Trump news - live: Video of Trump’s E Jean Carroll trial deposition released as verdict looms

A Trumpworld insider has begun cooperating with the investigation into the classified papers found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, it has been revealed.

Sources told The New York Times that the DOJ has found an “insider witness” who worked for the former president at his Florida estate who is now speaking to investigators as part of the probe.

The Justice Department is also said to be probing Mr Trump’s ties to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

The revelation comes as attorneys for both Mr Trump and E Jean Carroll rested their cases in his civil rape trial on Thursday, following almost two weeks of testimony alleging that the former president raped the magazine columnist in the 1990s.

Afterwards, Judge Lewis Kaplan left the door open for Mr Trump to make a last-minute decision to testify, giving his defence team until 5pm on Sunday to confirm whether or not the former president will appear.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump said he was cutting short his trip to Ireland to “confront” Ms Carroll over the case.

Key points

• Trump is accused in court of rape. Will it matter in 2024?

• Last witness in E Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuit against Trump testifies: ‘Believed it then and believe it today’

• Tucker Carlson ‘plotting to host GOP debate’ despite being axed by Fox

• What now for the Proud Boys? The far-right street gang has a new target after January 6 convictions

• Trump calls accuser a 'nut job' in recording played for jury

‘He doesn’t like me very much, he was appointed by Bill Clinton,’ Trump says of E Jean Carroll trial judge

12:00 , Bevan Hurley

Judge Kaplan also denied a motion for a mistrial by Mr Trump’s attorneys, and frequently scolded his lead counsel Joe Tacopina for his “repetitive, argumentative and inappropriate” questioning of Ms Carroll.

He also warned Mr Trump to “refrain” from making inflammatory comments about the case that could incite violence.

Speaking in Ireland, Mr Trump described Judge Kaplan as a “rough judge”.

“He doesn’t like me very much, he was appointed by Bill Clinton,” he said.

He claimed Ms Carroll was a “Democrat” and that the lawsuit was a “political scam”.

“Because of that I have to leave Ireland and I have to leave Scotland where I have great properties, I have to leave early.

“I don’t have to but I choose to.”

E Jean Carroll trial judge gives Trump legal team deadline for Trump testimony

11:00 , Bevan Hurley

After Ms Carroll’s attorneys rest their case on Thursday afternoon, Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give Mr Trump’s attorneys until 5pm on Sunday to confirm whether the former president would testify.

Ms Carroll is suing the former president for defamation and battery, alleging she was raped in a dressing room at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 and her reputation was “destroyed” when the former president called her claims a “con job” in a Truth Social post in October 2022.

Judge Kaplan last week warned Mr Trump’s lawyers that the former president could be putting himself in further legal jeopardy after he described the lawsuit as a “scam” in a Truth Social post.

Kari Lake's lawyers fined in failed Arizona election lawsuit

10:00 , AP

Republican Kari Lake’s lawyers were sanctioned $2,000 Thursday by the Arizona Supreme Court in their unsuccessful challenge of her defeat in the governor’s race last year to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

In an order, the state’s highest court said Lake’s attorney made “false factual statements” that more than 35,000 ballots had been improperly added to the total ballot count. The court, however, refused to order Lake to pay attorney fees to cover the costs of defending Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in Lake’s appeal.

Chief Justice Robert Brutinel cited Lake’s challenge over signature verification remains unresolved.

Hobbs and Fontes said Lake and her attorneys should face sanctions for baselessly claiming that over 35,000 ballots were inserted into the race at a facility where a contractor scanned mail-in ballots to prepare them for county election workers to process and count.

When the high court first confronted Lake’s challenge in late March, justices said the evidence doesn’t show that over 35,000 ballots were added to the vote count in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters.

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Kari Lake's lawyers fined in failed Arizona election lawsuit

Trump to cut Ireland trip short and return to New York to ‘confront’ E Jean Carroll

09:00 , Bevan Hurley

Donald Trump has claimed he is cutting short his trip to Ireland to “confront” E Jean Carroll after his defence team suffered a series of setbacks at his civil rape and defamation trial in New York.

Speaking to reporters while golfing at his Doonbeg resort on Thursday, Mr Trump said he would “probably attend” the trial, which is hearing its final day of evidence before closing arguments next week.

“I was falsely accused by this woman, I have no idea who she is – it’s ridiculous,” he said.

“I’ll be going back early because a woman made a claim that is totally false, it’s fake.”

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Trump to cut Ireland trip short and return to New York to ‘confront’ E Jean Carroll

Mar-a-Lago insider cooperating with Special Counsel probe into Trump’s hoard of secret documents, report says

08:00 , Graeme Massie

A Mar-a-Lago insider is helping Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president’s handling of top secret documents at his luxury Florida estate, a report says.

Federal investigators have issued a string of new subpoenas in the probe and are trying to discover if Mr Trump ordered boxes containing confidential documents to be moved out of a storage room as the government attempted to recover them, sources told The New York Times.

The Special Counsel’s prosecutors are trying to establish if Mr Trump attempted to hide some documents even after the Justice Department issues a subpoena for their return last May, reported the newspaper.

The insider, whose identity has not been released, reportedly provided investigators with a picture of the Mar-a-Lago storage room where the documents were kept.

The newspaper says it is not known what else information the witness may have provided, or how long they may have been cooperating with the Justice Department.

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Mar-a-Lago insider cooperating with probe into Trump secret documents, report says

Trump is accused in court of rape. Will it matter in 2024?

07:00 , AP

E. Jean Carroll testified in sometimes searing detail about the day she says Donald Trump raped her in a department store dressing room two decades before he became president, allegations the Republican has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

Taking the witness stand in support of Carroll this week, two friends told jurors that they spoke with the former magazine columnist shortly after the alleged 1996 attack, and that they believe she is telling the truth. Other women testified about separate encounters; one said Trump grabbed and groped her while they were on a flight in the late 1970s, the other told jurors he forcibly kissed her at his Florida home in 2005.

The accounts, shared during the civil trial on Carroll’s claims of battery and defamation against Trump, mark the first time that any of the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the former president have been heard in a court trial. Given a chance to rebut Carroll’s accusations on the witness stand, Trump declined to make an appearance, instead traveling overseas. He told reporters in Ireland that he may still testify in person, though his attorney said in court that he will not and that they will not present other witnesses.

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Trump is accused in court of rape. Will it matter in 2024?

DeSantis celebrates wins at end of busy legislative session

06:00 , AP

On the day he took office, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to pursue an agenda that would heal the state’s political divisions.

In an op-ed, he vowed to prioritize environmental protection, the economy and education. And he highlighted the “diverse, bipartisan group of qualified individuals” he hired for his administration.

“It is time for our state to come together,” he declared in the January 2019 piece.

On Friday, more than four years later, DeSantis is set to conclude a legislative session that establishes him as perhaps the most accomplished conservative governor in the nation’s bitter culture wars just as he prepares to enter the 2024 presidential contest as a top rival to former President Donald Trump.

Intensifying a hard-right shift that began during the pandemic, the 44-year-old Republican governor in recent weeks pushed the limits of divisive cultural battles over abortion, LGBTQ rights, sex education, guns, immigration and diversity. And in most cases, backed by Republican supermajorities in Florida’s legislature, he won.

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DeSantis celebrates wins at end of busy legislative session

Tucker Carlson ‘plotting to host GOP debate’ despite being axed by Fox

05:00 , Abe Asher

Tucker Carlson is no longer with Fox News, but he reportedly still wants to host a Republican primary debate.

Carlson separated from Fox News in late April and is not currently attached to a network or media company, but The Washington Post reported on Thursday that he’s angling to host an independent primary debate and has been in touch with former President Donald Trump – who is currently polling ahead of the rest of the GOP field – about the idea.

A potential debate featuring Carlson and Mr Trump would likely be seen as a serious challenge to Fox News, which has seen its primetime ratings fall since Carlson’s dismissal.

Fox News is set to host the first Republican primary debate in August, but Mr Trump has threatened to skip that debate — and the next one — out of personal frustrations with hosting and broadcasting entities and a concern that sharing a debate stage with his challengers could boost their profiles.

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Tucker Carlson ‘plotting to host GOP debate’ despite being axed by Fox

Convictions ‘won’t signal a death blow’ to Proud Boys

04:30 , Josh Marcus

The conviction of Enrique Tarrio and his associates may be a major blow, but it may not be a fatal one to the Proud Boys, who often carried a violent message to the street and attempted to make it literal.

“The Proud Boys’ reputation will certainly be damaged due to the revelations during the trial and today’s convictions, but it won’t signal a death blow to the organization, and we expect their local activity to continue,” Lindsay Schubiner, director of programs at Western States Center, a civil rights group, told The Wall Street Journal.

Trump is ‘playing with fire’ as he touches on violent right-wing ideas during campaign

04:00 , Josh Marcus

Still, despite the distance from the Proud Boys, Donald Trump still regularly touches on violent right-wing ideas in his campaign.

In March, the former president kicked off his run with an appearance in Waco, Texas, the site of an infamous, lethal standoff between federal agents and armed religious sect members 30 years before which galvanised the modern militia movement.

Observers said the choice meant, as ever, Donald Trump was “playing with fire.”

Mr Trump opened the event with a song in tribute to those in prison for the January 6 insurrection, and speakers spoke in violent terms about the government.

Before Mr Trump took the stage, conservative rocker Ted Nugent delivered a guitar solo version of the “Star Spangled Banner,” but not before asking the crowd for January 6-inspired “moment of silence for the political prisoners in the gulags of Washington, DC, because of jackbooted thugs in our own government.”

During his remarks, the former president avoided mentioning the standoff itself, but offered scattered warnings of sinister forces, World War III, and an apocalyptic “final battle” for America.

“Either the deep state destroys America, or we destroy the deep state,” he added. “We’re at a very pivotal point in our country.”

Last witness in E Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuit against Trump testifies: ‘Believed it then and believe it today’

03:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

The final witness in E Jean Carroll’s civil lawsuit against former president Donald Trump that accuses him of rape and defamation gave evidence on Thursday.

Carol Martin is one of the two friends that Ms Carroll spoke to about the alleged assault, which the longtime Elle advice columnist says happened in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Ms Martin was questioned at a Manhattan federal court about an email she sent to Ms Carroll about the former president in 2017, reported Business Insider.

The email was sent just a few weeks before Ms Carroll would start work on “What do we need men for?” – the 2019 book in which she publicly accused Mr Trump of rape for the first time.

In September 2017 Ms Martin sent Ms Carroll an article making fun of Mr Trump.

Read more:

Last witness in Trump rape trial says she consistently believed E Jean Carroll

‘They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power'

03:00 , Josh Marcus

Mr Trump, possibly chastened by the swift and forceful condemnation of his “stand by” comments, hasn’t appeared to directly engage with the Proud Boys as he mounts a 2024 comeback run at the White House.

Perhaps out of legal strategy, or genuine disaffection, Tarrio distanced himself from Mr Trump during the trial, as well.

“It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation,” attorney Nayib Hassan told jurors in closing arguments. “It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.”

Proud Boys acting as ‘far-right muscle'

02:30 , Josh Marcus

According to extremism researchers, in 2022, the group joined or lead anti-LGTBQ+ protests once a week on average, right as GOP leaders across the country were ratcheting up attacks on the LGBTQ+ community through book bans, smearing opponents as “groomers,” attacking gender education, and attempting to ban transgender healthcare.

The group has appeared at or threatened events in Ohio, Maryland, and New York in recent months, where brawls have broken out and LGBTQ+ people have been harassed with vulgar insults.

The shift in tactics is a reflection of the group’s role as unofficial paramilitary backers of whatever the main Republican priority of the day is.

Chuck Tanner, research director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, told the BBC that the recent attacks on LGBTQ+ people show the Proud Boys acting as “far-right muscle.”

“They’re not the movement thinkers out in front, they chase a lot of issues,” he said.

VIDEO: Donald Trump claims he would end Russian invasion of Ukraine 'in 24 hours'

02:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Proud Boys planned to take over Washington

01:30 , Josh Marcus

By 2021, the Proud Boys were so emboldened they had allegedly hatched plans to take over Washington.

Prosecutors alleged Tarrio was in possession of a document called “1776 Returns” with plans to occupy “crucial buildings” in Washington, including House and Senate office buildings, on January 6.

“We need many people as possible inside these buildings,” the document states. “These are OUR buildings, they are just renting space. We must show our politicians We the People are in charge.”

As prosecutors turned up the heat on the Proud Boys’s most high-profile figures, and Canadian officials went so far as to designate the gang a terrorist entity, the group fanned out across the US at the local level, threatening LGBTQ+ focused events like drag story hours.

VIDEO: Donald Trump says Joe Biden is ‘disrespectful’ for missing coronation

01:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Proud Boys, stand back and stand by'

Saturday 6 May 2023 00:30 , Josh Marcus

By 2020, the Proud Boys was closely aligned with Donald Trump, turning out to conspiracy-driven “Stop the Steal” protests and appearing alongside Trump confidante and adviser Roger Stone, as well as meeting with campaign surrogates, links that were scrutinised by the January 6 committee in Congress.

At the first 2020 presidential debate that September, Mr Trump spoke directly to the group on stage, a moment later seen as a call-to-arms by far-right groups.

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by, but I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem,” Mr Trump said when asked about the far-right. “This is a left-wing problem.”

Later that year, during riots in Washington, DC, Tarrio burned a Black Lives Matter flag hanging from a historically Black church. Throughout much of 2020, Donald Trump demonised the racial justice movement as “thugs” and in June stood in front of a Washington church holding a Bible shortly after demonstrators were tear-gassed nearby to clear the way.

January 6 prosecutions tears apart Proud Boys

Saturday 6 May 2023 00:00 , Josh Marcus

The January 6 prosecutions have decapitated the Proud Boys, but its tactics are now morphing and going after a new target on a local level: LGBTQ+ people. The only thing that remains the same is the synergy, somewhere between official and unofficial, between the right-wing vigilantes and the ideals of the mainstream Republican party.

Formed in 2016 by Vice magazine founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys quickly came to function as the muscle of the American right, instigating street fights across the country at protests while using semi-ironic memes and tactics to spread antisemitic, racist, and misogynist ideals, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

All the while, the group was steadily accumulating influence, collaborating with other far-right groups like Patriot Prayer, and making violent shows of force, mounting a large presence at the infamous 2017 Charlottesville neo-Nazi demonstration.

VIDEO: Donald Trump Mar-A-Lago Probe: 'Insider Witness' To Reportedly Spill The Beans Against Ex-President

Friday 5 May 2023 23:30 , The Independent

'Sometimes people who want to run away from their problems take any avenue that’s available

Friday 5 May 2023 23:00 , AP

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal court to take control of his New York City criminal case.

During a hearing on Thursday, the judge sought to broker a compromise between Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors, who raised concerns that he would use evidence obtained in the pretrial discovery process to attack witnesses and other people involved in the case, as he has in the past.

Merchan, a target of Trump’s social media ire in the wake of his indictment, did not rule on the prosecution’s request for what’s known as a protective order. But he suggested he wants to balance the sanctity of the case, the safety of people involved, and Trump’s free speech rights.

