The moment that made Donald Trump 'laugh' in court

As former US President Donald Trump listens to testimonies in his New York criminal trial, over allegations from adult film star Stormy Daniels that she was paid hush money to keep quiet about a sexual relationship with Trump (he denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty), journalists have been keeping a close eye on the Republican politician for any indication as to what he makes of the proceedings.

And according to one CNN reporter, there was one particularly notable moment during a session on April 25 in New York.

In addition to moments where he sat with his eyes closed and conferred with his legal team, Brynn Gingras notes Trump did smirk and laugh as he listened to the testimony of David Pecker, former publisher of National Enquirer, who was talking about his involvement in a “catch and kill” scheme.

Pecker’s involvement in the plan was for him to exert his media influence to spot “negative” stories about Trump concerning his relations with other women and “kill” said stories to boost his chances of winning the 2016 election.

Gingras commented: “The one time that he actually did give a smirk inside the courtroom was when they discussed that meeting inside Trump Tower after President Trump was president-elect Trump and David Pecker walked into the room.

“[Trump] was surrounded by a number of these people who are advising the now president-elect and Donald Trump made the comment that ‘this is David Pecker, he’s the publisher of The National Enquirer and he knows more stories about me than anyone else in this room’.

“Peckham sort of said ‘nobody really laughed at that’, but that did get a laugh from Donald Trump.”

The New York Times has also reported that Trump laughed at this part of Pecker’s testimony, while CNN’s Maggie Haberman told her employer he also “shook his head several times” during the evidence.

The criminal trial concerning alleged hush money payments sees Trump contest 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of what prosecutors have described as a "criminal conspiracy".

It's one of the many legal headaches being faced by Trump in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, which looks set to be a rematch between him as the Republican candidate and incumbent Democrat president Joe Biden.

This week has already seen his request to have a new trial in his $83 million defamation case with writer E Jean Carroll denied by a federal court, and the Supreme Court consider the question of whether Trump is entitled to presidential immunity from prosecution.

And it isn’t just Trump’s laughs in court which have made headlines, but his farts, too – as the former Potus reportedly broke wind during the proceedings as well.

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