The small buds on the bottom r what r referred to as popcorn nugs.Its really a personal preference whether u remove them or not,as uv let them grow this far id probably just leave them,but on ur next grow ul know just to trim the lower bud sites off as as u now know they dont come to much and it lets the plant focus that energy into growing proper nugs!Theyre just small like that because they r low down and dont get as much light.
As for removing leaves,me personally i tend to leave them on until they almost fall off themselves,if a leaf is covering a bud site its better to tuck them away than cut them off,ur buds need these leaves for nutrients etc,and i know on my first grow i trimmed alot of leaves off thinking i was letting light into the bud sites so theyd grow big but the opposite is the case,the buds grow much bigger if they have these leaves and once flowering properly they need the leaves as much if not more than they need direct light anyway