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© Win McNamee, Pool Photo via Associated Press
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Week 3 of Trump’s hush money trial
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Week three of testimony in former President Trump‘s hush money trial in New York wrapped up Friday afternoon.
Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election to cover up an alleged affair between the two in 2006.
While testimony earlier in the week proved to be more salacious, prosecutors turned the dial back Friday.
RECAP: To catch up on Friday’s testimony, check out The Hill’s live blog, and for more coverage on the testimonies from earlier in the week, read 5 takeaways from a blockbuster Trump trial week from The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee.
Prosecutors called to the witness stand Madeleine Westerhout, former director of Oval Office Operations under then-President Trump in 2019, who testified that:
- Trump would “definitely” multi-task.
- He would often sign documents without knowing what they were, using a sharpie as his preferred writing instrument.
- Trump did not like working with computers or using email and demanded complete control of his social media accounts.
AT&T and Verizon employees were questioned about phone records of various Trump allies and those in his inner circle, and Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, a paralegal from the district attorney’s office who was tasked with analyzing the cell phone records for Michael Cohen, also testified.
Cohen, Trump’s former fixer and person attorney, made the initial hush money payment to Daniels and was also involved in other “catch-and-kill” schemes.
Although the court adjourned for the week, all eyes will be on the trial Monday when star witness Cohen takes the stand. Cohen is expected to round out the prosecution’s case, and according to The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld, it is unclear how long his testimony will last.
Trump’s team asked Judge Juan Merchan to issue a gag order against Cohen ahead of his Monday testimony, seeking to keep Cohen from speaking about the former president. The judge compromised by barring Cohen from speaking publicly about the case.
Trump is currently under a gag order and ordered not to attack witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family. Merchan ruled that Trump has already violated the order 10 times, fined him $1,000 and warned him that further violations could result in jail time.
“I’d be very proud to go to jail for our Constitution. Because what he’s doing is so unconstitutional,” Trump said of Merchan’s gag order.
Related coverage:
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Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Emily Martin, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.
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With a feud having been rekindled between rap stars Kendrick Lamar and Drake over the last few weeks, some Congress members have decided to take sides in the long-standing rivalry.
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Capitol Hill, like the rap industry, is no stranger to feuds. The Hill’s Mike Lillis, Alexander Bolton and Mychael Schnell did a deep dive on seven feuds currently broiling in Congress.
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While South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) goes on tour to promote her new book, she’s taken shots from both liberal and conservative media over controversial stories mentioned in the book, such as killing a family dog several years ago and meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
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Biden faces blowback for withholding weapons from Israel
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President Biden on Thursday warned that the U.S. would not send offensive weapons to Israel if it carried out its planned attack on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“I made it clear that 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 in an interview with CNN.
But this proclamation drew criticism, both domestic and foreign.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “would stand alone” if Biden were to indeed withhold weapons, adding, “If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than our fingernails.”
In remarks on Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this week, Netanyahu said “no amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum, will stop Israel from defending itself.”
At home, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pushed back on these conditions, saying the U.S. shouldn’t be telling Israel how to conduct its war.
“We should not be telling them how to protect themselves,” McConnell said in an interview with Politico. “We should not be conditioning the arrival of military equipment that they need because of some domestic view that Netanyahu is unpopular. Completely irrelevant to the war.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the suggestion of withholding weapons from Israel could affect potential stability in the Middle East.
“Mr. President, if you do not change this policy, you will have destroyed the last best chance to deliver lasting stability in the Mideast for generations,” Graham warned.
A group of 26 House Democrats penned a letter to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, pushing back on the idea of withholding weapons and suggesting any bad blood with Israel would embolden “our mutual enemies.”
“We are deeply concerned about the message the Administration is sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by withholding weapons shipments to Israel, during a critical moment in the negotiations,” the letter reads.
The letter comes as the latest cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel fell flat, ending without a deal.
Related coverage:
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That’s how many pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested on college campuses over the last few weeks following clashes with police.
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Marijuana reclassification could help Biden win over key voter group
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The Biden administration’s decision to reclassify and loosen federal regulations on marijuana could give President Biden a boost among younger voters, a group that has shown dissipating enthusiasm for his reelection bid.
The Drug Enforcement Administration will move forward with reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance, the agency announced last month. This move is the most substantial federal action taken on marijuana since it was first scheduled in 1970.
This change, while not a complete decriminalization, would lower at the federal level the seriousness of a marijuana-related crime. Democratic pollster and strategist Celinda Lake said coupling this with a criminal justice message would help attract more young voters.
“I think it needs to be linked to the criminal justice reform that the President, the Vice President already have been very active on. And I think it’s a very, very good part of a package of talking to young people about abortion, about threats to democracy, about student loans,” said Lake.
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of the NextGen America advocacy nonprofit, told The Hill, “I think the case that the administration can make [is] they’re making progress on issues that young people care about and working to decriminalize substances.”
Most Americans support the legalization of marijuana, according to a Pew survey:
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89 percent of adults agree with legalizing marijuana to some degree
- 93 percent of adults younger than 30 in favor of legalizing marijuana for either recreational or medicinal use
(The Hill)
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Poll: 1 in 8 adults have taken weight-loss drugs
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A new poll from KFF, a health policy nonprofit, found that 1 in 8 adults surveyed had taken a GLP-1 agonist, or a drug used to treat diabetes and obesity, like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
Of those surveyed, 12 percent said they had previously taken a GLP-1 agonist, while 6 percent said they were currently using one. Nearly two-thirds used the drugs to manage a chronic health condition, and 38 percent used it for weight loss.
While GLP-1 agonists are intended to treat diabetes, they have also skyrocketed in popularity as an off-label and cosmetic way to lose weight. This increase in demand has led to a shortage of various GLP-1 agonists, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
(The Hill)
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“Recent college protests turn away from effective nonviolent methods of yesteryear,” writes Ben Voth, author and professor of rhetoric and director of debate at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
“We’re environmentalists: America’s haphazard plastic bag bans are not working,” writes Brad Liski, co-founder and CEO of Tru Earth, and Lasse Gustavsson, president and CEO of Ocean Wise.
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66 days until the Republican National Convention.
101 days until the Democratic National Convention.
178 days until the 2024 general election.
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Monday: Michael Cohen, former President Trump‘s fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the stand in Trump’s hush money trial.
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