(CNN) — A New York judge has found Donald Trump and his adult sons liable for fraud, saying the Trumps provided false financial statements for roughly a decade.

Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling came days before the civil case involving the New York attorney general’s office and the former president was set to go to trial.

Engoron granted Attorney General Letitia James’ motion for summary judgment, finding Trump, his sons, and others “to be liable as a matter of law for persistent violations” of New York state law. He found the financial statements the Trumps provided to lenders and insurers for about a decade to be false and said they repeatedly engaged in fraud.

The decision is a blow to Trump and a complete rejection of his arguments that he didn’t inflate the values of his golf courses, hotels, homes at Mar-a-Lago and Seven Springs on financial statements that were repeatedly used in business.

The attorney general has sought $250 million in damages, a ban on the Trumps from serving as officers of a business in New York, and to stop the company from engaging in business transaction for five years.

Among other things, Trump is accused of inflating the value of his triplex apartment at Trump Tower by three times its size, resulting in an overvaluation of between $114 million to $207 million, Engoron wrote.

“A discrepancy of this order of magnified, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron wrote.

“Exacerbating defendants’ obstreperous conduct is their continued reliance on bogus arguments, in papers and oral argument,” Engoron wrote. “In defendants’ world: rent regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air; a disclaimer by one party casting responsibility on another party exonerates the other party’s lies …”

The judge added: “That is a fantasy world, not the real world.”

The state supreme court judge likened the Trumps’ legal defense of his fraudulent financial statements to a Chico Marx line in the comedy “Duck Soup”: “Well, who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise called the ruling “completely disconnected from the facts and governing law.”

He added: “While the full impact of the decision remains unclear, what is clear is that President Trump and his family will seek all available appellate remedies to rectify this miscarriage of justice.”

In a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Eric Trump said: “Today, I lost all faith in the New York legal system. Never before have I seen such hatred toward one person by a judge – a coordinated effort with the Attorney General to destroy a man’s life, company and accomplishments. We have run an exceptional company – never missing a loan payment, making banks hundreds of millions of dollars, developing some of the most iconic assets in the world. Yet today, the persecution of our family continues…”

James has alleged that Trump, three of his children, his companies and his business executives defrauded lenders, insurers and other entities. (An appeals court dismissed Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, as a co-defendant from the case in June.)

In the lawsuit, James claims that Trump reaped a “substantial” financial benefit by putting forward faulty information in his financial statements, including $150 million in the form of favorable interest rates he obtained from the banks that the attorney general said his team misled.

In the order, the judge rejected Trump’s deposition testimony in which the former president said that the financial statements were not fraudulent because they contained disclaimers. Trump said the statements contained a “worthless clause” in them warning lenders and others that they shouldn’t be relied on.

Tuesday, the judge said that “the defendants’ reliance on these ‘worthless’ disclaimers is worthless.”

The ruling means the attorney general’s office won on its first two claims and will receive some amount of disgorgement to be determined at trial. The case will still proceed to trial but the attorney general’s office won’t need to prove the financial statements are false as they seek to hold him and his sons liable for insurance fraud and false business records.

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(CNN) — An anonymous woman and actor Cuba Gooding Jr. have “resolved the matter” in the federal civil rape case against him, according to a court docket entry.

The trial was set to kick off Tuesday with jury selection, but is now “off the calendar,” the docket states.

The woman had alleged that Gooding raped her at the Mercer Hotel in August 2013 after meeting her in a bar earlier that night. Gooding has asserted that the interaction was consensual.

The anonymous accuser filed the claim under the New York City “Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law” alleging that Jane Doe “suffered as a result of being a victim of violence committed on the basis of gender, and due, at least in part, to an animus based on gender.”

The federal judge presiding over the case ruled last Friday that the accuser must identify herself in an amended complaint to be filed on the docket Monday ahead of the trial. An amended complaint revealing her identity does not appear on the public court docket.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Jane Doe and Gooding.

Gooding, 55, is best known for his role as Rod Tidwell in the film “Jerry Maguire,” for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Last year, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of forcibly touching a woman at a New York City nightclub in 2018. Gooding admitted to kissing the woman, a waitress at the club, on her lips without consent. He also admitted to two other incidents of nonconsensual contact in October 2018 and June 2019.

