Court resumed after the lunch break with the individual questioning of 18 prospective jurors, who are seated in the jury box.

Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass began with a rhetorical question for the group: "How am I considered for this case of all cases?"

Steinglass said the case was not a referendum on the Trump presidency or anyone's politics. "This case is about whether this man broke the law," he said, gesturing toward Trump.

"I could be objective," one of the prospective jurors, the security officer with Rangers seats and a flip phone, said.

Before the questions resumed, Judge Juan Merchan addressed the temperature in the courtroom.

"I want to apologize that it's chilly in here," Merchan said.

Earlier, when defense attorney Todd Blanche asked to make the courtroom warmer, the judge had said he feared a one-degree bump in the nearly century-old building could increase the temperature by 30 degrees.

A prospective juror was promptly excused after he explained he was born and raised in Italy, where he said the media has a "strong association" between Donald Trump and scandal-plagued former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that would prevent him from being fair.

"Now that I'm sitting here, it's going to be hard for me to retain my impartiality and fairness," the man said before he was excused.

Court subsequently recessed for lunch, with the questioning of potential jurors scheduled to resume after the break.

After losing two jurors, the selection process is stretching on this afternoon with prospective jurors standing up one-by-one to read the questionnaire.

"This is so bizarre," said a Long Island native when time came for her turn.

The woman is married with two children and has served on a jury three times before. She said her son is some sort of rating analyst, but conceded, "I don't actually know what he does."

Defense attorney Todd Blanche appeared to laugh at that answer. Donald Trump did not.

In response to the question of whether she can put aside bias, the prospective juror answered, "Yes, I will be unbiased. I will be very impartial."

Trump has appeared at times interested in some of the jurors as they work through their questionnaires. As one woman read her answers out loud, Trump turned his body to face her, slid is arm over the back of his chair, and crossed one leg over the other, listening.

Judge Juan Merchan has excused Juror No. 4 after he returned to the courtroom to speak with the judge.

There are now five jurors seated, after Juror No. 2 was excused earlier.

Judge Merchan said the man "expressed annoyance" at how much personal information about him had been publicized.

Trump looked on from his seat, alone, as the attorneys spoke to the judge.

The judge said the sidebar discussion would be sealed and omitted from the daily transcript.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has filed its formal request to hold former President Trump in contempt over a series of recent social media posts that, among other things, call witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels "sleaze bags."

Prosecutors said yesterday that three of Trump's social media posts this month "plainly violate" Judge Merchan's limited gag order because they target known witnesses who will testify at the trial.

"And defendant's violations were knowing and willful -- indeed, they are the latest in what this Court has already recognized as a deliberate strategy to impede this criminal trial," prosecutors wrote in Tuesday's filing. "To be sure, defendant has loudly and repeatedly complained that the order is unlawful, in both court filings and other public statements. But no court has agreed with his objections, and a defendant's mere disagreement with a court's order is no defense to criminal contempt."

Defense attorneys have insisted Trump was responding to "repeated, salacious, demon attacks" by Daniels and Cohen.

The judge has scheduled a hearing on the matter next Tuesday.