Donald Trump Jr calls father an ‘artist’ in New York fraud trial: Live updates
Donald Trump’s attorneys have begun to present their defence argument in New York State’s Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan with a second round of testimony from his son Donald Trump Jr.
It comes after the former president was given a standing ovation from a Madison Square Garden crowd on Saturday night as he entered the arena to watch UFC 295.
But amongst the applause, cameras captured actress Nia Renee Hill, the wife of comedian Bill Burr, appear to flash two middle fingers at the former president.
Mr Trump was accompanied by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and UFC president Dana White as he made his way ringside after the preliminary bouts were over. Don Jr and Kid Rock were also among the 19,000-strong crowd.
Earlier in the day he delivered a speech in Claremont, New Hampshire, where he once again mistakenly claimed that Barack Obama was the current president.
Over on Saturday Night Live, actor James Austin Johnson played Trump in the sketch show’s cold open as he gatecrashed the Republican presidential debate.
Johnson mocked his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination as they remained frozen behind him — just as they are in the polls.
Key Points
Don Jr returns to the witness stand in family’s fraud trial
As his lawyers prepare his defence, Trump already claims he’s won...
Why is the testimony of Trump’s children so important?
Senior Republican Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against judge in Trump fraud trial
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Trump takes credit for Manchin not running for re-election
Trump official said ‘the boss is not going to leave’ despite 2020 defeat, Georgia prosecutors told
02:16 , Phil Thomas
A top adviser to Donald Trump privately told colleagues in December 2020 that his boss would not leave the White House "under any circumstances", new video alleges.
Dan Scavino, who was then serving as Mr Trump's chief of staff and director of social media , allegedly claimed at a White House Christmas party that the President would "just stay in power" regardless of election rules.
The accusation was made by former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis as part of a plea bargain with Georgia state prosecutors, who have charged Mr Trump and 18 others with plotting to illegally overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Footage obtained by ABC News from a confidential meeting with investigators shows Ellis describing an alarming conversation she had with Mr Scavino on or around 19 December, 2020.
"I emphasised to him [that] I thought the ability to challenge the election results was essentially over," Ellis told prosecutors during the meeting, referring to a raft of failed legal challenges launched by the Trump campaign the previous month.
"He said to me, in a kind of excited tone: 'Well, we don't care and we're not gonna leave.'"
Io Dodds has the full story:
Trump official said ‘boss is not going to leave’ despite 2020 defeat
ICYMI: Trump wants his trial to be televised
02:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump found himself in rare agreement with the mainstream media, pleading in a Friday night legal filing that his blockbuster federal trial for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election be shown live on TV.
“The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness,” the former president’s lawyers wrote. “President Trump calls for sunlight. Every person in America, and beyond, should have the opportunity to study this case firsthand and watch as, if there is a trial, President Trump exonerates himself of these baseless and politically motivated charges.”
Elsewhere in the filing, Mr Trump’s team reiterated familiar conspiratorial allegations that the special counsel prosecution is part of a “coordinated effort to undermine President Trump’s candidacy” that bears the hallmarks of an “authoritarian regime.”
Following a lengthy special counsel investigation, federal officials charged the former president in August with knowing he lost the 2020 election, but conspiring on a multi-state effort to remain in power nonetheless, including by coordinating slates of false electors. He has pleaded not guilty.
Last week, federal prosecutors said federal courtroom rules “clearly foreclosed” showing the election conspiracy trial on TV, writing that citizens have “the right to attend a criminal trial — not the right to broadcast it.”
Trump crashes SNL GOP debate
01:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Saturday Night Live’s cold open took aim at the latest Republican presidential debate as it parodied Donald Trump’s dominance despite the former president’s refusal to appear onstage alongside his rivals.
James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump gatecrashed the debate stage and mercilessly mocked his rivals, who remained frozen behind him — just as they are in the polls.
The sketch began with moderator NBC’s Lester Holt, played by Kenan Thompson, describing the occasion as the “Republican kids table debate.”
The actors playing the five candidates then introduced themselves, while revisiting the biggest moments from Wednesday night’s debate in Miami.
Why are Trump’s children testifying at New York civil fraud trial?
00:00 , Oliver O'Connell
The main focus on Donald Trump’s myriad of legal woes shifted to Lower Manhattan in October as his civil fraud case came to trial at New York state’s Supreme Court.
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the case against the Trump Organization and maintains that between 2011 and 2021 the company falsified financial statements regarding the development of several real estate projects and artificially inflated Mr Trump’s net worth in order to get better financing terms from banks and insurance companies.
This was done by over-stating valuations of the former president’s most prestigious holdings including his triplex penthouse at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and his current home at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Their entire New York real estate empire is already in peril after a pre-trial ruling included the cancellation of their business licences in the state.
As the prosecution’s case draws to a close, three of his adult children are taking the stand to testify under oath, which begs the question: how are they wrapped up in all this and why is their testimony important at the trial?
Why are Trump’s children testifying at New York civil fraud trial?
ICYMI: Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
23:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Republican US Rep Elise Stefanik, a top-ranking member of the House GOP, filed a complaint on 10 November that invokes similar rhetoric from Mr Trump’s attorneys in their defence of the former president in and out of the lower Manhattan courtroom.
Judge Arthur Engoron has faced widespread scrutiny among Republican officials and Mr Trump’s supporters for a summary judgment that found him and his co-defendants liable for fraud, as laid out in hundreds of pages of evidence and in depositions stemming from the case from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Mr Trump, his adult sons and chief associates last year.
Judge Engoron also has faced criticism for issuing a gag order that prevents parties in the case from disparaging court staff. Mr Trump has violated the order twice, and his attorneys’ statements in the courtroom prompted him to widen the order to include them, too.
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
Coming up this week...
22:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports:
The remainder of this week’s witnesses are mostly accounting and real estate people with no direct connection to Donald Trump: Steven Witkoff, Jason Flemmons, and Steven Laposa.
However, Thursday might see the return of Jeff McConney to the witness stand.
McConney is a former Trump Organization controller and a defendant in the case. When he was a witness for the attorney general, he testified that he was responsible for statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2017 – but he distanced himself from Mazars, the outside accountant who actually created the reports.
“We as the Trump Organization didn’t prepare the statement,” he said.
He’s in the middle of a blame game between the Trumps and accountants. Trump and the Trump children said they hired the accountants because they trusted their expertise, so why would they double-check those documents? Trump also said the banks didn’t do their due diligence by checking if they were correct.
So McConney’s return to the courthouse, under questioning from Team Trump, might shed some more light on that, and move the blame elsewhere.
Can Mike Johnson survive a McCarthy-esque test as government shutdown looms?
22:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Mike Johnson’s big test is here.
Congress faces a deadline of 17 November to pass a budget measure to keep paychecks to federal employees flowing and ensure that parts of the government remain operational. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the Legislative Branch was in the exact same position just weeks ago, and found itself utterly paralysed without the ability to pass anything more than a short-term funding extension to get us to this point. Even that proved to be so odious to House conservatives that it cost Kevin McCarthy his role in leadership, ending his long-sought speakership less than a year into the job.
Now, the new Speaker of the House heads into the week before Thanksgiving with two familiar questions burning before him: will the US government shut down? And will Mike Johnson still be Speaker when this is over?
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
Mike Johnson faces a McCarthy-esque test as a shutdown looms. Will he survive?
