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New York CNN —A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office for a temporary restraining order to stop a House Judiciary Committee subpoena of former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil said Pomerantz must appear for a deposition as the House panel investigates Bragg’s recent indictment of former President Donald Trump. Bragg’s office says it will appeal. During the hearing, an attorney for Bragg’s office argued – unsuccessfully – that Pomerantz ignored cautions from the DA before publishing the book, so the district attorney’s office should not be penalized. The clash between federal and state powers began in March when Jordan asked Bragg’s office for documents and communications after news organizations reported that Bragg’s office was moving closer to seeking to indict Trump.

☆ PHOTO: Melania Trump Appears Relaxed by Husband's Side Post-Indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Melania Trump was photographed appearing relaxed by Donald Trump's side at Mar-a-Lago. Melania recently hit back at media reports that made "assumptions" about her life and opinions. In a photo posted to Instagram by a Mar-a-Lago visitor on Friday, the former first lady appears relaxed, smiling and resting her hand on her husband's arm. Melania recently hit back at media reports that made "assumptions" about her opinions and marriage. Several women, including Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, have claimed to have had affairs with Trump during his relationship with Melania, which he has denied.

☆ Stormy Daniels says Trump should not go to prison in hush money case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 6 (Reuters) - Stormy Daniels, the adult film star at the center of the criminal case against Donald Trump, said she does not think the former president should go to prison if convicted of concealing hush money payments he made to her. Prosecutors in Manhattan accused Trump, the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges, of trying to conceal a violation of election laws during his successful 2016 campaign. Trump, the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination in 2024, denies having an affair with Daniels but has acknowledged the payment. Daniels told Morgan that if the case goes to trial, she would like to testify. Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Americans divided over criminal charges against Trump - Reuters/Ipsos poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The prosecution of former President Donald Trump has evenly divided Americans but appears to have boosted his chances of winning the Republican nomination for the 2024 election, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday. read moreThe survey found that 49% of all Americans think it was right for prosecutors to pursue the first criminal case against a U.S. president or former president. That is up from 48% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday. However, 76% of Republicans think some in law enforcement are working to delegitimize Trump through politically motivated investigations, compared to 34% of Democrats. Some 51% of all respondents, but only 18% of Republicans, said the charges should disqualify Trump from again running for president.

☆ Republican House chairman subpoenas former prosecutor Pomerantz in Trump probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, on Thursday issued a subpoena to Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who led the Manhattan district attorney's investigation of Donald Trump. Bragg told reporters Tuesday the charges were part of the office's history of "vigorously enforcing white collar crime." Pomerantz, who left the office early last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He previously led a sprawling probe into Trump's business practices but he resigned shortly after Bragg, a Democrat, took office in 2022 and declined to pursue an indictment of Trump based on that probe. "Pomerantz's public statements about the investigation strongly suggest that Bragg's prosecution of President Trump is politically motivated," Jordan said in a statement on Thursday.

☆ Melania Trump lives in 'an ivory tower of denial' and is not humiliated by her husband's affairs, her former aide says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Melania Trump is aware of her husband's affairs and is not humiliated by them, her former aide said. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff told Page Six her former friend lives in "an ivory tower of denial." Melania won't leave Trump and privately says that people are just jealous, Wolkoff said. She failed to appear both by her husband's side, despite Trump singling out several family members for praise. "Melania lives in an ivory tower of denial," Wolkoff told Page Six."

☆ Trump, newly charged, urges defunding US Justice Department and FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

But Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. "REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote on his social media platform. The FBI, part of the Justice Department, is the U.S. domestic intelligence and security agency. Trump backed spending increases for the Justice Department while serving as president from 2017 to 2021. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

☆ Trump, facing criminal charges, calls for defunding the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rami Ayyub | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES," Trump wrote on his social media platform. Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, backed spending increases for the Justice Department and FBI while in office. Trump faces two Justice Department criminal investigations led by a special counsel appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Trump himself appointed the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, after firing the agency's previous chief, James Comey, in 2017. Prosecutors said the payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal constituted an attempt to conceal a violation of election law.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy said: "The defendant Donald J. Trump falsified New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and other violations of election laws." SOCIAL MEDIA POSTSProsecutors during the arraignment said Trump made a series of social media posts, including one threatening "death and destruction" if he was charged. "They can't beat us at the ballot box so they try to beat us through the law," Trump said. The false records included invoices from Cohen, entries in a ledger for Trump maintained by the Trump Organization, and check stubs, according to the indictment. "Under New York state law, it is a felony to falsify business records with intent to defraud and intent to conceal another crime.

