The Morning: Trump’s criminal trial

Plus, Samuel Alito, aid in Gaza and a commencement speech.

View in browser|nytimes.com May 17, 2024 SUPPORTED BY YOUTUBE Good morning. Today my colleague Jonah Bromwich reports from inside the courtroom where Donald Trump is being tried. We're also covering Samuel Alito, aid in Gaza and a commencement speech. —David Leonhardt Donald Trump in Manhattan criminal court. Pool photo by Victor J. Blue In the courtroom By Jonah E. Bromwich New York state courts reporter Stormy Daniels was on the witness stand, Donald Trump was at the defense table and I could feel a queasy energy flow through the Manhattan courtroom. Daniels, an adult film star, told jurors about having sex with Trump in 2006. The former president radiated disgust, shaking his head and muttering obscenities. I've been in the courtroom every day, and in today's newsletter I want to share a bit about what it's like to watch this spectacle unfold in person. This is the third of Trump's trials that I've covered, but there's still something striking about seeing a ubiquitous media figure in the flesh. He strides into the courtroom just before proceedings begin each morning: a real, heavily made-up person who directs grimaces, glowers and occasionally winks toward the reporters. His face falls when he thinks he is not being observed. And sometimes, when he stands up from the defense table, I can see him ready himself to face the press — jutting out his jaw before turning toward our seats. Trump is not on trial for sleeping with Daniels, which he denies, or for paying her to keep silent. He is charged with something significantly less provocative: 34 counts of falsifying business records. Pundits have lamented the quotidian nature of the case — the only jury trial he may face before the election — given the monumental misdeeds of which he is accused elsewhere, including efforts to overturn election results. But the Manhattan district attorney says that his case, too, is about manipulating an election — the 2016 race. Prosecutors here are trying to convince jurors that Trump did something illegal by authorizing the hush-money payment and then seeking to conceal it once he was elected. Even though it's a documents case, the trial has thrummed with high-octane moments like his face-off with Daniels. Each time the prosecution calls a witness, rows of onlookers watch a figure from Trump's past swear an oath that could threaten his future. The big show Prosecutors have called 19 witnesses to bring their story to life. They say that after Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels to be quiet, the president and his associates concocted 34 business documents, supposedly for legal services, that actually repaid Cohen for the hush money. Each witness performed differently on the stand. Stormy Daniels leaving the Manhattan criminal court. Justin Lane/EPA, via Shutterstock David Pecker, the mustachioed ex-publisher of The National Enquirer, delivered damning testimony in a mild tone against a man he said he still considered a friend. At the campaign's behest, he said, he paid other accusers not to tell their stories about Trump. Reporters nicknamed him the tabloid grandfather, for his apparently kindly manner, even as he told ruthless stories about tarring Trump's political enemies with mocking headlines. Daniels entered the courtroom in a long black cloak with a hood. Her testimony was riveting. She appeared nervous at first as she recalled an encounter she says she had with Trump in a Nevada hotel room. But when Trump's lawyer rose to question her, Daniels sat up straighter and fought back. "You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real," the defense lawyer said. Daniels shot back: "The sex in the films, it's very much real. Just like what happened to me in that room." Cohen, who took the stand on Monday and was still testifying yesterday, is the prosecution's most important witness. Only he ties Trump directly to the alleged crime. On two occasions, he said, Trump acknowledged of the scheme to disguise reimbursements for the hush money. Cohen's tale is a parable of loyalty and betrayal: He says that he turned on the former president after Trump failed to support him in 2018, when federal prosecutors originally began investigating the hush-money payment. Michael Cohen on Tuesday. Cheney Orr/Reuters It's jarring for these creatures of the attention-seeking worlds of reality television, supermarket tabloids and politics to be ensconced in a small courtroom where only a few dozen people can hear their testimony against the former president. The trial isn't broadcast. So instead of creating a show for the cameras, their stories are enlivened by lawyers' questioning, documentary evidence and reporters who feed their editors and producers from their laptops inside the room. Initially, Trump pushed back on the proceedings, insulting Daniels and Cohen and suggesting the jurors were a bunch of biased Democrats. But the judge has forbidden Trump from talking about witnesses or jurors, fined him $10,000 for violating the order and threatened to send him to jail. Since then, in the courtroom, Trump has seemed diminished. Silence does not suit him. Seated at the defense table for hours on end, he has often shut his eyes, blocking out the courtroom where 12 New Yorkers will soon determine his future. More from court yesterday: Trump's lawyer aggressively questioned Cohen, trying to undermine his credibility by confronting him about his past lies. The defense also accused Cohen of lying about a 2016 phone call in which he claimed to have spoken to Trump about the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. "I believe I spoke to Mr. Trump," Cohen responded, remaining mostly unfazed. The jury heard audio of Cohen celebrating Trump's indictment on his podcast, saying he hoped Trump "rots inside." Prosecutors repeatedly objected to the defense's questions. Several right-wing House Republicans were at the courthouse to support Trump. "Standing back and standing by, Mr. President," Matt Gaetz wrote on social media, a reference to Trump's 2020 remarks about the Proud Boys, who later stormed the Capitol. On late night, Seth Meyers mocked the Republicans supporting Trump at his trial. Trump plans to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation today, and the trial will resume next week. The judge told lawyers to prepare to make closing arguments by Tuesday. A MESSAGE FROM YOUTUBE There's only one YouTube This isn't your usual platform. This is where 60 million storytellers go to have a voice. And billions of people get to dive deep into the content they love, in all the ways they want to watch it. Find out more THE LATEST NEWS Supreme Court An inverted flag at the Alito residence in 2021.  