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Wednesday, 1 May 2024:
Trump, Repeating 2020 Election Lies, Will Not Commit to Accepting 2024 Results, The New York Times, Michael Gold and Chris Cameron, Wednesday, 1 May 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he would not commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election, as he again repeated his lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him. ‘If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results. I don’t change on that,’ Mr. Trump said, according to The Journal Sentinel. ‘If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.’ In an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday, he also dismissed questions about political violence in November by suggesting that his victory was inevitable. When pressed about what might happen should he lose, he said, ‘if we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.’ Mr. Trump’s insistent and fraudulent claims that the 2020 election was unfair were at the heart of his efforts to overturn his loss to President Biden, and to the violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters who believed his claims. Mr. Trump now faces dozens of felony charges in connection with those events.”
Thursday, 2 May 2024:
Jury Hears Tape of Trump and Michael Cohen Discussing Hush-Money Deal. The tape, played at the former president’s criminal trial, captured Michael Cohen telling Donald Trump about a payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The New York Times, Jonah E. Bromwich and Jesse McKinley, Thursday, 2 May 2024: “Two voices reverberated in the courtroom. The first was loud, deep and unctuous, the second was casual — until money came up. They were discussing a deal made during the 2016 presidential campaign to silence a woman who claimed to have had an extramarital affair with the Republican candidate. The first voice on the recording belonged to Michael D. Cohen, a former personal lawyer and fixer for Donald J. Trump. The second was the candidate himself, Mr. Trump, who on Thursday sat mutely as jurors heard his words. The Manhattan district attorney’s office used the tape, surreptitiously made by Mr. Cohen, to bring the trial’s two main characters together for the first time. The recording vividly captured how Mr. Cohen reported details of a key transaction to his then boss. On it, Mr. Cohen discusses a hush-money deal that the parent company of The National Enquirer made on Mr. Trump’s behalf with the former Playboy model Karen McDougal, as well as the question of how to deal with ‘the financing’ — that is, repaying — the supermarket tabloid’s publisher, David Pecker. ‘What financing?” Mr. Trump asked, suddenly snapping to attention. He then directed Mr. Cohen to ‘pay with cash.’ (Mr. Pecker, the jurors already know, was never repaid.) The existence of the recording, made by Mr. Cohen about two months before the election, was previously known. But it demonstrated for the jury the direct involvement of the future president in what prosecutors have said was a conspiracy to help him get elected.” See also, At Trump’s Trial, a Decade’s Worth of Celebrity Sleaze Is Exhumed. Donald Trump’s lawyers tried to paint Keith Davidson, the man who helped broker a hush-money payment for Stormy Daniels, as a specialist in extracting money from the famous. The New York Times, Alan Feuer and Jonah E. Bromwich, Thursday, 2 May 2024: “An attempt to shake down the actor Charlie Sheen. Rumors that the Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan was in rehab. A lawsuit by Hulk Hogan, the former pro wrestler, against the gossip website Gawker for publishing a tape of him having sex. Testimony on Thursday at former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan dove deeply into the celebrity-obsessed digital media environment of the past fifteen years or so that helped fuel Mr. Trump’s rise to political prominence. The lurid tales were introduced to the jury largely through the witness Keith Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer who specialized in getting money for clients who had dirt on famous people. In his testimony, particularly as he was cross-examined, Mr. Davidson and a defense lawyer, Emil Bove, together led the jurors on a whirlwind tour of several gossipy and tawdry deals he had a hand in…. The purpose of Mr. Bove’s interrogation appeared to be to suggest to the jury that Ms. McDougal and Ms. Daniels may have sought to extract their own payments from Mr. Trump. But making that point required Mr. Bove to drag Mr. Davidson through some old patches of mud.” See also, Live Coverage Including Five Takeaways: Jurors Hear Tape of Trump Discussing Deal With Playboy Model Karen McDougal. The recording, secretly made by Donald Trump’s longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, came at the end of a day of testimony detailing a separate hush-money deal with the porn star Stormy Daniels. The New York Times, Thursday, 2 May 2024. See also, Trump Hush Money Trial: Trump defense suggests he was shakedown target, not hush money schemer. During contentious questioning of Stormy Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson, Donald Trump’s lawyers portray their client as the victim in the case. The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Shayna Jacobs, and Mark Berman, Thursday, 2 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s defense team suggested Thursday that rather than orchestrating a hush money scheme, the former president was really the target of a shakedown attempt by unscrupulous entertainment figures who saw his 2016 presidential campaign as an opportunity for a quick payday. In the most contentious testimony yet in the criminal trial, Los Angeles lawyer Keith Davidson denied accusations that he flirted with extortion when he negotiated settlements with celebrities to keep potentially damaging stories out of the public eye. By accusing him, Trump’s lawyers displayed a key element of their defense strategy: getting jurors to focus on the lawyers and middlemen who negotiated hush money payments on Trump’s behalf in 2016, rather than the politician who — according to prosecutors — orchestrated the payments and allegedly falsified paperwork about one of them to try to separate it from his presidential campaign. The jury also heard a secretly recorded phone conversation between Davidson and Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which Cohen claimed Trump told him, ‘I hate the fact that we did it,’ in reference to the hush money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.” See also, Trump Trial takeaways: ‘When in doubt, steer clear.’ Donald Trump’s lawyers used tabloid stories to portray their client as a victim and argued he should be able to respond to political jokes against him. The Washington Post, Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Thursday, 2 May 2024: “Another day in Manhattan criminal court, with much more testimony about the messy, shady world of celebrities and tabloid media. But unlike the last week and a half, Donald Trump’s legal team tried to use the tabloid stories Thursday to go on offense, rather than play defense against the prosecutor’s allegations.” See also, Live coverage: Stormy Daniels’s lawyer completes testimony in Trump’s hush money trial, The Washington Post, 6 Live coverage contributors, Thursday, 2 May 2024. See also, Highlights from day 10 of the Trump hush money trial, Associated Press, Thursday, 2 May 2024.
Friday, 3 May 2024:
Hope Hicks Takes the Stand: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Criminal Trial. In a riveted courtroom, Ms. Hicks, the former spokeswoman for Donald Trump, testified how she and her former boss managed one scandal after another. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Friday, 3 May 2024: “Gasps were heard in the overflow courtroom when Hope Hicks was called as a witness on Friday in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, an audible sign of the anticipation as Mr. Trump’s former press secretary and White House communications director took the stand. Her testimony ended the trial’s third week in dramatic fashion. In nearly three hours on the stand, Ms. Hicks described the impact on Mr. Trump’s campaign of the so-called ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, in which Mr. Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals. As soon as the tape was disclosed in October 2016, Ms. Hicks said, she knew it would be ‘a massive story.’ Taking the stand under a subpoena, Ms. Hicks said she was nervous, and at one point, early in the cross-examination, she broke down in tears.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Trial: Hope Hicks Delivers Emotionally Gripping Testimony Before Trial Adjourns for Weekend, The New York Times, Friday, 3 May 2024: “The former Trump spokeswoman testified about his 2016 campaign’s damage-control efforts after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which the candidate spoke of groping women, became public. Prosecutors say it made Mr. Trump’s aides more eager to quash damaging stories, like Stormy Daniels’s account of an affair.” See also, Live coverage of Trump Hush Money Trial: Hope Hicks testimony ends; Trump hush money trial concludes for the week, The Washington Post, 6 Live coverage contributors, Friday, 3 May 2024: “Hope Hicks, a former top aide to then-President Donald Trump, ended her testimony Friday in his New York criminal trial for allegedly falsifying records related to a hush money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Hicks said she was stunned by the ‘Access Hollywood’ video revealed by The Washington Post in 2016 and worried about what Trump’s recorded comments about grabbing women’s genitalia could mean for his campaign.”
Continue reading Aftermath of the Trump Administration, May 2024:
Saturday, 4 May 2024:
Trump’s Scandals Captivate the Courtroom, but Case Hangs on Dry Details. Prosecutors started their criminal case against Donald Trump with eye-catching and lurid stories, but the heart of the matter is invoices and ledger entries. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, William K. Rashbaum, and Maggie Haberman, Saturday, 4 May 2024: “Donald J. Trump is on trial for 34 felony counts of what could be the dullest sounding crime in New York’s penal code: falsifying business records. Yet, across nine witnesses and two weeks of testimony, jurors have been treated to hours of mesmerizing courtroom theater. There was talk of a sex scandal with a porn star, a surreptitious recording of a future president and the tearful testimony of a former confidante in the glare of the witness stand. There was even a celebrity roll call: Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan and the reality television star Tila Tequila were all name-checked this week, drawing chuckles in the Lower Manhattan courtroom. The phrase ‘falsifying business records,’ however, was not uttered to the jury during testimony. Not even once. That striking omission underscores the prosecution’s strategy for the opening phase of testimony: Spotlight the sleaze, and soft-pedal the records. Although the defense has already taken a swipe at the approach, legal experts say it represents the prosecution’s best shot at winning the case, the first criminal trial of an American president.”
Monday, 6 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: Judge Cites Trump for Contempt and Says He Is Attacking the Rule of Law. Trump again broke a gag order meant to bar him from attacking participants in his criminal trial, Justice Juan M. Merchan ruled. He threatened the former president with jail. The New York Times. Alan Feuer, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, and William K. Rashbaum, Monday, 6 May 2024: “The judge overseeing Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan rebuked the former president on Monday for mounting ‘a direct attack on the rule of law,’ holding him in contempt of court for a second time and threatening to jail him if he continued to break a gag order that bars him from attacking jurors. In a moment of remarkable courtroom drama, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, addressed Mr. Trump personally from the bench, saying that if there were further violations, he might bypass financial penalties and place the former president behind bars. Justice Merchan acknowledged that jailing Mr. Trump was ‘the last thing’ he wanted to do, but explained that it was his responsibility to ‘protect the dignity of the justice system.’ The judge said that he understood ‘the magnitude of such a decision’ and that jailing Mr. Trump would be a last resort. He noted: ‘You are the former president of the United States, and possibly the next president as well.’ As the judge delivered his admonition and imposed a $1,000 fine, Mr. Trump stared straight at him, blinking but not reacting, and when the remarks were over, the former president shook his head.” See also, Trump Is Threatened With Jail at His Criminal Trial: 5 Takeaways. Prosecutors on Monday took the jury deep into the Trump Organization’s ledgers as the state’s case proceeds at speed. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Monday, 6 May 2024. See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Former Employee Says Trump Used Personal Account to Repay Hush Money. A longtime Trump Organization employee testified in Donald Trump’s criminal trial that Mr. Trump had used his personal bank account to reimburse his longtime fixer for the money that bought a porn star’s silence. The New York Times, Monday, 6 May 2024. See also, Live coverage of Trump Hush Money Trial: Judge again finds Trump in contempt in hush money trial; Trump Org employees testify, The Washington Post, 11 Live coverage contributors, Monday, 6 May 2024: “New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ruled Monday that Donald Trump again violated his gag order in the New York hush money trial, and he warned that he would consider jailing the former president if the violations continue. After the ruling, testimony included retired Trump Organization comptroller Jeffrey McConney talking about business records and practices that are at the heart of the case. Merchan sent the jury home for the day shortly after 4 p.m.” See also, Highlights from day 12 of the Trump hush money trial as trial enters third week of testimony, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz, and Jennifer Peltz, Monday, 6 May 2024.
Tuesday, 7 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: Stormy Daniels, Who Testified About Sex With Trump, Will Return to Stand. The porn star at the center of the ex-president’s criminal trial, who will testify again on Thursday, spoke under oath about their encounter at a golf tournament in 2006, a meeting that could shape American history. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman, Michael Rothfeld, and Jonathan Swan, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “When Donald J. Trump met Stormy Daniels, their flirtation seemed fleeting: He was a 60-year-old married mogul at the peak of reality television fame, and she was 27, a Louisiana native raised in poverty and headed to porn-film stardom. But that chance encounter in Lake Tahoe, Nev., some two decades ago is now at the center of the first criminal trial of an American president, an unprecedented case that could shape the 2024 presidential race. This week, Ms. Daniels has been on the witness stand telling her side of the story, often in explicit detail. She has already faced five hours of questioning, and after the trial’s midweek hiatus, she is expected to return on Thursday to undergo additional cross-examination from Mr. Trump’s legal team. The charges against Mr. Trump stem from her story of sex with him during that 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a story she was shopping a decade later, in the closing days of the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 in hush money before Election Day, and the former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up reimbursements for Mr. Cohen.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Stormy Daniels Describes Sexual Encounter With Trump and Is Grilled by His Lawyer. Ms. Daniels will return to the stand on Thursday after detailing the liaison she says she had with Donald Trump and the hush-money payment she took from his longtime fixer. Lawyers for Mr. Trump aggressively sought to undermine her credibility. The New York Times, Tuesday, 7 May 2024. See also, Stormy Daniels Delivers Intense Testimony in Trump’s Trial: 6 Takeaways. A long day on the stand put Ms. Daniels’s credibility to the test as defense lawyers challenged her motives. The New York Times, Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley, Tuesday, 7 May 2024. See also, Trump Hush Money Trial: Stormy Daniels testifies and Trump curses in an angry day in court. Judge expresses alarm at Trump’s cursing amid disturbing testimony about sex. The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Tom Jackman, Shayna Jacobs, and Marianne LeVine, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress at the center of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, testified Tuesday about a disturbing sexual encounter she says she had with him, leading to angry, profane muttering from the former president that alarmed the judge. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan called Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche to a sidebar during a midday break to say that Trump was ‘cursing audibly’ and possibly intimidating Daniels, who had begun testifying, according to a trial transcript. ‘I understand that your client is upset at this point,’ Merchan said to the defense attorney, according to the transcript, ‘but he is cursing audibly and he is shaking his head visually and that’s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.’ Blanche assured the judge he would speak to Trump. ‘I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don’t want to embarrass him,’ Merchan said. ‘You need to speak to him. I won’t tolerate that.'” See also, Why Stormy Daniels’s account of sex with Trump may be problematic and other takeaways. Trump’s New York hush money trial took another tawdry turn Tuesday as the adult-film actress alleged what at times sounded like a nonconsensual sexual encounter. The Washington Post, Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “The jury got an earful in court today — maybe far more than they ever wanted to know — about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels. And, depending on whom you ask, perhaps far more than New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan should have allowed them to hear. Daniels, the adult-film actress whose hush money payment is at the center of Trump’s criminal trial, took the stand Tuesday and described in great detail a one-night stand she said she had with Trump in 2006. At times, her description made it sound like the sex could be viewed as nonconsensual. That ignited tensions in the courtroom, with Trump’s attorney saying such disparaging allegations are not relevant to the case and could prejudice the jury deciding the fate of the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee. The defense attorneys’ cross examination of Daniels is expected to continue Thursday.” See also, Live coverage: What Stormy Daniels said during her first day of testimony in Trump’s hush money trial, The Washington Post, 16 Live coverage contributors, Tuesday, 7 May 2024. See also, Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker, and Jake Offenhartz, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president’s hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later. Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels offered a detailed and at times graphic account of the encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead when Daniels entered the courtroom, later whispering to his lawyers and shaking his head as she testified.”
