A judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial has warned the former president about “intimidating” potential jurors in the case.
Justice Juan Merchan warned he would not tolerate Trump speaking while potential jurors were questioned in court on Tuesday.
He said the former president was audibly uttering something while his lawyers were questioning prospective jury members, and warned: “I will not have any jurors intimidated in the courtroom.”
Image: Donald Trump speaks before entering the courtroom. Pic: AP
The first six jurors were selected to serve on Tuesday afternoon on the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates in the historic trial.
They include a waiter, an oncology nurse, an attorney, an IT consultant, a teacher and a software engineer.
Several others had been excused on Tuesday morning after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments.
Others demurred when asked about their opinions of Trump, including one who said is personal views on the former president “has absolutely no bearing on the case that you’re presenting or defending. That is a separate thing”.
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Dozens of potential jurors have yet to be questioned.
The judge also ruled on Tuesday that lawyers are allowed to ask prospective jurors about their social media posts.
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That ruling came after Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge he had found several social media posts he said come from possible jurors that are “very much contrary to the answers they gave”.
Potential jurors have also been asked about where they consume their news, their opinions on Trump and whether they follow politics.
The hush money case 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.
Trump has claimed the trial is the result of a politically motivated justice system working to deprive him of another term as president.
Image: 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.
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.
Image: 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.
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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Donald Trump has revealed hefty trade tariffs against at least seven countries, to be applied from 1 August.
The initial announcement, via his Truth Social platform, concerned Japan and South Korea.
Both would face 25% rates on all goods, he said.
Malaysia and Kazakhstan were later added to the list, while South Africa was told it faced a 30% rate.
Laos and Myanmar were hit with 40% duties.
It marks the restart of the threatened “liberation day” escalation that was paused in April, for 90 days, to allow for negotiations to take place with all US trading partners.
The US president is sending each nation a letter to inform them of the tariff rates they face and warn against retaliatory tariffs.
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Those duties will come on top of sector-specific tariffs – such as 50% rates covering steel – which are already in force.
Mr Trump says in the letters that rates can be adjusted “upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country”.
Country-specific tariffs had been due to take effect from Wednesday this week but Mr Trump had earlier revealed that nations would start to get letters instead, setting out the US position.
The letters sent to Japan and South Korea cited persistent trade imbalances for the rates and included the sentence: “We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far.”
He ended both letters by saying, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
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The European Union – the biggest single US trading partner – is among those set to get a letter in the coming days.
Mr Trump has also threatened an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning itself with the “anti-American policies” of BRICS nations – those are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and whose members also include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The UK, bar a massive shock U-turn, should be exempt.
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2:49
What does the UK-US trade deal involve?
The country was the first to be granted a trade deal, of sorts, in May and the Trump administration has claimed many others had been offering concessions since the clock ticked down to 9 July.
The UK is not expected to face any changes to its current 10% rate due to the trade truce, which came into effect last week.
While UK-made cars aerospace products face no duties under a new quota arrangement, it still remains to be seen whether 25% tariffs on UK-produced steel and aluminium will be cancelled.
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5:08
Can the UK avoid steel tariffs?
They could, conceivably, even be raised to 50%, as is currently the case for America’s other trading partners, because no agreement on eliminating the rate was reached when the government struck its deal in May.
It all amounts to more uncertainty for the UK steel sector.
A No 10 spokesman said on Monday: “Our work with the US continues to get this deal implemented as soon as possible.
“That will remove the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium, making us the only country in the world to have tariffs removed on these products.
“The US agreed to remove tariffs on these products as part of our agreement on 8 May. It reiterated that again at the G7 last month. The discussions continue, and will continue to do so.”
China and Vietnam have also secured some US concessions.
The dollar strengthened but US stock markets lost ground in the wake of the letters to Japan and South Korea being made public, with the broad-based S&P 500 down by 1%.
Stock markets in both Japan and South Korea were closed for the day but US-traded shares of SK Telecom and LG Display were down 7.5% and 5.8% respectively.
Details of those who have died and those who are missing after US flash floods are slowly emerging – with several young girls among those unaccounted for.
At least 82 people have died from the flooding in Texas, with an unknown number of people – including 10 girls and a counsellor from Camp Mystic in Kerr County – still missing.
As much as 10ins (25cm) of heavy rain fell in just a few hours overnight in central Kerr County on Friday, causing the banks of the Guadalupe River to burst at around 4am local time.
Tributes to those who died, and appeals for those who are still missing, are now being shared.
Image: Officials said 27 girls from Camp Mystic were reported missing after the flash floods in Texas
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3:35
Texas searches for missing children
Who are the victims?
Renee Smajstrla, eight
Image: Renee Smajstrla. Pic: Family handout
Renee’s uncle Shawn Salta confirmed the eight-year-old had died, and said she was one of 700 children staying at Camp Mystic.
“Renee has been found and while not the outcome we prayed for, the social media outreach likely assisted the first responders in helping to identify her so quickly,” he said.
“We are thankful she was with her friends and having the time of her life, as evidenced by this picture from yesterday.
“She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic.”
Sarah Marsh, eight
Image: Sarah Marsh. Pic: Family handout
Mountain Brook mayor Stewart Welch confirmed the death of eight-year-old Sarah, from Alabama, who was a pupil at Cherokee Bend Elementary.
“This is an unimaginable loss for her family, her school, and our entire community,” he said. “Sarah’s passing is a sorrow shared by all of us, and our hearts are with those who knew and loved her.
“As we grieve alongside the Marsh family, we also remember the many others affected by this tragedy.”
Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine
Image: Lila Bonner (left) and Eloise Peck. Pic: Family handout
Eloise’s mother Missy Peck told local broadcaster FOX4 that her daughter and Lila were best friends and cabinmates at Camp Mystic.
Writing about her daughter on Instagram, Ms Peck said: “She lost her life in the tragic flooding… our family is grieving and processing this unimaginable loss together.”
Lila’s family told NBC Dallas Fort Worth, a local affiliate network of Sky’s US partner network, that they were in “unimaginable grief”, and said: “We ache with all who loved her.”
Janie Hunt, nine
Image: Janie Hunt
Janie’s family confirmed her death to a reporter from NBC Dallas Fort Worth, who said “her mother tells me she’s devastated”.
Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland, owner of Camp Mystic
Image: Richard ‘Dick’ Eastland, owner of Camp Mystic. Pic: Family handout
Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told the Washington Post that Mr Eastland, who owned the camp died in a helicopter on the way to a Houston hospital.
Local outlet The Kerrville Daily Times reported he was killed while trying to save the girls from the flash floods.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers,” guest columnist Paige Sumner said in the Daily Times’ tribute to Mr Eastland.
Blair and Brooke Harber, 13 and 11
Image: Blair and Brooke Harber. Pic: Family handout
RJ Harber told CNN his daughters died during flooding in Kerr County, saying Blair “was a gifted student and had a generous kind heart”.
He added that Brooke “was like a light in any room, people gravitated to her and she made them laugh and enjoy the moment”.
He also said both his parents were still missing.
Jane Ragsdale, owner of Heart O’ the Hills camp
Image: Jane Ragsdale. Pic: Heart O’ the Hills
On Heart O’ the Hills’s website, the camp confirmed it was “right in the path of the flood” along the Guadalupe River.
While there were no campers in residence, Jane Ragsdale died. The camp said: “We at the camp are stunned and deeply saddened by Jane’s death.
“She embodied the spirit of Heart O’ the Hills and was exactly the type of strong, joyful woman that the camp aimed to develop with the girls entrusted to us each summer.”
Julian Ryan, 27
Image: Julian Ryan. Pic: GoFundMe
Relatives of Mr Ryan told local news broadcaster KHOU 11 that he died saving his family from floodwaters in Texas Hill County.
They described how he tried to smash a window to help them escape the rising water, but it cut his arm and he bled out before help could arrive.
Tanya Burwick, 62
Image: Tanya Burwick. Pic: Rhea Brunswick via AP
Ms Burwick was heading to work at a Walmart in the San Angelo area early Friday when the flood waters hit.
When she didn’t show up for work, her employer filed a missing persons report and sent another colleague to look for the 62-year-old.
Police found Ms Burwick’s unoccupied SUV fully submerged later that day, before locating her body on Saturday morning, “several blocks” away from her car.
Her daughter, Lindsey Burwick, said her mother was a beloved parent, grandparent and colleague to many, adding: “She lit up the room and had a laugh that made other people laugh.”
The area around the Guadalupe River is home to dozens of summer camps, but it is Camp Mystic that was long favoured by the Texas elite.
For almost a century, the daughters of senators, presidents, and oil barons would stream through the gates each summer.
“The camp has always served as a near-flawless training ground for archetypal Texas women,” wrote Texas Monthly writer Mimi Swartz in a 2011 profile.
First Lady Laura Bush was a camp counsellor there during college, while President Lyndon B Johnson sent daughters and granddaughters through the green gates.
Nicole Nugent Covert, granddaughter of Lady Bird and Lyndon B Johnson, described dropping her daughter off at Mystic.
“You get a feeling when you drive up to the Hill Country and you’d see the Mystic sign, and you’d feel the weight of the world had been lifted off you,” she told the Austin American-Statesman in 2010.
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“There were no worries. I still feel that way. When I drop my daughter off, I’m jealous.”
Once inside the Christian camp, hundreds of girls would learn to ride horses, catch fish, and hunt. They wore white on Sundays, when fried chicken was also served.
The halcyon summer days would culminate in a war-canoe race between two competing “tribes”.
Image: Items lie scattered inside a cabin at Camp Mystic. Pic: Reuters
A deposit for the camp cost $400 – while the current full fee is unknown in 2011 it cost $4,300 (£3,150) for a 30-day session.
Camp director dies ‘saving girls’
Founded in 1926, the camp was bought by Agnes Doran Stacy, a Dallas socialite, and her husband, Pop, in 1939, and has stayed in the family for the next three generations.
Mystic’s family bond came under pressure in 2011 when the Eastland siblings – grandchildren of Agnes – got into a messy legal battle over the 725-acre camp. The family eventually reached a confidential settlement in 2012.
Image: A Camp Mystic sign is seen near the entrance. Pic: AP
Current director Dick Eastland, who ran the camp alongside his wife Tweety, has been confirmed dead by his grandson. George Eastland said his grandfather died trying to save the girls in his care when the flash floods suddenly hit.
At first, 27 of the camp’s girls were missing, their cabins swept away in waters that rose suddenly at 4am. That figure is now 11 – 10 campers and one counsellor.
Image: Renee Smajstrla, 8, died in the flash floods at Camp Mystic, Texas. Pic: Family handout
“She will forever be living her best life at Camp Mystic,” Renee’s uncle, Shawn Salta, wrote in tribute to her.
The ‘Mystic mafia’ mourns
In her 2011 article, Swartz described a “Mystic mafia” of women that stretched across the world, their bonds forged by summers at camp.
And those legions of women are mourning today.
“Camp Mystic has been my safe haven for years – a place of peace, joy, and true belonging,” one wrote on social media.
“It’s where light lives and God’s love overflows. A true slice of Heaven on earth. This weekend, tragedy has struck this sacred space, and my heart is shattered.”
“Mystic gave me more than I really know how to put into words. my heart breaks for the campers, staff, and their families in this impossible time,” another wrote.