An upside-down American flag, a protest symbol among Trump supporters, flew outside Justice Samuel Alito's house as the court considered an election case days after Jan. 6, a Times investigation found. In a 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected a conservative challenge to how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded, which could have gutted the agency's regulations on mortgages and banking. 2024 Elections President Biden used executive privilege to block House Republicans from getting recordings of his interview with prosecutors who investigated his handling of government documents. The move could also help shield his attorney general from House contempt charges. Trump said he was open to letting Robert F. 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The jury in the trial held the gold bars at the center of the case. Israel-Hamas War Israel said yesterday that it plans to send more troops into Rafah, which it calls a Hamas stronghold. The U.S. and others have warned that a full invasion could be disastrous for civilians. Israel has described its operation in Rafah as limited, but satellite imagery shows widespread destruction as forces push toward the city center. The House passed a bill to rebuke Biden for pausing an arms shipment to Israel. It is symbolic and has no chance of becoming law. The first humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza on a temporary pier built by the U.S. military. The police raided a pro-Palestinian encampment at U.C. Berkley and arrested at least 12 people after ordering protesters to disperse. War in Ukraine Ukraine hit energy facilities in Russia and Crimea with a huge drone attack, Moscow said. As Russia advances, NATO is considering sending military trainers to Ukraine. Other Big Stories In Houston. David J. Phillip/Associated Press Storms around Houston killed at least four people and knocked out power for more than a million. Slovakia's politics were toxic long before its prime minister was shot. People in Taiwan are served pro-China content on TikTok. Instead of considering a ban, the government says it's pursuing a wider struggle against disinformation. Opinions Partisans on the left and right are unwilling to accept challenges to their beliefs. They make it difficult for the majority to engage in politics, David French argues. The current Supreme Court has been a committed defender of free speech. State bans on sharing information about abortion put that commitment to the test, Linda Greenhouse writes. Here are columns by Michelle Goldberg on "wokeness" and David Brooks on God and nation. A subscription to match the variety of your interests. News. Games. Recipes. Product reviews. Sports reporting. A New York Times All Access subscription covers all of it and more. Subscribe today. MORNING READS Eric Helgas for The New York Times Birth control: The pill makes some women miserable. Read what they're doing about it. 50,000 calories: Scientists calculated how much energy a pregnant woman expends carrying a baby. It's a lot. Scam or not: Do pimple patches work? The Pour: Ukrainian wines are finding a global audience. Lives Lived: Nancy Neveloff Dubler pioneered bedside methods for helping patients, their families and doctors deal with agonizing life-and-death decisions, and she used that knowledge in her own final months. She died at 82. SPORTS A raccoon at an MLS soccer match. Kyle Ross/USA TODAY Sports, via USA Today Sports, via Reuters Con Wild: Surprisingly often, animals gatecrash sporting events. N.B.A.: The Dallas Mavericks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, giving the team a 3-2 series advantage. The Boston Celtics cruised to a series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. N.F.L.: The league released its full schedule, which includes a surprise deal with Netflix to air games on Christmas Day. A MESSAGE FROM YOUTUBE There's only one YouTube This isn't your usual platform. This is where 60 million storytellers go to have a voice. And billions of people get to dive deep into the content they love, in all the ways they want to watch it. Find out more ARTS AND IDEAS Latyr Sy, Gakuto Chiba, Neddiel Elcie Muñoz Millalonco, Aleksandar Arabadjiev Music baffles evolutionary scientists. They ask: Did our ancestors sing to attract mates? Or is music a product of culture? There isn't an answer yet. But in a new study, researchers found universal features of songs across many cultures, suggesting that music evolved in our distant ancestors. "It shows us that there may be really something that is universal to all humans that cannot simply be explained by culture," said Daniela Sammler, a neuroscientist. Read more about where music may come from. More on culture Harrison Butker Chris Unger/Getty Images In a viral commencement speech, Harrison Butker, an N.F.L. player for Kansas City, quoted Taylor Swift lyrics while telling women to focus on being homemakers. Many people were outraged. The Disney+ series "X-Men '97" builds on its 1990s predecessor. The show "surpasses that original series," Maya Phillips writes. The production team behind the Amy Winehouse biopic "Back to Black" toned down the singer's beehive and used some of her clothes. Meet the couple behind the popular "Five Minute Journal," which helped create the wave of self-improvement and mindfulness. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Christopher Testani for The New York Times Toss a bright, creamy lemon-garlic linguine with a few simple ingredients. Visit Le Havre, where impressionism was born. Lower your blood pressure with exercise. Prepare margaritas with a premade mix. Watch a movie outdoors with a projector screen. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangrams were gallivant, gallivanting and vigilant. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. P.S. Lauren Jackson, this newsletter's associate editor, wrote about how growing up Mormon, part of what's known formally as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informed her recent reporting on a new generation of missionaries. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Editor: David Leonhardt Deputy Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Desiree Ibekwe, Sean Kawasaki-Culligan, Brent Lewis, German Lopez, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Ashley Wu News Assistant: Lyna Bentahar Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. 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