All posts tagged: criminal trial

Donald Trump LIVE: Tabloid mogul David Pecker’s testimony in hush money trial continues | Politics | News

Donald Trump LIVE: Tabloid mogul David Pecker’s testimony in hush money trial continues | Politics | News

After prosecutors’s lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch and kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are poised Friday to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election. David Pecker will return to the witness stand for the fourth day as defence attorneys try to poke holes in the testimony of the former National Enquirer publisher, who has described helping bury embarrassing stories Trump feared could hurt his campaign. It will cap a consequential week in the criminal cases the former president is facing as he vies to reclaim the White House in November. At the same time, jurors listened to testimony in Manhattan, the Supreme Court on Thursday signalled it was likely to reject Trump’s sweeping claims that he is immune from prosecution in his 2020 election interference case in Washington. But the conservative-majority high court seemed inclined to limit when former presidents could be prosecuted — a ruling that could …

Donald Trump Live: Historic hush money trial begins | US | News

Donald Trump Live: Historic hush money trial begins | US | News

Donald Trump’s criminal trial in his hush-money case will begin in earnest on Monday marking an historic moment in US history. Trump is the first US president to face a criminal trial, which comes just months before the 2024 election – in which the property mogul looks set to be the GOP nominee to take on the incumbent Joe Biden. A 12-person jury in Manhattan is set to hear opening statements from prosecutors and defence lawyers in the first of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee to reach trial. Attorneys will also introduce a colourful cast of characters who are expected to testify about the made-for-media saga, including a porn actor who claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump and the lawyer who prosecutors say paid her to keep quiet about it. Jurors will consider whether Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal damaging information about extramarital sex, to protect his successful bid for the White House in 2016, were illicit. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and …

Trump sparks Twitter hilarity as he appears to fall asleep at trial

Trump sparks Twitter hilarity as he appears to fall asleep at trial

While the rest of the world can’t peel their eyes away as Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial gets under way in New York, the former president himself appears to be far less enthralled by the proceedings. Jury selection got under way on Monday in the first-ever criminal trial of a sitting or former president, as he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. But, according to some courtroom reporters, Mr Trump appeared to struggle to keep his eyes open – and at one point may have even fallen asleep. “Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack,” New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman reported. The observation quickly inspired a new nickname for the 77-year-old former president: “Sleepy Don.” Soon, the moniker spread like wildfire on social media. “My theory: Trump’s legal team sedated him,” Mother Jones DC bureau chief David Corn wrote on X. “Looks, he’s old. The judge is keeping Sleepy …

The Supreme Court’s Eagerness to Delay Trump’s Trial

The Supreme Court’s Eagerness to Delay Trump’s Trial

Sometimes the law mandates delay and no one can do anything about it. But there is nothing mandatory at all about what the Supreme Court has done with Donald Trump’s appeal. On the contrary, the decision to hear his petition for presidential immunity and delay his criminal trial for the January 6 insurrection is an affirmative choice. When Richard Nixon’s appeal of the order to turn over his presidential tapes was pending, the Supreme Court had a choice—and it chose to act quickly. The district-court decision requiring Nixon to produce the tapes was issued on May 31, 1974. The Supreme Court agreed with a motion to skip the appeals court altogether, taking the case directly from the district court, and heard the argument 39 days later, on July 8. Just three weeks later, on July 24, it issued its opinion. Total time from the district-court decision to the final decision of the Supreme Court: 54 days. The district court’s decision denying Trump immunity was issued on December 1, 2023. Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the …

Don’t panic about Russian space weapons

Don’t panic about Russian space weapons

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. A brief hubbub erupted in Washington this week over an unspecified “national security threat” that some sources now believe is related to a Russian plan to use nuclear weapons in space. The prospect is cause for concern but not panic. First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic: For All Mankind Yesterday, Representative Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a cryptic request to President Joe Biden, asking him to declassify information regarding a “serious national security threat.” Turner’s statement angered some of the more extreme members of his own GOP caucus. Representative Andy Ogles claimed that Turner was just trying to whip up some fear about Russia, in part to help passage of a bill authorizing more aid to Ukraine, and he has asked Speaker Mike Johnson to begin an investigation into Turner’s public …

FTX’s Organizational Chaos – The Atlantic

FTX’s Organizational Chaos – The Atlantic

In federal court this week, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, testified against her former boss and boyfriend, Sam Bankman-Fried. His two fallen crypto enterprises offer an object lesson in how not to run a start-up. First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic: Organizational Chaos “How would you describe the power dynamic of your personal relationship with the defendant?” a prosecutor asked Caroline Ellison in court on Tuesday. Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers immediately objected to the question, and the judge sustained the objection. But all of us watching Ellison’s testimony in the federal courthouse heard the question. It hung in the air even as the prosecutor rephrased the inquiry. At this point, FTX is many things: a company whose founder is on trial; a symbol for the rot underlying the crypto ecosystem; a target of schadenfreude. But before its dramatic implosion, it was also a workplace run by Millennials. And it seems, to hear Ellison describe it, to have been an absolute shitshow. In addition to the fraught power dynamics that came …

The Trump Indictment Puts the GOP on Trial

The Trump Indictment Puts the GOP on Trial

Earlier today, Donald Trump was indicted for a third time, on the charge that he attempted to subvert the 2020 presidential election. The indictment, filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, accuses Trump of a conspiracy to defraud the United States by “using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit”; a conspiracy to “corruptly obstruct and impede” an official proceeding of the U.S. government; and a conspiracy “against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.” “Each of these conspiracies—which built on the the widespread mistrust the Defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud—targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election,” the indictment said. The indictment is the latest entry in a remarkable tally of criminal and civil charges against the former president. In June, Trump was indicted by Smith on 37 felony counts related to the mishandling of classified documents, obstructing justice, and making false statements. (A superseding indictment last month added three additional felony counts …