WTF Just Happened Today Matt Kiser

1/ Michael Cohen testified that Trump directed him to personally make the $130,000 hush payment to Stormy Daniels because her story would be “catastrophic” for his campaign. During testimony in Trump’s election interference trial involving falsified business records, Cohen described his role at the Trump Organization as essentially “whatever” Trump “wanted.” Cohen testified that Trump instructed him to “just do it” – referring to the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels – when he learned that Daniels was looking to sell her story about their alleged affair in 2006. “I thought you took care of this,” Trump told Cohen. “I thought this was under control. This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women will hate me […] this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.” Trump later instructed Cohen to “just take care of it,” but to drag out negotiations as long as possible to “just get past the election. I win, it has no relevance because I’m president, and if I lose, I don’t really care.” (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)



An aide to Trump’s 2016 campaign alleges that the campaign intentionally obscured settlement payments to women who made discrimination or harassment claims in violation of federal law. “A.J. Delgado’s filing presented evidence of top Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz openly admitting that the campaign wanted to use a law firm to cover up a potential settlement payout in 2017. The arrangement, as Delgado described it, appears specifically designed to evade the consequences of federal disclosure laws that require campaigns to publicly report the identities of payment recipients.” (Daily Beast / Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington)



Trump may face a $100 million IRS bill after an audit suggests he double-dipped on tax losses tied to a Chicago skyscraper. The first write-off came on Trump’s tax return for 2008, when he claimed that the investment met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his debt on the project meant he would never see a profit. Trump claimed as much as $651 million in losses on the project. In 2010, Trump then he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership and used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade. (New York Times / ProPublica)



2/ A State Department report said it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used American-provided weapons in Gaza that are “inconsistent” with international law. The report, however, stopped short of officially saying Israel violated the law, saying there was insufficient information to draw firm conclusi...

1/ Trump refused to unconditionally accept the results of the 2024 presidential election if he doesn’t win. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Trump said he was prepared “to fight for the right of the country” – an echo to his speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, where he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol. “If everything’s honest,” Trump added, “I’ll gladly accept the results.” In 2020, Wisconsin was one of several states where Trump and his allies attempted to undermine election results through baseless accusations of widespread fraud. Nevertheless, Trump repeated his lie that he beat Biden in Wisconsin, saying: “If you go back and look at all of the things that had been found out, it showed that I won the election in Wisconsin. It also showed I won the election in other locations.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Reuters / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Rolling Stone)


Emails Reveal Top Trump Accountant Had Secret Campaign Role. “Not only was Allen Weisselberg handling the Trump Org’s books, he was also advising the former president’s campaign 2016 campaign.” (Daily Beast)

2/ On day 10 of Trump’s election interference trial involving falsified business records, the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels finished his testimony and Judge Juan Merchan held another hearing on whether Trump is continuing to violate his gag order. Two days after Merchan held Trump in contempt of court for violating his gag order nine times, the judge held a second hearing on four additional claims made by the prosecution. “His statements are corrosive to this proceeding and the fair administration of justice,” prosecutor Chris Conroy said, adding that Trump’s public comments “are deliberate shots across the bow to everyone who may come to this courtroom […] to talk about the defendant and what he did.” Merchan didn’t immediately rule, but advised Trump’s lawyer about social media posts: “I think the best advice to give your client is when in doubt, steer clear.” Meanwhile, Davidson testified that “there was an understanding” that his efforts to strike deals to bury the stories of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels “may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.” On election night 2016, Davidson texted Dylan Howard, the National Enquirer editor who helped broker the deals, “What have we done.” Howard responded: “Oh my god.” The next witness called to testify was Douglas Daus, who works for the Manhattan district attorney’s office as a technology expert. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/02/trump-h...

1/ Biden will cancel $6 billion in student loans for people who attended the Art Institutes, a shuttered group of private for-profit colleges accused of fraud. “This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies,” Biden said in a statement. The move will provide relief for 317,0000 people who enrolled in the colleges between 2004 and 2017. This latest round of student loan forgiveness brings the total approved by the Biden Administration to almost $160 billion for nearly 4.6 million borrowers – an average of nearly $35,000 per student. (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News / Bloomberg)

2/ The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged at their highest level in two decades. The federal funds rate has been between 5.25% and 5.50% since July 2023. After the consumer price index came in at 3.5% on an annual basis last month, the central bank said there’s been “a lack of further progress” toward its 2% percent inflation goal. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / ABC News)

3/ A federal court blocked Louisiana from using a new congressional map for this year’s elections, which created a second majority-Black district. In the 2-1 decision, the judges ruled the new map amounted to an “impermissible racial gerrymander” that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The ruling in favor of a group of self-described “non-African American” voters comes after the state legislature was ordered to redraw congressional districts to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case is likely to reach the Supreme Court, which leaves uncertainty about which map will be used for this year’s elections that are six months away. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / USA Today)

4/ Democrats won a special election House seat in New York, further shrinking the Republicans’ majority in the House. Democratic state Sen. Tim Kennedy defeated Republ...

1/ Trump was held in contempt of court and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses and jurors in his Manhattan criminal trial. Trump was also ordered to remove seven “offending” social media posts and two posts on his campaign website. Judge Juan Merchan warned Trump he could be jailed for further violations. (Associated Press / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News / CNBC)



On the witness stand today: Keith Davidson, the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal when they sold their stories of affairs with Trump to the National Enquirer.



