Trump loses fraud case gag order appeal: Live – The Independent

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Appeals court rejected challenge to order prohibiting him from speaking publicly about court staff
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Donald Trump has lost a bid to overturn the gag order imposed on him in his New York civil fraud trial prohibiting him from attacking court staff.
Testimony in the former president’s civil fraud trial has wrapped and Justice Arthur Engoron will hear oral arguments on 11 January and aims to deliver his final judgement by the end of that month.
The jury in Rudy Giuliani‘s multimillion-dollar defamation trial about his false claims against Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman regarding the 2020 election, will continue deliberations on Friday morning, having met for 2.5 hours today.
Jurors will decide how much the former New York mayor should pay in damages, having heard emotional testimony about their lives were destroyed by his lies.
Meanwhile, US district court judge Tanya Chutkan has officially stayed all deadlines in Mr Trump’s federal election interference case, pending resolution of his presidential immunity appeal.
Mr Trump is accused of trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and the trial is technically still scheduled for 4 March 2024.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to a request from special counsel Jack Smith to hear the immunity case on an expedited basis.
Late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel gave some of our favourite Christmas songs the Donald Trump treatment on Wednesday night as he promoted a spoof holiday album by the former president.
In a fake record titled “MAGA-nificent sounds of Christmas,” Mr Kimmel and his team set the weird sounds that Mr Trump sometimes emits ― like “bing, bong, bing, bong” ― at rallies and interviews to holiday classics including “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night”.
The songs were played during a fake commercial before viewers were told they were “available exclusively by the cash register at T.J. Max”.
Martha McHardy has the story:
In a fake record titled ‘MAGA-nificent sounds of Christmas,’ Mr Kimmel and his team set the weird sounds that Mr Trump sometimes emits to holiday classics
The Associated Press reports:
The man charged with setting a small fire at the courthouse hosting Donald Trump's civil business fraud trial burned papers bearing complaints about criminal justice, prosecutors said Thursday.
Wednesday's fire forced an evacuation of the main Manhattan civil court building hours after testimony wrapped up in the former president's trial. But there was no indication the two events were related.
The 38-year-old man was arraigned Thursday on attempted arson and reckless endangerment charges. Bail was set at $50,000 cash or $150,000 bond.
It's not clear what brought the man to the courthouse, familiar to many TV viewers as a backdrop for "Law & Order," "Night Court" and other shows.
While on the fourth floor late Wednesday afternoon, the man set ablaze papers with handwritten criticisms of the criminal justice system, prosecutors said at his arraignment at a criminal courthouse down the street.
They said that after the man ignited the documents, he pulled an alarm and started dousing them with a fire extinguisher.
"I started the fire, then I put it out," he told a court officer, according to a court complaint.
Here’s our earlier reporting on the incident:
Man was arrested after he allegedly set fire to papers inside the New York State Supreme Court
This is awkward…
Graeme Massie reports:
Donald Trump’s former fixer wants early termination of supervised release
Lawyers for Donald Trump told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that it should not speed up its consideration of whether the former president is immune from prosecution, accusing federal prosecutors of trying to rush his 2020 election subversion case through before next year’s presidential election.
The issue is of paramount significance to both sides given the potential for a protracted appeal to delay a trial beyond its currently scheduled start date of 4 March 2024 — amid the 2024 presidential primaries.
The former president faces charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election after he lost to Democrat President Joe Biden, and he has denied doing anything wrong. He also faces three other criminal cases in addition to civil cases.
In their filing, the Trump team also accused Special Counsel Jack Smith, whose team has brought two federal cases against Trump in Washington and in Florida, of being like the fictional character the Grinch from the Dr Seuss children’s books in his attempts to spoil their Christmas.
Special counsel accused of trying to ‘keep Christmas from coming’ by asking Supreme Court for quick action on presidential immunity decision
The jurors will meet again tomorrow having deliberated for approximately 2.5 hours this afternoon after lunch.
Judge Beryl Howell has told them to come back at 9am to resume deliberations.
