Trump risks breaking gag order as Sidney Powell pleads guilty – live

Donald Trump is being trolled after he said he would be “willing to go to jail” for the sake of democracy.

At a campaign event on Monday in Iowa, the former president told supporters: “I am willing to go to jail if that’s what it takes for our country to win and become a democracy again.”

Mr Trump is currently facing a number of criminal indictments, at both the federal level and in state cases in New York and Georgia.

One such indictment relates to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, for which he could receive a maximum sentence of 55 years.

Mr Trump is accused of conspiring to defraud the United States by preventing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory and conspiring to deprive voters of their right to a fair election.

Martha McHardy has the story.

A trial stemming from a $250m lawsuit against Donald Trump, his adult sons, chief associates and his business empire is proceeding without a jury in a Manhattan courtroom.

Judge Arthur Engoron is presiding over the bench trial in New York Supreme Court after his stunning 35-page decision granting New York Attorney General Letitia James a partial judgment in her favour stemming from claims in her lawsuit, which alleges a decade of fraud that exaggerated the former president’s net worth by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The judge determined that a trial isn’t necessary to determine that Mr Trump’s financial statements were fraudulent, resolving a key allegation in the case, with six other so-called “causes of action” from the lawsuit left to be resolved.

Mr Trump has repeatedly lashed out at the judge, who has been baselessly accused of launching a political attack against the former president. But Mr Trump and his co-defendants could have avoided an outcome determined by Judge Engoron if their attorneys simply requested a jury.

The judge explained during the first day of the trial on 2 October that the case has no jury because neither side had “asked” for one.

No one’s heard directly from the former first lady, but her husband — the defendant — says she’s not amused by it and like him thinks it amounts to “election interference”.

Donald Trump likes to toss around eye-watering sums when estimating the value of his Florida private club Mar-a-Lago — often in the same sentence.

“The house is worth a billion, a billion and a half, $750m,” Mr Trump said in meandering remarks outside his civil fraud trial in New York on Tuesday.

It was “the most expensive house, probably, in the world,” he added.

The true value of Mar-a-Lago has been a hotly contested subject ever since Mr Trump was ruled to have fraudulently inflated the value of his commercial and residential properties from New York to Florida in order to deceive banks and officials to claim favourable tax and insurance rates.

According to public Palm Beach property records, Mar-a-Lago was valued at $37m as of 1 January 2023, up from $31m a year before.

Bevan Hurley has the story…

A woman identified as an employee of New York’s court system was arrested after approaching the front of a courtroom and calling out for Donald Trump during the 12th day of a civil trial alleging the former president and his business empire fraudulently inflated his net worth and assets for years.

The woman, whose name had not yet been released, “disrupted” the hearing on 18 October after approaching the defence table where Mr Trump was seated with his attorneys, according to a statement from a New York courts spokesperson shared with The Independent.

She began “yelling out to Mr Trump indicating she wanted to assist him,” according to the statement.

Donald Trump has now suggested that he could also travel to Israel following President Joe Biden’s historic wartime visit on Wednesday.

The former president spoke to reporters during a break in his New York civil fraud trial on Wednesday – a case that threatens to topple his business empire in the Big Apple and land him with $250m in financial penalties.

“If I was president, Israel would not have been attacked. It was visually attacked. It would not have been attacked,” he said.

“Ukraine would not have been attacked. You take a look at what’s going on throughout the world. The world right now is a mess, it’s a mess. And it’s a very sad day.”

When asked if he plans to head to Israel, Mr Trump replied: “I may. I may go, I may go.”

Rep Don Bacon of Nebraska, another GOP member who didn’t vote for Mr Jordan, told Politico that his wife received texts and emails, urging her to convince her husband to back Mr Jordan.

Gustaf Kilander reports on the barrage of threats and intimidation reported by those who will not back the firebrand rightwing Ohio rep to be Speaker of the House.

Donald Trump claims that “Trump/Developer hating judge” Justice Arthur Engoron is afraid of New York Attorney General Letitia James and “does whatever Letitia demands” in his latest pre-trial morning post on Truth Social.

The former president wrote:

The New York State A.G., Letitia James, who sued me on a Statute NEVER USED BEFORE for such a case, had a bad day in the RIGGED trial going on in Lower Manhattan. Her appraiser witness was a disaster on the stand, and her ridiculous valuations were shown to be incorrect, without even discussing the $18,000,000 Value she ascribes to Mar-a-Lago. This trial is a giant Democrat Scam, with a Trump/Developer hating Judge who does whatever Letitia demands. He is totally afraid her, but fortunately has been overturned on many occasions by the Court of Appeals, including in our case, WHICH DECISION HE REFUSES TO EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE -Showing great disrespect to the Appellate Court. Businesses are watching this Witch Hunt Trial, and moving out of New York – And definitely not moving in!

Sidney Powell, charged in connection with a sweeping criminal case tied to Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, has pleaded guilty under an arrangement with prosecutors ahead of a closely watched trial set to begin in coming days.

Ms Powell – among Trump-linked attorneys who launched a spurious, failed legal campaign to overturn election results – was accused of playing a central role in an effort to seize voting machines in the volatile aftermath of the 2020 presidential election in January 2021.

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of six years and her cooperation in other cases.

A 2021 lawsuit involving a “Trump Train” of motorists swarming a Biden campaign bus during the 2020 elections has been settled by the San Marcos city of Texas.

The lawsuit was filed against the City of San Marcos over the handling of the incident which the complainants said was harassment, intimidation, and heckling of Biden-Harris campaign supporters.

Campaign staff, volunteers, and former state senator Wendy Davis filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the city for not providing assistance or a police escort when their bus became encircled by a pro-Trump caravan on Interstate 35.

The legal action contended that, during the highway encounter, San Marcos Police Department personnel responded with laughter and jest when asked for assistance.