Alert – Donald Trump trial LIVE: Ex-president complains about being too COLD as his ‘links’ to Silvio Berlusconi’s ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties are brought up in court

Staffers for Donald Trump were spotted by DailyMail.com running out to McDonalds to grab lunch.

They left the McDonalds with at least 4 large bags of takeout food and headed back to court.

Donald Trump apparently wasn’t feeling the heat on the third day of jury selection.

‘Is it cold enough’, the former president joked to reporters as he walke out for the lunch break.

His lead attorney Todd Blanche approached Judge Juan Merchan earlier in the morning session to ask if he could make the court any warmer.

Merchan agreed there was a chill, but warned that even turning up the thermostat slightly would lead to a huge spike in the heat.

Donald Trump leaves the courtroom without speaking to reporters at the end of the morning session.

So far, two empanelled jurors have been sent home, leaving just five on the panel.

The court needs 12 members and six alternates before opening statements can begin.

The court has recessed for a lunch break resuming at 2:15 p.m. ET.

There are only five seated jurors after two were dismissed earlier Thursday.

That leaves seven open spots left to be filled, with a few alternates.

A man from Italy was excused from the jury pool after he admitted he read stories about Donald Trump’s links to Silvio Berlusconi’s infamous ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties.

‘The Italian media have had a very strong association with Mr Trrump and Silvio Berlusconi’ he said.

‘It would be a little hard for me to retain my impartiality and fairness’.

As a result, he was told he could go home.

Former Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi’s tenure in power was marked by a slew of scandals.

They include hosting parties where orgies, skinny dipping and stripteases would take place.

The soirees came to be known as ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties.

The first of the two jurors excused on Thursday was an oncology nurse who was concerned she had already been identified.

The woman, who Judge Juan Merchan, considered a ‘very good’ member of the panel said her friends and family knew she was on the former president’s case.

The concerns prompted her to reconsider whether she could serve and her duty to be ‘fair’ might be compromised.

The judge then excused her in a worrying sign for the court going forward.

Judge Merchan took immediate action by barring reporting on a potential juror’s place of work or detailing their physical appearance.

We are now down to five empanelled jurors.

A grandfather who called Donald Trump ‘fasinating’ has been excused.

He was dismissed after it was uncovered by attorneys that he may have taken down conservative political posters in the 1990’s.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said earlier Thursday that his team found that a man with the same name was arrested.

He did not disclose his arrest on the jurror questionaire.

Judge Juan Merchan directs the question and answers with juror number four in a sidebar be sealed because very ‘personal information’ was included.

Says that the juror also expressed annoyance at how much information had been publicized about him.

Former president did not take questions from reporters.

One potential juror says she has read Donald Trump’s ‘Art of the Deal’ but that was decades ago.

When asked whether she could decide the case solely on the evidence and law, she responded ‘absolutely.’

The potential juror said she has been a subscriber to the New York Times most of her adult life but said it is ‘mostly for the crossword’ and noted there are some lawyers in the family.

One dismissed potential juror spoke to MSNBC outside the courthouse following her exit from the Trump case.

The woman, Kat, said she was dismissed because she could not be impartial.

She said she had been at court since 9am on Tuesday but did not realize it was for the Trump hush money trial until 4pm.

Kat said the potential jurors walked into the courtroom and that is when they saw the ex-president.

‘We didn’t know before that,’ she recalled. ‘I was shocked.’

She said ‘everybody was shocked, everybody was frozen.’

The woman only recently became a citizen, she had never been able to vote in a U.S. presidential election before, and it was her first time being called for jury duty.

When asked her first impression of how the ex-president looked in the courtroom, she said ‘he looked less orange, definitely, like more yellowish.’

‘He doesn’t look angry or — I think he looks bored, like he wants this to finish and go do his stuff,’ Kat said.

She said it is a historical case that is ‘going to define so many things.’

Trump appears engrossed with potential jurors seated in the jury box as they give their answers to the questionnaire, according to pool reporters in the court.

He has his head tilted back and is leaning way back in his chair as he cranes his head to get a good view of them as they speak.

The next potential juror was a stay at home mum who listened to technology podcasts, followed by an investment banker, a man.

He said that he read a wide variety of media and followed Trump’s reposts from Truth Social on X.

He listened to the podcast Mueller She Wrote, about the Mueller investigation and followed Michael Cohen on X.

The man said he liked media that tended to ‘take a different view’.

Next was a woman who had lived in New York for 30 years and worked in publishing.

She read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

The woman said she read the first 10 pages of Michael Cohen’s book ‘Disloyal’ for ‘business reasons’ but didn’t appear to have continued with it, prompting laughter in court.

After the potential jurors were excused because they said they could not be fair and impartial, an additional 9 potential jurors were also excused.

