Donald Trump trial: Ex-president praises 'breathtaking testimony' in hush money trial after National Enquirer boss detailed deals with White House staff and the celebs he 'killed' stories for

During cross-examination before the court wrapped up for the day, Pecker ran through a series of high-profile arrangements he claimed he came to with celebrities and powerful men.

That included killing stories about Mark Wahlberg, Tiger Woods and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Pecker claimed he helped bury stories about Mark Wahlberg and his wife having an argument and Rahm Emanuel having an affair after he left the Obama White House.

Pecker confirmed that he purchased the rights to photographs of Tiger Woods meeting a woman at a parking lot in Florida as part of another deal.

He agreed that they were used as ‘leverage’ to get Woods to appear on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine.

It came out in court that Pecker also gave Trump the heads up about negative stories for years, and Pecker agreed.

Among the other high-powered men that Pecker did similar favors for was billionaire Ron Perelman, the owner of cosmetics giant Revlon.

Schwarzenegger got $50 million in addition to posts as editor at large of two AMI muscle-building magazines as part of a deal for AMI to buy them, the court heard.

Bove said that ‘30 or 40 women came to you and AMI’ when Schwarzenegger declared his candidacy. Pecker agreed.

‘Not that high. Hundreds of thousands of dollars,’ Pecker said.

Pecker confirmed that Schwarzenegger did not pay him back.

Melania Trump's former spokesperson said Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders would check in with her to see how the first lady was 'dealing' with the Karen McDougal affair rumors - but didn't share the details of a 'deal' with the National Enquirer.

The revelation came as former National Enquirer CEO David Pecker testified in Donald Trump's case involving hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Pecker was speaking about a joint call with Hicks, who served as White House communications director, and Sanders, who was White House press secretary at the time and is now governor of Arkansas, about a 'catch-and-kill' contract given to McDougal.

Stephanie Grisham, who served as Melania's communications director and chief of staff, said the duo of tax-payer funded White House aides never mentioned any payoff money to her.

'Funny, they'd call me a lot to find out how MT was reacting to all the Clifford/McDougal news, but didn't bother to share any of this info w me,' Grisham wrote on X.

The former publisher of the National Enquirer described in court Thursday how Donald Trump called him in a fury when details of a secret deal with Playboy model Karen McDougal became public just four days before the 2016 election.

David Pecker's testimony revealed how an 'agitated' Trump, already facing questions about his treatment of women because of the 'Access Hollywood' tape, accused his company of leaking the information to the Wall Street Journal.

'How could this happen? I thought you had this under control,' Pecker says Trump asked him.

'Either you or one of your people have leaked this story.'

Pecker, 72, is a key witness in the case against the former president.

The court will be in session next Wednesday for a hearing on the four new gag order allegations against Trump.

That is a change in the schedule since the court has been out of session on Wednesdays due to a conflict that the judge has.

Prosecutors accused Trump of violating the gag order four more times, bringing the total to 14.

'He’s doing what the order tells him not to do,' said Christopher Conroy earlier Thursday.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan released a scathing report outlining former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz's role in DA Alvin Bragg's 'sham show-trial.'

'The DANY has been investigating President Trump since at least 2018, searching for any legal theory on which to bring charges,' the report states.

'These charges are normally misdemeanors subject to a two-year statute of limitations, but Bragg used a novel and untested legal theory—previously declined by federal prosecutors—to bootstrap the misdemeanor allegations as a felony, which extended the statute of limitations to five years, by alleging that records were falsified to conceal a second crime.'

Trump said the day's testimony was 'breathtaking' but shifted quickly to his protest of the trial.

'This is a case that should have never been filed and it was really an incredible day. Open your eyes,' he said. 'We can't let this continue to happen to our country.'

He moved on to more comments about the economy, pointing to low GDP numbers, the stock market, gas prices, and inflation.

Trump also criticized the ongoing pro-Palestine protests at some of America's college campuses, condemning the 'hate,' and 'anger' taking place.

'Biden is sending an absolutely horrible message. Horrible, horrible message, he has no idea how to message, he can't speak, he can't put two sentences together, he doesn't know what to do. This is not our president.'

Trump compared the ongoing college protests to the Charlottesville protests.

'He was talking about Charlottesville, Charlotteville was a little peanut and it was nothing compared and the hate wasn't the kind of hate that you have here. This is tremendous hate and we have a man that can't talk about it because he doesn't understand it.'

The judge dismissed the jury for the day marking the end of testimony in the trial.

Trump's lawyer Emil Bove further questioned Pecker about details of his deal with Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay for people making claims of relationships or alleged sexual harassment, and not publish them.

Pecker confirmed he paid 30-40 women who came to AMI and spent 'hundreds of thousands' of dollars.

Trump's lawyer is trying to establish for the jury how the National Enquirer works, arguing that Pecker's mutually beneficial relationship with Trump was not uncommon for a celebrity.

Schwarzenegger ran and won his race for California governor in 2003.

Trump's lawyer Emil Bove questioned Pecker about the 'mutually beneficial' agreement he had with Trump, dating back to the 1990s.

Pecker confirmed that Trump would give him stories and news from his 'Celebrity Apprentice' show and he would tip off Trump about negative stories and instead print positive stories.

Pecker agreed that it was standard practice for the tabloid to not publish negative stories about Trump 'because it was not good for business.'

'This relationship you have with President Trump is a mutually beneficial relationship. You had similar relationships with other people,' Bove said.

'I did,' Pecker replied.

Trump's lawyers are making the case that the work that Pecker did for Trump was normal part of a longstanding informal agreement, that continued during the presidential campaign.

The prosecution lawyers in the case concluded their examination of David Pecker, allowing Trump's lawyers to begin questioning him.

Trump attorney Emil Bove took the podium to cross-examine Pecker and began by asking him if he still had equity in AMI, the company that owns the National Enquirer.

Pecker said he did.

Bove asked about AMI's business model, pointing out that the company used 'checkbook journalism' to acquire stories for the tabloid and control how the information was used.

Pecker agreed with those statements.

Bove showed that Enquirer stories about Trump drove a lot of sales.

'So you ran articles about President Trump because it was good for business?' he asked.

'That's correct,' Pecker replied.

David Pecker testified that he called Trump's White House press officials Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders to discuss whether he should extend the agreement with McDougal. He said they both agreed he should do it.

'Both of them said that they thought it was a good idea,' Pecker said.

The company did not extend the contract, however, as they settled a lawsuit that McDougal filed against them to get her lifetime rights back.

Pecker testified that Trump called him after McDougal did an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2018 questioning why she was able to do a television interview.

Pecker told Trump his company had settled with McDougal after she sued to get her lifetime rights back.

'He was very upset, he couldn't understand why I did it,' Pecker said, referring to Trump.

Pecker testified he was invited to the White House in 2017 for a 'thank you dinner' and as they walked out together he asked about Karen McDougal.

'As we walked out, President Trump asked me "How's Karen doing, how's Karen doing?" So I said "She's doing well, she's quiet, everything's going good."'

Pecker said he replied: 'She's doing well, she's quiet, everything's going good.'

Pecker described the dinner as a 'Thank you dinner' for everything he had done for the president

National Enqurier publisher David Pecker will resume his third day of testimony.

Trump gave a fist bump as he walked through the hallway and back into courtroom.

He didn't answer shouted questions from reporters.

Legal expert John Yoo is poking holes in the Trump prosecutors' strategy to try and prove Donald Trump violated a New York state law.

The state law, 17-152, says it is a misdemeanor to 'conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto.'

Yoo told DailyMail.com that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg's efforts to turn to NY state election law 17-152 shows 'how he is still flailing to find a state law that Trump broke.'

'Alvin Bragg cannot charge Trump with a misdemeanor because he brought the case too late so he has to find a felony in the NY crime laws to fit,' he continued.

'So Bragg is claiming Trump committed a felony by cooking his own books in order to advance a separate crime.  Here, that other NY crime is 17-152 — which itself is only a misdemeanor!'

Yoo explained that the law makes it illegal 'to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means.'

He says that it's important to note that the law does not describe what the 'unlawful means' are.

'While the details of Trump’s alleged conduct — NDAs, catch and kill, etc. — are sordid, they are not illegal. In fact, they are quite common,' Yoo goes on.

Therefore, without some other violation of law, Bragg still has no legal case against Trump.

Yoo is the Emanuel Heller Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Pecker detailed a January meeting he had with Trump at Trump Tower after he was elected president but before he took office.

When he entered the room, FBI Director James Comey, campaign advisors Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, and Mike Pompeo had just finished updating the president-elect on the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting.

'Mr. Trump introduced me to each of them and said here is David Pecker, he’s the publisher of the National Enquirer and he probably knows more than anyone else in this room as a joke. Unfortunately, they didn’t laugh,' Pecker said.

Comey left the room as the tabloid executive walked in.

In front of his advisors, Trump then asked Pecker 'How's our girl doing?' referring to McDougal.

Pecker said McDougal was fine, and that she was 'quiet' and writing articles.

Trump thanked him for taking care of the McDougal story and the doorman story.

'I felt that he was thanking me for buying them and for not publishing any of the stories and helping the way I did,' Pecker said, adding that Trump said the stories 'could be very embarrassing' to him.

Proceedings in the New York court will resume at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Trump gave a 'thumbs up' during the break.

A federal judge on Thursday upheld the court verdict and the $83.3 million award to E. Jean Carroll's defamation case against Trump, denying his motion for a new trial.

Trump was furious when the initial verdict was announced in January, calling it 'ridiculous.'

'I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party. Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon. They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!' he wrote on social media.

Trump was furious after Wall Street Journal published story in November 2016 about the National Enquirer working with Trump to kill negative stories about him.

Pecker testified Trump said, 'How could this happen? I thought you had this under control.'

He accused Pecker or someone in the company of leaking the story to the Journal.

At the time, Pecker issued a statement denying it was killing negative stories about Trump, but admitted in court that the statement was false.

'I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump,' Pecker said when asked why he issued the false statement.

On November 4, 2016, The Journal reported that American Media paid McDougal $150,000 for her story of her alleged affair with Trump, but had not published her account.

The Journal cited 'documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the matter' in the story that was published two days before Election Day.

After the Journal story, Pecker said the company hired a press consultant for McDougal. A new lawyer asked Pecker to amend the agreement with McDougal because she wanted to speak to the press.

Pecker said he amended the agreement despite protests from Cohen, who warned that Trump would be very angry.

The Supreme Court oral arguments have wrapped up.

Liberal and conservative justices spent nearly three hours probing the question of whether a president has immunity.

Justices' questions suggested they are skeptical Trump has absolute immunity.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she has 'nothing to say' about President Biden's top political rival's ongoing Supreme Court case.

She was asked by reporters whether Biden had any comment on the Supreme Court immunity case during the press briefing Thursday.

'I have nothing to say about that,' she replied.

David Pecker spoke about his conversations he had with Howard about Stormy Daniels' alleged story about an affair with Trump.

But Pecker said he did not want to pay $120,000 for the story, claiming it was too dirty for the National Enquirer.

‘I said, I am not, I don't want the National Enquirer to be associated with a porn star,' Pecker said.

Pecker apparently did not want a cover image of Stormy Daniels showing up on newsstands at Walmart.

‘Our largest retailer is Walmart. This would be very bad for the magazine and I don't want any affiliation with her at all,' he said.

Pecker appeared annoyed by the number and cost of payments he had already made on behalf of Trump.

‘I said we’ve paid $30,000 to the doorman, $150,000 to Karen McDougal. I am not a bank. We’re not paying out any disbursements of monies,' he said.

When Cohen grew aggressive with the Enquirer, encouraging them to buy the story, Pecker refused and told Cohen he should act quickly to pay Daniels to keep the story quiet.

'I said I’m not paying for this story. I told Michael my suggestion to you is you should buy this story and take it off the market because if you don’t and it gets out the bosses would be very angry at you,' Pecker recalled.

Trump scowled when prosecutors brought up the Access Hollywood video that was released right before the 2016 election.

Pecker testified that he spoke with Trump's lawyer Cohen about the release of the video which he described as 'very, very damaging to the campaign.'

