Tesla CEO and onetime Republican presidential hopeful put forward to lead department to ‘dismantle government bureaucracy’
Joe Biden is meeting with two foreign leaders at the White House today.
At 11.15am, he will speak with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, then with Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto, at 2pm.
Continue reading...Organizers award embattled actor and magic practitioner, under belief she has fallen victim to modern-day witch hunt
Practicing witches from around the world gathered in Salem by the hundreds on Thursday night to honor Stormy Daniels at their annual “magic circle” ceremony recognizing loved ones who have died.
Daniels – the adult film actor who allegedly had an affair with Donald Trump and was at the center of his May criminal trial that led to the former president’s conviction on 34 felonies – was chosen to be honored in the Halloween ceremony as the organizers believe that she has been the victim of a modern-day witch hunt.
Continue reading...Alvin Bragg has received onslaught of threats against him and other officials since guilty verdict in hush-money trial
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who prosecuted Donald Trump in his felony trial, has asked a judge to extend a gag order against the ex-president after an onslaught of threats and harassment against him and other officials since the guilty verdict.
The gag order was placed on Trump before the start of the felony trial. It prevented the former president from attacking witnesses, court staff, jurors and relatives of Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial.
Continue reading...In Fox interview, Trump derides his conviction and baselessly characterizes it as political weaponization of US justice system
Donald Trump on Sunday lauded the Republican party for rallying behind him in the wake of his conviction on 34 felony charges in a hush-money case aimed at influencing the 2016 election.
Trump made the comments in his first sit-down press interview since the guilty verdict was returned on Friday that held he falsified business records linked to an illicit affair with adult actor Stormy Daniels. The former US president appeared on Sunday in a taped interview on Fox & Friends, a friendly forum on the rightwing channel and in which he was served up a series of softball questions by a trio of Fox hosts.
Continue reading...Ex-president should also be made ‘the volunteer punching bag at a women’s shelter’, says former actor, following guilty verdict
Stormy Daniels has called for Donald Trump to be jailed after he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The adult film star, who was paid $130,000 as “legal expenses” for her silence about her affair with the former US president, warned the presidential candidate is “completely and utterly out of touch with reality”.
Continue reading...If jurors reach verdict after judge Juan Merchan’s directives on the law, they’ll determine whether ex-president is guilty or not guilty
Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York inches towards its concluding stages Wednesday with the expected start of jury deliberations.
The deliberations are poised to commence after judge Juan Merchan instructs jurors on the law. Merchan’s directives on the law are intended on guiding jurors about how they are supposed to weigh the case.
Continue reading...Hush-money trial enters final stages as defense makes closing argument in case centered on allegedly falsified business records
Donald Trump’s secret plot to bury negative press ahead of the 2016 election deprived Americans of their right to choose a candidate at the ballot box, said the prosecution in its summation on Tuesday at the former president’s New York hush-money trial.
Steinglass’s closing statement reminded jurors of a summer 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where the real estate mogul sat with then consigliere Michael Cohen and tabloid honcho David Pecker.
Continue reading...Ex-president back in court with entourage as hush-money trial moves closer to conclusion
Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial entered its 19th day on Monday in Manhattan with what has become a routine procession, with a phalanx of supporters that included his son, Eric, Kash Patel and the law professor Alan Dershowitz, a former leader of the New York Hells Angels chapter, and a disgraced former NYPD commissioner.
Here are some key takeaways from the day’s proceedings:
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the hush-money trial, read our full report:
Judge Juan Merchan is speaking about whether or not to restrict the testimony of a Federal Election Commission (FEC) expert, who the defense wanted to call.
Judge Juan Merchan says he expects closing arguments to be next Tuesday. “It’s become apparent that we’re not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,” Merchan says.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest reporting below:
Judge Juan Merchan is on the bench and the court is in session.
Donald Trump has arrived in the courtroom for day 18 of his criminal trial.
Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican representative
Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican congresswoman
Eric Trump
Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump aide
Continue reading...Barrett Blade says wife, who testified in hush-money trial, ‘wants to move past this’ but admits ‘I don’t see people fighting for her’
The husband of Stormy Daniels said there is a “good chance” that the couple will leave the US if Donald Trump is acquitted in his criminal trial over paying hush-money payments to the adult film star.