Judge Postpones Start of Trump Documents Trial Without New Date. Judge Aileen Cannon had previously made clear that the trial would not start as scheduled this month, but she declined to set a new timetable, saying many pretrial issues still have to be resolved. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “The federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case formally scrapped her own May 20 start date for the trial on Tuesday but declined to set a new one, saying there was much more work to be done before a jury could hear the charges. The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to delay the start of the trial was more or less a foregone conclusion given the number of legal issues that remain unresolved less than two weeks from the date she had originally set. In a brief order, Judge Cannon wrote that picking a new date at this point would be ‘imprudent and inconsistent with the court’s duty to fully and fairly consider’ what she described as ‘the myriad and interconnected’ pretrial issues that she had not yet gotten to. Those included several of Mr. Trump’s pending motions to dismiss the case and a host of thorny questions surrounding how to decide what sorts of sensitive information can be revealed at the trial under a law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act. But while Judge Cannon’s stated reason for putting off the trial indefinitely was that a large number of legal issues remain up in the air, she never mentioned that she herself helped allow the logjam of motions to pile up.” See also, Judge’s Decisions in Documents Case Play Into Trump’s Delay Strategy. Cannon has given sober consideration to arguments that some experts say should have been promptly dispensed with, leaving a backlog of pretrial issues without a trial date in sight. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to avoid picking a date yet for former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents trial is the latest indication of how her handling of the case has played into Mr. Trump’s own strategy of delaying the proceeding. It is not impossible that the trial could still take place before Election Day, but the path is exceedingly narrow. And the question of when — or even whether — the charges against Mr. Trump will go before a jury will now largely hinge on how Judge Cannon handles an array of pretrial matters in the next few months, issues that many legal experts have said she could dispense with much more quickly.” See also, Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely delays Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida. Cannon said there are too many pretrial issues to set a new trial date now. The Washington Post, Perry Stein and Devlin Barrett, Tuesday, 7 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s Florida trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them has been pushed back indefinitely, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled Tuesday, increasing the chance that the former president’s ongoing New York criminal trial may be the only one to happen before the November election…. If Trump returns to the Oval Office, he could appoint an attorney general who is willing to drop the federal charges against him; in addition, Justice Department policy forbids the criminal prosecution of a sitting president…. The order was a blow to special counsel Jack Smith and his team, who have argued that Trump’s team have had ample time to prepare for a summer trial and accused Trump’s lawyers of wrongly trying to use the three other criminal cases against him as a way to obfuscate and delay the legal proceedings in Florida.”
Wednesday, 8 May 2024:
Georgia Court Will Hear Appeal of Ruling That Kept Prosecutor on Trump Case. The decision to hear the appeal reopens the possibility that Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, could be disqualified from prosecuting Donald Trump and 14 allies over efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The New York Times, Richard Fausset, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a ruling that allowed Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, to continue leading the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump on charges related to election interference, the court announced on Wednesday. The decision to hear the appeal, issued by a three-judge panel, is all but certain to delay the Georgia criminal case against Mr. Trump and 14 of his allies, making it less likely to go to trial before the November election. Legal experts said it may take months for the appellate court to hear the case and issue a ruling. The court’s terse three-sentence announcement reopened the possibility that Ms. Willis could be disqualified from the biggest case of her career, and one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation’s history.” See also, Georgia Court to hear appeal seeking to disqualify Fani Willis. Trump and eight co-defendants have asked the court to reverse a decision keeping Willis and her office on the case following misconduct allegations. The Washington Post, Holly Bailey, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “A Georgia appellate court on Wednesday agreed to hear Donald Trump’s appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the election interference case against the former president and several allies, making it increasingly unlikely the case will go to trial before the November election. In a brief notice, the Georgia Court of Appeals said it had ‘granted’ the request for appeal and ordered Trump and his co-defendants to file a ‘notice of appeal’ within 10 days. The timing of when the case might be taken up by the appellate court was unclear — though it likely would not be until late summer at the earliest, with a ruling expected late this year or early next. That comes amid significant delays in Trump’s other criminal proceedings. While the former president is currently on trial in New York on charges he falsified business records in connection with hush money payments to an adult-film actress in 2016, Trump’s two other pending criminal cases remain in limbo, raising questions about whether his New York trial might be the only one to take place before the November election.” See also, Georgia appeals court agrees to review ruling allowing Fani Willis to stay on Trump election case, Associated Press, Kate Brumback, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump. The move seems likely to delay the case and is the second time in as many days that the former president has gotten a favorable ruling that could push any future trials beyond the November election, when he is expected to be the Republican nominee for president. A day earlier, the judge in his Florida classified documents case indefinitely postponed that trial date.”
Top Republicans, led by Trunp, refuse to commit to accept 2024 election results. One possible vice-presidential candidate, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, repeatedly declined to say whether he will accept the outcome. The New York Times, Patrick Svitek, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “Top Republicans, led by former president Donald Trump, are refusing to commit to accept November’s election results with six months until voters head to the polls, raising concerns that the country could see a repeat of the violent aftermath of Trump’s loss four years ago. The question has become something of a litmus test, particularly among the long list of possible running mates for Trump, whose relationship with his first vice president, Mike Pence, ruptured because Pence resisted Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 election.”
Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, The Guardian, Damian Carrington, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed. Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met. Many of the scientists envisage a ‘semi-dystopian’ future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck. Numerous experts said they had been left feeling hopeless, infuriated and scared by the failure of governments to act despite the clear scientific evidence provided.” See also, We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future. They are terrified, but determined to keep fighting. Here’s what they said. The Guardian, Damian Carrington, Wednesday, 8 May 2024.
‘A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign. The effort stems from the industry’s skepticism that the Trump campaign will be able to focus on energy issues as election day draws closer. Politico, Ben Lefebvre, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “The U.S. oil industry is drawing up ready-to-sign executive orders for Donald Trump aimed at pushing natural gas exports, cutting drilling costs and increasing offshore oil leases in case he wins a second term, according to energy executives with direct knowledge of the work. The effort stems from the industry’s skepticism that the Trump campaign will be able to focus on energy issues as Election Day draws closer — and worries that the former president is too distracted to prepare a quick reversal of the Biden administration’s green policies. Oil executives also worry that a second Trump administration won’t attract staff skillful enough to roll back President Joe Biden’s regulations or craft new ones favoring the industry, these people added.”
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain. The presidential candidate has faced previously undisclosed health issues, including a parasite that he said ate part of his brain. The New York Times, Susanne Craig, Wednesday, 8 May 2024: “In 2010, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was experiencing memory loss and mental fogginess so severe that a friend grew concerned he might have a brain tumor. Mr. Kennedy said he consulted several of the country’s top neurologists, many of whom had either treated or spoken to his uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, before his death the previous year of brain cancer. Several doctors noticed a dark spot on the younger Mr. Kennedy’s brain scans and concluded that he had a tumor, he said in a 2012 deposition reviewed by The New York Times. Mr. Kennedy was immediately scheduled for a procedure at Duke University Medical Center by the same surgeon who had operated on his uncle, he said. While packing for the trip, he said, he received a call from a doctor at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who had a different opinion: Mr. Kennedy, he believed, had a dead parasite in his head.”
Thursday, 9 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: Stormy Daniels Is Steady on the Stand: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Trial. In a grueling day of cross-examination, Ms. Daniels sparred with Donald Trump’s lawyers, showing steely humor, but also vulnerability. The New York Times, Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “In a combative cross-examination Thursday, Stormy Daniels battled the former president’s lawyers as they attacked her account of a sexual encounter with Donald J. Trump in a Nevada hotel. Susan Necheles, a lawyer defending Mr. Trump in his criminal trial, spent almost three hours delving into Ms. Daniels’s memories of that 2006 night in Lake Tahoe, as well as suggesting that Ms. Daniels’s desire to tell her story was motivated only by money. Eventually, Ms. Necheles went straight to the point. ‘You made all this up, right?’ she asked. Ms. Daniels responded forcefully: ‘No.’ At the conclusion of the day, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, asked Justice Juan M. Merchan whether he would modify a gag order to let Mr. Trump respond publicly to Ms. Daniels’s testimony. The judge denied the request and Mr. Trump’s second motion this week for a mistrial.” See also, Justice Juan Merchan, Denying a Mistrial, Chides Trump’s Lawyers for Their Missteps. Merchan issued a blistering ruling in Donald Trump’s trial on Thursday, displaying frustration beyond what he showed after rejecting a previous request for a mistrial. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “Justice Juan M. Merchan ended a long day of testimony on Thursday by issuing a blistering ruling from the bench denying a request for a mistrial in former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan. The ruling by Justice Merchan marked the second time this week that he rejected an attempt by one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers to seek a mistrial, although the frustration he displayed in court on Thursday afternoon was far beyond the emotion he showed after turning down the defense’s previous request on Tuesday. Justice Merchan rebuffed defense lawyers’ central claim that one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, the porn star Stormy Daniels, had been allowed to alter her account of a sexual liaison with Mr. Trump in a way that was unfair to him. ‘Please have a seat so I can render my decision,’ Justice Merchan said abruptly, cutting off Todd Blanche, a defense lawyer. ‘I disagree with your narrative that there is any new account here. I disagree that there is any changing story.’ The judge chided Mr. Trump’s lawyers for missteps during their cross-examination of Ms. Daniels and suggested that the former president’s insistence on entirely denying any sexual encounter with Ms. Daniels had opened the door for the prosecution to introduce specific — and graphic — evidence that the encounter did occur.” See also, Stormy Daniels, Echoing Trump’s Style, Pushes Back at Lawyer’s Attacks. In a second day of cross-examination, Ms. Daniels resisted the implication she had tried to shake down Donald Trump by selling her story of a sexual liaison. The New York Times, Jonah E. Bromwich, Ben Protess, and Maggie Haberman, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “Donald J. Trump, the onetime president, and Stormy Daniels, the longtime porn star, despise one another. But when Ms. Daniels returned to the witness stand at Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, his lawyers made them sound a lot alike. He wrote more than a dozen self-aggrandizing books; she wrote a tell-all memoir. He mocked her appearance on social media; she fired back with a scatological insult. He peddled a $59.99 Bible; she hawked a $40 ‘Stormy, saint of indictments’ candle, that carried her image draped in a Christ-like robe. During Thursday’s grueling cross-examination, Mr. Trump’s lawyers sought to discredit Ms. Daniels as a money-grubbing extortionist who used a passing proximity to Mr. Trump to attain fame and riches. But the more the defense assailed her self-promoting merchandise and online screeds, the more Ms. Daniels resembled the man she was testifying against: a master of marketing, a savant of social-media scorn. ‘Not unlike Mr. Trump,’ she said on the stand, though unlike him, she did it without the power and platform of the presidency.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Judge Again Denies Trump Lawyers’ Request for a Mistrial. The defense lawyers had argued that Stormy Daniels’s testimony in Donald Trump’s criminal trial was prejudicial. In denying their motion, the judge said they had opened the door to her vivid descriptions of a sexual encounter. The New York Times, Thursday, 9 May 2024. See also, Live coverage of Trump Hush Money Trial: Stormy Daniels finishes testimony, judge again denies Trump lawyers’ mistrial request. The Washington Post, 16 Live coverage contributors, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial rejected a request Thursday afternoon from the former president’s attorneys to declare a mistrial. The attorneys had said Stormy Daniels’s testimony in the case, in which she alleged a 2006 sexual encounter that sounded nonconsensual, would bias the jury against Trump. Daniels finished testifying earlier Thursday. Trump’s attorneys also unsuccessfully sought to have Daniels excised from the gag order preventing him from discussing witnesses and jurors in the case, but the judge turned down that request as well.” See also, Checks, not sex, and other takeaways from Trump’s New York hush money trial, The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, Thursday, 9 May 2024. See also, Stormy Daniels’s testimony got heated. Here were the most intense exchanges. The Washington Post, Patrick Svitek, Devlin Barrett, and Perry Stein, Thursday, 9 May 2024. See also, Trump Hush Money Trial day 14 highlights: Stormy Daniels’ testimony and a denial of a mistrial, The Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “Merchan, echoing his denial Tuesday of the defense’s initial mistrial motion, said Trump’s lawyers had ample opportunities to object to questions that elicited what they say were damaging details about the alleged sexual encounter. ‘There were many times, not once or twice, but many times when Ms. Necheles could’ve objected but didn’t,’ the judge said. In particular, the judge said, the defense should’ve objected to prosecutor Susan Hoffinger’s question about whether Trump used a condom, which led to Daniels’ response that he hadn’t. ‘I agree. That should never have come out. That question should never have been asked and that answer should never have been given,’ Merchan said. ‘For the life of me, I don’t know why Ms. Necheles didn’t object.’ Merchan also rebuffed the defense’s claim that Daniels’ testimony so differed from her previous accounts of the alleged events as to warrant a mistrial. ‘I disagree with your narrative that there’s any new account here,’ the judge said.”
