Donald Trump Trial LIVE: Follow day three of the hush money trial, with five jurors yet to be selected for the panel of twelve

Donald Trump returns to court in New York on Thursday morning for the third day of his hush money trial.

Potential jurors will be brought to court to ask 42 questions in the process to fill the final five spots on the panel.

The court also needs six alternatives to be ready for opening statements on Monday.

So far, seven Manhattan residents have been selected to decide whether the first former president in history to go on trial will be found guilty or not guilty of falsifying corporate records.

He has denied trying to hide a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair before the 2016 election.

The court moved faster than expected in selecting the panel, with the judge halting further delaying tactics from both sides.

These are the seven judges selected so far. Among them, a corporate lawyer, a teacher and a man the ex-president called “fascinating.”

The Manhattan judge overseeing the hush money trial has not yet made his decision, but the Trump campaign already believes in the possibility of dissuading the former president attending his son’s high school graduation is political dynamite.

“F***ing with us at Barron’s graduation ceremony has the potential to be the ‘$18M Mar-a-Lago valuation’ faux pas of this process,” a Trump insider told DailyMail.com.

Earlier this year, another judge in a different lawsuit offered an $18 million valuation to Trump’s Florida club, a number that the former president said was an order of magnitude lower than its actual value, and which has since been used to ridicule the outcome of a civil case.

Likewise, his campaign is now trying to weaponize everything it can from the Manhattan hush-money lawsuit.

Any sign that Trump is being treated unfairly, including the courthouse’s dirty bathrooms, will be turned into talking points or campaign mailers, people familiar with this line of thinking say.

By Rob Crilly, DailyMail.com senior political reporter inside the court

Prosecutor Josh Steinglass asked each of the 18 potential jurors before him to look at Donald Trump and then take a long look within themselves and decide whether they were tasked with deciding guilt or innocence.

“You have to be able to come back from your deliberations, look the defendant in the eye and say ‘guilty.’

“And only you can know that.”

The suspect knew exactly where to look. He turned his body to the right, facing them, and gave a piercing look as each in turn answered yes.

It made for a dramatic moment on day two of Trump’s hush-money trial. The former president stood face to face with several men and women from Manhattan who will deliver one of the most important statements in history.

The president of Poland on Tuesday evening became the latest foreign leader to push his way to Donald Trump’s door as the world prepared for his possible return to the White House.

Andrzej Duda was greeted like an old friend when he arrived at Trump Tower, where the former president is staying while his criminal trial over alleged hush money payments begins in New York.

The two men have been longtime allies, but Duda was eager to win his support for more military aid to Ukraine amid continued Republican hostility to a new aid package.

“This gentleman is doing a fantastic job, the people of Poland love him, they really do,” Trump told reporters as the couple entered.

‘We had four great years together. Maybe we should do it again.’