Donald Trump giving evidence at his civil trial in New York after branding it ‘very unfair’
Donald Trump has been warned to avoid “political” speeches and “just answer the questions” while giving evidence in his civil fraud trial, with the judge threatening to remove him from the courtroom in a series of tense exchanges with his legal team.
The former US president is accused of inflating his net worth. He denies any wrongdoing.
Trump briefly appeared in the dock last week and was fined $10,000 (£8,200) for breaching a gag order that barred him from personally attacking court staff in his fraud trial.
After being sworn into the dock and confirming his address, early exchanges included questions about ownership of his Trump Organisation and make-up of the board, as well as the appointment of his son Donald Jr to oversee the business.
Trump also told the court he expected to remain in politics beyond 2021 when he left office.
Inside court, NBC’s Adam Weiss said proceedings could get “very tense”, adding Trump appeared to be going off on tangents.
At one point, according to NBC, Judge Arthur Engoron asked Trump’s legal team to “control” their client, adding “this is not a political rally” and telling the former president “please, just answer the questions, no speeches”.
Later, Judge Engoron told Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise to “control” him, otherwise he would be dismissed from the stand.
When asked by the prosecution if a statement about the valuation of a property on Wall Street was accurate, Trump began to talk about the statute of limitations.
The judge replied: “Mr Kise that was a simple yes or no question. We got another speech. I beseech you to control him if you can. If you can’t, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”
Judge Arthur Engoron has threatened to remove Trump from the stand
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What will decide the US election?
Trump calls the judge a ‘fraud’
Trump later turned his ire on Judge Engoron, saying he ruled against him before knowing anything about his company.
Judge Engoron has already ruled the Trump Organisation inflated its wealth – the trial is determining the punishment.
Raising his voice from the witness stand, he called the judge a “fraud,” while pointing his right hand at him and looking out into the courtroom.
Trump added that any fraud was on the part of the judge for his comments on the value of his properties, not on him, calling it “a terrible thing.”
After his comments, Kevin Wallace, a lawyer for the attorney general’s office, asked Trump is he was “done”.
“Done,” Trump replied.
Trump also reiterated his disdain for Attorney General Letitia James, who has brought the charges against him.
A court sketch of Donald Trump being questioned by attorney general lawyer Kevin Wallace (R)
‘We’ll explain as this crazy trial goes along’
Elsewhere, Trump told the court financial estimates of some of his properties were inaccurate, while also minimising the importance of the valuations.
He is accused of inflating his net worth to gain better financing terms with banks.
Trump said: “They just weren’t a very important element in the bank’s decision-making process, and we’ll explain that as this trial goes along, as this crazy trial goes along.”
Before the court adjourned for a break, Trump leaned into the microphone and said: “This is a very unfair trial. Very, very [unfair] and I hope the public is watching.”
His evidence is not being televised.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What will decide the US election?
Donald Trump in court
Read more: All you need to know about the legal labyrinth facing the former president
Speaking outside the courtroom as he arrived on Monday, Trump said it was an “unfair” situation, adding: “These are political operatives that I’m going to be dealing with right now. You have a racist attorney general who’s made some terrible statements and you see some more that came over the wires today.
“It’s a very sad situation for our country. We shouldn’t have this. This is for Third World countries. And it’s very unfair. It’s very unfair.”
Before arriving at court on Monday, Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social: “Got a really Biased, Nasty, Club controlled, but often overturned, Judge, a Racist, Evil, and Corrupt Attorney General, BUT A CASE THAT, ACCORDING TO ALMOST ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS, HAS ZERO MERIT. A dark day for our Country. WITCH HUNT!”
His turn in the witness stand marks a significant moment in his 2024 presidential campaign, in which he is currently leading Joe Biden in a number of key states, according to a new poll.
The new version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot has been unveiled and offers near-instant results across text, vision and audio, according to its maker.
OpenAI said it was much better at understanding visuals and sounds than previous versions.
