Trump accuses White House of going after him while ‘country is on fire’
Former President Trump accused President Biden of pushing the New York criminal case against him even as “the country is on fire” with campus protests Tuesday.
Trump made the comments before entering Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom yet again. Prosecutors with Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg will continue with witness testimony, and pornography actress Stormy Daniels is expected to take the stand.
Trump listed a number of news reports indicating that Bragg’s office does not have the evidence necessary to convict Trump in the case. He argued the case against him is like something out of a “third world country.”
“We called a legal expense a legal expense, and that’s what they’re going after us for,” Trump said. “It went through the IRS, it went through the FEC, it went through everything.”
“They have no case. Every single legal scholar that I see…has said there’s absolutely no case, it’s a case that should never have been brought. This comes from the White House–It’s all Biden. That hasn’t happened in this country. It does happen in third world countries, but it hasn’t happened in this country,” he added.
Trump also condemned President Biden’s handling of the protests on college campuses happening nationwide, noting that many universities have been forced to cancel graduation ceremonies.
Stormy Daniels takes the stand in Trump trial
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday in the unprecedented criminal trial of former President Donald Trump in the case, N.Y. v. Trump.
Trump is alleged to have given Daniels a $130,000 payment through his former lawyer Michael Cohen ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her story of an alleged affair with Trump in the early 2000s. Trump has denied the affair.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump’s defense attorneys objected to prosecutors’ plans to go through the “full details” of the alleged sex act between Daniels and Trump during the New York criminal trial.
Trump’s team argued there is no need for the details, and they further argue that there is an issue with her credibility since Daniels has signed papers saying the sex act didn’t happen. Prosecutors clarified that they would “not go into details of genitalia.”
Judge Juan Merchan sided with prosecutors, saying they could ask Daniels for the details they outlined.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom and Fox News’ Maria Parovich contributed to this update.
Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels: What you need to know
Former President Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in 2023 after a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The charges are related to payments Trump allegedly attempted to conceal as he was running for election in 2016. One $130,000 payment was made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Trump years prior. Trump has denied the affair.
Hush money payments made to Daniels and former playboy model Karen McDougal, revealed and reported by Fox News in 2018, were allegedly made to prevent them from going public with details of alleged affairs with Trump.
Those payments had been investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and by the Federal Election Commission.
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted not to charge Trump related to the Stormy Daniels payment in 2019, even as Cohen implicated him as part of his plea deal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.
Here’s what you need to know about the payments:
In 2016, then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen, in the weeks before the presidential election, issued a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
In September 2016, Cohen also arranged the $150,000 payment to McDougal, through the parent company of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc.
The payments to Daniels were first revealed in January 2018 in a Wall Street Journal report that said Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing the supposed sexual encounter with Trump.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Brook Singman
Trump attorneys object to prosecution plan to reveal ‘full details’ of sex act with Stormy Daniels
Attorneys for Former President Trump objected to prosecutors’ plans to go through the “full details” of the alleged sex act between pornography actress Stormy Daniels and Trump during the New York criminal trial.
Trump’s team argued there is no need for the details, and they further argue that there is an issue with her credibility since Daniels has signed papers saying the sex act didn’t happen.
Prosecutors clarified that they would “not go into details of genitalia.”
Judge Juan Merchan sided with prosecutors, saying they could ask Daniels for the details they outlined.
Daniels is expected to take the stand this week, and could do so as early as Tuesday. Trump is alleged to have given her a $130,000 hush money payment through former lawyer Michael Cohen ahead of the 2016 election.
What’s the timeline of the relationship between Trump and Michael Cohen?
Michael Cohen, a key witness in the hush money case against former President Trump, shared a long history with the former president ahead of his historical criminal trial.
Cohen and Trump’s work relationship dates back to before the former president entered into the political scene. Cohen, a former Democrat, served as a personal lawyer to Trump and pledged his loyalty to the former president during the 2016 campaign.
In an effort to protect his former boss, Cohen reportedly made a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels as she was seeking to sell her story about an alleged affair with Trump leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies ever being involved with Daniels, but years later, Cohen pleaded guilty to charges related to the payment to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal “at the direction” of the former president.
Former Trump aide Hope Hicks, who, during her testimony, described Cohen as someone who “used to like to call himself ‘Mr. Fix It,’ but it was only because he first broke it,” also said she believes the former president was aware of the payment being made to Daniels.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to charges violating federal campaign finance laws, tax evasion, and lying to Congress, recently completed his 3-year prison sentence in 2021. The lawyer will soon take the stand in the case against Trump and deliver key testimony that could make or break the prosecution’s case.
US Secret Service in discussions over how to handle potential Trump jail time
The U.S. Secret Service is holding internal discussions regarding former President Trump potentially going to jail, Fox News has learned.
Those conversations picked up Monday after Judge Juan Merchan floated the possibility of sending Trump to jail if he makes further violations against Merchan’s gag order in the New York v. Trump case.
The Secret Service declined to comment on the discussions.
Merchan threatened Trump with jail time on Monday after finding that he violated the judge’s gag order for a 10th time, resulting in a total fine of $10,000. Merchan said the fines clearly were not having the desired effect, so he warned that further violations could result in incarceration.
