David Pecker returns to the witness stand for the fourth day as defense attorneys try to poke holes in his testimony, which has described helping bury embarrassing stories Trump feared could hurt his campaign.
Pecker so far has painted a portrait of “catch and kill” tabloid schemes — catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then killing it through agreements that prevent the paid person from telling the story to anyone else.
Trump, on trial in New York, is trapped in courtroomChad Groening, AFN.net A conservative activist says he joins others in their concern for Donald Trump’s unfair treatment during his New York trial. Once again, the presumptive GOP nominee for president was forced to spend the day trapped in a New York City courtroom during his hush money trial while President Joe Biden is free to campaign. Meanwhile, the presiding judge has still not ruled on the prosecutor’s request to sanction and fine Trump over social media posts that allegedly violate a gag order in the trial. Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, has expressed concerns about the case and says Trump’s attorneys must find some way for the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. 
Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, says he is concerned that a judge can force a presidential candidate to remain in the courtroom. “But the Supreme Court's not going to take that case on unless somebody brings the case,” Bauer observes, “and for whatever reason Donald Trump's attorneys have not brought the case. So there must be some concern that they have." |
The cross-examination, which began Thursday, will cap a consequential week in the criminal cases the former president is facing as he vies to reclaim the White House in November.
The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the encounter ever happened.
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments and falsely recorded them as legal expenses.
Meanwhile, the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, moved a hearing on Trump's alleged gag order violations to next Thursday, avoiding a conflict with his scheduled campaign events next Wednesday.
Merchan had initially set the hearing for next Wednesday, the trial’s regular off day. Trump is scheduled to hold campaign events that day in Michigan and Wisconsin. His lawyers have urged the judge not to hold any proceedings on Wednesdays so he can campaign.
The hearing — now set for 9:30 a.m. next Thursday, May 2 — pertains to a prosecution request that Trump be penalized for violating his gag order this week on four separate occasions.
The order bars Trump from making comments about witnesses and others connected to the case. Merchan is already mulling holding Trump in contempt of court and fining him up to $10,000 for other alleged gag order violations.
Trump argues it's unfair to not allow him to respond to verbal attacks from many of his political enemies.
