Trump fraud trial disrupted as court employee yells out at him – live

The Biden campaign has taken its trolling of former president Donald Trump to the next level, by announcing that it has joined his Truth Social platform.

A Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News on Monday that it plans to use its new Truth Social presence to combat misinformation – but also admitted it had joined Mr Trump’s social network site “mostly because we thought it would be very funny”.

They also said that President Joe Biden plans to “[meet] voters where they are” adding that: “Republicans can’t even agree on a speaker of the House, so clearly, not every Republican thinks the same.”

“We will be leveraging the fact that Republicans can sometimes be our best messengers,” the spokesperson added.

The first post from @BidenHQ read: “Well. Let’s see how this goes. Converts welcome!”

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.

Donald Trump was hit with a gag order by the judge in his civil fraud trial in New York after just a day and a half into a trial that is scheduled to run until almost Christmas.

But what is a gag order and what are the potential repercussions for Mr Trump in this trial and in the myriad of legal proceedings he faces in the coming months?

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.

Alex Woodward has the details.

Thousands of miles away in Washington DC, the blame game has already begun.

Images of the violence have enraged supporters of Israel and Palestine alike across America, and with the 2024 presidential election looming in the background, efforts to politicise the conflict have begun in earnest.

That was clear over the weekend as every Republican candidate in the race blamed Joe Biden and his administration for the outbreak in violence — a result, they say, of the Biden administration’s softened approach towards Iran. The Iranian government’s involvement in the conflict has been hotly debated, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s support for Hamas well known but no clear evidence yet pointing to Iranian tactical or military support for the militants involved in the fight today. A Wall Street Journal report directly linked Iran’s government to the weekend attacks on Israel, citing senior Hamas and Hezbollah members, but has since been contradicted by statements from US officials.

Even Israel’s government seems conflicted over whether Iran is directly involved in the renewed fighting.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday imposed a partial gag order restricting Donald Trump’s ability to make “disparaging or “inflammatory” comments about people or entities involved in the election interference case pending against him in Washington DC, after a contentious hearing in which his attorneys repeatedly made political arguments in response to legal questions from the veteran jurist.

Judge Chutkan rejected arguments by Mr Trump’s attorneys who frequently cited his status a candidate for president — something she had called irrelevant to the proceedings on more than one occasion — and claimed putting any restrictions on what he can discuss as he campaigns would violate his right to free speech

She said that even though the defence had “sought to represent every statement as part and parcel of Mr. Trump’s first amendment right to argue that this prosecution is politically motivated,” the First Amendment protections cited by Mr Trump’s counsel most “yield to the administration of justice and the protection of witnesses” with a “narrowly-tailored order to protect those interests”.

“This is not about whether I like the language Mr Trump uses. This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice,” she added.

Former President Donald Trump is appealing a narrow gag order that bars him from making statements attacking prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff in his election interference case in Washington, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Trump’s lawyers said in court papers that they will challenge an order from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan that restricts Trump’s public statements about the case accusing him of scheming to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team sought the order against the Republican 2024 presidential front-runner over a litany of verbal attacks from him on likely witnesses and others. Prosecutors say Trump’s incendiary rhetoric is designed to undermine the public’s confidence in the judicial process and taint the jury pool.

During a court hearing on Monday, Chutkan said Trump can criticize the Justice Department generally and assert his belief that the case is politically motivated. Her order also explicitly says Trump is allowed to criticize the campaign platforms or policies of his political rivals, like former Vice President Mike Pence — who is both a competitor for the GOP nomination and a likely witness in the case.

Chutkan, however, said Trump can’t mount a “smear campaign” against prosecutors and court personnel. The judge, who was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama, repeatedly expressed concern that Trump’s rhetoric could inspire his supporters to violence.

Trump slammed the gag order as he returned to court Tuesday for his civil fraud trial, insisting he is “not saying anything wrong.” His lawyers told the judge that the former president is entitled to criticize prosecutors and that the court should not to be able to restrict his First Amendment rights.

Legal experts have said Chutkan’s gag order may be just the beginning of an unprecedented fight over what limits can be a placed on the speech of a defendant who is also campaigning for America’s highest public office. The issue could ultimately end up at the US Supreme Court.

At rallies and in social media posts, Trump has repeatedly sought to vilify Smith, other prosecutors, likely witnesses and even the judge. He has called prosecutors a “team of thugs,” called Chutkan “very biased and unfair,” and referred to one potential witness as a “gutless pig.” Prosecutors also cited a post in which Trump suggested that Mark Milley, the then-retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had committed treason and should be executed.

The case, which accuses Trump of scheming to subvert the results of the election, is scheduled to go to trial in March. It’s one of four criminal cases Trump is facing while he campaigns to return to the White House in 2024. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

The former president posted a pre-recorded video on his Truth Social platform over the weekend, where he wildly appeared to compare himself to a baby eaten by its own parents.

“The Republicans eat their young, they really do, and it’s a terrible statement but it’s true,” he said.

“And that’s the problem with so many in our party; they just don’t have the loyalty and the strength to stick together.”

In the rambling clip, Mr Trump, 77, also called fellow Republicans Utah Senator Mitt Romney and Former House Speaker Paul Ryan “losers” and “RINOs”.

In Atlanta, Judge Scott McAfee has denied Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell’s motions to dismiss their criminal charges in Georgia on Supremacy Clause and First Amendment grounds.

The former Trump lawyers are two of Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the sprawling case laid out by Fulton County Attorney General Fani Willis. They both demanded speedy trials and will be tried together starting on 23 October.

Here’s what you need to know about the Georgia indictment:

On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to express solidarity with the state after the deadly attack from Hamas. In addition, Mr Biden responded to an explosion at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza that provoked outrage by saying that US intelligence indicated the explosion was caused “by the other team.”

Meanwhile, back on American soil, the House of Representatives entered its third week without a speaker as Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), the rightwing firebrand, failed to win enough votes to lead the lower chamber of Congress.

The split screen likely gives Mr Biden more than a small amount of glee, while many Americans see that his advanced age is not only a drawback. His 36 years as a US senator, particularly as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his eight years as vice president, also give him wisdom and experience in handling international crises. Meanwhile, Republicans can’t even corral 217 votes to elect a speaker despite having the majority.

But what is being broadcast is just as notable as what isn’t being broadcast: news stories about former president Donald Trump. This isn’t for a dearth of coverage. As is always the case with the four-times-indicted and twice-impeached former president, a flurry of headlines always follow Mr Trump.