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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 Coverate 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 fefused 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, Thrusday, 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.
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!