Trump trial live: Stormy Daniels to return to witness stand for cross-examination on hush money testimony

09/05/2024

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LIVE – Updated at 13:17

Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial will resume at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday following Wednesday’s recess, with the porn star Stormy Daniels expected to return to the witness stand to face more cross-examination from the defendant’s lawyers.

Ms Daniels appeared on Tuesday to regale jurors with her account of how she met Mr Trump, the infamous sexual encounter she says they had in July 2006 and the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

After lunch on Tuesday, the defence moved for a mistrial citing Ms Daniels’ “prejudicial” evidence, which was denied by Judge Juan Merchan.

As cross-examination began, the witness was confronted about whether she “hates” Mr Trump and wants to see him in jail – to which she replied she wants to see him held accountable for his actions.

Elsewhere, Mr Trump spent his day off from court hosting an event at Mar-a-Lago for people who bought his superhero NFTs, rather than hitting the campaign trail, and attacked Joe Biden on Truth Social over escalating events in the Middle East, once again insisting the war in Gaza would never have happened if he had remained president.

Alex Woodward is covering Mr Trump’s trial in Manhattan and will be providing regular updates on proceedings.

Key Points

New York hush money trial: What to expect on Day 14
Defiant Stormy Daniels to return to court for cross-examination on Thursday
Key takeaways from ‘honeybunch’ Daniels’ testimony at hush money trial
Defendant spends court recess dining with his NFT customers at Mar-a-Lago
Barron Trump chosen to be Florida delegate at Republican National Convention

Ted Cruz on Hannity: ‘No person on Planet Earth believes Trump has been celibate all his life’

13:00 , Joe Sommerlad

The Texas senator was on Fox last night trying to downplay the former president paying off a porn star to subvert an election.

Remember when Trump promoted the lie that this man’s father was involved in the Kennedy assassination AND suggested his wife was less attractive than Melania?

Live: Donald Trump’s hush money trial continues as Stormy Daniels returns to witness stand

12:50 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s our latest livestream from Manhattan as the day prepares to get underway.

‘I promise you’: Biden says Trump would never accept 2024 loss

12:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Hard to disagree with him on this one.

Josh Marcus has this report.

‘I promise you he won’t’: Biden says Trump would never accept 2024 election loss

Trump ‘mulls plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

12:30 , Joe Sommerlad

I don’t know about you, but I for one can’t see anything flawed about this plan whatsoever.

Brilliant sir! You’ve done it again.

This sounds like exactly what’s needed to calm tensions at the US southern border and definitely not escalate an already deeply complex and deadly humanitarian crisis into outright chaos and bloodshed!

Here’s Kelly Rissman to (try to) explain.

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

RFK Jr boasts he could ‘eat five more brain worms’ and still out-debate Trump and Biden

12:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The independent presidential candidate appears to have followed Kristi Noem’s dog-murder scandal and thought: “No no, I can go weirder. Hold my beer…”

Here’s Andrew Feinberg on another frankly very odd moment in American politics.

RFK Jr says a worm ate part of his brain and then died inside his head

Georgia election interference case: Trump’s appeal against Fani Willis disqualification ruling to be heard

11:45 , Joe Sommerlad

As Alex alluded to just there, a Georgia appeals court has granted Trump’s request for an appeal challenging the ruling that Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis can stay on the state’s election interference case against the former president and his allies.

After weeks of contentious hearings centred around the district attorney’s romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor, Judge Scott McAfee decided in March that Willis could remain on the sprawling RICO case.

Trump and eight of his co-defendants then filed for an appeal of the decision, calling the court’s refusal to disqualify her a “plain legal error”.

Kelly Rissman reports.

Georgia court agrees to hear Trump’s appeal of Fani Willis disqualification ruling

New York hush money trial: What to expect on Day 14

11:38 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s the latest dispatch from Alex Woodward at Manhattan Criminal Court, where he had to get up even earlier than usual to beat the Daniels rush:

“It’s just after sunrise in downtown Manhattan outside a criminal courthouse a few blocks between Chinatown and the Tribeca art galleries. In a few hours. Stormy Daniels will continue her testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, where on Tuesday she recalled, in detail, the brief but disturbing sex she allegedly had with the former president in 2006.

“Trump’s defense attorney Susan Necheles will continue her cross-examination, after grilling the adult film star with a series of questions to undermine her story, suggested she is a liar and an extortionist, and used a ‘made-up’ tale to attack a man she admits she hates.

“Under direct, Daniels was smiling and joking before she walked prosecutors through a grim and nightmarish history with Trump and the years of fallout from her chance meeting. She also said too much – defense attorneys repeatedly objected to the details of her testimony, and the judge also jumped in to stop her. During a recess, Trump’s team called for a mistrial, arguing that her overly detailed testimony was too prejudicial for jurors to come back from. Judge Juan Merchan denied the motion but agreed that Daniels was saying too much, and was surprised that defense attorneys didn’t object to more. Trump himself was fuming and cursing loud enough for the judge to tell his lawyers to get him under control, warning that his behavior was also risking influencing the jury.

“Legal analysts and reporters have suggested that Daniels is a risky witness for the prosecution, but the whole point of her testimony is to show jurors just how damning a story like hers could have been to Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“This is not a case about affairs or sex or NDAs or tabloid drama, after all. It’s about a presidential candidate accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments that kept politically compromising stories away from voters. Daniels’ account, no matter how problematic, is ‘precisely what the defendant did not want to become public,’ assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger told the judge on Tuesday.

“Trump, meanwhile, is trying to fast-track a decision from a state appeals court on whether to block the gag order that stops him from publicly attacking jurors and witnesses like Daniels. A decision in that case could come at any time.

“As his Mar-a-Lago case comes grinding to a halt, a Georgia appeals court’s decision to take up his attempt to disqualify Fani Willis, and the US Supreme Court stalls his election interference case, the trial in New York is, as reporters here have been calling it, probably the only game in town before Election Day.”

Barron Trump chosen to be Florida delegate at Republican National Convention

11:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president’s youngest son Barron, whose high school graduation ceremony Trump will be attending in the Sunshine State next Friday, has been selected as an at-large delegate for Florida at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July, according to NBC.

His half-siblings Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump were all chosen as well.

The move marks the 18-year-old’s first venture in politics, his mother having worked hard to keep him out of the media glare when his old man was in the White House.

Here’s some background on Barron.

Trump told he can attend son Barron’s graduation after all

Trump spends court recess dining with his NFT customers

10:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The defendant spent his day off from court yesterday hosting an event at Mar-a-Lago for people who bought his ludicrous superhero NFTs, rather than hitting the campaign trail, despite having previously complained bitterly about being cooped up in Judge Merchan’s chilly courtroom when he’d rather be staging rallies.

New York hush money trial: Key takeaways from ‘honeybunch’ Stormy Daniels’ testimony

10:15 , Joe Sommerlad

For more on Daniels, here are Kelly Rissman and Alex Woodward’s recap of the key takeaways from Tuesday’s testimony.

‘I swatted him on the butt’: Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ Trump trial testimony

New York hush money trial: Defiant Stormy Daniels to return to court for cross-examination on Thursday

09:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Trump’s New York hush money trial will resume at Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday following Wednesday’s recess, with the porn star Stormy Daniels expected to return to the witness stand to face more cross-examination from the defendant’s lawyers.

Daniels appeared on Tuesday to regale jurors with her account of how she met Trump, the infamous sexual encounter she says they had in July 2006 and the events leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

One of the lighter moments came when she revealed she had never wanted to meet Trump for dinner on the now-infamous light in question, only for a friend to convince her.

“It’ll make a great story,” she said, according to Daniels.

“What could possibly go wrong?”

Here’s Alex Woodward’s report from court on Tuesday as we gear up for more.

Defiant Stormy Daniels reunites with Trump in court

Truth Social: Trump tells Rupert Murdoch what to do and belatedly backs Greene over failed speaker ouster

09:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Elsewhere on Trump’s platform, he’s been urging the veteran conservative media tycoon to sack Paul Ryan from Fox’s board and praising the odious MTG in a post that arrived too late to influence the vote it discusses!

