Connect with us

Published

on

Opening statements are due to be heard in the trial of Donald Trump over hush money payments to a porn star.

A jury has been selected at the New York court which will witness the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Opening remarks by the prosecution and defence teams will be followed by evidence from witnesses.

Donald Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records. They relate to $130,000 paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged affair in the days before the 2016 US presidential election, which Trump won.

He is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up the payment. His lawyers say the payment was meant to spare himself and his family embarrassment, not to help him win the election.

Trump denies the charges against him.

Below is an A-Z guide of this historic trial:

A is for AMI, the publishing company whose portfolio includes the National Enquirer magazine. It admitted its involvement in a scheme to suppress damaging stories about Trump prior to the 2016 election.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump slams ‘hoax’ trial

B is for Bragg, as in Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who has brought this prosecution. Upon issuing the indictment, Mr Bragg said: “Someone lied again and again to protect their interests and evade the laws to which we are all held accountable.” He has been the target of racist abuse and death threats. Trump has called him a “thug” and a “degenerate psychopath”.

C is for “Catch & Kill”, the prosecution label for the scheme to “catch” stories of Trump’s extra-marital liaisons and “kill” them before they could be published.

D is for Daniels, as in Stormy Daniels. The former porn star – real name Stephanie Clifford – claims she had an affair with Trump in 2006 after meeting him at a golf tournament. He denies they had an affair. Ms Daniels claims she accepted $130,000 from Trump’s lawyer to keep it quiet, days before the 2016 election.

Who is Stormy Daniels, the porn star at centre of Trump’s hush money case?

E is for entries, as in entries into Trump’s company books. The “hush money” payments were made by Trump’s lawyer, who was then reimbursed. The reimbursement was put through the books as legal expenses – aka “falsifying business records”.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court with his legal team ahead of the start of jury selection in New York, NY on Monday, April 15, 2024. Jabin Botsford/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Image:
Pic: Reuters

F is for four years. It’s how long Trump could face in state prison for each of the 34 counts he’s charged with, to a maximum of 20 years. A prison sentence is thought unlikely, however, for a non-violent first-time criminal offender.

G is for gag order. The judge has ordered Trump not to make, or direct others to make, public statements about witnesses or other participants in the case. The district attorney argues Trump has breached the order and wants a $1,000 fine imposed.

H is for Hope Hicks. Trump’s press secretary during the 2016 campaign, and one of his most trusted confidantes, is expected to testify. Her “in the room” evidence could take us to the heart of the Trump operation as it fought to suppress scandal.

I is for interference, as in election interference. Prosecutors say the falsification of business records was carried out for the purpose of influencing the 2016 election.

Opening statements in Trump's trial could begin as early as Monday, the judge has said. Pic: Curtis Means/Pool via Reuters
Image:
Pic: Curtis Means/Pool via Reuters

J is for jury. Seven men and five women have been selected for duty. Six others will sit through the trial as alternates, or replacements, if needed. Jury members have been subject to a rigorous assessment of their ability to be impartial, including questions on their political affiliations, news sources and views on Trump himself.

K is for Karen McDougal. She is the other woman involved in the hush money payments scheme. The former Playboy model claims to have had an affair that started in 2006 and that she and Trump had sex “many dozens of times”. Her silence was allegedly bought for $150,000.

L is for liar. It’s the description used by Trump of the witness at the centre of the prosecution (see M). Michael Cohen admitted lying to Congress in 2017 about a Trump project in Russia. His admission is highlighted by Trump in an effort to discredit him.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump has called Michael Cohen a ‘proven liar’

M is for Michael Cohen, the “star” witness. He was Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer who made the hush money payments. In 2018, he was jailed for his part in the scheme and given a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations. He was also convicted of lying to Congress among other crimes. Cohen once said he’d “take a bullet” for Trump but now calls him a “cheat”, a “bully” and a “conman”. Trump calls Cohen a “rat” and a “proven liar”.

N is for a New York jurisdiction. Trump, originally from Queen’s in New York, is being tried on home turf. However, the jury pool, from which its members were selected, doesn’t sit well with his politics. New York is Democrat territory and that concerns the defence team of a Republican presidential candidate. It has tried, but failed, to have the trial moved elsewhere.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump in New York: ‘I love this city’

O is for other cases. Trump’s three other criminal prosecutions are snagged in delay and legal argument. On Thursday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on his right, or otherwise, to immunity from prosecution in relation to the 6 January Capitol riots. Its decision, and the speed with which it’s made, will dictate whether that case is heard before the November election. The other two – on mishandling classified documents and Georgia election interference – look less likely to proceed in that timeframe.

P is for Pecker, as in David Pecker. The owner of AMI publishing could be a key witness. In a “non-prosecution” agreement, AMI has admitted to making hush-money payments. Pecker, a long-time Trump ally, agreed to identify negative stories about Trump so they could be bought and their publication avoided.

The key figures in the Donald Trump hush money case

Q is for questions about politics in the administration of US justice. In most American states, District Attorneys (prosecutors) are elected and Donald Trump points to the Democratic leanings of Alvin Bragg. In a news release the day before opening statements, the Trump team wrote that “his lawfare efforts against President Trump were the lead focus of his [election] campaign”.

R is for removal from the presidential campaign trail – a Trump complaint. He told the media at court: “I’m supposed to be in New Hampshire, I’m supposed to be in Georgia, I’m supposed to be in North Carolina, South Carolina. I’m supposed to be in a lot of different places campaigning, but I’ve been here all day on a trial that really is a very unfair trial.”

Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan criminal court.
Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

S is for the sex scandal that hung over Team Trump in the midst of the 2016 hush money payment and, arguably, drove the scheme. In a so-called “Access Hollywood” tape that was made public, Trump was heard to say about women: “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything, grab them by the [genitals]. You can do anything.” It was three weeks later that the money was paid to Stormy Daniels.

T is for testimony. Trump insists he will testify during the trial. If so, prosecutors have asked the judge if they can raise his previous brushes with the law, for example, a civil court’s finding of sexual assault, to cast doubt on his credibility.

U is for unanimous. Members of the jury must deliver a unanimous verdict to convict Trump. He only needs one to dissent.

V is for the vote, as in the impact a conviction will have on Trump at the polls. While this, and other prosecutions, have cemented support for Trump among his MAGA base (Make America Great Again) and have fuelled fundraising, that isn’t necessarily the case with voters generally. A recent Politico/IPSOS survey showed that more than a third of independent voters said a guilty verdict would make them less likely to support Trump’s candidacy – potentially significant, in a tight race.

Read more:
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial died

Tram crash at Universal Studios leaves 15 hurt

Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

W is for “witch hunt”. Trump repeatedly criticises this prosecution, and others, as a “political witch hunt”. He views it as an effort to undermine his presidential election campaign and has branded it a “scam” and “an assault on America”.

X is for the cross that potential jurors were asked to put against groups they might have been members of: the QAnon movement, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, Three Percenters, Boogaloo Boys and Antifa.

Y is for yellow. It’s how a juror described Trump, having seen him in court. She told MSNBC: “He looked less orange, definitely, like more yellowish, like yellow.”

Z is for zzzz… During jury selection, some observers said Trump fell asleep in court, more than once. New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman noted: “Mr Trump appeared to nod off a few times, his mouth going slack and his head dropping onto his chest.” Trump’s aides denied the suggestion.

Continue Reading

US

‘A genius actor’, ‘firecracker’, and ‘my friend’: Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

Published

on

By

'A genius actor', 'firecracker', and 'my friend': Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.

The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.

She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.

Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles

He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.

“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”

Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”

More from Ents & Arts

Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.

“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”

preview image

Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.

Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.

Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.

“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”

The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.

Nicolas Cage added that “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing”.

“I thought he was a genius actor,” he said. “I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant and I admired his commitment and sense of humor.

“He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”

Continue Reading

US

Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs – and other things you may have missed on ‘Liberation Day’

Published

on

By

Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs - and other things you may have missed on 'Liberation Day'

No one expected penguins to bear the brunt of Liberation Day. 

But among the barrage of tariffs set out by Donald Trump, the US also took aim at uninhabited islands, talked up American beef and turned its nose up at plastic eggs.

Here is what you might have missed in the US leader’s expansive announcement.

Trump latest: Follow live updates

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What the numbers behind Trump’s tariffs really mean

Tiny territories hit with big tariffs

At first glance, newly imposed tariffs on countries such as China, the European Union, India and the UK stand out – ranging from 34% to 10% respectively.

But the president also imposed tariffs on dozens of tiny territories – some of which don’t even have human inhabitants.

One of those was the Heard and McDonald Islands, an external territory of Australia in the Antarctic that is inhabited only by penguins and seals.

All of Australia's external territories that have been hit with US tariffs
Image:
All of Australia’s external territories that have been hit with US tariffs

Despite having no human residents – or imports and exports – the island now faces a 10% tariff for any goods bound for the US.

According to export data from the World Bank, the US imported $1.4m (£1m) of mainly “machinery and electrical” products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022.

Australian territory Norfolk Island, a volcanic island 600 miles east of Queensland, was also hit with a hefty 29% tariff on exports to the US. That’s much higher than mainland Australia, which had a 10% tariff imposed.

The news was met with confusion by some of Norfolk Island’s 2,188 residents.

“Norfolk Island is a little dot in the world,” Richard Cottle, owner of a concrete-mixing business on the island, said on Thursday.

“We don’t export anything. It was just a mistake”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?

Although the island does ship a modest amount of Kentia palm seeds abroad, this is typically worth less than $1m (£760,000) a year, with the products mostly going to Europe.

According to US government data, America has recorded trade deficits with Norfolk Island for the past three years.

Other tiny nations and territories were also hit with 10% tariffs, including Tokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand, with a population of around 1,600 people, and the Cocos Islands, another territory of Australia, with a population of around 600 people.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters he had no explanation for the tariffs, calling them “unexpected” and “a bit strange”.

A Southern Elephant Seal pup on the beach below the Baudissin Glacier on Heard Island.
Pic: VWPics/AP
Image:
We have a feeling the seals won’t welcome Trump for his next holiday to the Heard Island… Pic: AP

‘Our beef is beautiful, theirs is weak’

After announcing a 20% tariff against the European Union, Mr Trump’s secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick spoke to Fox News to try to explain what was behind the decision.

In a brief but bizarre rant, Mr Lutnick spoke about the bloc’s ban on imported chicken from the US.

“I mean European Union won’t take chicken from America,” he said.

“They will take lobsters from America… they hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.”

The EU has a ban on chicken washed in chlorine – a practice that is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Although US beef is not completely prohibited in Europe, any beef that has been treated with artificial growth hormones – which is legal in the US and common among producers – is banned by the EU.

Why was Russia exempt?

Russia was not on Mr Trump’s tariff list, despite his threat to introduce some on Russian oil imports last week.

The US president made the threat after telling NBC’s Kirsten Welker he was “very angry” and “pissed off” after Vladimir Putin criticised the credibility of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as fragile peace negotiations are ongoing.

Read more:
World leaders react to Trump’s tariff announcement
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?

Mr Trump said that if Russia was unable to make a deal on “stopping bloodshed in Ukraine” – and Mr Trump felt that Moscow was to blame – then he would put secondary tariffs on “all oil coming out of Russia”.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil,” he said.

Axios reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the publication on Wednesday that Russia was left off the tariffs list because US sanctions already “preclude any meaningful trade”.

Russia ran a $2.5bn goods trade surplus with the US in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative’s office, falling from $35bn in 2021 as a result of sanctions put in place due to the war in Ukraine.

World’s poorest nations face highest tariffs

Many of Mr Trump’s tariffs have targeted the world’s poorest countries.

Lesotho in southern Africa, listed as the 22 poorest country in the world, has been slapped with the highest duty of 50%. It primarily exports diamonds and garments, with the US as one of the top five exporting destinations, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.

The second-highest tariff went to Cambodia at 49%, even though the US is Cambodia’s largest single-country export destination.

Madagascar in east Africa, the world’s ninth poorest country, will face 47% reciprocal tariffs. It primarily exports vanilla, cloves, and garments, with the US among the top five countries it exports to, according to NBC.

‘Huge complexities’ for Northern Ireland and the Republic

Tanaiste Simon Harris speaks to media outside Government Buildings, Dublin. Picture date: Thursday April 3, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH Tariffs . Photo credit should read: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire
Image:
Deputy premier Simon Harris said the difference in tariffs between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will cause complexities. Pic: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire

Under the 10% tariff imposed on the UK, Northern Irish goods will also be covered at the same rate.

Whereas the Republic of Ireland will subject to a 20% tariffs – which Mr Trump imposed on the entirety of the EU.

Reacting to the announcement, Ireland deputy premier Simon Harris said the tariff difference would create “huge complexities” for products that need to be carried across the cross-border dimension during production.

He said the issues were similar to those at play during the Brexit debate around maintaining a frictionless land border on the island of Ireland.

Mr Harris said it was on the US to “outline their understanding” on how the 10% differential between Northern Ireland and Ireland will play out.

Trump defines groceries

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump says ‘groceries’ is a ‘beautiful term’

As has become common when delivering major addresses, the US president repeatedly deviated from his script.

At one point, he took time to define the word groceries: “It’s a bag with a lot of different things in it.”

He went on to describe the word as “old-fashioned” but “beautiful”.

‘Could you use plastic eggs?’

In another part of his wide-ranging speech, Mr Trump got onto the topic of eggs – the price of which reached an all-time high earlier this year in the US due to the outbreak of bird flu.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump confirmed that the annual White House tradition of rolling around 30,000 Easter eggs across the South Lawn is expected to proceed, and will use real eggs, despite pleas for plastic ones to be used instead.

“They were saying that for Easter ‘Please don’t use eggs. Could you use plastic eggs?’ I say, we don’t want to do that,” Mr Trump said.

He did not clarify who was telling him not to use real eggs.

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump’s tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics

Published

on

By

Donald Trump's tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics

For decades, trade and trade policy has been an economic and political backwater – decidedly boring, seemingly uncontroversial. 

Trade was mostly free and getting freer, tariffs were getting lower and lower, and the world was becoming more, not less, globalised.

But alongside those long-term trends, there were some serious consequences.

Trump latest: US president announces sweeping global trade tariffs

Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.

Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.

And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.

More on Donald Trump

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis

He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.

Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.

Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.

President Trump with his list of tariffs for various countries. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters

And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.

But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.

We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.

To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.

Continue Reading

Trending