Donald Trump at a Fox News townhall on 5 December 2024
Donald Trump was back in court on Thursday at the Trump Organization’s New York fraud trial, in his ninth appearance at the courthouse. As the trial nears its conclusion, Mr Trump will testify again on Monday — still under a gag order after a judge denied an attempt to fast-track an appeal.
Before lunch, there was a testy exchange between defence expert witness Eli Bartov and a lawyer for the attorney general’s office in which accusations of paid testimony and fabricated fraud allegations were hurled. In a lighter moment, the former president stopped to speak with the courtroom sketch artists and, inspecting their work, noted he should lose some weight.
Meanwhile, in the federal election case against Mr Trump, his lawyers have filed an appeal against Judge Tanya Chutkan’s denial of a motion to dismiss under presidential immunity. They have also asked for a stay in proceedings that could potentially delay the trial from its March start date.
Elsewhere, as 10 pro-Trump fake electors in Wisconsin settled a civil case against them for their part in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, a grand jury in Nevada indicted six Republicans for a similar scheme.
