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Donald Trump is back at the Manhattan Criminal Court for the resumption of his New York hush money trial after using Wednesday’s recess to hit the campaign trail in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan at which he largely played the hits, delivering the familiar slew of insults, grievances, half-truths and apocalyptic forecasts.
Judge Juan Merchan is considering four more alleged violations of Mr Trump’s gag order today after fining him $9,000 for nine breaches on Tuesday and warning the defendant he could face “incarceratory punishment” if he persists in bad-mouthing key participants.
This week the court has already heard key testimony from Gary Farro, the banker for former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, explaining how the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to cover up the alleged extramarital affair with Mr Trump was funded.
It has also heard from Keith Davidson, the ex-lawyer for Ms Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal who negotiated the sale of their stories to guarantee their silence, which became urgent in October 2016 after the Access Hollywood tape was released.
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Mr Davidson is currently being cross-examined by the Trump defence team.
The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.
It appears that Davidson was just listening to a recording of himself saying that “sometimes people get settler’s remorse, you know?”
Asked whether that was in reference to Stormy Daniels, he says yes.
“What was going on in your head at the time?”
“What time?”
“When you said these things.”
“This was 2018. I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“Were you referring to something that Ms Daniels had conveyed to you?”
“I don’t believe so.”
“That term ‘hypothetically speaking,’ that was code, right?”
“So you can sit in a chair like this and say, ‘I’m not sure if I was talking about Stormy Daniels’?”
Davidson speaks relatively quietly, gives short answers if he has to elaborate beyond a yes or no, and doesn’t recall much. Bove needles quite a bit, asks the same question a few different ways, and if he feels like he’s on a roll, asks them quickly.
Emil Bove resumes cross-examination of Davidson and get around to his relationship with then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen.
Bove offers that Davidson’s relationship with Cohen wasn’t “so horrific” that he wouldn’t stop working with him after the Stormy situation.
“Our relationship changed over time,” he said.
“Ever talk with Mr Cohen about Stormy Daniels having ‘settlers’ remorse’?”
“I may have.”
“Did you recall using the word ‘leverage’?”
“Is it a word that you used in conversations with Cohen?”
“I may have.”
Bove hit “settler’s remorse” really hard into the mic, twice. The jury definitely heard it.
Court resumes after lunch
Court is back in session after the lunch break and Judge Juan Merchan has returned to the bench.
Alex Woodward is reporting live from the courthouse:
Trump defence attorney Susan Necheles wants to give the judge some materials to look over as he considers the gag order. The defence has already given him approximately 500 pages of documents.
She’s giving him “articles” from Jonathan Turley and others that Trump “wants to post on his Truth”, but she says he’s worried that the articles would violate the gag order.
Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy says the gag order is pretty clear.
Merchan sighs.
He’s already clarified the gag order.
“I’m not going to be in the position of looking at a post and determining in advance whether or not to post on Truth Social,” he says. “The best advice I can give your client is when in doubt, steer clear.”
Necheles pushes back.
“Take it up with the court of appeals,” Merchan says. “I’m not going to revisit my order.”
Trump is pouting and crossing his arms.
Keth Davidson is back on the stand and the jury is coming in.
Lindsey Graham targeted by scam caller impersonating Chuck Schumer
Graham made the announcement at the Hill and Valley Summit, a gathering of lawmakers, defence contractors, venture capitalists and others connected to the national security sphere, where it was first reported by The Washington Times.
John Bowden has the story:
Watch: ‘We are swimming in the muck right now’
MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin gives her view on the shady field in which attorney and witness Keith Davidson operates and the careful wording he uses.
Premium: Trump says ‘jihad’ has made London ‘unrecognisable’ – who does he think he is?
Sean O’Grady writes:
Well, aside from his talent for inciting insurrection and what we might term a kind of Maga jihad on 6 January 2021, one has to ask: “How do you know, Don?” As far as is publicly known, Trump had barely set foot in the UK before he became US president, and may have spent more time on his vulgar ersatz golf course in Scotland than in the nation’s capital.
Read on…
Why is Trump really speaking at the Libertarian conference?
Donald Trump will be a headline speaker at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, the nominating contest for one of the US’s highest-performing non-major political parties.
John Bowden reports:
Full story: Stormy Daniels lawyer thought Michael Cohen ‘was going to kill himself’ when Trump didn’t give him role in White House
Alex Woodward reports from the courthouse:
The attorney who negotiated Stormy Daniels’ $130,000 payment from Michael Cohen thought Donald Trump’s then-attorney was going to “kill himself” when he learned he was left out of a job in Washington DC after the 2016 election.
“I thought he was going to kill himself,” Mr Davidson said.
Earlier, he recalled Cohen telling him “Jesus Christ can you believe I’m not going to Washington.”
Continue reading…
This morning in court sketches
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