What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign. Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry. The Washington Post, Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year. Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation. Giving $1 billion would be a ‘deal,’ Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people. Trump’s remarkably blunt and transactional pitch reveals how the former president is targeting the oil industry to finance his reelection bid. At the same time, he has turned to the industry to help shape his environmental agenda for a second term, including rollbacks of some of Biden’s signature achievements on clean energy and electric vehicles. The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an ‘existential threat,’ and over the last three years, his administration has finalized more than 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years. In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed at least 24 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.” See also, At a Dinner at His Mar-a-Lago Resort, Trump Assailed Climate Rules and Asked $1 Billion From Big Oil. At the private dinner, the former president said fossil fuel companies should donate to help him beat President Biden. The New York Times, Lisa Friedman, Coral Davenport, Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump told a group of oil executives and lobbyists gathered at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month that they should donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because, if elected, he would roll back environmental rules that he said hampered their industry, according to two people who were there. About 20 people attended an April 11 event billed as an ‘energy round table’ at Mr. Trump’s private club, according to those people, who asked not to be identified in order to discuss the private event. Attendees included executives from ExxonMobil, EQT Corporation and the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil industry. The event was organized by the oil billionaire Harold Hamm, who has for years helped to shape Republican energy policies. It was first reported by The Washington Post.” See also, 10 Big Biden Environmental Rules, and What They Mean. Asbestos, ‘forever’ chemicals, E.V.s, and endangered species. Here’s what 10 new rules cover, and why the administration has been churning them out. The New York Times, Coral Davenport, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “The Biden administration has been racing this spring to finalize a slew of major environmental regulations, including rules to combat climate change, a first-ever ban on asbestos and new limits on toxic chemicals in tap water. Many of the rules had been in the works since President Biden’s first day in office, when he ordered federal agencies to reinstate or strengthen more than 100 environmental regulations that President Donald J. Trump had weakened or removed. The president has pledged to cut the emissions that are driving climate change roughly in half by 2030. That’s something that scientists say all industrialized nations must achieve to keep global warming to relatively safe levels. Lawyers in the Biden administration have sought to use every available tool to protect the rules from being gutted by a future administration or a new Congress.” See also, Tracking Biden’s environmental actions. As Biden unwinds dozens of Trump’s energy and environmental policies, he’s forging his own. The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis, John Muyskens, and Maxine Joselow, updated on Thursday, 9 May 2024: “President Biden pledged early in his tenure to use every corner of the federal government — and every lever at his disposal — to combat climate change with ‘a greater sense of urgency.’ Last summer, as much of the country sweltered under intense heat and faced severe wildfires and drought, Biden and his party ushered through an unprecedented level of climate funding while his administration pressed ahead with other policies aimed at curbing planet-warming pollution. In the months ahead, he will focus on executive action — including finalizing new regulations and implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed last August. The landmark climate law provides hundreds of billions of dollars to address climate change and speed the nation’s shift toward clean energy. This includes generous tax credits for consumers to purchase electric vehicles and home energy-efficiency upgrades, as well as a new program aimed at cutting methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.”
Record-breaking increase in CO2 levels in world’s atmosphere. Experts issue warning after finding global average concentration in March was 4.7ppm higher than the same period last year. The Guardian, Oliver Milman, Thursday, 9 May 2024: “The largest ever recorded leap in the amount of carbon dioxide laden in the world’s atmosphere has just occurred, according to researchers who monitor the relentless accumulation of the primary gas that is heating the planet. The global average concentration of carbon dioxide in March this year was 4.7 parts per million (or ppm) higher than it it was in March last year, which is a record-breaking increase in CO2 levels over a 12-month period. The increase has been spurred, scientists say, by the periodic El Niño climate event, which has now waned, as well as the ongoing and increasing amounts of greenhouse gases expelled into the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.”
Friday, 10 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial, Raunch and Business Records: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Criminal Trial. The fourth week of the trial interspersed intense and emotional testimony with talk of documents and chains of custody. The New York Times, Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley, Friday, 10 May 2024: “The fourth week of Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial veered from the salacious to the monotonous, and ended with a preview of a showdown coming next week: the long-awaited testimony of Mr. Trump’s fixer-turned-nemesis, Michael D. Cohen. On Friday, Justice Juan M. Merchan asked prosecutors to tell Mr. Cohen to stop talking about Mr. Trump, after a defense lawyer told him of a recent TikTok video in which Mr. Cohen wore a shirt with a picture of Mr. Trump behind bars. His request capped a week in which the jury heard a porn star’s lurid story of a 2006 sexual encounter with Mr. Trump but also less sensational, if potentially damning, testimony about Mr. Trump’s checks, invoices and ledgers.” See also, Trump Hush-Money Trial Week 4: Testy and Explicit, Then Calm Before the Cohen Storm. Ahead of Michael Cohen’s testimony Monday, the judge told prosecutors to keep him quiet about Donald Trump’s criminal case. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Jonah E. Bromwich, Friday, 10 May 2024: “In a startling precursor to what could be the most explosive testimony in Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial, the judge on Friday told prosecutors that he was personally asking that a key witness stop speaking out against the former president. The witness, Michael D. Cohen, was once a personal lawyer for Mr. Trump and in 2016, paid $130,000 in hush money to a porn star to silence her account of extramarital sex with the then-presidential candidate. Mr. Cohen, who is expected to begin testifying next week, has been outspoken in his taunting of Mr. Trump, recently posting a TikTok video in which he wore a shirt with a picture of the former president behind bars.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Quiet End of Week for Trump Trial as Cohen Looms as Witness. Prosecutors said they could rest their case as soon as Thursday, and the judge asked them to keep Michael Cohen, expected to take the stand on Monday, from attacking Donald Trump in the meantime. Five witnesses testified on Friday in rapid succession. The New York Times, Friday, 10 May 2024. See also, Trump’s hush money trial concludes for the week after more witness testimony, The Washington Post, 15 Live coverage contributors, Friday, 10 May 2024: “The fourth week of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan ended Friday afternoon, with jurors sent home after a few hours of relatively low-key witnesses. The week was dominated by sometimes heated testimony from Stormy Daniels, who sparred with the former president’s attorneys. On Friday, jurors heard from others, including Trump’s former White House assistant, phone company employees and a paralegal with the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The trial is scheduled to resume Monday and is likely to produce more courtroom fireworks, with Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney turned foe, expected to take the stand.”
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Bannon’s Contempt Conviction. Stephen Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, had been found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House January 6 committee. He now faces a four-month prison sentence. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Friday, 10 May 2024: “A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the contempt conviction of Stephen K. Bannon, a longtime adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, for having defied a subpoena from the Jan. 6 House select committee, a ruling that could lead to Mr. Bannon serving a four-month term in prison. The decision by the court means that Mr. Bannon could soon become the second former Trump aide to be jailed for ignoring a subpoena from the committee. The House panel sought his testimony as part of its wide-ranging investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, and its explosive hearings two years ago previewed much of the evidence used against Mr. Trump in a federal indictment filed last summer accusing him of plotting to overturn his defeat. In March, Peter Navarro, who once worked as a trade adviser to Mr. Trump, reported to federal prison in Miami to begin serving his own four-month prison stint after a jury found him guilty of contempt of Congress for ignoring one of the committee’s subpoenas.” See also, Steve Bannon’s bid to undo January 6 contempt conviction fails. Appeals court rules that the former Trump adviser was rightfully convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify in front of the committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol attack. The Washington Post, Rachel Weiner, Friday, 10 May 2024: “Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon was rightfully convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify in front of the committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, an appellate court ruled Friday. The three-judge panel did not immediately order Bannon to begin serving his four-month prison sentence. Instead, he can appeal to the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Bannon’s attorney David Schoen said he plans to do so. Bannon could also ask the Supreme Court to intervene, but the justices declined a similar request from Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, who is currently imprisoned for failing to respond to the Jan. 6 committee. Navarro, who said in a memoir that he and Bannon had a plan for Jan. 6 that would keep President Biden from taking office, reported to prison in March for his contempt conviction and identical sentence.” See also, Steve Bannon loses his appeal of his contempt of Congress conviction, NPR, Washington Desk, Friday, 10 May 2024: “A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s conviction for criminal contempt of Congress. Bannon was sentenced in October 2022 to four months in prison on charges related to his refusal to testify before and provide documents to the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. At the time, the judge also fined Bannon $6,500 but allowed the former Trump adviser to remain free while he appealed his convictions.”
Saturday, 11 May 2024:
IRS Audit of Trump could Cost the Former President More Than $100 Million. The tax agency concluded in its long-running investigation that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on his failed Chicago tower. ProPublica and The New York Times, Paul Kiel of ProPublica and Russ Buettner of The New York Times, Saturday, 11 May 2024: “Former President Donald Trump used a dubious accounting maneuver to claim improper tax breaks from his troubled Chicago tower, according to an IRS inquiry uncovered by ProPublica and The New York Times. Losing a yearslong audit battle over the claim could mean a tax bill of more than $100 million. The 92-story, glass-sheathed skyscraper along the Chicago River is the tallest and, at least for now, the last major construction project by Trump. Through a combination of cost overruns and the bad luck of opening in the teeth of the Great Recession, it was also a vast money loser. But when Trump sought to reap tax benefits from his losses, the IRS has argued, he went too far and in effect wrote off the same losses twice.”
Will You Accept the Election Results? Republicans Dodge the Question. Leading Republicans have refused to say flatly that they will accept the outcome of the presidential election if Donald Trump loses. The New York Times, Michael C. Bender and Nick Corasaniti, Saturday, 11 may 2024: “Less than six months out from the presidential contest, leading Republicans, including several of Donald J. Trump’s potential running mates, have refused to commit to accepting the results of the election, signaling that the party may again challenge the outcome if its candidate loses. In a series of recent interviews, Republican officials and candidates have dodged the question, responded with nonanswers or offered clear falsehoods rather than commit to a notion that was once so uncontroversial that it was rarely discussed before an election. The evasive answers show how the former president’s refusal to concede his defeat after the 2020 election has ruptured a tenet of American democracy — that candidates are bound by the outcome. Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans are now emulating his hedging well in advance of any voting.”
Sunday, 12 May 2024:
Trump, Bashing Migrants, Likens Them to Hannibal Lecter, Movie Cannibal. Donald Trump, at his rally in New Jersey, used an extended riff about the 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs” to demonize migrants at the border. The New York Times, Michael Gold, Sunday, 12 May 2024: “In an extended riff at his rally on Saturday in New Jersey, former President Donald J. Trump returned to a reference that has become a staple of his stump speech, comparing migrants to Hannibal Lecter, the fictional serial killer and cannibal from ‘The Silence of the Lambs,’ as he aims to stoke anger and fear over migration in advance of the election. ‘Has anyone ever seen “The Silence of the Lambs”? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’s a wonderful man,’ Mr. Trump said in Wildwood, N.J. ‘He often times would have a friend for dinner. Remember the last scene? “Excuse me, I’m about to have a friend for dinner,” as this poor doctor walked by. “I’m about to have a friend for dinner.” But Hannibal Lecter. Congratulations. The late, great Hannibal Lecter.’ He continued: ‘We have people that have been released into our country that we don’t want in our country, and they’re coming in totally unchecked, totally unvetted. And we can’t let this happen. They’re destroying our country, and we’re sitting back and we better damn well win this election, because if we don’t, our country is going to be doomed. It’s going to be doomed.’ Mr. Trump, beginning with his announcement for the presidency in 2015, has frequently claimed that those crossing the border are violent criminals or mentally ill people who have been sent to the United States by other countries. There is no evidence to back his assertion, and border authorities have said that most migrants who cross the border are vulnerable families fleeing poverty and violence.”
Monday, 13 May 2024:
Cohen Testimony Begins Crux of Case Against Trump: 5 Takeaways. In hotly anticipated testimony, Donald Trump’s former fixer discussed how he buried stories his boss didn’t want anyone to read. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Monday, 13 May 2024: “Michael D. Cohen, once one of Donald J. Trump’s closest confidants and his loyal protector, offered an account Monday that could convict the man he used to refer to as ‘boss’ and now calls an enemy. Testifying in the first criminal trial of an American president, Mr. Cohen said that he had made a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who in testimony last week described a brief sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump in 2006. On the stand Monday, Mr. Cohen said he paid Ms. Daniels to ensure her silence before the 2016 presidential election, saying her story would have been ‘catastrophic.'” See also, Michael Cohen, Key to Trump Case, Tells Jurors of Seedy Hush-Money Plot. Donald Trump’s former bulldog told jurors about his work: threatening enemies, cleaning up problems, and burying embarrassing stories. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Maggie Haberman, Monday, 13 May 2024: “Michael D. Cohen, the do-anything fixer who once boasted of burying Donald J. Trump’s secrets and spreading his lies, took the stand at the former president’s criminal trial in Manhattan on Monday and exposed those machinations to the jury and the world. Narrating the prosecution’s case in tell-all detail, Mr. Cohen testified that Mr. Trump in 2016 had personally directed him to pay off a porn star and had approved a dubious reimbursement plan. ‘Just do it,’ the former fixer recalled Mr. Trump saying about the hush-money payment to the porn star, Stormy Daniels. After Mr. Trump had won the White House, Mr. Cohen demanded his money back, he said, and met with Mr. Trump, who approved monthly reimbursements. Then, the president-elect changed the subject to his new job, saying ‘This is going to be one heck of a ride in D.C.'” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: In His First Day of Testimony, Cohen Testifies Trump Authorized Hush-Money Payment. During nearly six hours on the stand Monday, Michael Cohen testified that Donald Trump urged him to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels late in the 2016 campaign and approved the plan to repay him. The New York Times, Monday, 13 May 2024. See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush Money Trial: Michael Cohen testifies on Stormy Daniels payment in Trump trial, The Washington Post, 18 Live coverage contributors, Monday, 13 May 2024: “Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s fixer-turned-nemesis, testified Monday in his former boss’s criminal trial in New York, recounting how he came to pay off Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump. The $130,000 hush payment ahead of the 2016 election is at the heart of the case against Trump, who is accused of falsifying business records to keep the deal secret. Cohen testified that Trump knew about how Cohen would be reimbursed, including that it would be improperly classified.” See also, Star witness Michael Cohen says Trump was intimately involved in all aspects of hush money scheme, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Jill Colvin, Eric Tucker, and Jake Offenhartz, Monday, 13 May 2024: “Donald Trump was intimately involved with all aspects of a scheme to stifle stories about sex that threatened to torpedo his 2016 campaign, his former lawyer said Monday in matter-of-fact testimony that went to the heart of the former president’s hush money trial. ‘Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off,’ said Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer-turned-foe and the prosecution’s star witness in a case now entering its final, pivotal stretch. In hours of highly anticipated testimony, Cohen placed Trump at the center of the hush money plot, saying the then-candidate had promised to reimburse the lawyer for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about behind-the-scenes efforts to bury stories feared to be harmful to the campaign.”
