NationalWatch

Former President Trump took to social media on Wednesday with an unequivocal claim that keeping and expressing his constitutional rights were of the utmost importance to him, despite any penalty he could face amid a gag order imposed by a New York judge.

“Give me liberty or give me death,” he wrote in an all-caps message on TRUTH Social, quoting the American Founding Father Patrick Henry.

The comment comes as Judge Juan Merchan said on Monday that he will consider jail time for Trump, should he continue to violate a gag order imposed upon him in his ongoing criminal trial.

“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,” Trump’s post continued. “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.”

TRUMP SAYS JAIL TIME TO DEFEND FREE SPEECH IS ‘SACRIFICE’ HE’S WILLING TO MAKE

Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump before his criminal trial in New York began, ordering the presumptive Republican presidential nominee not to make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses, counsel in the case or about court staff, the DA staff or family members of staff.

In the Wednesday post, Trump added: “This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!”

‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOSTS CALL FOR DONALD TRUMP TO BE THROWN IN JAIL TO ‘PROVE A POINT’

The post also included a swipe at Judges Engoron and Kaplan, also of New York. He called them “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,” the former president concluded.

On Monday, Trump said he’d make the “sacrifice” of going to jail to defend free speech.

“Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” the former president said outside the courtroom Monday afternoon.

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE THREATENS JAIL TIME FOR ‘POSSIBLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT’ FOR FUTURE GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

On Tuesday, “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin suggested Judge Merchan should throw Trump in prison to “prove a point.”

“I don’t want this to sound like I’m doing wishful thinking, but which prison would be best?” co-host Whoopi Goldberg added, mentioning he could go to Alcatraz or Guantanamo Bay.

Co-host Ana Navarro joked that former First Lady Melania Trump could visit her husband if he were sent to Guantanamo.

Trump’s post on Wednesday was a nod to the patriotic line from Henry’s 1775 address.

In 1775, as colonists were advocating for American independence from a tyrannical British Empire, Patrick Henry addressed a worried Virginia Assembly.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun!” Henry said in his remarks. “The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Fox News’ Emma Colton, Hanna Panreck and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Former President Trump appears to be showing some support for a key demand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., has made of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., amid her threats to force a House-wide vote on the GOP leader’s ouster.

Greene took to social media on Tuesday evening to share a photo of a document shared with her by Trump. It shows an image of a reporter’s X post citing Johnson’s comments in a Tuesday morning press conference that the House was “looking very intently” at ways to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the former president.

Underneath the post is what appears to be Trump’s handwriting with the brief inscription, “Great!” followed by his signature.

Greene’s office told Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning that the message was sent to Greene by Trump. Fox News Digital reached out to a spokesperson for Trump for further comment.

ANTI-MCCARTHY GOP REBELS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PUSH TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

“I’m fighting for President Trump, our Republican majority, and every person who believes in our America First agenda. Proud to have the support of President Trump, and he has mine!” Greene wrote when sharing the message on X.

Defunding the special counsel’s office is one of several demands Greene and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., shared with Johnson earlier this week.

Johnson, who has insisted he is not negotiating with the GOP rebels, similarly appeared to show support for the idea while downplaying their role in promoting it.

2 HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON 6 MONTHS AFTER HE TOOK GAVEL

“There’s discussion this week, as there has been for a long, long time, about what is the most effective way for Congress to take the reins of that and ensure that the special counsels are not abusing the law themselves,” Johnson said Tuesday morning. “There’s a lot of ideas about that. Discussions this week are nothing new, but we’re looking very intently at it because I think the problem has reached a crescendo.”

The most likely place for that funding battle would be the looming fiscal year 2025 government funding talks, but Republicans face an uphill battle getting it across the finish line. Any proposal to defund Smith’s probe is likely to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Massie and Greene, along with Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are threatening to force a House-wide vote on Johnson’s ouster via a procedure known as a motion to vacate the chair. 

The push has fallen mostly flat among the House Republican conference, however, where even the speaker’s critics in the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus have shown little appetite for another three weeks of chaos like what followed the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN

Trump himself has voiced support for Johnson both publicly and privately amid Greene’s ouster threats.

“It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,” Trump said earlier this month to radio host John Fredericks, citing Johnson’s razor-thin House majority. “I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO when I said NATO has to pay up… It’s a tough situation when you have. I think he’s a very good man. I think he’s trying very hard.”

He also referenced the November elections just six months away.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., another Trump ally, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, “I was with President Trump over the weekend. He’s with Mike Johnson.”

“He thinks he’s doing his best in a difficult situation,” Meuser said when asked for details of their conversation. Of the motion to vacate, Meuser said of Trump, “I think he would prefer that not to occur right now.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Johnson’s office for comment on Greene’s push.

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis suggested the state Senate’s investigation into her was “unlawful” and indicated she would not cooperate with a subpoena from them. 

“Well, first of all, I don’t even think they have the authority to subpoena me, but they need to learn the law,” Willis said after being asked if she would appear in front of a Georgia Senate committee without being required by a subpoena. 

When a reporter pressed her on it, asking “yes or no” if she would appear, Willis said, “I will not appear to anything that is unlawful.”

NPR CEO KATHERINE MAHER DECLINES HOUSE HEARING INVITE AMID BIAS SCANDAL

The district attorney’s responses were prompted by the committee chairman, Republican Bill Cowsert, and his reported claim that he would subpoena her if she did not appear on her own. 

A Republican-led Georgia Senate investigative committee was established in January to investigate whether Willis misused taxpayer funds in her indictment of former President Trump and others on racketeering charges. 

FLIGHTS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WITHOUT IDS TARGETED IN FAA BILL AS DEADLINE LOOMS

After a recent committee hearing, Cowsert told WSB-TV Channel 2 Atlanta’s Richard Elliot, “If she’s not willing to come and explain her conduct, then we will subpoena her and ask her to come, require her to come.” 

“I have not broken the law in any way,” Willis told reporters at a press conference this week. “I’m sorry folks get p—ed off that everyone gets treated equally.”

WHITE HOUSE LOOKS TO CONVINCE AMERICANS OF ‘BIDENOMICS’ WITH KAMALA HARRIS TOUR

Fox News Digital’s inquiries to the DA’s office and the Georgia Senate press office for Cowsert did not immediately receive a response. 

Trump was initially indicted in the Fulton County case in August 2023 alongside 18 others under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for their alleged actions in a scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 

ALL GOP SENATORS PRESS BIDEN NOT TO SUPPORT EXPANDING WHO PANDEMIC AUTHORITY

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Earlier this year, it was discovered that Willis had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to take on the case. Ultimately, Wade resigned from the case after the judge determined there were no grounds to disqualify Willis, but that she could only remain on the case without Wade.

Trump’s legal team has since moved to appeal the judge’s ruling that she could stay on the case. 

Former President Donald Trump said this week that keeping the Federal Bureau of Intelligence in Washington D.C. would be a major decision in his second term.

The federal government under President Biden has proposed splitting the FBI between D.C. and a new site to be constructed in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“The new FBI building should be built in Washington, D.C., not Maryland, and be the centerpiece of my plan to totally renovate and rebuild our capital city into the most beautiful and safest anywhere in the world,” Trump wrote on Tuesday via Truth Social. The original post was written in all caps.

NY V. TRUMP: STORMY DANIELS TESTIFIES, JUDGE MERCHAN DENIES MOTION TO DISMISS

Trump said that centralizing the bureau in the nation’s capital near the Department of Justice headquarters facilitates more effective collaboration between the two.

Additionally, Trump asserted that FBI presence in Washington D.C. can curb crime in the city, which has skyrocketed in recent years due to lax enforcement and under-equipped police.

“The FBI must be in walking distance of the DOJ building in that the DOJ and the FBI have to work closely together,” Trump said. “A two minute walk to a meeting is far better than a traffic-laden two-hour drive to Greenbelt, Maryland. Likewise, having the FBI in D.C. is important for ending violent crime, which I will do, quickly!!!”

