Washington — Jury choice started Monday within the corruption trial of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who’s accused of buying and selling his political affect for money, gold bars and a brand new Mercedes-Benz convertible. 

No jurors had been chosen when courtroom adjourned within the early night. Many potential jurors indicated that they thought they have been unfit to serve and have been privately interviewed by the decide. About three dozen have been dismissed, and greater than 100 potential jurors have been requested to return to the federal courthouse in New York Metropolis on Tuesday for additional questioning. 

The allegations date again to 2018, across the time the Democratic senator started relationship the lady who’s now his spouse, Nadine Menendez, who was additionally indicted within the corruption probe. Prosecutors say Menendez offered political favors to 3 New Jersey businessmen and secretly helped the governments of Egypt and Qatar. 

Latest courtroom filings revealed Menendez’s potential protection methods, together with incriminating his spouse and asserting that stockpiling money was a “coping mechanism” after “two vital traumatic occasions” in his life. 

Wearing a darkish blue swimsuit and a pink tie, Menendez was seated alongside his authorized staff within the row in entrance of two of his codefendants, sometimes fidgeting and tapping his fingers on the desk. All three have pleaded not responsible and Menendez hasn’t dominated out testifying. 

The trial may final six or seven weeks, ending in late June or early July, U.S. District Decide Sidney Stein stated Monday. 

It is the second time in lower than a decade that Menendez, who stepped down from his highly effective chairmanship of the Senate International Relations Committee after he was charged in September, is on trial on corruption fees. His first case led to a hung jury in November 2017 in New Jersey. 

Here is what to know. 

What are Menendez and his spouse charged with? 

Menendez and his spouse have been initially charged with three legal counts in September 2023 — conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit trustworthy providers fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion beneath coloration of official proper. 

The preliminary indictment detailed a years-long corruption scheme by which Menendez allegedly used his affect because the then-chairman of the highly effective Senate International Relations Committee to secretly profit Egypt; pressured a U.S. Division of Agriculture official to guard a enterprise monopoly Egypt granted to a New Jersey businessman, Wael Hana; to intrude in a legal investigation and prosecution by the New Jersey Legal professional Normal’s Workplace associated to a second New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, and his associates; and tried to affect a federal prosecution of a 3rd New Jersey businessman, Fred Daibes. 

A superseding indictment in October 2023 added a fourth cost alleging the couple conspired to behave as a international agent for Egypt. Prosecutors say Menendez and his spouse offered Egyptian officers, through Hana, with “extremely delicate” and nonpublic details about the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and U.S. army assist to Egypt. The senator additionally allegedly ghostwrote a letter on behalf of Egypt that sought to persuade his Senate colleagues to launch a maintain on $300 million in assist to Egypt. 

“Any you want something you will have my quantity and we’ll make every thing occur,” Nadine Menendez allegedly texted an Egyptian intelligence official in March 2020, days earlier than arranging considered one of a number of conferences between her husband and the official. 

In January, a second superseding indictment included allegations that Menendez made favorable feedback in regards to the Qatari authorities as Daibes was searching for a multimillion-dollar funding from an organization with ties to the federal government.

Menendez was indicted on a dozen new legal fees in March in a 3rd superseding indictment, bringing the entire fees to 16. The extra fees embody obstruction of justice, public official performing as a international agent, bribery, extortion and trustworthy providers wire fraud. Nadine Menendez, whose trial was separated from her husband’s attributable to a “severe medical situation,” faces 15 fees. She has additionally pleaded not responsible. 

Prosecutors allege that in alternate for the senator’s use of his energy and affect to counterpoint the businessmen, they offered the Menendezes with lavish items, together with money, gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz convertible, furnishings and funds for a house mortgage as Nadine Menendez was going through foreclosures on her dwelling. 

When investigators executed a search warrant on the couple’s dwelling in June 2022, they discovered over $480,000 in money stuffed in envelopes and coats and 13 gold bars value greater than $100,000. They found almost $80,000 in a secure deposit field at a close-by financial institution. 

After the preliminary indictment, Menendez stated that for 30 years he withdrew 1000’s of {dollars} every month from his private financial savings account in case of emergencies. The “old style” behavior, he stated, had roots in his household’s expertise in Cuba.

Who’re the opposite defendants? 

Hana knew Nadine Menendez years earlier than she began relationship the senator. Initially from Egypt, Hana lived in New Jersey and operated IS EG Halal, a start-up that quickly grew to become the only real firm to certify halal merchandise imported to Egypt, regardless of Hana having no earlier expertise within the halal business. 