Trump's indictment was unsealed Tuesday, revealing he was charged with 34 counts. The indictment didn't clarify the underlying crimes Trump allegedly committed to justify felony charges. Trump was indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a 2016 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. "If I were the prosecution, I would ask for a gag order covering the parties and their attorneys," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, told Insider. Indeed, House Republicans vowed revenge on Trump's behalf and said Tuesday that they would go after Bragg and President Joe Biden in light of Trump's indictment.

☆ Explainer: Who is Karen McDougal, the Playboy model in the Trump case?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - The criminal case against former President Donald Trump, unveiled on Tuesday, rests not just on his high-profile alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels but also on a separate liaison with Playboy model Karen McDougal. A 52-year-old former model and actress from Indiana, McDougal was a Playboy magazine Playmate of the Year in the late 1990s. They said Trump, his lawyer Michael Cohen and AMI former chief executive David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump, agreed that Trump would reimburse AMI. McDougal later sued AMI and reached an agreement that allowed her to discuss her relationship with Trump. ONE OF TWOThe transaction is one of two involving alleged affairs that are at the heart of the criminal case against Trump.

☆ Trump faces more legal threats beyond a hush money case. Here's the status of those probes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Cohen has since become a vocal critic of his former boss and testified before the grand jury hearing evidence in Bragg's probe. The grand jury was impaneled in January 2022 to hear evidence in Fulton County DA Willis' probe. Portions of that final report, which were released in February, show the grand jury determined that at least one witness may have lied under oath. New York civil caseTrump is also embroiled in a state-level civil fraud case filed by James, the New York attorney general. (L-R) Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump attend the ground breaking of the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Building in Washington July 23, 2014.

☆ Trump wanted to avoid Stormy Daniels hush money payment by delaying it past election, DA alleges
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

But Trump directed Cohen to delay making that payment to Daniels "as long as possible," according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Bragg's allegation that Trump tried to delay the payment to Daniels also challenges an argument made last month by Trump's current attorney Joe Tacopina. He said the hush money payment to Daniels was "not directly related to the campaign." In a single report from USA Today in 2016, hundreds of people accused Trump of withholding payment for services they provided. Bragg on Tuesday also detailed Trump's alleged involvement in efforts to suppress ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal's claim that she had an affair with Trump years ago.

☆ Manhattan DA sheds new light on National Enquirer publisher's efforts to boost Trump 2016 campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled new details Tuesday about the role the National Enquirer's then-publisher played in boosting former President Donald Trump's winning 2016 campaign. The Trump, AMI and Pecker alliance continued through the 2016 election and the former president's inauguration, according to Bragg's investigation. Outside of the McDougal payment, the tabloid suppressed or published various stories related to Trump or his opponents during the election. The Manhattan DA revealed new examples of how the relationship worked among Pecker, AMI and Trump. AMI purchased the information from the Doorman without fully investigating his claims, but the AMI CEO directed that the deal take place because of his agreement with the Defendant [Trump] and Lawyer A [Cohen]."

☆ Trump 'orchestrated' an 'unlawful scheme' to influence the 2016 election by paying off Stormy Daniels and covering it up, Manhattan DA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Manhattan DA alleged that Trump orchestrated an unlawful scheme to influence the 2016 election. Trump violated election laws and falsified business records related to hush-money payments, the DA said. Trump was formally arraigned in Manhattan on Tuesday related to hush-money payments made ahead of the 2016 election. The first president to ever face criminal charges, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump and others "orchestrated" an "unlawful scheme" to suppress negative information about him during his 2016 campaign by violating election laws and falsifying business records, the brief says.

☆ Trump's indictment doesn't just depend on Michael Cohen, involves more than one paid-off woman, and allegedly happened when he was president
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Madison Hall | John L. Dorman | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

State attorneys and former prosecutors worried that Trump's indictment would solely revolve around Michael Cohen as a witness. But Trump's indictment depends on more than Cohen — the NY DA alleges Trump paid off another woman, too. Mark Bederow, a former prosecutor, previously told Insider that resting an indictment of this caliber solely on Cohen would be disastrous. "You wouldn't rely on Michael Cohen to tell you the time of day unless you corroborated it with a clock. Like Daniels, prosecutors allege that Trump, Pecker, and Cohen teamed up to silence former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal in June 2016.

