Takeaways from Donald Trump’s defense in the hush money trial
CNN
The defense rested its case in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Tuesday after roughly 90 minutes of testimony – and without the former president taking the stand.
The defense rested its case in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Tuesday after roughly 90 minutes of testimony – and without the former president taking the stand. Trump’s attorneys called two witnesses: a paralegal who entered phone records into evidence and Robert Costello, an attorney who was in talks with Michael Cohen to represent him after the FBI raided his home and office in 2018. Publicly, Trump left open the prospect that he could testify in his own defense, but his attorneys had always seemed to discount the possibility. Ultimately, the most important witness for the defense was Cohen, who testified in the prosecution’s case but was subject to cross-examination that stretched across three days for more than eight hours in all. Now the jury will get a week off thanks to the Memorial Day holiday, with closing arguments set for next Tuesday. A verdict is possible by the end of next week. Here are takeaways from the final day of testimony in the Trump hush money trial:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to develop policy recommendations to expand access to and affordability of in vitro fertilization.
The Trump administration ordered legal service providers working with unaccompanied migrant children to stop their work, according to a memo obtained by CNN.
Louis DeJoy, the head of the US Postal Service, intends to step down, the federal agency said Tuesday, after a nearly five-year tenure marked by the coronavirus pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston was forced to close Tuesday due to the “sudden dismissal of federal employees,” the library’s foundation said in a statement to CNN.
Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been charged in connection with an attempted coup d’état, according to documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday evening.
A federal judge considering whether to indefinitely block President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender service members described it on Tuesday as having “unadulterated animus” toward transgender Americans.
Argentine President Javier Milei has defended himself for promoting a cryptocurrency whose value collapsed within hours of its launch, likening those who invested in the token after his endorsement to gamblers at casinos.
A federal judge declined on Tuesday to temporarily block Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency from accessing federal data systems at a slew of executive branch agencies.
A Maryland court on Tuesday ordered a blogger known as Ziz who leads a cultlike group connected to six killings held without bail.
As President Donald Trump orders federal workers to return to the office, he spent the fourth straight day at home here at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The federal judge overseeing the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams has scheduled a hearing Wednesday to consider the Justice Department’s controversial motion to dismiss the charges.
Brazil’s government on Tuesday approved joining OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting nations, signaling the country’s evolution into a major oil state just nine months ahead of hosting the United Nations’ annual climate summit.
The Trump administration has quietly fired multiple members of the “privacy team” and other officials from the office that oversees the hiring of federal workers, a move that limits outside access to government records related to the security clearances granted to Elon Musk and his associates, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.