Donald J. Trump faces a high-pressure day on Thursday as a crucial witness is expected to describe to the jury for the first time the hush-money payment at the center of the Manhattan criminal trial. The witness, David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, will take the stand for a third day on […]
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Trump Trial Judge Questions Defense Lawyer’s Credibility as Pecker Testifies
Donald J. Trump had a dismal day in court on Tuesday as the judge presiding over his criminal trial told a defense lawyer he was “losing all credibility” and a key witness pulled back the curtain to expose what prosecutors called a conspiracy to influence the 2016 election. The witness was David Pecker, longtime publisher […]
Read MoreTrump Hush Money Trial Takeaways: Gag Order Fight and Pecker Testimony
Tuesday’s session of Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial began with a heated clash between Justice Juan M. Merchan and Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer over a gag order. It ended with an insider’s look into a tabloid newspaper practice known as “catch and kill.” Prosecutors said that Mr. Trump had “willfully and blatantly” violated a gag […]
Read MoreNational Enquirer’s Help for Trump Broke Norms Even in the Tabloid World
The National Enquirer was more than a friendly media outlet for Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. It was a powerful, national political weapon that was thrust into the service of a single candidate, in violation of campaign finance law. The tabloid’s former publisher, David Pecker, testified nonchalantly on Tuesday about how the tabloid […]
Read MoreGag Order Hearing Is Heated as Judge Considers Citing Trump for Contempt
The judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s trial in Manhattan held a fiery hearing on Tuesday about whether to find Mr. Trump in criminal contempt for repeatedly violating the provisions of a gag order. While the judge, Juan M. Merchan, did not issue an immediate ruling, he engaged in a heated back-and-forth with one […]
Read MoreProsecutors in Trump Hush Money Trial Debut Their Case in Opening Statements
Manhattan prosecutors delivered a raw recounting of Donald J. Trump’s seamy past on Monday as they debuted their case against him to jurors, the nation and the world, reducing the former president to a co-conspirator in a plot to cover up three sex scandals that threatened his 2016 election win. Their opening statement was a […]
Read More5 Takeaways From Opening Statements in Trump’s Hush-Money Trial
Monday marked another key moment in the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump: opening statements, during which the former president listened quietly to the prosecution’s allegations of crimes, and the defense’s counterargument that he was a simple man, wrongly accused. The jury that will decide Mr. Trump’s case concentrated intently on the statements, which began […]
Read MoreWill a Mountain of Evidence Be Enough to Convict Trump?
In the official record, the case is known as the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump, and, for now, the people have the stronger hand: They have insider witnesses, a favorable jury pool and a lurid set of facts about a presidential candidate, a payoff and a porn star. On […]
Read MoreMelania’s Trials
Outside my office, there is a picture of the Slovenian Sphinx visiting the Egyptian Sphinx, taken during a 2018 photo shoot in Giza, nine months after Melania Trump was blindsided by the steamy news about her husband and Stormy Daniels. The pairing evokes the riddle of Melania: How much can she put up with from […]
Read MoreMelania Trump Avoids Hush-Money Trial but Shares Her Husband’s Anger
In January 2018, when she first saw reports that her husband had paid off a porn star, Melania Trump was furious. She jetted off to Palm Beach, leaving the president to languish in Washington. She eventually returned, only to take a separate car to Donald J. Trump’s first State of the Union address. As a […]
Read More‘Modern Love Podcast’: Esther Perel on What the Other Woman Knows
This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions. [MUSIC PLAYING] anna martin From “The New York Times,” I’m Anna Martin. This is “Modern Love.” Today, I’m talking […]
Read MoreAttention, New York Adulterers: Your Sin May Soon No Longer Be a Crime
In the halls of the New York State Capitol, with a budget deadline bearing down, it seems that all that anyone wants to talk about is adultery. An antiquated but seldom-enforced state law categorizes adultery as a crime, and past efforts to repeal it have gone nowhere. But that seems poised to change. The Assembly […]
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