Court adjourns
21:28 , Oliver O'Connell
Sheri Dillon is asked by Donald Trump’s attorney if she would ever “work with Mr Trump sporadically”.
Judge Engoron asks: “Which Mr Trump?”
“That’s a great question. Mr Eric Trump.”
She testified that her work with the former president her work is “consistent with all my other clients”, noting that after he was elected, “additional security measures were put around the safeguarding of these materials”.
There is a brief cross-examination by the attorney general’s office in which Ms Dillon is asked if she is, or has ever, been admitted to practice law in the state of New York.
No, she has not.
Ms Dillon’s testimony wraps and court adjourns for the day.
The trial resumes at 10am tomorrow.
Maryanne Trump Barry, former federal judge and sister of ex-president, dead at 86
21:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Maryanne Trump Barry, a former judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit who was also the older sister of former president Donald Trump, has died.
Barry’s death at the age of 86 was reported by multiple outlets, indicating that she was found at her Manhattan home on Monday.
The former judge, who was first named to the US District Court for the District of New Jersey by then-president Ronald Reagan in 1983, was a graduate of Hofstra University Law School and a former federal prosecutor who rose to several senior roles in the US Attorney’s office for New Jersey when Reagan tapped her for a judgeship, reportedly at the behest of Roy Cohn, the late GOP fixer (and attorney to Donald Trump).
After 16 years on the bench as a trial court judge, Barry was elevated to the Third Circuit by then-president Bill Clinton in 1999.
Barry was widely respected and well-known in the legal community, and her reputation as a judge stood in stark contrast with the ultraconservative views her brother espoused as president.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Maryanne Trump Barry, former federal judge and sister of ex-president, dead at 86
Trump fraud trial has obligatory Taylor Swift reference
20:39 , Oliver O'Connell
Sheri Dillon describes a type of appraisal that doesn't take into account the renown of the seller — which would treat a hypothetical property associated with Taylor Swift no differently as one owned by Sheri Dillon.
Judge Engoron notes that every case has to have Taylor Swift in it somehow.
Jack Smith: Trump wants to turn Jan 6 case into media ‘carnival'
20:30 , Oliver O'Connell
US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith is urging a federal judge to reject Donald Trump’s request to televise his upcoming trial on charges connected to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The former president’s attorneys took no position on an earlier long-shot request from a group of media outlets asking to broadcast the trial, but a filing on 10 November asked for “sunlight” and accused federal prosecutors of trying to “continue this travesty in darkness”.
“Every person in America, and beyond, should have the opportunity to study this case firsthand and watch as, if there is a trial, President Trump exonerates himself of these baseless and politically motivated charges,” John Lauro wrote in a filing last week.
In a filing on 13 November, Mr Smith’s office warned that Mr Trump’s bedelated response is a “transparent effort to demand special treatment” to “try his case in the courtroom of public opinion, and turn his trial into a media event.”
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump wants to turn Jan 6 case into media ‘carnival,’ Jack Smith warns
New witness: Sheri Dillon
20:19 , Oliver O'Connell
With Donald Trump Jr having stepped down from the witness stand, former Trump tax attorney Sheri Dillon is up next for the defence, having already testified for the prosecution case.
The defence has a very long list of witnesses that also includes Donald Trump and Eric Trump. They intend to wrap up in approximately one month.
Don Jr hails his ‘real estate artist’ father in fraud trial testimony
20:00 , Oliver O'Connell
With his return to the witness stand in a fraud trial that threatens the family business, Donald Trump Jr launched a lengthy sales pitch praising his father’s “artistry” and his real estate “canvas” as his attorneys begin their weekslong defence.
During his testimony two weeks ago, under questioning from lawyers with the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, the former president’s oldest son emphatically denied having anything to do with making his father’s statements of financial condition at the heart of a lawsuit accusing the family of fraud.
In their testimonies, his brother Eric and sister Ivanka also denied any involvement in those documents, while evidence presented by the attorney general’s office appeared to show they were well aware of them.
Alex Woodward filed this report from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan.
Donald Trump Jr hails his ‘real estate artist’ father in fraud trial testimony
19:58 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
After several hours of questions that teed up the Trump property promo reel, Faherty is grilling him over a handful of statements he made.
On 40 Wall Street, she points out the property had a mortgage with a 3.76 per cent coupon, to mature in July 2025, based on an occupancy rate from 2015. Occupancy has since fallen to 77 per cent.
Pointing out the fact that the Waikiki hotel dropped the Trump name entirely, Jr says dryly: “That is what they’re doing.”
Asked what the Trumps’ future plans are, Don Jr replies that it depends on whether they’re “sued into oblivion in the foreseeable future”.
Cross-examination concludes and Team Trump huddles for a few minutes to see what their next move is.
Don Jr has left the courtroom
Direct examination concludes
19:46 , Alex Woodward
No more questions from Team Trump, after what was a highlight reel of the Trump real estate portfolio that felt more like a marketing presentation and a commercial for all things Trump than testimony in a trial with tens of millions of dollars at stake.
Colleen Faherty with the New York Attorney General’s office begins the cross-examination and brings up the Los Angeles golf course, which his lawyers had him confirm is “literally on the Pacific Ocean”.
“Didn’t the 18th hole literally fall into the ocean?” she asks.
Don Jr confirms that it did.
Don Jr continues testimony with tour of Trump properties
19:38 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump Jr continues his testimony with a tour of the Trump golf properties before winding up at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC at the Old Post Office.
Asked what the project looked like before the Trumps took over, Don Jr replies: “A war zone.”
Don Jr. turns to the Trump International Hotel from 2016, an "incredible property on Pennsylvania Ave."
It was converted from the Old Post Office, which he says was going to be torn down.
"My father and Ivanka, very involved in it form the beginning, saw this incredible jewel…— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 13, 2023
Trump wants his trial to be televised
19:31 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump found himself in rare agreement with the mainstream media, pleading in a Friday night legal filing that his blockbuster federal trial for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election be shown live on TV.
“The prosecution wishes to continue this travesty in darkness,” the former president’s lawyers wrote. “President Trump calls for sunlight. Every person in America, and beyond, should have the opportunity to study this case firsthand and watch as, if there is a trial, President Trump exonerates himself of these baseless and politically motivated charges.”
Elsewhere in the filing, Mr Trump’s team reiterated familiar conspiratorial allegations that the special counsel prosecution is part of a “coordinated effort to undermine President Trump’s candidacy” that bears the hallmarks of an “authoritarian regime.”
Following a lengthy special counsel investigation, federal officials charged the former president in August with knowing he lost the 2020 election, but conspiring on a multi-state effort to remain in power nonetheless, including by coordinating slates of false electors. He has pleaded not guilty.
Josh Marcus has the details.
Trump wants his trial to be televised
Amid cheers, Trump gets given middle finger at UFC match
19:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump was given a mostly warm welcome as he took his seat ringside at Madison Square Garden for UFC 295, an ultimate fighting championship match, on Saturday night.
But not everyone in the New York crowd was thrilled to see the former president.
Cameras captured actress Nia Renee Hill, the wife of comedian Bill Burr, appearing to flash two middle fingers at the former president as he looks out at the audience, oblivious to the gesture.
Bevan Hurley reports.
Bill Burr’s wife gives Trump the middle finger at UFC match
Trump compared to Hitler after ‘vermin’ attack
18:40 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump has drawn the ire of historians after he referred to his political adversaries as “vermin” in a Veterans Day speech.
The former president argued that his domestic opponents are more of a threat to the US than the likes of China, Russia and North Korea.
The remarks prompted comparisons to authoritarian leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, according to The Washington Post.
Mr Trump, 77, spoke in Claremont, New Hampshire, telling the crowd in his usual grievance-laden parlance: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”
The former president has refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and continues to lie, falsely claiming that it was stolen.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
Trump compared to Hitler after ‘vermin’ attack
‘QAnon Shaman’ wants to run for Congress after Jan 6 prison release
18:20 , Oliver O'Connell
The infamous Capitol rioter known as the “QAnon Shaman,” whose real name is Jacob Chansley, intends to run for Congress in Arizona in 2024 after pleading guilty to a felony charge.
Years after the fur headdress, horns, and face paint from January 6 have been taken off, the Arizona resident filed a statement of interest last Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
He indicated he wants to run as a Libertarian in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District election.
Kelly Rissman reports.
‘QAnon Shaman’ Jacob Chansley wants to run for Congress after Jan 6 prison release
Trump continues to rail against trial as Don Jr testifies for defence
18:08 , Oliver O'Connell
The latest from the former president on Truth Social:
Nobody can believe this Political Witch Hunt Trial is still going on. No Victims, No Witnesses (their witness recanted his FAKE story, and said he Lied!), No Defaults, No Jury, No Nothing, only happy Banks etc. There was FRAUD, however, but by the Judge and the A.G., in saying that Mar-a-Lago was worth only $18,000,000, when they knew it was worth many times that amount. They just wanted to make me look bad - All a big SCAM by the New York A.G. in order to get elected, and then to run for Governor, unsuccessfully. The Trump Hating Judge MUST WITHDRAW his “bull….” early ruling (before the trial even started. HE KNEW NONE OF THE FACTS!). He is devastated by the TRUTH, but just can’t let it go. He is OBSESSED! Any other Judge but this one would have dismissed this ridiculous lawsuit years ago. He asked me to settle for a MUCH LOWER AMOUNT, at a settlement conference, but I said NO, I DID NOTHING WRONG! Businesses will NEVER come back to New York if this HOAX is not dismissed & forgotten!
17:54 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump Jr’s history of the Trump Organization has reached 2012 and the Trump National Doral golf club deal, which is notably within the timeframe of the New York Attorney General’s case against the company.
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
We’re shown a $1.3bn valuation of Doral from Newmark from February 2022.
The New York Attorney General’s office objects to its inclusion, citing relevance. It falls outside the timeline under scrutiny for making those false statements.
Judge Engoron inclines to agree but notes there’s likely not any prejudice for its inclusion.
This feels like the longest Trump defence attorneys Christopher Kise and Alina Habba have been quiet over the course of this trial. I don’t think they’ve said anything in nearly three hours.
The court breaks for lunch.
Hawaii hotel ditches Trump name as Don Jr testifies about it
17:42 , Oliver O'Connell
Don Jr has been testifying about the Trump International Hotel in Waikiki, where there was “never anything built” to his father’s “standard”.
The hotel recently announced it’s ditching the Trump name. It’s joining Hilton and will be called Wakea Waikiki Beach.
Wow, what split-screen timing for this testimony.
As Don Jr. boasts about the Trump Organization's success in Waikiki, this is the Drudge Report's front page.
(h/t @Rossnzkiwi, a reader pointing this out) https://t.co/LjRey4aG4g pic.twitter.com/DbWX7aUl9n— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 13, 2023
17:32 , Alex Woodward
Donald Trump Jr has repeatedly referred to his father as an “artist” or his “artistry” using the real estate business as his “canvas”.
The New York Attorney General’s office hasn’t objected to anything in this slideshow timeline, until now, when Don Jr started talking about how the Trump Organization was ahead of the rest of the real estate industry.
NYAG counsel Colleen Faherty asked for testimony to just stick with the Trump Organization rather than “speculating” what role the company played in the rest of the industry.
“I’m not speculating, this is what happened, but,” Don Jr says.
Judge Arthur Engoron tells him to just stick with testimony about the company.
17:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump attacks legal opponents with claims of ‘Trump derangement syndrome'
17:21 , Oliver O'Connell
As his son testifies in the New York State Supreme Court, Donald Trump is lashing out on Truth Social at some of his opponents in his many legal dramas.
The former president wrote:
Deranged Jack Smith, Andrew Weissmann, Lisa Monaco, the “team of losers and misfits” from CREW, and all the rest of the Radical Left Zealots and Thugs who have been working illegally for years to “take me down,” will end up, because of their suffering from a horrible disease, TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (TDS!), in a Mental Institution by the time my next term as President is successfully completed. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
'The artistry comes to fruition over and over’
16:59 , Alex Woodward
After a short break, Donald Trump Jr recommences his history of the Trump Organization and its various projects. We’re up to 1999 and he talks about Trump International Golf in West Palm Beach.
He took what was a “flat swamp” – “everyone looked at him perhaps like he was crazy” – and “now it’s one of the finest golf courses in the world,” he says.
“Again, that’s where the artistry comes in,” he adds.
Judge Engoron reminds him against using the forbidden word “again.”
Don Jr: “The artistry comes to fruition over and over.”
Voices: Tim Scott brought a whole new level of drama to the GOP campaign
16:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Noah Berlatsky writes:
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott dramatically announced his exit from the Republican presidential primary last night. Scott made the announcement on former congressman Trey Gowdy’s show, apparently without even telling his campaign staff.
Gowdy, a longtime Scott friend and ally, was visibly surprised, and even argued with Scott, saying that he should stay in the race. “You have plenty of money,” he protested. “You have the highest approval numbers of any candidate.”
Scott’s high favorability ratings have fallen recently, which might explain why he exited. He’s also failed to gain ground in head-to-head polls, where he’s been at two percent or so, well behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. And of course he’s far behind former President Donald Trump, who leads the field by 56 points.
Still, Gowdy’s distress is understandable. Scott had real strengths, and when he entered the race in May, he could reasonably argue he had as path to the presidency. His failure is less a referendum on his failures than it is a referendum on the failures of the Republican party in general—a party that, despite the former president’s obvious unsuitability for office and his escalating disqualifying legal troubles, appears to want to bathe in essence of Trump and in nothing but essence of Trump for all eternity.
Scott’s positive features are, as you’d expect, largely invisible to progressives and Democrats. The general consensus among is that Scott never had a chance and ran an embarrassing campaign.
Continue reading the full article...
Tim Scott brought a whole new level of drama to the election
Breaking: Maryanne Trump Barry, federal judge and sister of former president, dies aged 86
16:19 , Oliver O'Connell
Maryanne Trump Barry, a former judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit who was also the older sister of former president Donald Trump, has died.
Barry’s death at the age of 86 was reported by multiple outlets, indicating that she was found at her Manhattan home on Monday.
The former judge, who was first named to the US District Court for the District of New Jersey by then-president Ronald Reagan in 1983, was a graduate of Hofstra University Law School and a former federal prosecutor who rose to several senior roles in the US Attorney’s office for New Jersey when Reagan tapped her for a judgeship, reportedly at the behest of Roy Cohn, the late GOP fixer (and attorney to Donald Trump).
After 16 years on the bench as a trial court judge, Trump was elevated to the Third Circuit by then-president Bill Clinton in 1999.
Maryanne Trump Barry, former federal judge and sister of ex-president, dead at 86
‘An artist with real estate'
16:12 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Jr gets nostalgic about the Seven Springs estate in Westchester and tells the court about bringing his children there.
He called his father an “artist with real estate” who has “incredible vision where other people don’t.”
Don Jr. enthuses about the Seven Springs Mansion in Westchester, N.Y., recalling bringing his kids there.
He praises his father as an "artist with real estate."
"He sees the things that other people don't. [...] That is his canvas where he creates, and he's a creative guy."— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 13, 2023
16:11 , Alex Woodward
“The Trump Story” is essentially a PowerPoint timeline of the Trump Organization, with Donald Jr acting as a narrator on behalf of his father.
We see some of his brand-building properties, how Trump acquired them, and the successes that followed.
Mar-a-Lago is among “American castles” and “one of the most spectacular estates in the entire world,” Donald Trump Jr tells the court.
Trump Park Avenue is among the “great, iconic projects in New York City” and a “crown jewel asset.”
15:51 , Oliver O'Connell
Attorney Cliff Robert (who is representing both Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump) pulls up a slideshow titled “The Trump Story”.
Colleen Faherty with the New York Attorney General’s office objects.
“The Trump Story? I don’t know what this document is. It appears to be a hearsay document,” she says.
This “multiple page document” comes after questions with “extensive narratives we’ve been getting, unfocused from anything relevant,” she says.
Robert says the slideshow is “extraordinarily relevant,” and the “court needs to understand where the company came from and where it’s going”.
Just two weeks ago, Donald Jr’s “memory seemed to be fleeting” and now is walking through a history that appears to be trying to revive it, she adds. “I don’t see the basis of this document.”
“I disagree with the plaintiff’s take on this,” Judge Engoron says. “However let’s establish what this is, who wrote it.”
Don Jr is now walking through the Trump family history.
15:23 , Oliver O'Connell
Judge Arthur Engoron asks Donald Trump Jr to slow down because he talks way too fast for the court reporter to keep up.
“I would say I’m happy to be here but I have a feeling the attorney general would sue me for perjury,” Trump Jr jokes to the judge.
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Donald Trump Jr describes role at Trump Organization
15:22 , Oliver O'Connell
On the witness stand, Donald Trump Jr is asked about the roles of the Trump siblings in the company up until 2017, when he took over a revocable trust to handle his father’s assets while he was in the White House, and Eric took over the day-to-day of the business.
He said there was “a rolling structure” where “each one of us had our respective buckets” for various projects.
During their father’s presidency, it was “still a bit of an evolution.”
“My brother and myself assumed much more of a role,” he said.
Today, “my father could be back involved if he wanted to on certain things.”
“For the most part it would be my brother and I still,” he said.
“Eric [is] definitely more involved with the day-to-day of the operations”, while he is more of a “bigger picture deal guy.”
Don Jr returns to the witness stand in family’s fraud trial
15:13 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump Jr has returned to the witness stand in a fraud trial that threatens his family’s business.
During his testimony two weeks ago, under questioning from lawyers with the office of New York Atorney General Letitia James, he emphatically denied having anything to do with making his father’s statements of financial condition at the heart of a lawsuit accusing the family of fraud.
In their testimonies, his brother Eric and sister Ivanka also denied any involvement in those documents, while evidence presented by the attorney general’s office appeared to show they were well aware of them.
On the stand on Monday morning, the former president’s oldest son now faces questions from his own attorneys, who begin their defence of the Trumps after Ms James’s team rested her case last week after six weeks of testimony from two dozen witnesses.
Alex Woodward reports.
Donald Trump Jr returns to the witness stand in family’s fraud trial
14:56 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the New York State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan:
The last time Donald Trump Jr was on the witness stand, he emphatically denied having anything to do with making his father’s statements of financial condition at the heart of a lawsuit accusing the family of fraud.
In their testimonies, his brother Eric and sister Ivanka also denied any involvement in those documents, while evidence presented by lawyers with the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James appeared to show they were well aware of them.
When he gets back on the stand on Monday morning, the former president’s oldest son will face questions from his own attorneys, who begin their defence of the Trumps after Ms James’s team rested her case last week after six weeks of testimony from two dozen witnesses.
The attorney general’s case has portrayed Mr Trump, inflated by ego, as a key figure behind fraudulent documents that exaggerated his net worth and assets, lying to banks and lenders to get more favourable terms to boost his family business and its real-estate empire over a decade.
During his first day of testimony earliest this month, Donald Jr echoed statements he gave during a taped deposition, distancing himself from any responsibility for those statements of financial condition. He said he took the word of the accountants who helped prepare them.
“I listen to their expertise,” he said. “That’s what we paid them to do.”
He also repeatedly denied any knowledge of what constitutes “generally accepted accounting principles,” or GAAP, the guiding standards for creating those statements. He said they were something he learned about in “Accounting 101" when he was a student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His sister testified similarly, but she couldn’t recall a message that appeared to show she asked to “change the language”.
Attorneys for Ms James repeatedly confronted the siblings with documents and emails that appeared to show they were more aware of what went into those statements than they had previously stated under oath.
Fuming on the stand at one point, Eric Trump said: “We’re a major organization, a massive real estate organisation.”
“I am fairly certain that we would have had financial statements,” he said.
Ivanka Trump was the only member of the family who faced cross-examination. She mostly used the time to boost her family brand rather than address those documents.
After two weeks of packed courthouse testimony from the Trump family, including Donald and his three oldest children, Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom on the third floor of the New York Supreme Court in lower Manhattan was roughly half full. The crowd of reporters, attorneys and members of the public hoping to get a glimpse was less than half the size that showed up for Ivanka’s testimony last Wednesday.
There were only a handful of camera crews in the hallway just outside its doors, where cameras crowded on either side behind barricades to capture Trump and others coming and going from the courtroom.
The case – poking directly at the “businessman” narrative behind Mr Trump’s entire persona and campaigns – has clearly rattled the former president, whose testimony tried to thread a needle that downplayed the existence of the statements of financial condition while arguing that his net worth is actually much higher than the already inflated numbers on them.
He has raged at the case, the attorney general and the judge, who has brushed aside attacks against him while fining Trump twice for violating a gag order against comments about his court staff. The judge also expanded the gag order to include his attorneys, after they lashed out at the judge and his chief clerk immediately following two days of testimony from Donald Jr and Eric that the attorney general’s office called “extremely” favourable in their case.
The trial is a civil suit, so there are no criminal penalties involved, and the Trumps won’t be seeing any time behind bars. Instead, Ms James wants to recover at least $250m in ill-gotten gains and block the Trumps from doing business in the state.
After the attorney general rested her case last week, Team Trump moved to end the trial and asked the judge for a directed verdict, arguing that the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.
But Judge Engoron has repeatedly signalled he wants to hear the case through the schedule he has assigned, up until the weekend before Christmas.
Why is the testimony of Trump’s children so important?
14:45 , Oliver O'Connell
The main focus on Donald Trump’s myriad of legal woes shifted to Lower Manhattan in October as his civil fraud case came to trial at New York state’s Supreme Court.
New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the case against the Trump Organization and maintains that between 2011 and 2021 the company falsified financial statements regarding the development of several real estate projects and artificially inflated Mr Trump’s net worth in order to get better financing terms from banks and insurance companies.
