Trump returns to court for New York fraud trial: Live updates

The case in Colorado is among dozens of legal challenges across the country that throw Mr Trump’s eligibility into question, pointing to a constitutional amendment that prohibits anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding public office.

Alex Woodward has been following the course of the case for The Independent.

The New York Attorney General’s office doesn’t want testimony from Eli Bartov, the NYU accounting professor who’s coming up shortly, “repeating subject matters already covered” by other expert witnesses.

“Having two experts testifying the same way … on the same issues … is quite frankly a waste of time,” says Kevin Wallace with the NY AG’s office.

Bartov is now on the stand and sworn in and Trump attorney Jesus Suarez is questioning him, and going over his qualifications.

Donald Trump is seated in Justice Arthur Engoron’s courtroom awaiting the testimony of NYU professor Eli Bartov.

The former president is seated between his attorneys Alina Habba and Christopher Kise. Eric Trump, his second son and co-defendant, is dutifully sitting nearby.

Frank Runyeon of Law360 notes: “Bartov once testified at trial for Attorney General Letitia James during her ill-fated lawsuit against Exxon.

“Bartov’s 2019 testimony did not go so well. He repeatedly misidentified Exxon as ‘Enron’, frustrating the judge and attorneys.”

Nearly three years since the violence, Republicans are seeking to rewrite the narratives around January 6 to frame it either as a normal peaceful protest in part of the American tradition or as a set-up by federal law enforcement. It also comes as the de facto leader of the party, Mr Trump, has said if he is re-elected, he would pardon inmates, even as he faces a federal investigation for his role in the riot and efforts to overturn the election.

The former president posted on Truth Social:

Heading to a Witch Hunt with a Crooked Judge and a Bats..t CRAZY (and Racist!), A.G. This case was decided against me before it even started. WE WON AT THE APPELLATE DIVISION, BUT HIGHLY POLITICAL AND DISRESPECTFUL JUDGE ENGORON REFUSES TO HONOR THEIR ORDER!

Alex Woodward reports from Lower Manhattan:

There are only two defence witnesses left in Donald Trump’s fraud trial, and the former president is one of them.

He’s expected to return to New York County Supreme Court on Thursday for the first time in more than a month, but not as a witness. He’s expected to sit with his attorneys at the defence table inside Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom in lower Manhattan, where he will watch testimony for the first time since he left the court after his own time on the witness stand last month.

On Thursday, he will be watching testimony from the second-to-last defence witness, Eli Bartov, a New York University accounting professor.

Trump is scheduled to return to the court on Monday, where he will be sworn in to testify a second and final time as his legal team wraps up its defence in a case that threatens his family business and its real estate empire.

The trial, now in its 10th week, is expected to conclude next week. The judge is likely to issue a final judgment by the end of January.

Trump’s appearance on Thursday also marks his first time in court since a gag order that blocks him from disparaging court staff was upheld by an appeals court after court filings revealed the scale of death threats and abusive messages sent to Judge Engoron and his chief clerk following Trump’s social media attacks.

His attorneys have tried to appeal to the state’s highest court, but a judge on Monday denied his attempt to fast-track arguments, effectively ensuring that Trump will remain under the gag order during his appearance on Thursday, his testimony on Monday, and any remaining business in the trial next week.

In a filing to a state appeals court on Wednesday, attorneys for Judge Engoron warned that “the only potential harm” with overturning the gag order “is the risk of violence” against his staff.

“Any purported harm to Mr Trump’s (and his co-petitioners’) First Amendment rights is risible,” they wrote.

“Given the totality of the circumstances here, including the very real risk of harm to court staff, this Court should find that Justice Engoron exercised his discretion and authority in issuing the narrow gag orders and that such orders have not interfered with petitioners First Amendment rights.”

A lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump, his two adult sons and their chief associates under the Trump Organization umbrella of defrauding financial institutions with grossly inflated estimates of his net worth and assets over a decade.

Judge Engoron’s pretrial judgment already found the defendants liable for fraud, so the trial will determine what damages they could face, and whether the attorney general succeeds on other claims in the lawsuit, including insurance fraud and conspiracy.

The defence team has introduced several expert witnesses over the last several weeks to testify about the Trump Organization’s business practices, including defence around how he created the statements of financial condition – the allegedly fraudulent documents sent to his financiers – and how the valuations of his properties in those documents were more like an art form, not a science.

“Only in America,” he wrote. “I helped lead Republicans to a House majority—twice. We got more Republican women, veterans and minorities elected to Congress at one time than ever before. I remained cheerfully persistent when elected speaker because I knew what we could accomplish.”

On 3 October, Mr McCarthy became the only speaker in US history to be removed following the filing of a motion to vacate.

Gustaf Kilander has the full story.

His supporters heard his comments loud and clear.

“‘Dictator Trump’ is nothing more than a MEME. But, I was thinking about it, and ‘Dictator Trump’ doesn’t sound so bad. I honestly wouldn’t mind. Sounds like a good way to Make America American again,” wrote far-right activist and failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer, whose social media posts routinely appear on Mr Trump’s Truth Social account.

“One day is all he needs,” added far-right influencer Jack Posobiec.

On The Donald forum, users called for “brutal iron fist Trump” and a Trump “that will give us the blood of the corrupt.”

“One day is all he needs, then the left will be totally wiped off the planet like scum to bleach,” another user wrote.