TRUMP TRIAL JUDGE COMPARED TO ‘CORRUPT DICTATORSHIPS’ AS STORMY DANIELS UNLEASHES SALACIOUS TESTIMONY

Trump has consistently accused the FBI and DOJ of working against him behind the scenes as he runs for a second term in the White House.

The former president is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying New York business records in an unprecedented trial in Manhattan. 

The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case, while slamming the trial as a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

On Tuesday night, he accused the DOJ of coordinating with the White House to snare him in court.

“This Witch Hunt is FALSE ANCIENT HISTORY that was fully adjudicated by the Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election. It only has to do with Election Interference, and trying to help Crooked Joe Biden get elected because he can’t do it by himself. It is a vicious attack by the Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, in strict coordination with the D.O.J. and the White House, on Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. IT IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND STRICTLY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!”

Amid court proceedings, which entered their fourth week Monday, Trump has repeatedly complained that the trial has not only taken him off the campaign trail, but also away from his family. 

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday reignited his call to debate former President Trump, suggesting “perfect neutral territory” at the upcoming Libertarian Party convention as the venue. 

In a message on X, RFK Jr. acknowledged how both he and Trump are already scheduled to speak at the upcoming convention on May 24 and 25 in Washington, D.C.

“It’s perfect neutral territory for you and me to have a debate where you can defend your record for your wavering supporters,” Kennedy wrote to Trump. “You yourself have said you’re not afraid to debate me as long as my poll numbers are decent. Well, they are. In fact, I’m the only presidential candidate in history who has polled ahead of both major party candidates in head-to-head races.” 

“So let’s meet at the Libertarian convention and show the American public that at least two of the major candidates aren’t afraid to debate each other,” he added. “I asked the convention organizers and they are game for us to use our time there to bring the American people the debate they deserve!” 

BIDEN RIVAL PROPOSES ‘NO-SPOILER PLEDGE’ IN ORDER TO TAKE ON TRUMP IN NOVEMBER

Kennedy said he was “grateful” to Trump for “calling attention to the rigged polling methodologies that biased DNC-influenced media have used against you.” 

“We have this concern too, and I’m happy to show you the deceptive methodologies used by DNC-allied pollsters who pretend that I’m in single digits. You have correctly characterized these as ‘fake polls,'” he said. 

Kennedy pointed to polling results from Zogby, an analytics firm he contracted. The independent presidential candidate said that poll shows Trump beat President Biden “handily” in a head-to-head matchup.

“I crush him as well, by even more. And against each other, I beat you in a nail-biter,” RFK Jr. claimed. “In a three-way, you are ahead but I’m coming up strong. Two new polls (CNN and Quinnipiac) have me above the 15% debate threshold. Another (Activote) has me at 26% among young voters. And you and I are tied among America’s 70 million Independents.” 

RFK. Jr. said he is also drawing a lot of voters from former Trump supporters who are “upset that you blew up the deficit, shut down their businesses during Covid, and filled your administration with swamp creatures.” 

RFK JR. CHALLENGES TRUMP TO DEBATE AFTER ‘DEMOCRAT PLANT’ ACCUSATION

Six months before Election Day, Biden and Trump – the presumptive Democrat and Republican nominees – are locked in the first contest in 112 years with a current and former president competing for the White House. Kennedy, meanwhile, has increasingly been challenging Biden and Trump to debate him in recent weeks, hoping to bring his independent candidacy more mainstream.  

Kennedy’s campaign remains determined to get him on the ballot in all 50 states. So far, RFK Jr. is on the ballot in 10 states, The Hill reported. 

Either Biden or Trump would be the oldest president ever sworn in on Inauguration Day.

Trump is in the midst of the first of potentially four criminal trials and facing felony charges. The Constitution does not prevent him from assuming the presidency if convicted — or even if he is in prison.

Biden, who will turn 82 years old just weeks after Election Day, Nov. 5, is already the oldest president in U.S. history; Trump is 77.

Privately, Democratic operatives close to the campaign worry constantly about Biden’s health and voters’ dim perceptions of it, according to The Associated Press. In recent weeks, aides have begun walking at Biden’s side as he strolls to and from Marine One, the presidential helicopter, on the White House South Lawn in an apparent effort to help mask the president’s stiff gait.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Still, neither party is making serious contingency plans, assuming the general election matchup is all but set. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump reached a fever pitch Tuesday with highly anticipated and salacious testimony from adult film actress Stormy Daniels that prompted a motion for a mistrial and a scolding from the judge.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to alleged hush money payments, but that he did so in furtherance of another crime: conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which is a felony.

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE DENIES MOTION FOR MISTRIAL AMID STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges.

Here are the top five moments from Tuesday’s day in court. 

Stormy Daniels takes stand after judge approves prosecution’s questions about alleged sexual encounter

Attorneys for Trump objected to prosecutors’ plans to go through the “full details” of the alleged sexual encounter between the pornography actress and Trump.

Trump’s team argued there was no need for the details and further argued that there is an issue with Daniels’ credibility by pointing to her initial denial of any alleged encounter in 2018.

Prosecutors told Judge Juan Merchan that they would “not go into details of genitalia.” 

Merchan sided with prosecutors, and Daniels promptly took the stand.

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, told prosecutors she prefers to be referred to as Stormy Daniels. She said she grew up in a low-income family in Louisiana and was raised by her mother after her parents divorced.

Daniels testified that at age 17 she began erotic dancing for money, and at age 21, she began nude modeling for magazines. She said she then traveled to California to be an extra in an adult film and was offered an adult film contract at age 23.

The adult film actress testified that she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in July 2006 in Lake Tahoe. She said that at the time she was under contract at Wicked Pictures, which was a sponsor and had a table at the tournament.

“It was a very brief encounter … players came though … introduced to every player who came through … very brief encounter,” Daniels said on the witness stand.

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked what Daniels discussed with Trump. Daniels said it wasn’t very much; she was introduced as a director and said Trump told her that “you must be the smart one.”

BRAGG PROSECUTOR LEADING STORMY DANIELS QUESTIONING IN TRUMP TRIAL DONATED TO JOE BIDEN, DEMOCRATS

Daniels said she knew about Trump’s then-reality show “The Apprentice” and that he did cameos and commercials. She was 27 at the time and knew Trump was “probably as old or as old as my father,” who was 60 at the time.

She said she saw Trump in the gift room and made sure Trump got a copy of a movie called “Three Wishes” and chatted briefly. She said someone came back and asked her if she wanted to have dinner with Trump.

Daniels said that she discussed the invitation to dinner with her then-publicist, recalling that her publicist joked, “I think you should go … what could possibly go wrong?”

The publicist implied it would be good for Daniels’ career, the performer said.

She then testified in detail about the alleged sexual encounter with Trump in a hotel room.

Judge tells prosecution to move along Stormy Daniels testimony, warns witness giving ‘unnecessary’ details

After a brief morning break and a pause in Daniels’ testimony, Merchan told prosecutors that they were going into too much detail during their questioning of her.

“The degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary,” the judge told Manhattan prosecutor Hoffinger and asked her to move things along.

Prior to the break, the prosecution asked Daniels to recount an alleged meeting with Trump at a Lake Tahoe hotel room. Daniels said Trump asked her to dinner after meeting her earlier at the tournament.

Daniels has alleged she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 and that in 2016 she was paid $130,000 by Trump’s ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, to keep that story from the media.

Trump has denied the affair. Daniels initially denied the affair before changing her story in 2018.

Trump defense attorneys motion for mistrial; judge denies

After lunch, Trump’s defense attorneys moved for a mistrial amid Daniels’ testimony. 

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, after the court’s lunch break, told Merchan that Daniels’ testimony Tuesday morning was prejudicial.

Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted and that he was doing everything he could to control the witness, including once objecting to Daniels’ testimony himself.

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said.

Blanche said the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he said does not matter. Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016.

The defense attorney said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” He also said Daniels was testifying about consent, and that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.” Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could, but she was able to say what she said.”

He also questioned how the defense could “come back from this” in a way that could be “fair” to Trump.

NY V TRUMP TO RESUME AFTER FORMER PRESIDENT THREATENED WITH JAIL, TOLD TRIAL TO LAST AT LEAST 2 MORE WEEKS

“We believe there should be a mistrial,” he said, “or that this witness’ testimony is excluded and extremely limited.”

