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The civil trial is scheduled to start April 25 at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from where a grand jury has been hearing evidence against Donald Trump in a probe stemming from a payment of hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

Donald Trumps recent call for protest against his potential indictment on a hush-money-related charge helped spur a judges decision Thursday to impose an unusual level of secrecy around the jury that will serve in an upcoming civil trial in New York over a rape allegation against the former president.

Citing a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the use of an anonymous jury for the trial set to begin next month on writer E. Jean Carrolls civil suit alleging that Trump raped her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Trump has vehemently denied the allegation, including through a crude counterattack where he asserted that Carroll was not my type.

Neither Carroll nor Trump asked Kaplan, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, to block access to the jurors names, addresses and similar information. Kaplan raised the idea on his own and announced Thursday he will impose the secrecy despite objections from two news outlets: the Associated Press and the New York Daily News.

Tracking Trump investigations

The secrecy measure is typically reserved for criminal cases involving alleged mafia or drug kingpins. But Kaplan cited a series of alleged threats of violence by Trump, his public attacks on jurors in other cases and various reports describing Trumps role in fomenting the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as his statement Saturday urging his followers to protest what he said was his looming arrest in a probe led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Mr. Trumps quite recent reaction to what he perceived as an imminent threat of indictment by a grand jury sitting virtually next door to this Court was to encourage protest and to urge people to take our country back, Kaplan wrote in an 18-page decision. That reaction reportedly has been perceived by some as incitement to violence. And it bears mention that Mr. Trump repeatedly has attacked courts, judges, various law enforcement officials and other public officials, and even individual jurors in other matters.

Even as he recounted a litany of provocative statements by Trump, Kaplan was careful to say that he was not accusing the former president of being responsible for incitement, only that the specter created by his statements could be seen as intimidating.

For purposes of this order, it matters not whether Mr. Trump incited violence in either a legal or a factual sense. The point is whether jurors will perceive themselves to be at risk, the judge wrote.

Kaplan noted that neither side in the case objected to the proposed jury-secrecy order, which instructs court personnel not to reveal the names, addresses or places of employment of prospective jurors or actual jurors empaneled in the trial, scheduled to start April 25 at a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan just a few blocks from where Braggs grand jury has been hearing evidence against Trump in a probe stemming from a payment of hush money in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Carolls lawsuit is the second she filed in connection with Trumps alleged attack on her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in 1995 or 1996. The first, filed in 2019, accused Trump of defamation for his statements denying her rape claim. The second suit, which Kaplan has ordered be tried first, was filed in November and seeks damages against Trump directly for the alleged rape. Carolls lawyers have said they couldnt file that case until last year, after New Yorks Legislature extended the statute of limitations for civil suits alleging sexual abuse or harassment.

Trumps attorneys argued that the extension was unconstitutional, but Kaplan disagreed.

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Court orders anonymous jury in civil suit over alleged rape by Trump - POLITICO

Former President Donald Trump. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

On Saturday, former President Donald Trump called for his supporters to protest an expected indictment against him.

In a Truth Social post, he claimed he would be arrested on Tuesday and blasted Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is overseeing an investigation into payments he made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who says she had an affair with him.

"THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK," Trump said on his website Truth Social. "PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!"

It's Tuesday. Trump hasn't been arrested.

Trump isn't even in New York, one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina, told Insider.

He appears to be staying home in Mar-a-Lago. The Associated Press captured a photo of a Secret Service agent stationed at the Florida estate on Tuesday morning. Trump's plane was parked at the Palm Beach International Airport at noon, indicating he was still in Florida, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

"He's going about business as usual, doing what he does, enjoying the fact that he seems to be rising in the poll numbers the more this thing picks up steam," Tacopina told Insider.

The Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump typically meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. It's scheduled to meet with another witness on Wednesday, according to Fox News, before the jurors are given instructions on how to decide whether to bring criminal charges in the case.

Tacopina told Insider he doesn't know the identity of any other potential witnesses. He said he didn't plan to bring any witnesses to speak in Trump's defense other than Robert Costello, who testified on Monday.

Costello said he served as a rebuttal witness to Michael Cohen, who says he facilitated hush-money payments to Daniels on Trump's behalf on the eve of the 2016 election.

"We don't really present the case in the grand jury," Tacopina told Insider. "It's a very one-sided process. It's not our time to present our case. We'll do that when there's an indictment."

If Trump is indicted, it would likely remain under seal until Trump appears in court, an event that would be carefully choreographed with multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Secret Service. It's also possible he could have a virtual arraignment over video.

On Truth Social, Trump spent Monday and Tuesday bragging about his poll numbers and criticizing Bragg.

A Morning Consult poll taken between March 17 and 19 found that Trump enjoyed 54% support in the Republican 2024 presidential primary, ahead of his top rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who sits at 26%. Trump's support rose and DeSantis's support slid by two percentage points compared to a week earlier, according to Morning Consult, although the poll has a margin of error of two percentage points. Trump also shared the results of a Rasmussen poll from earlier this month that showed him ahead of DeSantis in Arizona.

"Ron DeSanctimonious is dropping in the Polls so fast that he soon may be falling behind young Vivek Ramaswamy," Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday, referencing a long-shot candidate for the presidential nomination.

On Tuesday, Trump also lost a bid to delay the trial, scheduled for October 2, for a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney Letitia James, who alleges Trump and his three eldest children broke state laws by misrepresenting the Trump Organization's property values.

Alina Habba, an attorney representing Trump in the lawsuit, told reporters outside the courthouse that a decision from the grand jury to indict the former president would be "a grave mistake."

"He's sad by what's going on here," Habba said.

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Donald Trump having normal day when he said he'll be arrested - Business Insider

Shane Bevel/NCAA Photos/Getty Images

Donald Trump is about to be a loser, several of his attorneys say.

Since last month, according to two sources familiar with the matter, some of Trumps lawyers have told him that if he is criminally charged in New York City, he should be prepared to lose. Theres a widespread belief in Trumplandia including within the ex-presidents legal orbit that it would be difficult for the former president to get an impartial jury in the Democratic stronghold of Manhattan. Instead, these Trump attorneys are telling him his best chance is to win on appeal.

The [former] president is more confident in his chances [than others are], but when some of us have brought this [idea of counting on an appeal] up to him it seemed like he believed we had a good point, one of the sources says.

A Trump spokesperson and a Trump attorney did not immediately provide comment for this story.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg empaneled a grand jury to investigate whether the former president broke New York state business records laws by reimbursing his former personal attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, for a hush money payment to cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

The Trump grand jury had been scheduled to meet again on Wednesday to hear from an unnamed witness, but the district attorneys office abruptly canceled the meeting, according to CNN, leaving the timing of a potential indictment uncertain. (Days ago, Trump claimed on his social media network that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, March 21.)

But if the case indeed goes to trial, Trumps allies have already telegraphed that their plans to assail the prosecution as politically motivated, and even to allege that the city of New York itself is out to put the screws to Trump. The former president is also prone to hurling wild allegations at Bragg, such as bizarrely calling the DA racist for investigating him.

Prosecutors with experience in New York dont find the argument persuasive.Editors picks

I dont see a change of venue motion having success in this case, says Jennifer Beidel, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan whos now a partner at Saul Ewing LLP. A lot of high-profile cases political cases, terrorism cases, massive fraud cases occurred in New York. Bernie Madoff stayed in New York. One would think that having committed that massive fraud in New York, if anything said that wasnt the right jurisdiction for you, that would be it.

New York City has already successfully prosecuted both Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organizations former chief financial officer, and two Trump companies, the Trump Payroll Corporation and Trump Corporation, on tax charges last year.

The strategizing in the New York grand jury investigation comes as Trumps legal team has already moved to throw out the report from a separate grand jury investigation into potential election interference by Trump in Georgia. Trumps attorneys filed a motion to quash a grand jury report because the jury foreperson allegedly failed to protect the most basic procedural and substantive constitutional rights of all individuals discussed by this investigative body by engag[ing] in a media tour where she discussed the case.

In Manhattan, Team Trump is looking at claiming victimhood as well.

The former president deserves a jury that is unaffected by politics, and as a case of first impression, they need to make sure he has every ability to defend himself and that those participating in the process have clean hands. Skilled prosecutors can achieve this, but its a real challenge, given social media, news reporting, and because of how deeply politically charged this situation is, says Michael Wildes, a former federal prosecutor and current Democratic mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. In the past, Wildes has worked for Trump, and continues to represent Melania Trump and her family on immigration matters. That is not going to be easy, but it has to be achieved, otherwise the process will be tainted and appeals will be had, he continues.Related

However, across the wide network of former Trump officials, theres a dim view of his chances, as many believe a jury drawn from heavily Democratic Manhattan would easily vote to convict the former president. It might be very difficult for Donald Trump to get a fair hearing in the county of Manhattan given its so overwhelmingly blue and anti-Trump, lawyer and former Trump presidential transition team member Mark Smith said during a NewsNation appearance Tuesday. It would be difficult. Im not saying it would be impossible.Trending

The intense media scrutiny on the Trump case and his global notoriety also make it unlikely that other venues would make jury selection any easier, says Beidel. Where can he go thats not media-saturated? Where is the place where no one knows about this case or investigation at this point?

with additional reporting by Victoria Bekiempis

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Trump Attorneys Tell Him to Prepare to Lose to Alvin Bragg - Rolling Stone

Not to put too fine a point on it, but the former president* of the United States is a dangerous fcking lunatic and he's decompensating quickly. Read this goddamn thing, it's the kind of stuff that makes people change subway cars.

