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Tuesday, May 14, 2024

5/14 WAKE-UP CALL: 'Mister Fixit' Offers No New Evidence


Michael Cohen told jurors that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump directed him to pay to silence a porn star whom he feared could derail his campaign. Stormy Daniels had threatened to come forward with her allegation of an affair. Cohen testified that Trump had told Cohen to drag out any negotiations as long as possible to get past the election. The star witness in Trump’s hush-money trial—the defendant’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer—is a convicted liar, disbarred lawyer and vocal Trump critic. The former president, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for allegedly trying to cover up the payment, has pleaded not guilty and denied having the affair.

Taking the witness stand in the Manhattan criminal trial Monday, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer recalled an October 2016 conversation in which the former president said that public disclosure of Daniels’ story would spell “disaster” for his White House bid. Trump expressed frustration that Daniels was trying to shop her story to the media and told Cohen to pay her $130,000 to buy her silence. “This is a disaster, a total disaster,” Cohen said Trump told him. “Women will hate me. Guys may think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.”

Cohen, the star witness in the hush-money case, detailed how Trump signed off on a plan to cover up the $130,000 Daniels payment under the guise of legal fees. Cohen’s testimony offered an insider’s perspective into Trump’s state of mind when he entered into the agreement.

➤HELL IN GAZA:   Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge on Monday to recapture an area from Hamas fighters, while in the south tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah, leaving Palestinian civilians scrambling to find safety. Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid. Humanitarian groups say this has worsened an already dire situation. Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing again. Around half of Gaza's population took sanctuary there after Israel ordered evacuations from northern Gaza in October.

Gaza's health authority appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow in aid, medical supplies and fuel to power generators and ambulances. "The wounded and sick suffer a slow death because there is no treatment and supplies and they cannot travel," it said.

➤RUSSIAN BOMBS MORE LETHAL THAN EVER:  Moscow is launching more drone and missile attacks and firing more harder-to-hit weapons, such as ballistic missiles. 

At the same time, Kyiv’s forces are shooting down a far smaller proportion of Russian missile attacks than they did earlier in the war and running low on ammunition for the Western-supplied Patriot systems that have been the best defense against such attacks. The next two or so months will be crucial for whether Russia’s air force can be held at bay before Ukraine’s new air-defense supplies arrive, according to a European military-intelligence official.

➤INVESTORS REMAIN OPTIMISITC FOR SOFT LANDING: Once again, investors are optimistic about a soft landing for the U.S. economy. The April consumer-price index report will be released Wednesday. Three straight months of hot inflation data had made Wall Street less confident about imminent interest-rate cuts. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell kept hopes of rate cuts alive following the central bank’s latest policy meeting, and subsequent data showed easing pressure from job and wage growth. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell, snapping its longest winning streak of the year, and meme-stock mania resurfaced in the form of surging GameStop shares. Closer to home, WSJ’s Heard on the Street columnists threw darts at stock-market listings to choose investments—and made 80% in a year without really trying, beating hedge-fund pros.

➤U-S, CHINA TO TALK AI RISKS: The U.S. and Chinese governments are meeting in Geneva today to discuss artificial intelligence risks amid the rapid development of new tech tools upending work and war around the world, according to senior Biden administration officials. The first meeting on AI between the two governments is intended to identify areas of concern and share the nations’ domestic approaches to tackling AI problems. Both sides have targeted AI as a key technology to dominate as commercial and military applications have exploded in recent years.


➤WE NEED MORE BABIES: Uh oh, it's the underpopulation problem . . . The world is at a startling demographic milestone. Sometime soon, the global fertility rate will drop below the point needed to keep population constant. It may have already happened. Fertility is falling almost everywhere, for women across all levels of income, education and labor-force participation. The falling birthrates come with huge implications for the way people live, how economies grow and the standings of the world’s superpowers.

⛽GAS PRICES TO SOAR IN CALIF:  A longstanding emissions reduction program may lead to a 50-cent increase in gasoline prices within two years in California, according to a little-known state air quality regulator report. In September, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the state's primary environmental regulator, reported gas prices will rise next year by about 50 cents a gallon and every year thereafter to aid in clean air efforts. The report foresees gasoline price increases due to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard reforms that were created in 2007, likely rising by 47 cents next year and 52 cents by 2026.

💸MELINDA EXITS WITH $12.5B, YES AS IN BILLION:  Melinda French Gates is leaving the charitable foundation she co-founded with former spouse Bill Gates more than 20 years ago and will get $12.5 billion for her own work to uplift women and families, she said on Monday. VThe billionaire benefactors parted ways in 2021 after 27 years of marriage but had pledged to continue their philanthropic work together. Their final divorce order filed in a Seattle court had no details on an agreement reached between the two on how to divide their marital assets.

➤VA GETTING DEI TRAINING: President Joe Biden's Department of Veterans Affairs is offering race-based training programs and workshops that exclude white veterans—programs that one legal expert says are "of dubious constitutionality and legality." The programs are taking place in at least four states, a Washington Free Beacon review of online offerings found. In Battle Creek, Mich., for example, the VA offers a "BIPOC Support Group," an "8-week curriculum designed to provide support for Veterans that identify as people of color/BIPOC, or as multiracial or biracial," according to a program description. 

⚾PHILLIES RALLY IN 10TH:  Bryson Stott lofted a 10th-inning sacrifice fly Monday night for the visiting Philadelphia Phillies, who overcame a two-run, ninth-inning deficit to beat the New York Mets 5-4. The Phillies have won 10 of 12 after taking the opener of a series that will see the teams play twice in New York before immediately playing twice in Philadelphia. The Mets have lost six of nine.

Stott led off the ninth with a homer against Mets closer Edwin Diaz, who later forced home the tying run with two outs when he hit Alec Bohm with a pitch.

⚾MLB SCORES

  • Rays 5 Red Sox 3
  • Phillies 5 Mets 4
  • Dodgers 6 Giants 4
  • Mariners 6 Royals 2
  • Rockies 5 Padres 4
  • D-Backs 6 Reds 5
  • Cardinals 10 Angles 5
  • Astros 9 Athletics 2
  • Guardians 7 Rangers 0
  • Pirates 8 Brewers 6
  • Braves 2 Cubs 0
  • Tigers 6 Marlins 5
  • Blue Jays 3 Orioles 2
  • Nationals-White Sox PP
🏒NHL SCORES:
  • Stars 5 Avalanche 1
  • Hurricanes 4 Rangers 1

🏀NBA SCORES

  • Thunder 100 Mavericks 96
  • Celtics 109 Cavaliers 102

So far during these playoffs, the Celtics have either rolled to lopsided wins or had their opponent return the favor. When Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was ruled out of Game 4 of these Eastern Conference semifinals Monday night because of a calf strain, it seemed unlikely that the trend would be reversed. But the Cavaliers lingered all night despite a lengthy cold streak from beyond the arc and had a chance to pull within 2 points with 85 seconds left, but Max Strus missed the attempt and the Celtics steadied themselves before securing a 109-102 win. Boston now leads the series, 3-1, and will have a chance to advance to the conference finals when they host Game 5 on Wednesday night.

📺BRADY DEBUT DATE SET:  Tom Brady's first NFL regular-season game as an analyst will feature one of the sport's most popular teams. Brady and the Fox No. 1 announcing team will be on the call for a Dallas Cowboys contest against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 8, it was announced at an event for Fox advertisers Monday as part of the NFL schedule rollout that continues through Wednesday. The matchup is scheduled for a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff. The game is part of an exclusive doubleheader window for FOX; there will be no CBS game in the late-afternoon window.

➤TUESDAY'S WEATHER:



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