They raised their hands when asked if they could not serve for other reasons.

A total of 48 potential jurors have been excused in the Trump trial for after saying they cannot be fair and impartial.

This comes as they have been going row by row with potential jurors as jury selection continues.

Earlier, a seated juror was also excused after expressing concerns about being identified.

Another six jurors in the jury box raised their hands to say they cannot be fair and impartial in the Trump trial and were excused.

This comes as they are going row by row.

In total, 42 potential jurors have now been excused with two rows to go.

The fourth juror, an Irish immigrant, may be removed after prosecutors found that he may have not answered one of his jury questions correctly, the court heard.

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass said that they discovered a person with the same name as the man had been arrested in Westchester in the 1990s for tearing down right wing political material.

The man’s wife was previously accused or involved in a corruption inquiry and entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, the court was told.

Steinglass said that this contradicted the man’s negative response to the question he was asked whether he or anyone close to him had ever been accused or arrested for a crime.

The juror had been asked to report to the court at 9.15am but by 9.50am he hadn’t showed up

Judge Merchan asked if the defense was OK excusing the man but Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said he wanted to speak to him first.

For now, he stays on the panel.

Prosecutors added seven additional statements made by Trump for the contempt hearing that is due to take place next Tuesday.

They were posts online that attacked Michael Cohen from Trump’s Truth Social account and his campaign website.

The ‘most disturbing’ one was a claim on Truth Social that there were ‘undercover liberal activists lying to the judge’ to get on the jury.

Prosecutors have already asked the court to fine Trump $3,000 for three previous violations, but they said they were ‘considering our options’ for what further sanctions were justified.

‘We’re asking you to hold the defendant in contempt,’ prosecutor Chris Conroy said.

Judge Merchan said he would deal with it on Tuesday at the hearing.

Judge Merchan says he agrees with the defense that it’s important to obtain information about prospective jurors’ employers.

However, he says he is going to have those answers redacted from the court record, and he is directing the press in the courtroom and in the overflow not to report those answers.

“It’s become a problem,” Merchan says.

The answers being redacted are questions 3a and 3d: ‘Who is your current employer and who is your previous employer?’

The move comes amid concerns over jurors being identified.

The oncology nurse who was selected to be the second juror was dismissed after saying she had doubts about her ability to be fair and impartial.

The woman, juror B280, was brought to court before the proceedings began and asked by Judge Juan Merchan to explain herself.

Earlier judge Merchan told the court that the woman had ‘conveyed after sleeping on it overnight she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial’.

The woman told the court she ‘definitely have my concerns now’

She said that the previous day she had friends and family ‘push things’ towards her about her questioning her identity as a juror.

The woman said: ‘I don’t believe at this point I can be fair and unbiased and let the outside influence not affect my decision making in the courtroom.

Judge Merchant said: ‘I’m sorry you went through that’ and excused her.

Judge Merchan says that juror number two called the court to express concerns about whether she could be fair and impartial.

The juror number is B280.

He says he asked her to come at 9:15am, and they’re going to get her now to speak with her.

Trump walked into court wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and a blue tie. He sat with his lawyers at the defense table and looked over a notebook.

The former president answered his phone and talked briefly then hung up after a word in his ear from his lawyer, Todd Blanche.

Trump then stashed his phone in his pocket and stared forwards, looking bored.

Speaking on your phone in court is not strictly allowed, but the judge was not in court when Trump answered his mobile.

Blanche appeared to be explaining something to Trump and was gesturing with his hands.

Trump stared straight ahead with a scowl on his face as photographers were allowed in to take his picture.

Judge Juan Merchan entered and a court security officer called the case.

Donald Trump’s campaign has used every opportunity to weaponize the trial.

One message to supporters is complaints about the ‘disgusting’ bathrooms inside the aging courtroom.

The bathrooms on the 15th floor of the court – where the trial is being held – are a far cry from the golden toilets he is used to.

They have chipped cubicle doors that don’t lock, harsh neon lights, stained yellow tiles on the walls and taps that leak water.

On the back of one cubicle door, a Trump supporter has stuck a sticker which reads: ‘Let’s Go Brandon’, an insult to President Joe Biden.

The former president’s motorcade is on its way to the downtown Manhattan court for the third day of jury selection.

Melania Trump may not be publicly standing at Donald Trump’s side during his trial in New York but, privately, she is backing her husband in his hush money case.

Still, her support has its limits. She is highly unlikely to testify on Trump’s behalf and will be furious at her husband for bringing their son Barron into it.

When news of Trump’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels broke, Melania was said to be blind-sided, humiliated and furious. But, like she has done throughout multiple Trump scandals in the past, she is staying by him.

‘She’s not going anywhere. She’s there for him,’ a source familiar with the Trumps told DailyMail.com. ‘They’re going through it together.’

‘She’s been that rock of the family.’

The selection of two lawyers on the jury could have huge implications for Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

Renato Stabile, an attorney who specializes in juries, told DailyMail.com that it is a ‘bold but risky’ move from both sides as other members of the panel will look to them for guidance.

‘For that reason, lawyers usually don’t end up on juries unless each party thinks they are good for them, and obviously one party will be severely mistaken,’ Stabile added.

‘Here, both the prosecution and defense obviously think these two lawyers are good for them, because either side could have struck them with their peremptory challenges, but didn’t.

‘It’s really a fascinating strategy, but keep in mind the parties have presumably done background research on these two lawyers and know things about them that we don’t.

‘It also suggests to me that the Trump lawyers are going to advance a technical legal defense, which they are hoping these two lawyers will understand and advocate in the jury room during deliberations.’

Donald Trump appeared to violate the judge’s gag order on Wednesday night, and could face consequences

The former president quoted Fox News host Jesse Watters: ‘They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.’

JustSecurity’s Ryan Goodman said this appeared to go against Judge Juan Merchan’s order.

He pointed out part of the order that states Trump is prohibited from ‘making … public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding’.

Goodman also highlighted the section that reads: ‘Making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.’

Trump has already been warned he could face contempt charges for three previous social media posts attacking Michael Cohen.

A hearing is set for next week to see if he will be fined up to $1,000 for each post.

Multiple aides working for President Joe Biden allegedly have a nasty name for their boss’ opponent, former President Donald Trump.

It was reported that several of the current president’s younger staffers and other Democrats close to Biden use the nickname ‘Hitler Pig’ for Trump.

A staffer referenced the nickname when reporter Maggie Haberman accused Trump of sleeping at his trial in New York City Monday.

‘Hitler Pig sleepy’ was what one person allegedly captioned the New York Times reporter’s comments to CNN Monday.

At least four staffers anonymously confirmed to Politico that this is the nickname some staffers use for Trump.

The Manhattan judge overseeing the hush money trial has not yet made his decision, but the Trump campaign already believes the possibility of preventing the former president from attending his son's high-school graduation is political dynamite.

‘F***ing with us on Barron’s graduation has the potential to be the “$18M Mar-a-Lago valuation” faux pas of this trial,’ a Trump insider told DailyMail.com.

Earlier this year another judge in a different trial offered an $18 million valuation of Trump’s Florida club, a number that the former president said was orders of magnitude lower that its true value and which has been used ever since to ridicule the outcome of a civil case.

In the same way, his campaign is now looking to weaponize anything it can from the hush money trial in Manhattan.

Any sign that Trump is being treated unfairly, including the courthouse’s dirty bathrooms, will be turned into talking points or campaign mailers, say people familiar with the thinking.

By Rob Crilly, DailyMail.com Senior Political Reporter inside the court

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked each of the 18 prospective jurors in front of him to look across at Donald Trump and then take a long look inside themselves and decide whether they were up to the job of deciding guilt or innocence.

‘You have to be able to come back from your deliberations and look the defendant in the eye and say “guilty.’

‘And only you can know that.’

The defendant knew exactly where to look. He wrenched his body around to the right facing them, and delivered a penetrating glare as each in turn answered ‘yes.’

It made for a dramatic moment on day two of Trump’s hush money trial. The former president went eye-to-eye with some of the Manhattan men and women who will deliver one of the most important verdicts in history.

The president of Poland became the latest foreign leader to beat a path to Donald Trump’s door on Tuesday night as the world prepares for his possible return to the White House.

Andrzej Duda was greeted as an old friend as he arrived at Trump Tower, where the former president is staying as his criminal trial over alleged hush money payments gets underway in New York.

The two men are long-time allies but Duda was keen to win his support for more military help to Ukraine amid continued Republican hostility to a new aid package.

‘This gentleman is doing a fantastic job, the people of Poland love him, they really do,’ Trump told reporters as the pair walked in.

‘We had four great years together. We may have to do it again.’

Donald Trump will return to court in New York on Thursday morning for the third day of his hush money trial.

Prospective jurors will be brought into the court to be asked 42 questions in the process to take the final five spots on the panel.

The court also needs six alternatives who need to be ready as early as Monday for opening statements.

Seven Manhattan residents have so far been selected to decide to decide if the first former president in history to stand trial will be found guilty or not guilty of falsifying business records.

He has denied trying to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged an affair before the 2016 election.

The court has moved quicker than expected in selecting the panel, with the judge stopping any further delaying tactics from either side.

Here are the seven jurors who have been selected so far. They include a corporate lawyer, a teacher and man who called the ex-president ‘fascinating’.