2 jurors recuse from Trump hush money trial, one says 'intimidated'

NEW YORK: Two jurors in former President

Donald Trump

's hush money trial were

dismissed

Thursday, one after expressing doubt about her ability to be fair and impartial after saying she was "afraid and

intimidated

by the

press

", and the other over concerns that some of his answers in court may not have been accurate. The dismissals reduced to five the number of jurors who have been seated for the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.
The setbacks in the selection process emerged during a frenetic morning in which prosecutors asked for Trump to be held in contempt over

social media posts

this week, while the judge barred reporters from identifying jurors' employers after expressing privacy concerns.

Trump is accused of covering up a $130,000 payment made to porn star

Stormy Daniels

for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says they had a decade earlier.