Donald Trump made a surprise campaign stop at a construction site in New York early on Thursday morning en route to day seven of his hush money trial, where the jury is hearing further testimony from a former tabloid mogul who detailed the “catch-and-kill” scheme central to the case.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified on Tuesday about his agreement with Mr Trump and former attorney Michael Cohen to “kill” stories about the defendant’s alleged affairs.
New York Justice Juan Merchan may also rule today on whether Mr Trump should be held in contempt and fined $10,000 for allegedly violating a trial gag order by posting about witnesses and jurors on Truth Social.
Elsewhere, 11 local Republicans and several key Trump allies have been indicted in Arizona for allegedly joining a failed “fake elector” plot during the aftermath of the 2020 election to falsely certify Mr Trump’s victory in the state.
And, in Washington DC, attorneys for the former president will today deliver oral arguments in front of the US Supreme Court in support of his “presidential immunity” defence against prosecution in what promises to be a landmark hearing.
Alex Woodward is providing live updates from the courthouse in Manhattan.
We see a 23 July 2016 email from Dylan Howard: “Spoke to MC about that other issue. Obviously concerned that it is proceeding with filming dates etc and wants me to handle. I’m on it.”
Pecker, the same day: “Good move and follow up.”
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 15:22
Cohen suggested that Pecker should should pay it.
“I just paid 30,000 for the doorman’s story,” Pecker says. “I don’t have a problem with doing everything else she requested … $150,000, who’s going to reimburse me for this? … He said again, Don’t worry about it, I’m your friend, the boss will take care of it.”
Text messages between Pecker and Howard are shown to the court.
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 15:08
Pecker recalls what Howard was hearing from McDougal about the terms of a deal.
For lifetime rights, she wanted $150,000, “plus Karen wanted to restart her career, she wanted to write for celebrity magazines, she wanted to be on the cover of some of the health and fitness titles, she had a major problem when her breast implants were removed, she wanted to write articles about that … she also wanted to launch a fitness clothing line as well as a beauty product company … and she wanted to be an anchor for the red carpet events.”
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 15:07
“He said, You should go ahead and buy this story. So I said to him, I’m gonna have Dylan Howard negotiate the terms. And then I said, Who’s going to pay for it? He said Don’t worry, I’m your friend, the boss will take care of it.”
How did you feel about Cohen’s representation that Cohen would reimburse you?
“Over the years knowing Michael Cohen, I know he didn’t have any authorisation to disburse funds from the Trump Organization. Every time we ate lunch, I was paying.”
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 15:06
In June 2016, Pecker got a call from Trump.
“Trump said to me, I spoke to ’Michael (long pause) Karen is a nice girl. Is it true that a Mexican group is looking to buy a story for $8m?’”
“I said I absolutely don’t believe [that]. He said what do you think I should do? I said you should buy the story and take it off the market.”
“I believed the story was true. I think it would have been very embarrassing for himself and for his campaign.”
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 14:59
Pecker recalls National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard’s recap from his interview with former Playboy cover star Karen McDougal: “He described to me who Karen McDougal was … She claims that she had a year-long relationship with Mr Trump, a sexual relationship … He said that she was a 12 out of 10.”
He said there was “no corroborating evidence” but “believed the story to be true,” he offered $10,000 to buy the story, “and it was refused.”
On a three-way call with Michael Cohen, Cohen said it wasn’t true, but he was going to check it out.
“First [Cohen] said the story wasn’t true, then he said having that story out … Dylan mentioned that ABC was interested in acquiring the story [and] mentioned that a Mexican group made an offer for $1m, Michael and I both said we didn’t believe a Mexican group was going to buy the story.”
He told him that McDougal said that ABC was offering her a slot on Dancing with the Stars, but “I knew from my experience that ABC doesn’t buy stories,” Pecker said.
“Dylan also mentioned that Karen McDougal said she didn’t want the story to be published. She said she didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky,” he added. “[Howard] felt that she had been more interested in having American Media buy the story than anyone else.”
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 14:57
Assistant district attorney Christopher Conroy is outlining several alleged violations of the gag order from just this week.
Two involve his press conferences in the courtroom hall on 22 April about Michael Cohen, including a “nine-minute rant” where he said: “all the lies Cohen did in the last trial … He got caught lying, pure lying, when are they going to look at that?”
That night, he said “I can’t get away from the trial. He’s rushing the trial like crazy … jury was picked so far, 95 per cent Democrat.”
The next day, 23 April, just before the gag order hearing, he gave an interview with a Pennsylvania TV station and said: “Cohen is a convicted liar and he’s got no credibility whatsoever.”
This morning, when he was asked at the press event “What have you thought about David Pecker’s testimony so far?”, Trump said “he’s been very nice. A nice guy.”
“This is a message to Pecker. Be nice,” Conroy told the judge. “It’s a message to others. I have a platform, I can talk about you, and I can say things like this or like I said about Michael Cohen.”
We are not going to hear the judge’s decision on the gag order.
Tabloid mogul David Pecker is back on the stand and jurors are being walked in now.
Alex Woodward25 April 2024 14:49
Court gets underway
The Independent’s Alex Woodward is reporting live from inside the courtroom in Lower Manhattan as day seven of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial gets underway:
Cameras are on. Prosecution is seated. Here comes Trump. Massive red tie.
Trump appears to be eating some kind of candy. Rolling something around in his mouth.
He’s chatting with Blanche, who’s smiling and laughing. Blanche whispered in his ear and Trump raised his eyebrows. He’s sucking on whatever is in his mouth, moving his jaw and cheeks around, popping his mouth open to roll it around.
Judge Juan Merchan is in.
There was apparently some email correspondence between the judge and attorneys yesterday about a hearsay issue involving a document during Pecker’s testimony. Trump attorney Emil Bove wants some redactions. Judge Merchan wants to deal with the issue during a break.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy has another order to show cause to hold Trump in contempt. That would be four violations within the last three days.
Oliver O’Connell25 April 2024 14:46
Trump campaign accused of breaking federal law by hiding millions in legal payments
A complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has alleged that the Trump campaign and its related political committees have potentially violated federal law by concealing who is being paid or much of the former president’s legal work.
The complaint, which was filed with the FEC by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonprofit government watchdog, alleges that Trump’s campaign and four other related political committees reimbursed compliance firm Red Curve Solutions $7.2m for legal fees and expenses between 7 December 2022 and 18 March 2024.
However, Red Curve “does not appear to offer any legal services”.
Here’s more from Martha McHardy.
Joe Sommerlad25 April 2024 14:45
Trump claims to be planning rally at Madison Square Garden
On his way into court this morning, Donald Trump claimed his campaign is planning a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
With his movements beyond the five boroughs restricted by his busy court schedule, it is not unexpected that we’ll see more quick-stop campaign events such as this morning’s construction site visit and last week’s bodega run but an actual rally in the middle of Manhattan would be taking things to another level — it’s also something that hasn’t done before…
The former president also reiterated his argument about presidential immunity as the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the topic at 10am.
Oliver O’Connell25 April 2024 14:38
News Summary:
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