When the plea agreement was announced in April, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert said their office believed the agreement was “fair and equitable.”

Gooding complied with the terms of the plea deal and did not face any jail time, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. In October, he pleaded guilty to a lesser harassment violation, but no criminal charges will remain.

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(CNN) — A Manhattan federal jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll in a luxury department store dressing room in the spring of 1996 and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation.

Carroll alleged Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn’t his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump denied all wrongdoing.

Carroll filed the lawsuit last November under the “New York State Adult Survivors Act,” a state bill which opened a look-back window for sexual assault allegations like Carroll’s with long-expired statutes of limitation.

Trump did not attend the trial. Like any defendant in a civil case, he was not required to appear in court for trial or any proceedings and has a right not to testify in his own defense.

Carroll left the courthouse after the verdict without speaking to reporters.

Trump, on his social media site Truth Social, called the jury’s verdict a “total disgrace” and said it was “continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.” He repeated his claim he did not know who Carroll was.

Jurors urged not to identify themselves

Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the jury after the verdict and informed them they are now allowed to identify themselves publicly if they choose. However, the judge suggested they remain silent.

“My advice to you is not to identify yourselves. Not now and not for a long time,” Kaplan said. “If you’re one who elects to speak to others and to identify yourselves to others, I direct you not to identify anyone else who sat on this jury. Each of you owes that to the other whatever you decided for yourself.”

Carroll testimony

On the stand last week, Carroll testifying in chilling detail about what happened in 1996.

“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” Carroll testified. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try to get my life back.”

Carroll acknowledged she is a registered Democrat and thinks Trump is “evil” and “vile” and was a terrible president, but testified that her political views have nothing to do with her pursuit of this lawsuit.

“I’m not settling a political score,” Carroll said. “I’m settling a personal score because he called me a liar repeatedly and it really has decimated my reputation. I’m a journalist — the one thing I have to have is the trust of the readers.”

Carroll’s attorney Michael Ferrara asked why she didn’t go public with her allegations when Trump first ran for president.

“I noticed that the more women who came forward to accuse him, the better he did in the polls,” she said.

Trump attorney Joe Tacopina, in cross examination, repeatedly asked questions about why Carroll did not scream during the approximately 3-minute alleged attack

“I’m not a screamer,” Carroll responded. “I was too much in panic to scream.”

“You can’t beat up on me for not screaming,” she told the defense lawyer. “Women who don’t come forward, one of the reasons they don’t come forward is they are asked why they didn’t scream. Some women scream, some women don’t. It keeps women silent.”

In his closing argument Monday, Tacopina said he knows Trump is a divisive figure, but that shouldn’t matter to jurors when reaching a verdict.

“People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. That’s obvious,” Tacopina said. “There’s a time and a secret place to do that: it’s called a ballot box during an election.”

“What they want is for you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” Tacopina added. “All objective evidence cuts against her.”

This story has been updated with additional details.

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(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records in Manhattan criminal court Tuesday afternoon.

The indictment against Trump alleges that the former president sought to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election.

Prosecutors alleged Trump was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including an illegal payment of $130,000 that was ordered by the defendant to suppress the negative information that would hurt his campaign.

The reason Trump committed the crime of falsifying business records was in part to “promote his candidacy,” the indictment alleges.

The former president’s voice was measured in the courtroom. He walked in slowly scanning the reporters in the courtroom and looked at the judge when he was speaking.

Trump had arrived at the Manhattan district attorney’s office earlier Tuesday afternoon, where he was placed under arrest and in police custody before the arraignment.

The arraignment in the Manhattan courtroom Tuesday represented a surreal and historic moment in US history.

A judge said Monday night that news outlets were not allowed to broadcast the proceedings, rejecting a request from several media organizations, including CNN. Five still photographers, however, will be allowed to take pictures of Trump and the courtroom before the hearing begins.

