Trump news – live: Michael Cohen fights back after Trump sues him as ex-president returns to New York – The Independent

Ahead of jury selection in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6bn defamation case against Fox News, the Delaware Supreme Court Judge on the case is planning to appoint a “special master” to help determine whether the news company withheld key information and evidence.

Judge Eric Davis said he was considering the appointment on Wednesday, CNN reports, days before the trial is due to start.

Dominion accuses Fox News of knowingly spreading false information about its voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election in support of Donald Trump‘s false claims that the election had been “stolen” from him.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is fighting back at what he says is an explicit attempt by House Republicans to interfere in his office’s prosecution of Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Mr Bragg sued the House Judiciary Committee chair, Jim Jordan, and accused him of undertaking “a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack District Attorney Bragg, making demands for confidential documents and testimony from the District Attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials” in federal court.

Republicans, predictably, howled in outrage at the DA’s response to their attempts to attack the credibility of his office.

Donald Trump has now returned to New York for the first time since his arrest and arraignment last week to face his latest legal battle.

He is scheduled to sit for a deposition on Thursday before Attorney General Letitia James who has brought a $250m business fraud lawsuit against him and the Trump Organization over alleged wrongdoing, including misleading banks and others that inflated the value of golf courses and hotels that bear his name.

This comes one week after he was arraigned in a Manhattan court on a 34-count indictment in the hush money case.

An attorney for Donald Trump is seeking a one-month delay in the trial regarding a columnist’s claims that Mr Trump raped her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s, contending that his client’s right to a fair trial depends on a “cooling off” period following the former president’s indictment and arraignment.

The trial was set for April 25. In a letter Tuesday to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, attorney Joseph Tacopina cited “the recent deluge of prejudicial media coverage” surrounding Trump’s arrest and court appearance in arguing for a delay. The former president was charged March 30 with 34 felony counts related to allegations that he paid hush money to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels.

The civil case before Judge Kaplan was brought against Mr Trump in November by E. Jean Carroll, a columnist who says the wealthy real estate developer raped her in early 1996 after a chance meeting at the Bergdorf Goodman department store.

Mr Trump has repeatedly and emphatically denied the allegation. A jury will be asked to decide whether the rape occurred and if Trump defamed Carroll with his comments.

A temporary state law that took effect last year allows adult rape victims to sue their abusers, even if attacks happened decades ago.

Mr Tacopina’s letter seeking a delay in the trial for Carroll’s civil suit followed Kaplan’s order on Monday directing parties in the case to notify him by April 20 whether they will be present throughout the trial in Manhattan federal court. Carroll’s attorney has said she will attend; Trump’s attorney has not responded to requests for comment on Kaplan’s order.

Donald Trump has sued his former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen for $500m over his testimony before the New York grand jury that landed him with criminal charges.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday, alleges a breach of his attorney-client relationship and unjust enrichment, among other claims.

Cohen, who is at the centre of the hush money case against the former president, fired back at Mr Trump tweeting: “Despite Trump’s attempts to intimidate and harass me, I will NEVER stop fighting and holding him accountable for his dirty deeds.”

Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges connected with $130,000 in hush money payments made to the adult movie actress.

Following his arrest and arraignment earlier this week, Ms Daniels told Morgan about the evening she alleges she slept with Mr Trump following a golf event at Lake Tahoe.

Graeme Massie has the story.

Two Black Democrats who were ousted from the Tennessee state legislature last week led a parade through the streets of Memphis on Wednesday after being successfully reinstated to their positions.

State Reps Justin Pearson and Justin Jones were both expelled by Republicans in the statehouse last week for joining with gun control protesters for a demonstration in the building; now, their respective local government councils have voted overwhelmingly to return both men to their seats in the capital.

Watch their victorious march, alongside fellow state Rep Gloria Johnson (who was not expelled, despite participating in the same protest):

An individual shareholder of Fox Corporation is suing Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan Murdoch, as well as other members of the company’s board alleging they breached their fiduciary duty to the company.

In a lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court on 11 April, investor Robert Schwarz brought forth a derivative suit claiming that board members chose to promote “false stolen election claims” which negatively impacted the company’s reputation and led to two defamation cases.

This news comes as more and more Fox employees are fretting in comments to journalists about the future of their company thanks to the massive $1.6bn lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems that threatens the company’s finances in an unprecedented way.

Ahead of jury selection in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6bn defamation case against Fox News, the Delaware Supreme Court Judge on the case is planning to appoint a “special master” to help determine whether the news company withheld key information and evidence.

Judge Eric Davis said he was considering the appointment on Wednesday, CNN reports, days before the trial is due to start.

Sebastian Miño-Bucheli has the story:

The probe is part of the federal investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents following his presidency.

Investigators have questioned several witnesses about the map, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to The New York Times. The nature of the map’s contents are unknown.

My colleague Graig Graziosi reports: