Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Justice Merchan is trying to get to the bottom of the Trump team's claim that the prosecutor's office acted unethically.

He is grilling Todd Blanche on the basis of his claim that the district attorney's office violated a particular statute , externalabout producing documents during discovery in a criminal case.

Justice Merchan asks Blanche: "Can you give me a single case" or citation to back up his claim.

Blanche concedes he cannot, and Justice Merchan is not pleased.

"That you don't have a case right now is really disconcerting," Justice Merchan said. "Because the allegations that the defence, in all of your papers about the people's misconduct is incredibly serious, unbelievably serious.

"You're literally accusing the Manhattan DA's office, and people assigned to this case, of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it, and you don't have a single cite to support," that position, Justice Merchan says.

Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York

Donald Trump is sitting quietly, and there's no phone in his hands.

But his social media account, likely being controlled by a staffer, has been posting content ever since he walked in the courtroom doors.

The most recent post on Truth Social compares the former president to Jesus. Another one showed a video of Trump speaking outside the courtroom.

I've also been sent a fundraising email from Trump's political campaign during this hearing, titled "I'm in court again today".

This fundraising tactic has been a common occurrence during Trump's court cases.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

I will be frank - thanks to law enforcement standing guard behind the former president and my relatively short stature, my view of Donald Trump is not the best today.

But from my vantage point toward the back of the courtroom, Trump appears to be sitting still at the defence table, listening to his lawyer Todd Blanche argue before the judge.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Justice Merchan has been grilling Trump's lawyer to specify how many of the "thousands" of documents are relevant to this case.

Todd Blanche paints a broad picture of what's in the new batch of records, including records from the Robert Mueller investigation (a federal inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election).

Merchan wants him to stay on topic.

“Give me a little bit more," the judge says at one point.

“Give me a sense, give me your best estimate," he then adds.

Blanche continues to say that the pertinent records number in the thousands. He argues they need to study the documents, which can include lengthy exhibits and attachments, thoroughly.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Justice Merchan asks both parties to share how many of the thousands of recently released documents are actually relevant to the case at hand.

Of the approximately 195,000 records they've reviewed, the district attorney's office says only about 300 are relevant to the case.

Predictably, Trump's lawyer disagrees. Todd Blanche says "thousands" of documents are relevant.

Image source, Reuters

We've got another photograph that gives a bit of an insight into the layout of the courtroom.

Donald Trump is sitting with his lawyer Susan Necheles, his hands clasped on the large wooden desk.

So far, Trump has been sitting very still and watching the judge speak.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Justice Merchan is going over the events that brought us to this hearing.

Trump's team had argued prosecutors engaged in misconduct by not producing documents in a timely manner.

Then the Manhattan DA's office agreed to a delay of 30 days, but said they were ready for trial.

Justice Merchan called this hearing to get to the bottom of what happened with the late release of documents (more than 100,000 pages) and whether any wrongdoing had occurred.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Court is now in session.

And we have our first photograph from inside the courtroom, showing the former president seated with his legal team.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest developments.

Image source, Reuters

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

These trials now have a well-established choreography.

Trump strides through the doors, proceeded by his Secret Service detail. After he takes a seat at the table, a small pool of press photographers are ushered into the room.

The only sound is the rapid clicks of their shutters, as Trump tilts his head their way. After less than a minute, police escort them out.

And then we wait for the judge.

We'll bring you some photographs from inside court as soon as we have them.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Image source, US Pool

The former president just walked into the courtroom leading a procession that included Secret Service and his robust legal team, headed by Todd Blanche and Susan Necheles.

He's wearing his unofficial uniform of a navy blue suit and red tie.

Trump took a seat at the defence table, flanked by his lead attorneys.

Before he walked in, he told reporters outside that today's legal matter was a "hoax".

We are still waiting for the former president to walk into the courtroom.

In the meantime, take a look at this analysis video from Nada Tawfik which breaks down the big questions we could get answers to today.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

We have movement in the courtroom. Trump's lawyers have just arrived.

The prosecutors walked in a few minutes ago.

No sign of Trump yet.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

While we are waiting for Trump to appear inside the courtroom, the former president has been pushing back against prosecutors in a series of Truth Social posts this morning.

He decried the looming deadline to post bond in his civil fraud case (which is unrelated to his hearing today), writing that there "should be no FINE. I did nothing wrong".

"Why should I be forced to sell my 'babies," he wrote in an apparent reference to his real estate holdings, "because a corrupt New York judge and AG set a fake and ridiculous number?"

Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay $354m in fines, a number derived from the ill-gotten gains that attorney general Tish James argued he earned from falsely inflating the value of his assets. The total figure soared because of interest he must pay on the fine.

Trump has until today to post a bond that will delay enforcement of the fine as he appeals, before New York authorities could start seizing assets.

We've just seen Donald Trump exit a dark SUV and walk into the Manhattan court complex.

His hearing is scheduled to start in the next few minutes.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court in New York

This hush money trial was scheduled to start today, and was running pretty much on schedule until less than two weeks before jury selection.

That’s when federal prosecutors handed over additional material to Trump’s legal team (more than 100,000 pages) and the New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.

Immediately, the blame game started, with Trump leveling accusations of misconduct.

Bragg says they were diligent in initially requesting information from federal prosecutors.

He says that Trump waited until January of this year to subpoena materials related to the federal government's investigation and prosecution of Michael Cohen, as well as records related to the investigation by the Special Counsel into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

NY prosecutors say Trump’s lawyers never raised concerns before and said this was a result of their own “inexplicable and strategic delay”.

They will argue today that the new tranche of documents contain only limited materials relevant to the subject matter of this case, fewer than 270 documents, most of which they say corroborate existing evidence.

Image source, Getty Images

Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said in media interviews that she met Trump at a charity golf tournament in July 2006.

She alleged the pair had sex once in his hotel room at Lake Tahoe, a resort area between California and Nevada. A lawyer for Trump "vehemently" denied this at the time.

"He didn't seem worried about it. He was kind of arrogant," she said in response to an interviewer's question asking if Trump had told her to keep quiet about their alleged night together.

Trump's wife, Melania, was not at the tournament and had just given birth to their son, Barron.

In 2016, in the days before the US presidential election, Daniels said Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 in "hush-money" to keep her quiet about the affair.

She said she took it because she was concerned for the safety of her family.

Daniels said she was legally and physically threatened to stay silent.

Now we've gone through what the $464m penalty deadline is all about, let's pivot to the hush money case.

The hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 ET (13:30 GMT). From what we know, Donald Trump will be at court (and you can watch a live stream by clicking the play button at the top of this page to see his arrival).

The former US president has been charged with business fraud over hush-money payments to ex-porn actress Stormy Daniels. Daniels claims she and Trump had sex, and that she accepted $130,000 (£103,500) from his former lawyer before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about the encounter.

Prosecutors allege Trump had his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, make the payments, and then fraudulently recorded the transaction in his company’s books as legal expenses when in fact he was paying Cohen back for the hush-money payments.

Since the allegations surfaced in 2018, the former president has denied any sexual involvement with Daniels.

Today we will have a hearing, which could tell us when the trial will officially start.

Image source, Getty Images

A judge's ruling that Donald Trump defrauded the state of New York has put the fate of some of his flagship properties into doubt.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has begun preparing to seize his assets in case he does not pay a penalty of nearly half a billion dollars by today.

Trump is appealing the ruling. But he must submit the full $464m penalty in cash or secure a bond from a private company if he wants to continue the appeal without the state seizing his assets.

Last year, Forbes estimated that Trump's New York properties alone are worth $720m (£589m), a sizable chunk of the former president's estimated $2.6bn fortune.

For a list of some of Trump’s most valuable assets, check out this article.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Image source, Getty Images

With two legal cases unfolding for the former president today, let's first dig in to what's happening with the deadline for Trump's nearly half-billion-dollar penalty.

If he fails to either secure a bond or delay the process in court, the authorities in New York can freeze his bank accounts or target his properties.

He may get a lifeline from a New York appeals court which is considering his application for a stay on the judgement.

Last week his lawyers said he had been unable to cover the penalty despite approaching numerous financial companies to provide a bond.

To secure a bond, an individual has to demonstrate to the company providing the guarantee that they have enough liquidity, usually in the form of cash or stocks.

If Trump secured a bond on Monday it would protect his assets while he continues his appeal.

He could also yet find the money through other means. On Friday he claimed on social media that he possessed almost $500m in cash.

New York Attorney General Letitia James gave a 30-day grace period from the ruling to give Trump time to find the money. That expires today.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court in New York

Good morning from the Manhattan courthouse, where we’re expecting Donald Trump to appear for a critical hearing in his New York hush money case.

The actual trial was supposed to begin today with jury selection, but a last minute release by federal prosecutors of tens of thousands of documents delayed proceedings.

At today's hearing, Justice Juan Merchan will hear arguments from Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors about the new documents and they may also set a new trial start date.

Trump’s lawyers will likely ask for a delay and a longshot dismissal.