The Conversation -- May 7, 2024
Erica Green & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday condemned a 'ferocious surge of antisemitism' in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7. 'This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust,' he said. 'It didn't end with the Holocaust, either.'"
** Judge Aileen Drops the Gavel. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed ... Donald Trump's classified documents trial in Florida, citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury. In an order Tuesday, Cannon cancelled the May trial date and did not set a new date."
Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Ukraine's security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents -- including the two colonels 00 that was run by Russia's Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor agency to the K.G.B. According to the Ukrainian agency, the agents working at Russia's direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky's security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him."
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Trump 2016 election interference case. ~~~
Maggie Haberman: "We are heading into the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. Trump posted on Truth Social an angry message saying he had just learned who the next witness is and that his lawyers had 'no time' to prepare. Within thirty minutes, Trump had removed the post, likely because it risked prosecutors saying it violated the gag order."
William Rashbaum: "Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the heart of Trump's hush money trial is in the courthouse and is expected to testify today."
Haberman: "This is the first time Trump will have to be face to face with Daniels and hear her accusations. He has continued to deny that an affair took place. This trial, unlike the other three criminal trials he's facing, is personal for him in a very specific way, and Daniels has spoken about him and his physicality publicly in a humiliating manner."
Jonah Bromwich: "Even though Stormy Daniels's name hasn't yet been called, we are already right into it. The implication of this argument is that Daniels will testify about having had sex with Trump. Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, is arguing that these details are key to the case -- and that this issue has already been settled. She says that details that are too salacious will not be admitted, but that the story is 'significant' and important to prosecutors in terms of Daniels's credibility."
Haberman: "Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyer, begins by objecting to Stormy Daniels testifying, including 'any details' of any 'sexual act.'"
Jesse McKinley: Justice Merchan concedes that Daniels's may have 'credibility issues,' but that it's up to the jury to determine that.... The first witness today is Sally Franklin, who works at Penguin Random House, a publisher."
Bromwich: "Sally Franklin is a custodial witness ... and she will testify about two books that Trump wrote, including 'Trump: How to Get Rich' and 'Trump: Think Like a Billionaire,' both of which were published by Ballantine, a Penguin Random House imprint."
Kate Christobek: "Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, is prompting Sally Franklin to read Trump's written words from these books, including the following passages: 'For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back,' and, 'When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can. Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.'"
Haberman: "Now, Sally Franklin is walking the court through a chapter of a book in which Trump, in his own words, describes his frugality, including looking over bills to 'make sure I'm not being overcharged.' The goal is to invalidate the idea that he could have been unaware of what he was paying Michael Cohen, or what the money was for."
Swan: "The prosecution is effectively using Trump himself as a witness here. In his own words -- as laid out in his books -- Trump is describing how he keeps a focus on minute details and watches every penny that leaves his accounts, a core part of the prosecution's case against him. He's also describing how he sees sexual potential in random women that he encounters."
Haberman: "Todd Blanche, one of Trump's lawyers, is now cross-examining Sall Franklin, leaning into his customary line of defense: distancing Trump from the book published under his own name and trying to suggest that Meredith McIver, the ghost-writer who worked for him, was behind the language, as opposed to Trump."
Swan: "There's an irony here with Trump's counsel trying to cast doubt over whether Trump wrote his own books. Trump himself has always insisted -- falsely -- that all of the words printed in his name are his. During the White House years, Trump aides would implausibly claim on the record that Trump's speeches were written by him."
Bromwich: "We have arrived at perhaps the most significant excerpt, as Trump writes in one of his books about the importance of personally signing checks. He wrote that he did not like to allow a computer to sign a check, because when the boss did it himself, it showed employees he was attending to the details. Some of the false documents at issue in the case are checks, some of them with Trump's signature. This is tough evidence for the defense."
Haberman: "Sally Franklin, on re-direct, is testifying about one of Trump's books that he was directly involved in, as a way of dispelling the defense's argument that someone else's work was behind it."
Bromwich: "'The people call Stormy Daniels,' Susan Hoffinger says."
McKinley: "Daniels is quickly walking through some of her early biography: raised in Baton Rouge, wanted to be a veterinarian, editor of her high school newspaper."
Bromwich: "As Stormy Daniels talks about moving from stripping to acting in adult films, she is continuing to talk very, very quickly.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, guides Stormy Daniels toward talking about writing and directing adult films."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now going through her résumé, including mainstream movies she appeared in like 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.'"
McKinley: "The prosecution is drawing out other work experience, including directing music videos, doing comedy, writing books and making podcasts, perhaps to show that she is more than just an adult film actress."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now describing the golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2006 where she met Trump. In a notable line, she says she knew that he was 'as old or older than my father.... Daniels is recounting interactions with Trump after meeting him, and then getting a message he wanted to have dinner with her. She is asked to point him out in the courtroom, and she does by his navy jacket, pointing directly at him. He sits with no reaction.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is asking about Trump inviting Daniels to dinner. Daniels says that she was approached by 'Keith,' meaning Keith Schiller, Trump's ominpresent bodyman. She says he took her number, though she refused the invitation initially."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that the first person she mentioned the dinner invitation to was her publicist...."
McKinley: "Daniels recalls that her publicist urged her to go to the dinner, and asked her: "'"What could possibly go wrong?"'"
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is now talking about meeting Trump for dinner. She says that when he first emerged from his hotel suite, he was wearing 'silk or satin' pajamas, which Daniels compared to those often sported by Hugh Hefner. She asked him to change, and he returned in more standard dress clothes."
Haberman: "... Trump ... can't stand feeling or appearing weak or powerless. But that's exactly what he is here as Daniels is describing, in extensive detail, an encounter he continues to maintain didn't happen."
Christobek: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump took an interest in the business aspects of her industry and asked about unions, residuals, and health insurance, as well about S.T.D. testing."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that during her dinner with Trump, she asked about his wife. He told her, she says, not to worry because the two did not 'even sleep in the same room.' Trump and Melania were married in 2005, the year before this encounter.... Stormy Daniels says she asked Trump during their dinner: 'Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? Like you don't even know how to have a conversation.'"
Swan: "Trump clearly mouths 'bullshit' as Stormy Daniels recalls playfully spanking him with a rolled-up magazine, and saying he was much more polite afterwards."
McKinley: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump told her she reminded him of his daugh[t]er, presumably Ivanka. 'She's smart and blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her as well,' Daniels said Trump remarked."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels now takes on the defense's argument about her directly, saying that it was Trump himself who invited her to come on 'The Apprentice,' not the other way around. This is fascinating, because we have seen many times the way that Trump accuses his adversaries of the same faults that he's accused of. Here, Daniels is suggesting she wasn't the one trying to use 'The Apprentice' -- he was, for sex.... Her derision toward Trump is very clear, and the tension in the courtroom during her testimony about him is the highest it has been at this trial so far."
Bromwich: "... the judge, in a rarity, admonishes the prosecutors, specifically Susan Hoffinger, saying that the level of detail they're eliciting from Stormy Daniels is unnecessary."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is talking about going to the bathroom in Trump's hotel suite and seeing a 'leather-looking' toiletry bag on the counter. She says she saw Old Spice and 'manicure stuff' that was gold. Daniels keeps chuckling as she describes the scene, as if she's giving an interview."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says she came out of the bathroom and found that Trump was in the bedroom, waiting for her, in his boxer shorts and a T-shirt. She had been planning to go, she said. He was seated on the bed, between her and the exit.... Daniels is describing a remarkably intense encounter, and says that the room spun in slow motion and the blood left her hands and feet. She says that Trump did not act particularly threatening but blocked her access to the door to the bedroom. Then she says she 'blacked out,' though she did not take alcohol or drugs. At this point, the judge -- who has sustained one objection and seems unusually angry -- called for a sidebar. He sustains another objection."
Haberman: "'What did I misread to get here,' she describes thinking. She says she tried to leave and he blocked her path, but not in a threatening manner."
Bromwich: "The defense has been objecting to many questions and the judge has been sustaining a lot of them. He is not happy about this testimony.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is now asking Stormy Daniels about having had sex with Trump, which Trump denies. 'Did you at some point end up on the bed having sex with him?' Hoffinger asks. Daniels says yes. When she describes the position they were in, the defense objects, and the objection is sustained."
Haberman: "Daniels says that while she didn't object in the moment, she also didn't enjoy it, and that she felt there was an 'imbalance' in the power dynamic between the two. [MB: Also, as McKinley wrote earlier, Trump was 60 at the time; Daniels 27.]... Stormy Daniels continues to walk the prosecutors through the encounter. She says Trump didn't wear a condom. 'Did you say anything about it?' Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks. 'No,' Daniels replies, adding, when asked why not, 'I didn't say anything at all.' She describes it as brief, and repeats that she did not say no at any point...."
Bromwich: "Daniels is testifying about a few details that corroborate her story, including who she talked to about the initial encounter, as well as further discussions with Trump, who called her 'honeybunch.'... Merchan sustains a defense objection. Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, objects, saying that Daniels's answer was directly responsive to her question. Then, the judge again scolds Daniels, telling her again to keep her answers short and to the point. He then reverses himself and overrules the objection. We've rarely seen Merchan this openly annoyed -- and when we do, he often seems to work to rein himself in after the fact."
Christobek: "Stormy Daniels is now testifying about meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in 2007. She says she was greeted warmly, and although the meeting was brief, he introduced her to everybody, and at one point they took selfies."
Bromwich: "Daniels says that another 2007 meeting, in Los Angeles, was the last time she saw Trump in person -- before today, presumably -- and that he in no way stressed that she should keep their encounter secret."
Swan: "Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels, just as he has nothing to do with any of the women who've made claims against him. But the cumulative testimony extracted from this line of questioning is that Stormy Daniels met with Trump on multiple occasions, with dozens of witnesses. Daniels also describes multiple phone calls with Trump -- some of which had witnesses because Daniels says she put Trump on speaker phone for sport while her friends were present. The jury has also been shown phone contact logs from Daniels's phone and from Trump's assistant's phone."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about being threatened in a parking lot by someone while she was in Las Vegas with her daughter. Her voice shakes as she talks about it, and explains she didn't report it because it would have been upsetting to the person she was in a relationship with at the time.... The testimony we've heard so far firmly puts Stormy Daniels in Trump's orbit during a sustained period of time."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is laying out the specifics of the hush money deal -- a really important part of her testimony, after a lot of details that were difficult to follow, as she skipped through meetings and dates and years as the prosecution guided her toward 2016. She said that if she were to violate the agreement, it would cost her a million dollars every time she did so.... Daniels is testifying that she was not motivated by money, and says she didn't negotiate the hush-money deal because she didn't care about the figure. The hush money is at the heart of the case, and she was eventually paid $130,000. I can imagine it being very hard for jurors to accept that Daniels did not want money.... Daniels said she was not paid on time, and that in 2016, she wasn't sure why. 'He just kept making excuses,' she said. At first she clarified that the 'he' in question was Michael Cohen, who paid the hush money. But then she changed her answer and testified that it was 'Trump' who delayed the payment -- more specifically, Trump speaking to Cohen, who was speaking to her then-lawyer Keith Davidson. That was an interesting moment, almost as if Daniels was trying to make the prosecution's case for them." [Lunch break.]
Bromwich: "The defense is moving for a mistrial. This is not unusual for Trump's lawyers -- in his civil fraud trial, his lawyers asked that a mistrial be called several times. They were unsuccessful.... The judge was very unhappy with this morning's testimony and Blanche is objecting to specific details.... Todd Blanche is done and Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, stands up. She says that Daniels's story is important for motive and intent, to illustrate what the defendant, Trump, didn't want the public to know before the election.... The judge has declined to declare a mistrial. While he acknowledged that some of the evidence that came in was more than he would have liked -- 'better left unsaid,' is how he put it several times -- he takes as much issue with the defense as with the prosecution. This must come as a major relief for prosecutors. And I can imagine that they might wish the jury was in the room right now. Justice Merchan reminds the defense that 'the remedy is on cross-examination.'..."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels has begun to testify again. It's clear that the prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked her behind closed doors to start giving shorter answers. She is sticking far more closely to the questions being asked, and her testimony -- about the hush-money deal -- is speeding along. She just testified that her lawyer, Keith Davidson, received $130,000. After he and her manager took fees, she ended up with about $96,000, she says.... Daniels, referring to a Wall Street Journal article that mentioned her while discussing another hush-money deal, says she did not comment for the article, honoring the terms of the deal she had reached through her lawyer, Keith Davidson. She's very different -- and so far, more helpful to prosecutors -- in this afternoon session."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about a statement she signed denying having had an affair with Trump, given to her by her lawyer and dated Jan. 10, 2018. This is the same statement that Trump recently posted on Truth Social had been 'JUST FOUND.'... Daniels makes it clear that she didn't want to sign the statement, and that it wasn't true."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that once her story became public, her life exploded into 'chaos -- suddenly I was front and foremost everywhere,' she says."
Haberman: "Daniels is now walking through the portion of the story where [Michael] Cohen tried to make her adhere to the non-disclosure agreement, while, she says, he was talking about the case to people. She hired [Michael] Avenatti to get her out of the N.D.A. and she told her story to Anderson Cooper on '60 Minutes.'"
Bromwich: "She then testifies that Cohen filed a temporary restraining order against her, seeking to keep her from speaking.... Stormy Daniels is saying her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a defamation claim against Trump against her wishes. She says she wished he had not done so because she felt it was too risky. (Avenatti, a risk-taker by nature, was sentenced to prison in 2022 for stealing from Daniels.)"
Swan: "As Stormy Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep."
Haberman: "A Trump post on Truth Social, in which he called Stormy Daniels 'horseface,' is currently on the screens in the courtroom. It's from March 2023, as the Manhattan district attorney's office was preparing to indict Trump in this case. Trump insists he hasn't seen Daniels since encountering her on a golf course and taking a picture with her 18 years ago. Daniels is now reading the Truth post aloud."
Bromwich: "The direct examination is over and here comes what is liable to be a very tense cross-examination by Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyers."
Christobek: "Necheles asks Daniels: 'Am I correct that you hate President Trump?' Daniels responds: 'Yes.' Necheles continues: 'And you want him to go to jail?' Daniels responds: 'I want him to be held accountable.'"
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, is now pushing Stormy Daniels on her desire for money. She says that Daniels went into pornography for money, and asks her, again, 'You wanted more money, right?' Daniels retorted: 'Don't we all want to make more money in our jobs?'... Then Necheles moves on to posts that Daniels made about wanting Trump to be imprisoned, including one saying that she would 'dance down the street' if he was selected to go to jail."
Haberman:We just witnessed something that felt like a grade school back-and-forth. Susan Necheles gets Stormy Daniels to acknowledge she had mocked Trump's looks on Twitter, and Daniels replies, 'Because he made fun of me first.' Necheles says that one of them started it, but 'you both continued it.'"
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar. But many of her questions have to do with money and Daniels is making it clear that she is not necessarily wealthy. So instead of this line of questioning working to impeach her credibility, as intended, it's coming off as a lawyer for a very rich person going after someone with less money for having less money."
Swan: "Trump's lawyer ... has successfully established that Stormy Daniels is refusing a court order to pay legal fees to Trump, which she was ordered to do six years ago after her defamation lawsuit against him was dismissed. But the jury knows that Trump is vastly wealthier than Daniels, so it is unclear how compelling they will find it that she has declined to give him money."
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar by bringing up her book excerpts, making it seem as if she has changed her story of having had sex with Trump. Daniels is fighting back and providing more context.... Necheles accuses Daniels directly of seeking to extort Trump through the hush-money deal. 'False,' Daniels said. 'That's what you did, right?' Necheles repeats. 'False!' Daniels says, almost yelling in the courtroom." [Court adjourns.]
The Trials of Trump, Ctd.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "After two weeks of enthralling jurors with stories of sex and scandal, prosecutors delved into the documents at the heart of Donald J. Trump's criminal trial on Monday, a pivotal turn in the case that came on the same day the judge held Mr. Trump in contempt and threatened to jail him.... Mr. Trump made the payment to his longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, reimbursing him for a $130,000 hush-money payoff to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, prosecutors say. Before Mr. Trump repaid Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say, he orchestrated a scheme to falsify the records.... And they used veterans of Mr. Trump's accounting department against him, calling on the Trump Organization's former controller, Jeffrey McConney, and its accounts payable supervisor, Deborah Tarasoff, to walk jurors through the records.... Mr. McConney also told jurors that much of the money for Mr. Cohen had come from Mr. Trump's personal bank account. The company sent nine of the checks to the White House for Mr. Trump to sign, Mr. McConney explained."
Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's Monday began with a grave warning from Juan M. Merchan, the judge presiding over the former president's criminal trial, threatening to imprison him if he continued to flout a gag order. Justice Merchan said that the fines levied against Mr. Trump -- $10,000 so far -- 'are not serving as a deterrent.' The judge said that 'therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider jail.'" The article includes more takeaways from yesterday's proceedings. Here's CNN's "takeaways" report.
Marie: Criminals seldom make written notes proving their intent to engage in an illegal conspiracy, But that's what happened here. As Andrew Weissmann pointed out on MSNBC, Exhibits 35 & 36 in the 2016 election interference case "are the bank statement showing [Michael] Cohen paid Stormy [Daniels] $130,000 hush money, and the notes by [Jeffrey] McConney (36) and [Allen] Weisselberg (35) calculating the amounts Cohen needs to be reimbursed to make him whole after disguising the reimbursements as legal fee income." Those notes, combined with testimony from McConney & Hope Hicks, make it clear, beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Weissmann, that Trump ordered the records to be falsified. It would be unthinkable for Weisselberg, on his own, to instruct staff to overpay Cohen or for Donald Trump to write checks making overpayments to Cohen (the checks were also entered evidence) and have no idea what the checks were for. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Alter of the New York Times: "We're awaiting [Michael] Cohen's testimony that Trump knew that he was reimbursing Cohen $35,000 a month for hush money, not for vague legal services, and thus broke the law. But the circumstantial and documentary evidence precorroborating Cohen -- and lessening the impact of his multiple lies -- is now piled as high as Trump Tower."
Yesterday began another week of mandatory court dates for Donald Trump. New York Times reporters were there to tell us all about it. See yesterday's Conversation for details. ~~~
~~~ Links to previous transcripts, via the New York court system, are here.
Judge Aileen Makes Her Move. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Reversing one of her own decisions, the federal judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case granted his request on Monday to postpone the deadline for a crucial court filing in the criminal proceeding, increasing the chance that any trial would be pushed past the November election. The ruling by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, was made in a bare-bones order that contained no factual or legal reasoning. It did not schedule a new deadline but erased the one she had set almost a month ago ordering Mr. Trump's lawyers to file by Thursday a detailed list of the classified materials that they intend to introduce at the trial.... Judge Cannon's postponement of the filing deadline was merely the latest example of her acceding to Mr. Trump's attempts to delay the classified documents trial."
Yes, Yes, Trump's Friends Seem Like Criminals, Too. David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: "The Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit whose funding skyrocketed after it became a nerve center for... Donald J. Trump's allies in Washington, has paid at least $3.2 million since the start of 2021 to corporations led by its own leaders or their relatives, records show. In its most recent tax filings, the nonprofit's three highest-paid contractors were all connected to insiders.... Donations to the group are tax deductible, like gifts to a food bank or the American Red Cross.... By law, its money must serve the public good rather than private interests. The nonprofit has pushed those limits by entwining itself with only one faction of American politics. It pays high salaries to some of Mr. Trump's former officials, hosts retreats for Republican lawmakers at a rural compound and funds efforts to vet people and ideas for a second Trump term. Legal experts say these insider transactions also raise concerns about self-dealing.... 'There's no checks and balances,' said Michael West, a lawyer at the New York Council of Nonprofits." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ryan Nobles & Rebecca Kaplan of NBC News: "The House Judiciary Committee plans to prepare a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio of President Joe Biden's interview with former special counsel Robert Hur, a source familiar with the committee's plans confirmed."
Presidential Race
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "In one of his most bizarre interviews in recent memory, Donald Trump insisted abortion is 'not that big of an issue,' claimed Republicans are the 'party of fertilization' and said every legal scholar in the world supported overturning Roe v. Wade." Here's what Trump said about the "party of fertilization." You figure it out: "We want to help the women because they were going to end fertilization, which is where, when the IVF, where women go to the clinics and they get help in having a baby, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing. And we're for it a 100%. They tried to say that they weren't for it. They actually weren't for it and aren't for it as much as us, but women see that." As Bendery points out, "Republicans in Congress have long opposed women's access to IVF."
Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) revealed Monday he would be backing President Biden in November's election and criticized other Republicans who 'fall in line' with former President Trump. In an op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday, Duncan wrote it is 'disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind' Trump. He said that he is left with no choice but to support Biden instead of the presumptive Republican nominee, whom he described as 'a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.... But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden. At the same time, we should work to elect GOP congressional majorities to block his second-term legislative agenda and provide a check and balance,' Duncan wrote." The New York Times story is here.
Aaron Rupar, via digby, regurgitated some May 6, 2020, reports on Trump's reactions to the coronavirus crisis.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday on U.S. university campus protests are here.
