Trump hush money trial concludes its first week as ex-president rants about presidential immunity: Live updates

The former first lady has so far shied away from the trail during the 2024 campaign but today will attend a Mar-a-Lago event hosted by the LGBT+ group the Log Cabin Republicans.

Gustaf Kilander has the story:

And the courtroom is “freezing”:

Gustaf Kilander has the details:

On Thursday, prosecution attorney Joshua Steinglass asked about the court’s preference for potential witnesses to be present for other witnesses’ testimony.

Defence lawyer Todd Blanche requested the names of the first three witnesses, but Steinglass says that while he would usually as a courtesy, he won’t because Trump has been threatening them on social media.

Blanche suggested that no, Trump wouldn’t do that, to which Judge Juan Merchan said that he couldn’t make that promise on behalf of the former president.

“I don’t think you can make that representation,” he said.

That’s possibly a good indicator of how next Tuesday’s hearing on the gag order violations will go…

The issue popped up again on Friday.

Trump attorney Susan Necheles asked for the name of at least one witness that prosecutors want to introduce.

“Whether you get the name or not, you’re not going to delay the trial. You won’t,” Judge Merchan said.

Steinglass said rather than giving any names then, instead, prosecutors will introduce the name of a witness who could testify on Monday on Sunday night and if Trump talks about that person, that’s the last time they will do that.

After a long week in court, what better way to blow off steam than pushing that caps lock key and letting rip on your very own social media platform?

Here’s what is on Donald Trump’s mind this morning:

IF IMMUNITY IS NOT GRANTED TO A PRESIDENT, EVERY PRESIDENT THAT LEAVES OFFICE WILL BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED BY THE OPPOSING PARTY. WITHOUT COMPLETE IMMUNITY, A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PROPERLY FUNCTION!

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on presidential immunity on 25 April (more on that here).

Mr Trump followed that with:

THIS SCAM “RUSHED” TRIAL TAKING PLACE IN A 95% DEMOCRAT AREA IS A PLANNED AND COORDINATED WITCH HUNT THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT 8 YEARS AGO, BUT EVERYBODY PASSED. INSTEAD THEY WAITED AND BROUGHT IT RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WORST AND MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT EVER, CROOKED JOE BIDEN. IT IS BEING PRESIDED OVER BY POSSIBLY THE MOST CONFLICTED JUDGE IN JUDICIAL HISTORY, WHO MUST BE REMOVED FROM THIS HOAX IMMEDIATELY. I DID NOTHING WRONG!

Charges were brought against the former president after a thorough investigation that was presented to a grand jury of citizens of New York who voted to indict Mr Trump. President Joe Biden has no influence or jurisdiction over local or state criminal courts.

TRUTH SOCIAL IS THE REAL VOICE OF AMERICA!!!

While it is streets ahead of other rightwing platforms (such as Gettr, Gab, and Parler), its number pales in comparison to X, formerly Twitter, which has approximately 500 million monthly active users and on which the former president still has 87 million followers (though doesn’t use the account).

Donald Trump’s campaign appears to once again be falsely characterising the former president’s exit from his New York criminal trial, claiming that he “stormed” out of the courtroom on Friday.

Trial proceedings will wrap up early on Monday and Tuesday for the Passover holiday.

Court will run from 9.30am until 2pm with no break for lunch on both days. The defence has requested both days off.

A Texas appeals court has ruled that Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton can face discipline from the state bar association over his failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

A disciplinary committee of the State Bar of Texas accused Paxton in 2022 of making false claims of fraud in a lawsuit that questioned President Joe Biden‘s victory. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals said Paxton can be sanctioned by the committee because the lawsuit seeks to punish him in his personal capacity as an attorney and not as a public official.

“The focus of the Commission’s allegations is squarely on Paxton’s alleged misconduct — not that of the State,” Judge Erin Nowell, an elected Democrat, wrote in the 2-1 opinion.

The lone Republican on the panel, Judge Emily Miskel, was in dissent.

In a historic week for America, Donald Trump appeared in a Manhattan courtroom as a criminal defendant for the very first time.

Jury selection began in the so-called hush money trial on 15 April, lasting around four days before the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates were sworn in to hear the first ever criminal trial of a sitting or former president.

The former president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments given to cover up alleged affairs ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Here’s how the week unfolded: