Stormy Daniels spars with Trump defense attorney in tense exchange over cash-for-silence transaction
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s defense attorneys are grilling Stormy Daniels on the transaction at the center of the former president’s hush money trial. The defense pressed Daniels on Thursday about why she accepted a $130,000 payment to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump instead of going public. Daniels avoided eye contact with the former president as she walked into the Manhattan courtroom and made her way to the witness stand for a second day of testimony. Prosecutors argue that Trump and his allies snatched up potentially damaging stories and buried them in an illegal effort to influence the November results. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The Latest | Testimony in Trump’s hush money trial forges ahead with more witnesses
NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels has concluded her testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial after hours of questioning over two days. Daniels detailed, among other things, her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump and the money she was paid to keep quiet about it. The defense responded by attacking Daniels’ credibility, accusing her Thursday of changing her story over the years and trying to extort the former president. Prosecutors say Trump and others schemed to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and burying negative stories that might hurt his campaign. He is accused of falsifying internal business records to cover up hush money payments by logging them as legal expenses. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ship loaded with aid heads for US-built Gaza pier, but it’s unclear when or how it will be delivered
JERUSALEM (AP) — The first aid ship bound for an American-built floating pier to be installed in Gaza has departed. But it’s unclear when the corridor will be up and running, and humanitarian groups say there are still major obstacles to getting food to starving Palestinians in the war-ravaged enclave. Cyprus announced the ship’s departure Thursday even though the U.S. military has not yet installed the pier and questions remain as to how the aid will be distributed. Even when the route is up and running, it won’t be able to handle as much aid as Gaza’s two main land crossings, which are currently inaccessible. The U.N. says most of the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians suffer from hunger and that northern Gaza is already experiencing “full-blown famine.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson survived a motion to vacate. Here’s why his job is far from safe.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats joined a majority of Republicans on Wednesday to save Speaker Mike Johnson from an attempt by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove him from the job. But while Democrats in the minority threw the Louisiana Republican a life raft by voting on his side, they made clear they may not do so again. That means the threat for Johnson still lingers as Greene and other lawmakers can at any time call up another motion to oust him. The episode highlights the increasingly precarious situation for Johnson, who faces the same conservative forces that took down his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, but with an even smaller majority that has forced him to continuously rely on Democratic support to carry out the most basic functions of legislating.
Guns are being stolen from cars at triple the rate they were 10 years ago, a report finds
WASHINGTON (AP) — The rate of guns stolen from cars in the U.S. has tripled over the last decade, making them the largest source of stolen guns in the country. That’s according to an analysis of FBI data by the gun safety group Everytown. The rate of stolen guns from cars climbed nearly every year and spiked during the coronavirus pandemic along with a major surge in weapons purchases. The findings are in a report provided to The Associated Press that analyzed FBI data from 337 cities in 44 states. The director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says the alarming trend underscores the need for Americans to safely secure their firearms.
Trump-affiliated group releases new national security book outlining possible second-term approach
WASHINGTON (AP) — A research group that’s trying to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration if the former president wins in November is out with a new policy book that aims to articulate an “America First” national security agenda. Suggestions include making future military aid to Ukraine contingent on the country participating in peace talks with Russia and banning Chinese nationals from buying property within a 50-mile radius of U.S. government property. The book was shared with The Associated Press before its release Thursday. It’s the latest effort from the America First Policy Institute. The group says it is independent from Trump’s campaign. The campaign insists that the only Trump-backed policies are ones he articulates himself.
Harvey Weinstein won’t be sent back to California while he awaits New York rape retrial
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein will remain locked up in New York as a court works out whether he should stay in a city jail while he awaits a retrial in a rape case, or be sent back to California to continue serving a prison sentence. The fallen movie mogul denied consent for the extradition request from California during a brief court hearing. Thursday Weinstein will continue to be held in New York with the next appearance set for Aug. 7. Weinstein was released from a city hospital days ago. He showed up for the hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit.
Holy Year or holy mess, Vatican and Rome begin dash to 2025 Jubilee with papal bull, construction
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has crossed a key milestone in the runup to its 2025 Jubilee with the promulgation of the official decree establishing the Holy Year. Pope Francis is presiding over a ceremony Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica for the formal reading of the papal bull. The event also kicks off the final seven-month dash of preparations and public works projects to be completed by Dec. 24, when Francis opens the basilica’s Holy Door and formally inaugurates the Jubilee. In the papal bull, Francis announces that he will also open a Holy Door in a prison, to give prisoners a sense of hope.
In new memoir, Tom Selleck looks back at the hard years that made him a star in ‘Magnum, P.I.’
NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Selleck starts his memoir in the middle of a car crash. He is 17 and in the passenger seat when he and two friends go airborne in his mom’s Chevy Corvair, tumbling off Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. “You Never Know” takes readers through Selleck’s years at the University of Southern California and in the Army and an appearance as bachelor No. 2 on “The Dating Game.” It reflects on his small roles and commercials before earning an Emmy and fame as Thomas Magnum, a Vietnam war veteran-turned detective who zipped around Hawaii in a red Ferrari, lived in luxury and solved crimes. The show aired from 1980-1988. Selleck now stars in “Blue Bloods” on CBS.
TikTok to start labeling AI-generated content as technology becomes more universal
TikTok says it’s going to start automatically labeling content that’s made by artificial intelligence when it’s uploaded from certain platforms. TikTok says its efforts are an attempt to combat misinformation from being spread on its social media platform. TikTok’s policy in the past has been to encourage users to label content that has been generated or significantly edited by AI. It also requires users to label all AI-generated content where it contains realistic images, audio, and video.