The Conversation -- May 4, 2024

Azi Paybarah & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “President Biden on Friday gave the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 19 people — with recipients covering nearly every corner of American life, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Olympic champion Katie Ledecky, Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh and, posthumously, civil rights leader Medgar Evers. During a ceremony held at the White House on Friday, Biden said he had the 'extraordinary honor to bestow the nation’s highest civilian honor to 19 incredible people whose relentless curiosity, inventiveness, ingenuity and hope have kept faith in a better tomorrow.'” This is an update of a story linked yesterday.

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “President Biden on Thursday expanded the boundaries of two national monuments in California by nearly 120,000 acres, using his executive authority to protect vast swaths of land of cultural significance to Native American tribes and nearby communities. During a ceremony in the Oval Office, Biden signed two proclamations enlarging the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, both of which were originally designated by President Barack Obama.”

Jamie Frevele of Mediaite: “Pop culture icon and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill kicked off Friday’s White House press briefing wearing a new pair of aviator shades — a gift from President Joe Biden. Hamill told a delighted White House press corps that he had a visit with the president, calling Biden 'the most legislatively successful president in my lifetime' and listing a few of Biden’s accomplishments. '... The Bipartisan Infrastructure law, the PACT Act, the Chips Act, all of that, inflation, 15 million jobs. It’s all good....'”

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob, Ctd.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: Trump's former aide Hope Hicks testified Friday against her will “that [Donald] Trump was an image-obsessed micromanager. She also acknowledged that it seemed implausible that Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s fixer, would pay hush money to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, without the then-candidate’s say-so. And Ms. Hicks testified that Mr. Trump had shown awareness of that payoff years after the fact. 'Mr. Trump’s opinion,' she said, was that 'it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election.' But she was not totally unhelpful to the defense, providing Mr. Trump’s lawyers grist to argue that their client was a family man, and that his motive for suppressing damning stories might not have been solely to win election but also to protect his home life.” Politico's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Both the NYT & the Politico report emphasize that Hicks' testimony was helpful to Trump in that she boosted his "family man" defense. However, two legal experts [one was Ryan Goodman; I don't know the name of the other person] appearing on CNN yesterday said that two things can be true simultaneously: that a person is concerned about both his personal AND his business or political interests. That is essentially what Hicks said in court. So the fact that Trump seemed to be concerned about his wife's reactions to the sex scandals does not diminish the government's assertion that he wanted to hide the stories from voters.  

** And There's This: According to Maggie Haberman's notes in the Times liveblog linked below, Hicks testified during cross-examination, "President Trump really values Mrs. Trump’s opinion, and she doesn't weigh in all the time, but when she does, it’s really meaningful to him. He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was just concerned of what her perception of this would be." What that says to me is that the Family Guy didn't care as much about hurting Melania's feelings as he did about getting the benefit of her "opinion" and her "perception" of the scandal, IOW, how Melania thought the story would affect his campaign and how he should manage it. So still totally narcissistic, as we would expect. ~~~

~~~ AND. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “MSNBC commentator and former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said the testimony of Hope Hicks dealt a 'body blow' to ... Donald Trump in court on Friday.... The jury heard testimony from Hicks ... [that] Trump had told her that [Michael] Cohen made [the payment to Stormy Daniels] 'out of the kindness of his own heart.' [Even] during cross-examination, Hicks appeared to back up the prosecution’s argument that Trump arranged the hush money payment to prevent it from being an election issue. 'Mr. Trump’s opinion was that it was better to be dealing with it now and it would’ve been bad to have that story come out before the election,' she said.... Weissmann said, '... I also thought about how her crying was kind of icing on the cake for the D.A.’s office. I’m not in any way suggesting that they sought it, but her testimony was a body blow to the defense here because she put the guilty knowledge of the hush money payments into Donald Trump’s mouth…. Her crying would underscore to the jury, in my view, that she was not there because she wanted to help the government, that she had all loyalty for the Trump Organization. And so, it was going to make it impossible for the defense to actually say that she was lying to help the government and to hurt Donald Trump.” ~~~

~~~ AND. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Jim Trusty, a former attorney for Donald Trump said the testimony of Hope Hicks in the ex-president’s New York criminal trial 'certainly hurts' his case.... '... You see a person that is clearly uncomfortable with being there, doesn’t want to hurt anybody, doesn’t want to be a part of it, but they end up giving devastating, very entertaining, and interesting information.'... During CNN’s coverage of the trial, network legal analyst Norm Eisen theorized that Hicks cried on the stand 'because she was throwing her former boss under the bus.'”

An elderly, sleepy-headed, possibly confused Donald Trump returned to the courtroom yesterday to face his accusers in a trial for financial records crimes the Manhattan D.A. alleges he committed in relation to his 2016 campaign for president*. New York Times reporters were on the scene to relay developments. Yesterday's Conversation includes many of their observations. 

Links to transcripts of the proceedings are here. (At 2:30 am ET Saturday, they do not yet include Friday's testimony.

Even Trump's Auditors Are Crooked. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “An accounting firm that audits the financial statements of hundreds of public companies including ... Donald J. Trump’s social media company can no longer do so, U.S. securities regulators said on Friday. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm, BF Borgers, with fraud, saying that it had failed to comply with accounting rules. In settling with the S.E.C., the firm agreed immediately stop filing audited statements on behalf of its clients. The regulator held BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin F. Borger, responsible for 'deliberate and systemic failures' to comply with accounting rules. The accompanying settlement requires both the firm and Mr. Borgers to pay a total of $14 million in civil penalties. Many companies that used BF Borgers must now find new auditors.” (Also linked yesterday.) A CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the SEC's press release.

Brandi Buchman of Law & Crime: "Charges have formally been made public against Mark Meadows, the onetime chief of staff to ... Donald Trump, in the expansive fake electors case now underway in Arizona.... Though several Republicans were named directly in the fraud and forgery indictment including, among others, leaders of the state’s Republican party and two incumbent state lawmakers, some of those charged had their identities redacted, including Meadows and Trump’s former attorney ... Rudy Giuliani.... The reason they were not named openly is because they had not yet been formally served."

Perry Stein & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) and his wife allegedly accepted $600,000 in bribes from an oil company controlled by the Azerbaijan government and a bank headquartered in Mexico, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Texas on Friday. The 68-year-old congressman and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, are accused of setting up front companies that entered into sham contracts with the bank and the Azerbaijan government, the indictment said. Through their lawyer, they denied wrongdoing. The 54-page indictment details a bold corruption scheme in which Cuellar — who co-chairs the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus — allegedly promised to wield his power as a U.S. congressman to advocate for his benefactors. To Azerbaijan, he pledged to influence legislation related to the country’s conflict with neighboring Armenia, insert favorable language into committee reports on economic aid programs and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor, the indictment says. To the Mexican bank, Cuellar allegedly promised to pressure executive branch officials to back off money laundering enforcement practices that threatened the bank’s business interests and to support legislation that would block regulation of the payday lending industry, which has been accused of exploiting poor Americans.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Nice to see Cuellar, who admittedly is a conservative Democrat but still a Democrat, join Sen. Bob Menendez in the (Alleged!) Crooked Democrats Club. It isn't fair that Republicans get to claim all the crooks.

Well, yesterday was just a Star Wars kinda day ~~~

~~~ GOP Battle of the Jewish Laser Beams! Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) took aim at his Republican colleague, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), on Friday after the Georgia Republican criticized him for authoring a bill regarding anti-Semitism that passed the House this week. Greene wrote on X, 'Since George Soros is Jewish and funds the radical left including the Pro-Hamas Protests breaking out on college campuses, thanks to Mike Lawler’s new Antisemitism bill, college kids who speak out against Soros could be convicted of being Antisemitic.'... [Lawyer wrote in a Tweet,] '... #MoscowMarjorie has gone off the deep end — may be the result of a space laser.'... PolitiFact fact-checked claims that Soros has funded the protest, writing, 'Soros’ grant-making organization, Open Society Foundations, has awarded grants to two groups that the New York Post article linked to the demonstrations, but the connections between Soros’ money and specific campus protesters had several degrees of separation.'”

The New York Times live-updated developments yesterday in the protests on U.S. college and university campuses.

Donald Trump Has Been Asking, “Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?” Let's Check. Top News in the New York Times, May 4, 2020: “President Trump predicted on Sunday night that the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the country may reach as high as 100,000 in the United States, twice as many as he had forecast just two weeks ago, even as he pressed states to reopen the shuttered economy.” MB: The actual number of recorded U.S. deaths from Covid -- so far -- is more than 1.1 million. ~~~

~~~ Better Than Bleach! I didn't know that Akhilleus was a scientist, but in yesterday's Comments he presented a proof that Donald Trump is not as smart as an orangutan. Bill Chappell of CNN: "When a wild orangutan in Indonesia suffered a painful wound to his cheek, he did something that stunned researchers: He chewed plant leaves known to have pain-relieving and healing properties, rubbed the juice on the open wound — and then used the leaves as a poultice to cover his injury. 'This case represents the first known case of active wound treatment in a wild animal with a medical plant,' biologist Isabelle Laumer, the first author of a paper about the revelation, told NPR."

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Missouri. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "A proposed amendment to enshrine abortion access in Missouri’s constitution cleared a key hurdle Friday to appear on the ballot this year after a coalition of reproductive rights advocates submitted the required number of valid signatures to state officials. Missourians for Constitutional Freedom ... announced it had collected signatures from more than 380,000 registered voters — more than the approximately 172,000 it needed to move forward with the process of qualifying their proposal for the ballot."

South Dakota. “Hey, Where’s Cricket?” Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: “First, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem wrote about killing her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, in her soon-to-be-released book, 'No Going Back.'... The scene of slaughter [during which Noem shot dead not only the young dog but also a buck goat] ends with Noem’s kids getting off the school bus, and her daughter asking, 'Hey, where’s Cricket?'... Then, over the course of three separate days, the Republican posted on social media about killing her dog — a series of missives that ranged from book promotion to defensive explanation to, finally, blame-the-media spin. And on Wednesday, Noem appeared on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, where the two devoted five minutes to Noem’s late wirehair pointer, as a befuddled Hannity tried to give Noem — who wrote about dragging her female dog out to a gravel pit and shooting her — the benefit of the doubt.... In short, Noem just can’t stop talking about killing her dog — much to the collective confusion of horrified observers.” ~~~ 

     ~~~ Marie: According to reports, Noem's telling of her murderous domestic animal rampage was not framed as a confession but as a boast about her super-MAGA toughness, apparently in an effort to impress Donald Trump enough to tap her as his running mate.

The Conversation -- May 3, 2024

Even Trump's Auditors Are Crooked. Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "An accounting firm that audits the financial statements of hundreds of public companies including ... Donald J. Trump's social media company can no longer do so, U.S. securities regulators said on Friday. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged the firm, BF Borgers, with fraud, saying that it had failed to comply with accounting rules. In settling with the S.E.C., the firm agreed immediately stop filing audited statements on behalf of its clients. The regulator held BF Borgers and its owner, Benjamin F. Borger, responsible for 'deliberate and systemic failures' to comply with accounting rules. The accompanying settlement requires both the firm and Mr. Borgers to pay a total of $14 million in civil penalties. Many companies that used BF Borgers must now find new auditors."

An elderly, sleepy-headed, possibly confused Donald Trump returns to the courtroom today to face his accusers in a trial for crimes the Manhattan D.A. alleges he committed in relation to his 2016 campaign for president*. New York Times reporters are on the scene to relay developments:

Maggie Haberman: "Justice Merchan is now addressing something that Trump said outside court yesterday, when he claimed that he could not testify because of the gag order.... The comment left many people confused, and it wasn't clear if Trump was simply making an excuse for not testifying, or if he misspoke. But Justice Merchan is informing him that the statement was incorrect. The gag order 'does not prohibit you from taking the stand' or limit what he can say, the judge says."

Jonah Bromwich: "Justice Merchan is now addressing something that Trump said outside court yesterday, when he claimed that he could not testify because of the gag order.... The comment left many people confused, and it wasn't clear if Trump was simply making an excuse for not testifying, or if he misspoke. But Justice Merchan is informing him that the statement was incorrect. The gag order 'does not prohibit you from taking the stand' or limit what he can say, the judge says.... Justice Merchan handled this deftly, taking the air out of a baseless argument that Trump appeared to float."

Kate Christobek: "When Merchan finished speaking, Trump mouthed the words 'thank you.'"

Haberman: "Justice Merchan was wise to clean up confusion. But Trump appeared to try to clean up his error himself to reporters in the hallway this morning before entering court. 'The gag order is not to testify. The gag order stops me from talking about people and responding when they say things about me,' he said."

Bromwich: "Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer, is now arguing about how a Washington Post article should be discussed at trial today. In doing so, he says he expects a witness to testify today about how the 'Access Hollywood' tape, on which Trump was caught describing assaults on women, affected his 2016 campaign."

Haberman: "Blanche is describing a Truth Social post made by Trump as an 'alleged' post, a reminder that the defense has refused to stipulate basic facts in the case repeatedly."

Haberman: "Emil Bove, the defense lawyer, is asking Douglas Daus, the tech witness, all kinds of jargony questions about disappearing message applications that were on Michael Cohen's phone. It sounds like it has substance, but realistically this seems to be more about chewing up time and stretching out the length of trial than provoking meaningful testimony."

Susanne Craig: "Daus's testimony is chewing up time, as Maggie notes, but it is quite interesting. He's explaining how law enforcement extracts information from a person's phone. It's straightforward to grab some things, say text messages. But some apps, such as Signal, have 'self-destruct' functions that can delete messages in just seconds."

Jesse McKinley: "Trump's eyes seem to be shut, as they sometimes have been during testimony. He addressed this on Thursday afternoon in a post to his Truth Social account, denying that he has been sleeping, and saying: 'I simply close my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!'" ~~~

~~~ Haberman: "Several people in his world have confirmed privately that he has been sleeping."

Haberman: "On re-direct, [prosecutor Chris] Conroy is using his time to ask questions that essentially mock what Emil Bove was asking. Without actually saying it, he is suggesting to the jury that Bove's line of questioning had little merit."

Bromwich: "Among his questions: 'I take it you're not a friend of Michael Cohen's?' and 'Is it unusual for a phone to be used?'"

Bromwich: "Georgia Longstreet, our next witness, is a paralegal at the Manhattan district attorney's office. She will be questioned by Rebecca Mangold, a prosecutor.: [Longstreet testifies as to how Twitter & the Wayback Machine work.]

Bromwich: "The jurors have just been excused.... The defense agrees to let a particularly damning piece of evidence -- a Washington Post article publicizing the 'Access Hollywood' tape -- in without a witness being questioned about it. The [jury returns and the] agreement, called a stipulation, was just read aloud to the jury and the judge had reason to explain the concept to the jury for the first time."

Haberman: "Prosecutors are now playing a video statement Trump put out right after the 'Access Hollywood tape' was made public by The Washington Post. He acknowledged in the video that he made the comments on the tape. The video statement was recorded after he had earlier refused to apologize, though his aides had encouraged him to.... It's worth noting, as we reported in 2017, that shortly before he took office, Trump started telling some Republicans that he was having the 'Access Hollywood' tape reviewed again and that it may not have been his voice on it, even though it was."

Haberman: "We're now getting a series of tweets into evidence: Trump attacking Senator John McCain, Trump insisting he never inappropriately touched two women who claimed he had, and Trump complaining he'd lost large numbers of female supporters, all from 2016.... There's now a Truth Social post from March 2023 in which Trump, in colorful terms, denies an affair with Stormy Daniels." ~~~

~~~ Bromwich: "While the defense lawyers agreed to let the Washington Post article in, they tried to fight the admission of these tweets. They were unsuccessful, and the witness, Georgia Longstreet, is now describing the posts from the stand, as Trump sits at the defense table scanning his old tweets."

