Month: May 2024

The prosecution rested its case on Monday in former President Donald Trump ‘hush money’ trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The case marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, resumed testimony under cross-examination at the trial, stating that he stole from the Trump Organization by pocketing money that should have gone to a tech company.

Cohen admitted to stealing about $30,000 from the Trump Organization during his testimony, adding that he hired a tech firm RedFinch in 2014 and 2015 for $50,000. The firm was hired to rig online polls in favor of the former president. Cohen paid them about $20,000 cash, saying he could not remember the exact amount exchanged in a brown paper bag. Despite invoicing the Trump Organization for $50,000, Cohen never paid back the remainder of the balance to RedFinch, and added that he never had to plead guilty to larceny related to the funds and never had to pay back the Trump Organization.

Closing arguments in the case were set for May 28, and it remains unclear whether Trump will take the witness stand in the Manhattan courtroom.

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President Joe Biden slammed the International Criminal Court’s announcement Monday that it is seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders and charge them with war crimes and crimes against humanity, calling the move “outrageous”. The ICC announcement said that it intends to hold Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders responsible along with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the subsequent invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces.

Biden said in a statement: “And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken also criticized the move, saying that it could jeopardize negotiations to achieve a hostage deal and a ceasefire and adding that it raises questions over the court’s jurisdiction as well as its process in making this application. Said Blinken: “It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and it still holding dozens of people hostage, including Americans.”

The reaction from the White House came several hours after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement that he was “filing applications for the warrants of arrests ” for Netanyahu, Sinwar and other senior Israeli and Hamas figures who have played key roles in the ongoing war in Gaza, with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also facing potential arrest.  Khan said that both Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for a list of “war crimes,” including the starvation of civilians, willfully “causing great suffering, or serious injury,’ willful killing, and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population.  Khan wrote in the ICC statement: “We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy …These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.”

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Iranian state media reported that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed after a helicopter carrying him suffered a crash landing on Sunday as it traveled through rainy and foggy conditions in the rural mountainous area near ​​Kalibar and Warzghan in northern Iran, near the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia. The officials were returning from the border with the country of Azerbaijan — in the northwest of Iran, some 375 miles from the capital of Tehran — where Raisi was inaugurating a dam on the Aras river with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.  Raisi’s administration began an emergency meeting on Monday following the news of his death.

Iranian media reported that the 63-year-old Raisi was traveling with Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, East Azerbaijan’s governor, Malik Rahmati, and Raisi’s security detail when their helicopter made a “hard landing.”  All seven onboard were killed in the crash.

On Sunday afternoon, Iran’s Vice President Mohsen Mansouri reported that two people from the helicopter flight had made contact with the rescue team, with the commander of the East Azerbaijan Army saying that a signal from the helicopter and a cellphone belonging to one of the crew members at the accident site was received.

Red Crescent Relief and Rescue Organization crews were sent to the scene to locate the helicopter; they confirmed earlier Monday it had located the missing helicopter carrying Raisi, with the head of Iran’s Red Crescent, Hossein Kolivand, telling state media there was “no sign of life.”

Raisi was the elected president and led the government, however, he still answered to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the head of state. Khamenei had said that there would be no disruption to state affairs. Under Iranian law, First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber will assume power after getting the nod from Khamenei. A presidential election must then be called within 50 days.

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A child was among three people killed after an Amtrak train struck a vehicle in Upstate New York near Buffalo. The North Tonawanda Police said on Facebook that the three deceased were in a Dodge pickup truck around 7:56 p.m. on Friday when it collided with the train, which was on its way from New York City to Niagara Falls when the accident happened.

Per ABC News, North Tonawanda Police Department Captain Daryl Truty said in a statement posted that the victims included a 6-year-old boy, a 66-year-old woman, and a 69-year-old man. The names of the victims had not been released as of Sunday morning.

Amtrak spokesperson Olivia Irvin said in a statement that none of the Amtrak crew or its 21 passengers were injured in the crash. The North Tonawanda firefighter’s union said in a statement that he pickup was severely damaged with heavy equipment was required to reach the victims, adding that all three victims died at the scene. Photos shared on Facebook by the North Tonawanda Fire Department appeared to show no visible damage to the Amtrak train. An investigation is ongoing and police did not detail how the crash happened.

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