Monday, May 13, 2024

5/13 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Trial At Pivotal Moment


One of the most bitter political feuds in the nation is expected to culminate in a Manhattan courtroom Monday with a showdown years in the making when Michael Cohen takes the stand at Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial. Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer — whose payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election is now at the center of the first criminal trial of an American president — is slated to take the stand next, two sources confirmed to the Daily News.

He’s expected to tell jurors about the deal he negotiated to buy the adult film star’s silence about her extramarital tryst with his boss in s Lake Tahoe hotel room and being reimbursed by Trump after winning the White House.  The $130,000 hush money payment saw the longtime Trump loyalist, 57, become a felon and lose his law license after pleading guilty in 2018 to breaking federal campaign finance laws, lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings with Russia, and other crimes. 

In the Manhattan case now underway, Trump, 77, is accused of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records, which allege he covered up reimbursement to Cohen in 2017 by logging a series of monthly checks as payment for legal fees. 

🏖BIDEN ON THE BEACH:  Critics of President Biden are lambasting his beach vacation in Delaware, while contrasting the Mother's Day weekend getaway to former President Trump's massive rally in the historically blue state of New Jersey on Saturday.  "Supporters camped out overnight at the beach for a Trump rally that starts at 5PM today in Wildwood. Joe Biden can’t fill up a broom closet without staff, media, and angry protestors," one X user under the name Bad Hombre posted Saturday.  Trump held a beachside rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday evening, where at least 80,000, and up to 100,000 supporters, joined the 45th president in the historically deep blue state. Simultaneously, 24 miles across Deleware Bay, Biden arrived at his home in Rehoboth Beach for Mother’s Day.

Biden’s trip followed a fundraising event in Seattle, where he was greeted by local leaders such as Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., as well as a group of left-wing, anti-Israel protesters holding signs reading "Traitor Genocide Joe Free Palestine" and "Genocide Joe Must Go," the Seattle Times reported.

➤ISRAEL PUSHES DEEPER INTO RAFAH:  Israel’s offensive in Rafah pushed deeper into the city, just as Hamas works to re-establish itself in northern Gaza. Israel issued new evacuation orders around Rafah on Saturday as its military pressed further into the southern Gaza city. 

The fighting, part of an offensive the U.S. has warned Israel not to carrying out, has prompted more than 300,000 Palestinians to flee, deepening a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Just as Israel is focusing on the southern city in its effort to destroy Hamas, the militant group’s fighters are reappearing in northern Gaza, skirmishing with Israeli troops in areas already cleared by the military. The latest fighting comes as cease-fire talks are expected to reconvene in the coming days.

➤UKRAINE BLASTS RUSSIAN APARTMENT BUILDING: At least 15 people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said. In one of the deadliest attacks to date on the region of Belgorod, Ukraine launched what Russian officials said was a massive missile attack, involving Tochka ballistic missiles and Adler and RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems.


➤ZELENSKIY CALLS FOR CALM: Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on his people not to panic amid Russia’s ongoing advance in the Kharkiv region that’s jeopardizing a local city. Ukrainians should trust in their army defending the country’s northeastern border area and not “yield to emotions” despite the fierce fight there and the “extremely difficult” situation on the outskirts of Vovchansk, Zelenskiy said in his regular evening statement on Sunday. Along with several other towns and villages, Vovchansk — a city located only several miles from the border with Russia — is under constant fire from advancing Russian troops, according to local authorities who initiated a mass evacuation. Nearly 500 residents still remain in the city, which had a population of almost 18,000 before the war, Oleh Synyehubov, regional governor said on Telegram. Ukraine’s troops are attempting a counter-attack near Vovchansk, Zelenskiy said.

➤BIDEN'S SUPPORT OF TIKTOK LEGISLATION MAY COST HIM VOTES: President Biden's approval of TikTok legislation suggests potential November blowback for him and other politicians. The move has triggered significant backlash on the app, which is used by up to one-third of voters under 30 to get their news. There are reasons to doubt that the legislation will hurt Biden politically. The bill had broad bipartisan support, but polling is mixed on how voters, including young voters, see the measure. The news of a possible ban has rippled across the platform, where the bulk of political posts tend to be sharply skeptical of Biden and Democrats, whose electoral coalition is disproportionately dependent on younger voters.

➤HOUSE DRAFTING BIDEN IMPEACHMENT ARTICLES: Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., is preparing impeachment articles against President Biden over his threat to halt U.S. offensive aid to Israel, the first-term lawmaker told Fox News Digital on Thursday. Mills accused Biden of forcing Israel into a "quid pro quo" situation by leveraging U.S. dollars against the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, drawing parallels to Democrats' first impeachment of former President Trump over his handling of Ukraine aid. "Joe Biden is pressuring Israel, our biggest ally in the Middle East, by pausing their funding that has already been approved in the House, if they don't stop all operations with Hamas. It’s a very clear message, ‘this for that," he said.

➤CNN PUNDIT CALLS ON BIDEN TO RETURN TRUMP'S IMMIGRATION POLICIES:  CNN’s Fareed Zakaria said that Biden didn’t do anything on the border during his first years in office because “he wasn’t taking it seriously enough” as millions of illegals stormed the southern border.“And the reason was he felt he had a progressive wing within his party that wouldn’t listen to reason,” he claimed. “People are coming in, aided by cartels to whom they pay huge amounts of money, and they’re not running away from law enforcement. They’re running towards law enforcement because they have figured out that all they have to do is say the magic words, ‘I have a credible fear of persecution,’ and bingo, you’re in the country legally.

MICKEY D's EXPECTED TO UNVEIL $5 MEAL DEAL: McDonald’s Corp. is looking to launch a $5 meal deal in the US that the burger chain is betting can lure penny-pinching consumers back in. The deal could include a McChicken or a McDouble along with fries and a drink, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity. On the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said McDonald’s had to be “laser-focused on affordability” given how price-weary diners have become. The company’s results were weaker than expected.

➤VA SCHOOL TO RESTORE CONFEDERATE NAMES: A Virginia school board has approved a motion for two schools to revert to their Confederate names following a debate that bitterly divided a town. The Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 to reinstate the names of Stonewall Jackson High and Ashby-Lee Elementary in Quicksburg. Community members had been pushing for a reversal, arguing the 2020 name change was unpopular. The vote marked the first such U-turn anywhere in the US. Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and a summer of racial justice unrest, Virginia and other states took down Confederate statues from public spaces. 

⚾METS AVOID SWEEP: Outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who didn't start the game due to a side injury, hit a walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the host New York Mets over the Atlanta Braves, 4-3. The Mets averted being swept in the three-game series and won for just the seventh time in 19 games. The Braves' four-game winning streak ended. Nimmo, who left after four innings in Saturday's 4-1 loss due to a tight right intercostal muscle, entered Sunday as a pinch runner for DJ Stewart in the seventh inning.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Marlins 7 Phillies 6
  • 5 HRs Power The Yankees
    Yankees 10 Rays 6
  • Mets 4 Braves 3
  • Mariners 8 Athletics 4
  • Padres 4 Dodgers 0
  • Royals 4 Angels 2
  • Giants 6 Reds 5
  • Rockies 3 Rangers 1
  • Guardians 7 White Sox 0
  • Cardinals 4 Brewers 3
  • Astros 9 Tigers 3
  • Twins 5 Blue Jays 1
  • D-Backs 9 Orioles 2
  • Red Sox 3 Nationals 2
  • Cubs 5 Pirates 4

🏀NBA SCORES

  • Nuggets 115 Timberwolves 107
  • Pacers 121 Knicks 89

🏒NHL SCORES

  • Canucks 4 Oilers 3
  • Panthers 3 Bruins 2
➤MONDAY'S WEATHER:



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