After a tense week of jury selection, Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial is now truly underway. This morning the prosecution and defence teams presented their opening statements.
The first witness called to the stand is tabloid mogul David Pecker, who owned The National Enquirer and was part of the scandal “catch-and-kill” scheme.
New York Justice Juan Merchan ruled that Manhattan prosecutors can question Mr Trump about a blockbuster fraud ruling, gag order violations and defamation verdicts if he chooses to testify.
The defendant spent much of the weekend complaining about the case on Truth Social and angrily posting his presidential immunity claims — on which the Supreme Court will hear arguments this Thursday.
Meanwhile, figures released by the Federal Election Commission revealed that legal fees had eaten up three-quarters of the cash from the pro-Trump Save America PAC, a key fundraising group.
Elsewhere among the myriad legal issues engulfing the former president, an agreement has been reached over Mr Trump’s $175m bond to appeal the civil fraud trial ruling and the public filing is due of witness statements in the classified documents case.
Alex Woodward is providing live updates from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan
This morning in court – in sketches
No cameras in court, no problem… Here’s how courtroom sketch artists captured today’s historic trial of former president Donald Trump.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 19:09
Civil fraud trial: Trump reaches deal with New York AG Letitia James over bond
The dispute centered around the underwriter: Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) a California-based company that gave Mr Trump an 11th-hour lifeline. The company is part of the Knight Insurance Group, chaired by billionaire Don Hankey.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 19:00
‘It was election fraud. Pure and simple’: Trump trial hears 2016 scheme in opening statements
Alex Woodward reports from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan:
In their opening arguments to jurors, Manhattan prosecutors outlined Donald Trump’s alleged criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election by paying off publishers to bury compromising stories.
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover up,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo told jurors on Monday.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 18:40
Watch: Trump is ‘annoyed, resigned, maybe angry’ according to Rachel Maddow
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 18:31
RFK Jr sapping more support from Trump than Biden, poll finds
Anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr’s long-shot presidential bid appears to be drawing more support from former president Donald Trump than President Joe Biden, according to a new poll.
The survey of 1,000 registered voters, conducted between 12-15 April by NBC News, revealed that Mr Biden is trailing Mr Trump by two percentage points in a hypothetical two-way race, 46 per cent to 44 per cent.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 18:20
Trump delivers usual list of grievances outside courtroom
Donald Trump spoke at the media as he left the courtroom and delivered the latest remix of his usual list of grievances, heavily weighted toward the civil fraud trial (in which there was a development today regarding the appeal bond)
He also argued that he should be out on the campaign trail, making an odd claim that “people” came up to him in court to say they couldn’t believe he was indicted in this case.
The former president appears to want to frame this as some kind of bookkeeping error of which he was completely unaware. He also made a point of saying that they didn’t claim the payment to Cohen as a tax deduction, which appears to be evidence of more of an attempt to not leave a paper trail…
Mr Trump yet again baselessly accused President Joe Biden of orchestrating all of the civil and criminal cases against him. That is not true.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 18:05
Meanwhile, in another court…
Donald Trump has reached a deal with New York Attorney General Letitia James over his multi-million dollar civil fraud bond.
After weeks of back-and-forth between Donald Trump’s legal team and the New York Attorney General’s Office over the $175m bond in his civil fraud ruling, the two sides have agreed to allow the bond to be backed by a California-based company so long as it the collateral remains in cash, among other stipulations.
On Monday, attorneys for Mr Trump and Letitia James’ office met for a hearing on the bond dispute, approximately 500 feet from where opening arguments began in Mr Trump’s first criminal trial.
The dispute centered around the underwriter: Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) a California-based company that gave Mr Trump an 11th-hour lifeline. The company is part of the Knight Insurance Group, chaired by billionaire Don Hankey.
KSCI disagreed, claiming in a filing that they could because it was backed in a Charles Schwab account pledged to them.
After a relatively brief hearing on Monday, lawyers for Mr Trump and Ms James’ office came to an agreement that would keep the $175m in collateral in cash, have KSCI maintain control of it and KSCI will designate an agent to accept legal services on their behalf in New York.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 17:50
Alina Habba: Trump trials are ‘disgrace to the American judicial system’
In the hallway outside the courtroom, Trump legal spokesperson Alina Habba called Trump’s trials a “disgrace to the American judicial system”.
She didn’t take questions and was flanked by Trump lawyers Christopher Kise and Clifford Robert.
“The fact that we have two courts not one, criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today. You should not even be here today, because you didn’t know is the epitome of a witch hunt,” she said.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 17:35
And that’s it for today as court recesses
Judge Merchan: “Jurors, we’re going to call it a day.”
Court will resume at 11am tomorrow for three hours.
The early break is for a juror’s dentist appointment and to observe the Passover holiday.
In addition at 9.30am there will be a hearing on Trump’s gag order violations. If that is not over by 11am they will pause and pick it up again later, Alex Woodward reports from court.
Before the jury was sent out, Pecker said he is no longer speaking with Howard, who he believes has a spinal condition and lives in Australia and thus can’t travel
With the jury out of the room, Trump attorney Emil Bove now tells the judge that they “objected to some testimony from Mr Pecker about the whereabouts of Mr Howard”.
“It was hearsay, he does not have firsthand knowledge and it’s also not relevant,” he said.
Merchan notes the objection.
Oliver O’Connell22 April 2024 17:29
Trump is leaning forward on the defence table, watching Pecker’s testimony.
His face is slightly scrunched in what could be described as a “listening” face.
Pecker affirms that he is testifying under subpoena, and his attorney is in court with him.
He was asked to remember a series of phone numbers, including a mobile phone from the time he was at AMI.
He couldn’t remember the last four digits exactly, so he blurted out the whole seven digits. “You gave us more than the last four,” Steinglass says, chuckling.
ADA Steinglass is asking about Dylan Howard, The National Enquirer’s former editor-in-chief.
“Is it fair to say Dylan Howard ran the network of sources” for AMI’s brands, Steinglass asks.
Pecker says yes. He also confirms that Howard ran “juicy” stories by him
Pecker has a relatively soft, low voice, which has been interrupted a couple of times by massive bursts of laughter that made reporters in the overflow laugh.
Also, Pecker confirmed he had two email addresses while at AMI, one for sensitive messages that he didn’t want his assistant to see
Alex Woodward22 April 2024 17:25
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