The 12 jurors and six alternates who will judge Donald Trump for the 'Stormy Daniels case' have been chosen

The five substitute members of the jury who were missing to complete the team of 12 starters and six substitutes, have been chosen this Friday, so Judge Juan Merchan's plans to begin with the parties' initial arguments next Monday are confirmed. The selection of the popular jury that will judge Donald Trump for paying a bribe to a porn film actress to silence an extramarital relationship - the first of the four criminal trials that the former president faces - has lasted half as long as expected, only one week, although it began on Monday with symptoms of traffic jam - more than half of those summoned, all of them residents of Manhattan, were excluded due to doubts about their impartiality - and there were even casualties, such as two regular jurors, already sworn, who were dismissed on Thursday for different reasons.

Just before proceedings were to break for lunch on Friday, a man set himself on fire in a park across the street from Manhattan Criminal Court, where the trial is being held. The man, whose reasons for immolating himself are unknown, suffered serious burns and was evacuated by ambulance. According to several television networks with mobile units on their perimeter, the police response was delayed because the place had been delimited with fences for security reasons. The park, actually a cement plaza with a few benches and stunted vegetation, was one of two security zones, or

, established by the police to avoid possible altercations between Trump supporters and detractors, who demonstrated on the first judgment day but with little noise.

Outside the court, a disturbing silence prevailed after the immolation, while passersby, in silence, contemplated the last wisps of smoke and a smell of singeing hung in the air. About three dozen uniformed police officers blocked the entrances to the venue.

Twelve New Yorkers were already selected on Thursday, in addition to the first of the alternates, to be part of the jury in the case called

. The former president and current Republican candidate for re-election in November is accused of 34 crimes of falsifying accounting records of his company to cover up a payment intended to keep secret a sex scandal during the 2016 election campaign.

The alternate jurors will listen to all the evidence and will intervene in the event that any of the twelve regular jurors have to leave the trial unexpectedly and for major reasons. In the opening statements, on Monday – a day that coincides with Jewish Passover and which requires a change in the agenda – the prosecution and defense attorneys will present their cases to the newly constituted jury. The next day, a hearing will be held on Trump's alleged violations of the gag order imposed on him during the trial. According to prosecutors, Trump has violated Judge Merchán's limitation seven times, who must decide on Tuesday whether he will sanction or fine him for it.

In fact, prosecutors on Thursday reiterated their request that Judge Merchan hold Trump in contempt of court, arguing that the former president has repeatedly violated a gag order that prohibits him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and other members of the court by publish on their social networks links to articles that disqualify their former lawyer Michael Cohen or boasts from their intimates about the development of the trial in its first days.

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Despite the speed, the constitution of the jury has not been free of turbulence, in addition to the massive voluntary withdrawals registered. Several potential jurors opened up about their lives in court Friday. A woman broke down while talking about a prison sentence in another state. Another felt overcome by nerves while she responded from the stand to the questions of the suitability questionnaire to which those summoned were subjected. “This is a lot more stressful than I thought,” she said. Both claimed to be unable to fulfill the task expected of a jury and were excluded. This has been the general trend among a good part of the almost 500 applicants - selected from the adult residents of Manhattan, where the prosecutor's office that investigated the case and also the criminal court is located -, in a trial that faithfully follows the ordinary procedures but that The polarizing figure of Trump makes a process, in addition to being unprecedented and historic, extraordinary.