The judge said Trump’s fame and megaphone make him different from other criminal defendants, but “with that comes responsibility that his words, especially when used in the form of rhetoric, can have consequences.”

Blanche said Trump wasn’t seeking to put evidence on social media nor was he objecting to a prosecution request, based in part on safety concerns, to keep identifying information about district attorney’s office employees secret until the trial starts.

Once he rules, Merchan said, he will hold a hybrid conference — lawyers in court, Trump appearing by video — where he will apprise him of the dos and don’ts of his impending order.

Merchan asked the defense and prosecution to agree on a trial date in February or March 2024. Barring removal to federal court, that could land Trump, who’s making a comeback run for the White House, in court during next year’s primaries.

William Dow III, a Connecticut attorney for more than 50 years, said he’d never heard of a state criminal case being removed to federal court. He said such moves are a delaying ploy.

“Sometimes people who want to run away from their problems take any avenue that’s available, whether it’s accurate or not. I think this (Trump’s case) is subject to that interpretation,” said Dow, whose clients have included former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland in a political corruption case that forced him to resign in 2004.

Prosecutors don’t address Trump request to move NY criminal case to federal court

Friday 5 May 2023 22:30 , AP

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal court to take control of his New York City criminal case.

Prosecutors didn’t address the request during Thursday’s hearing. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office issued a statement saying it was reviewing the request to transfer the case and would file an “appropriate response” with the court.

The criminal charges are related to payments Trump’s company made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. Prosecutors say those payments, most of which took place in 2017, while Trump was president, were intended to reimburse and compensate Cohen for orchestrating hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan previously investigated and only charged one person: Cohen, who pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the hush money payments. Cohen is a key witness in the state case against Trump.

Trump, a Republican, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

‘It’s essentially just a change in courthouses'

Friday 5 May 2023 22:00 , AP

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal court to take control of his New York City criminal case.

Moving the case could give Trump some advantages, such as a broader, more politically diverse jury pool — but the fundamentals of the case would remain largely intact.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office would still prosecute him and state law would still apply, but with the oversight of a federal judge, said University of Iowa law professor Derek Muller.

“It’s essentially just a change in courthouses,” Muller said.

Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, first raised the prospect of moving the case to federal court during a state court hearing Thursday where a judge indicated he’d put limits on Trump’s access to certain evidence, as prosecutors requested.

But Judge Juan Manuel Merchan said he wouldn’t issue a gag order or bar Trump from speaking publicly about the case.

Trump’s lawyers faced a Thursday deadline to file paperwork seeking to move the case — 30 days after the April 4 state court arraignment where he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

A federal judge will now weigh whether to grant the request. While that plays out, the case will proceed in state court and all pretrial deadlines will remain in effect.

“It is possible to remove a state prosecution to federal court but the reasons for doing so are narrow and none seem to apply in this case,” Roiphe, a former Manhattan prosecutor, said.

VIDEO: Donald Trump has until Sunday to decide if he'll testify at rape trial

Friday 5 May 2023 21:30 , The Independent

Donald Trump seeks to move NY criminal case to federal court

Friday 5 May 2023 21:00 , AP

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal court to take control of his New York City criminal case. They argued Thursday that the former president can’t be tried in the state court where his historic indictment was brought because the alleged conduct occurred while he was in office.

In court papers, Trump’s lawyers said the criminal case “involves important federal questions,” including alleged violations of federal election law. Federal officers, including former presidents, have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office,” the lawyers argued.

Echoing Trump’s claims that his indictment is “politically motivated,” lawyer Susan Necheles urged the federal court to exert its “protective jurisdiction” and seize the case from the state courts where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg routinely practices.

Such requests are rarely granted in criminal cases, although Trump’s request is unprecedented because he’s the first former president ever charged with a crime.

“This effort is extremely unlikely to succeed,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School. “It’s not even clear that this would be a particularly effective delay tactic.”

Lara Trump denies rift between the Trump children

Friday 5 May 2023 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Lara Trump, the wife of Eric Trump, has denied that there’s a rift among Donald Trump’s children.

