA.

Los Angeles Dodgers players pose for a photo during a ceremony in the small hours of Oct. 31, 2024, after clinching the MLB World Series with a 7-6 win over the New York Yankees in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium in New York. (Kyodo via AP Images) ==Kyodo
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Los Angeles Dodgers players celebrate winning baseball’s World Series. Pic: AP

At around 10.45pm, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said it received reports of “looting at several stores in the area of 8th and Broadway”.

Ordering people to “leave the area immediately” on X, the force reposted a video of looters raiding a Nike store where a door had been removed so thieves could get in.

A Dodgers fan celebrates on the street after the Los Angeles Dodgers' victory over the New York Yankees to win the World Series in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 30, 2024. REUTERS/Daniel Cole     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
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A Dodgers fan celebrates in Los Angeles. Pic: Reuters

Several dispersal orders were issued for different locations in the city, including in streets close to the Dodger Stadium in the Elysian Park area.

A bus was set on fire as part of the disorder.

Eyewitness and LA resident Taylor Rosa, 27, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News it was “absolute chaos”, as people “got out of control and started looting and jumping on top of a bus”.

Among the comments on Instagram were “damn embarrassment” and “they act like the Dodgers lost”.

Multiple arrests were made throughout the night in Echo Park and the downtown area, according to the Los Angeles Scanner account on X.

The LAPD later spoke of a “hostile crowd” and that “various projectiles”, including rocks and bottles, were being thrown at officers.

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Meanwhile, two Yankees fans missed the end of the series after they were banned for interfering with play during the fourth match, the New York team’s only win.

They grappled with the Dodgers’s Mookie Betts as he tried to catch a shot by the fence at the Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

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As Betts leapt at the wall and caught the ball, one fan grabbed his glove with both hands and wrenched the ball out, as another grabbed Betts’s other hand.

They were thrown out of the game and banned from the next one.

Los Angeles Dodgers players celebrate after clinching the MLB World Series with a 7-6 win over the New York Yankees in Game 5 on Oct. 30, 2024, at Yankee Stadium in New York. (Kyodo via AP Images) ==Kyodo
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The Dodgers beat the Yankees 7-6 in game five. Pic: AP

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani celebrates in the locker room after their win against the New York Yankees in Game 5 to win the baseball World Series, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani with the trophy. Pic: AP

The last time the Dodgers won the title, in 2020, the season was shortened by the COVID pandemic, which prevented them from staging a victory parade.

This year’s parade is to take place on Friday.

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US election: Elon Musk summoned to court over $1m giveaways to registered voters

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US election: Elon Musk summoned to court over m giveaways to registered voters

Elon Musk has been summoned to an emergency court hearing on Thursday over the $1m prizes he has been awarding registered voters in swing states.

The Tesla and X chief executive has been ordered by a judge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to address a civil case by the city’s top prosecutor to stop Mr Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, from giving the cash away.

The suit accuses Mr Musk of operating an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Mr Musk and his PAC are backing Mr Trump, the Republican nominee.

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The controversial billionaire promised to give $1m (£772,000) each day to resgistered voters in swing states who have signed his online free speech and gun rights petition.

The first $1m was awarded to a man named John Dreher during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on 19 October.

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Both Mr Trump and Ms Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they fight for its 19 electoral votes.

Mr Musk is the world’s richest person and is worth $274bn (£210bn), according to Forbes, so the approximate $17m (£13m) he’s vowed to give away is a tiny fraction of his wealth.

The 53-year-old had donated $75m (£58m) to American PAC in the period up to mid-October.

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Documents filed by Philadelphia’s district attorney Larry Krasner also revealed that the lawsuit against Mr Musk had “triggered an avalanche of [social media] posts from Musk’s followers,” many of whom “made antisemitic attacks on Krasner”.

The attorney asked for enhanced security for the hearing, which was originally scheduled for Friday, after users on X had published Mr Krasner’s home address.

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‘Tell him I’ll register, $1 million!’

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America PAC is one of several major political action committees in the US.

Such groups can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of political candidates, on the condition that they do not coordinate with their campaigns or give money to them.

Mr Trump has said he will give Mr Musk a government job if he becomes president again.

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US election: People’s back pockets are pushing them to the polls in this knife-edge state

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US election: People's back pockets are pushing them to the polls in this knife-edge state

“It’s the economy, stupid”. It was back in 1992 when political strategist James Carville coined a phrase that feels to me to be wholly apt again right now.

It was by focusing on the state of the economy that Carville helped Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush 22 years ago.

For headscratchers today wondering why a man so divisive and with so much baggage as Donald Trump could be within a whisker of the White House, it may be that the answer, again, is: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

In suburban North Carolina it doesn’t take long to realise just how much people’s back pockets are pushing them to the polling booth.

Kannapolis is America’s suburbia. It’s middle class, leafy and the polls suggest it’s on a knife edge now, just as it was four years ago.

Political strategist James Carville coined the phrase, 'It's the economy, stupid' back in 1992 Pic: Reuters
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James Carville coined the phrase, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ back in 1992 Pic: Reuters

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Back in 2020, Donald Trump won this town’s district by just nine votes. With small gains like this across the state, the former president won North Carolina by a whisker – 1.3%.

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You need to go back to Obama in 2008 for the last time the Democrats won this state, then by 14,000 votes. Before that Republicans won here every cycle since 1980.

When Biden was the Democratic Party candidate, the state looked like a lost cause for the Democrats. But replacing him with Kamala Harris flipped the polls. Suddenly it was a state in play. She cut Donald Trump’s sizable lead to neck-and-neck and it remained there.

Shifting demographics, a large African-American community, a growing urban and suburban population all give Democratic Party strategists hope that it’s within reach again. With its sizable 16 electoral college votes, a win here really helps propel either candidate to the 270 needed for victory nationally.

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Cabarrus County is precisely the sort of place that the Republicans need to hold and the Democrats need to swing. I’ve come to the town of Kannapolis.

The train station here, linking it with the metropolis of Charlotte 30 minutes away, is doubling as the polling station and the queue to vote early is an hour long.

All who spoke to us were passionate, thoughtful and reflected the national split that runs down to within families.

But of the issues driving the decisions, one thing dominates almost always: the economy. Inflation is now down, unemployment is down. In many ways the US economy is the envy of the world. But the perception of things and nostalgia for the past runs deep.

On one street in this one town, we spoke to a range of voters in three businesses – a local entrepreneur, a waiter, a restaurant manager, a shop owner and a customer. All three businesses we visited were chosen at random and we’ve included every person we spoke to.

Rylee Mullery, babysitting between jobs

Rylee Mullery

“I would say income taxes and the open border is definitely the biggest issue for me personally. And I feel like it’s just gone downhill since then. So I hope that we can get that fixed by getting the right person in office.

“I went to the store the other day and got a full cart. Usually that costs $150 (£116). It was almost $400 (£309) for a full cart of just regular household needs from toilet paper to laundry detergent, paper towels, things like that. So I hope that that can be solved.

“I’m only 23 years old and it’s nice to know that people my age are finally waking up and seeing what’s actually good for our country.”

William Pasquale, waiter

William Pasquale

“Right now everything is just too expensive for even basic needs. For families of four it’s too expensive. They can’t afford groceries right now. Some can’t even afford gas and that’s the way people get around. All these unemployment rates are way higher than they were before and it’s just getting worse and worse.”

Deana Ross, restaurant manager

Deana Ross

“In the beginning…. nobody wanted to admit that they were liking him [Trump]… because he is a bit rough around the edges… but he knew what he was doing. And I think this time around, now that we’ve had that four year gap without him and they’ve seen what happened, the scales tipped a little.

Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, maybe he wasn’t that bad’. So I feel like everybody’s changing their mind and their opinion about what kind of a president he is, as opposed to what kind of a person he is.

“The Biden administration really dropped the ball for the country and what’s best for our country. And I feel like Donald Trump might try to improve that like he was trying before.”

Dwayne Jackson, popcorn shop owner

Dwayne Jackson

“A lot of people are basing their opinion on gimmicks. So if you’re focusing on the gimmicks and you’re not focusing on what the person’s actually saying, then you’re going to go according to the gimmicks.

“If somebody is running around here with 34 felonies, 34 plus felonies, and they’re still allowed to run for the presidency of the United States, where as if I was to go out here and commit one felony and get convicted of one felony, I could never vote again.

“I don’t like, you know, the name calling because you’re not teaching the children anything. When the kids look at this, we teach our children nothing.”

David Deal, local entrepreneur

David Deal

“The pledge by both sides to scrap tax on tips is a huge issue for us. It saves us as business owners taxes and their payroll portion. And obviously them not being taxed would be fantastic. That would give them a raise and give us a little breathing room as well. Margins are tighter as inflation is pushed, the typical consumer’s daily expenses are up, even exponentially.

“There’s always advantages to both sides. I consider myself fiscally conservative. I’m a small business owner. How business principles and laws are applied mean a lot to me and whether I’m able to put a roof over my head as a business owner.

“But on the flip side a lot of times those [conservative] politics are aligned with certain groups that are less socially liberal. I consider myself fiscally conservative, socially liberal – people should do what makes them happy. A conundrum? Certainly.”

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