Interestingly, he also does not rule out toppling House speaker Mike Johnson “at some point”, just not right now.

Katie Hawkinson and Eric Garcia have this report on the Georgia congresswoman’s failure to remove him yesterday.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s bid to oust Johnson fails minutes after she files motion

Truth Social: Trump up late to attack Biden over Israel

09:04 , Joe Sommerlad

No wonder he sleeps in court.

Trump was up late on social media last night to attack Joe Biden after the president said the United States will not supply Israel with weapons for use in a ground offensive that endangers the Palestinian civilians who have taken shelter in the border city of Rafah.

“Crooked Joe is taking the side of these terrorists, just like he has sided with the Radical Mobs taking over our college campuses, because his donors are funding them,” Trump rages, smelling an opportunity, before once again baselessly insisting the war in Gaza would never have happened if he had remained president.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg with the full story on the president’s comments.

Biden says US won’t supply Israel with weapons for Rafah attack

Don’t expect Trump to face trial over classified documents anytime soon…

06:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Josh Marcus reports:

A federal judge has indefinitely delayed the trial date in the special counsel case against Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

In a decision filed on Tuesday, US district judge Aileen M Cannon vacated a planned 20 May trial date, writing that a host of issues around evidence, discovery, and the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) still needed to be decided before the high-profile trial could commence.

Judge Cannon, a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020, argued in her decision that extending the pre-trial process through the end of July would “outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”

Judge indefinitely postpones Trump’s trial in Mar-A-Lago classified documents case

Trump romps home in Indiana presidential primary, but…

04:45 , Oliver O’Connell

You may not have noticed it given the game-over nature of the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries, but people are still voting in the primary race in states across the nation, even though the nominations are all but certainly in the bag for Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Yesterday, it was Indiana’s turn and it was good news for both candidates who romped home with victories across every district in the state.

HOWEVER… Even though she dropped out of the GOP primary race in early March, former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley still got 22 per cent of the Republican vote, denying Mr Trump the total victory he doubtless wanted.

Why does this matter?

While some of those Haley voters will begrudgingly grit their teeth and vote for Trump in November out of party loyalty, the Biden campaign is doing its best to lure never-Trumpers over to the Democrats, if only for this election. Given the narrow margins of victory in key swing states in 2020 this group could potentially swing the election to Biden if the trend is repeated elsewhere either with a vote for the Democrat ticket or by staying home.

Just this week in the key battleground state of Georgia, Republican former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan wrote an op-ed expressing his intention to vote for Biden and encouraged other members of the party to join him to thwart a possible Trump victory in 2024.

He wrote in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Unlike Trump, I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life,” he wrote. “This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”

Here’s Amelia Neath reporting on Mr Duncan’s decision:

Former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia says he’s voting for Biden

Trump called out for ‘cursing audibly’ during Stormy Daniels testimony

03:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Judge Juan Merchan, presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial, warned the former president’s lawyer about his client’s “contemptuous” behaviour as the former president was “cursing audibly” while adult film star Stormy Daniels testified in court.

Amelia Neath reports:

Judge calls Trump out for ‘cursing audibly’ during Stormy Daniels testimony

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

02:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is privately considering a plan to deploy American assassination squads to Mexico to take out drug cartel leaders if he is re-elected in November, according to a report.

Three sources familiar with the former president’s proposal told Rolling Stone that he has insisted that the American military has “tougher killers than they do” and is mulling a similar plot to that carried out when US forces killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi back in 2019.

The deployment would be covert, the outlet reported, and would not rely on the Mexican government’s consent.

Kelly Rissman has the story:

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

Feature: The women trying to take down Trump

01:45 , Oliver O’Connell

“People are really vicious, and no place are they more vicious than in their relationships with the opposite sex,” Donald Trump wrote in his 1997 book Trump: The Art of the Comeback.

Based on his own personal, professional and private life, the former president may never have said a truer word.

Kelly Rissman reports:

Stormy Daniels, E Jean Carroll, Fani Willis: The women trying to take down Trump

Yesterday in court: Defiant Stormy Daniels comes face to face with Trump

Thursday 9 May 2024 00:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Alex Woodward reports from the courthouse:

Stormy Daniels didn’t want to meet Donald Trump for dinner in 2006, she told a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. A friend convinced her.

“It’ll make a great story,” she said, according to Ms Daniels. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Nearly 18 years later, the adult film star at the centre of the first-ever criminal trial of an American president testified for more than four hours, detailing her alleged sexual encounter in front of a judge and a jury, Mr Trump’s son, and Mr Trump himself, who repeatedly shook his head in disbelief.

Read on…

Defiant Stormy Daniels reunites with Trump in court

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

Wednesday 8 May 2024 23:45 , Oliver O’Connell

The deployment would be covert, the outlet reported, and would not rely on the Mexican government’s consent.

Here’s Kelly Rissman with the details:

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

Rep Mike Collins creates fresh outrage on X with RFK joke

Wednesday 8 May 2024 23:15 , Oliver O’Connell

Mike Bedigan reports:

A US Congressman who came under fire for defending racist counter-protests at the University of Mississippi has sparked fresh outrage after making a poor-taste joke about the Kennedy family.

Mike Collins, a Republican from Georgia, was described as “sick and deplorable” after posting a message seemingly about reports that a worm had eaten part of Robert F Kennedy Jr‘s brain.

Read on to see what he said…

Lawmaker who defended Ole Miss protest posts ‘sick’ joke about Kennedy family

Trump asks for quick ruling on his challenge to hush money gag order

Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:49 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump is trying to fast-track a court’s decision on whether to overturn a gag order that blocks him from publicly attacking witnesses and jurors during his hush money trial in New York.

Lawyers for the former president filed a motion on Wednesday asking a state appeals court to quickly issue a ruling on his challenge, or to get permission to appeal to the state’s highest appeals court.

The motion comes after the judge presiding over the trial in Manhattan directly warned Mr Trump that he could be jailed for any future violations of the gag order, which he was already found to have violated 10 times within the trial’s first few weeks.

Lawyers with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have filed an objection, which remains under seal on the appellate court docket.

Here’s our most recent reporting on the former president’s latest violation and what Judge Merchan has threatened:

Trump could see jail for gag order violations: ‘Fines are not serving as a deterrent’

Trump’s appeal of Fani Willis disqualification hearing to be heard by Georgia court

Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:45 , Oliver O’Connell

A Georgia appeals court has granted Donald Trump’s request for an appeal challenging the ruling that Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis can stay on the state’s election interference case against the former president and his allies.

After weeks of contentious hearings centred around the district attorney’s romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor, Judge Scott McAfee decided in March that Ms Willis could remain on the sprawling Rico case.

The former president and eight of his co-defendants then filed for an appeal of the decision, calling the court’s refusal to disqualify her a “plain legal error”.

Kelly Rissman reports:

Georgia court agrees to hear Trump’s appeal of Fani Willis disqualification ruling

BREAKING: Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson

Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:23 , Oliver O’Connell

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a motion to vacate Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

Katie Hawkinson reports from Washington, DC:

Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson

Trump VP hopeful Elise Stefanik tries to recreate viral moment at antisemitism hearing — but falls flat

Wednesday 8 May 2024 22:15 , Oliver O’Connell

Republicans hoping for a repeat of the viral moment that took down multiple Ivy League university presidents came away disappointed after attempts to create conflict with a trio of K-12 school officials from Democratic jurisdictions fell flat.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC:

Trump VP hopeful Elise Stefanik tries to recreate viral moment — but falls flat

Profile: Stormy Daniels — one of the most powerful people in politics?

Wednesday 8 May 2024 21:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Io Dodds tells the story of how a woman at the crossroads of politics, business, and sex work – never quite as separate as American elites would like to believe – could end up sealing the downfall of the 45th US president.

How Stormy Daniels became one of the most powerful people in politics

Despite right-wing calls to ban app, Trump super PAC joins TikTok with @MAGA handle

Wednesday 8 May 2024 21:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Katie Hawkinson has the details:

Donald Trump’s super PAC has joined TikTok under the handle @MAGA despite right-wing calls for the app to be banned in the US.