Hana and Nadine Menendez have been usually the intermediaries between the senator and Egyptian officers, arranging dinners at costly eating places and conferences in his Senate workplace, in accordance with courtroom paperwork. Prosecutors say Hana put Nadine Menendez on the payroll of his firm “in a low-or-no-show job” after the senator promised to make use of his energy to facilitate international army gross sales to Egypt. 

When a crash left Nadine Menendez with no automobile in December 2018, she turned to Hana, who related her with Uribe, his enterprise affiliate who had been implicated in an insurance coverage fraud case. The subsequent month, the couple and the 2 businessmen agreed that Menendez would intervene within the insurance coverage fraud case, the indictments say. In return, the costs allege, Uribe helped purchase Nadine Menendez a black Mercedes-Benz convertible, assembly her in a restaurant parking zone handy over $15,000 in money that she used for the down cost, and later arranging automobile funds. 

Across the identical time, Egypt granted a monopoly to Hana’s agency in a deal that offered a “income stream” for Hana to pay the Menendezes, the indictments say. However the monopoly additionally elevated prices for different U.S. meat suppliers and after U.S. officers raised objections with Egypt, Hana requested the senator’s assist to strain the Division of Agriculture to again off. 

By summer season 2019, prosecutors say Nadine Menendez, who was tens of 1000’s of {dollars} behind on her mortgage and going through foreclosures, sought assist once more from Hana and Uribe. Hana’s firm, they are saying, paid $23,000 to deliver the mortgage funds updated whereas Menendez sought to strain New Jersey officers to finish the fraud investigation linked to Uribe. 

It wasn’t the primary case that Menendez interfered with, in accordance with the indictments. In late 2020, the senator met with an individual who would later be nominated to be the U.S. Legal professional for the District of New Jersey, criticizing the workplace’s prosecution of Daibes, a New Jersey actual property developer and affiliate of Hana’s. Daibes was charged in 2018 with acquiring loans beneath false pretenses. However when the particular person instructed that he might should recuse himself from the prosecution, Menendez knowledgeable him that he would suggest another person to the White Home for the U.S. legal professional nomination, prosecutors alleged. 

Via 2021 and 2022, after Menendez publicly praised the federal government of Qatar, which prosecutors instructed helped Daibes land a take care of a Qatari investor, and because the senator sought to proceed to intrude within the federal prosecution of Daibes, the actual property developer allegedly gave Menendez gold bars, money and a recliner. 

“One kilo value of gold,” Menendez allegedly searched on-line, hours after having dinner along with his spouse and Daibes in Could 2022. 

Lower than a month later, federal brokers executed search warrants on the Menendezes’ dwelling and secure deposit field. 

In keeping with prosecutors, Uribe stopped making funds on Nadine Menendez’s Mercedes after that and informed her that he would say the funds have been a mortgage if investigators requested. Menendez and his spouse then allegedly sought to cowl up the mortgage and automobile funds by writing checks to Hana and Uribe that have been characterised as funds for loans, prosecutors stated. That prompted legal professionals for Menendez and his spouse to make “false and deceptive statements” to investigators in 2023, the indictment stated. 

Uribe pleaded responsible to seven fees, together with conspiracy to commit bribery, trustworthy providers wire fraud, obstruction of justice and tax evasion, and agreed to cooperate with investigators earlier this 12 months. 

Luisa Garcia contributed reporting. 

Jury choice begins in trial accusing high Democrat of accepting bribes and appearing as unregistered international agent.

Jury choice has begun within the corruption trial of Bob Menendez, a high United States senator who’s accused of accepting bribes in trade for a variety of favours and appearing as an unregistered agent of the Egyptian authorities.

Menendez, 70, faces 16 felony prices and is being tried alongside two New Jersey businessmen in Manhattan federal courtroom.

Menendez sat together with his attorneys on Monday and listened as Choose Sidney H Stein instructed a number of dozen potential jurors in regards to the prices.

The choose instructed them the “sitting US senator from the state of New Jersey” had been charged in a conspiracy during which he allegedly “agreed to simply accept bribes and accepted bribes”.

Menendez’s spouse, Nadine, has additionally been charged however shall be tried individually. All 4 defendants have pleaded not responsible.

In September, prosecutors accused Menendez and his spouse of accepting money, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible in trade for the senator wielding his political affect in New Jersey and serving to the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Authorities stated Menendez promised to assist Egypt receive arms gross sales and different navy support, and helped co-defendant Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman, receive a profitable monopoly on the certification of halal meat exports to Egypt.

