Trump hush money trial live updates: David Pecker details ‘catch-and-kill’ scheme as ex-president claims MAGA crowd turned away

In April 2020, then-President Donald Trump suggested that Covid-19 could be treated with a “disinfectant” by “injection or almost a cleaning” inside the body.

“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that,” he said from the White House at the time.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden ridiculed his remarks during a campaign speech to union leaders.

“Remember when he was trying to deal with Covid and he said ‘just inject a little bleach in your vein?’ He missed. It all went to his hair,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he said to applause and laughter. “You guys are a bad influence on me.”

In his remarks during a campaign event to the North America’s Building Trade Union National Legislative Conference in Washington, President Joe Biden said of his rival Donald Trump: “The guy has never worked a day in the working man’s boots”

“He learned that telling people you’re fired was something to laugh about,” the president told the group of union workers and organisers.

“Not my household, not my neighbourhood,” he added. “I guess that’s how you look at the world from Mar-a-Lago where Trump and his rich friends embrace the same failed trickle-down policies that have failed working class families and union families for over 40 years.”

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is the first witness in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial. Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels also are expected to take the stand within the coming days.

Ariana Baio breaks down the cast of characters in the case:

New York’s court system is uploading daily transcripts of Donald Trump’s criminal trial “to ensure broad and continuous public access to this extraordinarily high-profile case.”

“With current law restricting the broadcasting of trial proceedings and courtroom space for public spectators very limited, the release of the daily transcripts on the court system’s website is the best way to provide the public a direct view of the proceedings in this historic trial,” Chief Administrative Judge Zayas said in a statement this week.

“This measure is in the interest of the public good and aligns with the court system’s commitment to judicial transparency and its ongoing efforts to enhance public access to, and understanding of, the courts and justice system.”

Transcripts will generally be available within a business day after the hearing.

The Independent will continue to report from the courtroom sharing updates as they happen.

New York Justice Juan Merchan has denied a motion from Donald Trump’s attorneys to subpoena adult film star Stormy Daniels for materials related to her documentary – as well as his lawyer’s demands for communications from Michael Cohen and others.

In an order on Tuesday, Judge Merchan called the requests “overbroad” and outside the bounds of the case at hand.

A request for “all documents relating to communications” with “Michael Cohen or his representatives; Karen McDougal; E Jean Caroll; Jessica Leeds; or Natasha Stoynoff” also was rejected as “overbroad” and “not limited to the subject matter” of the hush money case.

The second day of trial testimony in Trump’s hush money case continued with David Pecker, the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer.

He walked the jury through his relationship with Trump; the arrangement concocted during the 2016 campaign to ensure unflattering stories died; and how that scheme was put into practice — including a plan to bury a bogus story of an alleged affair, which Pecker said could’ve been the magazine’s biggest story since the death of Elvis Presley.

Except it has. To him. Twice.

The former president faces a gag order in his civil fraud trial that prevents him and other parties in the case from publicly attacking court staff and their families. He also faces a gag in his federal election interference case that blocks him from attacks against witnesses, court staff and other lawyers.

Yet Trump is once again lashing out at the gag order in his criminal case in Manhattan where he is forbidden from publicly attacking witnesses and court staff and their families, which he is calling “totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL” in his latest Truth Social post.

“The Gag Order imposed on me, a political candidate running for the highest office in the land, is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Nothing like this has ever happened before,” he wrote on Wednesday.

“The Conflicted Judges friends and party members can say whatever they want about me, but I am not allowed to respond,” he added. “The Trial is Rigged and should never have been allowed to take place on a charge that virtually every legal scholar and expert say is bogus, THERE IS NO CRIME. This is a Political Witch Hunt – ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”

New York Justice Juan Merchan is expected to rule at any point between now and Thursday morning on whether the former president can be held in contempt and fined for his attacks against witnesses in the case.

Good morning from New York, where Donald Trump’s criminal trial is nearing the end of its second week.

As a reminder, there are no trial days on Wednesdays – for now.

Justice Juan Merchan has scheduled proceedings to begin at 9:30am and wrap at 4:30pm, with some exceptions, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He anticipates the trial running for five to seven weeks.

But he has mentioned that if the trial is running behind for any reason, he could put Wednesdays on the calendar.

The Daily Show host was in fine form this week satirising the breathless TV coverage of the defendant’s daily arrival at court but got well and truly owned by a fellow correspondent over his opposition to “fun”.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has wildly claimed, without any evidence, that Democrats want Trump to be “murdered in jail”.

The right-wing lawmaker made the remarks during an interview with Infowars host Alex Jones, in which she suggested that the four criminal cases Trump is facing are an intentional effort by his political rivals to imprison the former president until he dies.

She added that Democrats are also attempting to strip Trump of his presidential Secret Service detail to accomplish their goal.