Donald Trump has taken the New York civil fraud trial especially personally given that it strikes at the heart of the mythology that he has built up around himself regarding his wealth and business acumen. Therefore, he will likely never stop talking about it.
Today, his emphasis is on claiming he is worth billions more than his “very conservative financial statements” [Wouldn’t that have tax implications? 🤔]
Here’s what he wrote on Truth Social this afternoon:
My Financial Statements were extremely “undervalued,” as opposed to “overvalued,” which totally disproves and nullifies the New York State Attorney General’s politically biased and motivated (“I will get Trump!”) Fake Lawsuit against me. In other words, I am worth Billions of Dollars more than is shown on my very Conservative Financial Statements, THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE A.G. WITCH HUNT!!! In addition to that, I have a 100% Disclaimer and Non-reliance Clause, stating CLEARLY that the user must do their own analysis and due-diligence. That’s what the banks stated IN Court that they did, and were PAID IN FULL, ON TIME AND ON SCHEDULE. NO VICTIMS, ONLY SUCCESS AND PROFITS. Hopefully, Judge Engoron, who should have never taken this NON JURY Trial, or should have dismissed it long ago, will show that the New York State Judicial System is ALIVE, RESPECTED, AND WELL. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
After 44 days across more than two months, witness testimony in a civil trial that could imperil Donald Trump’s real estate empire has concluded.
Final testimony on Wednesday morning closed a key chapter in a lawsuit that strikes at the heart of the former president’s persona as a successful businessman, a narrative that launched his presidential campaign and is now at the centre of a blockbuster lawsuit alleging a decade of fraud.
But the trial isn’t over just yet.
Lawyers for both parties will file their final briefs to the court by 5 January.
Closing arguments are scheduled for 11 January, and New York County Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron said he plans to issue a final ruling before the end of next month.
A ruling is expected by the end of January in a case that threatens the former president’s business empire
Mitt Romney will not endorse a candidate in the Republican presidential primary, saying that his support would likely hurt a candidate more than help.
Mr Romney, who was the 2012 Republican nominee for president, has emerged as the foremost critic of former president Donald Trump within the Republican Party. Mr Romney voted to convict the former president in both of Mr Trump’s impeachment trials.
But the senator told The Independent that he will refrain from endorsing a candidate because he does not want them to be tied to his criticism of the former president.
Eric Garcia spoke with the senator:
The 2012 Republican presidential nominee is leaving the Senate at the end of the Congress
An appeals court in New York has shot down Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn gag orders that block him and his attorneys from speaking out about New York County Supreme Court staff during his civil fraud trial.
Last week, the state appeals court rejected the former president’s last-ditch attempt to fast track an appeal of the orders before he was scheduled to testify as a headlining defence witness in a case that threatens the future of the Trump Organization and his vast real estate empire.
He backed out of testifying hours before he was due in court, claiming that he “wanted” to testify but that the judge overseeing his case took away his “constitutional right to defend myself.”
On Thursday, a four-page ruling from a three-judge appeals court panel found that the “gravity of potential harm” against him is small and denied his attempt to overturn the orders.
An appeals court ruling deals another blow to the former president one day after trial testimony ended
The US Supreme Court will hear a case of a January 6 defendant that could potentially affect former president Donald Trump’s legal battles.
The Supreme Court will hear the case of Joseph Fischer, who was charged for his role in the riot at the US Capitol on January 6. Prosecutors also charged Edward Lang and Garrett Miller for obstructing an official proceeding after they disrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
During the Capitol riot, Mr Fischer encouraged rioters to “charge” and “hold the line,” and also had a “physical encounter” with at least one law enforcement officer. He had reportedly sent text messages saying “If Trump don’t get in we better get to war,” and wanted to take Democratic officials “to the gallows.”
All three of the men argue that Mr Fischer could not have obstructed a congressional proceeding because of the fact that Mr Fischer arrived at the Capitol after Congress had already recessed.
A January 6 rioter’s claim that he did not obstruct a congressional proceeding could have ramifications for Trump’s case
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Donald Trump
AP
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