Trump plans to deliver own closing statement at fraud trial: Live

Trump intends to personally deliver part of the defence’s closing argument at the conclusion of his civil fraud trial in New York on Thursday, according to a report by ABC News.

The Republican is a defendant alongside his two eldest sons, Don Jr and Eric, as well as two former Trump Organization executives.

They are represented by lawyers Christopher Kise, Clifford Robert and Alina Habba but Trump is reportedly keen to give part of the closing argument himself.

ABC News says their sources say the plans remain fluid.

The former president posted a slew of video messages to Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon, four of which were directly about the judge in the case, Justice Arthur Engoron.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.

In case you missed the news overnight, Donald Trump’s mother-in-law Amalija Knavs has died at the age of 78 after a battle with illness.

Melania Trump first revealed the news of her mother’s passing on social media and the former president has since joined her in paying tribute on Truth Social.

Trump had previously told supporters that his wife was busy caring for her mother in a “great hospital” in Miami to explain her absence from the family’s Christmas photos and New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago.

Shweta Sharma has this report.

“We have an economy that’s so fragile, and the only reason it’s running now is it’s running off the fumes of what we did. It’s just running off the fumes,” the Republican front-runner claimed during a Lindell TV interview with Lou Dobbs aired on Monday evening.

“And when there’s a crash — I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president I just don’t want to be, Herbert Hoover.”

He was alluding to the US 31st president, who succeeded Calvin Coolidge at the tail-end of the Roaring Twenties before swiftly being hit by the Wall Street Crash in the autumn of 1929 and then drummed out of office in March 1933 as the Great Depression bit.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.

Attorneys for Donald Trump claim that the former president didn’t have “fair notice” that his attempts to reverse his Georgia loss in the 2020 presidential election could result in criminal charges against him.

Attorneys for the former president want the case dismissed on grounds that he has “presidential immunity” from actions while in office, that he was already acquitted for similar allegations in his second impeachment trial, and that he was never told that what he was doing in the state – where he is charged as part of an alleged racketeering scheme to unlawfully subvert the state’s election results – could be prosecuted.

The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case and the prosecutor who brought it before the court both appear been targeted by “swatting” incidents at their respective homes.

Police and fire trucks arrived at Judge Tanya Chutkan’s home after false reports of a shooting on Sunday night, reported NBC News.

A police report obtained by the outlet states that officers with the Metropolitan Police Department responded to a call at around 10pm and that the judge, who was not named in the report, was at home when they arrived on the scene.

Donald Trump lost yet another attempt to avoid a trial stemming from a defamation lawsuit from E Jean Carroll, after a federal appeals court panel in New York refused to rehear his “immunity” defence one week before the trial is set to begin.

A single-page order from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday declined to hear his request for the case to be heard in front of the court’s full 13-member panel. Mr Trump’s next option is to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

The trial is scheduled to begin in a federal courtroom in Manhattan on 15 January.

There’s no word yet from Donald Trump himself about the death of his mother-in-law. But that doesn’t mean he’s not posting.

In fact, at the time of writing, Mr Trump has made four posts to his own social network Truth Social since his wife Melania announced the passing of her mother Amalija Knavs – all unrelated to the family tragedy.

Two posts lauded Fox News commentator Jesse Watters for criticising the criminal prosecutions against Mr Trump. One post included a clip from Fox News host Laura Ingraham saying that “most Republican voters” only trusted Mr Trump to lead them.

His most recent post, at 9:46pm Eastern Time, is a video of US senator John Barrasso endorsing Donald J Trump for president in 2024.

That is not counting four “ReTruths”, analogous to retweets on Twitter, sharing posts by pro-Trump news outlet Revolver News that lionised Steve Bannon and accused Democrats of “importing third world illegals to stay in power”.

Of course it’s possible that these posts were all scheduled in advance – notwithstanding Mr Trump’s documented penchant for tweeting while he watches cable TV.

We’ll let you know if and when he elects to comment.

The mother of former first lady Melania Trump has passed away at age 78.

Ms Trump announced earlier tonight that Amalija Knavs, a Serbian clothing worker who became a US citizen in 2018, had passed away after an illness.

“Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law,” Ms Trump said.

President Biden on Monday warned that America is living through an era of a “second lost cause” as former president Donald Trump seeks to reclaim the White House by continuing to argue that he did not lose the 2020 election to Mr Biden three years ago. Mr Biden compared Mr Trump’s refusal to accept that result to former confederates who claimed that the US Civil War was not fought over slavery.

Mr Biden, who travelled from Washington to the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, early Monday, opened his remarks by recalling the 2015 mass shooting at the church which claimed the lives of nine people including the church’s top pastor.

Speaking from the church’s pulpit, the president recalled how the convicted murderer who’d carried out the shooting had been invited into the church for bible study by the very people he killed, and said the “word of God” that day had been “pierced by bullets and hate and rage,” and “propelled” by the “poison” of white supremacy.

Andrew Feinberg has the story:

The White House press secretary on Monday slammed a top Republican in the House of Representatives for what she said were “grotesque” remarks about January 6.

House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik earned the rebuke with an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. During her interview with Kristin Welker, Ms Stefanik was asked whether she views the violent attack on Congress as a “tragic” day for America, and whether she believed that those responsible should be prosecuted.

Ms Stefanik dodged the question, instead responding that she had “concerns about the treatment of January 6 hostages” and citing Congress’s duty to perform oversight.