☆ Factbox: Details from New York prosecutor's Trump hush-money indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Daniels said she and Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, the year after he married Melania Knauss, his third wife. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign-finance charges related to the payments and said he acted at Trump's direction. Pecker made the payment after discussing it with Cohen and Trump, according to the charges, with the understanding that Trump would pay him back. Trump and Cohen discussed repayment in a conversation captured in an audio recording in September 2016 and made plans to do so. Around that time, Pecker connected Cohen with a lawyer for Daniels, who said she had an affair with Trump as well.

☆ Trump indictment charges him with 34 crimes over hush money payments to two women
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Former President Donald Trump is charged in a New York grand jury indictment with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy in connection with hush money payments to two women before the 2016 presidential election. The indictment says those payments were done to suppress claims by those women of having sex with Trump, in order to avoid those accounts harming his chances of winning the election over Hillary Clinton. There are two women previously known to have received hush money payments in 2016 to buy their silence about Trump. One was the porn star Stormy Daniels, who received $130,000 from Trump's then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen at Trump's direction. Follow CNBC.com's live coverage of former President Donald Trump's surrender and arraignment at the Manhattan criminal courthouse.

AUGUST 2018Cohen pleads guilty to criminal charges in Manhattan federal court, including campaign finance violations over the hush money payments. DECEMBER 2018Trump, on Twitter, calls the hush money payments a "simple private transaction." Trump himself is not charged with a crime, and the indictment contains no references to hush money payments. JANUARY 2023Bragg's office begins presenting evidence about Trump's alleged role in the 2016 hush money payments to a grand jury. APRIL 3, 2023Trump arrives in New York from his home in Florida to face charges arising from the hush money investigation.

☆ Read the indictment against Donald Trump, details of payments to porn star, Playboy model
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

watch nowFormer President Donald Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a scheme that directed hush money payments to two women before the 2016 presidential election. The 16-page indictment against Trump was unsealed Tuesday as he became the first former U.S. president ever to be arraigned on criminal charges. Follow CNBC.com's live coverage of former President Donald Trump's surrender and arraignment at the Manhattan criminal courthouse. Falsifying business records normally is a misdemeanor but can become a felony if done to cover up another crime. The checks first were issued by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, while later ones came from Trump's bank account, prosecutors said.

Trump's expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, as the Republican mounts a bid to regain the presidency, could further inflame divisions in the United States. The specific charges are not yet known, though CNN reported that Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud. Daniels has said she was paid to keep silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006. Bragg said Congress does not have authority to interfere with a New York legal proceeding and accused the lawmakers of escalating political tensions. Bragg's office prosecuted Trump's business on tax-fraud charges last year, leading to a $1.61 million criminal penalty, but Trump himself was not charged.

'LET THE PROCESS PROCEED'Shortly after the news of his indictment broke, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense. As news of Trump's indictment flashed across a news ticker on a Times Square skyscraper on Thursday evening, New York City resident Elizabeth Blaise welcomed the news. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles confirmed the Tuesday surrender date and said she did not expect charges to be unsealed until that day. "Do you really think that they're going to take President Trump out of the running for president because of some old horse-face story? The Manhattan District Attorney's office successfully prosecuted Trump's business on tax-fraud charges last year, leading to a $1.61 million criminal penalty.

The specific charges against Trump are not yet known as the indictment remains under seal, but CNN on Thursday reported Trump faced more than 30 counts related to business fraud. "This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history," Trump said in a statement. Shortly after, Trump appealed to supporters to provide money for a legal defense. The Manhattan charges will likely be unsealed by a judge in the coming days and Trump will have to travel there for fingerprinting and other processing at that point. Trump could use the case to stoke anger among his core supporters, though other Republican voters might tire of the drama.

[1/3] Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends his first campaign rally after announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election at an event in Waco, Texas, U.S., March 25, 2023. Trump has denied Daniels's claim, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of extortion. To elevate that charge to a felony, prosecutors must prove that Trump falsified records to cover up a second crime. The New York Times and NBC News reported that Trump is expected to surrender next week, citing his lawyers. If Trump for some reason decided not to come in voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida.

☆ Trump Grand Jury Digs Into Hush Money Paid to Second Woman
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Joe Palazzolo | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Manhattan prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s role in paying hush-money to a porn star also have been examining a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged that she had an affair with the former president, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the prospect that Mr. Trump could face charges connected to the silencing of both women. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ’s office has been presenting a grand jury with evidence of Mr. Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels since January. In those proceedings, the people said, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors also have questioned grand-jury witnesses extensively about an earlier deal involving Karen McDougal, Playboy Magazine’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, who has said she began a 10-month relationship with Mr. Trump beginning in 2006.

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