Takeaways from Day 6 of the Donald Trump criminal hush money trial
CNN
Judge Juan Merchan appeared poised on Tuesday to sanction Donald Trump for violating the gag order in his criminal hush money case after peppering the former president’s lawyers with questions about why Trump’s social media posts were acceptable.
Judge Juan Merchan appeared poised on Tuesday to sanction Donald Trump for violating the gag order in his criminal hush money case after peppering the former president’s lawyers with questions about why Trump’s social media posts were acceptable. Tuesday began with a hearing on Trump’s 10 alleged violations of the gag order, and it ended with former American Media Inc. chief David Pecker talking about how he vetted allegations of an alleged affair between Trump and Playboy playmate Karen McDougal in 2016 while in constant communication with Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen. (Trump has denied the affair.) Even with an abbreviated day for the Passover holiday, the one-two punch of the gag order violations and the testimony about the “catch-and-kill” deals to bury negative stories about Trump during the 2016 election added up to a frustrating day in court for Trump, who fumed about the news coverage of the trial and the limitations of the judge’s gag order. Pecker will return to the stand on Thursday after court is dark on Wednesday. He has spoken now about two of the three catch-and-kill deals – but not adult film star Stormy Daniels, which is likely coming on Thursday. Here are takeaways from Tuesday’s day in court: Merchan issued the gag order before the trial began, limiting Trump from publicly discussing witnesses, the jury or the district attorney’s staff. Merchan expanded the order, which Trump has appealed, to cover his own family after Trump attacked his daughter.
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