Merchan’s gag order, imposed April 1, prohibits Trump from speaking publicly about witnesses in the case, such as pornography actress Stormy Daniels and former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Stormy Daniels likely to take witness stand in Trump trial Tuesday, attorney says
An attorney for Stormy Daniels says the pornography actress is likely to take the witness stand in the New York v. Trump trial on Tuesday.
Attorney Clark Brewster made the indication to the Associated Press before trial proceedings began. Former President Trump also suggested Tuesday’s witness would be more high profile, saying on social media that that he was “recently told” who the witness would be on Tuesday and complained he should’ve been given more notice.
Daniels is central to the prosecution’s case. They argue Trump covered up hush money payments to Daniels ahead of the 2016 election in an effort to quash news of an affair.
Trump allegedly paid Daniels $130,000 through his attorney, former lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen is also expected to testify later on in the trial.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.
Have any of Trump’s family members attended his trial?
Former President Trump is facing an unprecedented trial in Manhattan where he faces 34 felony counts for falsifying New York business records.
Amid court proceedings, which entered their fourth week Monday, Trump has repeatedly complained that the trial has not only taken him off the campaign trail, but also away from his family.
One of Trump’s family members, his son, Eric Trump, has attended the trial. Eric Trump attended on April 30, where father and son were seen speaking in the court before proceedings kicked off that day.
Trump’s youngest son, Barron Trump, became a focal point of the trial when it first began, with Trump urging the court to let him leave Manhattan on May 17 to attend his son’s high school graduation in Florida. Presiding Judge Juan Merchan finally agreed to Trump attending the ceremony, despite initially resisting the request, citing the importance of being present each day for court.
The former president has also posted repeatedly on social media or spoken to the media about his family amid the trial, including lamenting that he couldn’t be with his wife, Melania Trump, on April 26 to celebrate her birthday.
“I want to start by wishing my wife, Melania, a very happy birthday,” Trump said last month outside the courtroom.
“It would be nice to be with her,” he added.
Trump has also posted a photo of him with three of his grandchildren during the trial.
The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case, while slamming the trial as a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election.
Will Trump’s limitations on campaigning during the trial hurt his presidential bid?
While President Biden visits pivotal swing states to make the case for his re-election, former President Trump is not as free to do so, given his demands to be in court for his criminal cases. The former president has also noted that he would rather be campaigning for the presidency than sitting in court.
However, it’s unclear whether this is truly a disadvantage for Trump. The indictments against him have actually become a focal point in his campaign. They have often referred to the various criminal cases as “election interference” and accused Biden of trying to prevent him from campaigning.
Trump’s court cases also get significant media coverage, keeping him at the forefront of current events, even without being on the campaign trail.
Depending on the events that unfold during his day in court and how the public perceives them, especially in swing states, Trump may be able to make his case for the presidency from the courtroom.
Jail time for Trump is ‘logistically impossible,’ criminal defense attorney warns
Criminal defense attorney Jonna Spilbor joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss the latest on the NY v. Trump trial and her take on the former president possibly getting jail time over gag order violations on Tuesday.
Spilbor argued that in the nearly dozen days of witness testimony since late April, the prosecution has not presented “one scintilla” of criminality.
“There has not been any criminality shown on the part of the district attorney’s office,” she said.
Spilbor went on to address Judge Juan Merchan’s threat of jail time against Trump. Merchan has fined Trump $10,000 for repeatedly violating the judge’s gag order, which prevents the former president from speaking publicly about witnesses in the case.
Merchan warned that further violations could result in jail time, but Spilbor argues that is never going to happen.
“I don’t think this judge will do it. He’s a joker of a judge,” she said. “The gag order is completely unconstitutional…Jail is just logistically impossible, so this judge can just continue to threaten.”
Where can I read transcripts of the Trump trial?
Former President Trump’s trial marks another “historic step:” the New York Courts releasing daily transcripts of court proceedings.
Many Americans’ eyes are locked on the Trump trial, where the 45th president faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The New York Courts announced earlier this month that it made the “historic step” of releasing daily court transcripts of the trial to the public, allowing people a close look at what happens behind the closed courtroom doors.
A certified transcript of each day’s proceeding will be posted online before the end of the next business day, the courts system has allowed. The transcripts of each day of the trial can be found on its website under the “People v Donald J. Trump.”
The Trump trial is not televised, and select reporters in the courtroom and in an overflow room are releasing details of the trial to the public.
First Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Norman St. George stated in a New York Courts’ press release that the “historic case” has created “unparalleled public interest,” prompting the release of the transcripts.
“I am pleased to join Chief Administrative Judge Zayas in announcing that the trial transcripts – providing a word-for-word account of the proceedings – will be posted daily on our website, giving the public ready access to the full, accurate court record. This will serve to enhance public understanding of the trial with minimum disruption to the courtroom proceedings,” St. George said.
NY v Trump to resume after former president threatened with jail time
The unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump resumes Tuesday morning after the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee was again held in contempt of court, fined, threatened with jail time for future gag order violations, and told he’ll be required to sit in the Manhattan courtroom for at least another two weeks.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to alleged hush money payments but that he did so in furtherance of another crime, conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which is a felony.
On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges.
Monday’s day in court began with Judge Juan Merchan ruling on remaining alleged gag order violations, and ruling, once again, that the former president violated that rule.
Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.
The judge on Monday fined Trump another $1,000 for a Truth Social post about the trial and said he will begin to “consider a jail sentence” for the former president should he violate the gag order again.
This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News’ Brooke Singman