MAGA Inc., a super PAC for the former president’s campaign, had already posted three videos by Wednesday afternoon. Two of the posts specifically target President Joe Biden, while the third takes aim at independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Read on…

Trump super PAC joins TikTok with @MAGA handle despite GOP calls to ban app

Biden campaign revels in trolling Trump over Microsoft’s Wisconsin jobs investment

Wednesday 8 May 2024 21:15 , Oliver O’Connell

How did it come to this? Inside the Stormy Daniels hush money case that led to Trump’s arrest

Wednesday 8 May 2024 21:00 , Oliver O’Connell

John Bowden explains why a former adult film star’s testimony may hold the future of Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign in her hands…

What did Trump do? Inside the Stormy Daniels case that led to Trump’s arrest

Where is Donald Trump today?

Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Spoiler: Not campaigning as he claims he wants to be…

New poll: Biden leads Trump by six per cent in key swing state Wisconsin

Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:36 , Oliver O’Connell

Per Quinnipiac University:

President Joe Biden leads former President Donald Trump 50 – 44 per cent in a head-to-head matchup, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters in Wisconsin released today.

Democrats (97 – 2 per cent) and independents (50 – 43 per cent) back Biden, while Republicans (95 – 3 per cent) back Trump.

When the matchup is expanded to include independent and Green Party candidates, the race is too close to call. Biden receives 40 per cent support, Trump receives 39 per cent support, independent candidate Robert F Kennedy, Jr. receives 12 per cent support, Green Party candidate Jill Stein receives 4 per cent support, and independent candidate Cornel West receives 1 per cent support.

Among voters who support Biden in the head-to-head matchup, 80 per cent support him in the 5-way race, 11 per cent support Robert F Kennedy, Jr., 7 per cent support Jill Stein, and 2 per cent support Cornel West.

Among voters who support Trump in the head-to-head matchup, 87 per cent support him in the 5-way race, 10 per cent support Robert F Kennedy, Jr., 1 per cent support Cornel West, and 1 per cent support Jill Stein.

Read the full poll results here

Jimmy Kimmel roasts Trump as he revels in details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony

Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Jimmy Kimmel revelled in some of the salacious details that came to light in Stormy Daniels’ testimony about her alleged encounter with Donald Trump in 2006.

Amelia Neath reports:

Jimmy Kimmel roasts Trump as he revels in details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony

Hillary Clinton joins in on trolling Trump over failed Wisconsin jobs plant

Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:15 , Oliver O’Connell Wednesday 8 May 2024 20:00 , Oliver O’Connell

Donald Trump discusses ‘revealing day’ after Stormy Daniels testimony

Trump says Noem ‘has had a rough couple of days’ after dog shooting controversy

Wednesday 8 May 2024 19:45 , Oliver O’Connell

Audibly cursing Trump called out by judge during Stormy Daniels testimony

Wednesday 8 May 2024 19:30 , Oliver O’Connell

New York Justice Juan Merchan, presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial, warned the former president’s lawyer about his client’s “contemptuous” behaviour as the former president was “cursing audibly” while adult film star Stormy Daniels testified in court.

Ms Daniels spoke for more than four hours in the Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday, walking the jury through her a sexual encounter she claims to have had with Mr Trump after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006.

Amelia Neath has the story:

Judge calls Trump out for ‘cursing audibly’ during Stormy Daniels testimony

Everything you need to know about Stormy Daniels’ first day of testimony

Wednesday 8 May 2024 19:10 , Oliver O’Connell

Stormy Daniels’ hotly anticipated testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial finally got under way in a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday, with the adult film star revealing intimate details about the alleged affair at the heart of the case.

The Manhattan jurors and Mr Trump alike sat, rapt, listening as she testified about how her meeting with the then-60-year-old real estate mogul at a celebrity golf tournament turned sexual.

Her testimony was so detailed — providing comments about everything from what the floor tiles looked like to Mr Trump’s Hugh Hefner-like pajamas — that the judge warned her to stop including any “unnecessary narrative.”