The indictment returned last week by a grand jury against Trump will provide the public — and Trump’s legal team — with the first details about the specific charges he will face. The investigation stemmed from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will speak in New York. Chris Kise, one of Trump’s lawyers, said he expects the former president to speak to the cameras in the hallway outside of the courtroom before and after his arraignment, and multiple people familiar with Trump’s thinking tell CNN that he has weighed saying something while still in Manhattan. Advisers have warned him, however, that any unplanned remarks put him at high risk of hurting his case.

Trump is slated to fly back to Florida following his court appearance and will hold an event at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday evening that gives the 2024 Republican presidential hopeful a chance to respond to the charges.

While Trump’s comments will signal how he intends to fight the charges against him in the political arena, the former president is also preparing for the fight in court: He added a new attorney, Todd Blanche, to serve as lead counsel on his defense team on Monday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment marks the first criminal charges against Trump, but it’s not the only potential legal trouble in front of the former president: Special counsel Jack Smith is still moving forward with an investigation into Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And a Fulton County special grand jury has completed its investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.

Trump arrived in New York on Monday afternoon, flying up on his jet from Palm Beach. He stayed overnight in Trump Tower, 4 miles north to the courthouse in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon.

Law enforcement in New York and the US Secret Service have been planning for the prospect of Trump’s appearance at the courthouse for weeks.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein created a “pyramid scheme of abuse” by offering cash to poor underage girls, luring them into a web of sexual abuse, prosecutors said Monday in opening statements of Maxwell’s criminal trial.

Prosecutor Lara Pomerantz told jurors that in the 1990s, Maxwell would procure girls for Epstein via the “ruse” of a massage. “You’ll learn that the cover of massage was the primary way the defendant and Epstein lured girls into sexual abuse.”

The playbook eventually changed as they began to give $100 bills to poor teenage girls from broken homes, promising them money and access to resources, Pomerantz said.

“By the early 2000s, the defendant and Epstein found an easier way to maintain a continuous flow of girls to abuse,” Pomerantz said. “Instead, they devised a pyramid scheme of abuse, a scheme that no longer required the defendant to personally find young girls for Epstein.”

In response, Maxwell’s defense told jurors in their opening statement their client was a scapegoat for Epstein’s abuse. Instead, her attorney portrayed her as a victim of sexism.

“Eve was accused of tempting Adam with the apple. Women have been blamed for the bad behavior of men and women are often villainized and punished more than the men ever are. The charges against Ghislaine Maxwell are for things that Jeffrey Epstein did. But she is not Jeffrey Epstein,” defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim said.

The opening statements come on the first day of Maxwell’s federal trial on charges including conspiracy and sex-trafficking. The trial is likely to give a glimpse into the enigmatic life of the late Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell’s close confidante who died in jail in 2019 before he was due to stand trial.

After opening statements, the government called its first witness: Epstein’s former pilot Lawrence “Larry” Visoski.

Maxwell was first charged in July 2020 with enticement and conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, transportation and conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity for allegedly grooming and recruiting underage girls from 1994 through 1997.

Prosecutors later added two sex-trafficking charges, alleging Maxwell interacted with a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions in Palm Beach, Florida, and encouraged and enticed her to recruit other girls to perform “sexualized massages” on Epstein despite knowing she was under 18.

The pilot, who began working for Epstein in 1991, testified Maxwell frequently traveled on Epstein’s private jet between 1994 and 2004 and would often facilitate travel plans with Visoski for Epstein.

He described his memory of the pair’s relationship as more personal than business-like, but more “couple-ish” than actually romantic. He didn’t remember seeing them kiss or hold hands, he said.

Logging the names of all passengers on Epstein’s private flights was not a priority, but they tried their best to be accurate, Visoski said. For international flights, he had to report an accurate passenger log, he said.

Visoski often flew Epstein between New York, Paris, St. Thomas, New Mexico and Florida, and would frequently go to Epstein’s properties at those locations, for example, to facilitate luggage for Epstein and his guests, the pilot testified.

Visoski will continue testifying Tuesday morning.

Maxwell has denied any wrongdoing, telling the court at a recent hearing, “I have not committed any crimes.” She faces up to 70 years in prison if convicted on all six counts. The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

The British socialite was arrested nearly one year after Epstein was arrested on charges in connection to allegations he ran a sex-trafficking enterprise at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach from 2002 to 2005. That indictment alleged Epstein worked with employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.