“I have a blockbuster Trump story,” Davidson said in a text to an Enquirer editor, referring to McDougal’s relationship with Trump.



Davidson testified that interest in Stormy Daniels’s story intensified after the emergence of the “Access Hollywood” tape, on which Trump bragged about assaulting women.



“Every single time I talked to Michael Cohen he leaned on his close affiliation with Donald Trump,” Davidson testified. “I don’t know if it was ever explicitly stated that ‘I am negotiating this matter on behalf of Donald Trump,’ but it was part of [Cohen’s] identity.”



Sources: New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg



2/ House Democrats said they’d block Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson. Greene and two other Republicans hardliners have threatened for weeks to introduce a motion to oust Johnson because he worked with Democrats to approve a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. “If she invokes the motion, it will not succeed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said. “From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have put people over politics and found bipartisan common ground with traditional Republicans in order to deliver real results. At the same time, House Democrats have aggressively pushed back against MAGA extremism. We will continue to do just that.” Greene, nevertheless, suggested she’d force a vote anyway, saying: “if the Democrats want to elect him Speaker (and some Republicans want to support the Democrats’ chosen Speaker), I’ll give them the chance to do it.” (Politico / a href="https://apnews.com/article/speaker-mike-johnson...

1/ Senior State Department officials warned that they don’t have “credible or reliable” assurances that Israel is using U.S.-provided weapons in accordance with international law. Under a National Security Memorandum that Biden issued in February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken must determine whether Israel is using U.S. weapons “in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.” Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he has certified the assurances to be credible and reliable. Four bureaus – Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; Population, Refugees and Migration; Global Criminal Justice; and International Organization Affairs – raised “serious concern over non-compliance” with international humanitarian law during the war. Their assessment cited eight examples of Israeli military actions that raise “serious questions” about potential violations of international humanitarian law, such as repeatedly striking protected sites and civilian infrastructure, “unconscionably high levels of civilian harm to military advantage,” and “killing humanitarian workers and journalists at an unprecedented rate.” The assessment also cited 11 instances of Israeli military actions that “arbitrarily restrict humanitarian aid,” including rejecting aid trucks due to a single “dual-use” item, “artificial” limitations on inspections, and repeated attacks on humanitarian sites that should be protected. Meanwhile, a coalition of lawyers called on Biden to cut off military aid to Israel, arguing that its actions in Gaza violate U.S. law, including the Arms Export Control Act and Leahy Laws, as well as international humanitarian law prohibiting disproportionate attacks on civilian populations. (Reuters / CNN)

2/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Biden to help stop the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials – including himself. The ICC launched an investigation three years ago into possible war crimes by both Israel and Palestinian militants dating back to the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. Israeli officials reportedly believe that the ICC is preparing to issue warrants for senior government officials, include Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. (Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)


U.S. determined that five Israeli security units committed human rights violations before outbreak of Gaza war. The “State Department has determined that five Israeli security units committed gross violations of human rights prior to the outbreak of the war with Hamas in Gaza, but is still deciding whether to restrict military assistance to one of the units under US law.” (CNN / Washington Post)

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1/ Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker returned to the stand on the seventh day of Trump’s election interference trial involving falsified business records. P****r testified that he spoke with Trump and Michael Cohen about paying Karen McDougal $150,000 to keep her story of an affair with Trump quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election. “We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” Pecker said. Cohen told P****r should pay the fee to kill the story, which prompted him to ask who would reimburse him. Cohen allegedly told P****r: “Don’t worry. The boss will take care of you” which P****r said he took to mean either Trump or the Trump Organization would pay him back. Pecker also testified that he knew that Cohen didn’t have the authorization “to buy, to acquire or spend any money” without Trump’s prior approval. The payment to McDougal was disguised as a deal for her to write a health and fitness column and appear on magazine covers, which P****r acknowledged was unlawful. Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made by Michael Cohen. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / USA Today)

2/ The Supreme Court appeared likely to reject Trump’s claim of absolute immunity from prosecution for trying to subvert the 2020 election, but appeared open to granting some level of immunity to former presidents for crimes committed while in office. Trump’s lawyers argued that his efforts to overturn the 2020 election were “official acts” taken in office, but did concede that some of the alleged conduct supporting the criminal charges against Trump were private. Chief Justice John Roberts raised the prospect of returning the case to the appeals court to distinguish between Trump’s official acts as president and his private ones, a result that could jeopardize the ability to hold a trial before the November election. “I’m not focused on the here and now of this case,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh said. “I’m very concerned about the future.” Justice Neil Gorsuch added: “I’m not as concerned about this case so much as a future one. We’re writing a rule for the ages.” Justice Samuel Alito also said he didn’t want to talk about the “particular facts,” but rather to talk “in the abstract.” Instead, Alito suggested an alternate reality in which granting immunity “is required for the functioning of a stable democratic society” because it gives an incumbent president to “leave office peacefully” after losing an election. Alito explained: “If an incumbent who loses a very close, hotly contested election knows that a real possibility after leaving office is not that the president is going to be able to go off into a peaceful retirement but that the president may be criminally prosecuted by a bitter political opponent, will that not lead us into a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, meanwhile, said: “The most powerful person in the world could go into office knowing that there would be no potential penalty for committing crimes. What disincentive is ther...