A stormy day in court for Trump

 

Support our nonprofit journalism

May 7, 2024 In a Manhattan courtroom this morning, Donald Trump had to sit and listen to Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose sexual encounter with Trump is at the center of the former president’s hush-money trial.  As my colleague Inae Oh wrote, Daniels recounted many salacious allegations. She told the jury that Trump had said he and his wife, Melania, do not sleep in the same room, and that the former president once compared Daniels to his daughter, Ivanka. Daniels also recounted the story of spanking Trump with a magazine "right on the butt"—prompting a juror to stifle laughter. It was all so much, in fact, that Trump's legal team requested a mistrial over what they claimed was “prejudicial testimony.” Judge Juan Merchan declined that request, but he also seemed annoyed with Daniels, saying that some of her testimony “would have been better left unsaid.”  Respectfully...we disagree. Check out Inae's post for all the details that probably have Trump seething right now. —Julianne McShane

Advertisement

What Happened When Stormy Daniels Finally Met Trump in Court Lurid details of spanking, a denied mistrial request, and one pissed-off former president. BY INAE OH

SPONSORED CONTENT BY HEIFER INTERNATIONAL Your Gift, Their Future: Generate 5X the Change! Heifer International is a global nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger and poverty. As families face rising costs, you can help them succeed. This month, a group of donors is matching every donation making your gift transform 5X the lives of families in need. Don’t miss this limited-time match opportunity!

A new poll shows Trump's abortion problem isn't going away BY PEMA LEVY Aid groups warn of "bloodbath" after Israeli forces seize Rafah crossing BY JULIANNE MCSHANE excerpt: Israeli forces announced on Tuesday that they had seized control of the Rafah border crossing, a vital passageway for transporting aid into Gaza, prompting intense condemnation from international aid groups warning that the humanitarian crisis would be significantly exacerbated. The incursion into Rafah comes a day after White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that President Biden “doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” On Sunday, Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme, said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the “full-blown famine” in Gaza’s north was quickly “moving its way south.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been staunch about plans to invade Rafah, has openly defied these warnings. He said last week that the incursion would occur “with or without a deal” to free the hostages or enact a ceasefire, claiming that Rafah is the group’s last major stronghold. The Israel Defense Forces alleged in a Tuesday morning post on X that the crossing “was being used for terrorist purposes.” The IDF also claimed that it “facilitated the expansion of field hospitals, tents, and an increase in water, food and medical supplies” for Gazans in Al Mawasi, about four miles northeast of Rafah, where Israeli forces were encouraging residents to evacuate. But officials and humanitarian groups warn that the invasion, particularly the blocking of the crossing, will be catastrophic for Palestinians.  A lifeline has just been blocked,” Akram al-Satarri, a Gaza-based journalist, told Democracy Now on Tuesday. “That means the patients who are in need [of] medical care…are denied that access. That means the general population of southern Gaza and northern Gaza alike are deprived from the food supplies that were delivered and were even slow before this last development took place.” “A military assault will, at best, greatly complicate aid delivery,” UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder said. “If Rafah gate closes for an extended period, it’s hard to see how famine in Gaza can be averted.”  On the anniversary of family separation, the Heritage Foundation hosted the policy's intellectual father BY ISABELA DIAS New York is suing crisis pregnancy centers for hawking "abortion reversal" BY JULIANNE MCSHANE excerpt: Abortion rights advocates might be surprised to learn that, in deep-blue New York, anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers outnumber abortion clinics.  There are more than 120 such centers (known as CPCs, though they also go by other names) throughout New York, according to a coalition of abortion rights groups in the state, compared to a little more than 100 in-person abortion providers. In places like New York—where abortion is legal through 24 weeks’ gestation, and lawmakers have enacted legislation protecting abortion access—CPCs are particularly insidious: They lure struggling pregnant people in with promises of financial and emotional support, and then actively discourage them from obtaining abortions—often, in part, through medical misinformation delivered mostly by volunteers, not medical professionals. One of their favorite deceptive tactics is to hawk so-called “abortion pill reversal” regimens, which they falsely claim can stop a medication abortion in its tracks, allowing someone to continue a pregnancy.  On Monday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced she is suing the anti-abortion group Heartbeat International—which claims to operate more than 3,000 CPCs worldwide—and 11 other CPCs throughout the state for “using false and misleading statements” to “aggressively” advertise the so-called treatment, which involves taking repeated doses of progesterone—a hormone the body produces during pregnancy—after someone has taken mifepristone, the first of the two pills in the medication abortion regimen. (Mifepristone blocks progesterone, and misoprostol, the second pill taken in a medication abortion, expels the pregnancy.) Anti-abortion groups tend to highlight individual stories of people who allegedly followed this advice and were able to continue a pregnancy; they also often emphasize that immediate regret after seeking an abortion in the first place drove them to try to “reverse” that choice—even though research shows most people who obtain abortions ultimately feel it was the right decision. But as James’ office—and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists—point out, the claims underlying so-called “abortion pill reversal” are unsupported by scientific evidence, and a 2020 study that aimed to examine the safety and efficacy of it was halted early due to safety concerns after three patients experienced severe hemorrhaging. On the other hand, more than 100 published studies have shown that medication abortion is safe and effective, including when the pills are prescribed remotely and mailed to patients—which directly contradicts the false arguments conservatives have taken to the Supreme Court in a bid to drastically restrict access to abortion pills, as I have previously reported. But none of this stops CPCs from claiming otherwise. James alleges their statements “constitute persistent fraud and illegality…and deceptive business and false advertising practices”; her office wants the court to rule that the CPCs must remove all false and misleading claims from their promotional materials and pay out civil penalties. In a statement, James said that, in light of rising reproductive health restrictions post-Dobbs, “we must protect pregnant people’s right to make safe, well-informed decisions about their health.” Heartbeat International and a group of CPCs are countersuing the AG’s office, alleging that CPCs have been “unfairly singled out…because they offer alternatives to abortion.” The Thomas More Society, the conservative Catholic legal group representing the group pro bono, alleges that the statements that are the subject of the litigation are protected free speech. (Heartbeat does not operate all of the CPCs that James is suing, but those CPCs “all advertise or promote Heartbeat” and abortion pill reversal, according to a spokesperson for the AG’s office.)

Advertisement

From toxic mold to fraud: How privatizing military housing became a nightmare for service members The Pentagon wanted to offload rising maintenance costs. America’s service members have paid the price ever since. BY RENÉ KLADZYK

MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE An important update on our finances We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals—and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, and the crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon.   Neither is Mother Jones. Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, which creates the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal and other investigative projects.   It’s going to be hard making it all work, and we simply can’t afford to fall behind our fundraising targets month after month. If you can part with even just a few bucks, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today. And thank you so much to everyone who recently has. We’re grateful. Donate

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Share it on Facebook and Twitter.

Donate Donate Monthly Subscribe For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.MotherJones.com PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755