Epstein was found dead in his prison cell shortly after his arrest in 2019. The medical examiner later determined the cause of death to be suicide by hanging.

He was a convicted registered sex offender after he pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges in 2008.

Maxwell, a once very public socialite known for jet-setting with Epstein and other high-profile figures including Prince Andrew and former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, seemingly fell off the grid after Epstein was arrested as he disembarked a flight from Paris in July 2019.

Prosecutors preview their case in opening statements

Pomerantz began her opening statements by describing Maxwell as the lady of the house, running Epstein’s homes for over a decade and sharing in his luxurious lifestyle, all while aiding and abetting his abuse of minor girls.

Maxwell ran a tight ship to create a culture of silence for Epstein, the prosecutor said.

“Employees were to see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. There was a culture of silence. That was by design — the defendant’s design — because behind closed doors, the defendant and Epstein were committing heinous crimes. They were sexually abusing teenage girls,” she said.

The prosecutor said Maxwell had a hands-on role in the abuse.

“She manipulated the girls, groomed them for abuse, helped the girls feel comfortable as friendliness escalated to abuse,” Pomerantz said. “Sometimes she was even in the room for the massages herself, and sometimes she touched the girls’ bodies and even when she was not in the room, make no mistake, she knew exactly what Epstein was going to do to those children when she sent them to him inside the massage rooms; massage rooms inside the houses the defendant ran for over a decade.”

Jurors will hear from alleged victims, their family members, former members of Epstein’s staff, including pilots and employees who worked in the Palm Beach residence, as well as law enforcement agents who conducted the 2005 search of Epstein’s Palm Beach residence and his Manhattan mansion in 2019, the prosecutor said.

In addition, prosecutors plan to show the jury flight logs for Epstein’s private planes, FedEx records for a gift Epstein sent to one girl when she was just 15, and explicit photos from inside Epstein’s homes.

The prosecutor also told jurors they would hear about the Epstein Victim Compensation Program, which awarded money to some of the girls in the case who accused Maxwell and Epstein of abuse.

“You’ll also hear that a fund to compensate girls who Epstein abused awarded some of these witnesses millions of dollars. But it will be obvious to you at this trial that these witnesses would have paid anything for this not to have happened to them. They would pay anything to have never met the defendant and Epstein,” Pomerantz said.

Maxwell focused her attention on the jury during the prosecutor’s opening statement, but at times she stared off in the direction of the judge.

When prosecutors spoke of one witness, using the pseudonym Jane, Maxwell took notes.

Defense attacks alleged victims

Bobbi Sternheim laid out the defense’s strategy in opening statements: Attack and undermine the four women set to testify about their interactions with Maxwell and Epstein.

Sternheim told jurors the trial is about memory, manipulation and money. Victims have manipulated their memories of alleged abuse by Epstein to include Maxwell because they’ve been financially incentivized to take Maxwell down in the wake of his death, she said.

She acknowledged Epstein’s abusive behavior and his known schemes to some extent, but maintained Maxwell was roped into prosecution efforts only after his death because of their long relationship.

“She is a scapegoat for a man who behaved badly,” Sternheim said. “She is a target, a bull’s eye of anger for women who were or otherwise believe they were victimized by Epstein. Epstein’s death left a gaping hole in the pursuit of justice for many of these women.”

“Yes, Jeffrey Epstein manipulated the world around him and the people around him. He compartmentalized his life, showing only what he wanted to show to the people around him, including Ghislaine,” she said.

The defense attorney repeatedly told jurors the alleged victims outlined in the indictment “reframed” their stories of abuse against Epstein to include Maxwell for the sake of a payday. She placed blame on civil attorneys who she said saw Epstein and Maxwell as easy targets for lawsuits.

The defense attorney spoke at length about the Epstein Victim Compensation Fund, telling jurors the alleged victims in this case received millions in an “enhanced” compensation package through the program for cooperating with the government.

Sternheim went through each alleged victim expected to testify, discrediting them for different reasons including delayed reporting and substance abuse.

