Trump hush money trial concludes its first week as ex-president rants about presidential immunity: Live updates

“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defence for the better part of a year.”

A teacher, two lawyers and people working in finance are among the 12 jurors tasked with hearing the first-ever criminal trial against a president.

Donald Trump has continued his Truth Social tirade about presidential immunity with an apparent threat to President Joe Biden that he will be prosecuted for his “actual crimes” if the former president wins back the White House.

Here’s what Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social this afternoon (among many other posts on the same topic):

REMEMBER, if I don’t have Presidential Immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesn’t have it either, and he would certainly be Prosecuted for his many ACTUAL CRIMES, including illegally receiving massive amounts of money from Foreign Countries, including China, Ukraine, and Russia, paying off Ukraine to fire an unfriendly prosecutor, allowing millions of people to illegally Enter and Destroy our Country, SURRENDERING in Afghanistan, with Hundreds Dead, many Americans Left Behind, and handing over Billions of Dollars Worth of the Best Military Equipment anywhere on Earth, the Decimation of American Wealth through the Green New Scam, and so much more. REMEMBER, Crooked Joe Biden and his CORRUPT JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, D.A.’s and A.G.’s, has attacked his Political Opponent at a level never seen before in this Country, and wants desperately to PUT “TRUMP” IN PRISON. He is playing a very dangerous game, and the great people of America WILL NOT STAND FOR IT. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

There is no evidence that Mr Biden received any money from foreign countries (see the disastrous Republican-led House impeachment inquiry) or paid off Ukraine.

The allegations regarding the border and Afghanistan would presumably fall under existing presidential immunity and are not technically crimes (and the allegations here appear factually flawed).

There is no decimation of American wealth through “the Green New Scam”, indeed the economy is far outpacing that of any other developed nation, unemployment is at record lows, and the stock market is at record highs.

Finally, Joe Biden has no jurisdiction or influence over criminal indictments brought against Mr Trump at the local or state level (Manhattan and Georgia).

At the federal level, the Department of Justice handed its two investigations (into the classified documents in Florida and the events leading up to January 6 in Washington, DC) over to Special Counsel Jack Smith for the very purpose of avoiding a conflict of interest and to depoliticise the process.

Further, all four Trump criminal cases were assessed by members of the public in their respective grand juries.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

Congress took another step towards banning the popular video sharing app TikTok on Saturday when the House took its second swing at passing legislation to address what lawmakers claim is a national security threat.

The House of Representatives voted 360-58 on a bill that included a provision that would force TikTok’s owner ByteDance to sell the company within a year or see it removed from app stores in the US. It would still allow users to access to app from other sources.

Chinese officials are widely expected to block any attempt by ByteDance to sell the app.

The Trump Campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a Friday statement that they would launch “the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history”.

Kelly Rissman reports for The Independent:

The Committee of Unsecured Creditors — individuals and entities that Mr Giuliani owes — served more than a dozen subpoenas on Friday in an effort to recover his assets. Mr Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being hit with a massive $148m verdict for defaming two election workers.