Trump's lawyers grill ex-tabloid publisher as 1st week of hush money trial testimony nears a close
CTV
After prosecutors' lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch-and-kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday sought 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.
After prosecutors' lead witness painted a tawdry portrait of “catch-and-kill” tabloid schemes, defence lawyers in Donald Trump's criminal trial on Friday sought 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 returned to the witness stand for the fourth day as defence attorneys try to poke holes in his testimony after he described helping bury embarrassing stories that 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 benefit Trump by delaying that trial, potentially until after the November election.
In New York - the first of Trump's four criminal cases to go to trial - the presumptive Republican presidential nominee faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments meant to stifle negative stories from surfacing in the final days of the 2016 campaign.
Trump denies any wrongdoing. Before entering the courtroom Friday, he told reporters he believes Thursday's proceedings went “very well” for the defence, adding that “the case should be over.”
Prosecutors allege that Trump sought to illegally influence the 2016 race through a tabloid industry practice that involves catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then killing it through agreements that prevent the paid person from telling the story to anyone else.
The Bucharest court of appeals ruled on Thursday against sending internet personality Andrew Tate to trial on charges of human trafficking and sent the case back to prosecutors.
Elon Musk derided a Republican-backed government spending bill that if not passed by Friday night would lead to a government shut down.
A teen charged with killing three girls and wounding 10 other people in a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England this summer remained silent in court Wednesday as not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.
Wrapping up their own investigation on the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol attack, House Republicans have concluded it's former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney who should be prosecuted for probing what happened when then-President Donald Trump sent his mob of supporters as Congress was certifying the 2020 election.
Hannah Kobayashi, the Hawaii woman whose disappearance last month sparked a weekslong search complete with grainy surveillance images and tearful family, says she was unaware of 'everything that was happening' while she was out of touch.
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is escalating his legal campaign against media outlets by suing renowned pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register newspaper and its parent company Gannett.
A teenage student opened fire with a handgun Monday at a Christian school in Wisconsin, killing a teacher and another teenager during the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in the German parliament on Monday, putting the European Union's most populous member and biggest economy on course to hold an early election in February.
Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 30 people including several children.
Planned face-to-face peace talks between Congo and Rwanda have been unexpectedly canceled, the Congolese president said.
The commander of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk group of forces has been replaced following Russian advances in the region, a military official said Saturday.