The parties took more than one sidebar after several objections from prosecutors. The prosecution objected to certain language used by Sternheim about the alleged victims’ potential financial motives in the case and the defense argument that Maxwell is an innocent stand-in on trial in Epstein’s place.

Alleged victims to testify at trial

The four alleged victims in the case are identified in the indictment as Minor Victims 1 through 4.

Maxwell was present and involved in some of the abuse alleged by Minor Victim-1, court documents say. That victim allegedly first met Maxwell when she was approximately 14 years old and was sexually abused by Epstein at his properties in New York and Florida, according to the indictment.

Maxwell “involved” the girl in group “sexualized massages” on Epstein, undressing in front of the girl and was present when Minor Victim-1 undressed in front of Epstein, the indictment says.

Minor Victim-2 traveled to New Mexico in 1996 where Epstein allegedly abused her at his ranch. Maxwell allegedly groomed Minor Victim-2, giving her an unsolicited massage while she was topless. Maxwell also encouraged Minor Victim-2 to massage Epstein, according to the indictment.

Judge Alison Nathan ruled ahead of the trial jurors would be instructed they cannot convict Maxwell based on testimony regarding the sexual conduct between Epstein and a woman identified in the indictment as Minor Victim-3 because she was 17 at the time and therefore over the age of consent in the relevant jurisdictions.

Her testimony as a witness will still be relevant to the overall alleged conspiracy to entice minors to engage in illegal sexual conduct. Allegedly befriending and grooming her, Maxwell introduced the young girl to Epstein in London when she was 17, according to the indictment.

Maxwell encouraged her to perform sexualized massages during which she was allegedly abused by Epstein in 1994 and 1995.

Minor Victim-4 first met Maxwell when she was recruited at approximately 14 years old to give sexualized massages to Epstein at his Palm Beach residence. Between 2001 and 2004, Minor Victim-4 was paid hundreds of dollars in cash for her interactions with Epstein during which he’d sexually abuse her, according to the indictment.

The victim also allegedly recruited other young females to provide sexualized massages on Epstein at his and Maxwell’s request. At times, Maxwell called the victim from New York to schedule the massages on Epstein upon his return to Florida. Maxwell also sent gifts from New York, including lingerie, to the victim’s home in Florida, the indictment says.

Maxwell’s counsel maintains she is innocent and was only charged because Epstein died.

What we might see in court

Previous court filings have previewed what evidence and testimony will be part of this case.

A former employee at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion will testify about an address book containing contact information for alleged underage victims and high-profile celebrities Epstein and Maxwell associated with, according to court documents. It’s unclear at this point if jurors will get to see a copy of the book during the trial.

The employee will testify this copy aligns with her recollection of the bound and sewn, typed book that contains contact information for Maxwell’s family members and the alleged victims in this case, court filings say.

Judge Nathan said during the final pretrial hearing she’d hear the unnamed employee’s testimony about the book before she rules on whether jurors can see any of it.

Prosecutors say the book belonged to Maxwell and copies of it and another belonging to Epstein were placed around Epstein’s home for convenience, per a house manual obtained via a search warrant.

Prosecutors allege Maxwell had a pattern of grooming Epstein’s victims, making them comfortable by taking them on outings like shopping and going to see movies, and asking about their personal lives.

An expert on child sex abuse, Dr. Lisa Rocchio, is expected to testify for the prosecution on the grooming of minors for sexual abuse, a concept at the crux of the government’s argument for the charges against Maxwell in the indictment.

Judge Nathan ruled the defense may also call expert witnesses to combat the expected testimony from the prosecution’s expert.

Dr. Park Dietz is expected to downplay grooming in testimony for the defense, saying grooming can simply be kind behavior that does not inherently have to be associated with sexual abuse, according to a defense motion.

Dr. Elizabeth Loftus is also expected to testify for the defense about memory distortion and the tendency of victims to remember core information but forget or misremember peripheral details around a traumatic event, according to a defense motion.

Loftus was similarly paid to testify on the subject in Harvey Weinstein’s defense in the 2020 trial that ended in a conviction of the disgraced movie mogul on sexual misconduct charges.

