The Conversation -- May 9, 2024

Links to the transcripts of the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump -- up through Tuesday -- are here. Links to the prosecution and defense exhibits start here. For instance, the crucial prosecutors' (people's) exhibits Nos. 35 and 36 and here and here.

And we're in for another Trumpy day in court, with New York Times reporters here to guide us through the goings-on:

Nate Schweber: "As an antidote to the intensity inside the courthouse on Thursday morning, toymakers turned out early with their takes on the defendant.... Guy Jacobson..., who lives in Manhattan ... [brought] a stuffed orange pig with a red tie. 'This is one is cuter, less fat, more intelligent, and doesn't talk so much,' Mr. Jacobson said. 'And it doesn't stink.' The Trump toys outnumbered the visible Trump supporters outside the courthouse.... There was a single woman in a MAGA hat."

Maggie Haberman: "Joining [Donald Trump] today are Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Trump's friend Steve Witkoff, a real-estate investor.... Another addition to Trump's entourage today is John Coale, a member of his broader legal orbit."

Jonah Bromwich: "We start, before the witness, with the prosecution asking that the defense be precluded from asking Stormy Daniels whether she was arrested. The judge agrees with the prosecutors, saying that 'anybody can be arrested' and that it 'doesn't prove anything.'"

Haberman: Trump attorney Susan "Necheles presses Daniels, asking if she wanted money from Trump. 'No,' Daniels says. 'I never asked for money from anyone in particular, I asked for money to tell my story,' she says. 'That's what you were asking in 2016, was for money, to be able to tell your story?' Necheles pushes on. Daniels said on Tuesday that initially, she wasn't interested in money.... Necheles asks Stormy Daniels why she talked to Jacob Weisberg, a Slate reporter, about her account, and then stopped."

Bromwich: "We are hearing that Stormy Daniels was in conversation with reporters -- multiple reporters, including Jacob Weisberg of Slate, she says -- about the possibility of selling her story before the election. And the defense is seeking to use that information to show that Daniels was using her story to threaten Trump. The defense, as it did with Keith Davidson, Daniels's former lawyer, is trying to paint Daniels as not only a liar, but as an extortionist, saying that she was telling Weisberg, that she either wanted money or she wanted to hurt Trump politically. Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, puts a finer point on it, saying 'You were threatening to try to hurt' Trump 'if he didn't give you money.' 'False,' Daniels replies."

Susanne Craig: "Stormy Daniels is pushing back on Susan Necheles, taking little the lawyer says at face value. 'Show me where I said that,' Daniels just said, forcing the defense to produce exhibits to back up their allegations." [And the defense is having trouble finding the exhibits.]

Alan Feuer: "On Tuesday, Daniels said that she spoke with Weisberg during a period when her deal with Michael Cohen seemed like it would not go through. Today, she made a similar but finer point, saying the interview with Weisberg was almost like an insurance policy to make certain her story would get out if the non-disclosure agreement collapsed."

Jesse McKinley: "Susan Necheles just noted that Stormy Daniels has 'an online store where you sell merchandise,' accusing her of 'shilling' online. Daniels responds: 'Not unlike Mr. Trump.'"

Feuer: "This theme has been hit before but it's worth noting that a defense lawyer for Donald Trump, one of the world's great vendors of branded products, is trying to discredit Daniels for selling her 'merch' in the wake of Trump's indictment."

Jonathan Swan: "So many of Stormy Daniels's retorts are versions of 'so did Trump.' He calls her 'horseface,' so why can't she call him an 'orange turd'? He sells his merchandise, so why can't she sell hers?"

Haberman: "Susan Necheles now brings up something that was inevitably going to be part of cross-examination: Stormy Daniels's work as a medium. 'You've made a show and a podcast claiming you can speak with dead people, right?' The goal is to make her seem unreliable as a narrator."

Bromwich: "An all-important exchange just now: Susan Necheles asks Stormy Daniels about her experience making porn films. 'You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real,' she says. Daniels responds, 'That's not how I would put it.' She is momentarily taken aback, and then adds, 'The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room.'... Necheles implies directly that she made up her story of sex with Trump. But if it weren't true, Daniels replies, 'I would have written it to be a lot better,' drawing laughter in the courtroom."

Feuer: "Stormy Daniels, very much playing on her home turf with these questions, holds her ground and seems utterly unashamed about her career in the sex trade."

Swan: "Trump appears to be dozing as Susan Necheles questions Stormy Daniels at length about the details of her meeting with him."

Bromwich: "Susan Necheles has reached the moment before the sexual encounter, and is seeking to question Daniels's credibility about that account, mixing in descriptions of Daniels's previous work in porn. Necheles notes that in Daniels's book, she describes the early part of the encounter, writing that she made him her 'bitch.' Necheles seeks to suggest there's an inconsistency here, because Daniels wrote about being aggressive with Trump but then testified that she was intimidated when he approached her for sex."

Kate Christobek: "Necheles eventually cuts right to the point of her cross-examination about the sexual encounter: 'You made all this up, right?' she asks. Daniels responds forcefully: 'No.'"

Haberman: "Susan Necheles's next line of questioning related to why Stormy Daniels said she felt a power imbalance with Trump before their sexual encounter.... Necheles pushes on the insinuation that Daniels is making up her feeling that Trump was overpowering her. Daniels gives perhaps her strongest testimony of the morning: 'My own insecurities made me feel that way,' she says, her voice never wavering."

Bromwich: "The cross-examination has come to an end. Susan Necheles outright accused Stormy Daniels of lying about her story again. There was a sustained objection, and now, the lawyers are discussing the issue with the judge."