Haberman: "Todd Blanche is now cross-examining the witness, with a really tortured set of questions in which he implies that someone else is writing Trump's social media posts, the ones Trump posts under his handle on a website that he routinely tells people is the true voice of America. That was a painful back-and-forth. He concluded his cross-examination shortly thereafter." ~~~

~~~ Bromwich: "Todd Blanche ... [asks] Georgia Longstreet ... about Michael Cohen and whether she tracked his social media as part of her job. She says she followed his tweets and his podcast, 'Mea Culpa.' Asked if she listened to every episode of the podcast, Longstreet responds 'absolutely not,' getting a big laugh in the courtroom."

Alan Feuer: "This evidence is reminiscent of the campaign rally videos prosecutors played for the jury a few days ago of Trump assailing women who made allegations against him. It appears designed to give the jurors insight into Trump's state of mind in late 2016 as incidents piled up that exposed his vulnerability among female voters.... The tweet that was introduced quoting Trump as saying 'IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU' was posted one day after he was arraigned ... on federal charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. One day after the post went up, a Texas woman left a racist message on the voicemail of the federal judge hearing Trump's case, threatening to kill her. (The woman was later arrested.)"

Craig: "The decision to enter evidence this way means the jury will see potentially damaging evidence at least twice, once now and again when future witnesses are asked about it." [MB: That was the defense's decision.]

Haberman: "The people call Hope Hicks, Matthew Colangelo, one of the prosecutors, says."

Cristobek: "Several members of the public in the overflow room gasped when her name was announced."

Haberman: "Hope Hicks refers to Trump as 'Mr. Trump.' Notably, she says she's paying for her own lawyer. She says the last time she spoke to Trump was in the summer or fall of 2022.... That was right around the time when text messages she exchanged with a colleague criticizing what was happening around the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob were made public.... Her voice is low and she is visibly uncomfortable. She is testifying under subpoena. She says she's 'nervous' as she tries speaking louder."

Jonathan Swan: "So far in her testimony, Hope Hicks has gone out of her way to praise Donald Trump and signal that she still feels fondly towards him."

Bromwich: "Matthew Colangelo keeps asking Hope Hicks to acknowledge that Trump oversaw every aspect of her job.... Again, this is key for prosecutors, showing that Trump is a hands-on manager -- and hoping to convince the jury he would have taken the same hands-on approach as Michael Cohen brought him news of negative stories to quash."

Haberman: "Hope Hicks is now recalling in detail how Trump praised David Pecker, who was then the publisher of The National Enquirer, after the tabloid ran a story saying one of his G.O.P. presidential rivals, Dr. Ben Carson, had left a sponge in a young girl's brain. 'Mr. Trump was congratulating him on the great reporting,' she recalls. 'This is Pulitzer-worthy,' Hicks says she recalls him saying." [MB: Not clear if either Hicks or Trump realizes how flat-out comical this praise is.]

Haberman: "Hope Hicks has just been shown the email that the reporter [Washington Post reporter] David Fahrenthold sent her on Oct. 7, 2016, seeking comment about the 'Access Hollywood' tape. The email contained a transcript of what was said on it. 'I was concerned. Very concerned. Yeah,' Hicks says. 'I was concerned about the contents of the email, I was concerned about the lack of time to respond, I was concerned that we had a transcript but not a tape. There was a lot at play.' She's then shown a copy of her email forwarding the message to her colleagues. In it, she says: 'Need to hear the tape to be sure,' and 'Deny, deny, deny.' She describes it to Matthew Colangelo, the prosecutor, as a 'reflex.'"

Bromwich: "... prosecutors ... [have] argued that the 'Access Hollywood' tape sent the campaign into a frenzy. Hicks certainly seems to support that, describing her reaction by using the word 'concerned' at least five separate times.... Hicks says that when she shared the email from The Washington Post with Trump, one of his initial reactions was to say that his comments about assaulting women 'didn't sound like something he would say.'" [MB: Right.]

** David Fahrenthold: "When I reached out to Hope Hicks about the 'Access Hollywood' video while I was working at The Washington Post, we already knew the tape was legitimate. But we wanted to know how Trump would explain his words. Her first reaction was, 'That doesn't sound like something he would say.' Now we know where she got that statement: directly from Trump himself."

Feuer: "The big picture here is that the 'Access Hollywood' tape is a kind of focal point for the prosecution's narrative that served to bring together all of Trump's worlds in the same time and place. It spooked his campaign. And in so doing, prosecutors say, it led to him to use people from the Trump Organization, like Michael Cohen, in an effort to quash Stormy Daniels's story much like he had used his contacts in the tabloid world to quash earlier scandals."

Swan: "The prosecution just played the video Trump recorded on Oct. 7, 2016, when he acknowledged that he'd said the words on the 'Access Hollywood' tape and he apologized for them. But within months after being elected, Trump was telling people privately that he thought the tape might be a fake. If a similar tape came out today, there is almost no doubt that Trump would claim it was artificial intelligence and many voters would likely believe that. It's impossible to imagine him releasing an apology like his 2016 one.... The prosecutors asked Hicks to respond to a parade of prominent Republican lawmakers in 2016 condemning Trump for the 'Access Hollywood' tape and distancing themselves from him. It's impossible to imagine the same thing happening today. Nearly all Republicans who were willing to publicly criticize Trump back then have either retired or been defeated in primaries...."

Christobek: "Hope Hicks testified that the media response to the Access Hollywood tape was 'intense' and that it 'dominated coverage.' She recalled that a Category 4 hurricane was anticipated to make landfall at that time but she doesn't think anyone remembers where or when the hurricane landed. 'It was all Trump all the time for the next 36 hours,' she said."

Bromwich: "Hope Hicks is now describing her knowledge of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, two women with salacious stories about Trump who received hush-money payments during the 2016 campaign. She learned about McDougal, she said, from the reporter Michael Rothfeld -- now a Times reporter -- while on Trump's plane.... Hicks is discussing an email from our colleague Michael Rothfeld, then at The Wall Street Journal, asking about Trump's relationship with the Playboy model Karen McDougal. Hicks says she forwarded the email to Jared Kushner, who was overseeing much of the campaign operation. She hoped, she said, that Kushner's good relationship with Rupert Murdoch -- who owned the Wall Street Journal, then our colleague's employer -- could 'buy a little extra time to deal with this.' Kushner responded that 'he wasn't going to be able to reach Rupert and we should just work on responding and dealing with it,' Hicks testifies."

Michael Rothfeld: "When I emailed Hope Hicks before publishing the Karen McDougal story a The Wall Street Journal, we knew that David Pecker and The National Enquirer had paid McDougal and that Pecker was Trump's longtime friend, but we couldn't definitively connect the deal to Trump. My questions to Hope Hicks were geared to trying to strengthen that connection, which would come out later." ~~~

~~~ Bromwich: "Prosecutors are seeking to make the same connection in the courtroom right now.... Stormy Daniels was also going to be mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article, Hope Hicks testifies, and says that she spoke not only to Michael Cohen about Daniels's claims, but to Trump too. This fits in with the prosecution's narrative -- it would make sense that Cohen would become increasingly more frantic in seeking to quiet Daniels once they knew a reporter was on the trail of her story. And we'll take our lunch break...."

Haberman: "Hope Hicks, testifying again, says she denied that Trump had a relationship with Stormy Daniels to The Wall Street Journal. She is then asked if she witnessed conversations between Trump and Michael Cohen. 'I believe I heard Mr. Trump speaking to Mr. Cohen shortly after the story was published,' she says."

Bromwich: "Hope Hicks is explaining how the Trump campaign responded to the story about Karen McDougal, who by this point had been paid money by the parent company of The National Enquirer to keep quiet. Hicks says that, internally, she was told -- presumably by the candidate himself -- that Trump had not had an affair with McDougal, but that she did not remember Trump 'verbatim' saying that he had no knowledge of that hush-money deal. The jury is seeing something that prosecutors have sought to show them is a lie being shared with the media, and the public.... We then see that Hicks denied 'unequivocally' to the Wall Street Journal that Trump had a relationship with Stormy Daniels. Hicks says that's what she was told, and that she testified to that effect in front of the grand jury that indicted the former president."

Swan: "The prosecution has now brought up text messages between Hope Hicks and Michael Cohen on Nov. 4, 2016, after the Wall Street Journal article about Trump's alleged affairs with Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels was published. Cohen is repeatedly -- and with great urgency -- asking Hicks for a status update on the story.... In these text messages, Cohen is closely monitoring how many other outlets are picking up on the WSJ story about the alleged hush-money payments. When Cohen mentions how little coverage the story was getting, Hope replies to Cohen, 'Keep praying!! It's working!'"

Bromwich: "Hicks acknowledges the irony as she reads these messages, in which Cohen fretted about the story becoming more public than it already was. The story, of course, became a criminal case -- the one you're reading about right now."

Haberman: "One text from Cohen to Hicks is particularly damaging to the defendant: Cohen says he's got a denial from Stormy Daniels, whom he calls 'Storm,' but is holding it in reserve. Cohen communicating with the campaign about Daniels's denial, and working with her on it, underscores the connections here."

Swan: "Hope Hicks says Trump was very concerned about the Wall Street Journal story about his alleged affairs and the hush-money payments. He was worried about his wife's reaction and asked Hicks to make sure the newspapers weren't delivered to their residence that morning. Trump also asked her how the story 'was playing' -- given this was only a few days before the election."

Bromwich: "Hicks just handed a real gift to the defense.... [Trump's professed concern about his wife] provides an alternative motive for covering up damaging information, a believable one that is unrelated to his electoral chances.... Colangelo sought to get another, more helpful response, asking if Trump was concerned about the campaign. Hicks acknowledged that Trump was concerned about how the story was playing -- but her answer about his family was far more specific, and definitive."

Haberman: "Listening to the testimony about the timing of all of this underscores the duality of Trump's life at that moment. On the one hand, he was on the cusp of becoming the president of the United States. On the other, he was still wading in the muck of the tabloid New York City life he had lived for decades."

Bromwich: "Hope Hicks is now describing the initial Wall Street Journal article about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. She says she cannot recall certain facts about this period, including a conversation with Michael Cohen. But she says if the prosecution has something to refresh her memory, she is willing to look at it. She has gotten considerably more nervous-looking again, clenching her jaw and stumbling a bit in her speech.... Hicks is asked what she made Trump's suggestion to her that Michael Cohen had made a payment to Stormy Daniels 'out of the kindness of his heart.' Hicks acknowledges that it did not fit in with the Cohen she knew, who she did not understand to be 'an especially charitable person or selfless person.'"

Feuer: "This testimony bolsters the prosecution's story that Trump was behind the payment to Daniels. Moments later, Hicks bolsters another part of the state's case, saying that it would have been bad if the scandal came out before the election."

[Marie: Somehow the reporters missed this. Susanne Craig said later on MSNBC that Hicks' direct testimony effectively ended with her acknowledging that Trump told her in 2018, when the WSJ published its story detailing the payment to Daniels that Trump told her it was better that the story came out in 2018 than right before the election.]

Bromwich: "... this is going to be a tricky cross-examination for the defense lawyer, Emil Bove, especially with a vulnerable witness. And Hope Hicks just began to cry."

McKinley: "Hicks suddenly broke down a little bit when she was asked about her time at the Trump Organization, and we're taking a break."

Bromwich: "Hope Hicks is back -- still looking fairly upset. She walks to the witness stand and takes a seat.... Emil Bove, the defense lawyer, heads straight into it, asking Hope Hicks about her relationships with the Trump family and employees of the Trump Organization."

Haberman: "Emil Bove is now asking Hicks about how Michael Cohen did not have an official role with Trump's 2016 campaign. 'He would try to insert himself at certain moments,' she said, which will feed into the defense's argument that Cohen was freelancing."

Swan: "Emil Bove builds on this theme, getting Hope Hicks to agree that Michael Cohen 'went rogue' and did things that were 'unauthorized.' These answers are largely helpful to the defense's efforts to build a case that Cohen could have arranged the hush money without Trump's direct orders."

Haberman: "Emil Bove is now asking Hope Hicks about Trump's concerned over how his wife would react to the 'Access Hollywood' tape. 'President Trump really values Mrs. Trump's opinion, and she doesn't weigh in all the time, but when she does, it's really meaningful to him,' Hicks says. 'He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was just concerned of what her perception of this would be.' Hicks's comments are similar to what a number of former White House officials have said about Trump's reactivity to his wife's opinions, regardless of what else was swirling around."