The former president’s eldest child Ivanka Trump, 41, has taken on separate legal representation from her brothers Eric and Donald Jr.

But Ivanka’s sister-in-law Lara has claimed that the development hasn’t led to a family split.

Mr Trump and his three oldest children – Ivanka, Donald Jr, and Eric – were all named in a $250m civil fraud lawsuit filed last autumn by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

The lawsuit aims to acquire the repayment of funds from alleged fraudulent operations by the Trump Organization. The suit is also seeking to have all four Trump family members removed from their positions at the enterprise and to ban them from taking on leadership roles in New York state.

Read more:

Lara Trump denies rift between the Trump children

‘It’s America, or Trump’: Lincoln Project publishes new ad as Proud Boys convicted

Friday 5 May 2023 20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump twice mistakes E Jean Carroll for his ex-wife Marla Maples

Friday 5 May 2023 19:45 , Graig Graziosi

Footage of Donald Trump’s video deposition in the E Jean Carroll defamation and sexual battery trial show him twice mistaking his accuser for his ex-wife, Marla Maples.

The video was released in response to a records request made by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

Ms Carroll alleges Mr Trump sexually assaulted her in the changing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s.

The recently released documents include Ms Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, confronting Mr Trump on his claim that she was not his “type” when denying her accusations, according to Law&Crime.

“When confronted with the photo of Carroll and himself from a party before the rape, Trump twice misidentified Carroll as his ex-wife Marla Maples, insisting it was Maples smiling at him in the photo, when in fact the woman he was pointing to was Carroll herself,” she said, according to the documents.

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Trump mistook E Jean Carroll for his ex wife Marla Maples twice during deposition

Trump lawyer denies ex-president set to ‘confront’ E Jean Carroll

Friday 5 May 2023 19:30 , Bevan Hurley

Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina denied Mr Trump would “confront” Ms Carroll when questioned about the comments by Judge Kaplan on Thursday morning.

The nine-person jury heard three days of testimony from Ms Carroll in which she described in graphic detail the alleged sexual assault after a chance encounter between the pair at the luxury Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996.

Two other Trump accusers, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, also testified to having been sexually assaulted by the former president.

The jury was also played the damning Access Hollywood tapes, in which Mr Trump brags about committing sexual assault.

‘He doesn’t like me very much, he was appointed by Bill Clinton,’ Trump says of E Jean Carroll trial judge

Friday 5 May 2023 19:00 , Bevan Hurley

Judge Kaplan also denied a motion for a mistrial by Mr Trump’s attorneys, and frequently scolded his lead counsel Joe Tacopina for his “repetitive, argumentative and inappropriate” questioning of Ms Carroll.

He also warned Mr Trump to “refrain” from making inflammatory comments about the case that could incite violence.

Speaking in Ireland, Mr Trump described Judge Kaplan as a “rough judge”.

“He doesn’t like me very much, he was appointed by Bill Clinton,” he said.

He claimed Ms Carroll was a “Democrat” and that the lawsuit was a “political scam”.

“Because of that I have to leave Ireland and I have to leave Scotland where I have great properties, I have to leave early.

“I don’t have to but I choose to.”

E Jean Carroll trial judge gives Trump legal team deadline for Trump testimony

Friday 5 May 2023 18:30 , Bevan Hurley

After Ms Carroll’s attorneys rest their case on Thursday afternoon, Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give Mr Trump’s attorneys until 5pm on Sunday to confirm whether the former president would testify.

Ms Carroll is suing the former president for defamation and battery, alleging she was raped in a dressing room at Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman in 1996 and her reputation was “destroyed” when the former president called her claims a “con job” in a Truth Social post in October 2022.

Judge Kaplan last week warned Mr Trump’s lawyers that the former president could be putting himself in further legal jeopardy after he described the lawsuit as a “scam” in a Truth Social post.