Maxwell faces two additional perjury charges connected to allegations she lied during a 2016 civil deposition which are expected to be handled in a separate trial.

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One of the two passengers who exited a Delta flight with their dog as the plane taxied onto a runway felt he needed to leave or he would lose control, according to statements during an arraignment Tuesday.

The two passengers and the dog were aboard an Atlanta-bound flight at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Monday, when at least one of the passengers opened a cabin door and activated the slide to exit the plane shortly before takeoff.

Antonio Murdock, 31, and Brianna Greco, 23, of Florida, each face charges of third-degree criminal trespass, according to Lenis Valens, a spokeswoman for Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Murdock was additionally charged with second-degree criminal mischief and second-degree reckless endangerment, Valens said.

During Murdock’s arraignment at New York City Criminal Court in Queens on Tuesday, authorities said a flight attendant who was on the plane during the incident told them she observed a male and female passenger walking through the plane.

According to the flight attendant’s statement, she allegedly heard the male passenger, identified by authorities as Murdock, essentially say, “I need to get off the plane, I don’t want to sit here, I’m gonna pop the door.”

Murdock then allegedly pushed past the flight attendant and opened a door marked “emergency exit,” which caused the attached slide to deploy and inflate. The man then picked up his dog and exited using the slide, according to the statement.

The female passenger, identified as Greco during the arraignment, allegedly followed Murdock down the slide. The pair and the dog then walked away from the plane onto the taxiway.

Authorities later apprehended them in a restricted taxiway area, as stated during the arraignment.

The flight attendant informed authorities that there was no situation on the plane that necessitated Murdock to open the emergency door, according to arraignment proceedings.

Jubril Oladiran, an attorney for Murdock, provided no comment to CNN when contacted. CNN is attempting to reach Greco for comment, and it is unclear if she has legal representation.

Casey Johnson, a Manhattan resident flying home to his family in Panama City Beach, Florida, told CNN he switched seats with the couple and their dog at the gate.

Johnson said the couple was pleasant and nothing appeared out of the ordinary to him during their interaction.

He called the man, identified by authorities as Murdock, “soft spoken.”

Murdock asked to switch rows with Johnson, he said, so they could have the last aisle of the plane to accommodate their dog.

The plane was mostly full except for middle seats left open per Delta’s Covid-19 policy. Minutes later, however, the couple moved again several rows forward, Johnson said.

“I do actually remember thinking, ‘Well, you guys just asked me to swap rows with you because you wanted to be in the back, and now all of a sudden you decided you want to be forward,’ ” he said.

Johnson, who was wearing headphones as the plane taxied to the tarmac, later noticed a commotion.

“And the next thing I know, I look up while we’re moving, and I just see … I see lots of people standing up, and I see like four people running towards the front of the plane. And at this point those must have been passengers that were running to try to, like, stop the person,” Johnson said, noting he didn’t witness the pair and the dog as they jumped off the plane, yet did see that the emergency exit at the front of the plane near the cockpit was open.

Johnson said the pilot told passengers over the cabin speakers that the slide had been deployed and the door was opened, but did not state that passengers had fled.

Johnson said the plane sat on the tarmac for more than an hour before returning to the gate.

After Murdock and Greco exited the plane, the aircraft returned to the gate and deplaned customers normally, Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said.

The airline was able to accommodate the remaining passengers on alternate flights, he said.

“Maintenance technicians have evaluated the aircraft, and (it) is scheduled to return to service this evening,” Durrant said. He said Delta was unable to offer further comment.

Murdock is due to return to court on February 9, and Greco is scheduled to appear in court March 21, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said.

Valens, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokeswoman, said the dog accompanying the two was taken to a Brooklyn animal shelter.

Greco was provided a receipt to retrieve the dog, Valens said.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident and arrests and referred additional questions to Delta and local authorities.

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Using a walker and the aid of his team of attorneys, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein arrived in court Monday for the start of his sexual assault trial in New York.

The trial begins more than two years after bombshell stories in The New York Times and The New Yorker quoted women who accused Weinstein of sexual abuse, harassment, secret settlements and generally using his influence as a Hollywood power broker to take advantage of young women.