Bromwich: "Emil Bove’s last question to Hope Hicks was a pointed one, calling attention to the way that the actual charges of falsifying business records have not been discussed in two full weeks of testimony. 'While you were focused on your job at the White House,' he asked, 'you didn't have anything to do with the business records of the Trump Organization 200 plus miles away in New York City, did you?' Hicks said she didn't. That will conclude testimony for the week. The judge is excusing the jury now.... The lawyers are not quite done yet, even though the jury is. Prosecutors have asked whether they can question Trump, if he testifies, about his nine violations of his gag order. Todd Blanche, a defense lawyer, is asking the judge to bar any such question.... Merchan says he agrees with the defense, saying it would be too prejudicial for a jury to hear that the judge presiding over the trial at hand had found against the defendant. That's a win for Blanche. Merchan's ruling doubles as an acknowledgment of his own sway over the jury."

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Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden traveled on Thursday to North Carolina, a possible swing state in the fall election, to promote his efforts to replace toxic lead pipes as part of his administration's program to expand and upgrade the nation's network of roads, airports and other critical infrastructure. During a stop in Wilmington[, N.C.], the president announced $3 billion in new spending drawn from the bipartisan infrastructure law that he pushed through Congress in 2021, one of the signature legislative achievements he hopes to use to show voters that he can be effective despite political polarization."

Adam Cancryn of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses that have turned violent or resulted in property destruction, emphasizing that Americans only have the right to protest as long as it remains peaceful. 'There is a right to protest,' Biden said, in his most extensive remarks since the campus protest movement began. 'But there is not a right to cause chaos.' The president, however, rejected the idea that the National Guard should be called in to quell some of the demonstrations at campuses across the country. And he rejected the suggestion that the protest movement might persuade him to change course in the Middle East, where Biden has remained largely supportive of Israel's war in Gaza.... In his speech, Biden acknowledged the demonstrations are part of a long history of Americans exercising a right to free speech and assembly that he called 'American fundamental principles.' But he insisted the protests must stay within the law...." (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's report is here.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: At a campaign reception Wednesday night, President Biden took "a swipe at two of America's partners, saying that Japan and India are struggling economically 'because they're xenophobic.' He said the two democratic countries, along with China and Russia, 'don't want immigrants.'... The comments have the potential to be a diplomatic irritant for the administration, which has spent years courting the governments of both Japan and India as part of the president's strategy to counter Chinese aggression in the region.... But ... Mr. Biden is trying to find a politically palatable balance on immigration as he seeks a second term in the White House.... At the same time, Mr. Biden is trying to assert the moral high ground on the country''s treatment of migrants by drawing a contrast with ... Donald J. Trump and his yearslong assault on immigration." CNN's report is here.

Azi Paybarah of the Washington Post: "President Biden on Friday will give the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 19 people -- with recipients covering nearly every corner of American life, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Olympic champion Katie Ledecky, Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh and, posthumously, civil rights leader Medgar Evers." The article includes a list of all the recipients. A CBS News story is here.

Darlene Superville of the AP: "Jill Biden on Thursday paid tribute to her fellow teachers, hosting the 2024 national and state teachers of the year at a swanky White House dinner to honor their commitment to their students and excellence in the classroom.... President Joe Biden made a brief, surprise appearance at the East Room event immediately after he returned from a trip to North Carolina, saying he appreciates everything teachers do.... The national and state teachers of the year typically attend a White House ceremony after they're selected by an organization that represents elementary and secondary school educators. (They did not visit during the coronavirus pandemic.) But Jill Biden, who has taught English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College since 2009, added a new twist by honoring the teachers at a 'state dinner' instead." The New York Times story is here.

Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: "Thousands of undocumented immigrants will be able to obtain health care through the Affordable Care Act under a new federal rule, U.S. officials said this week. The new eligibility comes for those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which since 2012 has protected undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as young people from deportation. The program also provides recipients with work permits. More than 500,000 immigrants have DACA protections but have been ineligible for benefits such as federal health insurance programs. A rule set to be published Friday by the Health and Human Services Department would change that, granting such immigrants access to health coverage and subsidies under the Affordable Care Act when the regulation takes effect in November. U.S. officials estimate thatabout 100,000 uninsured people could obtain health insurance as a result." The CBS News story is here.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments in campus protests against the war on Gaza are here: "Law enforcement cleared a library at Oregon's Portland State University for a second time Thursday night, with the day's arrests there reaching at least 30, as pro-Palestinian protests and resulting police actions continued to roil the campus and many others across the country. In New York, police said that an officer at Columbia University who fired a gun on Tuesday discharged the weapon accidentally and that no one was hurt.... House Republicans have launched multiple investigations into the pro-Palestinian protests ... as part of what House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) described as a probe of antisemitism in America." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates Friday are here. ~~~

~~~ Julie Watson, et al., of the AP: "Police have arrested more than 2,100 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks, sometimes using riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside a Columbia University administration building while clearing out protesters camped inside, authorities disclosed Thursday. No one was injured by the officer's mistake late Tuesday inside Hamilton Hall on the Columbia campus, the NYPD said Thursday. He was trying to use the flashlight attached to his gun at the time and instead fired a single round that struck a frame on the wall. There were other officers but no students in the immediate vicinity, officials said. Body camera footage shows when the officer's gun went off, but the district attorney's office is conducting a review, a standard practice." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait a minute. I thought the NYPD sent highly-trained tactical units onto the Columbia campus. Wouldn't you think that training would include a class where the instructor demonstrated to the trainees the difference between a gun and a flashlight? I'm going to suggest they include that lesson in their next term's syllabus. ~~~

~~~ Jake Offenhartz of the AP: "Before police officers poured into Columbia University on Tuesday night..., New York City Mayor Eric Adams said ... 'outside agitators' working to 'radicalize our children' were leading students into more extreme tactics.... And one of them, Adams said repeatedly in media appearances Wednesday morning, was a woman whose husband was 'convicted for terrorism.' But the woman referenced by the mayor wasn't on Columbia's campus this week, isn't among the protesters who were arrested and has not been accused of any crime. Nahla Al-Arian, 63, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Adams had misstated both her role in the protests and the facts about her husband, Sami Al-Arian, a former computer engineering professor and prominent Palestinian activist. He was arrested in 2003 on charges of supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in the 1980s and 1990s, but a jury declined to convict him.... The complicated case remained in legal limbo for years, even after he took a plea deal on a lesser charge that his family said he accepted to get out of jail.... He was deported to Turkey in 2015, ending a case seen by some as an example of excessive government overreach." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, I don't know; repeatedly condemning a woman whose husband lives in another country and may or may not have associated with radicals some 35 years ago does seem a bit of a stretch.

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob

Jonah Bromwich & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: On a recording made by Michael Cohen in 2016, the jury in Donald Trump's Manhattan criminal trial heard "Mr. Cohen [discuss] 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.... [Trump] directed Mr. Cohen to 'pay with cash.' (Mr. Pecker, the jurors already know, was never repaid.)... On Thursday, prosecutors concluded their questioning of Keith Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer who had a niche practice representing people with often salacious claims against celebrities. In 2016, Mr. Davidson represented Stormy Daniels.... Mr. Davidson began the day by describing his unpleasant relationship with Mr. Cohen, and the former fixer's fevered efforts to keep allegations of extramarital affairs by Mr. Trump out of the public eye.... A defense lawyer, Emil Bove, in a furious cross-examination, painted a suddenly red-faced Mr. Davidson as a serial extortionist.... Mr. Davidson conceded he had no personal interactions with Mr. Trump....

"In another recording that was played while Mr. Davidson was on the stand, jurors heard Mr. Cohen say in 2017 that Mr. Trump hated 'the fact that we did it.' Mr. Davidson explained that Mr. Trump had been referring to the payment to Ms. Daniels, providing a boost to the prosecutors seeking to corroborate Trump's knowledge of and involvement in the deal.... On Thursday morning, the judge, Juan M. Merchan, heard arguments about four additional statements that prosecutors say violate the order, including remarks in the hallway outside the court, where Mr. Trump has taken to attacking the case and Democrats he feels are behind it. The judge did not immediately rule."