'Everybody was very concerned,' he recalled, noting that they discussed whether or not it would affect the campaign.

In a victory for Trump, Judge Juan Merchan declined to allow in damning texts from Dylan Howard, the former editor of the National Enquirer, who the judge called a ‘co-conspirator’.

Howard is unable to attend the trial due to a spinal condition and is currently in his native Australia.

Writing to a relative in June 2016, Howard said: ‘In the event he’s elected it doesn't hurt the favors I’ve done provided it’s kept secret’.

Howard said in a follow up message that ‘nothing is on email, burner phones’.

He added: ‘I’ve thought about it, information is powerful and I’ve collected a lot’.

Another text from Howard read: ‘At least if he wins I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud'.

In the conversation with the relative, Howard said when Trump became President ‘I get pardoned so it’s fine’.

Later Howard wrote: ‘He’s just been named President elect. Oh dear’.

Judge Merchan said that these were a 'private' conversations between Howard and a relative and shouldn't be put before the jury.

Pecker detailed a personal conversation he had with Donald Trump about McDougal's story of her alleged affair after he spoke with his lawyer.

He said that Trump informed him he spoke with his lawyer and that he described McDougal as 'a nice girl.'

'I believe that when Mr. Trump said that ‘She was a nice girl,’ I believe that he knew who she was,' Pecker said.

Trump questioned whether a Mexican media outlet would really pay $8 million for McDougal's story.

Pecker said he seriously doubted it but advised that Trump buy the story and take it off the market.

Pecker said that by October, the McDougal deal was off and he wanted Cohen to 'rip up the agreement.'

He said he would not go forward with the 'bad' idea.

Cohen was fuming 'very angry, very upset, screaming at me basically,' said Pecker.

'He said I can’t believe it, I’m your lawyer, I’m your friend,' Cohen told Pecker.

Cohen added: 'The boss is going to be very angry at you.'

David McCormick officially clinched the Republican nomination this week in the Pennsylvania Senate race, but now he has the real work cut out for him.

McCormick is looking to unseat Democratic Senator Bob Casey in the critical battleground states which is crucial not just for Republicans looking to reclaim the Senate majority but also the White House come November.

'We're in deep trouble as a country economically, militarily, national security wise and even spiritually and we need new leadership. Bob Casey is the status quo,' McCormick told DailyMail.com in a phone interview from his campaign bus following the state's primary.

On Tuesday, the ex-president gave McCormick a shoutout by name in the hallway of the Manhattan criminal court where he is standing trial in relation to hush money payments and urged Pennsylvanians to vote in the state's primary.

McCormick thanked him in a post on X, but the two have not appeared together on the campaign trail to date. But McCormick expects that to change.

'I'm sure that President Trump and I will overlap on the campaign trail,' McCormick told DailyMail.com. 'He's going to spend a lot of time in Pennsylvania and our interests are very aligned.'

'With that said, you know, I'm my own person. I'm going to run my own campaign. I'm running for the Senate,' he added.

The court is taking a short break. Trump walked out of the courtroom and did not speak. When asked how things were going, he responded with his thumbs up.

According to Pecker, Trump's attorney Michael Cohen apparently told him that Trump wanted to acquire the lifetime rights to the Karen McDougal story.

He also wanted all of the content the National Enquirer had developed and retained on Trump himself.

Pecker said he told Cohen that information was contained in 'old files and boxes' in Florida consisting only of old news articles and files.

However, Cohen insisted he wanted those boxes and called him throughout September demanding them.

The reason was because he didn't want someone else to potentially publish the negative stories.

Pecker told Cohen he would sign the lifetime rights over for a total of $150,000.

But he was worried about getting his money back for the deal.

Trump attorney Michael Cohen tried to reassure Pecker when he 'repeatedly' asked about the money.

Cohen told him: ‘Why are you worried, I am your friend. The boss will take care of it.'

Michael Dreeben is aruging before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Justice Department.

'This court has never recognized absolute criminal immunity for any public official,' Dreeben says.

'Petitioner however claims that a former president has permanent criminal immunity for his official acts unless he was first impeached and convicted.'

Dreeben says the 'novel theory would immunize former presidents for criminal liability for bribary, treason, sedition, murder and here conspiring to use fraud to overturn the results of an election and perpetuate himself in power.'

Pecker explains how he also helped actor Arnold Schwarzenegger 'capture-and-kill' damaging stories by paying individuals for stories and then not publishing them.

Schwarzenegger spoke to Pecker about the arrangement right before his 2003 run for California governor.

‘I plan on running for governor and I would like for you not to publish any negative stories about me now or in the future and I’ll continue on being the Muscle Fitness and Flex (editor),' Pecker says the actor told him.

‘I agreed and shortly after he announced on the Jay Leno show he was running for governor, a number of women called up the National Enquirer about stories they have to sell,' he said.

The stories included alleged sexual harassment cases and alleged relationships, he said.

‘The deal I had with Arnold is that I would call him and advise him of any stories that were out there. I ended up buying them for a period of time,' he said.

Pecker said the experience taught him about political contributions.

‘That was the first time I ever came across a political contribution and what a violation was,' he said.

Justice Kagan asks Sauer about hypothetical of a president orders the military to stage a coup.

'How about if a president orders the military to stage a coup?' Justice Kagan asks.

'I think that as the chief justice pointed out earlier where there is a whole series of,  you know sort of guidelines against that so to speak, like the UCMJ prohibits the military from following a plainly unlawful act,' Sauer says.

Sauer says under Justice Alito's test it would fall outside, but if they follow the Fitzgerald Test they've advanced, 'that may well be an official act and he would have to be as I'll say in response to all these kinds of hypotheticals, has to be impeached and convicted before he can be criminal prosecuted.'

Kagan cuts in 'well he's gone.'

'Let's say this president who ordered the military to stage a coup, he's no longer president, he wasn't impeached, he couldn't be impeached, but he ordered the military to stage a coup and you're saying that's an official act?' Kagan asks.

Sauer says he thinks it would 'depend on the circumstances'

Witness David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, tells the court that former Playboy model Karen McDougal's contract with his company specifically mentioned ownership to any story involving 'any romantic personal and/or physical relationship McDougal has ever had with any then-married man.'

When asked who the married man was that the contract referred to, Pecker replied, 'She was referring to Donald Trump.'

Pecker paid $150,000 to McDougal for her story and testified that he believed it was true.

He said Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen knew about the contract.

When asked if anyone else knew about the contract, Pecker replied that he believed Trump knew about the deal.

The contract was signed in August 2016.

Pecker testified he believed he would be reimbursed by Trump after making the payment to McDougal.

'The boss will take care of it,' Cohen told Pecker, according to his testimony. When asked to clarify who the 'boss' was, Pecker replied, 'Trump.'

Justice Kagan asks Sauer about a hypothetical of a president selling nuclear secrets to an adversary.

'If a president sells nuclear secrets to a foreign adversary, is that immune?' she questions.

'That sounds like similar to the bribary example, likely not immune,' Sauer responds. 'Now if it's structured as an official act, he would have to be impeached and convicted first before –'

'What does that mean if it's "structured as an official act?"' Kagan cuts him off.

'Well I don't know in the hypothetical whether that would be an official act,' Sauer responds.

'Immunity is for traitors,' one sign reads as the Supreme Court considers whether to give Trump immunity from his federal criminal prosecutions.

Another group held poster saying 'Presidents are not Kings.'

In a debate over what is plausibly legal, Justice Sotomayor asked Sauer to apply argument to the allegations regarding the slate of fake electorates.

'Is that plausible that that would be within his right to do?' she asks.

'Absolutely your honor,' D John Sauer says. 'We have the historical precedent we sight in the lower courts of President Grant sending federal troops to Louisiana and Mississippi in 1876 to make sure the Republican electors got certified in those two cases which delivered the election to Rutherford B. Hayes.'

He says the notion it can't be plausible 'can't be supported based on the face of this indictment.'

'Knowing that the slate is fake?' Sotomayor responds. 'Knowing that the slate is fake, that they weren't actually elected, that they weren't certified by the state. He knows all those things.'

'The indictment itself alleges,' Sauer responds. 'I dispute that characterization.'

