Trump hush money trial to resume with cross-examination of ex-tabloid publisher

Former US president Donald Trump speaks to the media at Manhattan criminal court during the continuation of his trial (Spencer Platt/AP)

Defence lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial are poised to dig into an account of the former publisher of the National Enquirer and his efforts to protect Trump from negative stories during the 2016 election.

David Pecker will return to the witness stand for the fourth day on Friday as defence lawyers try to poke holes in his testimony, which has described helping bury embarrassing stories Trump feared could hurt his campaign.