Trump trial today: Seven jurors sworn in as ex-president scolded by judge

About 6,000 jurors have been sent subpoenas and about 1,500 were called to appear on Monday by the Manhattan Criminal Courts for former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

They will be whittled down to just 12 individuals to make up the jury in the case.

A trial jury consultant tells Gustaf Kilander: “The profile of attitudes that each side is looking for is very different than it would be in virtually any other kind of criminal trial”.

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Melania Trump has reportedly voiced her opposition to her husband’s hush money trial that began Monday.

In recent private conversations, Ms Trump called the trial “a disgrace” and tantamount to election interference, a source close to the Trumps with direct knowledge of her comments told The New York Times.

It comes on day two of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York City. Ms Trump has not appeared in court with her husband, saying in private discussions it is “his problem” alone.

Read more here from Katie Hawkinson:

Republicans sent their articles of impeachment for Joe Biden’s director of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to the Senate on Tuesday, an end to a series of delays and political games as well as the beginning of the end for the impeachment itself.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

A second Donald Trump administration could unilaterally devalue the US dollar, the de facto reserve currency used across much of the world as a lynchpin in the global financial system.

According to Politico, Mr Trump’s crop of economic advisers is “actively debating” how to devalue the dollar to bolster American exports, even at at the expense of the dollar’s status as a reserve currency and despite the risk that a devalued dollar could pour gasoline on inflationary fires that President Joe Biden has been trying to quell during his term in the White House.

The top booster of devaluation is reportedly Robert Lighthizer, Mr Trump’s former international trade representative, along with other Trumpworld advisers in Mr Lighthizer’s orbit.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC:

A potential juror in Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial made reference to the former president’s infamous 1989 Central Park Five newspaper advertisements, in which he campaigned to bring back the death penalty despite the wrongful conviction of five teenagers.

In 1985, five teenagers – Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – were all arrested and charged with the rape and beating of a white jogger in Central Park.

Despite the fact they would later be found to be innocent, Mr Trump – then a businessman and media personality – bought a full-page statement in The New York Daily News titled: “Bring Back the Death Penalty.”

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With the Republican National Committee (RNC) nomination all but formally secured for Donald Trump, all eyes are on who the former president will choose as his running mate in pursuit of the White House.

Already, rumours are swirling about Mr Trump’s short list of potential options – nearly all of whom are people who have backed Mr Trump and denounced the 2020 election results, despite widespread evidence that it was not stolen.

It is unclear when Mr Trump will announce his decision, but he revealed Mike Pence as his running mate in July 2016, before the RNC held its annual convention.

Ariana Baio and Gustaf Kilander look at the potential options: