Now we're down to 5

We started the day with 7 seated jurors. Now we're down to 5 — here's what happened in court

Jeremy Herb, Lauren del Valle and Kara Scannell

After several hours of court proceedings today, Judge Juan Merchan now finds himself with fewer seated jurors than when he started.

Ultimately, the court needs 12 New Yorkers to be empaneled on the jury for former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, and likely needs another six alternates.

The day started with seven jurors already seated and a batch of 96 potential new jury members ready for consideration. But as the court started paring down the new group, Merchan found himself excusing two jurors who had already been seated.

The first juror to go expressed concerns about her identity being shared publicly, saying friends and family had already reached out to her asking about the trial after her description was published in news reports.

Now, a second juror has been excused, this time after prosecutors said they found information that called into question the truthfulness of their answers during voir dire, the period where lawyers from both sides question potential jurors.