Christobek: "Stormy Daniels continued to insult Trump up until the end of her cross-examination, at one point even questioning which indictment of his Susan Necheles was referring to. She quipped: 'There were a lot of indictments.'" ~~~

~~~ Bromwich: "The defense moved it to strike that comment from the record, but the judge said no: he said Daniels's testimony had been responsive to the questioning."

Feuer: "Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is doing a classic example of redirect examination, calmly drawing the attention of the jury to specific facts the defense left out of cross-examination. For instance: Susan Necheles, the defense lawyer, spent a lot of time noting discrepancies between Stormy Daniels's direct testimony and an interview she gave in 2011 to In Touch magazine. But in a subtle jab, Hoffinger drew Daniels's attention -- and thus the jury's -- to fine print at the bottom of the article saying it had been lightly edited. The implication is that the story did not contain every detail of Daniels's account."

Bromwich: "Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, returns to the lectern and asks that they do a split screen, of Daniels responding to an attack while Trump attacks her as 'horseface.'... And other attacks on Daniels followed his attack.... Overall, Susan Hoffinger is able to show that Stormy Daniels was assailed with insults from various corners after her story about Trump became public and that some of the language the defense has taken issue with came in response to those attacks. Daniels says she believed that Trump's August 2023 all-caps tweet, 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!,' was related to her, given that he had just filed a suit against her in Florida."

Bromwich: "A new witness, Rebecca Manochio, has taken the stand. Manochio is a junior bookeeper at the Trump Organization. She is being questioned by Rebecca Mangold, a prosecutor.... Rebecca Manochio is testifying about the traffic of checks between the Trump Organization and the White House.... Prosecutors like to connect each witness to multiple other witnesses, to show that this cast of characters is an ensemble, and not just individuals who were randomly chosen to testify. Here, we're hearing about Rebecca Manochio sending unsigned checks to Trump through Keith Schiller, his personal bodyguard. Stormy Daniels just told a story in which Schiller was a character. Manochio slots right in."

Feuer: "Rebecca Manochio testifies that she sent checks to Trump via two of his aides -- Keith Schiller and John McIntee -- at their home addresses. While it's not clear what we should make of this, it appears as if there was some sort of effort to ensure that the checks Manochio was sending Trump were kept outside the official paper flow at the White House." [Lunch break.]

Bromwich: "The cross-examination of Rebecca Manochio was extremely brief, and now we're hearing from a new witness, Tracey Menzies, who works at HarperCollins, a publishing company.... We are reviewing a book authored by Trump. This one is called 'Think Big: Make it Happen in Business and Life.' The cover image, which was briefly displayed on the screen, showed Trump shouting."

Swan: "Trump is snoozing through this section of the testimony.... The prosecution is using an excerpt of the book to show that Trump is a micromanager in his business. In it, Trump says: 'get the best people, and don't trust them,' saying it's important to watch what they do closely.... The next excerpt also emphasizes Trump's relish for revenge. 'My motto is: always get even.' And another: 'When you are wronged, go after those people because it's a good feeling.'"

Haberman: "The witness is now reading a section in which Trump describes valuing 'loyalty' more than anything. 'We reward loyalty and everybody knows this.' In a potentially resonant excerpt, Trump writes: 'This woman was very disloyal, and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable.'"

Bromwich: "Prosecutors' direct examination ended quickly, and Todd Blanche handled the brief cross-examination."

Haberman: "The people have called Madeleine Westerhout to the stand. Westerhout was Trump's executive assistant in the White House. She was fired after she spoke out of turn about the Trump family at an off-the-record dinner with reporters."

Bromwich: "Madeleine Westerhout is asked about the 'Access Hollywood' tape.... She testifies that while [she worked] at the Republican National Committee, she was privy to conversations about whether it was possible to replace Trump as the presidential nominee after the tape was released.... Madeleine Westerhout acknowledges that she knew Michael Cohen, the fixer who paid hush money to Stormy Daniels. She then starts talking about when she began to work in the White House.... Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, is eliciting testimony that fundamentally makes this witness seem like an innocent. She keeps emphasizing that many of the experiences Westerhout is describing -- including her testimony here today -- were new for her.... Westerhout has begun testifying about her frequent interactions with employees of the Trump Organization. She says she would pass their questions to Trump -- who said that he had cut off his relationship with his business. This ... shows how seamless the transition between Trump's public and private lives was. Information traveled through Westerhout and, on the other side, Rhona Graff, his assistant at the company, who we've already heard from as a witness."

Christobek: "Westerhout testified that Trump would dictate tweets to her and would sometimes ask to review her work and make changes. She recalls that he liked to capitalize certain words like 'country,' use exclamation points and was a fan of the Oxford comma."

Swan: "The jury is now being shown a 'close contacts list' for Trump from early 2017. It includes Joe Scarborough, Tom Brady, Sean Hannity, Ari Emanuel, Bret Baier and Mark Burnett, the creator of 'The Apprentice.'"

Feuer: "The list includes some interesting names. Football figures like Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Media figures like Bill O'Reilly and Jeanine Pirro, who is also a former district attorney and was in the courthouse this morning. Business colleagues, family members and Serena Williams, the tennis star."

Haberman: "The prosecutor asks her: 'Was it your understanding that Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen had a close relationship in 2017?' She replies: 'At that time, yes.' She's now reading an email between herself and Michael Cohen in which she's asking for his information in order to have him cleared to enter the White House."

Bromwich: "Westerhout sent the email to Cohen on Feb. 5, 2017. It's evidence that directly helps corroborate the meeting that Cohen says that he and Trump had in the Oval Office in early 2017 to discuss reimbursements for the hush-money payment.... We are now looking at a text exchange between Madeline Westerhout and Hope Hicks.... It's from March of 2017, and says that Trump wanted to know if [David] Pecker had been called. We are seeing the way that Trump was dealing with the hush-money payments and their agents from the White House.... Not only is Madeleine Westerhout corroborating a lot of the testimony we've heard already, but she's linking that testimony to what she saw Trump do while he was in the White House. We've already heard that stapled packets of checks and invoices were sent to the White House to sign. But Westerhout is able to tell us that she sometimes saw Trump sign checks in his office, and that he signed them individually by hand.... We are looking at an exchange in which Rhona Graff, Trump's former assistant, asked him whether he wanted to suspend a golf club membership or pay his dues, which totaled about $6,000. Madeleine Westerhout says she passed this question along to him in a stack of checks he was given. Trump responded himself, by hand, asking that Graff pay the membership.... We're seeing that Trump -- while president! -- did not ignore anything to do with money, and he responded in his unmistakable sharpie."

Swan: "The point, as the prosecution has so often made, is that Trump paid attention to financial minutiae. The cost of the golf membership that he was personally signing off on was less than one-fifth of the amount of each check he sent to Michael Cohen to reimburse the hush-money payment.... The prosecution is effectively asking the jury to consider whether it's plausible that Trump would scrutinize a minor payment in the $6000 range but be ignorant of the details of multiple checks for $35,000 each.... Then Westerhout starts to cry as she recounts her experience of being forced out of the White House for indiscreetly sharing details about the Trump family in an off-the-record session with reporters."

Haberman: "The prosecution is done. Susan Necheles, the Trump lawyer now cross-examining Madeleine Westerhout, brings up something she elided -- that Trump wasn't her preferred candidate when he was elected president. Many people have described her as unhappy on election night."

Swan: "We're done with Madeleine Westerhout for the day and Susan Necheles will continue cross-examining her tomorrow. So far, Necheles has sought to use her testimony to paint a humanizing portrait of Trump as a kind boss and family man. She has also tried to portray Westerhout as somebody who was young, out of her depth and unfamiliar with the details of the materials she was handling on Trump's behalf."

Bromwich: "We've just heard that Karen McDougal will not be called as a witness.... The defense is asking both for a mistrial and that Trump be allowed to respond to Stormy Daniels's comments about him in court. This request, which seeks to address Trump's political needs by bypassing the legal restrictions on him, is a really interesting one. It will be up to Justice Merchan.... Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor, stands up to address the arguments by the defense lawyers, saying they seem to almost live 'in an alternate reality.' He says the gag order was designed to protect the trial and has been effective thus far. Conroy asserts the sanctity of the legal proceedings over the political needs of Trump.... Conroy is insisting that Daniels needs and deserves this protection, and she and other witnesses should not be exposed, he says, to Trump&'s 'barrage of threats.' He says that lifting the order in any way would be a deterrent to other witnesses.... He sounds emotional. 'Let's not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse,' Conroy says....

"Todd Blanche is now arguing that Stormy Daniels's testimony about her sexual encounter with Trump differed from when she told her story previously. Justice Merchan had encouraged the defense lawyers, when they first moved for a mistrial, to address any disparities by cross-examining Daniels aggressively.... The judge isn't buying [Blanche's complaint]. 'I fail to understand' he says, how this is 'an alternate set of facts.'... Justice Merchan says he is concerned, not only with protecting Stormy Daniels and other witnesses who have testified, but with protecting those who have yet to testify and protecting the proceedings as a whole. The judge says that he himself wrote down a version of Conroy's argument 'I can't take your word for it that, "no no, this is going to be low key,"' Merchan says, referring to the comments Trump would make if the gag order was altered. 'That's just not the track record.'... Now Todd Blanche is arguing for a mistrial, again. Justice Merchan denies the motion -- the gag order will not be altered and Trump will remain barred from attacking Stormy Daniels...."

Christobek: "Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, says that the details of Stormy Daniels's story before and during the sexual act corroborate her account, and show the fact that sex happened, which increases the motivation to silence her."

Swan: "Trump is dozing on and off during all of this."

Bromwich: "Justice Merchan begins to address the mistrial motion.... In going back to opening statements, he sees that the defense 'denied that there was ever a sexual encounter between Stormy Daniels and the defendant.'... The defense opened the door to Daniels's testimony, Merchan is saying. He seems to be suggesting that what the prosecution did in response was perfectly appropriate.... He says he agrees that the question about whether Trump wore a condom should not have been asked or answered. But he says he does not know 'why on earth' Susan Necheles, the defense lawyer, didn't object to that question.... This could not be going much worse for the defense. Not only is Merchan signaling that he will almost certainly reject their mistrial motion, but he's dressing down their lawyering in front of their client....

"[Merchan] is citing specific issues with the defense's arguments, saying that instead of denying the falsification of business records, they denied the sex with Stormy Daniels. 'That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her and to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied,' he concludes."

We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections.... This legislation ... will prevent that from happening.... We'll have a mechanism to prove whether they are or not. -- House Speaker Mike Johnson, Wednesday ~~~

~~~ Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "Some of the conservative leaders of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election gathered in front of the Capitol on Wednesday and called on Congress to pass an 'election integrity' bill to stop noncitizens from voting. Leading the group, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged that undocumented immigrants voting in elections is already illegal under federal law.... But he argued that people know 'intuitively' that noncitizens are voting, even though he could not provide estimates of how many. Multiple studies have shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare in federal elections." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in today's thread. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So. Intuition in search of a "mechanism." Why do I think that Mike's proposed mechanism is going to involve accusatory interrogations of every voter whose skin tone isn't as pink as Mike's ass or whose name "sounds foreign? (Where "sounds foreign" is not Drumpf but is Hernandez?

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Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris attacked the conservative-controlled Supreme Court on Wednesday, warning that its future decisions could limit a broad range of civil rights and personal freedoms for many Americans. In an interview with The New York Times, she expanded on her criticism of the court's decision to overturn federally guaranteed abortion rights in 2022, going beyond President Biden's past comments to raise direct alarms about Justice Clarence Thomas and the broader direction of the court. 'This court has shown itself to be an activist court,' said Ms. Harris.... 'I worry about fundamental freedoms across the board.'"