Blanche said Daniels’ lurid and explosive testimony “has nothing to do with this case” and is “totally irrelevant.”

He also noted that what Daniels said was “extraordinarily prejudicial testimony” and that there is a “high risk of the jury not being able to focus on the charged conduct.”

But Hoffinger said the defense was fully briefed on Daniels’ testimony in the motions prior to trial and argued that Daniels’ testimony was probative to Trump’s intent. Hoffinger said the defense is attacking Daniels’ credibility and argued there is “no basis for this.”

During the break, the former president and 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee posted to his Truth Social account without naming Daniels.

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR,” he posted. “MISTRIAL!”

Stormy Daniels admits she wanted to get her story out to ‘make some money’

During cross-examination by Trump defense attorney Susan Necheles, Daniels acknowledged that her story was worth a significant amount of money in 2016.

When asked if Daniels tried to extort money from Trump, Daniels said, “False.”

The adult film star testified that she saw 2016 as an opportunity to get her story out and benefit financially.

For the first time, Daniels confirmed that she wanted to “get the story out and make some money.” She was ultimately paid $130,000 by ex-Trump attorney Cohen.

Daniels, in late 2018, published a book called “Full Disclosure.”

Trump abides by gag order, doesn’t mention Stormy Daniels in post-court remarks

After hours of listening to Daniels make salacious allegations on the stand about an alleged sexual encounter, which he has denied, Trump spoke to reporters outside the courtroom.

Merchan imposed a gag order on the former president, a gag order that he has ruled Trump to have violated at least 10 times. 

Trump is barred from speaking about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE THREATENS JAIL TIME FOR ‘POSSIBLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT’ FOR FUTURE GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

On Monday, Trump was fined another $1,000, bringing the total to $10,000 in gag order violation fines.

Merchan threatened Trump with jail time if he makes future violations.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said Monday. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

NY V. TRUMP: MAYOR ADAMS SAYS RIKERS ISLAND IS ‘PREPARED’ IF TRUMP IS SENTENCED TO JAIL

Trump, after Daniels’ testimony, followed the gag order and did not mention Stormy Daniels by name or reference her testimony. 

“This was a very big day, a very revealing day as you’ll see their case is totally falling apart,” Trump said.

“They have nothing on books and records and even something that should bear very little relationship to the case is just a disaster … for the Soros-backed DA,” he continued.

“This whole case is just a disaster,” Trump said.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump lamented that the trial is preventing him, the presumptive GOP nominee for the 2024 presidential election, from being on the campaign trail.

“I’m stuck. I’m here instead of being in Georgia, instead of being in New Hampshire, instead of being in Wisconsin and all the different states that we wanted to be, and we’re not able to be there because we’re stuck in this trial, which everyone knows is a hoax,” he said.

Fox News Digital’s Maria Paronich and Brianna Herlihy contributed reporting.

If Stormy Daniels succeeded yesterday in convincing a jury that she had a one-night sexual encounter with Donald Trump, it was by delving into the details.

At the same time, she acknowledged that Trump did nothing to pressure her into having sex in 2006 and that she sought him out the following year. The porn star has never described their alleged one-nighter as anything other than consensual sex, though Trump insists it never happened.

That may not matter in a trial that ultimately turns on an allegation of falsified business records, but this does:

Daniels says that in exchange for a $130,000 payment – and there’s no factual dispute that Michael Cohen sent her the money – she signed a non-disclosure agreement that required her to lie.  

BIDEN TAKES ROLE AS BYSTANDER ON BORDER AND CAMPUS PROTESTS, SURRENDERS THE BULLY PULPIT

“I could not tell my story, he could not tell his story. We had to pretend we didn’t know each other.” And that, of course, is a serious ding to her credibility.

Even reporters in the Manhattan courthouse said it was hard to know how this was playing with the jurors. Stormy made jokes they didn’t laugh at, and spoke so quickly that she repeatedly had to be admonished to slow down, so the court reporter could keep up.

Here’s what Daniels said happened that fateful night:

They met briefly at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament; she was 27, making and directing X-rated films, and he was about 60. Daniels says she knew little about him and had never seen “Celebrity Apprentice.”

She saw him again at the gift shop, as documented by a photo that the world has seen a billion times.

Bodyguard Keith Schiller asked if she’d have dinner with Trump; she says she replied “F*** no.” But Schiller got her cell number (he’s in her contacts) and asked again by text.

Daniels’ publicist urged her to go, in what I find the funniest line of the day: “What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

When she was taken to the penthouse, Trump was in silk pajamas. She says she told him to change.

NY JUDGE RESPONDS TO TRUMP ATTORNEYS BID FOR MISTRIAL AMID DANIELS’ TESTIMONY

Daniels described the room in detail, beautiful heavy furniture, in an attempt to prove she was there.

He asked about her family and how she got into adult movies. (Daniels testified earlier that “my mother was very neglectful, disappearing for days at a time.”)

Were there STD tests? She said she told Trump she’d never tested positive.

There was a very brief conversation about Melania: Trump said she was very beautiful, and added: “We don’t sleep in the same room.”

Stormy testified she snapped at Trump when he showed her a business magazine with him as the cover boy:

“Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? You don’t even know how to have a conversation.” She looked at the magazine and said: “Someone should spank you with that.”

He played the “Apprentice” card, saying she should come on his show. Stormy wasn’t buying it, saying NBC would never put on a porn star: “Even you don’t have that much power.”

She recalled Trump saying: “You remind me of my daughter, smart blonde and beautiful, people always underestimate her.”

‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOSTS FANTASIZE OVER SENDING TRUMP TO PRISON

Okay, enough small talk (there was two hours’ worth). 

Daniels crossed the bedroom to go to the bathroom, where she went through his toiletry bag. When Daniels came out, she testified, “he was on the bed, wearing boxers and a T-shirt.”

Here’s where it got dramatic: “I felt the room spin and blood leave my hands.” How had she misread the situation? (Right, someone who is paid for sex had no idea?)

Stormy says she “blacked out,” though she hadn’t been drugged.

“There was an imbalance of power. He was bigger and blocking the way.” But, “I was not threatened verbally or physically.”

Somehow she transitioned, after the blood leaving her hands, to saying “I had my clothes and my shoes off. I removed my bra.” They were in the “missionary position.” How does that square with her earlier freakout?

Judge Juan Merchan sustained the first of several defense objections to her description of the position. Daniels also said the action was brief, that he didn’t use a condom, and that she didn’t enjoy it.

More telling, in my view, is that the porn star stayed in touch with the man she says blocked her from leaving the room. She went to his launch of a vodka product the next spring, wanting to maintain a relationship because the possibility of an “Apprentice” appearance was still in the air. 

She saw him again that summer in L.A., went to his hotel bungalow with her boyfriend stationed outside. “He kept trying to make sexual advances,” putting his hand on her leg. She says she lied and claimed she was having her period.

Not shockingly, Trump later called, said he’d been overruled and couldn’t get her on the show.

A key moment, which Daniels has alleged before, is that an unknown man came up to her in a parking lot in 2011 and threatened her if she ever revealed the encounter with Trump. Of course, that makes the account impossible to fact-check.

In the final stretch of the 2016 campaign, Daniels was approached about the $130,000 payment, told that this way her husband would not find out. She kept saying she wasn’t interested in money, but was more than happy to take the six-figure deal.

When the Wall Street Journal exposed the hush money scheme in 2018, with no comment from Daniels, she says her life turned into “chaos” and she was “ostracized.”

On cross-examination, the defense quickly scored points. Trump had called her “horseface.” Did she “hate” Trump? Yes. Does she want him to go to jail? If he’s convicted, “absolutely.”

Daniels lost a defamation suit she filed against the former president, but lost last year and was ordered to pay $120,000 and another $121,000 in attorneys’ fees. She vowed never to pay. 

In just a few minutes, given her harsh responses, the Trump defense painted her as an angry person with a sizable ax to grind against their client. 

The bottom line: Stormy Daniels said things that were both favorable and unfavorable to Donald Trump. Whether the jury views her as being candid or implying Trump was a predator may not matter much, except for the part about lying as part of the NDA for which Trump eventually reimbursed Michael Cohen for “legal expenses.”  

The Trump defense moved for a mistrial after the lunch break, saying the only reason for such prejudicial questions, “aside from pure embarrassment, is to inflame the jury.”

The judge, naturally, rejected the request, while agreeing there were some things that would have been “better left unsaid” but the defense also shares responsibility.

Earlier, prosecutors called a Random House executive as a way of getting some of Trump’s book statements into the record. Some examples:

“When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can.”

“All the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

And this goes more to the core legal charge:  

“When you sign a check yourself, you’re seeing what’s really going on inside your business. If people see your signature at the bottom of the check… they screw you less.”

That is, screw in the business sense.

Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., lashed out Tuesday during a contentious interview after being pressed on a series of questions about her controversial new book, “No Going Back.”

FOX Business’ Stuart Varney asked the Republican governor about a viral section of her book where she discussed shooting her ranch dog, which was detailed in an excerpt released last week.

When asked about people questioning her political future and her vice presidential aspirations, Noem snapped, saying, “I don’t think you have the facts straight.”

In her new book, officially released Tuesday, Noem described shooting her dog after it attacked a neighbor’s chickens. The story drew an immediate backlash from lawmakers, but the governor said that story was included “because a lot of politicians have run from the truth.”

NOEM ADDRESSES FEELING ‘THREATENED’ BY NIKKI HALEY, A CONTROVERSIAL DOG KILLING, TRUMP VP SPECULATION IN BOOK

“I don’t think you have the facts straight. This was a vicious, dangerous dog. That was a working dog. And I had to make a choice between the safety of my children and an animal that was killing livestock and attacking people,” Noem told Varney. “So it’s included because a lot of politicians have run from the truth. They want to try to hide from tough decisions.”

KRISTI NOEM ERUPTS ON CBS ANCHOR AFTER VIRAL INTERVIEW ABOUT CONTROVERSIAL BOOK

Varney pressed Noem on the age of the dog after she said it was an “adult,” and she then confirmed it was 14 months old when it was put down.

“I’m proud of this book,” Noem said. “I know that a lot of people are using attacks to try to take me down because they’re scared of me. I have so much support and all I’ve done is won.”

The two then went back and forth over the topic, before Noem called it “ridiculous.”

“Enough Stuart, this interview is ridiculous, what you are doing right now. So you need to stop. It is,” she said when asked if she talked to former President Trump about the dog.

Trump is considering Noem as one of his potential picks for vice president, which was confirmed when the former president released his short list of candidates for his 2024 ticket.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

After the dog story prompted bipartisan backlash from members of Congress, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told CNN, “I don’t see how it helps” her standing with voters.

Former President Trump’s classified records trial stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation has been postponed with no new date, Fox News has learned.

The trial was set to begin on May 20, but Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida postponed that date to Tuesday.

In a filing Tuesday, Cannon said that due to the “myriad and interconnected pre-trial” issues “remaining and forthcoming,” it would be “imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions.”

JUDGE UNSEALS FBI FILES IN TRUMP CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE, INCLUDING DETAILED TIMELINE OF MAR-A-LAGO RAID

“The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants’ right to due process and the public’s interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice,” Cannon wrote.

In the filing, Cannon listed the dates of pre-trial deadlines to manage “pending discovery and disclosure matters” and to “adjudicate pre-trial motions before the Court.”

Cannon scheduled a hearing on May 8, a hearing on May 20 and a nonevidentiary hearing for defendant Waltine Nauta’s motion to dismiss on May 22.

Cannon also scheduled deadlines for reports on May 31, June 10, June 17 and another nonevidentiary hearing on a motion to dismiss on June 21, “based on unlawful appointment and funding of special counsel.” 

The judge also said an additional hearing would take place from June 24 to June 26 and set deadlines for disclosures from the special counsel for early July and the defendants’ speedy trial report for July 19 – the final day of the Republican National Convention.

Cannon scheduled a status conference for July 22 and another hearing for later that day.

JUSTICE THOMAS RAISED CRUCIAL QUESTION ABOUT LEGITIMACY OF SPECIAL COUNSEL’S PROSECUTION OF TRUMP

Cannon did not schedule a new trial date.

Trump was charged out of Smith’s investigation into his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and false statements.

Trump was also charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment out of the investigation: an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.

Trump pleaded not guilty.

The move to indefinitely postpone the trial comes after Cannon unsealed a slew of documents related to the FBI’s investigation into the former president and the FBI’s raid on his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate in 2022.

The documents provided a detailed look into the personnel involved in the raid on Mar-a-Lago and a play-by-play timeline of the raid. One of the documents is an FBI file that suggests the agency’s investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents was dubbed “Plasmic Echo.”

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES ‘MANIPULATED’ EVIDENCE SEIZED BY FBI IN TRUMP CLASSIFIED RECORDS PROBE

Another unsealed FBI memo memorialized the role of Attorney General Merrick Garland in the investigation.

In a document dated March 30, 2022, Garland provided his approval to allow the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents to upgrade to a “full investigation.”

“This email conveys Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General (AG) [Merrick Garland] approval for conversion to a full investigation,” a synopsis of the restricted document reads.

Also, last week, Smith and federal prosecutors admitted in a court filing that documents seized during the raid on Mar-a-Lago are no longer in their original order and sequence.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans,” Smith’s filing states.  

The prosecutors had previously told the court that the documents were “in their original, intact form as seized.” 

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan is investigating whether that evidence was “altered or manipulated.”

Smith also charged Trump in a separate jurisdiction – in Washington, D.C. – out of his investigation into election interference and Jan. 6. Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.

That trial is also postponed indefinitely. The Supreme Court is considering arguments on presidential immunity and whether Trump is immune from prosecution in Smith’s case.

The high court is expected to rule on the matter by mid-June.

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The prosecutor from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office leading the questioning of adult film actress Stormy Daniels in former President Trump’s criminal trial had donated to President Biden’s campaign in 2020 and a number of other Democrat politicians and organizations over the years, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Daniels on Tuesday as she testified as part of the unprecedented criminal trial of a former U.S. president.

Trump defense attorneys told Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday afternoon that they would motion for a mistrial amid Daniels’ “prejudicial” testimony. Hoffinger said the claim was without basis, and Merchan ultimately denied the defense’s request. 

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

Hoffinger’s donations to Biden came during the 2020 Democrat presidential primaries, Federal Election Commission records show. 

Hoffinger donated $500 to Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020: a donation of $250 in February 2020 and another donation of $250 in March 2020. She donated more than $900 to ActBlue during the 2020 cycle. ActBlue is an online fundraising platform for Democrat candidates, progressive organizations and nonprofits.

The prosecutor also donated to a number of other Democrat congressional campaigns in 2020 and 2018. Hoffinger was hired by Bragg’s office in 2022 after the political contributions were made.

The revelations come as Republicans investigate alleged politicization of the case against Trump.

“Joe Biden’s witch hunt against President Donald Trump happening in New York City is blatant election interference,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “The lead Democrat prosecutor is a donor to Joe Biden just like the judge.”

BRAGG ‘ALLOWED POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS’ TO ‘INFECT’ PROSECUTION OF TRUMP, HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP SAYS

Merchan donated $15 to Biden’s campaign in July 2020. He also made small donations to other Democrat groups in 2020.

Stefanik told Fox News Digital that “Democrats know they cannot defeat President Trump at the ballot box and have resorted to a desperate lawfare campaign in hopes of saving Joe Biden.”

“The American people can see through this, and that is why President Trump will win come November,” Stefanik said. 

Fox News Digital first reported that another top prosecutor on Bragg’s team was paid by the Democratic National Committee for his “political consulting” work.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo joined Bragg’s office after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, the prosecutors who were investigating Trump and resigned in protest of Bragg’s initial unwillingness to indict the former president. Colangelo left a senior role at the Biden Justice Department to join Bragg’s team. Bragg afterward brought charges against the former president in April 2023, raising questions among some in the GOP about alleged politicization of the case.

House Republicans are investigating Colangelo and his past work as he prosecutes Trump.

According to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Fox News Digital, DNC Services Corp/Democratic National Committee paid Colangelo twice on Jan. 31, 2018. Colangelo was given two payments of $6,000, for a total of $12,000.

The “description” for the purpose of payment is labeled “Political Consulting.”

Neither the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office nor the DNC responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment about Colangelo’s work.

At the time, Colangelo was serving in then-New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman’s office as the deputy attorney general for social justice, assuming the role from Bragg who, at the time, was appointed as chief deputy attorney general.

Schneiderman resigned in May 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault. Barbara Underwood replaced him as New York attorney general.

Just months after Colangelo received the payments from the DNC, in June 2018, Underwood, with Colangelo as executive deputy attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. The lawsuit alleged that Trump used the foundation’s charitable assets to pay off his legal obligations. The Trump Foundation ultimately agreed to dissolve in December 2018.

NY V TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ

Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022.

Prior to his work in New York and the Biden Justice Department, Colangelo worked in the Obama administration in a number of different roles. Colangelo worked in the DOJ’s civil rights division and served as the chief of staff to then-Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who later served as chair of the DNC in 2017. Perez was DNC chair at the time Colangelo was paid for “political consulting.”

TRUMP PROSECUTOR QUIT TOP DOJ POST FOR LOWLY NY JOB IN LIKELY BID TO ‘GET’ FORMER PRESIDENT, EXPERT SAYS

Colangelo also worked as a deputy assistant to then-President Obama and as the deputy director of the White House Economic Council.

Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

A charge of falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor, but Bragg, Colangelo and New York prosecutors must convince the jury that Trump falsified those records in the furtherance of “another crime.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Prosecutors suggest that the other crime was in violation of a New York State law: conspiracy to prevent or promote election. On its face, as a stand-alone offense, that charge is also typically a misdemeanor.

Coupling the alleged falsification of business records with alleged prevention or promotion of election becomes a felony crime, according to Bragg.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the rolls when their eligibility is challenged.

Republican activists — fueled by debunked theories of a stolen election — have challenged more than 100,000 voters in the state in recent years. The activists say they are rooting out duplicate records and removing voters who have moved out of state.

GEORGIA POLICE REMOVE SQUATTERS ALLEGEDLY OCCUPYING HOME SINCE CHRISTMAS

The bill Kemp signed into law — SB 189 — lists death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. Most controversially, it says the National Change of Address list can be considered, though not exclusively.

Supporters have said the probable cause definition would make the challenge process more difficult. Opponents have disputed that, saying the changes would enable more baseless attacks on voters that would overwhelm election administrators and disenfranchise legitimate voters. For example, people sometimes live at a place of business, which would be considered a nonresidential address. Officials with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office say there are more reliable types of information, such as driver’s license data, to confirm a voter’s eligibility.

The Georgia bill also allows challenges to be accepted and voters removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election. That provision in part has prompted the threat of lawsuits from liberal groups because federal law says states and counties can’t make systematic changes to voting rolls within 90 days of a federal election.

The measure also says homeless people must use the county voter registration office as their address instead of where they live. Opponents have said that could make it harder for homeless citizens to cast ballots because their registered polling place might be far away.

Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, slammed the signing of SB 189, calling the measure a “voter suppression bill that emboldens right-wing activists in their efforts to kick Black and brown voters off the rolls.”

“By signing SB 189 to become law, Brian Kemp delivered a gift to MAGA election deniers,” the group said in a statement.

Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, called the bill a “step back for voters’ rights and voting access.”

“We are committed to protecting Georgia voters and will see the governor in court,” she said in a statement.

An email to a spokesman for the governor’s office, Garrison Douglas, was not immediately returned.

The bill also grants access to Georgia’s ballot to any political party that has qualified for the presidential ballot in at least 20 states or territories. The change could bolster independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose campaign has spooked Democrats worried it could draw support away from President Joe Biden.

Other changes in the bill include removing Raffensperger from his ex-officio spot on the State Election Board. Kemp and Republican lawmakers had previously removed Raffensperger from his voting position on the board.

Many Republicans who believe debunked theories that former President Donald Trump was cheated out of Georgia’s 16 electoral votes in 2020 view Raffensperger as a particular enemy because the Republican secretary of state has forcefully defended the election results showing Biden won.

Raffensperger and some others had lobbied for Kemp, himself a former secretary of state, to veto the bill.

The bill, additionally, says that beginning July 1, 2026, the state can no longer use a kind of barcode called a QR code to count ballots created on the state ballot marking devices. That is how votes are counted now, but opponents say voters don’t trust QR codes because they can’t read them. Instead, the bill says ballots must be read using the text, or human-readable marks like filled-in bubbles, made by the machines.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The bill also requires counties to report the results of all absentee ballots by an hour after polls close. It also lets counties use paper ballots in elections in which fewer than 5,000 people are registered, though that change will not take effect until 2025.

Kemp on Tuesday vetoed a separate election bill that would ban political contributions by foreign nationals and impose additional registration requirements on agents of foreign principals. The governor noted that such donations are already prohibited by federal law, and he said some of the registration requirements were not intended by the bill’s sponsor.

The GOP primary race to serve as Indiana’s next governor concluded Tuesday evening after it was announced Sen. Mike Braun received the most votes and will serve as the party’s nominee for the role in November.

A total of six candidates ran in the GOP gubernatorial primary election to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has held the position since 2017.

Each of the six candidates in the competitive, multimillion-dollar primary race cast themselves as an outsider in an appeal to conservative voters ahead of the election, despite five holding statewide roles at some point.

The six Republican candidates who competed for their party’s nomination on Tuesday included Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former state Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers, former state Economic Development Corp. President Eric Doden, former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill and resident Jamie Reitenour.

6 REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR OF INDIANA TO DEBATE AHEAD OF PRIMARY

Braun boasted several advantages – such as name recognition, money and former President Trump’s endorsement – ahead of Tuesday’s election.

Braun, who flipped a Democrat-held Senate seat in 2018, announced his decision to enter the race in November 2022. His campaign spent over $6 million in 2024, according to the latest summary report.

Trump endorsed Braun last November, saying he “was proud to endorse Mike when he ran for the Senate in 2018, and I am proud to do so again.”

“Mike Braun has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Indiana!” Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time.

Crouch – another familiar name thanks to running twice with Holcomb – campaigned to slash the state’s income tax and promised to boost addiction and mental illness services prior to the election. Crouch ended the most recent fundraising period with $3 million – the most cash on hand of any Indiana gubernatorial candidate. However, she spent only $2.1 million in the first three months of the year.

Chambers’ messaging leading up to the election was more moderate than the other candidates, with a large focus being placed on the economy. Chambers spent $6.7 million this year, and reports revealed he contributed $8 million to his campaign.

Doden’s priorities ahead of Tuesday’s election included a plan to invest in Indiana’s small towns. He spent $5.2 million in the first three months of this year and last reported having about $250,000 of cash on hand.

Once a rising star in Indiana politics, Hill struggled to compete. He lost the Republican delegation nomination in 2020 following allegations that he groped four women in 2018.

Reitenour, a mother with no political experience who received support in the race from the Hamilton County Moms For Liberty, also sought the GOP nomination. She previously said she would appoint its leader to head the state education department.

Braun is most likely to win the Nov. 5 general election in a state that reliably elects Republicans.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Jennifer McCormick, the Democrat candidate in the gubernatorial race, is running unopposed. Two other candidates, Donald Rainwater (Libertarian Party) and Christopher Stried (independent), are running to serve as the state’s next governor.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Federal judges who recently threw out a congressional election map giving Louisiana a second mostly Black district said Tuesday the state Legislature must pass a new map by June 3 or face having the panel impose one on the state.

The order from a panel of two federal district judges and an appellate judge noted that they would begin work on a remedial plan while giving lawmakers a chance to come up with a plan.

State lawmakers are meeting in Baton Rouge in a regular session that will end by June 3.

NEW MAJORITY-BLACK LOUISIANA HOUSE DISTRICT REJECTED, NOVEMBER ELECTION MAP STILL UNCERTAIN

“To be clear, the fact that the Court is proceeding with the remedial phase of this case does not foreclose the Louisiana Legislature from exercising its ‘sovereign interest’ by drawing a legally compliant map,” the judges wrote.

Whatever comes out of the court could impact the makeup of the next U.S. Congress. Given voting patterns, a new mostly Black district would give Democrats the chance to capture another House seat. The map that was recently tossed converted District 6, represented by Republican Rep. Garret Graves, into a mostly Black district. Democratic state Sen. Cleo Fields, a former congressman who is Black, had said he would run for the seat.

U.S. District Judges David Joseph and Robert Summerhays, both of whom were nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump, said the newest map violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because “race was the predominate factor” driving its creation.

Tuesday’s order is the latest development in a seesaw court battle that has taken place in two federal court districts and an appeals court.

The state currently has five white Republican U.S. House members and one Black member who is a Democrat. All were elected most recently under a map the Legislature drew up in 2022.

A federal judge in Baton Rouge blocked subsequent use of the 2022 map, saying it likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act by dividing many of the state’s Black residents — about a third of the population — among five districts. A federal appeals court gave lawmakers a deadline earlier this year to act. The Legislature responded with a map creating a new district crossing the state diagonally and linking Black populations from Shreveport in the northwest, Alexandria in the center and Lafayette and Baton Rouge in the south.

A group of self-identified non-African American voters filed suit against that map, saying it was unconstitutionally drawn up with race as the main factor. That suit was filed in western Louisiana. A three-judge panel heard arguments in that case and ruled 2-1 against the map. The same panel issued Tuesday’s ruling.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office has said it needs a map in place by May 15 to prepare for the fall elections. The judges noted testimony, however, that the office could be prepared if maps were in place by the end of May. The candidate sign-up period is in mid-July.

Former President Trump railed against ongoing anti-Israel unrest plaguing college campuses and cities, saying the radicals should be treated by the government “the same way as they do the J6 hostages.” 

“It’s Biden’s backers that seem to be funding what’s going on with the Palestinians. Probably not Palestinians, they’re agitators — bad agitators, really bad. And I think our government ought to find out who they are, where they’re from, and treat them the same way as they do the J6 hostages,” Trump said outside the courtroom, referring to protesters who breached the Capitol in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.

“You got to treat them the same way. These are agitators. They’re really hurting our country. It’s happening all over the country and cities.”

The NYPD arrested more than two dozen protesters outside the Met Gala Monday evening as a protest devolved into chaos. It included agitators burning an American flag and vandalizing a historic World War I memorial. The protest follows mass demonstrations on college campuses since last month, with students and outside agitators establishing anti-Israel encampments and demanding their schools divest from Israel amid a war that has raged in the Middle East since Oct. 7. 

ERIC TRUMP SLAMS STORMY’S TESTIMONY FROM FRONT ROW COURT SEAT: ‘GARBAGE’

“You saw what happened last night at the Metropolitan Museum. These are agitators. And in some of the colleges, I think it’s about 20% student and 80% others. So, this is a big problem. And they better nip it in the bud. And it’s a problem from the left, not from the right. This is a problem from the left.” 

The college protests are associated with groups tied to far-left organizations backed by dark money and liberal mega-donor George Soros, Fox News Digital previously reported. Namely, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) has had a large presence amid the protests on Columbia University’s campus, as well as on the campuses of UCLA, Tufts and the University of Texas at Austin. 

Trump’s comments Tuesday afternoon come after former pornography actor Stormy Daniels took the stand and went into detail about meeting Trump in 2006 during a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. The testimony included Daniels detailing allegedly sleeping with real estate mogul. Trump has repeatedly denied any affair with Daniels. 

Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case, which revolves around Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paying Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of the alleged extramarital sexual encounter. Trump has pleaded not guilty. 

STORMY DANIELS TAKES THE STAND IN TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL

Prosecutors allege the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime. 

Daniels’ testimony has been slammed by legal experts as unnecessary and “prejudicial” as her claims of an alleged affair with Trump have no bearing on the charges. 

TRUMP READS BACK TO MEDIA THEIR OWN TRIAL REPORTING: ‘NO SMOKING GUN’

“The problem with what the judge has done here, is that this is an entirely unnecessary witness,” Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said Tuesday. “It is uncontested that there’s an NDA. … What happened in their relationship, if there was one, is immaterial to how those payments were denoted by the Trump campaign. So, the court had the opportunity repeatedly to say, ‘We’re not going to take this courtroom through details of this relationship.’

“Prosecutors wanted to get salacious details out, and this is a form of punishment. They’re trying to use a witness for punitive purposes, and, in my view, political purposes. And this is what happens. And it happened because the judge lost control of his courtroom.” 

NY V. TRUMP: JUDGE DENIES MOTION FOR MISTRIAL AMID STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

Trump’s legal team moved for a mistrial over the testimony, and the motion was denied by presiding Judge Juan Merchan. Trump sounded off on Truth Social that the prosecution team had “gone too far.”

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR. MISTRIAL!” Trump posted Tuesday afternoon.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This Witch Hunt is FALSE ANCIENT HISTORY that was fully adjudicated by the Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election. It only has to do with Election Interference, and trying to help Crooked Joe Biden get elected because he can’t do it by himself. It is a vicious attack by the Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, in strict coordination with the D.O.J. and the White House, on Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. IT IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND STRICTLY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!” 

Trump remarked after court wrapped that it was a “very big day, a very revealing day,” adding the case is “totally falling apart.” He did not specifically mention Daniels in the comments.

Legal experts railed against former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels’ salacious testimony as “prejudicial” Tuesday, as former President Trump’s legal team moved for a mistrial that ultimately failed in the action-packed court day.  

“I used to try cases for a living. I still have a pretty good sense of what evidence is relevant, what is prejudicial and what is completely over-the-top inadmissible. What the judge is letting in today in the Trump trial in NYC will be remembered as a dark stain on our judicial system, reminiscent of corrupt dictatorships. Shame on the prosecution for undermining our judicial system,” David Friedman, a lawyer and former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, posted on X. 

The comment came ahead of Trump’s legal team moving for a mistrial as Daniels went into detail regarding her alleged sexual encounter with the real estate mogul in 2006. 

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR. MISTRIAL!” Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday.

LIVE UPDATES: NY V. TRUMP TRIAL RESUMES WITH WITNESS TESTIMONY AFTER JUDGE MERCHAN THREATENS TRUMP WITH JAIL TIME

“This Witch Hunt is FALSE ANCIENT HISTORY that was fully adjudicated by the Voters in the 2016 Presidential Election. It only has to do with Election Interference, and trying to help Crooked Joe Biden get elected because he can’t do it by himself. It is a vicious attack by the Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, in strict coordination with the D.O.J. and the White House, on Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. IT IS ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND STRICTLY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!”  

The motion for a mistrial was ultimately denied by presiding Judge Juan Merchan. 

NY V. TRUMP: JUDGE DENIES MOTION FOR MISTRIAL AMID STORMY DANIELS TESTIMONY

Daniels detailed to the court that she met Trump in 2006 at Lake Tahoe during a celebrity golf tournament. She alleged the pair had sex in Trump’s hotel room during the event, which Trump has repeatedly denied in public comments. Daniels’ testimony also included describing to the court how she got into the pornography business after working as an exotic dancer as a teenager. 

The case revolves around the alleged falsification of business records. Prosecutors allege Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of the alleged extramarital sexual encounter. Prosecutors allege the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.

STORMY DANIELS TAKES THE STAND IN TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL

Legal experts sounded off on social media that Daniels’ testimony was irrelevant to the case and that it should not have been admitted into the record. 

“The salacious testimony of Stormy Daniels is not only prejudicial, but irrelevant, so by no rationale under the evidentiary rule should it have been admitted,” attorney David Limbaugh posted on X. 