Since then, more than 80 women have publicly accused Weinstein, 67, of sexual misconduct. That wave of women coming forward launched what’s now known as the #MeToo movement to empower women to expose abusive, harassing men across the world.

The #MeToo era is inextricably tied to Weinstein’s public downfall, but its influence on Weinstein’s legal case is far from clear.

Weinstein faces five felony charges based on claims by just two women, one of whom remains anonymous. Several other women who say he assaulted them will also testify, including “The Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra, as prosecutors seek to prove he committed sex crimes against multiple women.

Many of the other women’s allegations occurred outside the statute of limitations; the vast majority of women who say he wronged them will have no part in this trial.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty and is not expected to testify. His defense, instead, will focus on undermining the women’s testimony and arguing that the alleged incidents were consensual. He could face up to life in prison if convicted of predatory sexual assault, the most serious charge.

Weinstein, who is recovering from back surgery last month, arrived to court hunched over a walker. On Monday, a reporter asked him how his back is doing and he said “not so good.”

In emails to CNN prior to the trial, he said that he has learned to self-reflect over the past two years.

“The past two years have been grueling and have presented me with a great opportunity for self-reflection,” Weinstein wrote. “I realize now that I was consumed with my work, my company and my drive for success. This caused me to neglect my family, my relationships and to lash out at the people around me. I have been in rehab since October 2017, and have been involved in a 12-step program and meditation. I have learned to give up my need for control.”

‘Silence Breakers’ speak outside court

Outside court on Monday, a group of women calling themselves “Silence Breakers” — who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct — offered their support to the women expected to testify in court.

“As one of the silence-breakers, I stand in solidarity with the brave survivors who will take the stand against Harvey Weinstein in this trial,” said Rosanna Arquette, the actress and director. “While the emotion of the day runs high, I join these other brave women who were also harmed by Harvey Weinstein to say: we aren’t going anywhere.”

Actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of rape, also said Weinstein had brought this upon himself.

“Today is a day for us to honor how far we’ve come and how much we’ve endured to get here, but it is not the end,” McGowan said.

His trial will be the third celebrity sexual assault case of the #MeToo era. Comedian Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault in the first prominent assault trial of the era, while an assault case against actor Kevin Spacey fell apart before it went to trial.

Trial to last over two months

The trial, at the New York State Supreme Court, starts with two weeks of jury selection on Tuesday and then about eight weeks of arguments and testimony, his attorney Donna Rotunno said.

Monday’s hearing lasted about 80 minutes as Judge James Burke made a series of rulings that set the terms of the trial to come. The rest of this week will be for pre-screening jury selection, then the court will aim to bring back the jury pool for standard jury selection process January 14.

Weinstein could also face coming charges from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Burke said that he will not hear arguments or issue an advisory opinion on pending matters in other jurisdictions prior to those charges.

Burke denied the prosecution’s request to bar the defense from talking about the case outside the court room, but told both parties not to discuss any witnesses in any capacity with the media.

Weinstein’s defense asked that the jury be sequestered during the trial. Burke has not yet ruled on that argument.

The judge ruled that the defense cannot call Det. Nicholas DiGaudio, the former lead detective on the case, to the stand during the defense, but they may cross examine witnesses as to their interactions with him. DiGuadio was removed as the lead detective after he told an accuser to delete cell phone messages prior to turning her phones over to authorities, which later led to the dismissal of one charge.

The prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi, told the judge that if the defense will not agree to specific language regarding a Black Cube employee hired by Weinstein’s defense, the prosecution will be forced to call former Weinstein attorney David Boies to the stand to define Black Cube for the jury to enter it into the record.

Black Cube is an Israeli firm of private investigators. Illuzzi said the language would identify the Black Cube employee as one hired by the Weinstein defense.

The prosecution announced additional discovery that federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York and the New York State Attorney General’s office recently supplied, but did not specify the content.

There was discussion of seven compromising photos that would be submitted to the jury but not entered into the public evidence docket because they might be humiliating to Weinstein.

The prosecution told the judge that the defense has not submitted a single piece of discovery nor provided a witness list.

The-CNN-Wire
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