Trump trial live updates: Latest news from ex-tabloid publisher David Pecker’s testimony

Bad news for MAGA as the popular conservative blog Gateway Pundit is filing for bankruptcy amid a string of defamation lawsuits it is facing.

Launched in 2004, the site has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, school shootings and other topics since its founding and has staunchly promoted by Trump and his allies.

The site was even granted White House press credentials during his administration.

But its peddling of conspiracy theories has landed the blog in hot water in recent years and it is now facing a string of lawsuits alleging it promoted bogus claims about the 2020 election.

In a message posted on the site on Wednesday, the blog’s founder, Jim Hoft, said the outlet had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection “as a result of the progressive liberal lawfare attacks” and that this was “not an admission of fault or culpability”.

Here’s Martha McHardy’s report.

Catch-and-kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends helping friends.

Even by National Enquirer standards, testimony by its former publisher David Pecker at Trump‘s hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died.

“It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of The Enquirer from 2014 to 2017.

“Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.”

Trump’s adult sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, are reportedly playing a central role in drawing up a list of potential candidates to join a second Trump administration in anticipation of their father’s victory over Joe Biden in November’s presidential election.

The brothers are not running the transition team, leaving that responsibility to the Trump campaign’s senior adviser, Susie Wiles, but are instead playing a lead role in vetting prospective officials and staffers on ideological grounds.

By doing so, they reportedly hope to ensure a greater degree of loyalty than the former president experienced during his chaotic first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

Don Jr in particular has made it his mission “to keep the John Boltons of the world outside a second Trump administration”, one insider told Axios, referring to the Republican’s estranged former national security adviser, a foreign policy hawk who has become a potent critic since being dismissed in September 2019.

The Republican presidential candidate/criminal defendant may come to regret bringing up the notorious “Unite the Right” rally in his recent denunciation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American college campuses.

Here’s Graig Graziosi’s report on his distinctly unhelpful comments.

Here’s your livestream link with the trial due to resume again shortly in Manhattan.

Bravo to the redoubtable Maryland Democrat for this.

Well, I guess you asked for it, so here’s a complete transcript of His Majesty’s (somewhat deranged) remarks from yesterday afternoon:

“Today was breathtaking… breathtaking and amazing testimony. So this is a trial that should’ve never happened, this is a case that should’ve never been filed and was really an incredible, an incredible day. Open your eyes and we can’t let this continue to happen to our country.

“On another matter, you know, the economy has just been reported to be doing very badly the stock market’s way down. And some horrible numbers came out, including very high numbers on inflation and in particular gasoline at seven and a half dollars in California and that usually leads the way. It’s going to happen here too.

“And very importantly as you look at the various colleges all over the country and beyond colleges because it’s happening in other areas too. You see what’s happening on the front having to do with Palestine and Israel and protests and hate, anger Biden is sending an absolutely horrible message. Horrible, horrible message. He has no idea how to message. He can’t speak. He can’t put two sentences together. He doesn’t know what to do. This is not a president. This is somebody that shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing. Because he can’t do it again. He can’t do it well.

“We’re having protests all over. He was talking about Charlottesville. Charlottesville was a little peanut. And it was nothing compared, the hate wasn’t the kind of hate that you have here. This is tremendous hate and we have a man that can’t talk about it because he doesn’t understand and he doesn’t understand what’s going on with our country. He doesn’t understand that all over the world we’re being laughed at as a country because of him and his administration.

“And today we had, I hear, because I was forced to be here and I’m glad I was because it was a very interesting day in a certain way. But the US Supreme Court had a monumental hearing on immunity and the immunity having to do with presidential immunity. I think it was made clear, I hope it was made clear, that the president has to have immunity or you don’t have a president or at most you could say it would be a ceremonial president. That’s not what the founders had in mind. We’re not talking about ceremony. We want presidents that can get things done and bring people together. So, I heard it, the meeting was quite amazing coordination as the justices were on their game. So let’s see how that all pans out. But again, I say presidential immunity: very powerful, presidential immunity is imperative, or you practically won’t have a country anymore. Thank you very much.”

The former president’s request to have a new trial in his $83m defamation case with writer E Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexual assault, was denied by a federal court on Thursday.

Judge Lews Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected the motion.

Here’s Eric Garcia’s report.

Our man Alex Woodward is back at the Manhattan Criminal Court once more this morning and says this:

“We are going to have more cross-examination of David Pecker from Trump defence attorney Emil Bove today.

“He didn’t give the judge a timeline for how long he’s going to take, but he’s speeding through questions to cast an overall pall of untrustworthiness in an attempt to impeach Pecker’s credibility on the stand.

“We still haven’t heard from Justice Merchan about the 10 alleged gag order violations, so that could come up.

“He also scheduled a hearing on four more alleged violations for next week.”

You can see the prosecution’s filings on that here and here.

In another media phone-in last night, the defendant rowed back on one of his most notorious catchphrases and insisted again that he is on trial for no reason whatsoever.

There was also plenty of electioneering hyperbole like this, which is simply untrue. “The best economy in history”?? Is that how you remember it America?

Perhaps more significantly, he’s now saying he will only take the stand in Manhattan to defend himself “if it’s necessary”, a big retreat from his earlier posturing on the matter, presumably after being strongly advised against it by Todd Blanche and Emile Bove.