“Stormy Daniels testified against Trump this morning, going into salacious detail about the alleged sexual encounter. This is irrelevant. It has no bearing on the issue in the trial, which is whether Trump hid the payment to her in order to influence the 2016 election,” an Indianapolis civil rights attorney wrote in a post. “In a fair trial the judge would exclude that line of questioning.” 

“In a flagrant violation of NY’s rules of evidence and judicial ethics guidelines, the judge is allowing Stormy Daniels to ‘run wild’ with her highly prejudicial testimony, running roughshod over the objections of Trump’s attorneys, and allowing Daniels to vividly discuss every last salacious detail about the alleged interaction she had with Trump,” Paul Ingrassia, a lawyer and communications direction for the National Constitutional Law Union, posted.

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

“Prosecutors are asking how tall she is relative to Trump and whether there was a power dynamic between them. Now asking about their alleged sexual affair, the position they were in, whether they were intoxicated, ‘uncomfortable,’ and ‘how they closed it off,’” Ingrassia added, calling the questioning and testimony “totally out of line.” 

The former president’s son, Eric Trump, also weighed in on the testimony, calling it “garbage.” Eric Trump attended court again with the 45th president on Tuesday, where he viewed witness testimony.

“Perspective: Sitting front row attempting to figure out how any of this garbage from 20 years ago relates to ‘legal’ bills submitted by a long time personal attorney being booked as a ‘legal’ expense — but I digress,” Eric Trump posted to his X account Tuesday. 

“To be clear, they don’t give a s— about the merits of this case — the 15 Manhattan prosecutors are sitting at their table and behind in the courthouse pews, giddy by this salacious show. This is the intent, not the merits, nor the fact that this entire case is a massive extortion play,” he continued. 

NY V. TRUMP: MAYOR ADAMS SAYS RIKERS ISLAND IS ‘PREPARED’ IF TRUMP IS SENTENCED TO JAIL

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said Daniels is “an entirely unnecessary witness,” with her testimony serving as a “form of punishment” against Trump. 

“And the problem with what the judge has done here, is that this is an entirely unnecessary witness. It is uncontested that there’s an NDA. .. What happened in their relationship, if there was one, is immaterial to how those payments were denoted by the Trump campaign. So, the court had the opportunity repeatedly to say, ‘We’re not going to take this courtroom through details of this relationship,” Turley said on Fox News.  

“This is a form of punishment. They’re trying to use a witness for punitive purposes, and, in my view, political purposes, and this is what happens. And it happened because the judge lost control of his courtroom.” 

Following a break Tuesday morning, Judge Merchan said prosecutors were going into too much detail when questioning Daniels. 

“The degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary,” the judge told Manhattan prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, asking her to move the testimony along. 

ERIC TRUMP SLAMS STORMY’S TESTIMONY FROM FRONT ROW COURT SEAT: ‘GARBAGE’

The defense team had repeatedly objected to the prosecutors’ questions, which included intimate details of the alleged sexual encounter. Trump’s team argued there was no need for the details, adding there was also an issue with her credibility, noting Daniels had signed a statement in 2018 saying the sex act didn’t happen.

Daniels confirmed in testimony that she had signed the 2018 statement but did not do so “willingly,” alleging it was not factual and that she was under a non-disclosure agreement. 

As Trump’s team moved for a mistrial, attorney Todd Blanche argued to the court that the district attorney’s office, which is headed by Democrat Alvin Bragg, was working to inflame the jury with testimony that had no bearing on the case. 

TRUMP SAYS JAIL TIME TO DEFEND FREE SPEECH IS ‘SACRIFICE’ HE’S WILLING TO MAKE

Merchan said Tuesday that a mistrial is not warranted, but he believes some of Daniels’ testimony should have been “left unsaid,” while noting he was surprised the defense team did not object more frequently during the testimony.  

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I will also note that I was surprised that there weren’t more objections” from Trump’s legal team, Merchan added, saying the defense team needed to take some responsibility. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appears to be backing off her threat to force a vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., this week.

“We’ve had discussions in the speaker’s office and right now the ball is in Mike Johnson’s court,” Greene told reporters alongside Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Tuesday. 

The pair met with Johnson for roughly an hour and a half Tuesday after a two-hour meeting on Monday afternoon, where they outlined a list of demands for the speaker that included a pledge to not pass any more aid to Ukraine and de-funding Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Trump.

They’re also seeking assurances that Johnson would not bring any bills to the floor without support from a majority of the House GOP conference, and commitments to cutting federal spending if a deal to fund the government in fiscal year 2025 is not reached by Sept. 30.

ANTI-MCCARTHY GOP REBELS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PUSH TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

“He understands that he’s got to be our Republican Speaker of the House. The things that we’ve discussed about, that got leaked out to the press, are very simple and they serve the American people. They serve the people that gave us the majority,” Greene said.

It comes after Greene and Massie held a press conference last week announcing that they would aim to force a vote on their motion to vacate the chair this week. The motion to vacate is a procedural measure whereby, under current rules, just one lawmaker can call for a House-wide vote on the speaker’s removal.

But the pair would not give details on how they planned to move forward on Tuesday, nor if they would be meeting with Johnson again.

“We didn’t give a specific timeline, but it’s pretty short,” Greene told reporters when asked how long Johnson had to adhere to their demands, later adding that it would be “unrealistic” to expect results right away.

2 HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON 6 MONTHS AFTER HE TOOK GAVEL

Massie said that he communicated to Johnson, “If his plan is to drag this out until the pressure comes off of this, and to drag it out for weeks or days without making some movement in our direction, then he would just be far better off to have this vote and get it behind him. It doesn’t serve him or us to drag this out.”

“But if it does become obvious that he’s just trying to drag this out, we’ll do him a favor. We’ll do you a favor. We’ll do the GOP a favor, and we’ll call this motion,” he added later.

MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN

When pressed about if she expects a third meeting with Johnson, Greene said, “I expect to walk in his office and him to say, here’s my action items, here’s what I’m going to do. That requires a meeting, right?”

Johnson told reporters of his second meeting with the pair, “We’re talking through ideas and suggestions. It’s what I do with all members all the time. So there’s nothing unusual.”

Greene, Massie and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are the three lone Republicans actively pushing to oust Johnson in protest of his handling of foreign aid and government spending.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

It’s the product of long-simmering concerns of conservatives who have felt sidelined by Johnson on critical pieces of legislation. They’ve accused him of not fighting hard enough for GOP priorities and instead acquiescing to the Democrat-controlled White House and Senate.

Johnson, for his part, has repeatedly emphasized that he’s operating with a historically slim majority – now just one seat – and in control of one half of one third of the government.

Nearly two-thirds of voters say former President Trump will be found guilty on some charges in his unprecedented criminal trial. 

Sixty-five percent of registered voters questioned in a Suffolk University/USA Today national poll of registered voters predicted the former president would be convicted on some of the nearly three-dozen state felony charges he faces in his trial in New York City, which is the first in the nation’s history for a former or current president.

Trump is charged with falsifying business records in relation to hush-money payments during the 2016 election he made to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about his alleged affair with the adult film actress. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.

The former president has repeatedly denied falsifying business records as well as the alleged sexual encounter with Daniels.

STORMY DANIELS TAKES THE STAND IN TRUMP’S CRIMINAL TRIAL 

The poll, released on Tuesday as Daniels took the witness stand for the first time in the blockbuster trial, indicates that half of those questioned believe Trump will be found guilty on some, but not all, counts. Fifteen percent predict the former president will be convicted on all counts, with 23% saying he’ll be found not guilty on all charges.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES IN THE TRUMP TRIAL 

“The poll sets expectations going into the remainder of the trial and the verdict, in terms of what voters see. This could be vastly different than what the jury sees,” director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center David Paleologos told Fox News.

Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they don’t believe the trial has been fair to date, with 39% saying Trump was getting a fair trial. Sixteen percent were undecided.

“Fairness cut along party lines, with 76% of Democrats saying Trump is receiving a fair trial, while 80% of Republicans claimed that the trial has not been fair,” Paleologos spotlighted. “Independents were split evenly on the question of fairness at 37% each, with 24% undecided.”