From DailyMail.com Senior Political Reporter Rob Crilly in Washington, DC:

Meanwhile, 230 miles south, arguments have just begun at the Supreme Court where justices will rule on whether Trump is protected from criminal charges by immunity.

Trump's lawyer, John Sauer, opens proceedings.

'For 234 years of American history, no president was ever prosecuted for his official acts,' he says. 'The Framers of our Constitution viewed an energetic executive as essential to securing liberty.

'If a president can be charged, put on trial and imprisoned for his most controversial decisions as soon as he leaves office, that looming threat will distort the president's decision-making precisely when bold and fearless action is most needed. Every current president will face de facto blackmail and extortion by his political rivals while he is still in office.

David Pecker testified that ABC was considering buying Karen McDougal's story about having a romantic affair with Trump.

They were offering McDougal a slot on Dancing with the Stars, said Pecker.

However, he said he 'knew ABC doesn’t buy stories' and therefore he didn't think they’d pay in cash for the story.

Another 'Mexican group' also made an offer of $1 million for the scandalous story.

But Karen McDougal said she didn't want the story of her relationship with Trump published.

'She said she didn't want to be the next Monica Lewinsky,' Pecker said.

'She wanted to restart her career,' he added.

At the time, McDougal was a fitness model who appeared on the covers of Men’s Fitness.

Dylan Howard, the National Enquirer's former editor, said that she might be more interested in American Media buying the story.

'I thought we would have to buy that story,' testified Pecker. 'I believed what Dylan said.'

Supreme Court justices are hearing arguments in the Trump immunity case.

The former president's attorney John Sauer gave arguments first.

Prosecutors in the court asked the judge again for Trump to be held in contempt for violating the gag order, citing four more violations of the gag order.

That's a total of 14 violations cited so far.

Trump detailed his thoughts to reporters about his Supreme Court case on presidential immunity before he stepped into NY court.

'A president has to have immunity, this has nothing to do with me, this has to do with a president in the future a hundred years from now,' he stated.

'If you don't have immunity you're not going to do anything, you're going to become a ceremonial president, it's just going to be doing nothing you're not going to be taking any of the risks both good and bad, you're going to make some great decisions to save the country, you're going to make some decisions which are unfortunate but that's the way it is.'

'But you're not going to do anything if you don't have immunity because otherwise you're going to be prosecuted after you leave office. ... We don't want a ceremonial president, we want to have a real president.'

Trump walked into court wearing a navy suit and a bright red tie. He was licking his lips and was walking quicker than usual.

He appeared engaged at his desk with his lawyers. Emil Bove sat closest to Judge Juan Merchan, suggesting he will do the talking.

Todd Blanche, who Judge Merchan clashed with on Tuesday, is sitting on Trump's left, indicating he will not be addressing the court today.

Trump arrived at the court commenting to reporters on bad economic numbers, specifically referring to the GDP, gas prices, and the US dollar.

'This is Bidenomics, it's catching up with him ... it's destroyed our country at the border, destroyed our country with other countries, they no longer respect the United States,' he said.

'That's very bad news,' he added.

He again posited he could do very well in New York in the 2024 election, citing the enthusiasm of the construction workers he met with earlier in the day.

Trump also hinted he was planning a big rally in New York at Madison Square Garden to honor Police officers, firefighters, and teachers.

'We're honoring teachers, because teachers have been very maligned with very poor leadership,' he said. 'We'll be honoring the people that make New York work.'

Trump complained that too many police officers were protecting the court house preventing his supporters from appearing to demonstrate their support.

'I think that the Supreme Court has a very important argument before it today, I would have loved to be there, but this judge would not allow it to happen. I should be there, but he wouldn't allow it to happen, I think he puts himself above the Supreme Court which is unfortunate isn't it?' he said.

A state investigator testified Wednesday that he considers former President Donald Trump, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to be uncharged co-conspirators in the Michigan fake electors plot.

Howard Shock, whose work led to forgery charges against more than a dozen people in Michigan, was being cross-examined Wednesday in Lansing as part of a hearing Wednesday to determine if there's enough evidence to order a trail.

A defense attorney, Duane Silverthorn, offered a series of names and asked Shock if they were 'unindicted co-conspirators,' which means they weren't charged but could have been part of an alleged plot to put Michigan's electoral votes in Trump's column.

Shock responded 'yes' to Trump, Meadows, Giuliani and some high-ranking state Republicans.

In Michigan, authorities said more than a dozen Republicans sent certificates to Congress falsely declaring they were electors and that Trump was the winner of the 2020 election in the state, despite results showing he had lost.

Former President Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse on Thursday morning where testimony will resume.

Trump told reporters earlier this morning, he wanted to be at the United States Supreme Court but that the New York judge would not let him.

'We have a big case today this judge isn't allowing me to go,' he said.

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower for the Manhattan courthouse in New York City.

The court today is expected to hear testimony from former tabloid publisher David Pecker, the man who helped Trump 'catch-and-kill' embarrassing stories about him during his presidential campaign.

Protesters have been slowly gathering outside the Supreme Court ahead of the historic Donald Trump immunity hearing.

Several anti-Trump activists held up 'LOSER' and Trump is 'TOXIC' signs hours before arguments are set to kick off.

The nine justices are set to determine whether the former president is shielded from prosecution for his actions taken while President of the United States.

The decision by the court could have a monumental impact on presidential powers and a direct impact on Trump who is facing multiple criminal charges over his actions on January 6.

Anti-Trump protesters were outside the court Thursday morning early.

One man marched with a sign that read 'lawlessness cannot governor our republic.' Another sign simply read 'loser' in the similar red, white and blue look of Trump signs.

After meeting with construction workers in New York, former President Donald Trump spoke to the media about his presidential immunity case at the Supreme Court.

'We have a big case today, these judges aren't allowing me to go, we have a big case today at the Supreme Court, on presidential immunity. A president has to have immunity, if you don't have immunity you have just a ceremonial president,' he said.

Construction workers shouted 'USA!' and 'We love Trump!' as he signed MAGA hats, hard hats, and union hats and took selfies.

'Joe Biden's still in bed!' one worker shouted.

Trump told reporters he was going to make a 'play for New York' in the 2024 election, citing the enthusiasm from workers that he met with.

'We have a good chance of winning New York in my opinion, we're going to give it a shot,' he said.

He also celebrated new polling showing him ahead of Biden in key swing states, repeating that Biden was the 'worst president in the history of the country.'

'He's destroying our country. Close the borders, one phone call you can close the borders. Close up the borders Joe, out country is going to hell,' he said.

Follow along with DailyMail.com's Sarah Ewall-Wice as protestors gather outside the Supreme Court for historic arguments today.

The first person waiting in line is a 24-year-old who showed up Tuesday evening and has camped out for two nights on the concrete.

He told DailyMail.com that he has 'no regrets' this morning.

Trump says:

I have no idea. They've taken my constitutional right away with a gag order. That's all it is. It's election interference.

Trump was greeted by hundreds chanting 'USA, USA' as he met union workers in New York on the morning of a monumental day in the courts.

The former president greeted teamsters on a construction site and signed MAGA hats as he prepared for another day of testimony in the Manhattan hush money trial.

Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers are heading to the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning in attempts to persuade the nine justices that he is immune from prosecution.

'This whole thing it's election interference' Trump told the crowd regarding his multiple legal battles before taking a shot at President Joe Biden.

'We're leading by a lot. He is the worst president in the history of our country. He makes Jimmy Carter look great.'

It is a busy day in the courts for Donald Trump.

He will be in a courtroom in New York City today for his hush money trial as the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in Washington over whether he should be immune from prosecution for actions he took during his time as president.

In New York, jurors will hear more witness testimony from David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer.

Trump also faces a looming decision by the judge in the case on whether he violated a gag order.

Trump had asked to miss his criminal trial for the day so he could sit in on the Supreme Court's special session.

The justices will begin weighing whether he can be prosecuted in a separate case over his efforts to reverse the result of the 2020 election.

His request to be in Washington was denied by the hush money trial judge Juan Merchan.

Judge Merchan said: 'Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in New York Supreme Court is also a big deal.'