The Historic Trump court Cases That We Cannot See. The former President is on trial in a courtroom that has banned cameras. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is deciding whether his other trials should even happen. The New Yorker, Neal Katyal, Monday, 13 May 2024: “Over the past month, in two courtrooms some two hundred and fifty miles apart, the government was hearing arguments in two of the most consequential court cases in American history. In New York, at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, a judge was presiding over the first criminal trial of a former U.S. President. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., at the United States Supreme Court, the nine Justices were mulling over a grave question of constitutional law—whether a former President is immune from criminal prosecution. The two courtrooms could hardly be more different, with the polished white marble of the U.S. Supreme Court contrasting with the more ramshackle wooden court furnishings in Manhattan. And yet both rooms are similarly opaque, with most Americans unable to see what’s happening inside of either one. Cameras are prohibited, and so the only way to observe the proceedings is to wait in line outside, in hopes of snagging one of the few seats reserved for members of the public. (The Supreme Court saves room for fifty public spectators; the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse has been able to accommodate around ten.) This is despite the fact that the American people pay for these courtrooms with their tax dollars, and the fact that prosecutions are brought in their name. The New York case is called the People v. Donald J. Trump.”
Tuesday, 14 May 2024:
Cross-examination of Michael Cohen: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Criminal Trial. The key prosecution witness faced defense lawyers as the trial nears what may be an unexpectedly early conclusion. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Tuesday, 14 May 2024: “Michael Cohen faced a fierce cross-examination on Tuesday afternoon in the criminal trial of Donald Trump, as the defense tried to tear down the prosecution’s key witness. Mr. Cohen was repeatedly attacked by Mr. Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, who suggested he was being evasive on the stand, had selective amnesia and was a jilted former employee profiting off his hatred of the former president. Mr. Cohen, once Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, has testified that Mr. Trump directed him to pay $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, to suppress her account of a sexual rendezvous with him in a Lake Tahoe hotel in 2006.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Defense Tries to Cast Cohen as Motivated by Vengeance Against Trump. Michael Cohen, the key witness in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, was questioned by the defense. He has described buying the silence of a porn star and his reimbursement by Mr. Trump, which is at the center of the charges. The New York Times, Tuesday, 14 May 2024. See also, Trump attorneys sharply question Michael Cohen in hush money trial, The Washington Post, 17 Live coverage contributors, Tuesday, 14 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s attorneys began to sharply cross-examine Michael Cohen on Tuesday, kick-starting a more antagonistic phase of his time on the stand. Cohen had been on the stand facing questioning by prosecutors on Monday and part of Tuesday, describing how he repeatedly lied — and even went to prison — to protect his former boss. Cohen is viewed as a key witness in this case, which centers on whether Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress, in 2016. Defense attorneys got off to a combative start with their questioning, quizzing Cohen about his often-profane social media rhetoric about Trump and portraying him as someone driven by a desire for publicity. They are expected to continue questioning him when the trial resumes Thursday morning.” See also, Lies, loyalty and a gag order upheld: Tuesday’s Trump hush money trial takeaways, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Eric Tucker, Michelle L. Price, and Alanna Durkin Richer, Tuesday, 14 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s attorneys started grilling prosecutors’ star witness in his hush money trial Tuesday, portraying former attorney Michael Cohen as a media-obsessed liar who’s determined to see the former president behind bars. Cohen endured intense questioning by defense attorney Todd Blanche after providing pivotal testimony tying the presumptive Republican presidential nominee directly to the hush money scheme at the heart of the case. Trump’s former fixer will return to the witness stand Thursday for more cross-examination before prosecutors rest their case alleging a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by silencing women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies that he had sex with the women and denies wrongdoing in the case.”
Appeals Court Upholds Gag Order on Trump in Manhattan Hush-Money Trial. The judges found that Justice Juan Merchan’s rules had not violated the former president’s First Amendment rights. Justice Merchan had issued the gag order to protect the trial’s integrity. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Tuesday, 14 May 2024: “A New York State appeals court on Tuesday upheld a gag order imposed on former President Donald J. Trump in his criminal trial in Manhattan, rejecting arguments that the measure had violated Mr. Trump’s First Amendment rights. The judge overseeing the trial, Juan M. Merchan, initially issued the order in March, barring Mr. Trump from threatening many participants in the proceeding, including jurors, witnesses, line prosecutors and staff members of the court. The order does not cover the judge himself or Alvin K. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, who brought the case against the former president. Since then, Justice Merchan has twice held Mr. Trump in contempt for violating the order, imposing $10,000 in fines. The judge has also warned Mr. Trump that if he continues to break the rules, he could face time in jail. In its decision Tuesday, a five-judge panel of the appeals court wrote that Justice Merchan had ‘properly determined’ that Mr. Trump’s ‘public statements posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case.’ The decision also found that Justice Merchan had properly weighed Mr. Trump’s free speech rights against the court’s ‘commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases’ and the rights of people connected to the case ‘from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment and harm.'”
Wednesday, 15 May 2024:
Supreme Court, for Now, Allows Louisiana Voting Map to Move Forward. Louisiana had asked the justices to weigh in on a dispute over a new congressional map with a second majority-Black district in time for the election. The New York Times, Abbie Van Sickle, Wednesday, 15 May 2024: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily reinstated a congressional map in Louisiana that includes a second majority-Black district, increasing the likelihood that Democrats could gain a House seat from the state in the November election. The move could be particularly significant in an election cycle in which the balance of power in the House is likely to be determined by a handful of races. The order was unsigned, as is the Supreme Court’s custom in ruling on emergency applications. It came in response to a challenge to a lower-court decision that had blocked the map drawn by Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature, deeming it a racial gerrymander.” See also, Supreme Court restores Louisiana voting map with majority-Black district. The court had been asked to resolve uncertainty over which map Louisiana will use, with just months to go before the 2024 election. The Washington Post, Patrick Marley, Justin Jouvenal, and Ann E. Marimow, Wednesday, 15 May 2024: “The Supreme Court restored a congressional voting map in Louisiana on Wednesday that includes an additional majority-Black district, handing a victory to African American voters and Democrats less than six months before the November election. The order was in response to emergency appeals filed after a federal three-judge panel in the state threw out the recently redrawn map last month, ruling that it was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” See also, Supreme Court orders Louisiana to use congressional map with additional Black district in 2024 vote, Associated Press, Mark Sherman and Kevin McGill, Wednesday, 15 May 2024: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Louisiana to hold congressional elections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander. The order allows the use of a map that has majority Black populations in two of the state’s six congressional districts, potentially boosting Democrats’ chances of gaining control of the closely divided House of Representatives in the 2024 elections. The justices acted on emergency appeals filed by the state’s top Republican elected officials and Black voters who said they needed the high court’s intervention to avoid confusion as the elections approach. About a third of Louisiana is Black.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Law Deleting Climate Change From Florida Policy. The law also stops programs designed to encourage renewable energy and conservation in a state that is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The New York Times, Coral Davenport, Wednesday, 15 May 2024: “Florida’s state government will no longer be required to consider climate change when crafting energy policy under legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. The new law, which passed the Florida Legislature in March and takes effect on July 1, will also prohibit the construction of offshore wind turbines in state waters and will repeal state grant programs that encourage energy conservation and renewable energy. The legislation also deletes requirements that state agencies use climate-friendly products and purchase fuel-efficient vehicles. And it prevents any municipality from restricting the type of fuel that can be used in an appliance, such as a gas stove. The legislation, along with two other bills Mr. DeSantis signed on Wednesday, ‘will keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and China out of our state,’ the governor wrote on the social media platform X. ‘We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.'” See also, De Santis signs bill scrubbing ‘climate change’ from Florida law. Climate advocates said the bill is a bid for national attention from a Republican governor eager to use global warming as a culture war issue. The Washington Post, Anna Phillips, Wednesday, 15 May 2024: “Florida will eliminate climate change as a priority in making energy policy decisions, despite the threats it faces from powerful hurricanes, extreme heat and worsening toxic algae blooms. On Wednesday, the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the legislation, which is set to go into effect on July 1. The measure also removes most references to climate change in state law, bans offshore wind turbines in state waters and weakens regulations on natural gas pipelines.”
Thursday, 16 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: The End Is Near: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Criminal Trial. After a grueling day of cross-examination for Michael Cohen, the judge told lawyers to be ready to make closing arguments by Tuesday. The New York Times, Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “Michael D. Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer and current antagonist, faced a tough cross-examination on Thursday as the defense drilled into his past lies. Mr. Cohen, once known as a hothead and a paid bully, did not explode as he did when testifying last fall at Mr. Trump’s civil fraud trial. He seemed at times stressed under the searing questioning from Mr. Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche. In one dramatic moment, Mr. Blanche accused Mr. Cohen of inventing the content of a phone call just before the 2016 election that he testified was with Mr. Trump and in which they discussed a hush-money payment. ‘That was a lie,’ Mr. Blanche said, his voice rising. Mr. Cohen is not done. After more than seven hours of cross-examination over two days, he will return to the stand Monday; the judge granted Mr. Trump a day off on Friday so he can attend his son Barron’s graduation.” See also, Michael Cohen and Todd Blanche Clash Over 2016 Call to Trump’s Bodyguard. A current lawyer for Donald Trump, Todd Blanche, accused his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, of calling to complain about a teenage prankster, but the witness insisted he called to discuss a hush-money payment. The New York Times, Jonah E. Bromwich, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “As Michael D. Cohen, Donald J. Trump’s former personal lawyer, testified on Thursday about the series of steps he took to buy the silence of a porn star on his old boss’s behalf, he referred to a phone call he had made in 2016 to Keith Schiller, Mr. Trump’s bodyguard. Mr. Cohen told the jury in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan that he had known that his boss, then a presidential candidate, was with Mr. Schiller at the time and that he was calling the bodyguard to inform Mr. Trump how he planned to pay off the porn star, Stormy Daniels, to silence her account of a sexual encounter with him. But a defense lawyer for Mr. Trump, Todd Blanche, cast doubt on Mr. Cohen’s account in a fiery line of questioning, suggesting that Mr. Cohen had fabricated that story and instead called Mr. Schiller to complain that a teenager had been mercilessly pranking him.” See also, Live Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial: A Day of Bruising Questions for Cohen, With More Ahead in Trump Trial. A defense lawyer for Donald Trump painted Michael Cohen, the trial’s key witness, as an unrepentant liar on Thursday and suggested he fabricated testimony. He will be back on the stand on Monday. The New York Times, Thursday, 16 May 2024. See also, Michael Cohen pressed on past lies during cross-examination at Trump’s hush money trial, The Washington Post, 12 Live coverage contributors, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified Thursday that he lied before Congress and in other official proceedings, as cross-examination continued for a second day in the former president’s hush money and records falsification trial. Cohen’s testimony is key to the prosecution’s case, tying Trump to reimbursements for the hush money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, and prosecutors have said Cohen will be their last witness. Trump’s defense team is grilling him aggressively, trying to undermine both his prior testimony and his credibility.” See also, Trump’s lawyer got angry and scored some points; Michael Cohen stayed calm, The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Rachel Weiner, Shayna Jacobs, and Hannah Knowles, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “The central witness against Donald Trump withstood a withering cross-examination Thursday from the former president’s defense lawyer, who accused Michael Cohen of lying as recently as two days ago to realize his dreams of revenge against his ex-boss. The confrontation between Cohen and Trump lawyer Todd Blanche was the most anticipated moment in the monthlong trial, which is now speeding toward a conclusion. Testimony could end as early as Monday, setting the stage for closing arguments next week.” See also, Texts, lies, and other takeaways from Michael Cohen’s cross-examination. Defense lawyers didn’t quite rattle the prosecution’s star witness when they questioned him all day Thursday, The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s defense team spent all day hammering away at the credibility of witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer. They attempted to destroy his credibility. Bludgeon holes in his previous testimony. And portray him as a squirrelly man who had lied to the jury earlier this week. None of this was unexpected. Cohen — who served prison time for multiple crimes, including lying to Congress in 2018 — is a less-than-ideal witness for prosecutors, but his account is critical to any conviction. So prosecutors spent their time with Cohen on the stand this week trying to build him up in the eyes of the jury. And today it was the defense’s turn to tear him down.” See also, Trump hush money trial day 18 highlights: Michael Cohen is pressed on lies in cross-examination, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Michelle L. Price, Jennifer Peltz, Lisa Mascaro, and Jake Offenhartz, Thursday, 16 May 2024.
Florida Republican Representative Matt Gaetz posts a picture from inside the Manhattan criminal courthouse with an allusion to the Proud Boys. ‘Standing back and standing by, Mr. President,’ Gaetz wrote on social media. Politico, Kyle Cheney, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “Rep. Matt Gaetz is raising eyebrows for a morning post on X in which he declared that he is ‘standing back and standing by, Mr. President.’ The post includes a photo of him standing behind Trump inside the Manhattan criminal courthouse. The Florida Republican’s comment was an overt allusion to Trump’s own admonition to members of the far-right street brawling group the Proud Boys in 2020, when he was asked whether he condemned their tactics.”
At Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol Was on Display. An upside-down flag, adopted by Trump supporters contesting the Biden victory, flew over the justice’s front lawn in January 2021 as the Supreme Court was considering an election case. The New York Times, Jodi Kantor, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag. One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors. The upside-down flag was aloft on Jan. 17, 2021, the images showed. President Donald J. Trump’s supporters, including some brandishing the same symbol, had rioted at the Capitol a little over a week before. Mr. Biden’s inauguration was three days away. Alarmed neighbors snapped photographs, some of which were recently obtained by The New York Times. Word of the flag filtered back to the court, people who worked there said in interviews. While the flag was up, the court was still contending with whether to hear a 2020 election case, with Justice Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming weeks, the justices will rule on two climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including whether Mr. Trump has immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election and his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.”