This was done by over-stating valuations of the former president’s most prestigious holdings including his triplex penthouse at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and his current home at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Their entire New York real estate empire is already in peril after a pre-trial ruling included the cancellation of their business licences in the state.
Why are Trump’s children testifying at New York civil fraud trial?
As his lawyers prepare his defence, Trump already claims he’s won...
14:37 , Oliver O'Connell
After six weeks and more than a dozen witnesses, Donald Trump and his attorneys are trying to put an end to a trial in lower Manhattan that could collapse the former president’s family business and his vast real-estate empire.
Lawyers with New York Attorney General Letitia James closed their case this week after Mr Trump and his three oldest children were questioned for more than 20 hours about years of business deals that allegedly defrauded banks, insurers and others with grossly inflated values of his net worth and assets.
On Thursday, Mr Trump’s attorneys – now with the case in their hands at the halfway point in the trial in New York Supreme Court – asked the judge for a verdict in their favour.
Judge Arthur Engoron, whose damning pretrial judgment already found the defendants liable for fraud, said he would take their arguments “under advisement” and issue a decision at another time. But he has previously indicated that he wants to hear the case through the schedule he assigned, up until the weekend before Christmas.
Mr Trump, who has repeatedly lashed out at the case, the attorney general and the judge, claimed on his Truth Social on Friday that he “TOTALLY WON”. Meanwhile, his attorneys are preparing to introduce their own long list of witnesses – starting on Monday with his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
ICYMI: Judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
13:00 , Bevan Hurley
The judge overseeing the criminal case against former president Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida has rejected the ex-president’s most recent attempt to delay his trial on charges that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed a probe into how he still had classified documents at his home long after his presidency had ended.
In an order issued on Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Mr Trump’s request to delay the trial that she scheduled for 20 May 2024 earlier this year.
Andrew Feinberg has the details.
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Biden and Harris should make way for Democrats who can actually beat Trump
11:00 , Bevan Hurley
Eric Lewis writes for Independent Voices
“In this complex and difficult time, there is one proposition that is inarguable: Donald Trump cannot be elected president of the United States without endangering American democracy, the rule of law, nuclear security and countless other requisites of a stable and secure world.
No risk should be taken which might materially increase the likelihood that Trump and his cronies will be settling scores at home and abroad in January 2025. So, the polling data released on Sunday by the New York Times and Siena College, showing Trump ahead in five of six swing states, cannot be ignored. Nor can the indications of significant defections in the Democratic base of Black, and especially Hispanic, voters.”
Read Eric’s full opinion piece below.
Biden and Harris should make way for Democrats who can beat Trump | Eric Lewis
ICYMI: Ivanka Trump roasted over trial testimony by Jimmy Kimmel
09:00 , Bevan Hurley
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel roasted Ivanka Trump on Wednesday night, after she struggled to recall much as she gave testimony in her father’s $250 million civil fraud trial.
Ms Trump, the former president’s oldest daughter, was the last of the Trump children to testify in Donald Trump’s case in New York on Wednesday.
The former president, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, and other Trump Organization executives and associates are currently being sued for defrauding banks and investors by overvaluing Mr Trump’s net worth and assets by as much as $2.2bn a year to gain more favourable financing terms. Mr Trump has denied the allegations.
Ms Trump hired her own attorney and successfully removed herself as a defendant in the case earlier this year, but her attempts to dodge testifying ultimately failed.
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Ivanka Trump over trial testimony
Trump receives middle finger greeting from Bill Burr’s wife at UFC
07:00 , Bevan Hurley
Donald Trump was given a mostly warm welcome as he took his seat ringside at Madison Square Garden for UFC 295, an ultimate fighting championship match, on Saturday night.
But not everyone in the New York crowd was thrilled to see the former president.
Cameras captured actress Nia Renee Hill, the wife of comedian Bill Burr, appearing to flash two middle fingers at the former president as he looks out at the audience, oblivious to the gesture.
Mr Trump entered the arena after the preliminary bouts accompanied by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and UFC president Dana White.
Full story below
Trump receives middle finger greeting from Bill Burr’s wife at UFC
SNL’s Trump crashes GOP debate and mocks rivals in cold open
05:00 , Bevan Hurley
Saturday Night Live’s cold open took aim at the latest Republican presidential debate as it parodied Donald Trump’s dominance despite the former president’s refusal to appear onstage alongside his rivals.
James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump gatecrashed the debate stage and mercilessly mocked his rivals, who remained frozen behind him — just as they are in the polls.
SNL’s Trump crashes GOP debate and mocks rivals in cold open
Biden and Harris should make way for Democrats who can actually beat Trump
03:00 , Bevan Hurley
Eric Lewis writes for Independent Voices
“In this complex and difficult time, there is one proposition that is inarguable: Donald Trump cannot be elected president of the United States without endangering American democracy, the rule of law, nuclear security and countless other requisites of a stable and secure world.
No risk should be taken which might materially increase the likelihood that Trump and his cronies will be settling scores at home and abroad in January 2025. So, the polling data released on Sunday by the New York Times and Siena College, showing Trump ahead in five of six swing states, cannot be ignored. Nor can the indications of significant defections in the Democratic base of Black, and especially Hispanic, voters.”
Read Eric’s full opinion piece below.
Biden and Harris should make way for Democrats who can beat Trump | Eric Lewis
ICYMI: Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
01:30 , Bevan Hurley
Days before Donald Trump’s attorneys mount their month-long case to defend the former president from fraud allegations that threaten his business empire, one of his chief allies in Congress filed an ethics complaint against the judge presiding over the trial.
Republican US Rep Elise Stefanik, a top-ranking member of the House GOP, filed a complaint on 10 November that invokes similar rhetoric from Mr Trump’s attorneys in their defence of the former president in and out of the lower Manhattan courtroom.
Judge Arthur Engoron has faced widespread scrutiny among Republican officials and Mr Trump’s supporters for a summary judgment that found him and his co-defendants liable for fraud, as laid out in hundreds of pages of evidence and in depositions stemming from the case from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Mr Trump, his adult sons and chief associates last year.
Judge Engoron also has faced criticism for issuing a gag order that prevents parties in the case from disparaging court staff. Mr Trump has violated the order twice, and his attorneys’ statements in the courtroom prompted him to widen the order to include them, too.
Ms Stefanik accused the judge of “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” while overseeing a “disgraceful lawsuit” against the Trump family’s business.
Alex Woodward reports.
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
ICYMI: Judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Sunday 12 November 2023 23:30 , Bevan Hurley
The judge overseeing the criminal case against former president Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida has rejected the ex-president’s most recent attempt to delay his trial on charges that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed a probe into how he still had classified documents at his home long after his presidency had ended.
In an order issued on Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Mr Trump’s request to delay the trial that she scheduled for 20 May 2024 earlier this year.
Andrew Feinberg has the details.
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Trump intends to weaponise DOJ and FBI against political enemies
Sunday 12 November 2023 22:30 , Bevan Hurley
Donald Trump has issued an alarming threat to weaponise the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FBI against his political enemies if he succeeds in taking back the White House in 2024.
Speaking to Univision in an interview aired on Thursday night, the former president suggested that he would use the federal agencies to go after and indict his rivals – something he claims his rivals have done to him.
“You say they’ve weaponised the Justice Department, they weaponised the FBI. Would you do the same if you’re re-elected?” journalist Enrique Acevedo asked him.