Prosecutors additionally stated Menendez tried to assist his different co-defendant, outstanding New Jersey developer Fred Daibes, receive hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from a Qatari funding fund, and sought to disrupt a federal felony case towards Daibes in New Jersey.

A lot of the money acquired by the couple was stuffed inside clothes at their house, prosecutors stated.

A number of weeks after the preliminary indictment was unsealed, US authorities in October additionally charged Menendez – who beforehand chaired the influential Senate Overseas Affairs Committee – with serving as an unregistered agent of Egypt.

Chatting with reporters in late September, Menendez stated he was assured he could be exonerated within the case and would proceed his political profession.

“I firmly consider that when all of the details are offered, not solely will I be exonerated, however I nonetheless shall be New Jersey’s senior senator,” he stated.

He additionally sought to defend his file on Egypt.

“All through my 30 years within the Home of Representatives and the Senate, I’ve at all times labored to carry accountable these international locations together with Egypt for human rights abuses, the repression of its citizenry, civil society, and extra,” he instructed reporters on the time.

Menendez is up for re-election in November and has stated he would possibly run as an impartial if he’s exonerated within the felony case.

However current polls present he’s deeply unpopular amongst New Jersey voters and lots of Democratic Occasion senators, together with New Jersey’s Cory Booker, have referred to as for him to resign.

Fewer than one in six voters polled in March by Monmouth College and Emerson School Polling/PIX11/The Hill stated they accepted of Menendez’s job efficiency. Even fewer stated they might vote for him as an impartial.

That is Menendez’s second felony trial: In 2017, a New Jersey federal choose declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on whether or not he broke the regulation by offering assist to a rich ophthalmologist in trade for lavish presents and political contributions.

New York
CNN
 — 

Struggling Crimson Lobster is abruptly closing a minimum of 48 of its eating places across the nation, in line with a number one restaurant liquidator.

TAGeX Manufacturers is conducting an internet public sale of Crimson Lobster restaurant stock, together with kitchen tools, furnishings, tables and chairs. The public sale begins Monday and continues by means of Thursday, in line with firm founder Neal Sherman.

Crimson Lobster places in Buffalo, Orlando, Jacksonville and different cities had been listed as “quickly closed” on Crimson Lobster’s web site, in line with native information studies.

Crimson Lobster didn’t reply to CNN’s requests for remark. The corporate has round 650 places.

Crimson Lobster is reportedly contemplating submitting for chapter safety. The chain has tapped a restructuring skilled as its chief government, a attainable indicator of an impending chapter.

The mass closures are one other signal of issues at Crimson Lobster and one of many solely occasions in its greater than 50-year historical past the chain has closed dozens of shops directly.

Crimson Lobster was an off-the-cuff eating pioneer, bringing reasonably priced seafood to middle-class shoppers for the primary time.

However the chain has declined lately attributable to a spread of things, together with company mismanagement, say former leaders and restaurant analysts.

In 2020, Thai Union, a longtime provider to Crimson Lobster, took an undisclosed monetary stake within the chain, changing into a key shareholder.

Below Thai Union’s path, Crimson Lobster has cycled by means of 4 CEOs and an all-you-can-eat shrimp deal final yr that slowed down desk service and reduce into Thai Union’s profitability.

The promotion has been a convention on the chain for greater than 18 years, however Crimson Lobster made infinite shrimp a everlasting fixture on the menu.

“We have to be way more cautious,” Thai Union CEO Thiraphong Chansiri mentioned in November of the shrimp deal.

Thai Union mentioned earlier this yr it might divest from Crimson Lobster and take a $530 million loss on its funding.

“I’m going to cease consuming lobster,” Chansiri mentioned.

The explosive development and recognition of fast-casual chains like Chipotle and quick-service chains like Chick-fil-A over the previous 20 years additionally squeezed Crimson Lobster and the informal eating sector.

Informal eating has slipped from 36% of whole restaurant business gross sales in 2013 to 31% in 2023, in line with Technomic, a restaurant analysis agency.

NEW YORK — Settlement funds, nondisclosure agreements and measures taken to guard Donald Trump had been on the middle of Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday.

Cohen, identified for being Trump’s ex-lawyer, took the stand within the first legal trial in opposition to the previous president. As soon as generally known as his “fixer,” Cohen testified to wanting to guard Trump and his popularity and that he required Trump’s approval for a $130,000 settlement to maintain an grownup movie star quiet about an alleged affair.