David Bauder of the AP: "The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as 'wide-ranging and revelatory,' while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza. The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that 'pierced the thick wall of secrecy' around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work." ~~~
~~~ Here's a full list of winners, via Axios.
~~~~~~~~~~
South Dakota. That Time I Shot My Puppy in the DMZ & Showed Up Li'l Kim While Brushing Off Macron. Or Something. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's (R) "game attempt to proceed with a media tour promoting her book despite alleged inaccuracies and a story about killing her dog is a testament to the thoroughly Trumpian impulse to just push on through -- while avoiding facts.... Not only has Noem faced bipartisan backlash for her story about her young dog Cricket, but other anecdotes in the book have also been called into question in recent days. There's the meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that seems unlikely to have happened. And there is the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron she says she canceled, and the threatening conversation with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley she says she recalled. (Representatives for Macron and Haley have rejected her accounts.) Through it all, Noem and her office have offered shifting accounts and, especially on the Kim story, proven bizarrely evasive." ~~~
~~~ Michael Schaffer of Politico Magazine: "Kristi Noem's story about killing her dog made headlines across America. But it wasn't news to people who worked on her first book, where the tale made it into a draft of the memoir before the publishing team nixed it. Then, as now, Noem wanted the story in because it showed a decisive person who was unwilling to be bound by namby-pamby niceties, while others on the team -- which included agents, editors and publicists at Hachette Book Group's prestige Twelve imprint, and a ghostwriter -- saw it as a bad-taste anecdote that would hurt her brand. The tale was ultimately cut, according to two people involved with the project. In other words, they produced a typical pre-campaign book, where the first rule is to do no harm." ~~~
~~~ Marie: IOW, even when normal people warned her that shooting your dog is not something to boast about, Gov. Kristi didn't get it. (OR, she thought Donald Trump would love it, and she could be right about that.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it had taken 'operational control' of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip 'stopped completely' as a result. Hamas said it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, renewing hopes for a pause in fighting even as Israel vowed to press on with its military operation in Rafah.... The IDF said Tuesday that it struck more than 50 targets in Rafah. A day earlier, the Israeli military ordered about 100,000 civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate. The IDF described it as 'preparation for ground operations in the area.'" ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
From the Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war: "Hamas informed Arab mediators that it would approve a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, said in a statement Monday. While there has been no formal response from Israel, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, said in a briefing later Monday: 'We are considering any response and any answer in the most serious way and are pursuing every possibility for negotiations to return the hostages as quickly as possible.' He added that 'in parallel, we are continuing to maneuver in the Gaza Strip.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Russia/Ukraine
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Russia said on Monday that it would hold military exercises with troops based near Ukraine to practice for the possible use of battlefield nuclear weapons, a provocative warning aimed at discouraging the West from deepening its support for Ukraine. These weapons, often referred to as 'tactical,' are designed for battlefield use and have smaller warheads than the 'strategic' nuclear weapons meant to target cities. Russia's Defense Ministry said that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered an exercise for missile, aviation and naval personnel to 'increase the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions.' The announcement of the exercise was Russia's most explicit warning in its more than two-year invasion of Ukraine that it could use tactical nuclear weapons there." A Reuters story is here.
John Ismay & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "A U.S. Army soldier has been detained by Russian authorities in the port city Vladivostok on charges of criminal misconduct, the State and Defense Departments said on Monday, adding what is likely to be another complication in the contentious relationship between Moscow and Washington. A military official identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, and said he was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas after being stationed in South Korea. He was apprehended on May 2, and Russia notified the State Department of the soldier's 'criminal detention' in accordance with international agreements between the two nations." ~~~
~~~ Courtney Kube & Moshen Gains of NBC News: "[Black] had finished his deployment and was heading back to the U.S. when he made a side trip to Vladivostok, Russia, to visit a woman he was romantically involved with, officials said. They added that he had traveled there without permission from his superiors and that he is being held in pretrial confinement. The soldier is accused of stealing from a woman, the officials said. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same woman he was visiting."
Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "In the gilded Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace where Russian czars were once crowned, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday swore the oath of allegiance on Russia's constitution at his inauguration for a fifth term as president. The traditional pomp and ceremony conveyed his might as Russia's supreme, uncontested leader for the past quarter-century. Bristling with optimism abut his ongoing war against Ukraine, Putin declared he would place Russia's security above all else and promised that the country would be victorious. A 30-gun salute followed his remarks."