“I think if it’s not guilty, we got to decide what to do. Good chance we’ll probably vacate this country,” Barrett Blade told CNN host Erin Burnett on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Trump’s criminal hush-money trial continues in New York, while both Trump and Biden fight for voters in swing states
Hello! Welcome back to our new US elections newsletter.
Non-Trump supporters have been all jittery this week, after a poll appeared to show Joe Biden getting royally stuffed by Trump in the election.
Continue reading...Todd Blanche seemed to be looking for a ‘gotcha’ – instead there was laughter in the viewing room and one irked judge
“Mr Trump, is Todd doing a good job?”
So shouted a pool reporter outside a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday afternoon shortly after Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, started cross examining former fixer turned prosecution witness, Michael Cohen, in his criminal hush-money trial.
Continue reading...Former fixer tells hush-money trial Trump was ‘really angry’ after account of alleged sexual liaison with adult film star emerged
Donald Trump told his one-time fixer Michael Cohen to bury Stormy Daniels’s account of an alleged sexual liaison weeks before the election, demanding that he “just take care of it”, according to trial testimony in Manhattan court on Monday.
“This was a disaster, a fucking disaster,” Cohen, after he took the stand, recalled Trump saying. “Women will hate me.”
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the trial, read our full report:
Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse.
Court proceedings are scheduled to begin at about 9.30am ET.
Continue reading...Jury hears from adult film star on 13th day of ex-president’s criminal trial in New York
Donald Trump’s criminal trial entered a new stage on Tuesday with testimony from Stormy Daniels, an adult film star at the center of his hush-money scandal, who told jurors that they had a sexual liaison in 2006 that left her nervous and ashamed.
“My hands were shaking so hard that I was having a hard time getting dressed,” said Daniels, who told jurors that she had gone to Trump’s Lake Tahoe hotel room under the belief that they would be getting dinner after meeting there.
Continue reading...Keith Davidson gives colorful testimony at former president’s hush-money trial about how agreements came together in 2016
As Donald Trump’s presidential victory became clearer and clearer on election night in 2016, an attorney who brokered hush-money payments to bury the then candidate’s alleged sexual liaisons seemed shocked that his efforts had worked, texting his longtime confidant: “What have we done?”
So went the second day of testimony from Keith Davidson – who represented alleged Trump paramours Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal – in the ex-president’s criminal trial. The friend in question was Dylan Howard, then the editor of the National Enquirer. Prosecutors allege that the tabloid veteran kept Trump’s lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, apprised of damaging information about his boss.
This article was amended on 2 May 2024 to correct the amount of money that Davidson said in testimony that Michael Cohen sent to Stormy Daniels.
Continue reading...Ex-president dozed off during calm day of proceedings in trial over hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, with some potential jurors chosen. This blog is now closed.
Shortly, we should have the first set of potential jurors enter the courtroom where they will give their responses verbally to a 42-point questionnaire.
There are several categories of questions, including: in which New York neighborhood they live, their educational background, whether they’ve engaged in political activism or previously served on a jury.
Continue reading...Lawyers had argued trial should be postponed while they seek a change of venue to move it out of heavily Democratic Manhattan
A New York appeals court judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his 15 April hush-money criminal trial while he fights to move the case out of Manhattan.
The decision came Monday, a week before jury selection was set to start.
Continue reading...The adult film star – at center of hush-money payments in run-up to 2016 election – is featured in the new documentary Stormy
Stormy Daniels, the adult movie star who received hush-money payments at the center of one of Donald Trump’s pending criminal cases, says she is “so tired” as she confronts the prospect of testifying against the former president, whose supporters have flooded her social media accounts with threats.
“I’m desensitized to some of it … but I’m also tired,” Daniels says in a new documentary premiering on Monday on Peacock, according to Slate, which reported viewing the film in advance. “Like, my soul is so tired. And I don’t know if I’m so much a warrior now as out of fucks, man. I’m out of fucks.”
Continue reading...