Saving Speaker Mikey. Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday easily batted down an attempt by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust him from his post, after Democrats linked arms with most Republicans to fend off a second attempt by G.O.P. hard-liners to strip the gavel from their party leader. The vote to kill the effort was an overwhelming 359 to 43, with seven voting 'present.' Democrats flocked to Mr. Johnson's rescue, with all but 39 of them voting with Republicans to block the effort to oust him. Members of the minority party in the House have never propped up the other party's speaker.... Lawmakers loudly jeered Ms. Greene as she called up the resolution and read it aloud. As she recited the measure, a screed that lasted more than 10 minutes, Republicans lined up on the House floor to shake Mr. Johnson's hand and pat him on the back." (Also linked yesterday.) The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats aren't committing themselves to saving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) should Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) take another shot at removing him.... Greene caught colleagues in both parties by surprise by forcing an ouster vote on Wednesday, leading some lawmakers to fear she's not above repeated attempts."

Robert Talt of the Guardian: "Some of America's top school districts rebuffed charges of failing to counteract a surge of antisemitism on Wednesday in combative exchanges with a congressional committee that has been at the centre of high-profile interrogations of elite university chiefs. Having previously grilled the presidents of some of the country's most prestigious seats of higher learning in politically charged settings, the House of Representatives' education and workforce subcommittee switched the spotlight to the heads of three predominantly liberal school districts with sizable Jewish populations.... The three districts insisted in response that they did not tolerate antisemitism in their schools. They said they had taken educational and disciplinary steps to combat antisemitism following the 7 October attack.... David Banks, the chancellor of the New York City school system..., stood his ground and appeared to challenge the committee, saying: 'This convening feels like the ultimate "gotcha" moment. It doesn't sound like people trying to solve for something we actually solve for.'"' ~~~

     ~~~ The New York Times report is here. Marie: If you read each report -- the Guardian's & the Times' -- in its entirety, you will figure out that it was Republican members doing the mudslinging. But neither report even mentions Republicans in the top grafs, leaving the casual reader completely in the dark about who the perps were in this hearing.

** With Friends Like These.... Karen Yourish, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid the widening protests and the unease, if not fear, among many Jews, Republicans have sought to seize the political advantage by portraying themselves as the true protectors of Israel and Jews under assault from the progressive left.... But ... for all of their rhetoric of the moment, increasingly through the Trump era many Republicans have helped inject into the mainstream thinly veiled anti-Jewish messages with deep historical roots. The conspiracy theory taking on fresh currency...: that a shady cabal of wealthy Jews secretly controls events and institutions.... The current formulation of the trope taps into the populist loathing of an elite 'ruling class.' 'Globalists' or 'globalist elites' are blamed for everything from Black Lives Matter to the influx of migrants across the southern border, often described as a plot to replace native-born Americans with foreigners who will vote for Democrats. The favored personification of the globalist enemy is George Soros, the 93-year-old Hungarian American Jewish financier and Holocaust survivor who has spent billions in support of liberal causes and democratic institutions." Read on.

The Trials of Trump, Ctd.

"When You're a Star, They Let You Do It." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: "... [Stormy] Daniels's testimony is a reminder that contempt and mistreatment of women is a core theme of Trump's life and politics.... Daniels's testimony is intended to establish the background facts of the payment. It also, though, paints Trump as a liar, a bully, and a sexual manipulator. Daniels said while she was in Trump's hotel room, she went to the bathroom, and when he came out he was in his boxer shorts, a moment Daniels describes as 'like a jump scare.'... According to Daniels, [Trump] suggest[ed] that if she cooperated with him he could help her career through his connections and a possible appearance on the Celebrity Apprentice reality show, where Trump was the star.... Daniels has not accused Trump of sexual harassment or violence, and she says their encounter was consensual. Her testimony makes clear, though, that Trump was pressuring her for sex in return for business opportunities -- a variation on the ugly tradition of the Hollywood casting couch." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Doin' the Florida Slow-Walk. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "The decision by Judge Aileen M. Cannon to avoid picking a date yet for ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents trial is the latest indication of how her handling of the case has played into Mr. Trump's own strategy of delaying the proceeding.... [Brian] Greer[, a former CIA lawyer,] said that her record in the case suggests she has been open to whatever the defense has chosen to send her. 'Certainly, her proclivity so far,' he said, 'has been to listen to almost anything.'" Feuer goes into some of the ridiculous motions Cannon has held or will hold hearings on, one of them scheduled to last three days. MB: Experts I've heard all discussed whether Cannon was incompetent, corrupt or both. "Careful, considerate trier of fact" was not among the options any chose. ~~~

~~~ Liz Dye in Above the Law: Judge Cannon has "let Trump and his henchmen spam the docket with garbage motions, been totally dilatory in ruling on them, and is now allowing the defendants to reap the reward from their bad faith behavior by postponing the trial." MB: What we must bear in mind here is that Cannon's excuse (and she put this in writing) for not doing her fundamental job (overseeing a trial) is that she hasn't been doing her job (ruling on motions/Trumpspam) because it is hard. Also, as long as Judge Aileen shows up sober for work, she likely will not be fired/impeached & convicted. Ever.

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a ruling that allowed Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, to continue leading the prosecution of ... Donald J. Trump on charges related to election interference, the court announced on Wednesday. The decision to hear the appeal, handed down by a three-judge panel, is likely to further delay the Georgia criminal case against Mr. Trump and 14 of his allies, making it less likely that the case will go to trial before the November election. The terse three-sentence announcement reopens the possibility that Ms. Willis could be disqualified from the biggest case of her career, and one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation's history." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Colleen Long & Seung Min Kim of the AP: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday laced into Donald Trump over a failed project in the previous administration that was supposed to bring thousands of new jobs into southeastern Wisconsin and trumpeted new economic investments under his watch that are coming to the same spot. That location in the battleground state will now be the site of a new data center from Microsoft, whose president credited the Biden administration's economic policies for paving the way for the new investments. For Biden, it offered another point of contrast between him and Trump, who had promised a $10 billion investment by the Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn that never came. 'In fact, he came here with your senator, Ron Johnson, literally holding a golden shovel, promising to build the eighth wonder of the world. You kidding me?' Biden told the crowd of about 300 people, who clapped and cheered loudly as he spoke. 'Look what happened. They dug a hole with those golden shovels, and then they fell into it.'"

Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "President Joe Biden slammed Donald Trump over the former president's promise to be his supporters' 'retribution.' CNN's Erin Burnett spoke with Biden in Wisconsin for an interview that aired on Wednesday's OutFront.... 'What person has ever said anything like this stuff?' Biden asked Burnett. 'But he means it.'... 'Saying whether he may not accept the outcome of the election?' the president continued. 'I promise you, he won't ... which is dangerous.'"

Ohio Ballot Access. Henry Gomez & Emma Barnett of NBC News: "An effort to ensure that President Joe Biden is on Ohio's general election ballot stalled Wednesday in the Legislature, raising the likelihood of legal action to resolve the issue. It's the latest twist in what has usually been a straightforward move to fix conflicts between late conventions and state election laws in the past." The article outlines issues & developments, but here's the crux of it: "... Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman suggested that GOP members needed an incentive to help Biden, 'because Republicans in both the House and the Senate aren't going to vote for a stand-alone Biden bill.'"

Susanne Craig of the New York Times on Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s medical records, including the worm that ate part of his brain (MB: which is not a joke but could help explain his passion for nutty ideas). Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Dana Smith & Dani Blum of the New York Times: on "what brain parasites are, the damage they can cause and how, exactly, they get there."

Ryan Reilly & Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "A right-wing social media influencer hired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign who previously said Jan. 6 was 'Democrat misdirection' appears to have himself been on the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol during the attack. NBC News first reported that Kennedy's campaign hired Zach Henry's firm, Total Virality, for influencer engagement' in March. Henry had worked as deputy communications director for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign, as well as for Blake Masters during his Senate run in Arizona. Henry ... appears to have embraced conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack, including posting that 'antifa' was behind it, which is false." (Also linked yesterday.)

Let's say the only way you could get a cushy government job that came with a lovely house, household and office staff, a driver, security protection, a decent salary (and opportunities for filthy lucre!) was to be delusional, violent and treasonous. Would you go for it? If you're a Republican, you would. ~~~

~~~ Veepstakes. Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: "Top Republicans, led by ... Donald Trump, are refusing to commit to accept November's election results with six months until voters head to the polls, raising concerns that the country could see a repeat of the violent aftermath of Trump's loss four years ago. The question has become something of a litmus test, particularly among the long list of possible running mates for Trump, whose relationship with his first vice president, Mike Pence, ruptured because Pence resisted Trump's pressure to overturn the 2020 election. In a vivid recent example, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) was pressed at least six times in a TV interview Sunday on whether he would accept this November's results. He repeatedly declined to do so, only saying he was looking forward to Trump being president again."

Adam Wren & Madison Fernandez of Politico look at Tuesday's GOP primary races in Indiana, including the presidential race, where Nikki Haley -- who dropped out of the race two months ago -- is expected to get more tha 20% of the vote. (Also linked yesterday.)

