Live updates: Trump trial: Defense continues cross-examination of David Pecker, National Enquirer publisher

• On Friday, former President Donald Trump's defense attorneys proceeded with the cross-examination of David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer.
• Trump's New York criminal hush money trial has received three days of damning testimony from Pecker.
• Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records in an attempt to conceal a payment made to his lawyer and fixer to silence Stormy Daniels.

This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the day.

On Friday, defense lawyers for former President Donald Trump continued their cross-examination of former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who has given three days of damning testimony for the prosecution in Trump's New York criminal hush money trial.

On Thursday afternoon, Pecker's cross-examination commenced, with Trump's attorneys asking a series of questions aimed at discrediting him. However, this line of questioning was met with objections from prosecutors, which New York Judge Juan Merchan ruled would be addressed on Friday.

Once the cross-examination is over, prosecutors are expected to redirect the questioning.

On Friday morning, Trump stated that he believed the trial on Thursday had gone "extremely well".

Trump has repeatedly made the same allegations on social media, claiming that the proceedings were a rigged trial and that there were conflicts of interest by the judge. He also complained about how cold it is in the courtroom.

Pecker's testimony

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump, along with his attorney Michael Cohen, devised a "catch and kill" scheme with Pecker to purchase the rights to negative tabloid stories about Trump and not publish them, effectively silencing them.

Pecker revealed that his publishing company paid $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman for a story he did not believe was true, and another $150,000 to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump, which Pecker said he did believe was true.

Pecker revealed that after purchasing the first two stories without being compensated by Trump, he was unwilling to pay an additional $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade prior to his presidential campaign.

Trump and Pecker were seated close to each other, with Trump speaking and occasionally glancing at Pecker. Trump is facing 34 charges of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to conceal payments made to Cohen, who paid $130,000 to Daniels to keep her quiet.

Trump's campaign may have violated campaign finance laws by receiving undeclared contributions from the doorman's silence and McDougal's story, according to Pecker's testimony.

Despite consulting a campaign finance lawyer, the Federal Election Commission later inquired about payments made by publishing company AMI, which is the parent company of the National Enquirer.

In 2021, the company admitted to a campaign finance violation and paid a fine of over $180,000 in a settlement agreement with the FEC.