The Permanent Counterrevolution. On politics and government in a fascist America. The New Republic, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “During his 21 years in power, 18 of them as dictator, Il Duce [Benito Mussolini] framed fascism as a revolution of reaction against the left, against liberal democracy, and against any group that threatened the survival of white Christian civilization. Carrying out a violent destabilization of society in the name of a return to social order and national tradition, fascism pioneered the autocratic formula in use today of disenfranchising and repressing the many to allow the few to exploit the workforce, women’s bodies, the environment, and the economy. Trumpism is in this tradition. It started in 2015 as a movement fueled by conservative alarm and white rural rage at a multiracial and progressive America. It continued as an authoritarian presidency envisioned as ‘a shock to the system’ that unleashed waves of hate crimes against nonwhites and non-Christians. It culminated in the January 6 assault on the Capitol, which was a counterrevolutionary operation in the spirit of fascism. Its goal in deploying violence was not just to keep Donald Trump in office, but to prevent the representatives of social and racial progress from taking power. Project 2025 as Counterrevolution. The fascists believed that you have to destroy to create, and this is what a second Trump administration would do. Project 2025 is a plan for an authoritarian takeover of the United States that goes by a deceptively neutral name. It preserves Trumpism’s original radical intent in its goals to ‘[d]ismantle the administrative state’ and ‘decentralize and privatize as much as possible,’ allowing the American people to ‘live freely.’ ‘[T]he Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start,’ Heritage Foundation head Kevin Roberts told The New York Times in January. ‘And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.’ The solution to this ‘slow start’—code for the restraints imposed by operating in a democracy—is counterrevolution. The plan promises the abolition of the Department of Education and other federal agencies. The intent here is to destroy the legal and governance cultures of liberal democracy and create new bureaucratic structures, staffed by new politically vetted cadres, to support autocratic rule. So new agencies could appear to manage parents’ and family rights, Christian affairs, and other pillars of the new order. The Department of Health and Human Services is poised to have a central role in governance, given the priorities Trumpism places on policing sexuality, weaponizing motherhood, persecuting transgender people and LGBTQ communities, and criminalizing abortion.” See also, What American Fascism Would Look Like. It can happen here. And if it does, here is what might become of the country. The New Republic, Thursday, 16 May 2024. See also, Yes, That’s Right: American Fascism. Why waste time debating the extent of Trump’s fascism when we ought to be fighting it instead? The New Republic, Michael Tomasky, Thursday, 16 May 2024: “Today, we at The New Republic think we can spend this election year in one of two ways. We can spend it debating whether Trump meets the nine or 17 points that define fascism. Or we can spend it saying, ‘He’s damn close enough, and we’d better fight.’ We unreservedly choose the latter course. And so we have assembled herein some of our leading intellectual historians of fascism; a member of the fourth estate who learned firsthand what the Trump lash feels like; a leading expert on civil-military relations; a great Guatemalan American novelist with a deep understanding of immigrants’ lives; one of our most incisive cultural critics; and a man with all-too-real experience in living under a notorious authoritarian regime. The scenarios they describe are certainly grim. We dare you to say, after reading these pieces, that they are impossible.”
Sunday, 19 May 2024:
‘We’ll See You at Your House:’ How Fear and Menace Are Transforming Politics. Public officials from Congress to City Hall are now regularly subjected to threats of violence. It’s changing how they do their jobs. The New York Times, Danny Hakim, Ken Bensinger, and Eileen Sullivan, Sunday, 19 May 2024: “[I]n American public life … a steady undercurrent of violence and physical risk has become a new normal. From City Hall to Congress, public officials increasingly describe threats and harassment as a routine part of their jobs. Often masked by online anonymity and propelled by extreme political views, the barrage of menace has changed how public officials do their work, terrified their families and driven some from public life altogether. By almost all measures, the evidence of the trend is striking. Last year, more than 450 federal judges were targeted with threats, a roughly 150 percent increase from 2019, according to the United States Marshals Service. The U.S. Capitol Police investigated more than 8,000 threats to members of Congress last year, up more than 50 percent from 2018. The agency recently added three full-time prosecutors to handle the volume. More than 80 percent of local officials said they had been threatened or harassed, according to a survey conducted in 2021 by the National League of Cities.”
Monday, 20 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: The Prosecution Rests: Five Takeaways From Trump’s Criminal Trial. The judge became furious with a defense witness, and Michael Cohen kept his cool. The New York Times, Kate Christobek and Jesse McKinley, Monday, 20 May 2024: “After 15 days of testimony from 20 witnesses, the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday rested its case against former President Donald J. Trump. The case was capped by three days of grinding cross-examination of his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who finally stepped off the stand on Monday afternoon, leaving jurors to weigh his truthfulness. The defense began its case on a mission to sully the credibility of Mr. Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, but the second witness Mr. Trump’s lawyers called to the stand quickly became embroiled in a squabble with the judge, Juan M. Merchan. The judge, not surprisingly, prevailed. Though the defense is expected to be brief, Justice Merchan said that closing arguments would not happen until next week.” See also, Live Coverage of Trump Hush-Money Trial: Prosecution Rests Case in Trump Trial as Defense Targets Cohen Again. Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, was the last witness called to the stand by prosecutors. He made the hush-money payment that underpins the case, and the defense called his one-time legal adviser. The New York Times, Monday, 20 May 2024. See also, Prosecution rests in Trump hush money trial, The Washington Post, 11 Live coverage contributors, Monday, 20 May 2024: “Prosecutors rested their case Monday in Donald Trump’s trial on charges of falsifying business records, and defense attorneys began questioning their own witnesses ahead of closing arguments expected next week. Trump’s lawyers called two witnesses, including Robert Costello, a defense attorney whom former Trump lawyer and key prosecution witness Michael Cohen spoke to in 2018 while under federal investigation. Costello’s testimony led to a tense moment in court. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan became angry at Costello’s demeanor on the stand and ordered people out of the courtroom, including reporters covering the trial, before allowing them to return as Costello’s testimony resumed. Costello had not finished his testimony when court ended for the day Monday, and he is expected to return to the stand Tuesday. Trump’s lawyers said they do not anticipate calling additional witnesses. Cohen, the former president’s former lawyer, finished testifying Monday afternoon, after prosecutors and defense attorneys questioned him.” See also, Highlights from day 19 of Donald Trump’s hush money trial: Prosecution rests. Associated Press, Jennifer Peltz, Michael Sisak, and Jake Offenhartz, Monday, 20 May 2024.
Trump Posts, Then Takes Down, Video Online With Headlines About a ‘Unified Reich.’ The 30-second video shared from Donald Trump’s Truth Social account, which included references to ‘the creation of a unified Reich’ was denounced by President Biden as using ‘Hitler’s language.’ The New York Times, Chris Cameron, Monday, 20 May 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump posted a video on Monday afternoon that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to ‘the creation of a unified Reich’ under the headline ‘What’s next for America?’ The 30-second video, which Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, features several articles styled like newspapers from the early 1900s — and apparently recycling text from reports on World War I, including references to ‘German industrial strength’ and ‘peace through strength.’ One article in the video asserts that Mr. Trump would deport 15 million migrants in a second term, while text onscreen lists the start and end days of World War I. Another headline in the video suggests that Mr. Trump in a second term would reject ‘globalists,’ using a term that has been widely adopted on the far right and that scholars say can be used as a signal of antisemitism.” See also, Trump’s social media account shares a campaign video with a headline about a ‘unified Reich,’ Associated Press, Michelle L. Price, Monday, 20 May 2024: “A video posted to Donald Trump’s account on his social media network included references to a ‘unified Reich’ among hypothetical news headlines if he wins the election in November. The headline appears among messages flashing across the screen such as ‘Trump wins!!’ and ‘Economy booms!’ Other headlines appear to be references to World War I. The word ‘Reich’ is often largely associated with Nazi Germany’s Third Reich, though the references in the video Trump shared appear to be a reference to the formation of the modern pan-German nation, unifying smaller states into a single Reich, or empire, in 1871. The 30-second video appeared Monday on Trump’s account at a time when the presumptive Republican nominee for president, while seeking to portray President Joe Biden as soft on antisemitism, has himself repeatedly faced criticism for using language and rhetoric associated with Nazi Germany. It was posted and shared on the former president’s Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break from his Manhattan hush money trial Monday afternoon. On Tuesday morning, the post of the video had been deleted.”
Tuesday, 21 May 2024:
Trump Chooses Not to Take the Stand, and the Defense Rests. Donald Trump’s lawyers mounted a minimal defense after prosecutors called 20 witnesses. Closing arguments in the first prosecution of an American president will take place May 28. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman, and William K. Rashbaum, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “The jury heard his voice, saw his tweets and watched footage of him campaigning for the presidency. But in the end, the 12 New Yorkers weighing the fate of Donald J. Trump did not see him testify. On Tuesday, the defense rested its case after Mr. Trump declined to take the stand at his own criminal trial, forfeiting his only opportunity to defend himself but also avoiding what could have been a calamitous error. His decision made, his lawyers concluded the testimony phase of the trial, and next week, the jury is expected to begin the momentous task of determining whether to make the former — and perhaps future — president a felon. Defendants rarely testify, but Mr. Trump stands apart as the only American president to ever face a criminal trial, a serial litigant who thinks of himself as his own best advocate. Mr. Trump, who is once again the presumptive Republican nominee, had said repeatedly that he wanted to testify. But on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump said in front of television cameras in the courthouse hallway that his lawyers would rest without his taking the stand. The defense would offer only one significant witness, Robert J. Costello, a pugnacious lawyer whose sole task was to attack the credibility of the prosecution’s star witness, Michael D. Cohen…. Prosecutors accused Mr. Trump of covering up sex scandals to pave his way to the presidency. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from an effort to suppress one of those scandals through a hush-money payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.” See also, A Swift Defense and a Decision Ahead: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Trial. Donald Trump’s lawyers called two witnesses, and he was not one of them. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “On Tuesday morning, five weeks after the first jurors were seated for the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, the defense rested, with closing arguments and then jury deliberations scheduled for after Memorial Day weekend.” See also, Live Coverage: Trump Hush-Money Trial Turns to Debate Over Jury Instructions After Defense Rests. The jury has been dismissed until closing arguments next Tuesday, but the judge and lawyers from both sides met to hash out how jurors will be instructed before deliberations. Donald Trump did not take the stand in his own defense. The New York Times, Tuesday, 21 May 2024. See also, Defense rests in Trump’s hush money trial, The Washington Post, 10 Live contributors, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “Donald Trump’s lawyers finished presenting their defense case Tuesday, and the trial judge said closing arguments will be next week. Donald Trump will not testify. The last witness, Robert Costello, began testifying late Monday and spent less than an hour on the stand Tuesday. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan threatened to hold him in contempt of court Monday after he showed disagreement with the judge’s rulings.” See also, Donald Trump’s hush money trial: Highlights from day 20, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Jill Colvin, Jennifer Peltz, and Jake Offenhartz, Tuesday, 21 May 2024.
Trump email falsely says Biden was ‘locked & loaded’ to ‘take me out’ in Mar-a-Lago search. A former president falsely accusing his successor and rival of posing a threat to his life is without precedent in modern U.S. history. The Washington Post, Hannah Knowles, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed in a campaign fundraising email that President Biden was “locked & loaded ready to take me out” during a 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents, an extraordinary distortion of a standard FBI policy on the use of deadly force during such operations. Trump appeared to be referring to a law enforcement document, released Tuesday in court filings in the classified documents case, that describes the FBI’s plans for a court-authorized search on Aug. 8, 2022, at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence and private club. FBI agents recovered classified material from Trump’s time in the White House — which the former president is now charged with illegally retaining. One page in the document includes a ‘policy statement’ on the use of deadly force, which says officers may resort to lethal force only when the subject of such force poses an ‘imminent danger of death or serious physical injury’ to an officer or another person.” See also, Trump Falsely Claims Biden Administration Was ‘Locked & Loaded’ to Kill Him. Former President Donald Trump misrepresented a standard Justice Department policy to claim the F.B.I. was ready to kill him when searching his home in 2022. The New York Times, Maggie Astor, published on Wednesday, 22 May 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump accused the Biden administration on Tuesday of having been prepared to kill him during a 2022 search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Fla., making the false claim that President Biden was ‘locked & loaded’ in a fund-raising email. The claim relied on a misrepresentation of a standard Justice Department policy on the use of deadly force in its operations.”
Unsealed motions in Trump’s Florida classified documents case suggest new evidence of possible obstruction, The Washington Post, Perry Stein, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “A federal judge in Florida on Tuesday unsealed two motions that were filed months ago by Donald Trump in his classified documents case and that she has not yet ruled on — part of a backlog that could delay the case beyond November’s presidential election. The long-shot motions claim the indictment should be dismissed because the government relied on improper investigatory tactics — an allegation that prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith dismissed as having no merit. ‘This case has been investigated and prosecuted in full compliance with all applicable constitutional provisions, statutes, rules, regulations, and policies,’ said the response from prosecutors, which was also unsealed Tuesday. ‘There has been no prosecutorial misconduct, and his motion should be denied.’… Buried in the supporting documentation for one of the motions was a document that contained a new public revelation: Once Trump realized that security cameras at Mar-a-Lago could capture his employees moving classified government information that officials were attempting to retrieve, he allegedly ensured that they would avoid the cameras when moving boxes. The detail suggests prosecutors have more evidence of alleged obstruction by Trump than they included in their criminal indictment — a situation that is not unusual in criminal cases. It was included in an 87-page opinion issued last year by U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell, who oversaw the D.C.-based grand jury in this case.” See also, Federal Judge Beryl Howell found ‘strong evidence’ of crimes before Trump was charged in classified documents case, CNN Politics, Tierney Sneed, Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand, and Hannah Rabinowitz, Tuesday, 21 May 2024: “Months before Donald Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents, a federal judge said that investigators had ‘strong evidence’ that the former president ‘intended’ to hide classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to newly released court documents. Judge Beryl Howell cited, among other things, the discovery of additional classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago months after the FBI’s search of the property in the summer of 2022. The records included a ‘mostly empty’ folder marked as ‘Classified Evening Summary’ that was found in the former president’s bedroom, as well as four other documents with classification markings found in his post-presidential office at the resort. ‘Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago,’ Howell wrote in March 2023.”
Wednesday, 22 May 2024:
Another Provocative Flag Was Flown at Another Home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The justice’s beach house in New Jersey displayed an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, a symbol carried on January 6 and associated with a push for a more Christian-minded government. The New York Times, Jodi Kantor, Aric Toler, and Julie Tate, Wednesday, 22 May 2024: “Last summer, two years after an upside-down American flag was flown outside the Virginia home of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., another provocative symbol was displayed at his vacation house in New Jersey, according to interviews and photographs. This time, it was the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, which, like the inverted U.S. flag, was carried by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Also known as the Pine Tree flag, it dates back to the Revolutionary War, but largely fell into obscurity until recent years and is now a symbol of support for former President Donald J. Trump, for a religious strand of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. Three photographs obtained by The New York Times, along with accounts from a half-dozen neighbors and passers-by, show that the Appeal to Heaven flag was aloft at the Alito home on Long Beach Island in July and September of 2023. A Google Street View image from late August also shows the flag. The photographs, each taken independently, are from four different dates. It is not clear whether the flag was displayed continuously during those months or how long it was flown overall.”
Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass) listed Trump’s trials on the House floor. His words were struck from the record. ‘Maybe they want to distract from the fact that their candidate for president has been indicted more times than he has been elected,’ McGovern said of his Republican colleagues. The Washington Post, Mariana Alfaro and Jacob Bogage, Wednesday, 22 May 2024: “The House was brought to a halt for over an hour on Wednesday after Republicans demanded that the words of Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) be ‘taken down’ from the congressional record after McGovern, during House floor remarks, listed the number of criminal trials former president Donald Trump faces.”
Thursday, 23 May 2024:
Supreme Court Sides With Republicans Over South Carolina Voting Map. The case concerned a constitutional puzzle: how to distinguish the roles of race and partisanship in drawing voting maps when Black voters overwhelmingly favor Democrats. The New York Times, Adam Liptak, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “The Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for South Carolina to keep using a congressional map that a lower court had deemed an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that resulted in the ‘bleaching of African American voters’ from a district. The conservative majority, by a 6-to-3 vote, returned the case to the lower court, handing a victory to Republicans by allowing them to maintain boundaries that helped make the district in question a party stronghold. The immediate effect of the ruling will be limited, as the court’s delay in ruling had already ensured that this year’s elections would take place under the contested map. But the majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., will have an impact beyond South Carolina in the years to come, said Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘Justice Alito for a court majority has once again come up with a legal framework that makes it easier for Republican states to engage in redistricting to help white Republicans maximize their political power,’ Professor Hasen said.” See also, Supreme Court’s South Carolina ruling boosts Republicans, with national implications. The ruling allows the state to use a map favorable to Republicans and is expected to make it far more difficult for voters nationwide to challenge racial gerrymandering. The Washington Post, Patrick Marley, Ann E. Marimow, and Justin Jouvenal, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed South Carolina to use a congressional map that a lower court had said weakened Black voting rights, bolstering the political fortunes of Republicans as they seek to maintain control of the House of Representatives and making it harder to challenge districts on grounds of racial gerrymandering nationwide. The 6-3 conservative majority reversed a finding by a three-judge panel that South Carolina’s GOP-led legislature had created an unconstitutional racial gerrymander when it ‘exiled’ thousands of Black voters to another district to carve out one that was safer for a White Republican incumbent. The Supreme Court called the evidence that race motivated lawmakers weak and said courts needed to presume they acted in good faith. The decision marked a victory for Republicans not only because it cleared the way for a map that is favorable to the GOP in a year when control of the narrowly divided U.S. House is on the line. It also set a high bar for determining when a map can be considered a racial gerrymander, rather than a partisan one. The court has previously found that the Constitution bars racial gerrymandering but that federal courts cannot police partisan gerrymandering.” See also, Supreme Court finds no bias against Black voters in a South Carolina congressional district, Associated Press, Mark Sherman, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Thursday preserved a Republican-held South Carolina congressional district, rejecting a lower-court ruling that said the district discriminated against Black voters. In dissent, liberal justices warned that the court was insulating states from claims of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. In a 6-3 decision, the court held that South Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature did nothing wrong during redistricting when it strengthened Rep. Nancy Mace’s hold on the coastal district by moving 30,000 Democratic-leaning Black residents of Charleston out of the district. ‘I’m very disturbed about the outcome. It’s as if we don’t matter. But we do matter and our voices deserve to be heard,’ said Taiwan Scott, a Black voter who sued over the redistricting. President Joe Biden, whose administration backed Scott and the other plaintiffs at the Supreme Court, also criticized the ruling. ‘The Supreme Court’s decision today undermines the basic principle that voting practices should not discriminate on account of race and that is wrong,’ Biden said in a statement.”
Louisiana Lawmakers Vote to Make Abortion Pills Controlled Substances. The legislation would make possession of the drugs without a prescription a crime in Louisiana, punishable with jail time. The New York Times, Emily Cochrane and Pam Belluck, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “Louisiana lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday to make the state the first in the nation to designate abortion pills as dangerous controlled substances. Possession of the drugs without a prescription would be a crime punishable with jail time and thousands of dollars in fines. The legislation, which passed the State Senate by a vote of 29 to 7, now goes to Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who previously defended the state’s stringent abortion ban in court as attorney general. He is widely expected to sign it. By classifying the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs — a category of medicines with some potential for abuse or dependence that includes Ambien, Valium and Xanax, among others — lawmakers in the state say they aim to curb the illicit distribution of the drugs for abortions. But the Food and Drug Administration does not consider the two medications to have potential for abuse or dependence, and years of research have overwhelmingly shown both pills to be safe.” See also, Louisiana Legislature approves bill classifying abortion pills as controlled dangerous substances, Associated Press, Sara Cline, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “Two abortion-inducing drugs could soon be reclassified as controlled and dangerous substances in Louisiana under a first-of-its-kind bill that received final legislative passage Thursday and is expected to be signed into law by the governor. Supporters of the reclassification of mifepristone and misoprostol, commonly known as ‘abortion pills,’ say it would protect expectant mothers from coerced abortions, though they cited only one example of that happening, in the state of Texas. Numerous doctors, meanwhile, have said it will make it harder for them to prescribe the medicines, which they also use for other important reproductive health care needs. Passage of the bill comes as both abortion rights advocates and abortion opponents await a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on an effort to restrict access to mifepristone. The justices did not appear ready to limit access to the drug on the day they heard arguments.”
Senate Democrats Open Inquiry Into Trump’s Request for $1 Billion from the Oil Industry. In return, he would repeal environmental regulations. Two committees are seeking information from oil executives about a dinner where, the lawmakers say, the former president proposed a quid pro quo. The New York Times, Lisa Friedman, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “Senate Democrats opened an investigation on Thursday into former President Donald J. Trump’s meeting with oil and gas executives last month to determine whether Mr. Trump offered a ‘policies-for-money transaction’ when he asked for $1 billion for his 2024 campaign so he could retake the White House and delete President Biden’s climate regulations. The investigation is the second congressional inquiry into the April 11 fund-raising dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club in Florida. Over a chopped steak dinner, Mr. Trump told about 20 oil and gas executives that they would save far more than $1 billion in avoided taxes and legal fees after he repealed environmental regulations, according to several people who were present and who requested anonymity to discuss a private event. The former president has vowed to ‘drill, baby, drill’ if he wins in November. He has made no secret of his plans to end Mr. Biden’s policies that support wind and solar energy as well as electric vehicles.”
For the Women Who Accused the Trump Campaign of Harassment, It Has Been More Harassment, ProPublica, Marilyn W. Thompson, Thursday, 23 May 2024: “As the media has chronicled, Trump is a well-known bully. He has belittled and sought to dominate political rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former allies like Bill Barr, who was his attorney general. Trump and his surrogates have appeared to relish hounding or humiliating women who have verbally crossed him, including media and Hollywood stars and a long list of accusers who have complained over the years about sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct. (He has denied all of the allegations.) But ProPublica found that Trump’s campaign used similar bullying tactics against its own workers. These fights have been waged out of the public eye against women with few resources to stand up against the campaign’s battery of lawyers, paid from a seemingly bottomless trove of campaign money. The campaign is ‘still litigating these ridiculous cases that should have been settled’ long ago, said campaign finance authority Brett Kappel of Harmon Curran, who has been tracking Trump’s civil and criminal cases. Trump’s strategy is the same one he’s used in other lawsuits: ‘Drag it out and make it as painful and expensive as possible for the opponent, and maybe they’ll go away,’ he said.”
Friday, 24 May 2024:
Trump’s Pattern of Sowing Election Doubt Intensifies in 2024, The New York Times, Karen Yourish and Charlie Smart, Friday, 24 May 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump has baselessly and publicly cast doubt about the fairness of the 2024 election about once a day, on average, since he announced his candidacy for president, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Though the tactic is familiar — Mr. Trump raised the specter of a ‘rigged’ election in the 2016 and 2020 cycles, too — his attempts to undermine the 2024 contest are a significant escalation. Mr. Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election had historic consequences. The so-called ‘Big Lie’ — Mr. Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen from him — led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol and two of four criminal indictments against Mr. Trump, as well as his second impeachment. But Mr. Trump had planted seeds of doubt among his followers long before Election Day, essentially setting up a no-lose future for himself: Either he would prevail, or the election would be rigged. He has never given up that framing, which no evidence supports, even well after the end of his presidency. And as he seeks to return to the White House, the same claim has become the backbone of his campaign.”
Democrats press Chief Justice John Roberts to address ethics at the Supreme Court. Senators Dick Durbin and Sheldon Whitehouse say flags flown outside the homes of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. mean he must recuse himself from January 6-related cases. The Washington Post, Ann E. Marimow and Justin Jouvenal, Friday, 24 May 2024: “Two Democratic senators are calling on Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to take immediate steps to ensure that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. does not participate in a pair of Supreme Court cases related to the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The request to Roberts comes after the New York Times reported that flags associated with the 2021 attack were flown outside Alito’s homes in Virginia and New Jersey. Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), who oversee the federal courts in their respective roles as chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a judicial oversight subcommittee, requested a meeting with Roberts as soon as possible to discuss what they called an ‘ethics crisis’ at the Supreme Court. In their letter, dated Thursday, the senators renewed calls for the high court to strengthen its ethics policy to include an enforcement mechanism.”
Prosecutors Seek to Bar Trump From Attacking F.B.I. Agents in Documents Case. The prosecutors said the former president had made ‘grossly misleading’ assertions about the F.B.I.’s search of Mar-a-Lago that could endanger the agents involved. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Friday, 24 May 2024: “Federal prosecutors on Friday night asked the judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s classified documents case to bar him from making any statements that might endanger law enforcement agents involved in the proceedings. Prosecutors tendered the request after Mr. Trump made what they described as ‘grossly misleading’ assertions about the F.B.I.’s August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida. This week, the former president falsely suggested that the F.B.I. had been authorized to shoot him when agents discovered more than 100 classified documents while executing a court-approved search warrant there. In a social media post on Tuesday, Mr. Trump falsely claimed that President Biden ‘authorized the FBI to use deadly (lethal) force’ during the search. Mr. Trump’s post came in reaction to an F.B.I. operational plan for the Mar-a-Lago search that was unsealed on Tuesday as part of a legal motion filed by Mr. Trump’s lawyers. The plan contained a boilerplate reference to lethal force being authorized in cases of emergency, which prosecutors said that Mr. Trump badly distorted. ‘As Trump is well aware, the F.B.I. took extraordinary care to execute the search warrant unobtrusively and without needless confrontation,’ prosecutors wrote in a motion to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the classified documents case.” See also, Special counsel seeks court order limiting Trump’s false claims about the FBI. Request to the court comes after Trump suggested standard FBI policy somehow meant he was targeted for deadly force. The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Friday, 24 May 2024: “Special counsel Jack Smith filed court papers Friday asking a judge to order Donald Trump not to make any further incendiary claims suggesting that FBI agents were ‘complicit in a plot to assassinate him.’ In the filing to U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, Smith argues Trump’s statements earlier this week exposed FBI agents involved in the case ‘to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.’ The request caps a tumultuous week in the former president’s far-reaching legal battles. He is preparing for closing arguments Tuesday in his trial in New York, and has made incendiary claims about the origins of the case against him in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.” See also, Special counsel asks judge for gag order in Trump classified documents case, CNN Politics, Katelyn Polantz, Friday, 24 May 2024: “Special counsel’s office prosecutors on Friday asked a federal judge in Florida to place a gag order on Donald Trump that would limit his ability to comment about law enforcement that searched his Mar-a-Lago resort. The request – a first in the classified documents mishandling case – comes after the former president has repeatedly and misleadingly criticized the FBI for having a policy in place around the use of deadly force during the search and seizure of government records at his resort in August 2022. While Trump has told his supporters he could have been in danger because of the policy, the policy is standard protocol for FBI searches and limits how agents may use force in search operations. The same standard FBI policy was used in the searches of President Joe Biden’s homes and offices in a separate classified documents investigation.”
Saturday, 25 May 2024:
Trump Tells Libertarians to Nominate Him and Mocks Them When They Boo. Former President Donald Trump’s appearance before the Libertarian Party on Saturday was without modern precedent: the presumptive nominee of one party addressing the convention of another. The New York Times, Michael Gold and Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Saturday, 25 May 2024: “Early in his speech at the Libertarian Party’s national convention on Saturday, Donald J. Trump told the party’s delegates bluntly that they should nominate him as its candidate for president. He was vigorously booed. When the jeers died down, Mr. Trump, visibly frustrated with the rowdy reception he had received ever since taking the stage, dug in and went a step further, seeming to insult the very group that had invited him. ‘Only do that if you want to win,’ he said of nominating him. ‘If you want to lose, don’t do that. Keep getting your three percent every four years.’ The boos began anew, only louder.”
Monday, 27 May 2024:
Trump told donors he will crush pro-Palestinian protests and deport demonstrators. Trump has waffled on whether the Israel-Gaza war should end. But speaking to wealthy donors behind closed doors, he said that he supports Israel’s right to continue ‘its war on terror.’ The Washington Post, Josh Dawsey, Karen DeYoung, and Marianne LeVine, Monday, 27 May 2024: “Former president Donald Trump promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, telling a roomful of donors — a group that he joked included ’98 percent of my Jewish friends’ — that he would expel student demonstrators from the United States, according to participants in the roundtable event with him in New York. ‘One thing I do is, any student that protests, I throw them out of the country. You know, there are a lot of foreign students. As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave,’ Trump said on May 14, according to donors at the event. When one of the donors complained that many of the students and professors protesting on campuses could one day hold positions of power in the United States, Trump called the demonstrators part of a ‘radical revolution’ that he vowed to defeat. He praised the New York Police Department for clearing the campus at Columbia University and said other cities needed to follow suit, saying ‘it has to be stopped now.'”
