Trump slams Meadows’ ‘immunity deal’ as Cohen showdown resumes: Live

The central piece of testimony during Michael Cohen’s time on the stand yesterday came pretty early in the day, as Cohen outlined how the former president tapped him to come up with fraudulent statements of financial condition that reflected what Trump wanted.

Under questioning from counsel with the New York Attorney General’s office, Cohen said he was “tasked by Mr Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected.”

Cohen and convicted former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg were instructed to “reverse engineer the various different asset classes – increase those assets – in order to achieve the number that Mr Trump had tasked us with,” Cohen said.

Asked by counsel for the attorney general’s office what that number was, Cohen replied: “Whatever number Mr Trump told us to.”

Alex Woodward sent this report from the New York Superior Courthouse in Lower Manhattan as we await the beginning of proceedings on the sixteenth day of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial.

When he left his civil fraud trial on Tuesday, Donald Trump learned that one of his codefendants in Georgia pleaded guilty and that his former White House chief of staff has agreed to an immunity deal in a federal case against the former president.

Inside the courtroom, Trump spent the day watching testimony from his former attorney Michael Cohen, who appeared unfazed by Trump’s attorneys’ attempts to humiliate him into admitting crimes he had already gone to prison for. On the stand, Cohen repeatedly pinned the blame on fraudulent financial documents at the centre of the case on the man staring at him from just a few feet away.

It was a bit like bowling with the bumpers on. Trying to undermine the credibility of a convicted felon on the witness stand would play well to a jury, but there is none in this case. New York Judge Arthur Engoron knows all about Michael Cohen, and he has already determined that a trial isn’t necessary to show that Trump, his adult sons and chief associates spent years defrauding banks and insurers by using financial statements that grossly inflated his net worth and assets.

The former president is returning to the courtroom in lower Manhattan for a second consecutive day in the trial’s fourth week, as his attorney Alina Habba is set to resume her cross-examination of Cohen after several heated exchanges on Tuesday afternoon.

New York Attorney General Letitia James took her seat one row behind her team inside the courthouse on Wednesday morning as Secret Service and New York court officers surveyed the room. The former president’s attorneys trickled in shortly after 9.30am.

Trump, meanwhile, has used the trial’s large press pool to speak out against the witnesses, the judge and Ms James, while raising money for his campaign and relying on his attorneys to delay and deflect.

In a post on his Truth Social as reporters were queueing outside the courthouse, he once again blasted a “very partisan and angry” judge, the “corrupt” attorney general, and the “rigged” trial against him and his business empire. He claimed that Republicans now “have the right” to target their political opponents “when we assume office”.

Donald Trump congratulated Rep Mike Johnson (R-LA) after he became the fourth Republican nominee for speaker in three weeks following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Mr Trump took to Truth Social on Wednesday morning, just a day after he helped end the speakership bid of Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) after just a few hours following his nomination earlier on Tuesday.

The vote on the House floor on the speakership of the fourth Republican nominee for the top job in the lower chamber is expected at noon.

After three weeks of infighting, backstabbing, and chaotic wrangling, Republicans appear more unified behind Mr Johnson than behind any of those that came before him – including Reps Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer (R-MN) – but nothing is certain in this Republican Party.

The House GOP has churned through 14 candidates, and now four nominees – including Mr Johnson – in 22 days since the ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on 3 October.

Late on Tuesday night, Mr Johnson crossed the threshold needed within the Republican conference when he received 128 votes in an internal ballot – far from the 217 votes he needs in a chamber with 433 out of 435 seats currently filled.

Read more of Gustaf Kilander’s report from Washington, DC.

In another post on Truth Social this morning before he heads back to court, a boisterous Donald Trump claims that “the good news, that even the Fake News is seeing, is that the facts are ALL on my side!”

Big talk considering the judge has already ruled against him and his company in a pre-trial ruling.

Nevertheless, while also claiming that it is a “RIGGED TRIAL, right out of a Banana Republic” it means that Republicans have “the right to do the same thing when we assume office” before specifically naming President Joe Biden.

Here’s that post in full as he heads back to Lower Manhattan:

I will soon be leaving for Crooked Joe Biden’s “Political Opponent Court” in Lower Manhattan. I have a very partisan and angry Judge, a Corrupt Attorney General, and am not allowed a Jury Trial under the Statute they have chosen to use (for the very first time ever!). The good news, that even the Fake News is seeing, is that the facts are ALL on my side! I BUILT A GREAT COMPANY, FAR BIGGER & STRONGER THAN ANYONE HAD ASSUMED! This is a RIGGED TRIAL, right out of a Banana Republic, but sadly, it gives the Republicans the right to do the same thing when we assume office…And remember, Crooked Joe Biden is the most CORRUPT (and Incompetent!) President in the history of the U.S., VERY FERTILE GROUND THERE, but very bad for our Country! This unfair political Witch Hunt is causing companies to leave New York at a record pace. They don’t want this to happen to them!

Trump attorney Alina Habba, pacing the front of a lower Manhattan courtroom with a series of direct questions on 24 October, pressed Cohen to admit he previously lied to a federal judge and asked him whether his wife knew he committed tax crimes – an exchange that drew thunderous objections from Cohen and counsel with the office of New York Attorney General, whose lawsuit threatens to blow up Mr Trump’s business empire.

“Your honour, this witness is completely out of control,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise said.

Alex Woodward filed this full report from the courthouse:

Donald Trump began his day by offering his congratulations and sending his love to House Republicans for their “big and very important day” on Tuesday, claiming that “even the Fake News Media is impressed” with how they chose a fourth nominee for Speaker [which begs the question of what media he was consuming].

The former president added that he was not going to make an endorsement but his “strong SUGGESTION” was for members to back leading candidate Mike Johnson.

Here’s the post in full:

Congratulations to Congressional Republicans! Yesterday was a big and very important day. It gave us a quick and easy way forward with 5 candidates who are beyond reproach, and represent the absolute best there is in the Republican Party. Even the Fake News Media is impressed with what took place yesterday and, more importantly, with the Candidates themselves. Congratulations to Reps. Byron Donalds (Florida), Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (Tennessee), Mark Green (Tennessee), & Roger Williams (Texas), & the ultimate winner of yesterday’s vote, by a significant margin, Mike Johnson (Louisiana). I am not going to make an Endorsement in this race, because I COULD NEVER GO AGAINST ANY OF THESE FINE AND VERY TALENTED MEN, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory. In 2024, we will have an even bigger, & more important, WIN! My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST! LOVE, DJT

Mark Meadows, the ex-North Carolina congressman who served as Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff during his last year in office, has told prosecutors that he personally warned Mr Trump that claims of fraud tainting the 2020 election had no basis in reality.

According to ABC News, Mr Meadows admitted that the then-president had been “dishonest” with the American public when he began floating the outrageous allegations in the wake of his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden during one of several sessions with prosecutors — including sworn testimony before a federal grand jury”.

The former top White House aide reportedly told prosecutors: “Obviously we didn’t win”.

Mr Meadows’ admissions that Mr Trump had lost the election and his concession that the loss was not tainted by fraud contradicts much of what he has recounted about that time period in his book, The Chief’s Chief.

He has also repeatedly parroted the ex-president’s baseless claims in interviews with right-wing media outlets.

Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s speaker bid lasted only four hours before he dropped out in the face of steadfast opposition from a number of right-wing members of the House Republican conference.

Mr Emmer won the nomination on Tuesday for speaker after five rounds of internal voting, but it quickly became clear that he wouldn’t reach the 217 votes needed on the floor of the House.

Shortly after Mr Emmer received the backing of fellow Republican congressmen, former President Donald Trump – who had spent the day sitting in a New York courtroom where he is accused of fraud – launched a furious attack on him.

Donald Trump was greeted by a protester chanting “lock him up” as he arrived in New Hampshire to file for the state’s Republican primary ahead of a rally with supporters in the afternoon.

The ex-president was seen greeting supporters as he stepped out of a black vehicle, surrounded by Secret Service agents. A man was heard chanting “lock him up! Donald Trump!” into a megaphone for a few seconds before journalists were shooed away by handlers with the Trump campaign.

Mr Trump filed his name as a candidate in the 2024 election on Monday ahead of a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, where he is likely to address his ongoing legal battles as well as, potentially, some of his GOP rivals for the nomination. But he has largely depicted the 2024 Republican primary as decided, even going as far as refusing to attend debates with candidates who significantly trail him in the polls.