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Former President Donald Trump just touched the third rail during his hush money trial as prosecutors executed a powerful courtroom chess move, a former prosecutor told CNN Tuesday.

Karen Agnifilo, an ex-assistant district attorney in the borough where Trump faces his first criminal trial, appeared on the network to discuss the stern warning that a muttering and glaring Trump received from Judge Juan Merchan.

A dismissed prospective juror in Donald Trump's trial described her face-to-face encounter with the former president as he stands trial for allegedly falsifying business records to help cover up an extramarital affair shortly before his first election.

Kara McGee, who believes she was dismissed after notifying the court that serving on the jury would present a work hardship, told CNN that her mother tipped her off to the possibility that she might be called to sit on the Trump case after she received a jury summons two weeks ago, but she wasn't certain until she arrived Monday in court.

Attorneys for Donald Trump waited until less than two hours before midnight Monday to file revisions to the ex-president's $175 million bond for the judgment in his civil fraud case after New York State Attorney General Letitia James questioned the validity of his first bond. Legal experts are now questioning details of the new bond filings. Some suggest a portion of the $175 million might also currently be in use to secure other debts or obligations.

After Trump was found liable for manipulation of his net worth in the civil business fraud case and ordered to pay a $354.9 million penalty plus interest, he was required to post bond to ensure the people of the State of New York would receive $454.2 million if his appeal is unsuccessful.

Donald Trump will become the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges starting Monday, and he began the morning with a series of panicky social media posts about his legal predicament.

The ex-president again blamed President Joe Biden for his indictment in the Manhattan criminal trial involving his hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels weeks ahead of the 2016 election, and Trump demanded the case be dropped due to the statute of limitations and accused judge Juan Merchan of conflicts of interest.

The Supreme Court received a stern warning this week not to delay former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case any longer, court records show.

Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group, issued the warning Thursday in an amicus brief filed to the upcoming Supreme Court hearing that has brought special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case to a standstill.

President Joe Biden is taking action on Thursday that will close the "gun show loophole" by requiring tens of thousands of unlicensed gun dealers to perform background checks. It is an effort to reduce gun violence and mass shootings that lawmakers have attempted for a quarter-century, since the 1999 Columbine, Colorado High School massacre, the deadliest school mass shooting in U.S. history at the time. Next week marks the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, where 12 students and one teacher were murdered.

Last August the Biden administration announced the new proposed rule to add an estimated 23,000 unlicensed gun sellers to the category that already includes approximately 80,000 dealers required to perform background checks, according to CBS News. Politico calls it "the most sweeping expansion of firearms background checks in decades." A bipartisan bill passed after the Uvalde, Texas elementary school mass shooting that left 21 people dead, including 19 children and two adults, made the rule change possible, Forbes reported last year.

Donald Trump's legal team is considering asking jurors to consider misdemeanor crimes as a way to avoid a likely felony conviction in the hush money trial set to start in Manhattan Monday, according to a report.

A Trump team insider told Politico that his lawyers are floating the option as they see acquittal in the trial as increasingly unlikely.

Embattled Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is defending his leadership amid a threat to oust him by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and he's invoking the Bible to try to save his job. Greene has threatened if Johnson puts a bill on the floor to help support Ukraine defend itself against Russia's illegal war she will move to have him replaced.

"I try to follow all the biblical admonitions as I do every day and one of them says, 'Bless those who persecute you.' I'm getting a lot of practice in that right now," Speaker Johnson, smiling slightly, told David Brody (video below) after the Christian Broadcasting Network reporter mentioned Congresswoman Greene has attacked him personally, and attacked his faith.

Presidential scholar and former White House photographer David Hume Kennerly issued a scathing letter of resignation criticizing the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation after it repeatedly refused to give Liz Cheney its annual award, he says, because the trustees are afraid of possible retribution if Donald Trump wins the presidential election.

The Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service is a prestigious award that has been bestowed upon Republicans and Democrats alike, among them, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, and former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill.

A Republican primary candidate for an open seat in the Kentucky General Assembly was recently arrested by law enforcement in a neighboring county and charged with several crimes.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, 53-year-old Brian Ormes was booked Monday night on charges of first-degree strangulation, menacing and fourth-degree assault. Ormes is running in the GOP primary for House District 67, which encompasses most of the city of Newport, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. The district is currently represented by Rep. Rachel Roberts, who is the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Kentucky legislature. Roberts is not seeking reelection, making the seat far more competitive in the upcoming election.