Tuesday, 28 May 2024:
Trump’s Hush-Money Trial Heads to the Jury: 5 Takeaways From Closing Arguments. Defense lawyers and prosecutors tried strategy and stagecraft to sway jurors. The panel of 12 New Yorkers will get the case Wednesday morning. The New York Times, Jesse Mc Kinley and Kate Christobek, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “As the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump began its seventh week, the prosecution and the defense made their final pitches to jurors, sending the landmark case into deliberations on Wednesday. A defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, spent three hours Tuesday hammering Michael D. Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness, including accusing him of perjury. He attacked Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose account of a tryst with Mr. Trump in 2006 set in motion the charges the former president faces. The prosecution countered with an even longer, more detailed summation, pushing into the evening. A prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, guided jurors through reams of evidence they had introduced and elicited, including testimony, emails, text messages and recordings. See also, At Trump Trial’s Closings, Lawyers Weave Facts Into Clashing Accounts. A defense lawyer painted Donald Trump as the victim of unscrupulous people, but a prosecutor said Mr. Trump had directed a scheme to conceal a hush-money payment. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Maggie Haberman, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “For nearly three hours on Tuesday, Donald J. Trump’s lawyer did his level best to persuade the jury to acquit his client, wielding a scalpel to attack nearly every strand of the criminal case against the former president. Then it was a prosecutor’s turn. Rather than using a fine blade, he swung a sledgehammer. Throughout a marathon closing argument that nearly outlasted daylight, the prosecutor delivered a sweeping rebuke of the former president, seeking to persuade the jury of 12 New Yorkers that Mr. Trump had falsified records to cover up a sex scandal involving a porn star. The prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, wove together witness testimony and documents to drive home the key points of the weekslong case, the first criminal trial of an American president.” See also, Live Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial: Power Shifts to Jury as Closing Arguments Finish in Trump Trial. Jurors heard a meticulous recounting of five weeks of testimony in the criminal trial of Donald Trump, in which prosecutors argued he tried to ‘hoodwink the American voter.’ The defense said there was not ‘a shred of evidence.’ The New York Times, Tuesday, 28 May 2024. See also, In Trump hush money trial closing, defense attacks Michael Cohen, prosecution attacks Trump. Defense lawyer tries to shred the credibility of a key witness, as prosecutor says Donald Trump’s hush money payment helped him win the White House. The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs, Derek Hawkins, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Devlin Barrett, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “A prosecutor urged jurors in marathon closing arguments Tuesday to convict Donald Trump in a hush money scheme ‘that could very well be what got President Trump elected’ in 2016 — suggesting that the stifled tale of sex with a porn star changed the course of American history. By offering that the alleged crimes may have decided the winner of the 2016 presidential race, Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass implicitly highlighted the potential stakes of the seven-week trial — that the jury’s verdict here could alter the 2024 presidential contest, in which Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee. Steinglass said the evidence is overwhelming that Trump knew of and directed efforts to falsify business records related to the reimbursement of a $130,000 payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. It was a ‘conspiracy and a coverup’ that stretched from the campaign trail to the White House, Steinglass told the jury, pushing back forcefully against defense arguments that the payments were routine and Trump did nothing wrong.” See also, Live coverage of closing arguments in Trump hush money trial, The Washington Post, 13 Live coverage contributors, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “Closing arguments ended late Tuesday after the prosecution told jurors in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York that the alleged attempt to hide a payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels was part of an illegal effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. The prosecution said during several hours of closing arguments that Trump — who is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to Daniels — worked with his former lawyer Michael Cohen and a former tabloid publisher to hide information from voters. Joshua Steinglass, an assistant district attorney, called this ‘a subversion of democracy.’ Walking the jury through documents in the case, Steinglass said there was a ‘mountain of evidence’ showing that Trump was reimbursing Cohen for paying Daniels, rather than for legal expenses. Earlier, Trump’s side presented its closing argument, with Trump attorney Todd Blanche telling jurors that prosecutors did not prove their case. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said jury deliberations are expected Wednesday.” See also, Highlights from closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, Associated Press, edited by Curtis Yee, Monday, 28 May 2024.
Trump’s (misleading) closing argument to the court of public opinion. The former president relies on false and debunked claims in his media appearances. The Washington Post, Glenn Kessler, Monday, 28 May 2024: “As closing arguments began Tuesday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan, the former president stopped to decry the proceedings in remarks to reporters. Trump, who did not testify in his own defense, often speaks in shorthand, so here’s a guide to his statements — and what is false or misleading.”
Judge Aileen Cannon Denies Limited Gag Order Request in Trump Documents Case. The decision was made on procedural grounds and left open the possibility that federal prosecutors could try again to restrict Donald Trump from making statements that could endanger F.B.I. agents. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Monday, 28 May 2024: “A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily denied a request by prosecutors to bar former President Donald J. Trump from making statements that might endanger law enforcement agents working on the case in which he stands accused of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office. The decision by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, was made solely on the procedural grounds that prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, had failed to properly inform Mr. Trump’s lawyers before making their request. It left open the possibility that the prosecution could try again to restrict Mr. Trump’s remarks about the agents if it follows the procedural rules. As part of her decision, Judge Cannon also temporarily denied an attempt by Mr. Trump’s legal team to push back against the government. Mr. Trump’s lawyers had filed a counter-motion seeking to have the prosecutors’ request stricken from the record and to have sanctions imposed on Mr. Smith and his deputies for failing to follow the proper procedure.” See also, Judge Aileen Cannon rejects request to restrict Trump’s speech on FBI in classified documents case. Cannon said special counsel Jack Smith made the request without giving defense lawyers time to respond. The Washington Post, Perry Stein, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon on Tuesday denied a request from federal prosecutors that she order Donald Trump to stop making incendiary claims about law enforcement personnel, saying the government should have more thoroughly consulted with Trump’s attorneys before coming to her. The judge, who is overseeing Trump’s classified documents criminal case in Florida, strongly rebuked special counsel Jack Smith, who submitted his motion after the former president and his political campaign issued statements that said, ‘Biden’s DOJ was authorized to shoot me!’ Those comments exposed FBI agents involved in the case ‘to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment,’ Smith said in the filing. Cannon said the emergency request lacked ‘professional courtesy’ and crammed important facts about the request in an ‘editorialized footnote.’ She denied the motion ‘without prejudice,’ which means prosecutors could raise the issue again in the future, presumably in a manner that would address Cannon’s concerns.” See also, Judge denies request to restrict Trump statements about law enforcement in classified records case, Associated Press, Alanna Durkin Richer, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Tuesday denied prosecutors’ request to bar the former president from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement agents participating in the prosecution. Prosecutors had told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the restriction was necessary to protect law enforcement from potential threats and harassment after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee baselessly claimed that the Biden administration wanted to kill him during a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, nearly two years ago. Cannon chided prosecutors in her order denying their request, saying they didn’t give defense lawyers adequate time to discuss the matter before it was filed Friday evening. The judge warned prosecutors that failing to comply with court requirements in the future may lead to sanctions. She denied the request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could file it again.”
Trump Leans Into an Outlaw Image as His Criminal Trial Concludes. Preparing for a potential verdict in Manhattan, the former president has increasingly aligned himself with fellow defendants and people convicted of crimes. The New York Times, Maggie Haberman and Jonah E. Bromwich, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “Over the past week, Donald J. Trump rallied alongside two rap artists accused of conspiracy to commit murder. He promised to commute the sentence of a notorious internet drug dealer. And he appeared backstage with another rap artist who has pleaded guilty to assault for punching a female fan. As Mr. Trump awaits the conclusion of his Manhattan trial — closing arguments are set for Tuesday and a verdict could arrive as soon as this week — he used a weeklong break from court to align himself with defendants and convicted criminals charged by the same system with which he is at war. The appearances fit neatly into Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign, during which he has said he is likely to pardon those prosecuted for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and lent his voice to a recording of the national anthem by a choir of Jan. 6 inmates.”
The Alitos, the Neighborhood Clash, and the Upside-Down Flag. Inside the escalating conflict on a bucolic suburban street that Justice Alito said prompted a ‘Stop the Steal’ symbol at his home. The New York Times, Jodi Kantor, Tuesday, 28 May 2024: “The police in Fairfax County, Va., received an unusual phone call on Feb. 15, 2021. A young couple claimed they were being harassed by the wife of a Supreme Court justice. ‘Somebody in a position of authority needs to talk to her and make her stop,’ said the 36-year-old man making the complaint, according to a recording of the call reviewed by The New York Times. The officer on the line responded that there was little the police could do: Yelling was not a crime. The couple placed the call after a series of encounters with Martha-Ann Alito, wife of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., that had gone from uneasy to ugly. That day, Emily Baden, whose boyfriend (now husband) contacted the police, had traded accusations with Mrs. Alito, who lived down the street. In a recent interview, Ms. Baden admitted to calling her a lewd epithet. The clash between the wife of a conservative Supreme Court justice and the couple, who were in their 30s, liberal and proud of it, played out over months on a bucolic block in Alexandria. It was the kind of shouting match among private citizens, at the height of tensions over the 2020 election, that might have happened in any mixed political community in America. But three years later, that neighborhood spat — which both sides said began over an anti-Trump sign — has taken on far greater proportions.”
Wednesday, 29 May 2024:
Trump Hush-Money Trial: Jury Begins Sifting Evidence as It Weighs Trump’s Fate in Criminal Case. Justice Juan Merchan explained the 34 charges of falsifying business records that Donald Trump faces before jurors went behind closed doors to start their deliberations. The New York Times, William K. Rashbaum, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Ben Protess, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “It’s all up to the jury now. After seven weeks of legal wrangling and tawdry testimony, the first criminal trial of an American president moved to a jury of Donald J. Trump’s peers on Wednesday morning, the final stage of the landmark trial. Mr. Trump’s fate is in the hands of those 12 New Yorkers, who will weigh whether to brand him as a felon. It could take them hours, days or even weeks to reach a verdict, a decision that could reshape the nation’s legal and political landscapes. And while the country anxiously awaits their judgment, Mr. Trump will continue to campaign for the presidency. The moment that deliberations began marked a transfer of power from the experts in the courtroom — the lawyers arguing the case and the judge presiding over it — to the everyday New Yorkers who forfeited weeks of their lives to assess a mountain of evidence about sex and scandal.” See also, Live Coverage: Jury Wraps First Day of Deliberations in Trump Hush-Money Trial, The New York Times, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “The 12 New Yorkers deliberating on the 34 felony counts against Donald Trump were dismissed for the day after asking for some testimony and the judge’s instructions to be read back to them. Mr. Trump is accused of falsifying business records in connection with a payment to a porn star.” See also, Trump jury ends 1st day of deliberations eyeing Trump conversations with Michael Cohen and David Pecker. ‘You are the judges of the facts, and you are responsible for deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty,’ Justice Juan Merchan told jurors. The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Shayna Jacobs, Derek Hawkins, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “The jury in Donald Trump’s hush money trial deliberated for several hours Wednesday in the first criminal case against a former U.S. president, weighing a momentous decision that could brand the presumptive GOP presidential nominee as a felon just five months before Election Day. ‘You are the judges of the facts, and you are responsible for deciding whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty,’ New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said while giving the jurors their final legal instructions. The panel was dismissed in the late afternoon and will return to the task Thursday morning. The judge emphasized that the verdict is solely theirs to make and that they should not take anything he has said or done from the bench as suggestive of whether Trump should be found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to an adult-film actress ahead of the 2016 election.” See also, Donald Trump’s hush money trial: Highlights from the first day of jury deliberations, Associated Press, edited by Curtis Yee, Wednesday, 29 May 2024.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Refuses Calls for Recusal Over Display of Provocative ‘Stop the Steal’ Flags at His House. ‘My wife is fond of flying flags,’ the justice wrote in a letter to members of Congress who had demanded he step down from two cases related to the January 6 attack. ‘I am not.’ The New York Times, Adam Liptak, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. declined on Wednesday to recuse himself from two cases arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after reports that flags displayed outside his houses appeared to support the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement. In letters to Democratic members of Congress who had demanded his recusal, Justice Alito said that the flags, at his home in Virginia and a beach house in New Jersey, were flown by his wife, Martha-Ann. ‘My wife is fond of flying flags,’ the justice wrote. ‘I am not. She was solely responsible for having flagpoles put up at our residence and our vacation home and has flown a wide variety of flags over the years.’ The revelation that provocative flags flew outside the Alitos’ property has raised questions about the appearance of bias in two cases the Supreme Court is considering related to Jan. 6. In the weeks after the Capitol attack, an inverted American flag that Trump loyalists have adopted to contest Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory was aloft at Justice Alito’s residence in Alexandria, Va. Last summer, an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag, carried by rioters at the Capitol and now a symbol of support for a more Christian-minded government, was on display at his vacation house on Long Beach Island.” See also, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito tells Congress he will not recuse from January 6-related cases. Some Democrats asked whether Alito could be impartial after an upside-down flag flew at his home following the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack. The Washington Post, Ann E. Marimow and Justin Jouvenal, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Wednesday rejected calls to recuse himself from Jan. 6-related cases at the Supreme Court after Democratic lawmakers questioned whether he could avoid the appearance of bias following reports that an upside-down flag flew at his home in the weeks after the attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021. In a letter to Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Alito said that flag and a second, religious-themed flag also embraced by Jan. 6 rioters, were flown by his wife without his knowledge, and that the incidents do not meet the conditions for recusal outlined in the Supreme Court’s code of conduct. Alito disclosed for the first time that he was not aware of the upside-down flag outside his home in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, Va., until it was called to his attention and that his wife initially resisted taking it down. ‘As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but for several days, she refused,’ Alito wrote in the letter to Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), who oversee the federal courts in their respective roles as chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a judicial oversight subcommittee.” See also, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito rejects calls to quit Supreme Court cases on Trump and January 6 because of flag controversies, Associated Press, Mark Sherman, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: “Justice Samuel Alito is rejecting calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants, saying his wife hoisted the two controversial flags that flew above their homes. ‘My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,’ Alito wrote Wednesday. In letters to members of Congress, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying both an upside-down flag over their home in 2021 and an ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag at their New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags were like those carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Neither incident at Alito’s homes merited his recusal, wrote the justice, who has rejected calls from Democrats in the past to recuse on other issues. ‘I am confident that a reasonable person who is not motivated by political or ideological considerations or a desire to affect the outcome of Supreme Court cases would conclude that the events … do not meet the applicable standard for recusal,’ he wrote. ‘I am therefore required to reject your request.’ Supreme Court justices decide for themselves whether to sit out a case and the only potential consequence for refusing to step aside is impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. That has never happened in American history.”