Trump post on Truth Social on March 23.

It no longer matters whether or not he's playing a role or playing everyone for fools. He knows what his more dangerous devotees actually hear when he starts raving like this. It no longer matters whether or not he's doing all this out of abject terror of being hauled before the bar in two states and the District of Columbia. Even quaking on his golden throne, he can still bring the temple down on his own head. Especially since the entire Republican Party is lending him its support. And he knows it, too, because he won't shut his digital gob.

Not even the fundamental incoherence, the random capitalization, or the laughably bad spelling matter any more. An ungrammatical death threat is still a death threat. Not all dangerous lunatics can write like Ted Kaczynski.

If it wishes to save itself, the entire system must devote itself to the task of getting this guy out of public life forever. Every criminal prosecution should hit the afterburners. Every civil suit must proceed apace. The Democratic Party should dedicate itself, body and soul, to hanging this decrepit bag of poison around the neck of every Republican, local and national.

If you have Republicans on your town council, they must answer for him as surely as his congressional acolytes and enablers must. His name should be a political curse for generations to come. This is going to require people in my business to unshackle themselves from some of the more staid norms and customs of the tribe. This is a time for plain-speaking, with as much contempt and derision as we can muster. All the chips are falling, and we should take as a guide-star the principles articulated by William Lloyd Garrison when he launched The Liberator in 1831.

The time for moderate alarms is long past.

Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.

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Donald Trump Threatens District Attorney as Indictment Looms in ... - Esquire

Trump praying on one knee that's been circulating on social media.Twitter

Images created with artificial intelligence have flooded social media in recent months, with some people using AI tools like Midjourney to imagine what it would look like for Donald Trump to be arrested. But the former president isnt opposed to AI-created photos. Trump shared an image of himself on Thursday morning over at Truth Social. And its almost certainly fake.

The image, which has been circulating on pro-Trump Twitter since at least Saturday, shows the former president on one knee praying. At first glance it even looks like it could be a real photo. But anyone who looks closer will notice the telltale signs of AI.

For starters, you always want to look at the hands. AI image creation tools have tremendous difficulty with generating realistic hands, and this image is no different. Trump appears to be missing his ring finger on his right hand, at the very least, and his thumbs are grafted on in a jumbled mess that seems to defy basic human anatomy.

Hugging Face has created a tool that lets people upload images to determine the probability a given image was created with artificial intelligence. The Hugging Face tool says this particular image of Trump was created by machines with about 90% confidence.

But you dont even need fancy online tools or a knowledge of artificial intelligence to determine this image probably isnt real. The first clue shouldve been that Trump is taking one knee in a pose that would be somewhat difficult for a fit and healthy man whos 76 years old, let alone Trump. As far as I can tell, Trump has never taken a knee in public.

The other big giveaway that this image isnt real is that Trumps right kneethe one on the groundappears to be directly behind his left foot. Trump isnt proficient in yogaor hes been hiding his super-human flexibility for a very long time.

There are other context clues that such an image is clearly fake. For instance, Trump is the center of attention in every room he enters. None of the four faces we can see in the background of this image are bothering to look in Trumps direction.

If Donald Trump, the 45th president of the U.S., suddenly got on one knee and started to pray in the middle of a room, you can bet everyone in that room would be either looking at him or joining him in prayer. The American public has a wide variety of opinions on Trump, but cool indifference to the man basically doesnt exist.

I ran the image through several other online tools, including TinEye and Yandex Images, to see if the image appeared anywhere else, on the off chance that it was real. But nothing came back with a hit.

This isnt the first time Trump has been caught sharing fake images of himself. Back in 2019, Trumps team was digitally altering photos of the president to make him look more fit and even gave him longer fingers. Seriously.

In short, Trump must know this image is fake, but doesnt mind sharing it with his followers to encourage the cult of personality that drives his movement. What does Trump actually look like when hes praying at church? We have the answer from a 2019 surprise visit to a church in Virginia, seen below.

Just dont ask Trump his favorite Bible passage.

Im a technology reporter and founder of Paleofuture.com, a website I started in 2007 that looks at past visions of the future, from flying cars and jetpacks to utopias and dystopias. Paleofuture was formerly hosted at Smithsonian magazine (2011-2013) and Gizmodo (2013-2020).

My work has appeared at BBC Future, Slate, The Verge, GOOD, Pacific Standard, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Buzzfeed. Most recently, I was a senior writer at Gizmodo for ten years. Ive also given talks at South by Southwest, dConstruct in Brighton, The Conference in Malmo, UCLAs Digital Cash conference in Los Angeles, and the University of Virginias edUi conference. In 2012, I partnered with the BBC to put on an exhibit of retro-futuristic items from my personal collection in Hollywood, California.

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Donald Trump Shares Fake AI-Created Image Of Himself On Truth Social - Forbes