In the afternoon, the defense team also took issue with Ms Daniels’ testimony, calling for a mistrial. The judge denied the request.

For almost four hours on the 13th day of his hush money trial, Mr Trump was forced to listen to her memory of the romantic liaison that ultimately led to his alleged criminal activity.

The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to Ms Daniels before the 2016 presidential election in exchange for her keeping quiet over their alleged 2006 affair.

Here are the key takeaways from the dramatic day in court:

‘I swatted him on the butt’: Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ Trump trial testimony

Full story: Biden trolls Trump by unveiling new $3bn Microsoft facility on site of ex-president’s failed FoxConn plant

Wednesday 8 May 2024 18:50 , Oliver O’Connell

Andrew Feinberg reports:

Nearly six years after then-president Donald Trump promised Racine, Wisconsin residents that the “eighth wonder of the world” would rise there in the form of a chip factory operated by Taiwanese semiconductor giant Foxconn, President Joe Biden delivered on the promise of a new facility with long-term employment prospects for Wisconsinites as he announced the construction of a $3.3bn artificial intelligence data centre on the site where the planned Foxconn plant never materialised.

Biden trolls Trump by unveiling new $3bn facility on site of failed FoxConn plant

Don’t expect Trump to face trial over classified documents anytime soon…

Wednesday 8 May 2024 18:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Josh Marcus reports:

A federal judge has indefinitely delayed the trial date in the special counsel case against Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

Judge indefinitely postpones Trump’s trial in Mar-A-Lago classified documents case

Trump romps home in Indiana presidential primary, but…

Wednesday 8 May 2024 18:16 , Oliver O’Connell

Yesterday, it was Indiana’s turn and it was good news for both candidates who romped home with victories across every district in the state.

Why does this matter?

Here’s Amelia Neath reporting on Mr Duncan’s decision:

Former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia says he’s voting for Biden

A worm ate part of RFK Jr’s brain. And then died in his head. He says.

Wednesday 8 May 2024 18:00 , Oliver O’Connell

With the Trump trial on a scheduled recess today — the court doesn’t sit on Wednesdays — we all have a good 24 hours to absorb Stormy Daniels’ testimony in all its lurid details (or “unnecessary narrative” depending on your point of view).

However, if you’re looking for a distraction from the proceedings, step forward RFK Jr, with this…

RFK Jr says a worm ate part of his brain and then died inside his head

Biden trolls Trump by lauding new Microsoft facility during Wisconsin visit

Wednesday 8 May 2024 17:42 , AP

President Joe Biden raced into yet another battleground state Wednesday, continuing to push a contrast with Donald Trump on economic policy as his own reelection campaign readies a new $14 million advertising blitz aimed in part at Black, Latino and Asian American voters.

Biden traveled to Racine, Wisconsin, where he’ll highlight a decision by Microsoft to build a $3.3 billion data center that is expected to create roughly 2,000 jobs. It’s also the spot where Trump, to much fanfare, lauded a plan by Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn plan to build a $10 billion manufacturing facility that was supposed to eventually employ 10,000 people. Except it was never completed.

Conscious of that history, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press that Microsoft had a “steadfast commitment to under-promising and over-delivering” and praised the Biden administration and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for economic policies that set the stage for the developments announced Wednesday.

Trump’s campaign didn’t address Foxconn, but the Republican former president often says the economy was in a much better position when he was in office and will be again should he win in 2024.

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

Wednesday 8 May 2024 17:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Kelly Rissman reports:

Trump ‘considers plan to send hit squads to Mexico to kill cartel leaders’

Trump called out for ‘cursing audibly’ during Stormy Daniels testimony

Wednesday 8 May 2024 16:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Amelia Neath reports:

Judge calls Trump out for ‘cursing audibly’ during Stormy Daniels testimony

Full story: Georgia court agrees to hear Trump’s appeal of Fani Willis disqualification hearing

Wednesday 8 May 2024 16:07 , Oliver O’Connell

A Georgia appeals court has granted Donald Trump’s request for an appeal challenging the ruling that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can stay on the state’s election interference case against the former president and his allies.

