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Michael Cohen on the stand
Michael Cohen — the do-anything fixer who as soon as boasted about burying Donald Trump’s secrets and techniques and spreading his lies — testified yesterday at Trump’s legal trial. In a vital passage, he stated that the hush-money fee that he made to Stormy Daniels got here at Trump’s course.
“He expressed to me, ‘Just do it,’” Cohen stated on the stand, including, “I used to be doing all the things and extra to guard my boss.”
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Cohen’s testimony is vital to efforts to tie Trump to allegations of a conspiracy to safeguard his presidential marketing campaign in 2016 by burying Daniels’s account of a 2006 sexual encounter. Cohen admitted to mendacity and bullying for Trump, shopping for and suppressing adverse tales whereas appearing the a part of a “thug.”
Cohen, who nonetheless faces cross-examination from the protection, additionally floor down some key assertions.
Trump’s legal professionals argue that Trump was oblivious to his fixer’s machinations; Cohen described his boss as a micromanager. Trump’s crew has additionally tried to color its shopper as a household man deeply apprehensive about how Daniels’s accusations would hurt his marriage. Cohen described Trump as callous, saying that it “was all concerning the marketing campaign.”
A brand new Russian protection minister for a protracted warfare
President Vladimir Putin’s shock choose to guide Russia’s sprawling protection ministry made his first public look in his new function yesterday and spoke extra about paperwork slightly than the battlefield in Ukraine.
The appointment of Andrei Belousov, a soft-spoken knowledgeable on financial coverage, signaled that Putin is specializing in subordinating Russia’s financial system to its army wants as a way to maintain a warfare of attrition with Ukraine.
In his remarks, Belousov didn’t reference the state of affairs on the entrance, the place Russian forces are mounting a brand new offensive within the northeast. He described his priorities as enhancing requirements of care and residing for troopers, veterans and their households.
“It’s completely unacceptable” that troopers are redirected to overcrowded hospitals when on depart, Belousov stated. “This problem must be resolved.”
On the battlefield: A prime Ukrainian normal stated its army was confronting a “important” state of affairs within the northeast because it tries to repel the Russian offensive. Ukraine is more and more failing to cease Russian missiles because it awaits extra weapons to bolster its air defenses.
How Hamas spied on Palestinians
The Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar has for years overseen a secret police pressure in Gaza that carried out surveillance and constructed information on younger folks, journalists and people who questioned the federal government, in accordance with intelligence officers and inner paperwork reviewed by The Times.
“Super Size Me,” a documentary launched 20 years in the past, led to a backlash towards McDonald’s, an emblem of the hegemony of American capitalism. But it didn’t stick.
Not solely is McDonald’s now greater than ever, with practically 42,000 international areas, however quick meals normally has boomed.
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What to search for at Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival begins at present within the south of France. Kyle Buchanan, a Times tradition reporter, wrote concerning the motion pictures, artists and occasions we’ll be maintaining a tally of.
Some 45 years after “Apocalypse Now” received the Palme d’Or, Francis Ford Coppola is again with “Megalopolis,” starring Adam Driver as a visionary architect decided to rebuild a metropolis after a catastrophe. It’s exhausting to think about a friendlier place for the movie’s debut than Cannes, the place Coppola is revered.
But the largest film premiere will likely be “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” Expect a serious red-carpet second from Anya Taylor-Joy, who takes over the title character originated by Charlize Theron.
Real-world controversies could bleed into the glitzy pageant. The pageant’s staff would possibly strike, annoyed by their contracts. And the French movie trade is reckoning with #MeToo, with extra accusations rumored to come back in the course of the pageant.
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P.S. “The Retrievals,” a podcast from Serial Productions and The Times about deceit at a Yale fertility clinic, received a Peabody Award.
That’s it for at present. See you tomorrow. — Amelia
You can attain us at [email protected].
