Trump faces Cohen in court as another ex-lawyer pleads guilty: Live

“That four threshold is very tough. It’s a very tough thing, no matter who it is. There’s only one person that can do it all the way. Do you know who that is? Jesus Christ,” Mr Trump said.

Allies of former president Donald Trump have begun working to take down the speakership bid of House GOP Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

Those close to Mr Trump began sniping at the Minnesota lawmaker in the media on Friday, with far-right outlet Real America’s Voice declaring that Mr Emmer is “Nancy Pelosi in a suit”.

Mr Emmer and his staff worked overtime over the weekend making calls, including one to Mr Trump. The call between Mr Trump and Mr Emmer has been described as cordial, even as Mr Trump has been telling associates that he doesn’t want Mr Emmer as speaker, bothered by his vote to certify the 2020 election and believing that he hasn’t been sufficiently defending him in public amidst his broadening legal woes.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.

Mr Kelly talked about his role in Mazars’ compilation of Donald Trump’s annual statements of financial condition.

He says his involvement began in 2019 and was to deal with the subpoenas the firm received from various government bodies investigating Mr Trump and his businesses, including Congress, the Manhattan District Attorney, and the New York Attorney General.

Mr Kelly says Mazars decided to stop working for the Trump Organization in May 2021.

“We received information, and circumstances had changed as such that we made the decision to discontinue services to the Trump Organization,” he says, adding that the decision came about in connection with a subpoena from the Manhattan DA regarding CFO Allen Weisselberg’s activity at the Trump Organization.

“[Weisselberg] was our main contact at the Trump Organization for… providing us financial information,” Mr Kelly says. “If his representations to us…[were] compromised, we could no longer rely on him as CFO and we could no longer perform our engagements.”

The court was shown a subsequent letter from Mazars to Weisselberg, saying that Trump’s statements of financial condition from 2011 to 2020, which the firm helped prepare, should no longer be relied upon.

“I failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and I value election integrity,” says Ellis. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse.”

First up on the witness stand is William (Bill) Kelly, the general counsel for Donald Trump’s former outside accounting firm Mazars.

Mr Kelly is testifying pursuant to a subpoena.

“[Michael Cohen] is a proven liar … a felon, served a lot of time as a liar … He’s a liar trying to get a better deal for himself, but it’s not going to work,” says Donald Trump on his way into the courtroom.

Attorney Christopher Kise begins proceedings by saying that four members of the New York Attorney General Letitia James’s team had tested positive for Covid [hence no court yesterday], and no precautions were taken until the weekend.

He says they likely exposed Trump’s team, the court staff and others in the courtroom.

“It seems … that nothing else matters except pursuing President Trump. … Frankly, it’s irresponsible,” said Kise.

“We have the leading candidate for the president of the United States in this courtroom. Exposing that risk… If I had not notified the court of some risk, the attorney general would be up in arms.”

They argue that there is no reason to proceed under these circumstances, but counsel for the Attorney General’s office says they’ve been following all CDC guidelines.

Judge Arthur Engoron says: “Masks are available. I’m going to proceed.”

Michael Cohen has arrived at the courthouse in Lower Manhattan for his highly anticipated testimony in the civil fraud trial of Donald Trump.

He is not the first witness on the stand today.

Former president Trump, wearing a blue tie and blue shirt, is seated at the defence table between lawyers Christopher Kise and Alina Habba.

Alex Woodward reports from inside the courtroom:

A civil fraud trial stemming from a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Donald Trump begins its fourth week with testimony from one of his own former longtime attorneys, now a star witness against him in a case that could see his business empire in New York collapse.

New York County’s Supreme Court in lower Manhattan was busier than usual on Tuesday morning, as a crowd of reporters and photographers snaked their way through two security checkpoints into Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom, where the former president is expected to sit across from one-time “fixer” Michael Cohen when he takes the witness stand.

Judge Engoron has already determined that a trial isn’t necessary to prove Attorney General Letitia James’s allegations that Mr Trump, his adult sons and chief business associates fraudulently inflated his net worth and assets over a decade to obtain favourable financial benefits.

He determined that a court-appointed monitor would oversee the dissolution of his businesses in the state, though a state appeals court has blocked that decision for now.

Cohen – who was imprisoned after pleading guilty in 2018 to tax and campaign finance violations and lying to Congress – also was involved with the alleged hush-money payments at the centre of a separate criminal case in New York charging Mr Trump with falsifying business records to snuff out compromising stories of his affairs in the leadup to the 2016 election.

Earlier this month, the former president dropped his own $500m lawsuit against his former attorney accusing him of causing “vast reputational harm” for speaking about the hush-money payments.

Mr Trump’s expected return to court on Tuesday also marks his first appearance at the trial – which he is not obligated to attend – since he was hit with a $5,000 fine for violating a gag order that prohibits any party in the case from disparaging court staff.

The former president has repeatedly lashed out at Ms James and Judge Engoron, and he posted false claims about the judge’s chief clerk on his Truth Social, which drew the gag order in the first place. A version of the post remained on his website, prompting the judge to hit him with a fine with a warning that he could face severe consequences if he breached the order again.

She becomes the fourth of 19 defendants in the case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to plead guilty.

A new charging document was filed by the clerk of the Fulton County Superior Court with one count listed, that of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.

This is a developing story…