Trump has continuously charged in speaking to reporters, in interviews, and in social media postings that the trial is not fair. And he’s also repeatedly criticized prosecutors, the judge, and witnesses in the case.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan recently found Trump in contempt nine times for violating a gag order in the case that prevents the former president from speaking out and taking aim at jurors and witnesses.

And on Monday Merchan ruled that Trump again violated his gag order and warned he would consider jailing the former president if the violations continued.

Trump and his defense attorneys have argued that the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, saying it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters.

The trial has partially sidetracked Trump from the campaign trail as he faces off with President Biden in a 2024 election rematch.

The Suffolk University poll for USA Today was conducted April 30-May 3, with 1,000 registered voters nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former President Trump’s defense attorneys are moving for a mistrial amid the testimony of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. 

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, after court’s lunch break, told Judge Juan Merchan that Daniels’ testimony Tuesday morning was prejudicial. 

Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted, and stated that he was doing everything he could to control the witness — including once objecting to Daniel’s testimony himself.

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said.

Blanche said the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he says does not matter. Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016. 

Blanche said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and said that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” Blanche also said that Daniels is testifying about consent, and said that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.”Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could but she was able to say what she said.” 

Blanche questioned how the defense could “come back from this” in a way that could be “fair” to former President Trump.”We believe there should be a mistrial,” Blanche said. “Or that this witness’ testimony is excluded and extremely limited.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger says the defense was fully briefed on Stormy’s testimony in the motions prior to trial, and argued that Daniels’ testimony was probative to Trump’s intent. Hoffinger said the defense is attacking Daniels’ credibility, and argued there is “no basis for this.”

During the break, the former president and 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee, posted to his Truth Social account, without naming Daniels. 

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR,” Trump posted. “MISTRIAL!” 

Before lunch, Merchan said the “the degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary,” pointing to Daniel’s testimony, asking prosecutor Susan Hoffinger to move things along. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

House Republicans are warning Speaker Johnson, R-La., against making any potential “side deals” with the GOP rebels threatening to oust him.

Johnson is holding his second meeting in as many days on Tuesday afternoon with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. They made several demands of Johnson on foreign aid and government funding in a two-hour closed-door meeting on Monday. 

It’s not immediately clear if they will back off their threats if their requests are fulfilled, but several House Republicans told Fox News Digital they hope Johnson stands firm against their demands unless he decides something is in the best interest of his conference.

“I think his job as speaker is to listen a lot, and then he has to ultimately make a decision, so I don’t have a problem with him listening,” Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said on Tuesday morning. “What I would have a problem with – and we had this problem with Speaker McCarthy – is when you start making special deals, side deals and hidden deals…And then people [say]…’What about my deal?'”

ANTI-MCCARTHY GOP REBELS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PUSH TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

Hern was referring to the closed-door conversations ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., held with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies, at times shifting House GOP policy after hours behind closed-doors with those members. That includes side deals he made in January 2023 to win the speaker’s gavel after a record 15 rounds of voting.

“It’s hard to equate him and Speaker McCarthy, they’re just entirely different and they had a different approach to most of everything,” one GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital.

The GOP lawmaker argued that the concessions being asked of Johnson were mostly non-controversial, but added, “I just feel like it’s not good practice to establish separate arrangements with separate members.”

2 HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON 6 MONTHS AFTER HE TOOK GAVEL

“My management style has always been – you never, ever, ever grease a squeaky wheel,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said when asked about potential side deals. “Because if you do, you’re going to end up with more squeaky wheels.”

Fox News Digital reported early on Tuesday that among the requests Greene and Massie made to Johnson were assurances that the House would not vote on any more Ukraine aid and a pledge to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Trump.

They are also demanding that Johnson vow to block any legislation from getting a House-wide vote unless it has the support of a majority of the House GOP – a longstanding informal provision called the Hastert rule, named after a former Republican speaker.

Greene confirmed those requests when she arrived at Johnson’s office on Tuesday afternoon for their second meeting.

“These are not unreasonable requests. These are the right things to do. These are the right things to do for our conference,” Greene told reporters.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital he did not believe Johnson would agree to their requests, but called them “nonsense.”

MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN

“Look, they get to weigh in, they get a vote. That’s what they get. They don’t get to form our total policy,” Meuser said.

A second GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely acknowledged there would always be “concerns” about possible side deals with House Republicans’ razor-thin majority.

“I think there’s always concerns about that, that there’s specific members that are getting more attention than others from the speaker himself,” the second GOP lawmaker said. “But, you know, overall, I think it’s kind of like, we’re just trying to figure out how to move forward on some of this stuff. Everybody realizes the majority is so thin, that, you know, anybody could walk into the speaker’s office and make demands.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Johnson was asked about some GOP lawmakers’ concerns about his negotiating with Greene and Massie during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s not a negotiation, OK? This is how I have operated as speaker…Everybody knows I have lengthy discussions, detailed discussions on a daily basis with members across the conference. There are 217 of us. It takes a lot of time,” Johnson said. “So I take Marjorie’s ideas and Thomas’ and everybody else’s equally, and we assess them on their own value and where we can make improvements and changes and all of that. And that’s what this is.”

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels took the stand to testify in the unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump on Tuesday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment ahead of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.

The payments to Daniels were first revealed in January 2018 in a Wall Street Journal report that said Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing the supposed sexual encounter with Trump.

At the time, though, Cohen, Trump, and even Stormy Daniels denied the arrangement.

In January 2018, Cohen said the alleged encounter between Daniels and Trump was a rumor that had circulated “since 2011.”

And in a letter dated Jan. 10, 2018, obtained and reviewed by Fox News, Daniels also denied the allegations.

“I recently became aware that certain news outlets are alleging that I had a sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago. I am stating with complete clarity that this is absolutely false,” Daniels wrote. “My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more.”

Daniels wrote in the letter that when she met Trump, he was “gracious, professional and a complete gentleman to me and EVERYONE in my presence.”

“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the letter read. “If indeed I did have a relationship with Donald Trump, trust me, you wouldn’t be reading about it in the news, you would be reading about it in my book. But the fact of the matter is, these stories are not true.”

But in March 2018, Daniels changed her story. During an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Daniels claimed she had a one-time, unprotected sexual encounter with Trump.

At the time, Trump said he was not aware of the payment made to Daniels.

FLASHBACK: STORMY DANIELS AND TRUMP: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

When asked in April 2018 why Cohen made the payment, Trump responded: “You have to ask Michael Cohen — Michael’s my attorney.”

Initially, there were questions about whether the non-disclosure agreement that was signed by Daniels — but not by Trump — was valid.

Daniels began legal efforts to depose Trump and Cohen over the payment. She also filed a defamation suit against Cohen, following a cease-and-desist letter sent by Cohen’s attorney that directed her to refrain from any further “false and defamatory” statements about Cohen following her tell-all “60 Minutes” interview.

Prosecutors, during the third week of the trial, called a number of witnesses to testify, including Keith Davidson, an attorney who once represented Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. 

Davidson said Daniels’ denial of an affair with Trump was technically true. He also testified that the money ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid her was not a payoff, but a “consideration.” 

Trump’s defense attorneys, during cross-examination, played audio recordings of Davidson, in which he can be heard admitting Cohen did not need authority from Trump to make the payment to Stormy Daniels. 

Meanwhile, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, after pleading guilty to federal charges that included lying to Congress, campaign-finance violations and tax evasion. The charges against Cohen arose from two separate investigations – one by federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the other by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

FLASHBACK: MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY, GETS 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR TAX FRAUD, CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS, LYING

Cohen pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about his work on a proposal to build a Trump skyscraper in Moscow, and hiding the fact that he continued to speak with Russians about the proposal well into the 2016 presidential campaign.

In the New York case, prosecutors accused Cohen of a years-long “tax evasion scheme” to avoid paying federal income taxes on more than $4 million made through a number of ventures, including through his ownership of taxi medallions, his selling of real estate in Florida and his consulting work for other clients.

Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the $130,000 payment to Daniels and a payment of $150,000 to model Karen McDougal to prevent them from going public with alleged affairs with Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied those alleged encounters.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.