Here’s how the former president responded.
Trump says he would weaponise DOJ and FBI against political enemies
Trump joins news orgs to ‘demand’ 2020 conspiracy trial is aired on TV
Sunday 12 November 2023 21:30 , Bevan Hurley
Donald Trump rarely is on the side of mainstream media organisations, but in a federal court filing submitted late Friday, he joined with outlets like the Associated Press in pushing for his federal election interference case in Washington to be aired live on TV.
“President Trump absolutely agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings should be fully televised so that the American public can see firsthand that this case, just like others, is nothing more than a dreamt-up unconstitutional charade that should never be allowed to happen again,” the former president’s lawyers wrote in a brief.
The special counsel’s office has opposed efforts to put the trial on air, citing longstanding federal court rules against cameras in the courtroom.
Here’s more info on the issue of Trump’s potential made-for-TV trials.
Will Donald Trump’s trial be televised?
Ivanka Trump roasted over trial testimony by Jimmy Kimmel
Sunday 12 November 2023 20:30 , Bevan Hurley
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel roasted Ivanka Trump on Wednesday night, after she struggled to recall much as she gave testimony in her father’s $250 million civil fraud trial.
Ms Trump, the former president’s oldest daughter, was the last of the Trump children to testify in Donald Trump’s case in New York on Wednesday.
The former president, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, and other Trump Organization executives and associates are currently being sued for defrauding banks and investors by overvaluing Mr Trump’s net worth and assets by as much as $2.2bn a year to gain more favourable financing terms. Mr Trump has denied the allegations.
Ms Trump hired her own attorney and successfully removed herself as a defendant in the case earlier this year, but her attempts to dodge testifying ultimately failed.
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Ivanka Trump over trial testimony
SNL’s Trump crashes GOP debate and mocks rivals in cold open
Sunday 12 November 2023 19:30 , Bevan Hurley
Saturday Night Live’s cold open took aim at the latest Republican presidential debate as it parodied Donald Trump’s dominance despite the former president’s refusal to appear onstage alongside his rivals.
James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump gatecrashed the debate stage and mercilessly mocked his rivals, who remained frozen behind him — just as they are in the polls.
SNL’s Trump crashes GOP debate and mocks rivals in cold open
Trump receives middle finger greeting from Bill Burr’s wife at UFC
Sunday 12 November 2023 18:35 , Bevan Hurley
Donald Trump was given a mostly warm welcome as he took his seat ringside at Madison Square Garden for UFC 295, an ultimate fighting championship match, on Saturday night.
But not everyone in the New York crowd was thrilled to see the former president.
Cameras captured actress Nia Renee Hill, the wife of comedian Bill Burr, appearing to flash two middle fingers at the former president as he looks out at the audience, oblivious to the gesture.
Mr Trump entered the arena after the preliminary bouts accompanied by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and UFC president Dana White.
Full story below
Trump receives middle finger greeting from Bill Burr’s wife at UFC
Sunday 12 November 2023 14:45 , Oliver O'Connell
ICYMI: Judge Aileen Cannon rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Sunday 12 November 2023 14:15 , Oliver O'Connell
The judge overseeing the criminal case against former president Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida has rejected the ex-president’s most recent attempt to delay his trial on charges that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed a probe into how he still had classified documents at his home long after his presidency had ended.
In an order issued on Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Mr Trump’s request to delay the trial that she scheduled for 20 May 2024 earlier this year.
Andrew Feinberg has the details.
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
Sunday 12 November 2023 13:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Days before Donald Trump’s attorneys mount their month-long case to defend the former president from fraud allegations that threaten his business empire, one of his chief allies in Congress filed an ethics complaint against the judge presiding over the trial.
Republican US Rep Elise Stefanik, a top-ranking member of the House GOP, filed a complaint on 10 November that invokes similar rhetoric from Mr Trump’s attorneys in their defence of the former president in and out of the lower Manhattan courtroom.
Judge Arthur Engoron has faced widespread scrutiny among Republican officials and Mr Trump’s supporters for a summary judgment that found him and his co-defendants liable for fraud, as laid out in hundreds of pages of evidence and in depositions stemming from the case from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Mr Trump, his adult sons and chief associates last year.
Judge Engoron also has faced criticism for issuing a gag order that prevents parties in the case from disparaging court staff. Mr Trump has violated the order twice, and his attorneys’ statements in the courtroom prompted him to widen the order to include them, too.
Ms Stefanik accused the judge of “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” while overseeing a “disgraceful lawsuit” against the Trump family’s business.
Alex Woodward reports.
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
NY fraud trial: Smiling Ivanka grilled on Donald Trump’s net worth
Sunday 12 November 2023 12:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Documents capturing Donald Trump’s allegedly grossly inflated net worth and assets in his real-estate empire are at the heart of a case that threatens to collapse the family business.
Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump said they had nothing to do with them. The former president downplayed their existence entirely but said he would “look at them” and maybe offer “suggestions”. They blame the accountants, and the accountants blame the Trumps. Michael Cohen also said he was “tasked” with coming up with “whatever number Mr Trump told us to”.
As for Ivanka Trump, the former president’s oldest daughter who stepped away from the family business to join him at the White House, she can’t recall much of anything about emails and documents surrounding favourable business deals under scrutiny from New York’s attorney general.
Alex Woodward watched proceedings in the courtroom in Lower Manhattan.
Ivanka grilled on Donald Trump’s net worth in fraud trial testimony
‘Insurrection’ lawsuit to keep Trump from primary tossed by Minnesota court
Sunday 12 November 2023 10:45 , Oliver O'Connell
The Minnesota Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to bar former president Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot.
The challenge, from a bipartisan group of state voters, sought to block Mr Trump’s campaign under a 14th Amendment provision forbidding candidates who “engaged in insurrection.”
The state appellate court held in a brief ruling on Wednesday that the Civil War-era measure did not apply to the Minnesota primary process, which it argued was a fundamentally local process outside the purview of the US Constitution.
Josh Marcus reports.
Minnesota court tosses ‘insurrection’ lawsuit to keep Trump from primary
Sunday 12 November 2023 08:45 , Oliver O'Connell
‘Trump is not qualified to be president - he doesn’t even have to proven guilty’
GOP ‘high on their own supply’ of election lies, says MSNBC host
Sunday 12 November 2023 06:45 , Oliver O'Connell
MSNBC host Ari Melber quoted the movie Scarface and said that Republicans had bought into too many of their own lies about the 2020 presidential election.
Melber spoke on Thursday evening about how Republicans faced massive electoral defeats in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia and noted how the Republican Party is now in thrall to the wing that supports former president Donald Trump and his lies about the 2020 election.
“The fact that the Trump wing of the party embraced denialism has hurt the party’s ability to get anywhere near competitive,” he said. “If you’re watching this and want a healthy democracy, that’s a bad thing. If you’re watching and want Republicans to keep losing elections you’re hoping they keep making this mistake.”
Melber then played a clip from the movie Scarface wherein Elvira Hancock, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, said “Lesson two, don’t get high on your own supply.”
Eric Garcia reports.
Republicans ‘high on their own supply’ of election lies, says MSNBC host
No Trump, no ratings?
Sunday 12 November 2023 04:45 , Oliver O'Connell
The third Republican presidential primary debate only drew in about 7 million viewers, making it the least-watched debate of the election season this year.