It offers the prospect of real-time ‘conversations’ with the chatbot, including the ability to interrupt its answers.
The firm says it “accepts as input any combination of text, audio, and image and generates any combination of text, audio, and image outputs”.
GPT-4o is to be rolled out over the next few weeks amid a battle by tech firms to develop ever-more advanced artificial intelligence tools.
Monday’s announcement showed tasks such as real-time language translation; using its vision capability to solve a maths question on a piece of paper, and to guide a blind person around London.
GPT-4o can respond to audio in as little as 232 milliseconds, with an average of 320 milliseconds, which the company says is similar to human response time.
To try to ease concerns over bias, fairness and misinformation, the Microsoft-backed company says the new version has undergone extensive testing by 70 external experts.
It comes after Google earlier this year had a major PR blunder over images generated by its Gemini AI system.
GPT-4o model will be free, but premium ‘Plus’ users get a greater capacity limit for messages.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Previous versions of the chatbot have caused unease in schools and universities due to some students using it to cheat by producing convincing essays.
When it launched two years ago, ChatGPT was said to be the fastest-ever app to reach 100 million active monthly users.
The announcement also stole a march on Google, which is expected to tomorrow show off its own new AI features at its annual developers’ conference.
A 16-year-old suspect armed with a rifle has been stopped from entering a church full of children by worshippers during a livestreamed service, say authorities in Louisiana.
The boy tried to get into the St Mary Magdalen Church, in Abbeville, through the back door at around 10.30am on Saturday (4.30pm UK time), according to police.
A livestream of the incident that was seen by Sky News’ partner outlet NBC News showed a man approaching Reverend Nicholas DuPre after 48 minutes to whisper something.
Rev DuPre then stopped the service and asked churchgoers to pray with him, while some people were heard panicking and screaming.
Around 60 children were inside and waiting to take their first Holy Communion when worshippers confronted the armed suspect.
The Louisiana Catholic church said they then took him outside before calling the police.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
On the livestream, police officers could seen walking through the church, as boys ran across the altar and the clergy took shelter, NBC News reported.
Someone was heard to say over a loudspeaker: “Guys, just get ahold of your children, go slowly. We did apprehend a child, he is in custody.”
In a statement, Abbeville Police Department said that upon arrival, officers arrested the suspect and then searched the church.
The force added the teenager was charged with terrorising the church and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile.
Witnesses told TV station KADN that he was dressed all in black and armed with the rifle, NBC News reported.
Police chief Mike Hardy thanked the churchgoers who intervened for their “quick response and remaining calm throughout this matter”.
Read more on Sky News:
Star witness at Trump trial gives evidence
Hollywood actor punched in New York City
RFK Jr says worm ate part of his brain
The church also said it now plans to have uniformed law enforcement officers outside of its masses “out of an abundance of caution”.
The swimmer who was the first victim in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws has died.
Susan Backlinie died in her home in California at the age of 77, according to her agent. Her death was first reported by The Daily Jaws website.
The opening scene of Steven Spielberg‘s classic features Ms Backlinie running along the beach and before diving into the water and skinny dipping.
The poster for the film Jaws. Pic: HA/THA/Shutterstock
Her character Chrissie Watkins is then suddenly pulled under the water and she screams as she is violently attacked by an unseen great white shark.
Ms Backlinie had been a champion swimmer when cast in the film. She told The Palm Beach Post in 2015 that Spielberg told her: “When your scene is done, I want everyone under the seats with the popcorn and bubblegum.
“I think we did that,” she said.
In the documentary, Jaws: The Inside Story, Spielberg called Ms Backlinie’s sequence “one of the most dangerous” stunts he’s ever directed.
“She was actually being tugged left and right by 10 men on one rope and 10 men on the other back to the shore, and that’s what caused her to move like that.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Ms Backlinie worked with Mr Spielberg again in the 1979 parody war film 1941, in which she spoofed her Jaws character.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment12 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports1 month agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports7 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Environment1 year agoTesla advances Powerwall pilot project with German electric company