Emerging Portrait of Judge Aileen Cannon in Trump Classified Documents Case: Prepared, Prickly, and Slow. Cannon’s handling of court hearings offers insights into how the case accusing Donald Trump of illegally retaining classified material has become bogged down in unresolved issues. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Wednesday, 29 May 2024: [A]t seven public hearings over more than 10 months, Judge Cannon has left an increasingly detailed record of her decision-making skills and judicial temperament. The portrait that has emerged so far is that of an industrious but inexperienced and often insecure judge whose reluctance to rule decisively even on minor matters has permitted one of the country’s most important criminal cases to become bogged down in a logjam of unresolved issues. She rarely issues rulings that explain her thinking in a way that might reveal her legal influences or any guiding philosophy. And that has made the hearings, which have taken place in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., all the more important in assessing her management of the case. Regardless of her motives, Judge Cannon has effectively imperiled the future of a criminal prosecution that once seemed the most straightforward of the four Mr. Trump is facing. She has largely accomplished this by granting a serious hearing to almost every issue — no matter how far-fetched — that Mr. Trump’s lawyers have raised, playing directly into the former president’s strategy of delaying the case from reaching trial.”
Thursday, 30 May 2024:
Trump Guilty on All Counts
Trump Convicted on All counts to Become America’s First Felon President. A Manhattan jury found that he had falsified business records to conceal a sex scandal that could have hindered his 2016 campaign for the White House. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, Maggie Haberman, Kate Christobek, Jesse McKinley, and William K. Rashbaum, Thursday, 31 May 2024: “Donald J. Trump was convicted on Thursday of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign, capping an extraordinary trial that tested the resilience of the American justice system and transformed the former commander in chief into a felon. The guilty verdict in Manhattan — across the board, on all 34 counts — will reverberate throughout the nation and the world as it ushers in a new era of presidential politics. Mr. Trump will carry the stain of the verdict during his third run for the White House as voters now choose between an unpopular incumbent and a convicted criminal. While it was once unthinkable that Americans would elect a felon as their leader, Mr. Trump’s insurgent behavior delights his supporters as he bulldozes the country’s norms. Now, the man who refused to accept his 2020 election loss is already seeking to delegitimize his conviction, attempting to assert the primacy of his raw political power over the nation’s rule of law.” See also, Ex-President, Felon, and Candidate: 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Conviction. Donald Trump will live the life of a New York convict until he is sentenced on July 11. He faces as long as four years in prison. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “It was an end like no other for a trial like no other: a former American president found guilty of 34 felonies. The conviction of Donald Trump, read aloud shortly after 5 p.m. by the jury foreman as the former president sat just feet away, ended months of legal maneuvering, weeks of testimony, days of deliberation and several nervous minutes after the jury entered the Manhattan courtroom. The former president and the presumptive Republican nominee was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a scheme to cover up an extramarital tryst with a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in 2006. That encounter — which the former president denied — led to a $130,000 hush-money payment whose concealment gave rise to the 34 counts of falsifying business records that made Mr. Trump a felon. Mr. Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11; he has indicated he will appeal.” See also, The Donald Trump Indictment, Annotated, The New York Times, Michael Rothfield, published on Thursday, 4 April 2024: “The Manhattan district attorney’s office unveiled an indictment on Tuesday charging former President Donald J. Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a low-level felony in New York State. The charges are related to reimbursements to Mr. Trump’s former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, for a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. Along with the indictment, the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, also released a ‘statement of facts’ document outlining a larger scheme that he said Mr. Trump and others had orchestrated to avoid negative press during the 2016 campaign. That scheme also included hush-money payments to a second woman who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump and to a former Trump doorman who made an unproven claim that Mr. Trump had an out-of-wedlock child, Mr. Bragg said Tuesday.” See also, Donald Trump, Felon, The New York Times, The Editorial Board, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “In a humble courtroom in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, a former president and current Republican standard-bearer was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The jury’s decision, and the facts presented at the trial, offer yet another reminder — perhaps the starkest to date — of the many reasons Donald Trump is unfit for office. The guilty verdict in the former president’s hush-money case was reached by a unanimous jury of 12 randomly selected New Yorkers, who found that Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, was guilty of falsifying business records to prevent voters from learning about a sexual encounter that he believed would have been politically damaging.” See also, Trump Has Been Convicted. Here’s What Happens Next, The New York Times, Jesse McKinley and Maggie Astor, Thursday, 30 May 2024. See also, Trump Had Good Fortune So Far With His Four Cases. Then Came a Verdict. The New York Times, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “Donald J. Trump’s run of luck in his criminal cases has expired. Before the conviction on Thursday in Manhattan, the former president had drawn what some of his closest advisers regarded as a defense lawyer’s equivalent of an inside straight: something close to perfection. Mr. Trump had lost civil cases with costly damages, but the four criminal cases that threatened his freedom were stumbling along so badly that his advisers were often incredulous at his good fortune. In the Florida case in which he was charged with obstruction of justice and unlawfully holding onto classified documents, a Trump-nominated judge had spent so much time puzzling over minor issues that the trial would almost certainly be delayed beyond the presidential election in November. In the Georgia case, the prosecutor who had charged Mr. Trump as part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election was caught in a romantic affair with the man she had hired to help her prosecute Mr. Trump. And with the federal charges over his efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, the Supreme Court has significantly narrowed the chances of a trial before the election, having taken up the presidential immunity arguments put forth by Mr. Trump’s lawyers. His streak ended minutes after 5 p.m. on Thursday, as 12 jurors found Mr. Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that could have imperiled his 2016 presidential campaign.” See also, Live Coverage: Trump Guilty on All Counts in Hush-Money Case. Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a case stemming from a payment that silenced a porn star. The New York Times, Thursday, 30 May 2024. See also, Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in New York hush money trial. Trump, who is seeking another term in the White House, becomes the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime. The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs, Devlin Barrett, Derek Hawkins, and Mark Berman, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “A Manhattan jury on Thursday found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress, delivering a historic verdict that could shape the November election and that makes Trump the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime. The verdict is an extraordinary loss for the presumptive GOP nominee, who delivered near-daily tirades outside the courtroom throughout the trial — excoriating the justice system and declaring his innocence. Twelve jurors, whose names were shielded by the judge from public view, spent a little more than a day weighing the felony counts against Trump before returning their judgment unanimously saying otherwise…. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan scheduled the former president’s sentencing for July 11 — just days before the start of the Republican National Convention, where Trump is set to be formally nominated by his party.” See also, Donald Trump found guilty on all counts in New York hush money trial, The Washington Post, 32 Live coverage contributors, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “Donald Trump has been convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump, who was indicted in connection with a hush money payment made to an adult-film actress ahead of the 2016 presidential election, is the first former president convicted of a crime.” See also, The evidence that let to Trump’s hush money conviction. The prosecution’s case against Trump relied on 34 documents: 11 invoices, 12 vouchers, and 11 checks. The Washington Post, Nick Mourtoupalas and Azi Paybarah, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “Throughout Donald Trump’s hush money trial, prosecutors repeatedly told jurors not to rely on what Michael Cohen, their key witness and the ex-president’s former lawyer and fixer, had said in court. Instead, they should focus their attention on the paper trail. The jury seems to have done that, finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. At the heart of the prosecution’s case against Trump were 34 documents: 11 invoices, 12 vouchers and 11 checks. Each of these documents accounted for one of the charges on which Trump was found guilty.” See also, Guilty: Trump becomes first former US president convicted of felony crimes, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Eric Tucker, Michelle L. Price, and Jill Colvin, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below could be heard in the hallway on the courthouse’s 15th floor where the decision was revealed after more than nine hours of deliberations. ‘This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,’ an angry Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. ‘The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.’ Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders, who remained resolute in their support in the aftermath of the verdict, are expected to formally make him their nominee. The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks to reclaim the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.” See also, Trump Is Guilty, But Voters Will Be the Final Judge. The jury has convicted the former president of thirty-four felony counts in his New York hush-money trial. Now the American people will decide to what extent they care. The New Yorker, David Remnick, Thursday, 30 May 2024: “In the case of the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, a jury in Manhattan of five women and seven men found the defendant guilty on Thursday on thirty-four counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The conviction on these felony charges is only the most recent stain on the legal history of the former President. Last year, in a civil trial, another New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and awarded the victim of that assault, the advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, five million dollars. A subsequent suit against Trump for defaming Carroll resulted in an additional award of more than eighty-three million dollars in damages. Trump awaits three more trials—in Washington, D.C., Florida, and Georgia—in which he faces myriad indictments for helping to foment the violent uprising at the U.S. Capitol; criminally mishandling classified documents; and taking part in a conspiracy to ‘unlawfully change the outcome’ of the 2020 election. He has further distinguished himself in the annals of American law by being the only President to be impeached twice—the first time for trying to extort the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the second for ‘incitement of insurrection.’ Following the devastating judgment against Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, voters will now decide to what extent they care. The question is whether any who remain undecided—particularly in the most critical precincts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona—will be convinced that a felony conviction disqualifies Trump from a second term as Commander-in-Chief, or whether this most recent badge of dishonor is, in the end, of no greater concern than his well-documented history as a bigot, a fabulist, and an authoritarian intent on pursuing a second term inflamed by a spirit of vengeance.”
Friday, 31 May 2024:
Trump Spews False Claims and Fury in Wake of Conviction. Donald Trump, speaking from the gilded lobby of his Midtown Manhattan tower, excoriated prosecutors and the judge in his criminal case and ran through a litany of false statements. President Biden called the remarks reckless, dangerous, and irresponsible. The New York Times, Michael Gold and Matthew Haag, Friday, 31 May 2024: “Donald J. Trump sought to turn the enormous public interest in his criminal conviction to his advantage on Friday, taking over the gilded lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan to deliver a rambling 33-minute speech laden with baseless attacks on the prosecution team and the presiding judge and other falsehoods and misleading claims, while boasting about receiving a windfall in campaign contributions. He also said he would appeal the conviction. Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee and the first person who has served as commander in chief to become a convicted felon, derided the trial as ‘rigged,’ made numerous false statements about what had taken place in court and called the judge ‘a devil.’ The speech came one day after he was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.” See also, Trump and Allies Assail Conviction With Faulty Claims. After former President Donald Trump was found guilty, he and a number of conservative figures in the news media and lawmakers on the right have spread false and misleading claims about the Manhattan case. The New York Times, Linda Qui, Friday, 31 May 2024: “After former President Donald J. Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, he instantly rejected the verdict and assailed the judge and criminal justice system. His loyalists in the conservative news media and Congress quickly followed suit, echoing his baseless assertions that he had fallen victim to a politically motivated sham trial. The display of unity reflected the extent of Mr. Trump’s hold over his base. The former president and his supporters have singled out the judge who presided over the case, denigrated the judicial system and distorted the circumstances of the charges against him and his subsequent conviction. Here’s a fact check of some of their claims.” See also, Trump’s Conviction Binds Prominent Republicans Even Closer to Him. These Republicans, including congressional leaders, ex-rivals, and potential running mates, basked in the energy, and fund-raising, of an outraged base. The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher and Luke Broadwater, Friday, 31 May 2024: “A day after Donald J. Trump’s conviction, it quickly became clear that Republicans across the country would not run away from his newfound status as a felon. They would, instead, run on it. Echoing Mr. Trump in casting the New York case as a disgraceful sham, Republican candidates and party committees used the first criminal conviction of a former president as a rallying cry — for campaign cash, for congressional hearings and for motivation to vote in November. Whether they were congressional leaders, potential running mates or onetime rivals, prominent Republicans’ speedy alignment behind Mr. Trump, with little dissent or discussion, was no surprise for a party that has increasingly made displays of Trumpian loyalty a nonnegotiable requirement. But their ready-made outrage was not just about lining up behind the nominee. It was also about basking in the energy of a party base that remains as adhered to Mr. Trump as ever.” See also, Biden Denounces ‘Reckless’ Republican Efforts to Discredit Trump Conviction. The president broke his long silence over his predecessor’s legal troubles, calling the New York jury’s guilty verdict vindication for the idea that ‘no one is above the law.’ The New York Times, Peter Baker, Friday, 31 May 2024: “President Biden took on his newly convicted opponent on Friday, declaring that a New York jury’s guilty verdict against former President Donald J. Trump should be respected and denouncing efforts to undermine the justice system as ‘reckless,’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘irresponsible.’ Breaking his long silence over Mr. Trump’s legal troubles, Mr. Biden directly and unambiguously characterized the putative Republican nominee as a lawbreaker whose conviction amounted to a victory for the rule of law. And he rejected assertions that the prosecution was a political witch hunt, noting that it was not a case brought by his own administration. ‘The American principle that no one is above the law was reaffirmed,’ Mr. Biden said in a hurriedly arranged televised statement at the White House before outlining his latest efforts to end the war in Gaza. ‘Donald Trump was given every opportunity to defend himself. It was a state case, not a federal case. And it was heard by a jury of 12 citizens, 12 Americans, 12 people like you, like millions of Americans who’ve served on juries.’ ‘This jury,” he went on, ‘was chosen the same way every jury in America is chosen. There’s a process that Donald Trump’s attorney was part of. The jury heard five weeks of evidence — five weeks. And after careful deliberation, the jury reached a unanimous verdict. They found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts.'” See also, Trump calls his trial a ‘scam’ and vows to appeal historic guilty verdict, The Washington Post, 32 Live coverage contributors, Friday, 31 May 2024: “Former president Donald Trump, speaking at a rambling news conference Friday in New York, vowed to appeal his conviction on all counts in his hush money trial, calling it ‘a scam.’ On Thursday, a New York jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress. During Friday’s remarks, Trump renewed his attacks on the judge and prosecutor and aired other grievances about the process, making multiple false and misleading claims. He took no questions from reporters.”
Even though the Trump administration is no longer in office, I am continuing to post summaries of the daily political news and major stories relating to this tragic and dangerous period in US history. I try to focus on the differences between the Trump administration and the Biden administration and on the ongoing toxic residual effects of the Trump administration and Republicans. I usually post throughout the day and let the news settle for a day or so before posting.
I created Muckraker Farm in 2014 as a place to post muckraking (investigative) journalism going back to the 19th century. I hope to return to this original project soon. You can find these muckraking pieces under the Home Page link at the top of this site. Thanks for reading!