The NBC News broadcast aired during primetime, between 8pm and 10pm on Wednesday, and delivered 6.8m television viewers, of which 1.3m were in the 25-54 age demographic favoured by advertisers, according to Nielsen Media Research. All told including streaming, NBC News said it attracted about 7.5 million viewers.
The viewership data does not include those who watched the event on streaming services or viewed clips on social media and video streaming sites like YouTube.
Third GOP debate brought in lowest ratings yet
Trump bid to delay classified documents trial rejected by judge he appointed
Sunday 12 November 2023 02:45 , Oliver O'Connell
The judge overseeing the criminal case against former president Donald Trump in the Southern District of Florida has rejected the ex-president’s most recent attempt to delay his trial on charges that he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed a probe into how he still had classified documents at his home long after his presidency had ended.
In an order issued on Friday, Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Mr Trump’s request to delay the trial that she scheduled for 20 May 2024 earlier this year.
Judge Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Mr Trump and confirmed just weeks before he left office, left open the possibility that she would step in to aid his efforts to push any trial back until after next year’s presidential election in hopes that he will win and be able to order prosecutors to drop the charges after he is sworn in for a second term.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Judge rejects Trump bid to delay classified documents trial
Trump intends to weaponise DOJ and FBI against political enemies
Sunday 12 November 2023 00:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump has issued an alarming threat to weaponise the Justice Department (DOJ) and the FBI against his political enemies if he succeeds in taking back the White House in 2024.
Speaking to Univision in an interview aired on Thursday night, the former president suggested that he would use the federal agencies to go after and indict his rivals – something he claims his rivals have done to him.
“You say they’ve weaponised the Justice Department, they weaponised the FBI. Would you do the same if you’re re-elected?” journalist Enrique Acevedo asked him.
Here’s how the former president responded.
Trump says he would weaponise DOJ and FBI against political enemies
Don Jr gets another turn in the spotlight at NY fraud trial
Saturday 11 November 2023 22:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s legal team have now revealed who will be the first witness called for the defence in the civil fraud trial in New York.
The former president’s son Donald Trump Jr will take the stand on Monday morning for what marks the start of the defence’s case as they seek to prevent the Trump family business empire from being toppled in the Big Apple.
Don Jr has already taken to the stand once in the case as a witness for New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office on 2 and 3 November, where he struggled to remember much about his role at the Trump Organization.
Rachel Sharp reports.
Donald Trump Jr gets another turn in the spotlight at NY fraud trial
Saturday 11 November 2023 21:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Ivanka Trump roasted over trial testimony by Jimmy Kimmel
Saturday 11 November 2023 20:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel roasted Ivanka Trump on Wednesday night, after she struggled to recall much as she gave testimony in her father’s $250 million civil fraud trial.
Ms Trump, the former president’s oldest daughter, was the last of the Trump children to testify in Donald Trump’s case in New York on Wednesday.
The former president, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr, and other Trump Organization executives and associates are currently being sued for defrauding banks and investors by overvaluing Mr Trump’s net worth and assets by as much as $2.2bn a year to gain more favourable financing terms. Mr Trump has denied the allegations.
Ms Trump hired her own attorney and successfully removed herself as a defendant in the case earlier this year, but her attempts to dodge testifying ultimately failed.
Jimmy Kimmel roasts Ivanka Trump over trial testimony
Saturday 11 November 2023 19:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Jan 6 suspect surrenders to police after 4-day manhunt
Saturday 11 November 2023 18:45 , Oliver O'Connell
The manhunt for Capitol riot suspect Gregory Yetman ended peacefully when he surrendered to authorities days after he fled his pending arrest.
Mr Yetman, 47, was arrested on Friday in New Jersey without incident, according to the FBI.
He has been charged with several crimes relating to the Capitol riot, including assaulting officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
FBI agents and police in New Jersey attempted to locate and arrest Mr Yetman on 6 November after obtaining an arrest warrant. When law enforcement officers approached to serve the warrant, Mr Yetman allegedly ran off, hopped a fence, and darted toward a set of train tracks near a heavily wooded area.
Capitol riot suspect surrenders to police after 4-day manhunt
Saturday 11 November 2023 17:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump joins news orgs to ‘demand’ 2020 conspiracy trial is aired on TV
Saturday 11 November 2023 17:22 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump rarely is on the side of mainstream media organisations, but in a federal court filing submitted late Friday, he joined with outlets like the Associated Press in pushing for his federal election interference case in Washington to be aired live on TV.
“President Trump absolutely agrees, and in fact demands, that these proceedings should be fully televised so that the American public can see firsthand that this case, just like others, is nothing more than a dreamt-up unconstitutional charade that should never be allowed to happen again,” the former president’s lawyers wrote in a brief.
The special counsel’s office has opposed efforts to put the trial on air, citing longstanding federal court rules against cameras in the courtroom.
Here’s more info on the issue of Trump’s potential made-for-TV trials.
Will Donald Trump’s trial be televised?
What the maid saw...
Saturday 11 November 2023 16:45 , Oliver O'Connell
New information is being revealed about the scope of Jack Smith’s investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified information at Mar-a-Lago and depicts a startling number of seemingly random people now caught up in his prosecution.
A CNN report on Thursday detailed for the first time how Mr Smith’s team of prosecutors is considering calling a number of lower-level staff at Mr Trump’s sprawling resort complex in Palm Beach to testify in the case against the former president.
Those unnamed staffers include a maid assigned to clean Mr Trump’s living area, a woodworker who was called to the premises for work on a project in Mr Trump’s bedroom, and even the ex-president’s personal chauffeur, according to CNN.
John Bowden has the story.
Plumber and maid among Mar-a-Lago staff who may testify against Trump, report says
Saturday 11 November 2023 15:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
Saturday 11 November 2023 15:15 , Oliver O'Connell
Days before Donald Trump’s attorneys mount their month-long case to defend the former president from fraud allegations that threaten his business empire, one of his chief allies in Congress filed an ethics complaint against the judge presiding over the trial.
Republican US Rep Elise Stefanik, a top-ranking member of the House GOP, filed a complaint on 10 November that invokes similar rhetoric from Mr Trump’s attorneys in their defence of the former president in and out of the lower Manhattan courtroom.
Judge Arthur Engoron has faced widespread scrutiny among Republican officials and Mr Trump’s supporters for a summary judgment that found him and his co-defendants liable for fraud, as laid out in hundreds of pages of evidence and in depositions stemming from the case from New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Mr Trump, his adult sons and chief associates last year.
Judge Engoron also has faced criticism for issuing a gag order that prevents parties in the case from disparaging court staff. Mr Trump has violated the order twice, and his attorneys’ statements in the courtroom prompted him to widen the order to include them, too.
Ms Stefanik accused the judge of “inappropriate bias and judicial intemperance” while overseeing a “disgraceful lawsuit” against the Trump family’s business.
Alex Woodward reports.
Elise Stefanik files ethics complaint against Trump fraud trial judge
Trump: Israel losing public relations battle over Gaza war
Saturday 11 November 2023 14:45 , Oliver O'Connell
As Israel is fighting a war against Hamas, former President Donald Trump suggested that the country is losing a separate conflict – a battle of public relations.
“I think Israel has to do a better job of public relations, frankly, because the other side is beating them at the public relations front,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Univision, obtained by Semafor.
The former president previously bashed Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he “was not prepared” for the Hamas attack on 7 October, in which hundreds of people were kidnapped and more than 1,000 were killed. He also said Mr Netanyahu “let us down” before the killing of Iranian Gen Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
In the latest interview, Mr Trump refined his take, calling the Israeli leader “strong.”
Trump says Israel is losing the public relations battle with Gaza war
Voices: These anti-Trump lawyers are looking beyond Trump to a wider threat
Saturday 11 November 2023 12:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Andrew Feinberg writes:
Before George Conway was a semi-regular fixture on cable news shows for his commentary about Donald Trump’s legal troubles, a contributing columnist at The Washington Post or the author of a feature-length story in The Atlantic questioning the mental competency of the then-President of the United States, he played a not-so-insignificant role in another movement against an American president.
In the early 1990s, the Yale Law School graduate was one of a small team of volunteer litigators who assisted a woman named Paula Jones in pursuing a sexual harassment lawsuit against then-president Bill Clinton all the way to the Supreme Court, where the case of Clinton v Jones established that a president was not immune from lawsuits arising out of conduct that took place before he took office.
In the intervening decades between those heady days leading to just the second presidential impeachment in US history and the tumultuous presidency of Donald Trump, Conway and many of the people he surrounded himself with during the Clinton years went on to become pillars of the conservative legal movement and upstanding members of a set in Republican high society that has reshaped the federal judiciary.
But on Wednesday, the former Federalist Society board member stood in a basement at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington to explain why he and a group of Bush and Reagan administration alumni were launching a new legal movement which they hope will counter the threat posed by not just a second term of a Donald Trump presidency, but the authoritarian movement Trump has made the centre of GOP politics and legal thought.
These anti-Trump lawyers are looking beyond Trump to a wider threat
Donald Trump keeps attacking New York fraud trial, despite gag order
Saturday 11 November 2023 17:03 , Josh Marcus
Donald Trump is continuing to last out at key figures in his New York fraud trial, despite being fined multiple times for violating a gag order that bars him from attacking court staff.
“Judge Engoron should end the ridiculous Political Witch Hunt against me,” he wrote on Truth Social on Friday. “I have TOTALLY WON THIS CASE, which should never have been brought. The only Fraud was committed by A.G. Letitia James in convincing the Judge that Mar-a-Lago was only worth $18,000,000 (in order to make my ‘numbers’ look bad), when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount. She campaigned on ‘getting Trump.’ She should be prosecuted!”
As Alex Woodward has reported for The Independent, Mr Trump has been fined multiple times for his comments about court staff.
Red-faced Trump rages at judge during historic fraud trial testimony
‘You don’t like him?’: Trump surprised as crowd boos GOP congressman
Saturday 11 November 2023 10:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump seemed dumbfounded during a Wednesday night rally after his mentioning the name of a Republican congressman drew jeers from the audience.
Mr Trump visited Hialeah, Florida to hold a counter-rally as the third GOP presidential primary debate was underway nearby.
During the rally, Mr Trump name dropped Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida — but only after butchering his name on a first attempt — and was met with a wave of boos from the audience.
Mr Trump seemed genuinely surprised by the response.
Trump surprised as crowd boos GOP congressman
Voices: Why the GOP debates are increasingly meaningless without Trump
Saturday 11 November 2023 08:45 , Oliver O'Connell
John Bowden writes:
The anti-Trump right remains desperate to topple his control of the GOP, yet unable to find anyone who can do so. Months of campaigning from the likes of Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy have failed to excite the Republican donor class just as they have failed to rally GOP voters who still back Mr Trump by a massive margin.
And Wednesday night’s debate did little to change that. Mr Trump was mentioned sporadically by both the moderators and candidates, but without the frontrunner present the criticism of his policies and record as president seemed less effective. The big attention-grabbing moment of the night had nothing to do with him; it played out when Mr Ramaswamy took a swipe at Ms Haley’s daughter over her TikTok usage, prompting the South Carolinian to label him “scum”.
Right now, it’s hard to say what, if anything, could move the needle in the GOP primary in any meaningful way. But it does seem clear that the debates are not going to do it, not as long as Mr Trump refuses to attend.
Read more:
Why the GOP debates are increasingly meaningless without Trump
Key moments from Ivanka Trump’s testimony
Saturday 11 November 2023 06:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Ivanka Trump became the fourth and final member of the Trump family to give testimony in her father’s high-profile civil fraud case.
The former first daughter attended the lower Manhattan courtroom on Wednesday after exhausting her attempts to avoid testifying in the trial, that threatens her family’s business and vast real-estate empire.
However, unlike her father – who gave evidence two days earlier – Ms Trump’s remarks on the stand were not infused with fiery rhetoric, grandiose statements or back-chat to judge Arthur Engoron.
In many ways, her testimony was unremarkable. But she repeatedly said she “could not recall” the details or documents about her involvement with major projects she later said she was “proud” to work on, or whether she was involved with her father’s financial statements that Judge Engoron has already determined were fraudulent.
Click here are some of the stand-out moments from her evidence
Georgia man charged over threat to kill Marjorie Taylor Greene
Saturday 11 November 2023 04:45 , Oliver O'Connell
A Georgia man has been charged with threatening to kill far-right Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, her family, and staff.
Sean Patrick Cirillo, 34, of Macon, Georgia allegedly called the congresswoman’s office and threatened to shoot and kill her, Ms Greene’s office said.
“I’m going to murder her; I’m going to shoot her in the (expletive) head and kill her, Okay,” the suspect said on the call, which was shared with CNN. “Tell the FBI.”
And the suspect yelled: “You’re going to die. Your family is going to die.”
Graeme Massie has the details.
Man charged over threat to kill Marjorie Taylor Greene
Ari Melber: Republicans ‘high on their own supply’ of election lies
Saturday 11 November 2023 03:45 , Oliver O'Connell
MSNBC host Ari Melber quoted the movie Scarface and said that Republicans had bought into too many of their own lies about the 2020 presidential election.
Melber spoke on Thursday evening about how Republicans faced massive electoral defeats in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia and noted how the Republican Party is now in thrall to the wing that supports former president Donald Trump and his lies about the 2020 election.
“The fact that the Trump wing of the party embraced denialism has hurt the party’s ability to get anywhere near competitive,” he said. “If you’re watching this and want a healthy democracy, that’s a bad thing. If you’re watching and want Republicans to keep losing elections you’re hoping they keep making this mistake.”
Melber then played a clip from the movie Scarface wherein Elvira Hancock, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, said “Lesson two, don’t get high on your own supply.”
Eric Garcia reports.
Republicans ‘high on their own supply’ of election lies, says MSNBC host
Election officials in five states receive letters containing substances including fentanyl
Saturday 11 November 2023 02:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Election officials are keeping a watchful eye on letters that arrive after a series of envelopes containing suspicious substances were sent to officials in Georgia, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington this past week.
Several election offices reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Postal Service Inspection Service that they received envelopes containing a “white powdery substance” and a threatening note about elections.
In Pierce County, Washington the auditor’s office shared a letter accompanied by the suspicious substance that read “End elections now”, according to The Associated Press.
Another “very similar” letter sent to the elections office in King County, Washington during the August primary contained fentanyl, elections director Julie Wise said.
Now, federal law enforcement officials are looking for the person responsible for sending the letters.
Letters containing suspicious substances sent to election officials in five states
