Donald Trump has lost a bid to overturn the gag order imposed on him in his New York civil fraud trial prohibiting him from attacking court staff.
Testimony in the former president’s civil fraud trial has wrapped and Justice Arthur Engoron will hear oral arguments on 11 January and aims to deliver his final judgement by the end of that month.
Elsewhere, Rudy Giuliani has backed out of testifying at his multimillion-dollar defamation trial brought because of his false claims against Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman regarding the 2020 election.
A jury will decide later how much the former New York mayor should pay them in damages after they described in emotional testimony how their lives were destroyed by his lies.
Meanwhile, US district court judge Tanya Chutkan has officially stayed all deadlines in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case, pending resolution of his appeal on presidential immunity.
Mr Trump is accused of trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and the trial is technically still scheduled for 4 March 2024.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to a request from special counsel Jack Smith to hear the immunity case on an expedited basis.