"We have a full panel," Judge Merchan said after alternate jurors 5 and 6 were selected.

Alternate Juror No. 5 is originally from Texas and has spent four years in New York.

She works in creative operations for a clothing company and ejoys concerts, restaurants and music.

The defense successfully challenged a man who said he owns a minority stake in the company that produced Michael Cohen's "Mea Culpa" podcast and said he has a "fairly negative" opinion of former President Trump based on his "negative, divisive rhetoric."

The judge confronted the man with several social media posts, including one referring to Trump with the words "sociopathic incompetence" and another saying of Trump, "I do believe that he is actually the devil."

The judge asked if that reflected his opinion. "I would say it's not far off base," the man replied, and he was immediately excused.

Judge Merchan excused a retired teacher who attended what he considered to be a women's rights rally near the United Nations but that the defense considered to be an anti-Trump rally.

"I did go there because I wanted to take pictures," he said.

The judge confronted him with his social media post of a sign from the rally with a comment that said. "My sentiments exactly."

Merchan said he wasn't sure those sentiments were anti-Trump sentiments, but said he had concerns about the nature of the rally, which, in one post, the man suggested was a "massive anti-Trump rally."

Alternate Juror No. 3 is an audio professional who offered to assist Judge Merchan with a microphone that kept cutting out. He expressed his opinion that "Donald Trump is a man, just like I am."

He said growth results from correcting their prior wrongful actions. "Every man should respond to their wrongdoings if found," he said. "If there is evidence found against a man, there should be consequences."

Alternate Juror No. 4 is a woman who said "I have no really strong opinions about President Trump."

She is married with two boys that she likes to take to Knicks games and Rubik's Cube speed competitions. She has been a contract specialist for 20 years, currently employed at a publicly traded fintech company.

The woman who participated in the Women's March and said Trump enabled homophobic and racist comments was excused. The judge called it "the safer course."

As jury selection resumed for the afternoon session, Judge Juan Merchan scolded former President Trump over his audible "muttering" while a prospective juror was speaking.

"Your client was audibly muttering something," the judge told Trump's attorneys. "He was speaking in the direction of the juror. I will not tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear. Take a minute and speak to your client."

The interaction occurred after Trump's defense attorney sought to immediately strike potential jurors for cause based on social media posts that he said contradicted their assertions of fairness.

"There's a number of the jurors that we have social media posts for very much contrary to the answers that they gave," defense attorney Todd Blanche said.

Blanche pointed to a woman who he said has a "series of extraordinarily hostile Facebook posts."

One of the posts read, "So I've been in the middle of the ocean for the last few weeks. What's going on?"

Another post included a video of people celebrating near Manhattan's 96th Street and the words, "Full-on dance party at 96 Street."

Judge Merchan seemed baffled. "Show me the bias," the judge said. "I'm trying to understand. How does this call into question what the juror said when that juror was answering questions?"

Blanche insisted the post, a day after the 2020 election, was a celebration of Trump's loss.

"This is ridiculous," prosecutor Josh Steinglass said.

The judge determined "there are enough questions here" to allow the defense to question the woman about her posts.

"I think I went to the car to alternate-side parking or something like that and there were people dancing in the street," the woman said, adding that it reminded her of the pandemic-era cheer for health workers.

"I understand that bias exists," the woman said. "The job of the juror is to understand the facts of the trial."

When the woman left the room, that's when the judge scolded Trump.