Trump trial live updates: Latest news from former tabloid editor David Pecker's testimony

Here's the latest on Trump Media and Technology, the parent company of Truth Social, whose stock price has fluctuated quite a bit since its recent listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, but is at least making someone a few bucks.

Bad news for MAGA as a popular conservative blog Gateway expert files for bankruptcy amid a series of defamation lawsuits.

Launched in 2004, the site has been a hotbed of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, school shootings and other issues since its inception, and has been vigorously promoted by Trump and his allies.

During his tenure, the website even received White House press approval.

But the spread of conspiracy theories has landed the blog in trouble in recent years and is now facing a series of lawsuits alleging it spread false claims about the 2020 election.

In a message posted to the site on Wednesday, the blog's founder, Jim Hoft, said that the blog had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection “due to the progressive liberal lawfare attacks” and that this was “not an admission of guilt or guilt.”

Here is Martha McHardy's report.

Catch and kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends help friends.

Even from National Investigator The testimony of its former publisher David Pecker at Trump's hush money trial this week revealed a staggering level of corruption at America's best-known tabloid and could one day be seen as the moment it actually went under.

“It just has no credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, editor-in-chief of The researcher from 2014 to 2017.

“Whatever credibility it had was completely damaged by what happened in court this week.”

Trump's adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are reportedly playing a central role in drawing up a list of potential candidates to join a second Trump administration in anticipation of their father's victory over Joe Biden in November's presidential election.

The brothers are not leading the transition team, leaving that responsibility to Trump campaign senior adviser Susie Wiles, but are instead playing a leading role in vetting future officials and staff on ideological grounds.

They are reportedly hoping to achieve a higher level of loyalty than the former president during his chaotic first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021.

Don Jr. in particular has made it his mission to “keep the John Boltons of the world away from a second Trump administration,” said an insider Axiosand was referring to the Republican's former national security adviser, a foreign policy hawk who has become a strong critic since his firing in September 2019.

The Republican presidential candidate/defendant may regret bringing up the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in his recent condemnation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American college campuses.

Here is Graig Graziosi's report on his clearly unhelpful comments.

Here is your livestream link to the trial, which will resume shortly in Manhattan.

Bravo to the dreaded Maryland Democrat for this.

Well, I guess you asked for it, so here is a full transcript of His Majesty's (somewhat deranged) remarks from yesterday afternoon:

“Today was breathtaking… breathtaking and amazing testimony. So this is a trial that should never have happened, this is a case that should never have been filed and it really was an incredible, an incredible day. Open your eyes and we cannot allow this to continue to happen to our country.

“Also, it was just reported that the economy is doing very badly while the stock market is plummeting. And some terrible numbers came out, including very high numbers on inflation and particularly the price of gasoline at seven and a half dollars in California, and that's usually the front runner. It will happen here too.

“And that's very important when you look at the different colleges across the country and beyond, because this is happening in other areas too. You see what's happening on the front lines, what has to do with Palestine and Israel, with protests and hatred, anger. Biden is sending an absolutely terrible message. Terrible, terrible news. He has no idea how to send messages. He can't speak. He can't put two sentences together. He doesn't know what to do. That's not a president. This is someone who shouldn't be doing what he's doing. Because he can't do it again. He can't do it well.

“We have protests everywhere. He talked about Charlottesville. Charlottesville was a bit peanut. And it was nothing compared to that, the hate wasn't the kind of hate you have here. This is tremendous hate, and we have a man who can't talk about it because he doesn't understand what's going on in our country. He doesn't understand that we as a country are being laughed at around the world because of him and his government.

“And today we had that, I hear, because I was forced to be here and I'm glad I was because it was a very interesting day in some ways. But the U.S. Supreme Court had a monumental hearing on immunity and immunity related to presidential immunity. I think it's been made clear, I hope it's been made clear, that the president must have immunity or there will be no president, or at most you could say it would be a ceremonial president. The founders didn't have that in mind. We're not talking about ceremony here. We want presidents who can get things done and bring people together. I heard the coordination of the meeting was pretty amazing as the judges were in full swing. Let's see how this all turns out. But again, I say presidential immunity: Very powerful, presidential immunity is mandatory, otherwise you'll essentially have no country left. Thank you.”

The former president's request for a new trial in his $83 million libel case against writer E Jean Carroll, who accused him of sexual assault, was rejected by a federal court on Thursday.

Judge Lews Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied the request.

Here is Eric Garcia's report.

Our man Alex Woodward is back at Manhattan Criminal Court this morning and says the following:

“Today we will have another cross-examination of David Pecker by Trump defense attorney Emil Bove.

“He hasn't given the judge a timeline for how long it will take him, but he rushes through the questions to create a general impression of unreliability in an attempt to impeach Pecker's credibility on the stand.

“We still haven't heard from Judge Merchan about the 10 alleged violations of the gag order, so that could come up.

“He has also scheduled a hearing for next week on four additional alleged violations.”

You can view the relevant files from the public prosecutor's office here and here.