Reality Chex Change-of-Policy Notification: It is now acceptable to bash Barron. ~~~

     ~~~ Matt Dixon of NBC News: Barron "Trump..., Donald Trump's youngest child, who will graduate from high school next week and has largely been kept out of the political spotlight, was picked by the Republican Party of Florida on Wednesday night as one of the state's at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, according to a list of delegates obtained by NBC News." Also Florida delegates: Don Junior & Tiffany. Eric Trump is chairman of the Florida delegation.

Donald Trump Has Been Asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" Let's Check. New York Times headline, May 9, 2020: "The American economy plunged deeper into crisis last month, losing 20.5 million jobs as the unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent, the worst devastation since the Great Depression.... Job losses have encompassed the entire economy, affecting every major industry. Areas like leisure and hospitality had the biggest losses in April, but even health care shed more than a million jobs. Low-wage workers, including many women and members of racial and ethnic minorities, have been hit especially hard. 'It's literally off the charts,' said Michelle Meyer, head of U.S. economics at Bank of America."

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Pete McCloskey, a California congressman who raised a flag of rebellion against President Richard M. Nixon's war policies in Vietnam with a spirited but futile race for the Republican presidential nomination in 1972, died on Wednesday at his home in Winters, Calif., west of Sacramento. He was 96.... Mr. McCloskey, who represented an area south of San Francisco for 15 years, from late 1967 to early 1983, was a liberal Republican who admired President John F. Kennedy, voted for environmental causes with Democrats and believed that the Republican Party had veered too far to the right." MB: Yes, kids, there was a time so recent I can recall it when you didn't have to be crazy or treasonous to vote for a Republican.

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South Dakota. Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: "South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) appears to have ended her media tour to promote her new book as both Greg Gutfeld [Fox] and Dana Bash [CNN] announced last minute cancellations from the governor." MB: Not Gnome's fault. How could she have known the book tour would not go well?

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

CNN's live updates of developments Thursday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The US has already paused a shipment of bombs to Israel as concerns rise over their potential use in a ground offensive in Rafah without a plan for civilians there, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed. CIA Director Bill Burns met with Netanyahu and the head of the Israel intelligence service Wednesday, according to a source, and has since returned to Cairo to aid efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Clashes between Israeli police and the family members of hostages held in Gaza broke out Wednesday night in Tel Aviv, leading to injuries and at least two arrests." ~~~

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

** Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel -- which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza -- if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. 'Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,' Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett..., referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week. 'I made it clear that if they go into Rafah -- they haven&'t gone in Rafah yet -- if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities -- that deal with that problem,' Biden said." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times' story is here.

The Conversation -- May 8, 2024

** Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel -- which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza -- if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah. 'Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,' Biden told CNN's Erin Burnett..., referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week. 'I made it clear that if they go into Rafah -- they haven't gone in Rafah yet -- if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities -- that deal with that problem,' Biden said."

Saving Speaker Mike. Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday easily batted down an attempt by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust him from his post, after Democrats linked arms with most Republicans to fend off a second attempt by G.O.P. hard-liners to strip the gavel from their party leader. The vote to kill the effort was an overwhelming 359 to 43, with seven voting 'present.' Democrats flocked to Mr. Johnson's rescue, with all but 39 of them voting with Republicans to block the effort to oust him. Members of the minority party in the House have never propped up the other party's speaker.... Lawmakers loudly jeered Ms. Greene as she called up the resolution and read it aloud. As she recited the measure, a screed that lasted more than 10 minutes, Republicans lined up on the House floor to shake Mr. Johnson's hand and pat him on the back."

Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "The Georgia Court of Appeals will hear an appeal of a ruling that allowed Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, to continue leading the prosecution of ... Donald J. Trump on charges related to election interference, the court announced on Wednesday. The decision to hear the appeal, handed down by a three-judge panel, is likely to further delay the Georgia criminal case against Mr. Trump and 14 of his allies, making it less likely that the case will go to trial before the November election. The terse three-sentence announcement reopens the possibility that Ms. Willis could be disqualified from the biggest case of her career, and one of the most significant state criminal cases in the nation's history." The AP's report is here.

"When You're a Star, They Let You Do It." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: "... [Stormy] Daniels's testimony is a reminder that contempt and mistreatment of women is a core theme of Trump's life and politics.... Daniels's testimony is intended to establish the background facts of the payment. It also, though, paints Trump as a liar, a bully, and a sexual manipulator. Daniels said while she was in Trump's hotel room, she went to the bathroom, and when he came out he was in his boxer shorts, a moment Daniels describes as 'like a jump scare.'... According to Daniels, [Trump] suggest[ed] that if she cooperated with him he could help her career through his connections and a possible appearance on the Celebrity Apprentice reality show, where Trump was the star.... Daniels has not accused Trump of sexual harassment or violence, and she says their encounter was consensual. Her testimony makes clear, though, that Trump was pressuring her for sex in return for business opportunities -- a variation on the ugly tradition of the Hollywood casting couch."

Susanne Craig of the New York Times on Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s medical records, including the worm that ate part of his brain (MB: which is not a joke but could help explain his passion for nutty ideas). Thanks to RAS for the link.

Ryan Reilly & Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "A right-wing social media influencer hired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign who previously said Jan. 6 was 'Democrat misdirection' appears to have himself been on the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol during the attack. NBC News first reported that Kennedy's campaign hired Zach Henry's firm, Total Virality, for influencer engagement' in March. Henry had worked as deputy communications director for Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign, as well as for Blake Masters during his Senate run in Arizona. Henry ... appears to have embraced conspiracy theories about the Capitol attack, including posting that 'antifa' was behind it, which is false."

Adam Wren & Madison Fernandez of Politico look at Tuesday's GOP primary races in Indiana, including the presidential race, where Nikki Haley -- who dropped out of the race two months ago -- is expected to get more tha 20% of the vote.

~~~~~~~~~~

Erica Green & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday condemned a 'ferocious surge of antisemitism' in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7. 'This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust,' he said. 'It didn't end with the Holocaust, either.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trials of Trump, Ctd.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday, [Stormy] Daniels took the stand at [a criminal trial of Donald Trump], bringing the former president face to face with the porn star at the case's center. The charges stem from her story of sex with Mr. Trump during that 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, a story she was shopping a decade later, in the closing days of the presidential campaign. Mr. Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, paid her $130,000 in hush money before Election Day, and the former president is accused of falsifying business records to cover up reimbursements for Mr. Cohen.... After about a half-hour on the stand, she began to unspool intimate details about Mr. Trump, so much so that the judge balked at some of the testimony. He implied it was gratuitously vulgar, and the defense sought a mistrial.

"Ms. Daniels said the future president had invited her to dinner inside his palatial Lake Tahoe hotel suite. He answered the door wearing silk pajamas. When he was rude, she playfully spanked him with a rolled-up magazine. And when she asked about his wife, he told her not to worry, that they didn't even sleep in the same room -- prompting Mr. Trump to shake his head in disgust and mutter 'bullshit' to his lawyers, loud enough that it drew a private rebuke from the judge, who called it 'contemptuous.' Ms. Daniels then recounted the sex itself in graphic detail.... And she testified that she would have told the same uncomfortable tale in 2016, had she not taken the hush money from Mr. Trump's fixer." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: It sounds as if Daniels was describing her recollections of events, which is the essential job of a witness. If her testimony was "uncomfortable," blame it on the defendant, who -- according to the witness -- initiated the "uncomfy" conduct. Besides, he's the one who is using obscenity & acting out in the courtroom. However, in reading the Times' reporters' notes, I was struck by the prosecution's seeming failure to prep Daniels; consequently, she was a bad witness. She spoke too fast, she freelanced answers, she squabbled with the defense attorney & she angered the judge. We don't know the effect this all had on the jury, but I'd hazard a guess the jurors weren't positively impressed. This is likely to be the prosecutors' fault more than the witness's. ~~~

     ~~~ Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan called Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche to a sidebar during a midday break to say that Trump was 'cursing audibly' and possibly intimidating [Stormy] Daniels, who had begun testifying, according to a trial transcript. 'I understand that your client is upset at this point,' Merchan said to the defense attorney, according to the transcript, 'but he is cursing audibly and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that.'... 'I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don't want to embarrass him,' Merchan said. 'You need to speak to him. I won't tolerate that.'"

Stephen recaps the testimony:

     ~~~ Here's Jimmy Kimmel's take.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post addresses the Don Snorleone problem.

The New York Times liveblogged Tuesday's trial developments in the Trump 2016 election interference case. See yesterday's Conversation for some of the reporters' observations. (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Links to previous transcripts, via the New York courts, are here.

Adam Nichols of the Raw Story: "After weeks of complaining that his hush money trial would stop him attending his youngest son's high school graduation, Donald Trump's judge finally agreed to pause the trial for a day -- and the ex-president swiftly organized a fundraiser. Trump is now expected to speak at the Minnesota Republican Party's Lincoln Reagan dinner on May 17 -- the day Barron Trump graduates. It's not known if he will be at the graduation ceremony in Florida prior to his Minnesota appearance."

** Judge Aileen Drops the Gavel. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed ... Donald Trump's classified documents trial in Florida, citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury. In an order Tuesday, Cannon cancelled the May trial date and did not set a new date.... Cannon noted in her Tuesday order that there are eight substantive pending motions she has yet to decide." This is an update of a breaking story linked yesterday. ~~~

     ~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "But while Judge Cannon's stated reason for putting off the trial indefinitely was that a large number of legal issues remain up in the air, she never mentioned that she herself helped allow the logjam of motions to pile up.... Throughout the case, Judge Cannon has given Mr. Trump's legal team wide berth in defending him, often granting an audience to legal motions that many federal judges would have rejected out of hand or decided on the merits of written filings alone.... Her decision came directly after Mr. Trump's lawyers asked again for the deadline to be pushed back, saying they needed more time and raising allegations that [Jack] Smith's team had failed to preserve the integrity of the boxes of documents that sit at the heart of the case." MB: Yes, Jack, where are those boxes of classified documents I left in the public bathroom? You really have failed to "preserve their integrity." ~~~

     ~~~ "Motion to Remove Judge in the matter of United States of America vs. Donald J. Trump: Get Out! S/Jack Smith" ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "... none of this is surprising. But it is Cannon's commitment to let a man accused of stealing hundreds of classified documents potentially regain the White House with no accountability for his alleged theft." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Cannon understands her commission, which was not to be a judge in any recognizable sense, at least in any case of personal or political importance to the Republican Party in general or Donald Trump in particular."

** Not That It Matters, But. Katelyn Polantz & Tierney Sneed of CNN: "Donald Trump's valet told investigators before the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in 2022 that he randomly chose boxes of documents to return to the National Archives and Trump himself directed that dozens more boxes located at the resort wouldn't be returned, according to recently unsealed court filings. The filings reviewed by CNN shed new light on the critical role that Walt Nauta, now Trump's co-defendant in the classified documents case, played in giving the FBI justification to execute the search warrant on the former president's Florida resort.... Nauta's account was corroborated by a second witness, whose identity is not publicly known. Both said that Trump gave the direction not to give the National Archives any more boxes."

Presidential Race

When Even Both-Sides Baker Gets It. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "These were the images Americans were presented on Tuesday about their two choices for president: One taking his grandchildren to Dachau to bear witness to the horrors of Nazi death camps, the other sitting on a hotel bed in his boxer shorts waiting for sex with a porn star.... But the surreal synchronism of the disparate events 182 days before the election captured the sometimes unreal reality of a presidential race like none before it, at once profound and tawdry, a contest with momentous consequences and a circuslike surround sound. A nation grappling with two wars overseas and campus unrest at home is also being asked to parse through the unseemly details of a married man's purported dalliance with a woman who had sex on camera professionally."

Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The grandson of President John F. Kennedy this week savaged his presidential-candidate cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a series of mocking, meant-to-be-funny videos that were, inarguably, uncharacteristically un-Kennedyesque, escalating a civil war within America's most storied political dynasty. In a series of Instagram posts, the grandson, Jack Schlossberg, 31, variously called Mr. Kennedy, 70, a 'prick,' suggested he was using steroids, said he was 'lying to us' and portrayed him as a Russian stooge and a stalking horse for Donald J. Trump."

** Remember the Corruption. Donald Trump Has Been Asking, "Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?" Let's Check. New York Times editorial, May 8, 2020: After Donald Trump fired Michael Flynn for lying to Vice President Mike Pence, after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, after Flynn twice admitted under oath he had lied, after a federal judge had refused to throw out his conviction, along comes Attorney General Bill Barr and "suddenly dropped all criminal charges against Mr. Flynn.... The attorney general is supposed to work for the American people, not as a personal fixer for the president. Instead, from the day he took the job, Mr. Barr has worked to provide cover for Mr. Trump."

Haleluya Hadero, et al., of the AP: "TikTok and its Chinese parent company filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new American law that would ban the popular video-sharing app in the U.S. unless it's sold to an approved buyer, saying it unfairly singles out the platform and is an unprecedented attack on free speech. In its lawsuit, ByteDance says the new law vaguely paints its ownership of TikTok as a national security threat in order to circumvent the First Amendment, despite no evidence that the company poses a threat."

Jamie Stengle of the AP: "The Boy Scouts of America announced after 114 years that it will change its name and will become Scouting America in an effort to emphasize inclusion as it works to move past the turmoil of bankruptcy and a flood of sexual abuse claims. The rebrand is another seismic shift for an organization steeped in tradition that did not allow gay youths or girls to begin joining its ranks until relatively recently. Seeking to boost flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization announced the name change Tuesday at its annual meeting in Florida."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "Joe Kahn, after two years in charge of the New York Times newsroom, has learned nothing. He had an extraordinary opportunity, upon taking over from Dean Baquet, to right the ship: to recognize that the Times was not warning sufficiently of the threat to democracy presented by a second Trump presidency. But to Kahn, democracy is a partisan issue and he's not taking sides. He made that clear in an interview with obsequious former employee Ben Smith, now the editor of Semafor...: 'To say that the threats of democracy are so great that the media is going to abandon its central role as a source of impartial information to help people vote -- that's essentially saying that the news media should become a propaganda arm for a single candidate, because we prefer that candidate's agenda.' But critics like me ... [are] asking the Times to recognize that it isn't living up to its own standards of truth-telling and independence when it obfuscates the stakes of the 2024 election, covers up for Trump's derangement, and goes out of its way to make Biden look weak."

~~~~~~~~~~

Indiana Gubernatorial Race. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Senator Mike Braun of Indiana won the Republican nomination for governor of his solidly conservative state, The Associated Press said on Tuesday, positioning him as the strong favorite in this fall's general election. Mr. Braun defeated several other candidates, including Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, in the primary. Mr. Braun, who received the endorsement of ... Donald J. Trump, has presented himself as a fiscal conservative and has pledged to take a tough stance on crime. Indiana's current governor, Eric Holcomb, a Republican who has occasionally bucked the right wing of his party on public health and cultural issues during his tenure, was barred by term limits from seeking re-election. Mr. Braun, a businessman and first-term senator, will face Jennifer McCormick, the former state superintendent of public instruction, in November. Ms. McCormick, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, was elected to her prior position as a Republican but fell out of favor with that party."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The United States believes negotiations on a cease-fire and hostage release deal 'should be able to close the remaining gaps' between Israel and Hamas, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, as talks continue in Cairo. The Biden administration has paused the shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel as U.S. concerns grow about the long-planned ground operation in Rafah -- the first known delay in U.S. arms to Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.... Israel reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing, Israeli officials said Tuesday, after a deadly Hamas rocket attack led to its closing. The crossing is one of the few entry points through which aid can be delivered to Gaza.... Israeli troops seized the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza, disrupting the flow of aid into the Strip. Hamas accused Israel of trying to 'exacerbate the humanitarian situation in the Strip by closing' the crossing. Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip had 'stopped completely.'" ~~~

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

** Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden paused an arms shipment to Israel last week to prevent the U.S.-made weapons from being used in a long-threatened assault on the city of Rafah, administration officials said on Tuesday night, a sign of the growing rift between Washington and Jerusalem over the conduct of the war. The president withheld 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs that he feared could be dropped on Rafah, where more than one millio Gazans have taken refuge, the officials said. The administration is reviewing whether to hold back future transfers, including guidance kits that convert so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions. The decision to delay the delivery of the 3,500 bombs was the first time since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack that Mr. Biden has used his power to curtail arms as an instrument to influence Israel's approach to the war that followed. A number of Mr. Biden's Democratic allies in Congress have for weeks urged him to limit or halt arms shipments to Israel, something he had refused to do until now because of his strong support for the effort to destroy Hamas." An ABC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Ellen Knickmeyer of the AP: "Facing heat over its military support for Israel's war, the Biden administration is due to deliver a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on delivery of aid have violated international and U.S. laws designed to spare civilians from the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would add to pressure on President Joe Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel's military. The administration agreed in February at the insistence of Democrats in Congress to look at whether Israel has used U.S.-provided weapons and other military assistance in a lawful manner. Additionally, under the same agreement, it must tell Congress whether it deems that Israel has acted to 'arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,' delivery of any U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for starving civilians there."

Ukraine, et al. Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Ukraine's security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents -- including the two colonels -- that was run by Russia's Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor agency to the K.G.B. According to the Ukrainian agency, the agents working at Russia's direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky's security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post places Vladimir Putin at the center of a movement to push anti-democratic sentiments, not just in Russia but in Western nations. MB: I would say those sentiments long pre-date Putin and have prevailed throughout most of the history of this country. Just look at Joseph Kahn, the NYT's executive editor, who believes that democracy is a partisan issue (see Froomkin essay linked above). I doubt Kahn is a Putin puppet; he is simply too naive to grasp the threat the Grand Oligarch Party poses.

News Lede

New York Times: "The body of the sixth and final victim who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was found on Tuesday, officials said, bringing to a close a difficult salvage mission after the country's deadliest bridge collapse in more than a decade. The victim, José Mynor López, 37, was a member of a work crew that had been filling potholes on the bridge when it was struck on March 26 by the Dali, a container ship on its way to Sri Lanka that apparently lost power after leaving the Port of Baltimore."

The Conversation -- May 7, 2024

Erica Green & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday condemned a 'ferocious surge of antisemitism' in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7. 'This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust,' he said. 'It didn't end with the Holocaust, either.'"

** Judge Aileen Drops the Gavel. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed ... Donald Trump's classified documents trial in Florida, citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury. In an order Tuesday, Cannon cancelled the May trial date and did not set a new date."

Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Ukraine's security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents -- including the two colonels 00 that was run by Russia's Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor agency to the K.G.B. According to the Ukrainian agency, the agents working at Russia's direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky's security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him."

The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Trump 2016 election interference case. ~~~

Maggie Haberman: "We are heading into the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. Trump posted on Truth Social an angry message saying he had just learned who the next witness is and that his lawyers had 'no time' to prepare. Within thirty minutes, Trump had removed the post, likely because it risked prosecutors saying it violated the gag order."

William Rashbaum: "Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the heart of Trump's hush money trial is in the courthouse and is expected to testify today."

Haberman: "This is the first time Trump will have to be face to face with Daniels and hear her accusations. He has continued to deny that an affair took place. This trial, unlike the other three criminal trials he's facing, is personal for him in a very specific way, and Daniels has spoken about him and his physicality publicly in a humiliating manner."

Jonah Bromwich: "Even though Stormy Daniels's name hasn't yet been called, we are already right into it. The implication of this argument is that Daniels will testify about having had sex with Trump. Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, is arguing that these details are key to the case -- and that this issue has already been settled. She says that details that are too salacious will not be admitted, but that the story is 'significant' and important to prosecutors in terms of Daniels's credibility."

Haberman: "Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyer, begins by objecting to Stormy Daniels testifying, including 'any details' of any 'sexual act.'"

Jesse McKinley: Justice Merchan concedes that Daniels's may have 'credibility issues,' but that it's up to the jury to determine that.... The first witness today is Sally Franklin, who works at Penguin Random House, a publisher."

Bromwich: "Sally Franklin is a custodial witness ... and she will testify about two books that Trump wrote, including 'Trump: How to Get Rich' and 'Trump: Think Like a Billionaire,' both of which were published by Ballantine, a Penguin Random House imprint."

Kate Christobek: "Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, is prompting Sally Franklin to read Trump's written words from these books, including the following passages: 'For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back,' and, 'When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can. Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.'"

Haberman: "Now, Sally Franklin is walking the court through a chapter of a book in which Trump, in his own words, describes his frugality, including looking over bills to 'make sure I'm not being overcharged.' The goal is to invalidate the idea that he could have been unaware of what he was paying Michael Cohen, or what the money was for."

Swan: "The prosecution is effectively using Trump himself as a witness here. In his own words -- as laid out in his books -- Trump is describing how he keeps a focus on minute details and watches every penny that leaves his accounts, a core part of the prosecution's case against him. He's also describing how he sees sexual potential in random women that he encounters."

Haberman: "Todd Blanche, one of Trump's lawyers, is now cross-examining Sall Franklin, leaning into his customary line of defense: distancing Trump from the book published under his own name and trying to suggest that Meredith McIver, the ghost-writer who worked for him, was behind the language, as opposed to Trump."

Swan: "There's an irony here with Trump's counsel trying to cast doubt over whether Trump wrote his own books. Trump himself has always insisted -- falsely -- that all of the words printed in his name are his. During the White House years, Trump aides would implausibly claim on the record that Trump's speeches were written by him."

Bromwich: "We have arrived at perhaps the most significant excerpt, as Trump writes in one of his books about the importance of personally signing checks. He wrote that he did not like to allow a computer to sign a check, because when the boss did it himself, it showed employees he was attending to the details. Some of the false documents at issue in the case are checks, some of them with Trump's signature. This is tough evidence for the defense."

Haberman: "Sally Franklin, on re-direct, is testifying about one of Trump's books that he was directly involved in, as a way of dispelling the defense's argument that someone else's work was behind it."

Bromwich: "'The people call Stormy Daniels,' Susan Hoffinger says."

McKinley: "Daniels is quickly walking through some of her early biography: raised in Baton Rouge, wanted to be a veterinarian, editor of her high school newspaper."

Bromwich: "As Stormy Daniels talks about moving from stripping to acting in adult films, she is continuing to talk very, very quickly.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, guides Stormy Daniels toward talking about writing and directing adult films."

Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now going through her résumé, including mainstream movies she appeared in like 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.'"

McKinley: "The prosecution is drawing out other work experience, including directing music videos, doing comedy, writing books and making podcasts, perhaps to show that she is more than just an adult film actress."

Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now describing the golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2006 where she met Trump. In a notable line, she says she knew that he was 'as old or older than my father.... Daniels is recounting interactions with Trump after meeting him, and then getting a message he wanted to have dinner with her. She is asked to point him out in the courtroom, and she does by his navy jacket, pointing directly at him. He sits with no reaction.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is asking about Trump inviting Daniels to dinner. Daniels says that she was approached by 'Keith,' meaning Keith Schiller, Trump's ominpresent bodyman. She says he took her number, though she refused the invitation initially."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that the first person she mentioned the dinner invitation to was her publicist...."

McKinley: "Daniels recalls that her publicist urged her to go to the dinner, and asked her: "'"What could possibly go wrong?"'"

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is now talking about meeting Trump for dinner. She says that when he first emerged from his hotel suite, he was wearing 'silk or satin' pajamas, which Daniels compared to those often sported by Hugh Hefner. She asked him to change, and he returned in more standard dress clothes."

Haberman: "... Trump ... can't stand feeling or appearing weak or powerless. But that's exactly what he is here as Daniels is describing, in extensive detail, an encounter he continues to maintain didn't happen."

Christobek: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump took an interest in the business aspects of her industry and asked about unions, residuals, and health insurance, as well about S.T.D. testing."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that during her dinner with Trump, she asked about his wife. He told her, she says, not to worry because the two did not 'even sleep in the same room.' Trump and Melania were married in 2005, the year before this encounter.... Stormy Daniels says she asked Trump during their dinner: 'Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? Like you don't even know how to have a conversation.'"

Swan: "Trump clearly mouths 'bullshit' as Stormy Daniels recalls playfully spanking him with a rolled-up magazine, and saying he was much more polite afterwards."

McKinley: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump told her she reminded him of his daugh[t]er, presumably Ivanka. 'She's smart and blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her as well,' Daniels said Trump remarked."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels now takes on the defense's argument about her directly, saying that it was Trump himself who invited her to come on 'The Apprentice,' not the other way around. This is fascinating, because we have seen many times the way that Trump accuses his adversaries of the same faults that he's accused of. Here, Daniels is suggesting she wasn't the one trying to use 'The Apprentice' -- he was, for sex.... Her derision toward Trump is very clear, and the tension in the courtroom during her testimony about him is the highest it has been at this trial so far."

Bromwich: "... the judge, in a rarity, admonishes the prosecutors, specifically Susan Hoffinger, saying that the level of detail they're eliciting from Stormy Daniels is unnecessary."

Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is talking about going to the bathroom in Trump's hotel suite and seeing a 'leather-looking' toiletry bag on the counter. She says she saw Old Spice and 'manicure stuff' that was gold. Daniels keeps chuckling as she describes the scene, as if she's giving an interview."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says she came out of the bathroom and found that Trump was in the bedroom, waiting for her, in his boxer shorts and a T-shirt. She had been planning to go, she said. He was seated on the bed, between her and the exit.... Daniels is describing a remarkably intense encounter, and says that the room spun in slow motion and the blood left her hands and feet. She says that Trump did not act particularly threatening but blocked her access to the door to the bedroom. Then she says she 'blacked out,' though she did not take alcohol or drugs. At this point, the judge -- who has sustained one objection and seems unusually angry -- called for a sidebar. He sustains another objection."

Haberman: "'What did I misread to get here,' she describes thinking. She says she tried to leave and he blocked her path, but not in a threatening manner."

Bromwich: "The defense has been objecting to many questions and the judge has been sustaining a lot of them. He is not happy about this testimony.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is now asking Stormy Daniels about having had sex with Trump, which Trump denies. 'Did you at some point end up on the bed having sex with him?' Hoffinger asks. Daniels says yes. When she describes the position they were in, the defense objects, and the objection is sustained."

Haberman: "Daniels says that while she didn't object in the moment, she also didn't enjoy it, and that she felt there was an 'imbalance' in the power dynamic between the two. [MB: Also, as McKinley wrote earlier, Trump was 60 at the time; Daniels 27.]... Stormy Daniels continues to walk the prosecutors through the encounter. She says Trump didn't wear a condom. 'Did you say anything about it?' Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks. 'No,' Daniels replies, adding, when asked why not, 'I didn't say anything at all.' She describes it as brief, and repeats that she did not say no at any point...."

Bromwich: "Daniels is testifying about a few details that corroborate her story, including who she talked to about the initial encounter, as well as further discussions with Trump, who called her 'honeybunch.'... Merchan sustains a defense objection. Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, objects, saying that Daniels's answer was directly responsive to her question. Then, the judge again scolds Daniels, telling her again to keep her answers short and to the point. He then reverses himself and overrules the objection. We've rarely seen Merchan this openly annoyed -- and when we do, he often seems to work to rein himself in after the fact."

Christobek: "Stormy Daniels is now testifying about meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in 2007. She says she was greeted warmly, and although the meeting was brief, he introduced her to everybody, and at one point they took selfies."

Bromwich: "Daniels says that another 2007 meeting, in Los Angeles, was the last time she saw Trump in person -- before today, presumably -- and that he in no way stressed that she should keep their encounter secret."

Swan: "Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels, just as he has nothing to do with any of the women who've made claims against him. But the cumulative testimony extracted from this line of questioning is that Stormy Daniels met with Trump on multiple occasions, with dozens of witnesses. Daniels also describes multiple phone calls with Trump -- some of which had witnesses because Daniels says she put Trump on speaker phone for sport while her friends were present. The jury has also been shown phone contact logs from Daniels's phone and from Trump's assistant's phone."

Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about being threatened in a parking lot by someone while she was in Las Vegas with her daughter. Her voice shakes as she talks about it, and explains she didn't report it because it would have been upsetting to the person she was in a relationship with at the time.... The testimony we've heard so far firmly puts Stormy Daniels in Trump's orbit during a sustained period of time."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is laying out the specifics of the hush money deal -- a really important part of her testimony, after a lot of details that were difficult to follow, as she skipped through meetings and dates and years as the prosecution guided her toward 2016. She said that if she were to violate the agreement, it would cost her a million dollars every time she did so.... Daniels is testifying that she was not motivated by money, and says she didn't negotiate the hush-money deal because she didn't care about the figure. The hush money is at the heart of the case, and she was eventually paid $130,000. I can imagine it being very hard for jurors to accept that Daniels did not want money.... Daniels said she was not paid on time, and that in 2016, she wasn't sure why. 'He just kept making excuses,' she said. At first she clarified that the 'he' in question was Michael Cohen, who paid the hush money. But then she changed her answer and testified that it was 'Trump' who delayed the payment -- more specifically, Trump speaking to Cohen, who was speaking to her then-lawyer Keith Davidson. That was an interesting moment, almost as if Daniels was trying to make the prosecution's case for them." [Lunch break.]

Bromwich: "The defense is moving for a mistrial. This is not unusual for Trump's lawyers -- in his civil fraud trial, his lawyers asked that a mistrial be called several times. They were unsuccessful.... The judge was very unhappy with this morning's testimony and Blanche is objecting to specific details.... Todd Blanche is done and Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, stands up. She says that Daniels's story is important for motive and intent, to illustrate what the defendant, Trump, didn't want the public to know before the election.... The judge has declined to declare a mistrial. While he acknowledged that some of the evidence that came in was more than he would have liked -- 'better left unsaid,' is how he put it several times -- he takes as much issue with the defense as with the prosecution. This must come as a major relief for prosecutors. And I can imagine that they might wish the jury was in the room right now. Justice Merchan reminds the defense that 'the remedy is on cross-examination.'..."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels has begun to testify again. It's clear that the prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked her behind closed doors to start giving shorter answers. She is sticking far more closely to the questions being asked, and her testimony -- about the hush-money deal -- is speeding along. She just testified that her lawyer, Keith Davidson, received $130,000. After he and her manager took fees, she ended up with about $96,000, she says.... Daniels, referring to a Wall Street Journal article that mentioned her while discussing another hush-money deal, says she did not comment for the article, honoring the terms of the deal she had reached through her lawyer, Keith Davidson. She's very different -- and so far, more helpful to prosecutors -- in this afternoon session."

Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about a statement she signed denying having had an affair with Trump, given to her by her lawyer and dated Jan. 10, 2018. This is the same statement that Trump recently posted on Truth Social had been 'JUST FOUND.'... Daniels makes it clear that she didn't want to sign the statement, and that it wasn't true."

Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that once her story became public, her life exploded into 'chaos -- suddenly I was front and foremost everywhere,' she says."

Haberman: "Daniels is now walking through the portion of the story where [Michael] Cohen tried to make her adhere to the non-disclosure agreement, while, she says, he was talking about the case to people. She hired [Michael] Avenatti to get her out of the N.D.A. and she told her story to Anderson Cooper on '60 Minutes.'"

Bromwich: "She then testifies that Cohen filed a temporary restraining order against her, seeking to keep her from speaking.... Stormy Daniels is saying her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a defamation claim against Trump against her wishes. She says she wished he had not done so because she felt it was too risky. (Avenatti, a risk-taker by nature, was sentenced to prison in 2022 for stealing from Daniels.)"

Swan: "As Stormy Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep."

Haberman: "A Trump post on Truth Social, in which he called Stormy Daniels 'horseface,' is currently on the screens in the courtroom. It's from March 2023, as the Manhattan district attorney's office was preparing to indict Trump in this case. Trump insists he hasn't seen Daniels since encountering her on a golf course and taking a picture with her 18 years ago. Daniels is now reading the Truth post aloud."

Bromwich: "The direct examination is over and here comes what is liable to be a very tense cross-examination by Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyers."

Christobek: "Necheles asks Daniels: 'Am I correct that you hate President Trump?' Daniels responds: 'Yes.' Necheles continues: 'And you want him to go to jail?' Daniels responds: 'I want him to be held accountable.'"

Bromwich: "Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, is now pushing Stormy Daniels on her desire for money. She says that Daniels went into pornography for money, and asks her, again, 'You wanted more money, right?' Daniels retorted: 'Don't we all want to make more money in our jobs?'... Then Necheles moves on to posts that Daniels made about wanting Trump to be imprisoned, including one saying that she would 'dance down the street' if he was selected to go to jail."

Haberman:We just witnessed something that felt like a grade school back-and-forth. Susan Necheles gets Stormy Daniels to acknowledge she had mocked Trump's looks on Twitter, and Daniels replies, 'Because he made fun of me first.' Necheles says that one of them started it, but 'you both continued it.'"

Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar. But many of her questions have to do with money and Daniels is making it clear that she is not necessarily wealthy. So instead of this line of questioning working to impeach her credibility, as intended, it's coming off as a lawyer for a very rich person going after someone with less money for having less money."

Swan: "Trump's lawyer ... has successfully established that Stormy Daniels is refusing a court order to pay legal fees to Trump, which she was ordered to do six years ago after her defamation lawsuit against him was dismissed. But the jury knows that Trump is vastly wealthier than Daniels, so it is unclear how compelling they will find it that she has declined to give him money."

Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar by bringing up her book excerpts, making it seem as if she has changed her story of having had sex with Trump. Daniels is fighting back and providing more context.... Necheles accuses Daniels directly of seeking to extort Trump through the hush-money deal. 'False,' Daniels said. 'That's what you did, right?' Necheles repeats. 'False!' Daniels says, almost yelling in the courtroom." [Court adjourns.]

The Trials of Trump, Ctd.

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "After two weeks of enthralling jurors with stories of sex and scandal, prosecutors delved into the documents at the heart of Donald J. Trump's criminal trial on Monday, a pivotal turn in the case that came on the same day the judge held Mr. Trump in contempt and threatened to jail him.... Mr. Trump made the payment to his longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, reimbursing him for a $130,000 hush-money payoff to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, prosecutors say. Before Mr. Trump repaid Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say, he orchestrated a scheme to falsify the records.... And they used veterans of Mr. Trump's accounting department against him, calling on the Trump Organization's former controller, Jeffrey McConney, and its accounts payable supervisor, Deborah Tarasoff, to walk jurors through the records.... Mr. McConney also told jurors that much of the money for Mr. Cohen had come from Mr. Trump's personal bank account. The company sent nine of the checks to the White House for Mr. Trump to sign, Mr. McConney explained."

Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's Monday began with a grave warning from Juan M. Merchan, the judge presiding over the former president's criminal trial, threatening to imprison him if he continued to flout a gag order. Justice Merchan said that the fines levied against Mr. Trump -- $10,000 so far -- 'are not serving as a deterrent.' The judge said that 'therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider jail.'" The article includes more takeaways from yesterday's proceedings. Here's CNN's "takeaways" report.

Marie: Criminals seldom make written notes proving their intent to engage in an illegal conspiracy, But that's what happened here. As Andrew Weissmann pointed out on MSNBC, Exhibits 35 & 36 in the 2016 election interference case "are the bank statement showing [Michael] Cohen paid Stormy [Daniels] $130,000 hush money, and the notes by [Jeffrey] McConney (36) and [Allen] Weisselberg (35) calculating the amounts Cohen needs to be reimbursed to make him whole after disguising the reimbursements as legal fee income." Those notes, combined with testimony from McConney & Hope Hicks, make it clear, beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Weissmann, that Trump ordered the records to be falsified. It would be unthinkable for Weisselberg, on his own, to instruct staff to overpay Cohen or for Donald Trump to write checks making overpayments to Cohen (the checks were also entered evidence) and have no idea what the checks were for. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Alter of the New York Times: "We're awaiting [Michael] Cohen's testimony that Trump knew that he was reimbursing Cohen $35,000 a month for hush money, not for vague legal services, and thus broke the law. But the circumstantial and documentary evidence precorroborating Cohen -- and lessening the impact of his multiple lies -- is now piled as high as Trump Tower."

Yesterday began another week of mandatory court dates for Donald Trump. New York Times reporters were there to tell us all about it. See yesterday's Conversation for details. ~~~

     ~~~ Links to previous transcripts, via the New York court system, are here.

Judge Aileen Makes Her Move. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Reversing one of her own decisions, the federal judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case granted his request on Monday to postpone the deadline for a crucial court filing in the criminal proceeding, increasing the chance that any trial would be pushed past the November election. The ruling by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, was made in a bare-bones order that contained no factual or legal reasoning. It did not schedule a new deadline but erased the one she had set almost a month ago ordering Mr. Trump's lawyers to file by Thursday a detailed list of the classified materials that they intend to introduce at the trial.... Judge Cannon's postponement of the filing deadline was merely the latest example of her acceding to Mr. Trump's attempts to delay the classified documents trial."

Yes, Yes, Trump's Friends Seem Like Criminals, Too. David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: "The Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit whose funding skyrocketed after it became a nerve center for... Donald J. Trump's allies in Washington, has paid at least $3.2 million since the start of 2021 to corporations led by its own leaders or their relatives, records show. In its most recent tax filings, the nonprofit's three highest-paid contractors were all connected to insiders.... Donations to the group are tax deductible, like gifts to a food bank or the American Red Cross.... By law, its money must serve the public good rather than private interests. The nonprofit has pushed those limits by entwining itself with only one faction of American politics. It pays high salaries to some of Mr. Trump's former officials, hosts retreats for Republican lawmakers at a rural compound and funds efforts to vet people and ideas for a second Trump term. Legal experts say these insider transactions also raise concerns about self-dealing.... 'There's no checks and balances,' said Michael West, a lawyer at the New York Council of Nonprofits." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ryan Nobles & Rebecca Kaplan of NBC News: "The House Judiciary Committee plans to prepare a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio of President Joe Biden's interview with former special counsel Robert Hur, a source familiar with the committee's plans confirmed."

Presidential Race

Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "In one of his most bizarre interviews in recent memory, Donald Trump insisted abortion is 'not that big of an issue,' claimed Republicans are the 'party of fertilization' and said every legal scholar in the world supported overturning Roe v. Wade." Here's what Trump said about the "party of fertilization." You figure it out: "We want to help the women because they were going to end fertilization, which is where, when the IVF, where women go to the clinics and they get help in having a baby, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing. And we're for it a 100%. They tried to say that they weren't for it. They actually weren't for it and aren't for it as much as us, but women see that." As Bendery points out, "Republicans in Congress have long opposed women's access to IVF."

Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) revealed Monday he would be backing President Biden in November's election and criticized other Republicans who 'fall in line' with former President Trump. In an op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday, Duncan wrote it is 'disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind' Trump. He said that he is left with no choice but to support Biden instead of the presumptive Republican nominee, whom he described as 'a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.... But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden. At the same time, we should work to elect GOP congressional majorities to block his second-term legislative agenda and provide a check and balance,' Duncan wrote." The New York Times story is here.

Aaron Rupar, via digby, regurgitated some May 6, 2020, reports on Trump's reactions to the coronavirus crisis.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday on U.S. university campus protests are here.

David Bauder of the AP: "The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as 'wide-ranging and revelatory,' while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza. The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that 'pierced the thick wall of secrecy' around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's a full list of winners, via Axios.

~~~~~~~~~~

South Dakota. That Time I Shot My Puppy in the DMZ & Showed Up Li'l Kim While Brushing Off Macron. Or Something. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's (R) "game attempt to proceed with a media tour promoting her book despite alleged inaccuracies and a story about killing her dog is a testament to the thoroughly Trumpian impulse to just push on through -- while avoiding facts.... Not only has Noem faced bipartisan backlash for her story about her young dog Cricket, but other anecdotes in the book have also been called into question in recent days. There's the meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that seems unlikely to have happened. And there is the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron she says she canceled, and the threatening conversation with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley she says she recalled. (Representatives for Macron and Haley have rejected her accounts.) Through it all, Noem and her office have offered shifting accounts and, especially on the Kim story, proven bizarrely evasive." ~~~

~~~ Michael Schaffer of Politico Magazine: "Kristi Noem's story about killing her dog made headlines across America. But it wasn't news to people who worked on her first book, where the tale made it into a draft of the memoir before the publishing team nixed it. Then, as now, Noem wanted the story in because it showed a decisive person who was unwilling to be bound by namby-pamby niceties, while others on the team -- which included agents, editors and publicists at Hachette Book Group's prestige Twelve imprint, and a ghostwriter -- saw it as a bad-taste anecdote that would hurt her brand. The tale was ultimately cut, according to two people involved with the project. In other words, they produced a typical pre-campaign book, where the first rule is to do no harm." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IOW, even when normal people warned her that shooting your dog is not something to boast about, Gov. Kristi didn't get it. (OR, she thought Donald Trump would love it, and she could be right about that.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it had taken 'operational control' of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip 'stopped completely' as a result. Hamas said it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, renewing hopes for a pause in fighting even as Israel vowed to press on with its military operation in Rafah.... The IDF said Tuesday that it struck more than 50 targets in Rafah. A day earlier, the Israeli military ordered about 100,000 civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate. The IDF described it as 'preparation for ground operations in the area.'" ~~~

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

From the Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war: "Hamas informed Arab mediators that it would approve a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, said in a statement Monday. While there has been no formal response from Israel, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, said in a briefing later Monday: 'We are considering any response and any answer in the most serious way and are pursuing every possibility for negotiations to return the hostages as quickly as possible.' He added that 'in parallel, we are continuing to maneuver in the Gaza Strip.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Russia/Ukraine

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Russia said on Monday that it would hold military exercises with troops based near Ukraine to practice for the possible use of battlefield nuclear weapons, a provocative warning aimed at discouraging the West from deepening its support for Ukraine. These weapons, often referred to as 'tactical,' are designed for battlefield use and have smaller warheads than the 'strategic' nuclear weapons meant to target cities. Russia's Defense Ministry said that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered an exercise for missile, aviation and naval personnel to 'increase the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions.' The announcement of the exercise was Russia's most explicit warning in its more than two-year invasion of Ukraine that it could use tactical nuclear weapons there." A Reuters story is here.

John Ismay & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "A U.S. Army soldier has been detained by Russian authorities in the port city Vladivostok on charges of criminal misconduct, the State and Defense Departments said on Monday, adding what is likely to be another complication in the contentious relationship between Moscow and Washington. A military official identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, and said he was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas after being stationed in South Korea. He was apprehended on May 2, and Russia notified the State Department of the soldier's 'criminal detention' in accordance with international agreements between the two nations." ~~~

     ~~~ Courtney Kube & Moshen Gains of NBC News: "[Black] had finished his deployment and was heading back to the U.S. when he made a side trip to Vladivostok, Russia, to visit a woman he was romantically involved with, officials said. They added that he had traveled there without permission from his superiors and that he is being held in pretrial confinement. The soldier is accused of stealing from a woman, the officials said. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same woman he was visiting."

Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "In the gilded Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace where Russian czars were once crowned, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday swore the oath of allegiance on Russia's constitution at his inauguration for a fifth term as president. The traditional pomp and ceremony conveyed his might as Russia's supreme, uncontested leader for the past quarter-century. Bristling with optimism abut his ongoing war against Ukraine, Putin declared he would place Russia's security above all else and promised that the country would be victorious. A 30-gun salute followed his remarks."