Live updates: Stormy Daniels testifies in Trump hush money trial

On Tuesday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host showed his excitement that his show was yet again mentioned during court proceedings that day, notably when Ms Daniels was asked to recount her 2018 interview with Kimmel, where he questioned if her signature was legitimate on a letter signed by her stating that she had not had an affair with Mr Trump.

“Somehow, I’ve become the Kato Kaelin of this trial,” Kimmel said, making reference to referring to one of the key witnesses in OJ Simpson’s “trial of the century” in the 1990s.

Amelia Neath has the story:

Alex Woodward is reporting for The Independent from the courthouse in Lower Manhattan:

“It’ll make a great story,” she said, according to Ms Daniels. “What could possibly go wrong?”

The Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia will hear an appeal by Donald Trump and his co-defendants of the ruling by Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee to keep District Attorney Fani Willis on the sprawling racketeering case brought against them over alleged 2020 election interference.

Defendants pushed for Ms Willis’s disqualification over her romantic relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade, accusing the two of profiteering from the case. Judge McAfee ruled that Mr Wade should leave the case but Ms Willis could remain.

Here’s our earlier reporting on the appeal by Ariana Baio:

Here’s what the former president had to say this morning:

It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want. It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be PUT IN PRISON, maybe for a long period of time. This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!. Judges Engoron and Kaplan, also of New York, are equally Corrupt, only in different ways. What these THUGS are doing is AN ATTACK ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND OUR ONCE GREAT NATION ITSELF. OUR FIRST AMENDMENT MUST STAND, FREE AND STRONG. “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!’

All of Mr Trump’s cases went before grand juries of US citizens who recommended that charges be brought having heard the cases and evidence collected during investigations into his actions.

Mike Bedigan has the story:

Judge Juan Merchan, presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial, warned the former president’s lawyer about his client’s “contemptuous” behaviour as the former president was “cursing audibly” while adult film star Stormy Daniels testified in court.

As Ms Daniels was relaying in court her alleged encounter with Trump nearly 18 years ago, the former president was cursing out loud and shaking his head, something Judge Merchan warned Trump’s defence attorney, Todd Blanche, about in a mid-morning break.

“I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous,” Judge Merchan told Mr Blanche after he was called up to the bench. “It has the potential to intimidate the witness, and the jury can see that.”

Mr Blanche responded to the judge, saying he would talk to his client. “You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that,” Judge Merchan added after saying he was speaking to the attorney at the bench because he didn’t want to “embarrass” Trump.

My colleague Amelia Neath has the full report:

Donald Trump is now planning to headline a political fundraiser on the day he demanded a break in his hush money trial so that he could attend his youngest son Barron’s high school graduation.

Graig Graziosi reports on the former president’s busy schedule on his day off from court:

Stormy Daniels told the court on Tuesday that she “absolutely” wants Donald Trump to go to prison if found guilty.

Under cross-examination, Mr Trump’s defence lawyer Susan Necheles sought to highlight Ms Daniels’ animosity towards the former president, showing jurors a 2022 tweet in which Ms Daniels referred to Mr Trump as an “orange turd”.

And Ms Daniels replied “yes” without hesitation when Ms Necheles asked her if she hated Mr Trump.

Asked whether she wanted Mr Trump to go to jail, Ms Daniels replied: “If he is found guilty, absolutely.”