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Dylan Stableford
Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumed Friday in Manhattan criminal court, where former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker — the first witness called by the prosecution — faced cross-examination by the defense.
Judge Juan Merchan continues to weigh whether the former president violated a gag order by attacking other witnesses on social media.
Pecker testified about his effort to “catch and kill” stories of Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs with adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels, who is among the witnesses expected to testify in the trial, which will last between five and six weeks.
Follow our live blog below for the latest updates from inside and outside the courtroom.
Before the break, Trump attorney Emil Bove was questioning Pecker about his testimony regarding a Jan. 6, 2017, meeting Pecker attended at Trump Tower with the then president-elect and numerous officials, including FBI Director James Comey.
On Thursday, Pecker testified that at the meeting Trump thanked him for paying to silence a Trump Tower doorman who claimed Trump had fathered a love child. But according to notes from a 2018 FBI interview with Pecker, he told agents that Trump had not thanked him at the Jan. 6 meeting.
Pecker initially suggested that the FBI's notes were wrong, but later during Bove's cross-examination acknowledged that he may have, in fact, told them Trump had not thanked him.
"Something about the question mark after 'old and quite weird' is taking me out."
The former president brought it up twice during a rally in North Carolina.
FBI director Christopher Wray said investigators did not know whether Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet or shrapnel
The "Late Show" host mocked the former president over one curious claim.
She can talk about more than just coconut trees.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called in to Fox News Thursday, where he told supporters that presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris is a “radical left, not very smart person” who’s part of a massive conspiracy to weaponize the nation’s legal system against him. Harris’ campaign fired back mere minutes later with an email blasting the “78-year-old convicted criminal’s Fox ...
The "Tonight Show" host envisioned an exchange between the Republican presidential nominee and Elon Musk.
The ex-White House communications director explained why Vance is "hurting" the former president.
With Joe Biden calling Trump’s alleged golfing prowess into question, is the 45th president as good as he claims to be?
Agency confirmed Friday that Trump was wounded by bullet shot from rifle
It seems Nikolai Patrushev has forgotten one crucial thing – the invasion of Ukraine.
Donald Trump baselessly claimed Kamala Harris is “totally against the Jewish people”—apparently either forgetting or ignoring the fact her husband is Jewish.Speaking at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday night, the Republican nominee slammed his likely presidential election rival for skipping Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress earlier in the day. But Trump seemed completely oblivious to the existence of second gentleman Doug Emhoff,
Former President Trump on Friday claimed there will be a major war in the Middle East and potentially a “third world war” if he does not win November’s election. Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, one day after Netanyahu met at the White House with President Biden…
Barack Obama is planning to endorse Kamala Harris’ presidential bid despite initially refraining from doing so, according to a report.The former president is set to make the endorsement “soon” and has been in close contact with Harris since she launched her White House bid Sunday, sources told NBC News. One source told the network Obama didn’t want his endorsement to “overshadow” President Joe Biden’s moment and his televised Oval Office speech Wednesday night in particular.After Biden dropped o
Former President Trump topped Vice President Harris by 2 points in a new poll from The Wall Street Journal. The former president garnered 49 percent support among registered voters to the vice president’s 47 percent in the poll, conducted in the wake of President Biden leaving the 2024 presidential race. Harris significantly improved on Biden’s…
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The camp, situated on a farm, was raided and 95 Libyans have been taken into custody, police say.
The election authorities of at least 48 states, both Republicans and Democrats, say there are no obstacles that would prevent Vice President Kamala Harris from getting on election ballots if she becomes the official Democratic presidential nominee, as expected.
The US vice-president says she made clear to the Israeli PM her "serious concerns" about casualties in Gaza.