There is probably no one, other than Donald Trump, more central to his New York trial — the first criminal trial of an American president — than Stormy Daniels. Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Daniels during his 2016 campaign, when she was planning to go public with a lurid story about a sexual encounter with Trump a decade prior.
Today, in a courtroom in Lower Manhattan, Daniels took the stand for several hours. She testified in excruciating detail about the encounter, which she said left her shaking and bewildered. She spoke quickly, unspooling so many salacious details that the judge overseeing the case balked at some of the testimony, implying that it was gratuitously vulgar, and the defense unsuccessfully sought a mistrial. Here’s what we learned.
Daniels has told her story widely, but never to jurors, and not with Trump in the room. Her appearance on the stand appeared to unnerve Trump, who at one point shook his head in disgust and muttered an expletive to his lawyers.
During cross-examination, which is expected to continue on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers sought to paint Daniels as a liar driven by greed. Trump has always publicly denied having sex with her.
Israel took control of Rafah’s border crossing
The Israeli military sent tanks into Rafah overnight and established control over the Gaza side of the border crossing with Egypt. The move halted the flow of aid into the enclave, which the U.N. warned could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Here’s the latest.
The push did not appear to be the long-threatened full ground invasion of Rafah, which the U.S. has urged against. Israeli officials called it a counterterrorism operation aimed at destroying Hamas fighters and infrastructure that was used in an attack that killed four Israeli soldiers over the weekend.
In related news, delegations from Israel and Hamas arrived in Cairo to resume cease-fire negotiations. One key phrase is a sticking point.
TikTok sued the U.S. over a law forcing a sale or ban
The popular social media app TikTok sued the federal government today over a new law that would force its Chinese owner to sell it or face a ban in the U.S. The company argued that the law violated the First Amendment by cutting millions of Americans off from a platform used to share their views.
The suit is expected to reach the Supreme Court, where it would pit Congress’s national security concerns about the social media app’s ties to China against TikTok’s claim that a ban is unconstitutional.
Biden warned of a ‘ferocious’ surge of antisemitism
In a speech from Capitol Hill today, President Biden declared that hatred of Jews “continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people.” He described a “ferocious surge of antisemitism” in the U.S. following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, and said it was the responsibility of Americans to push back.
During his address, at a ceremony for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance, Biden defended Israel and denounced the violence and antisemitism that has arisen at some protests on college campuses. Destroying property, Biden said, is against the law. “We are not a lawless country,” he added.
More top news
Brittney Griner’s harrowing story, in her words
Less than two years after she was released from detention in a Russian prison, Brittney Griner’s new book, “Coming Home,” is out today. In it, she tells her life story: a Black, gay and startlingly tall girl who grew up in Texas and rose to become a basketball superstar, and then a high-profile pawn in a vicious geopolitical battle between the U.S. and Russia.
It is a visceral account of what it’s like to be trapped inside Russia’s infamous criminal justice system, with its merciless judges and vast labor camps, our reviewer wrote.
Does retirement at 30 sound good to you?
It’s common in the U.S. for workers to retire in their mid-60s. Some people continue in their jobs for much longer; others call it a career in their 50s. In general, retirement typically arrives after many years in the work force.
Some people, however, will do almost anything to upend that. For the retirement issue of our magazine, my colleague Amy X. Wang explored the world of schemers and savers who are obsessed with FIRE: Financial Independence Retire Early.
Cook: These salmon croquettes may just have the perfect texture combination: crispy outsides and tender insides.
Whales appear to have an alphabet, too
Sperm whales don’t sing like humpbacks or screech like dolphins, but their sounds — clicks like that of an old telegraph or a creaking door — could be the building blocks of a language. In a new study, marine biologists found that the clicks fall into distinct patterns that they called a “phonetic alphabet.”
Since 2005, the researchers have eavesdropped on a clan of 400 whales around the Caribbean, documenting 156 different click patterns, known as codas. Check out what they sound like.
Have an expressive evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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