Donald Trump "smirked" at a potential juror in his hush money trial before the man was dismissed over a past "lock him up" social media post referencing the former president, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
During day two of the trial in Manhattan on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan whittled down the pool of potential jurors as the defense and prosecution presented information they found on social media regarding those under consideration.
Trump's legal team pointed to their discovery of a post in which one potential juror had celebrated a court's decision to strike down a Trump travel ban.
Judge Merchan read the post aloud, noting its impassioned punctuation: "Good news!! Trump lost his court battle on his unlawful travel ban!!!," USA Today reported.
The man also wrote in the post: "Get him out and lock him up."
When questioned by the judge, he said he no longer believed that Trump should be imprisoned.
At that point, "Donald Trump craned his neck toward a potential juror and flashed a smirk," USA Today reporter Aysha Bagchi wrote.
Despite his apparent change of heart, the judge dismissed him. Merchan explained that he wouldn't have taken issue with the post if it stopped before the calls for Trump to be locked up.
"I don't think that I can allow this juror to remain," the judge said.
Merchan also removed another potential juror from the pool due to their social media activity, which included an AI-generated parody video featuring Trump titled "I'm dumb as f---."
Another post by the individual read that "no one is above the law," referring to the former president's criminal case over his handling of classified documents.
One juror was allowed to remain under consideration for the case despite Trump’s legal team raising concerns over a video that they described as "clearly an anti-Trump event that she's out celebrating and partying at."
Merchan ruled that it was unclear whether the woman was at the event. She also told the court she "could be fair and impartial," Bagchi reported.
As of Tuesday afternoon, six jurors had been chosen and 12 slots remained in the historic trial, marking the first time any U.S. president has faced criminal prosecution.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels ahead of his first run for president.
Daniels claimed that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 to stay silent about an alleged sexual encounter she said happened in 2006. At the time of the alleged affair, Trump was married to Melania.
When he arrived at the courthouse for the first day of proceedings on Monday morning, Trump greeted reporters with the message: "This is political persecution, this is a persecution like never before, nobody has ever seen anything like it… It’s an assault on America."