Thursday was another Sleepy Time Daycare Center day for Alleged Criminal No. 1 in downtown Manhattan, and New York Times reporters memorialized the occasion with their nearly-up-to-the-minute observations, many of which are republished in yesterday's Conversation. ~~~

~~~ Norm Eisen in a CNN opinion piece: "Perhaps the most dramatic moment of [Keith] Davidson's morning testimony came when he was asked about an election night 2016 text message exchange with Dylan Howard --a former editor of the National Enquirer who helped broker the negotiations for the story. The prosecution asked Davidson to explain the meaning of a text he had sent to Howard that evening. As the election was about to be called for Trump, Davidson sent a text to Howard asking, 'What have we done?'... He answered that it meant 'our efforts may have in some way -- strike that -- our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.'... The exchange ... reflects the purpose of the payment." ~~~

~~~ Stephen Robinson in Public Notice: "Donald Trump has downplayed the $130,000 hush payment made on his behalf to adult film performer Stormy Daniels as a 'simple private transaction.' In reality, it may have changed the course of US history.... [Trump's] improbable comeback [after release of the 'Access Hollywood' tape] is usually linked to FBI Director James Comey's October 28 letter that publicly announced the FBI had 'learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation' into [Hillary] Clinton's private email server use.... Trump was spinning the Access Hollywood recording as merely 'locker room talk' -- not something he'd actually do in real life -- but Daniels, like [Karen] McDougal, claimed that Trump cheated on his wife who'd given birth to their son just a few months earlier. This revelation that Trump was cheating on his mistress with an adult film actress would have solidified Trump's sleazeball image with the undecided voters he needed to swing his way."

~~~ Marie: So far, IMO, the prosecution has not presented any evidence that proves Trump was involved in -- or even had before-the-fact knowledge of -- the payment to Daniels. In fact, on the written agreement between Daniels & the Trump campaign, there is a line for the signature of Trump's pseudonym, and Trump didn't sign it. Although teevee commentators keep pointing out that Michael Cohen got nothing out of the deal, Davidson testified that Cohen thought Trump would give him a top job in the administration, so Cohen had nearly as much reason as Trump to want Trump to become president*. As for falsifying business records, it would be easy for Trump to claim that (a) he didn't know about them, or (b) that he knew about them, but that his shady accountant made them.

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: After court on Thursday, "a reporter asked [Donald Trump] about the possibility of [his] taking the stand.... 'Well, I'm not allowed to testify,' Trump replied. 'I'm under gag order I guess, right? I can't even testify.'... During Thursday's edition of The Lead, CNN's Jake Tapper asked former Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo about Trump's claim.... She replied, '... Of course he can testify. He has an absolute right to testify and he is not restricted in terms of what he can talk about as long as it's relevant, admissible evidence. So, the gag order has nothing to do with his testimony at trial. Perhaps he's confused about that, but it only talks about statements outside of court.'" ~~~

     ~~~Marie: As I recall, Trump's assertions about testifying have devolved from "Of course I'll testify; I've done nothing wrong," through "I want to testify" to "the mean Democrat judge won't let me testify." I want to congratulate Trump on managing to lie in every instance even when essentially reversing himself. That's tricky. If a simple person such as I said I would do something, then I said I wouldn't do it, one of those two opposing responses would be true.

Surprise! Allen Weisselberg Is a Shady Accountant. Charles Davis of Salon: "... emails obtained by The Daily Beast suggest not only that Weisselberg provided unreported labor for the campaign, in possible violation of campaign finance laws, but specifically helped on its filings with the Federal Election Commission.... Weisselberg's work appears to constitute an in-kind contribution to the campaign -- donated labor -- but does not show up on any FEC filings, The Daily Beast noted.... Though Weisselberg is not expected to testify in the [2016 election] case, he 'left behind a potentially priceless paper trail' for prosecutors, according to the report.... Prosecutors say they plan to introduce evidence at Trump's criminal trial showing that the former Trump Organization executive was involved in the hush money scheme." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "Jack Wade Whitton, a Georgia man who dragged an officer down the steps of the U.S. Capitol ... on Jan. 6 and bragged he 'fed' the officer to the mob, was sentenced to more than four years in prison Thursday. 'You're gonna die tonight!' Whitton admitted yelling at officers during one of several assaults he committed on law enforcement at the lower west tunnel, the scene of some of the worst violence during the Capitol attack. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Whitton to 57 months in prison and ordered mental health treatment. 'Those videos were gruesome,' Contreras said, referring to videos that showed the assault. 'You really went out of control.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump told Time magazine that he would consider pardoning and releasing all of the 800+ convicted January 6 felons. This is the same law-and-order ex-president* who this week called the largely peaceful campus protests "a disgrace to our country" and blamed President Biden for demonstrations.

Presidential Race

"Absolutely Thrilled." Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "... Trump has taken to claiming that the [post-Dobbs abortion] situation as it stands now is exactly what everyone wanted.... 'Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives -- they wanted to get abortion out of the federal government,' Trump claimed Wednesday at a rally in Wisconsin. 'Everybody wanted that....' This is not true.... 'Look,' Trump continued, talking about laws that would be and have been implemented at the state level, '... But basically the states decide on abortion, and people are absolutely thrilled with the way that;s going on.' This is also not true. This is, if it's possible,more not true.... Most people in most states believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases..., even in states that ban abortion completely...."

Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "The United Methodist Church, one of the largest organized Christian groups in America, ended a slew of anti-LGBT policies this week, including a ban on gay clergy and on penalties for clergy who conduct same-sex marriages. The moves came as votes of the UMC's General Conference, the denomination's legislative body, which normally meets every four years. While multiple other mainline Protestant groups, including Episcopalians and the United Church of Christ, years ago ended anti-LGBTQ+ policies, the United Methodists -- who historically have been more politically and regionally diverse -- remained deeply divided. Tensions stayed high in recent years as advocates for liberal reforms kept pressing for change and conservatives continued to resist.... Nearly a quarter of the UMC's 30,000 congregations in the United States have left since 2019, >primarily conservatives. That's when denominational leaders opened a window for congregations to leave with their property, according to the UMC news service."

Fatal Coincidence? Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: "Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor who alleged he was fired from his job at a major Boeing contractor in retaliation for raising concerns about the 737 Max jet, died Tuesday morning after a brief illness, according to press reports and social media posts from family members.... The news comes after the death in March of John Barnett, a quality manager who flagged safety concerns in the production of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. He was found in his car with what authorities said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The investigation into that case is ongoing."

The South Is Drowning. Chris Mooney, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of the most rapid sea level surges on Earth is besieging the American South, forcing a reckoning for coastal communities across eight U.S. states, a Washington Post analysis has found.... The Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average rate of sea level rise since 2010, a Post analysis of satellite data shows. Few other places on the planet have seen similar rates of increase...." MB: And of course it will be up to the rest of us to literally try to bail out the Southern climate deniers. The price we pay for the wilful stupidity of wingers is incalculable.

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Arizona. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs [D] on Thursday signed a repeal of the state's near-total abortion ban that has been on the books since the Civil War, capping a political scramble sparked by a controversial state Supreme Court ruling last month. Flanked by Democratic lawmakers who helped wrangle the bill through the GOP-controlled Legislature, Hobbs signed the repeal inside the state Capitol one day after the state Senate passed it.... But even after Hobbs' signature, the road ahead on how and what abortion restrictions will be enforced in Arizona remains complicated: The ban is still bound to go into effect for a period of time due to unique aspects of Arizona law." The article explains those "unique aspects."

Arkansas. Andrew Demillo of the AP: "Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared Thursday that the state won't comply with a federal regulation that seeks to protect the rights of transgender students in the nation's schools, joining other Republican-led states that are defying the new rules. Sanders signed an executive order stating that Arkansas schools will continue to enforce restrictions on which bathrooms and pronouns transgender students can use, laws that could be invalidated by the new regulations on how to enforce Title IX.... Sanders' order follows similar moves by several other states, including Texas and Oklahoma, that have told schools to not comply with the new regulation. Lawsuits also have been filed in federal courts in Texas, Alabama, Louisiana and Kentucky challenging the rule.... Sanders' order follows several moves by Arkansas to restrict the rights of transgender youth."

Michigan. AP: "The former leader of the Michigan House and his wife pleaded not guilty Thursday [link fixed] to financial charges arising from an investigation of how they spent money from unregulated political funds. Lee Chatfield and Stephanie Chatfield appeared in a Lansing-area court by video conference from Kentucky.... Chatfield, a Republican, was speaker of the House in 2019 and 2020. He is accused of using money for personal travel, housing and other benefits when he was in office. Investigators said he tapped political funds that were created under federal law as tax-exempt social welfare organizations. Stephanie Chatfield monitored her husband's credit card balance and paid it off with money from the Peninsula Fund, including $132,000 over a 14-month period, Attorney Dana Nessel said when charges were filed in April." MB: Looks as if odds are high that if you're a Republican lawmaker, you're a crook.

Texas. So We Begin. Caroline Kitchener of the Washington Post: "As soon as Collin Davis found out his ex-partner was planning to travel to Colorado to have an abortion in late February, the Texas man retained a high-powered antiabortion attorney [Jonathan Mitchell] -- who court records show immediately issued a legal threat. If the woman proceeded with the abortion, even in a state where the procedure remains legal, Davis would seek a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abortion and 'pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child,' the lawyer wrote in a letter.... Now, Davis has disclosed his former partner's abortion to a state district court in Texas, asking for the power to investigate what his lawyer characterizes as potentially illegal activity.... The previously unreported petition was submitted under ... the state's wrongful-death statute or the novel Texas law known as Senate Bill 8 that allows private citizens to file suit against anyone who 'aids or abets' an illegal abortion.... Mitchell suggests in the petition that people who helped [the woman] procure the abortion could be found liable."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.

News Lede

CNBC: "The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in April while the unemployment rate rose, reversing a trend of robust job growth that had kept the Federal Reserve cautious as it looks for signals on when it can start cutting interest rates. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 175,000 on the month, below the 240,000 estimate from the Dow Jones consensus, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 3.9% against expectations it would hold steady at 3.8%."

The Conversation -- May 2, 2024

Surprise! Allen Weisselberg Is a Shady Accountant. Charles Davis of Salon: "... emails obtained by The Daily Beast suggest not only that Weisselberg provided unreported labor for the campaign, in possible violation of campaign finance laws, but specifically helped on its filings with the Federal Election Commission.... Weisselberg's work appears to constitute an in-kind contribution to the campaign -- donated labor -- but does not show up on any FEC filings, The Daily Beast noted.... Though Weisselberg is not expected to testify in the [2016 election] case, he 'left behind a potentially priceless paper trail' for prosecutors, according to the report.... Prosecutors say they plan to introduce evidence at Trump's criminal trial showing that the former Trump Organization executive was involved in the hush money scheme."

Adam Cancryn of Politico: "President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses that have turned violent or resulted in property destruction, emphasizing that Americans only have the right to protest as long as it remains peaceful. 'There is a right to protest,' Biden said, in his most extensive remarks since the campus protest movement began. 'But there is not a right to cause chaos.' The president, however, rejected the idea that the National Guard should be called in to quell some of the demonstrations at campuses across the country. And he rejected the suggestion that the protest movement might persuade him to change course in the Middle East, where Biden has remained largely supportive of Israel's war in Gaza.... In his speech, Biden acknowledged the demonstrations are part of a long history of Americans exercising a right to free speech and assembly that he called 'American fundamental principles.' But he insisted the protests must stay within the law...."

It's another Sleepy Time Daycare Center day for Alleged Criminal No. 1 in downtown Manhattan, and New York Times reporters are memorializing the occasion with their nearly-up-to-the-minute observations:

Jonah Bromwich: "We begin with prosecutors reviewing the four alleged gag order violations. The prosecutor handling this hearing, Chris Conroy, is the same one who succeeded at the last one, after which Trump was found to have violated the gag order nine of 10 times. The alleged violations today include attacks on Michael D. Cohen..., a compliment made about another witness, David Pecker.... Any speech directed toward witnesses, prosecutors say, even complimentary speech, is a violation."

Kate Christobek: "Moments into the prosecutors' argument, Trump slapped the arm of his lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, and gestured with his hands. They spoke briefly and then Trump sat back and immediately shut his eyes."

Bromwich: "Todd Blanche is speaking quickly as he defends Trump's comments about David Pecker, whom Trump said had been 'very nice.' Blanche says that Trump sidestepped the reporter's question about him and gave a 'factual and neutral answer.' He says there was no willful violation of the order. 'It's not just about Mr. Pecker,' the judge responds, saying Trump's comments affect other witnesses as well.... [Blanche] He now mentions a comment from President Biden at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in which the president made an oblique reference to Stormy Daniels, saying that Trump had been experiencing 'stormy weather.' But the judge asks, isn't it possible to respond to Biden without actually mentioning Daniels, a potential witness?"

Jesse McKinley: "Trump appeared to get frustrated during this exchange and motioned with his hands." [MB: IOW, Trump continues to behave like a bratty child, unable to behave in a manner appropriate to the and circumstance.]

Maggie Haberman: "It's quite something hearing Todd Blanche complain about media coverage, when Trump personally loves how much attention he gets from the trial.... An animated Todd Blanche is suggesting that Trump simply has to respond to reporters who ask him about witnesses. Justice Merchan is not buying it.... 'It was your client who went down to that holding area and stood in front of the press and started to speak. It wasn't the press that went to him.... Nobody forced your client' to go talk to reporters in the courthouse hallway when he attacked Cohen."

Bromwich: "Overall, I think it's fair to say that this hearing is going better for Blanche than the last one. THe judge is nodding at some of his arguments about one alleged violation and already said that he was not concerned about another one. Even now, saying 'you made your point' to Blanche, the judge softens the statement with a smile."

Haberman: "Todd Blanche is now talking about TikTok videos that Cohen has recently done criticizing Trump. 'This is not a man that needs protection from the gag order,' Blanche says."

Bromwich: "This is a serious concern for prosecutors. Their witness, who had said that he would be silent after having attacked Trump, has not fulfilled that pledge. And the judge has already written that he is somewhat sympathetic to the defense's argument here."

Bromwich: "Keith Davidson starts off the day by reminding the jury ... how bad things had gotten between him and Michael Cohen. Dylan Howard, the editor of The National Enquirer, had to step in because Davidson believed Cohen was 'not telling me the truth' about the delay in receiving a hush money payment for Daniels's story.... And now, on the screen, we see that Davidson, in the point he's reached in the story, has received the hush-money payment. In a text message to Howard, he writes: 'funds received.'"

Bromwich: "We are now looking at a January 2018 statement from Stormy Daniels, in which she denied reports of a relationship with Trump, a denial she would later rescind. Later, she would say that while she did not have an affair with Trump, she did have sex with him.... [The prosecutor Joshua] Steinglass asks: 'Did you intend for this statement to be cleverly misleading?' 'I don't understand the question,' Davidson responds, before going on to add that he would 'never' use the term 'hush money' for payment that was made. He prefers the term 'consideration.'"

Christobek: "We're hearing now that in mid-January 2018, Michael Cohen texted Keith Davidson that he had tentatively scheduled Stormy Daniels to appear on the television program 'Hannity,' which she never did. Joshua Steinglass ... asked why Cohen was pushing for her to appear on the program. Davidson answered that Cohen believed Daniels would further deny the sexual encounter with Trump."

Bromwich: "We're now seeing the aftermath of an unsuccessful hush-money payment, as Michael Cohen pleads with and cajoles Keith Davidson to bar Stormy Daniels from doing any interviews in response to The Wall Street Journal's reporting about the deal. Davidson says Cohen was in one of his 'pants-on-fire' stages.... As Keith Davidson testifies about how handling both Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen made his life more and more complicated, he is describing the settings of conversations with remarkable vividness.... Keith Davidson is asked to explain an interaction with Michael Cohen as they drafted a statement to be sent to Chris Cuomo, then a journalist at CNN. We are starting to see -- at this point in the narrative, February 2018 -- the way that the story of Stormy Daniels was starting to draw broader attention from the news media."

Haberman: "Keith Davidson testifies that Michael Cohen threatened a lawsuit against Stormy Daniels 'many times.' He can be a 'very aggressive guy,' Davidson says."

Bromwich: "... Steinglass asked Davidson if he had any stake in the outcome of the trial. Davidson said that he did not."

Bromwich: "[Trump's lawyer Emil] Bove begins by establishing that Davidson has not met Trump, which may help outline the first stage of the cross-examination: that the former president had nothing to do with all this.... Bove returns to the topic of how Michael Cohen wanted a job in Trump's White House and acted despondent, on a call with Keith Davidson, when he did not receive it. Davidson, asked about that call, says: 'I thought he was going to kill himself.' Bove then squeezes into his questioning that Cohen had hoped for a high-ranking position, even as high as U.S. attorney general."

Haberman: "Emil Bove ... is going in a sharp direction with Keith Davidson. He recalls him saying Michael Cohen could be 'aggressive,' saying, 'And you can be aggressive too, can't you?' 'I suppose,' Davidson all but mumbles. 'What does the word "extortion" mean to you?' Bove asks. It is clear where this is going."

Bromwich: "The point here is to make Keith Davidson look like a scuzzy almost-criminal who extorted the Trump campaign in 2016, and it is very clear that Davidson understands that and he is visibly unhappy about it."

Haberman: "Emil Bove is now trying to paint Keith Davidson as a serial extorter, asking for money in various situations and being mindful not to cross the line into actual extortion."

Alan Feuer: "Emil Bove is successfully digging up unsavory episodes from Keith Davidson's past to cast him as shady -- for example, Bove says, a former of client of his leaked information that the Hollywood star Lindsayg Lohan was in rehab."

Bromwich: "Two more celebrities have just been named -- Tila Tequila, a reality television star, and the actor Charlie Sheen. Emil Bove is at the moment accusing Keith Davidson of essentially extorting Sheen. The jurors are glued to this, just as they were to Davidson's testimony earlier today."

Haberman: "Lots of 'I don't recalls' from Davidson during this cross-examination. Bove is making him appear not like a truthteller, but like someone who is unethical. And Bove is increasingly heading toward the suggestion that the money to Stormy Daniels may not have been paid to cover up an affair with Daniels, but because Trump was being shaken down.... This is getting very hostile quickly."

Bromwich: "Emil Bove just told Keith Davidson that he was 'not here to play lawyer games' and something in Davidson, who had been acting like a punching bag until this point, seems to have changed. He's now fighting back, telling Bove that he is 'getting truthful answers, sir,' with a very sarcastic spin on the word 'sir.' Very, very confrontational in here. The jurors are sitting straight up in their seats.... Emil Bove is back asking about Hulk Hogan, and the media outlet Gawker having run a sex tape involving Hogan. Bove says that Keith Davidson used connections at a different website, The Dirty, to get stills from the video posted there. Gawker was eventually sued out of existence by Hogan, in a lawsuit financed by the billionaire Peter Thiel.... It's remarkable just how much of American life over a decade or so is coming up in this trial: It's really a referendum, not only on the politics of 2016 but on the celebrity-obsessed digital media environment in which Trump rose to political prominence."

** Haberman: "Whereas David Pecker was almost carefree as he answered questions about the business of sleaze that he oversaw, Davidson appears something akin to ashamed as he is forced to answer questions about other celebrities who his clients purportedly had relations with, and from whom they sought money to stay quiet. Pecker's demeanor, meanwhile, resembled Trump's over the years: he did not give in and showed no signs of shame." [Lunch break.]

Haberman: "Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyers, begins by asking for a clarification on the gag order, giving a copy of some news articles to the judge. The articles are by what she calls 'legal commentators' including Jonathan Turley, saying, 'These articles are all articles which President Trump would like to post on Truth.' She says they involve some witnesses and aspects of the case, but Trump has 'concerns' about posting because they reference witnesses. She asks about 'ambiguity' in the gag order.... Christopher Conroy, the prosecutor, says they need to go through the articles but that it's 'odd' that the defense is asking for an advance ruling.... Justice Merchan says..., 'I'm not going to give advance rulings.... There is no ambiguity, I believe, in the order.' He advises that if Trump is in doubt, he should 'steer clear.'"

Haberman: "[Emil] Bove is introducing something that was almost certain to come up -- how Cohen would secretly tape people. Davidson acknowledges he believed Cohen was taping him at certain times.... Emil Bove is making Keith Davidson listen to a recording that Michael Cohen surreptitiously made of him, on which Davidson apparently talked about people having 'settler's remorse,' a reference to Stormy Daniels." [Only Bove, the prosecutor Steinglass, Davidson & the judge can hear the recording. MB: The reporters don't say how Bove used the tape other than to indicate he provided it to refresh Davidson's memory.]

Haberman: "Prosecutors are now playing a portion of a conversation with Keith Davidson that Michael Cohen secretly taped."

Bromwich: "In the recording we just heard, Michael Cohen said that Trump hates 'the fact that we did it.' Keith Davidson clarifies that this in response to the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. It's fascinating to hear this on redirect -- it's a key piece of evidence, that would seem to corroborate Trump's knowledge of and involvement in the deal.... For two days of testimony, the jurors have heard Davidson describe Cohen as a difficult man to deal with. But hearing Cohen's hectoring, imploring voice right now, they really get a visceral sense of it, in a way that no testimony could quite capture."

Bromwich: "A new witness, who works for the district attorney's office, has just been sworn in. His name is Douglas Daus and he is a senior forensic analyst."

Haberman: "The prosecutor is walking this witness, who extracted data from Michael Cohen's cellphones, through confirming that Cohen was texting with Hope Hicks, at the time Trump's spokeswoman.... The courtroom is now hearing a recording Michael Cohen secretly made of Trump talking. On the recording, Cohen is talking to Trump, with what sounds like Hope Hicks in the background. Cohen is explaining they had just gotten served by The New York Times to unseal records from Trump's first divorce. That divorce, from Ivana Trump, was incredibly contentious.... The key part of this tape is the end, where Michael Cohen is telling Trump, 'I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David [Pecker].' Cohen says he talked to Allen Weisselberg, who was the Trump Organization's chief financial officer at the time. Cohen references 'the financing,' and Trump interjects, 'What financing?'"

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Danielle Paquette, et al., of the Washington Post: "Colleges and universities reckoned Wednesday with the aftermath of major shows of police force across the country that cleared some protest encampments and emptied a Manhattan classroom building in a turning point following two weeks of contagious pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Even after a fragile calm resettled over campuses that have seen the bulk of the chaos, footage of officers in riot gear extracting students from Columbia University's Hamilton Hall -- the most searing images from 24 hours of tense confrontations between law enforcement and protesters -- sparked debates nationwide as Americans struggled to make sense of it all. In a nation that prides itself on free expression-- but where people report feeling less safe, even in places where crime is dropping -- some administrators, criticized by all sides, have sought police help when negotiations with students, in their view, failed." ~~~

     ~~~ New York Times live updates are here. CNN's live updates are here. ~~~

     ~~~ Peter Nicholas, et al., of NBC News: "Joe Biden's advisers believe that tensions over U.S. support for Israel in the war in Gaza spreading through college campuses will soon flame out and that there is neither a need nor an upside for him to weigh in more directly.... Speaking Wednesday at a campaign event in Wisconsin, Trump derided the protesters as 'raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers' and called on Biden to 'speak out' -- accusing him of being 'definitely against Israel.'... Trump's stance is simple enough for a bumper sticker: 'People have to respect law and order in this country,' he wrote Tuesday on social media." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Uh, wait one minute. You mean Alleged Criminal No. 1 is complaining about other people not respecting the law?? Most of the "raging lunatics" will not be arrested. Even among those who are arrested, many will not be charged, and authorities will like drop charges against many others. (Judges and juries may acquit others.) By contrast, prosecutors have charged Donald Trump with 91 felonies (a Georgia judge threw out three of those charges). Protests are generally legal under the First Amendment (although they may violate local laws or regulations); plotting to seize the presidency after losing the election -- not so much. ~~~

     ~~~ MEANWHILE. Stephen Groves of the AP: "House Republicans on Tuesday announced an investigation into the federal funding for universities where students have protested the Israel-Hamas war, broadening a campaign that has placed heavy scrutiny on how presidents at the nation's most prestigious colleges have dealt with reports of antisemitism on campus. Several House committees will be tasked with a wide probe that ultimately threatens to withhold federal research grants and other government support to the universities, placing another pressure point on campus administrators who are struggling to manage pro-Palestinian encampments, allegations of discrimination against Jewish students and questions of how they are integrating free speech and campus safety. The House investigation follows several recent high-profile hearings that precipitated the resignations of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. And House Republicans promised more scrutiny, saying they were calling on the administrators of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to testify next month." (See also stories below on House passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Trump and other Republicans are faulting President Biden for the "raging lunatics" disrupting campus life. But the intensity of some demonstrations certainly derives from House Republicans' attacks on universities & college administrators' blundering responses to those attacks. Oh, and maybe I should mention that for Republicans who expect to return to Israel just before Jesus beams them up to heaven, it's far more fun to agitate against the protesters than the atrocities they are protesting. ~~~

     ~~~ Tom Sullivan in Hullabaloo: "Young-uns, like minority groups conservatives disfavor, ought to know their places and stay in them. But no. Around the U.S., students upset at the disproportionate carnage and destruction Israeli forces are visiting upon the Gaza Strip are acting out. Naturally, the Deputy [Barney] Fifes in the House Republican caucus want to nip that in the bud." ~~~

     ~~~ ** Jeff Greenfield of Politico Magazine: "Most media retrospectives of the 1960s celebrate the marchers, the protests, the peace signs along with the compulsory Buffalo Springfield lyrics ('There's something happening here/ But what it is ain't exactly clear'). The reality is those upheavals were an enormous in-kind contribution to the political fortunes of the right. And if history comes even close to repeating itself, then the latest episode will redound to Donald Trump's benefit. Begin with this, unfortunately accurate, generalization: Protests of any kind, even those most justified, produce a sense of unease among the public." Read on.

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration will forgive $6.1 billion in debt held by 317,000 former students of the defunct for-profit chain the Art Institutes, marking one of the Education Department's largest group discharges of federal student loans. The decision covers people who were enrolled at any Art Institute campus from Jan. 1, 2004, to Oct. 16, 2017, a period in which Education Management Corp. (EDMC) owned the chain of schools.... 'This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies,' President Biden said in a statement. 'While my predecessor looked the other way when colleges defrauded students and borrowers, I promised to take this on directly to provide borrowers with the relief they need and deserve.'"

Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged and signaled that they were wary about how stubborn inflation was proving, paving the way for a longer period of high borrowing costs. The Fed held rates steady at 5.3 percent on Wednesday, leaving them at a more than two-decade high, where they have been set since July. Central bankers reiterated that they needed 'greater confidence' that inflation was coming down before reducing them. 'Readings on inflation have come in above expectations,' Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said at a news conference after the release of the central bank's rate decision."

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday a ban on most uses of methylene chloride, a toxic solvent used in paint stripping that has been linked to at least 88 accidental deaths since 1980.... Methylene chloride is often used to refinish bathtubs and furniture, and to make pharmaceuticals and refrigerants. Short-term exposure can cause dizziness, headaches and damage to the central nervous system. Long-term exposure is linked to several types of cancer, including those of the brain, breast, liver and lung.... Experts say the Biden administration's [toxic chemical bans] represent the most significant restrictions on toxic chemicals in decades."

Clare Foran of CNN: "The House voted on Wednesday to pass the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act.... Supporters of the legislation say it will help combat antisemitism on college campuses, but opponents say it overreaches and threatens to chill free speech. The bill would mandate that when the Department of Education enforces federal anti-discrimination laws it uses a definition of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.... The House vote was 320 to 91 with 70 Democrats and 21 Republicans voting against the bill. The GOP opposition largely came from the right flank of the conference. The bill would next need to be taken up by the Senate." The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats found themselves in an increasingly familiar position on Wednesday -- bailing out Speaker Mike Johnson despite their frustration with his tactics.... Democrats raged about Johnson holding a vote on the bill, introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), rather than a more comprehensive and bipartisan antisemitism bill introduced by Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.). The bill was seen by many Democrats as more of an effort to divide their party than actually combat antisemitism.... Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a Jewish progressive with concerns about the IHRA antisemitism definition, said he voted for the bill 'on the theory that it's basically meaningless and harmless.... The one we really need is Kathy Manning's bill ... [this] was just one more superficial "gotcha" bill,' Raskin said." MB: Why, it's almost as if Mikey is not grateful that Democrats keep bailing him out.

Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said Wednesday she will force a vote next week to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, daring Democrats and the speaker's GOP allies to step in and save his job. Wearing a red 'MAGA' hat, Greene accused Johnson of betraying the GOP and going against conservative wishes on government funding bills, passing Ukraine aid and reauthorizing the FISA surveillance program without new warrant requirements, among other issues. 'So next week, I am going to be calling this motion to vacate. Absolutely calling it,' Greene said at a news conference outside of the Capitol. 'I can't wait to see Democrats go out and support a Republican speaker and have to go home to their primaries and have to run for Congress again.'" Here's the New York Times' story. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So, according to Miss Margie's "logic," I'll vote for a Republican in this year's Congressional election because I'm so upset the Democrats helped Republicans save a slightly functioning Congress from MAGA Marge. Okay, then. ~~~

~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats met Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) plan to force a vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) with dismissal and derision.... 'She is about to realize her inevitable irrelevance,' one senior House Democrat told Axios just minutes after Greene made her announcement. Another senior House Democrat cast Greene's motion as 'drama that hurts Republicans.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

The Trials of Trump & the Trump Mob, Ctd.

digby: "The reality is that Trump looks tired (very tired!) weak and vulnerable and the trial exposes him for the despicable creep he has always been. But not on Fox [as Greg Sargent of the New Republic relates]: '... both [Jesse] Watters and [Jeanine] Pirro insist Trump is shining in the role of defendant. They are trying to depict Trump as simultaneously a victim and a formidable warrior, one who is fighting back against corrupt, powerful forces that are persecuting him. Similarly, as Media Matters' Matt Gertz details, Fox figures praising Trump's courtroom naps are practically painting them as acts of heroic defiance against an illegitimate prosecution.'... You'd think he'd just act confident and self-assured about the outcome and treat the whole thing as a minor inconvenience instead of turning his whining up to 1. But then I guess he knows his cult better than anyone and understands that they love his whining and complaining more than anything."

Attn: Jack Smith. Chris Cameron & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump said on Wednesday that he asked his Secret Service detail to take him to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, acknowledging a key detail of his actions that were central to the findings of the House committee established to investigate the attack. During a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wis., Mr. Trump brought up a sensational but disputed element of testimony given to the House Jan. 6 committee by a Trump White House aide: that Mr. Trump had lunged for the wheel and physically struggled with Secret Service agents when they refused to take him to join the large crowd of supporters who were marching toward the Capitol. 'I sat in the back,' Mr. Trump said, giving his version of events. 'And you know what I did say? I said, "I'd like to go down there because I see a lot of people walking down." They said, "Sir, it's better if you don't." I said, "Well, I'd like to."' 'It's better if you don't,' Mr. Trump recounted an agent saying. The former president said he replied, 'All right, whatever you guys think is fine,' and added, 'That was the whole tone of the conversation.'...

"In an interview with the [House January 6] committee, Mr. Trump's driver, whose name was not disclosed, said: 'The president was insistent on going to the Capitol. It was clear to me he wanted to go to the Capitol.'... The driver said that while he did not see Mr. Trump accost agents or reach for the steering wheel, 'what stood out was the irritation in his voice, more than his physical presence.'" MB: Trump's account of his even-keeled, polite demeanor is obviously fantastical, but he seems to want to portray himself as a hero who would lead his troops into the Capitol as in the equally fantastical 1851 painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware (or, as they say on Fox, Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon [see yesterday's Comments on this]). The NBC News story is here.

Where Did It All Go, Rudy? Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "Besieged by creditors and with his income drying up, Rudolph W. Giuliani laid out an austerity program of sorts in January for a federal bankruptcy court. He would stick to a $43,000-a-month budget, he said in court filings, roughly in line with the income he drew from his retirement accounts and Social Security.... Suggesting that he was mindful of the $153 million he owes to creditors, including two Georgia election workers he defamed..., he budgeted nothing for entertainment, clubs and subscriptions. It did not take him long to blow his budget. In another bankruptcy filing, he said he actually spent nearly $120,000 in January. The accounting of his spending that he provided to the court was spotty and incomplete. He later provided more information to the creditors' lawyers, listing 60 transactions on Amazon, multiple entertainment subscriptions, various Apple services and products, Uber rides and payment of some of his business partner's personal credit card bill.... His spending, and his inability or unwillingness to give the bankruptcy court a fuller look at his financial status, have left his creditors suspicious and angry."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A judge in California turned down an urgent plea Wednesday from John Eastman -- an architect of Donald Trump's bid to subvert the 2020 election -- to allow him to keep practicing law while he fights an effort to permanently revoke his license. Judge Yvette Roland recommended Eastman's disbarment in March after finding he repeatedly breached legal ethics in service of Trump's scheme to stay in power. Though her ruling is not the final word -- and Eastman plans to appeal -- it triggered an automatic suspension of Eastman's license.... 'Eastman's motion fails to demonstrate that he no longer presents a threat to the public,' Roland wrote in a three-page order."

Presidential Race

Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "On the day that Florida began to enforce its six-week abortion ban, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a searing attack on ... Donald J. Trump in Jacksonville, calling the measure 'another Trump abortion ban' and saying he was forcing women to live a 'horrific reality' without access to essential medical care.... 'Just this week, in an interview, Trump said that states have the right to monitor pregnant women to enforce these bans, and to punish pregnant women for seeking out abortion care,' Ms. Harris warned.... President Biden has made abortion -- a rare issue on which he polls strongly against Mr. Trump -- a pillar of his re-election campaign."

Michael Gold & Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "... 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.... Mr. Trump's vow to 'fight for the right of the country' also echoes his speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, where he told his supporters that 'if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore,' before urging his supporters to march to the Capitol. As he campaigns in battleground states this year, Mr. Trump has repeatedly ... [told] the same lies that he used to assail the integrity of the 2020 election. Months before any voting has taken place, Mr. Trump has regularly made the baseless claim that Democrats are likely to cheat to win." ~~~

~~~ ** Stephen Collinson of CNN: "On a sun-soaked airfield in Michigan on Wednesday..., [Donald Trump] conjured a strongman's vision of a future America that would cause the country's founders to shudder.... Trump used his most energetic rally in months on Wednesday to show a second term would test the law even more than his first. 'When I return to the White House, we will stop the plunder, rape, slaughter, and destruction of the American suburbs, cities and towns,' Trump vowed, pledging mass deportations of undocumented migrants, crackdowns on the bureaucracy and higher education and on what he called the 'communists and criminals' in the Democratic Party. Earlier in Wisconsin, he updated his sketch of an 'American carnage' national hellscape, warning that the nation was under siege from 'radical extremists and far-left agitators who are terrorizing college campuses.'... Six months before the election, Trump's searing campaign rhetoric is becoming less an exercise in performative demagoguery than a blueprint for a potential second term."

Donald Trump Has Been Asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" Let's Check. Top News in the New York Times, May 2, 2020: "President Trump moved on Friday night to replace a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services who angered him with a report last month highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House waited until after business hours to announce the nomination of a new inspector general for the department who, if confirmed, would take over for Christi A. Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general who was publicly assailed by the president at a news briefing three weeks ago. The nomination was the latest effort by Mr. Trump against watchdog offices around his administration that have defied him." ~~~

~~~ AND. Top News in the New York Times, May 1, 2020: "With a flood of unemployment claims continuing to overwhelm many state agencies, economists say the job losses may be far worse than government tallies indicate. The Labor Department said Thursday that 3.8 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the six-week total to 30 million. But researchers say that as the economy staggers under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of others have lost jobs but have yet to see benefits." (Also linked yesterday.)

Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "Former film producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape case is expected to be retried sometime after the Labor Day holiday, a judge said Wednesday, as the frail-looking defendant made his first Manhattan court appearance in years. Weinstein's 2020 conviction in the rape case was overturned last week by New York state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, which determined that rulings by the original judge allowed prejudicial evidence into the proceeding. Jurors at the 2020 trial heard testimony from women who were not part of the case but were allowed to speak about alleged misconduct.... Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg told New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is committed to retrying the case."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The U.S. airman convicted in a sprawling leak of classified government secrets that revealed sensitive intelligence about America's allies and adversaries will face military criminal proceedings later this month, Air Force officials said Wednesday. Jack D. Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who in March pleaded guilty to a raft of federal crimes, faces charges under the military justice system of obstructing justice and failing to obey a lawful order, service officials said in a statement. The Air Force intends to hold a hearing to review evidence May 14 at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, the officials said. If prosecutors present a sufficient case, the case could then move to a court-martial trial."

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Arizona. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "The Arizona state Senate voted Wednesday to repeal a Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions that was set to take effect in June. The vote in the Republican-led Senate followed passage in the Arizona House last week. The ban briefly went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, before being blocked by the courts, and was revived by the state's highest court on April 9 in a ruling that spurred public outcry and threatened to upend politics in the state during an election year.... Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected to sign the repeal into law in the coming days, but the timing for when the repeal can legally go into effect could still complicate abortion access in the state." (Also linked yesterday.) The AP report is here.

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The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept the most recent cease-fire and hostage-release agreement proposed by Israel. In remarks Wednesday in Ashdod, Israel, he said there had been 'meaningful progress' on increasing aid to Gaza, and that a maritime corridor for deliveries via a temporary pier under construction by the U.S. military was 'probably a week away' from being operational.... In the proposal, Israel has made 'very important compromises' that 'demonstrate its desire, willingness' to get the deal done, Blinken said after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposal 'would produce an immediate ceasefire, get the hostages home, alleviate suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza,' in the short term, Blinken added before departing Israel. Fifty-seven Democratic lawmakers in Congress signed an open letter urging President Biden to withhold sending offensive weaponry and other military support to Israel that could be used in an assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah. The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.)." ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times' live updates Thursday are here.

News Lede

Wisconsin Public Radio: "A student who came to Mount Horeb Middle School with a gun late Wednesday morning was shot and killed by police officers before he could enter the building. Police were called to the school at about 11:30 a.m. for a report of a person outside with a weapon.... At the press conference, district Superintendent Steve Salerno indicated that there were students outside the school when the boy approached with a weapon. They alerted teachers.... Mount Horeb is about 20 minutes west of Madison."