WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Welcome to the "NewsHour."

A full jury has been seated in former President# Trump's criminal trial.

But jury select.. had a rocky start, as two previously selected# jurors were dismissed.

And prosecutors again## accused the former president of violating a gag# order and asked the judge to hold him in contempt.

I'm joined now by former# federal prosecutor Jessica Roth.

Jessica, great to have you back on the# program.

A bit of a whiplash with this## jury.

It was up and then it was down# and now there was a full jury seated.

Two issues came up with regards to these jurors# being dismissed.

One, a juror was worried that## her identity was being revealed in the process.

A# second was concern over whether another juror was## somehow hiding his or her true intentions# about why they wanted to sit on the jury.

Are those just normal concerns,# especially in a case like this?

JESSICA ROTH, Former Federal Prosecutor: Well,## they raised two distinct#..

The first juror who said that she was# concerned essentially about her privacy## and I think implicitly her safety because# she thought that her identity essentially## was being found out, that's particular# to this case.

You usually don't see## those kinds of juror concerns about# their safety and privacy in a case,## for example, involving falsification of business# records, which is, of course, the charge here.

You might see that in an organized crime# case or a terrorism case.

But, of course,## this is an unusual case that's, at its# heart, a white-collar case involving## the former president of the United# States, but who is -- has engaged in## a pattern of conduct and speech online,# in particular, that really has caused## threats to people who are involved in legal# proceedings that are associated with him.

And so it's highly unusual that you would have# a juror in a case like this expressing those## kinds of concerns.

And it's unique to the# circumstances presented by Donald Trump and## his followers.

So that particular instance# with the juror was of grave concern to me,## because I'm concerned not only about that juror,# but about other jurors who similarly may develop## concerns about their safety and privacy and those# of their families as this case goes forward.

The second juror presented a different kind of# issue.

And that was somebody who appeared possibly## to be trying to get onto the jury potentially# because of some bias that this person harbored,## so a sort of motivated, biased juror who would# have been potentially lying about their own past,## failing to disclose something that# might have caused the lawyers to## strike that juror for cause or# using a peremptory challenge.

And the worry with somebody like# that is less about whatever it is## they're concealing and more the# fact that they're concealing it,## because that suggests they might# not be a fair and impartial juror.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I see.

Prosecutors, as I mentioned, have also asked# Justice Merc.. court, arguing that he has repeatedly violated# the gag order that the judge placed on him,## which bars him from attacking witnesses,# jurors, the judge, other members of his family.

Merchan said he's going to have a hearing# about this next week.

Do you think that## this has gotten to the point, with# the former president's behavior,## that the judge does need to issue# some kind of censure or worse?

JESSICA ROTH: I think the judge absolutely has to## take some firm action here# that involves a sanction.

The question is, what will the sanction be?

As of# the last time the district attorney's office had## filed a motion in this regard and briefed it,# they were asking for monetary sanctions and a## reprimand and a stern warning that future# conduct would lead to even more severe## sanctions.

They had asked for $1,000 fine per# instance in which Mr. Trump violated the order.

But that was when I think there were only# three instances that they were pointing to,## and those involved witnesses in the case.# Now what we have are instances of Mr. Trump## allegedly violating the gag order, and I think# that the record's pretty clear that he did,## with respect to jurors, who# also were listed on that order,## prohibiting from making comments outside# of the courtroom about those people.

And so I think a lot is going to turn on how# the judge handles this next week, not only## for these particular instances of misconduct# and violations of the order, but it's going to## set the tone for the rest of the case, in terms# of how strict he's going to run this courtroom.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jessica Roth, always# good to hear from you.

Thank you so much.

JESSICA ROTH: My pleasure.