Trump trial live: David Pecker to testify again after claiming Trump was ‘upset’ when model affair story broke

Here’s Kelly Rissman with a comprehensive round-up of Thursday’s events from Manhattan.

According to Pecker’s testimony yesterday, Trump’s interest in the Karen McDougal story did not end with its initial suppression and his victory in the 2016 election.

Instead, he continued to keep tabs on McDougal’s contractual agreement with American Media Inc to keep quiet through at least his first year in office, with Pecker recounting several incidents in which Trump asked after “our girl” and another in which he raged at the publisher after the story finally became public and the model was interviewed by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in March 2018.

Here’s more from Alex Woodward.

Pecker, who will be back on the stand for probably the final time today for more cross-examination from Trump attorney Emile Bove, also revealed on Thursday that he previously had a similar “catch-and-kill” arrangement with Hollywood actor Arnold Schwarzenegger during his run to be governor of California.

His name came up, along with those of other celebrities like Mark Wahlberg and Tiger Woods, when Pecker was asked about how commonplace his “checkbook journalism” antics were.

Here’s Alex Woodward on that too.

Back in Manhattan, the former National Enquirer was back on the stand for his third day of testimony about his magazine’s “catch-and-kill” game.

Pecker testified that he agreed to spend tens of thousands of dollars to buy and then bury politically compromising stories about Trump with the assurance that “the boss will take care of it”.

That promise, allegedly from Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, gave the ex-American Media Inc chief the green light to pay Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 to buy the rights to her story of an alleged affair with the then-presidential candidate.

Alex Woodward was there and sent this report.

On the final day of arguments for this term, the nine justices questioned lawyers for Trump and Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for three hours, toying with whether or not American presidents should be awarded broad, some or no immunity from criminal prosecution.

Here are Ariana Baio’s takeaways from the hearing.

Trump is right that it was a “BIG DAY IN COURT(S)” yesterday, with the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on his dubious “presidential immunity” defence and his hush money trial picking up in New York.

In DC, the justices appeared poised to offer Trump and future US presidents some form of protection from criminal prosecution over actions carried out while in the White House while rejecting broad absolute immunity, acknowleding the “huge implications” of their eventual decision.

Ariana Baio has this report on a monumental day, which could have major repercussions for this year’s presidential race, let alone the future of American democracy.

Good morning! Let’s take a look at Trump’s latest social media output, shall we?

Still absolutely refusing to learn his lesson regarding the gag order in the hush money trial, he has again referred to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg as “Soros backed” and claimed, preposterously, that the case “has completely fallen apart” and that “Virtually every Legal Scholar and Expert has stated that there is no Crime, there never was.”

Have they? You’d think we would have heard about that by now.

Meanwhile, he’s continued to push his lie that the New York City authorities are suppressing (non-existent) mass MAGA protests outside the courthouse and posted further Fox News clips attacking the “sham” trial.

Elsewhere, he’s back to trashing Morning Joe and The New York Times again like 2017 never ended but is curiously quiet on the subject of the Supreme Court, indicating, perhaps, that he realises just how pivotal the justices’ eventual ruling will be to his fate.

The FCC on Thursday restored “net neutrality” rules that prevent broadband internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T from favoring some sites and apps over others.

The move effectively reinstates a net neutrality order the commission first issued in 2015 during the Obama administration; under then-President Donald Trump, the FCC subsequently repealed those rules in 2017.

Net neutrality is the principle that providers of internet service should treat all traffic equally. The rules, for instance, ban practices that throttle or block certain sites or apps, or that offer higher speeds to customers willing to pay extra.

Donald Trump has claimed that the antisemitic, white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 was “peanuts” compared to the current pro-Palestine demonstrations across US college campuses.

“Joe Biden would say, constantly, that he ran because of Charlottesville,” he wrote, referencing the 2020 election.

“Well, if that’s the case, he’s done a really terrible job because Charlottesville is like a ‘peanut’ compared to the riots and anti-Israel protests that are happening all over our Country, RIGHT NOW.”

Graig Graziosi has the story:

Donald Trump vowed to beat President Joe Biden in the 2024 election in New York as he made a surprise campaign stop at a construction site in Manhattan early on Thursday morning – on a day when testimony resumes in his hush money trial and the US Supreme Court hears arguments in his “presidential immunity” case.

“We’re going to make a play for New York,” Mr Trump told reporters at the event.

Martha McHardy has the story: