© Elizabeth Williams via AP |
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Michael Cohen, former President Trump‘s one-time lawyer and “fixer” took another combative turn during Trump’s hush money trial Thursday, battling Trump’s attorneys over his shady past and his role in paying porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. During hours of brutal questioning, Cohen was forced to acknowledge other times he has lied over the years, while little of the defense’s case touched on the money paid to Daniels.
Cohen is considered a star witness in the trial over whether Trump falsified business documents to cover up his payment to Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
The defense called into question Cohen’s recollection of a 90-second phone call, which he testified about earlier in the trial, that he had with Trump about the payment to Daniels.
“That was a lie! You did not talk to President Trump on that night,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said, getting the most heated he’s been during the trial.
He suggested Cohen had actually talked to Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, that night about harassing phone calls Cohen was receiving from a prankster at the time.
Cohen, who will be back on the stand next week, is expected to be the prosecution’s final witness in the historic trial, which wrapped its fourth week Thursday. It’s unclear how many witnesses Trump’s defense team plans to bring when it presents its own case or whether the former president will testify himself.
The trial will resume on Monday, after breaking for Trump to attend his son’s high school graduation Friday. Check out live updates from The Hill.
Nearly a dozen Republican lawmakers traveled to New York on Thursday to show their support for Trump — the latest in a steady stream of Trump allies who’ve shown up to his hush money trial. The lawmakers have taken turns speaking on Trump’s behalf since he is under a gag order that prevents him from talking about some aspects of the trial.
The legislators’ absence forced a rescheduling of key hearings back in D.C. on a top GOP priority: holding Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress.
The Hill reports: Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mike Waltz (Fla.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.), Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (Va.) were among the latest bunch.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) attended court proceedings and gaggled with reporters outside the courtroom earlier this week. |
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Welcome to Evening Report! We’re Liz Crisp and Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here. |
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Veepstakes: Trump to ‘probably’ name VP at GOP convention |
There’s a “good chance” voters will learn former President Trump‘s running mate during the Republican National Convention in mid-July.
“That’s probably a pretty good chance, I would say,” Trump said in an interview with Scripps News’s Charles Benson released this week. “I don’t say anything’s 100 percent, but you’re getting pretty close. I’ll be doing it in Milwaukee … we’re gonna have a great time.” Trump has kept people speculating by trotting out several potential VP picks this year, some of whom ran against him in the GOP presidential primary this year: Including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.).
The Hill’s Campaign Report dove into the leading contenders to become Trump’s running mate. Check out the analysis and sign up to get the campaign newsletter and others from The Hill in your email inbox.
MEANWHILE … With two presidential debates now on the calendar, the Biden campaign has agreed to a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News in late July or early August. Vice President Harris will take part and face whomever Trump names as his running mate in the coming weeks.
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DeSantis signs bill deleting climate change from Florida policies |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed legislation to end a state requirement to consider climate change in new energy policies. The law also essentially deletes nearly all references to climate change in state law and outlaws offshore wind turbines in Florida waters.
Environmental leaders have criticized the new law, arguing it demonstrates a disregard for the environmental threats Florida faces.
In a post on the social media platform X, former GOP presidential candidate DeSantis touted the legislation as part of “restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots.” (The Hill) |
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House Democrats rally against GOP bill on Israel weapons shipment |
The House will vote Thursday evening on legislation meant to force the Biden administration to transfer a weapons shipment to Israel.
The Hill’s Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis report that Democrats have already come out against the measure, arguing that opportunistic Republicans are merely holding a show-vote in an effort to expose divisions among Democrats over the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I am tired of the Republicans using Israel and antisemitism as a political pawn,” said Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a prominent Jewish Democratic lawmaker. “We are not political pawns.”
Check back with The Hill this evening for the results of the House vote.
Biden paused the transfer of American bombs to Israel earlier this month amid concerns over the threat to civilians in Rafah, which has become a home for many displaced Gazans.
The White House has promised to veto the bill if it makes it to the president’s desk. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has anchored a floating pier off the coast of Gaza and stands ready to deliver “hundreds of tons of humanitarian assistance” to desperate Palestinians.
After weeks of weather delays, the pier is ready to act as a locus point for critical aid to Palestinians, many of whom have been unable to access a steady supply of food and clean water amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The Hill’s Brad Dress reports that the initial aid distribution amounts to about 500 tons of humanitarian assistance, with “thousands of tons in the pipeline.”
“We’re at a point where we can’t spare any effort,” said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator at the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.
About 1,000 U.S. troops will be working closely with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the United Nations to facilitate the transfer of assistance.
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Democrats elated after Supreme Court saves CFPB |
Democrats offered some rare praise for the conservative-tilted Supreme Court after it rejected a GOP-led effort to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in a 7-2 ruling.
Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the High Court’s most conservative members, wrote the majority opinion siding with the CFPB.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive Democrat who designed the CFPB in her previous career as an academic, was on the steps of the Supreme Court to cheer on the ruling.
“The United States Supreme Court followed the law, and the CFPB is here to stay,” Warren declared.
Republicans have long argued that appropriations for the CFPB must come from Congress, rather than the Federal Reserve. The GOP has fumed over Congress’s limited oversight of the agency for years, and the latest challenge was brought by state Republican attorneys general.
But Thomas tossed aside the funding gripe in his majority opinion.
“An appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes,” Thomas wrote. “The statute that provides the Bureau’s funding meets these requirements.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, the only dissenting voices, argued in favor of the Republican AGs, as well as the business and trade associations that targeted the CFPB.
“Unfortunately, today’s decision turns the Appropriations Clause into a minor vestige,” Alito wrote. “The Court upholds a novel statutory scheme under which the powerful (CFPB) may bankroll its own agenda without any congressional control or oversight.”
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“If you want to make the world a better place, focus on women,”
writes Tara D. Sonenshine, nonresident fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
“Budget Act dead at 50 — or is it incognito?” writes Don Wolfensberger, author and 28-year congressional staff veteran. |
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41 days until the first presidential debate. 60 days until the Republican National Convention.
95 days until the Democratic National Convention.
172 days until the 2024 general election. |
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10 a.m. Friday: Baron Trump, the 18-year-old son of former President Trump, will graduate from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla. Thanks to a break from his busy court schedule in New York, the former president is expected to attend.
In the evening, the former president will speak at a campaign fundraiser in Minnesota. |
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