Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump‘s hush money trial will get back underway on Tuesday with further testimony from Gary Farro, the banker for former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, who took the stand at the end of last week.
Cohen was instrumental in making a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair with Mr Trump. The court also heard from the former president’s longtime executive assistant, Rhona Graff.
Judge Juan Merchan is still yet to rule on whether Mr Trump was in contempt of court for violating a gag order imposed on him to stop attacks on witnesses, jurors and court staff.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is understood to have met with Florida governor Ron DeSantis in Miami on Sunday to resolve their differences after a bruising primary rivalry.
Mr DeSantis’s campaign for the GOP nomination ended in disappointment in January and the former president now hopes to capitalise on his influence with Sunshine State conservative donors.
Mr Trump otherwise spent his weekend lashing out at a number of his enemies on Truth Social, reserving particular ire for President Joe Biden and comedian Colin Jost after they joked about him at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Eric Trump praises father’s ‘stamina’ at New York trial
This gushing tribute to the old man’s fortitude was all too easily shot down, as in the tweet below, given the defendant’s constant griping about every aspect of life in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom.
Amazingly, it wasn’t even the silliest thing said on Fox News over the weekend.
Trump is a hero for going to Chick-fil-A, claims Jeanine Pirro.
Joe Sommerlad30 April 2024 06:15
‘Trump may lose his hush money trial – but it’s not his biggest worry’
The former president’s public image may take a bruising in New York, writes Jon Sopel, but his eyes will be fixed firmly on the Supreme Court in Washington – and the promise of immunity.
Oliver O'Connell30 April 2024 04:15
New York hush money trial: Key takeaways from first week of testimony
Trump’s trial is not happening on Monday but will be back tomorrow with more testimony from banker Gary Farro and others.
Here’s Kelly Rissman on what we learned from week one proper.
Oliver O'Connell30 April 2024 02:15
Trump invites himself to the White House to debate Biden
The former president turned criminal defendant has suddenly begun to put pressure on his successor to debate him, despite refusing to appear on stage with his rivals for the Republican nomination last year.
Speaking outside of Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, he proposed the White House as the ideal venue for such a contest, which Biden has said he is more than willing to be part of.
Here’s more on Trump’s challenge from Andrew Feinberg, Eric Garcia and Josh Marcus.
Oliver O'Connell30 April 2024 01:15
Biden trails Trump in poll showing RFK Jr winning one in six voters
Here’s more from John Bowden on CNN’s latest poll suggesting RFK Jr is having a serious impact on the presidential race, no doubt a major factor behind Trump’s sustained attack on the Kennedy family’s black sheep over the weekend.
Oliver O'Connell30 April 2024 00:15
Stuck in court, Trump turns his criminal trial into his campaign
The last place Donald Trump wants to be is seated at a defence table, muted, in a courtroom in New York City, surrounded by reporters, for six to eight weeks.
A man who is used to spending his days golfing, surrounded by loyalists at his Florida resort, raging at network news, and traveling to makeshift arenas for rallies where his name is everywhere is instead entering the second week of witness testimony in the first-ever criminal trial of an American president.
But like his civil fraud trial down the street from the downtown Manhattan courthouse where he is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records, the former president is relying on the cameras staged in the adjoining hallway to cast himself as a victim of political prosecution, the defining feature of his 2024 presidential campaign.
That rhetoric is amplified in his campaign’s messages to supporters in increasingly absurd and false characterisations of what’s happening in court, where he pits his word against the reporters in the room and the official court transcript.
Alex Woodward has the full story from the courthouse in Manhattan.
Josh Marcus30 April 2024 00:10
Watch: Lincoln Project debuts new ad with an intended audience of one
Per The Lincoln Project:
As Trump stews every night at Trump Tower, the Lincoln Project has released a new “audience-of-one” ad that’s bound to have him chucking his happy meal at the wall in despair. “Guilty” features a whispering voice speaking directly to Trump about all the ways he’s ruined his life and how the walls are closing in.
“Trump falls asleep in the courtroom because he stays up all night dejected, afraid and all alone. He’s rattled at the prospect of being thrown into a court holding cell,” said Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project. “So while he rots away while essentially confined to Trump Tower, we want to make him feel the claustrophobia of prison as much as possible.”
The ad will run digitally geofenced at Trump Tower this week.
Oliver O'Connell29 April 2024 23:45
Arizona Republican charged in election subversion case elected RNC committeeman
Gustaf Kilander has the details:
Oliver O'Connell29 April 2024 23:15
OAN restracts false story about Michael Cohen
Rightwing news outlet OAN has agreed to a legal settlement and to retract a false article about former Trump fixer Michael Cohen.
Cohen’s lawyer Danya Perry tweeted: “Today OAN has announced it is retracting a false story about my client @MichaelCohen212. This is a total vindication for Mr. Cohen -- and a warning: Mr. Cohen is telling the truth, and there will be legal consequences for those who lie about him.”
Oliver O'Connell29 April 2024 22:23
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·