The former president and eight of his co-defendants then filed for an appeal of the decision, calling the court’s refusal to disqualify her “plain legal error”.

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia agreed to review the lower court ruling.

Kelly Rissman reports:

Georgia court agrees to hear Trump’s appeal of Fani Willis disqualification hearing

Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ testimony at Trump;’s hush money trial

Wednesday 8 May 2024 16:00 , Oliver O’Connell

Kelly Rissman and Alex Woodward report:

The Manhattan jurors and Mr Trump alike sat, rapt, listening as she testified about how her meeting with the then-60-year-old real estate mogul at a celebrity golf tournament turned sexual.

‘I swatted him on the butt’: Key takeaways from Stormy Daniels’ Trump trial testimony

Jimmy Kimmel roasts Trump as he revels in details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony

Wednesday 8 May 2024 15:30 , Oliver O’Connell

On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host showed his excitement that his show was yet again mentioned during court proceedings that day, notably when Ms Daniels was asked to recount her 2018 interview with Kimmel, where he questioned if her signature was legitimate on a letter signed by her stating that she had not had an affair with Mr Trump.

“Somehow, I’ve become the Kato Kaelin of this trial,” Kimmel said, making reference to referring to one of the key witnesses in OJ Simpson’s “trial of the century” in the 1990s.

Amelia Neath has the story:

Jimmy Kimmel roasts Trump as he revels in details from Stormy Daniels’ testimony

Watch: Judge Cannon ‘overwhelmed’ by classified docs case

Wednesday 8 May 2024 15:10 , Oliver O’Connell

Yesterday in court: Defiant Stormy Daniels comes face to face with Trump

Wednesday 8 May 2024 15:00 , Oliver O’Connell

Alex Woodward is reporting for The Independent from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan:

Stormy Daniels didn’t want to meet Donald Trump for dinner in 2006, she told a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday. A friend convinced her.

“It’ll make a great story,” she said, according to Ms Daniels. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Defiant Stormy Daniels reunites with Trump in court

Georgia appeals court will hear Trump’s appeal of the Fani Willis disqualification ruling

Wednesday 8 May 2024 14:49 , Oliver O’Connell

The Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia will hear an appeal by Donald Trump and his co-defendants of the ruling by Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee to keep District Attorney Fani Willis on the sprawling racketeering case brought against them over alleged 2020 election interference.

Defendants pushed for Ms Willis’s disqualification over her romantic relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade, accusing the two of profiteering from the case. Judge McAfee ruled that Mr Wade should leave the case but Ms Willis could remain.

Here’s our earlier reporting on the appeal by Ariana Baio:

Trump and co-defendants appeal ruling keeping Fani Willis on Georgia election case

Wednesday 8 May 2024 14:39 , Oliver O’Connell

Donald Trump discusses ‘revealing day’ after Stormy Daniels testimony

Trump starts his day with a morning rant about the trial

Wednesday 8 May 2024 14:37 , Oliver O’Connell

Here’s what the former president had to say this morning:

It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want. It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time. This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!. Judges Engoron and Kaplan, also of New York, are equally Corrupt, only in different ways. What these THUGS are doing is AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND OUR ONCE GREAT NATION ITSELF. OUR FIRST AMENDMENT MUST STAND, FREE AND STRONG. “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!’

All of Mr Trump’s cases went before grand juries of US citizens who recommended that charges be brought having heard the cases and evidence collected during investigations into his actions.

Rikers Island ‘prepared’ for Trump if convicted, says NYC mayor

Wednesday 8 May 2024 12:15 , Oliver O’Connell

Rikers Island jail is “prepared to deal with the situation”, should Donald Trump be given prison time over continued violations of his gag order, the New York City mayor has insisted.

Eric Adams was quizzed about the unprecedented situation on Tuesday, but told reporters that the prison would “adjust to whatever comes our way”.

Mike Bedigan has the story:

Rikers Island ‘prepared’ for Trump if former president jailed, insists New York mayor