Trump takes another step towards arrest

Trump takes another step towards arrest after he repeated his assault on witnesses and jurors in the criminal trial

The judge presiding over the criminal trial in which Donald Trump is accused of paying a porn star to hide an intimate relationship he allegedly had with her threatened the former Republican president with jail time again on Monday after he ignored the prohibition to verbally attack witnesses and jurors in Trump trial, reports AFP.

Donald Trump, who aspires to a new presidential term this year, was sentenced last Tuesday to pay a fine of 9,000 dollars for violating the imposed ban. The court then found nine violations of this kind, thus imposing a fine of one thousand dollars for each of them and warned him that in case of recurrence, he risks the arrest.

But now the same judge, Juan Merchan, fined Trump another thousand dollars, after "violating his order by publicly commenting on the panel of judges and the way it was selected". At the same time, the judge once again warned the former president that any future violation of that provision makes him liable to "imprisonment".

In the lawsuit, launched on April 15, Trump is accused of falsifying accounting records of the Trump Organization to cover up a $130,000 payment he allegedly made before the 2016 presidential election to former porn star Stormy Daniels for for her to keep silent about a relationship they allegedly had in 2006.

Before the opening of the Trump trial, the judge forbade the former president to publicly attack witnesses and jurors. In messages on his social network Truth Social, Trump specifically attacks his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who has now become one of his bitter enemies and a key witness for the prosecution in this Trump trial. Also, the former president suggests that the members of the Trump trial panel are not impartial related to arrest.

Trump is indicted in four cases and has already been sentenced to heavy fines in two civil suits, all of which he considers politically orchestrated against him by the Democrats of incumbent Joe Biden, whom he would face again in the presidential election in November .

Trump trial: Madeleine Westerhout was questioned

The old White House helps get emotional on the stand

Madeleine Westerhout, former director of Oval Office operations at the White House, became emotional on the stand, making her the second former White House aide to break down in tears during the trial after Hope Hicks did the same last week.

“I very much regret my youthful indiscretion,” she said, explaining that she left the White House after sharing information with reporters at an off-the-record dinner.

Fighting back tears, Westerhout said she had “grown up a lot since then.”

Before joining the Trump administration, Westerhout worked at the Republican National Committee, where she recalled the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape that "rocked" Republican leaders - saying "there were discussions about how it would be possible to replace [Trump] as a candidate if it came to that.

 Westerhout's cross-examination continues Friday morning.

2 witnesses briefly take turns on the stand

After Stormy Daniels finished her testimony and left the stand, prosecutors called two additional witnesses in succession.

Rebecca Manochio, an accountant at the Trump Organization, testified about her role in sending checks for Michael Cohen and others to Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., for his signature. She testified that she first sent them to the home of Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, but then sent them to John McEntee, a Trump White House aide.

Then Tracy Menzies, head of publishing at HarperCollins, read excerpts from Trump's 2007 book, "Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life," including: "My motto is : “Always take revenge”. When someone screws you over, screw them over in spades” and “I value loyalty above all else”.

Trial proceeding on time, says Merchan

Judge Merchan told jurors the trial was set to end in six weeks.

Prosecutors had previously suggested they could wrap up their case as early as the end of next week, but said it would most likely wrap up early the following week. The defense will then present its arguments, followed by the state's rebuttal.

The trial schedule could depend on how long lawyers seek to question Michael Cohen, the case's star witness, when he takes the stand.

Trump Trial: Stormy Daniels Crude Testimony

presidential election

A third week of debates concludes Friday at the trial of Donald Trump in New York, marked by the marathon testimony of former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, beneficiary of the hidden payments which are worth these unprecedented criminal proceedings against a former American president.

The week opened on Monday with a new warning shot from judge Juan Merchan, who after having imposed a series of fines on him for verbally attacking witnesses and jurors, threatened him with prison in the event of recidivism.

The other star witness in this trial, Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the actress $130,000 in the last days of the campaign for the 2016 presidential election, won narrowly by the Republican candidate, could be called to the stand as early as next week. Michael Cohen, who says he acted at his request, turned against his former boss.

In the midst of campaigning against outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, the Republican candidate is being tried for 34 counts of accounting falsification for concealing the reimbursement of sums to the lawyer in the accounts of his holding company, the Trump Organization. He risks conviction and potentially a prison sentence, with still incalculable consequences on the electorate.

Although the facts are less serious than those with which he is accused in the three other criminal proceedings against him, this trial is all the more important as it could be the only one to be held before the November 5 election.

Only Donald Trump's federal trial in Washington for illicit attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election could still begin before this deadline, provided that the Supreme Court quickly rejects the immunity he claims as a former -president.

- Accountant, editor, assistant -

Like every day, upon his arrival at the Mahattan court on Friday, he denounced a "horrible" trial intended, according to him, to prevent him from campaigning.

Since its opening on April 15, the trial has alternated moments of legal drama and dry, highly technical sequences.

Thus, after the extensive testimony Tuesday and Thursday of Stormy Daniels who recounted in great detail the fleeting sexual relationship she claims to have had with him in 2006, and fought step by step the defense's attempts to discredit her story.

An affair that Donald Trump, then already married to his current wife Melania, categorically denies.

After Stormy Daniels, an employee of the accounting department of the Trump Organization took the stand on Thursday, an editor questioned about the publication of one of the real estate mogul's books, then one of his direct assistants at the House Blanche, Madeleine Westerhout.

Will testify again Friday morning.

One of the challenges of the debates is to determine what Donald Trump knew about these behind-the-scenes negotiations to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels.

If he were elected again, once inaugurated in January 2025, he could order the abandonment of the two federal proceedings against him, in Washington but also in Florida (southeast), where he is being prosecuted for withholding documents. classified after his departure from the White House.