After a number of weeks of testimony, jurors heard Cohen affirm two key particulars on the stand: Trump knew in regards to the settlement negotiation and Trump directed Cohen to make that cost due to the election. However Trump’s attorneys will seemingly attempt to debunk Cohen’s testimony and resurface his personal convictions for mendacity beneath oath.

Cohen additionally testified that forward of the 2016 election he labored to maintain damaging tales about Trump out of the media and labored to cut back the impression of the Entry Hollywood tape. Cohen mentioned Trump on the time was polling poorly with ladies voters and Stormy Daniels, an grownup movie star, was going to come back out with a narrative she had an affair with Trump.

“He advised me to work with [David Pecker of American Media Inc.] and get management over this … and purchase the life rights,” Cohen mentioned, including that Trump advised him to “do what you could do to cease this getting out.”

Prosecutors confirmed the jury textual content messages and telephone name data paired with Cohen’s testimony that he had spoken with then-candidate Trump about payoffs to a former Playboy mannequin and Daniels — each whom alleged that they had affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.

Cohen mentioned to Trump “this was all in regards to the marketing campaign” and “he wasn’t considering” about his spouse, Melania. Trump has mentioned the funds to Daniel had been made with the intention to defend his household.

Prosecutors for the Manhattan district legal professional allege that Trump falsified enterprise data to repay Daniels as part of a bigger scheme to affect the 2016 election.

Trump faces 34 felony counts alleging that reimbursements to Cohen for paying Daniels violated marketing campaign finance regulation. Trump, who pleaded not responsible, claims the trial itself is “election interference” due to how it’s disrupting his 2024 bid for president. He should be current in court docket daily and thus is not capable of marketing campaign when he’s.

That is the second trial that Cohen through which he has testified in opposition to Trump in entrance of Trump. Final fall he testified in a civil fraud trial, alleging that Trump inflated the worth of his property to land higher enterprise offers.

Cohen testified to a number of offers the jury has heard about

Whereas on the witness stand on Monday, Cohen testified to the deal brokered between Trump, Cohen and the management at American Media Inc., to collaborate on constructive tales about then-candidate Trump. He additionally testified to listening to about two allegations about Trump — an unsubstantiated allegation that Trump had fathered an illegitimate little one and an allegation that he had an affair with former Playboy mannequin Karen McDougal.

A former Trump doorman was paid $30,000 to maintain quiet in regards to the little one out-of-wedlock story, Cohen mentioned, and Cohen reviewed the settlement. Then he testified about buying McDougal’s story.

“We would have liked to amass the story,” Cohen testified. Jurors considered textual content messages between Cohen and management on the Nationwide Enquirer tabloid, and name data, and Cohen testified he spoke to Trump about “the Karen McDougal matter.”

He then testified to negotiating the cost for Daniels. The $130,0o0 settlement was negotiated, however the payout was slow-walked, he mentioned,

Cohen testified to numerous conversations he allegedly had with the previous president in regards to the offers. And he additionally testified to how Trump and different executives on the Trump Group promised to pay him $420,000, which coated reimbursement for the cost to Daniels, $50,000 for some know-how companies, a $60,000 bonus, plus some further to cowl taxes, paid out over a yr. Cohen says Trump accepted it, then testified the previous president mentioned, “that is going to be one heck of a journey in D.C.”

The jury has heard a lot of this earlier than. Cohen’s testimony comes simply days after Daniels took the stand in opposition to the previous president. McDougal will not be anticipated to be referred to as to testify.

Jurors have additionally heard from former Nationwide Enquirer writer Pecker, who first testified to the small print of the offers made to flag doubtlessly damaging tales to Cohen and Trump. And jurors heard from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who negotiated the nondisclosure agreements and settlement funds for McDougal and Daniels.

Davidson additionally testified to believing Cohen was slow-walking the payout, a suspicion Cohen confirmed on the stand.

“I used to be instructed to push it till after the election,” Cohen mentioned of Trump. “I used to be following instructions.”

A number of former and present Trump staff, each from his flagship firm and his administration, testified to the method through which Trump obtained private invoices and paid private checks — together with these used to pay Cohen again.

Cohen’s testimony continues on Tuesday

Cohen’s testimony continues on Tuesday when he’s prone to face questions from Trump’s protection crew about his personal legal previous.

Throughout opening statements, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche hung out attempting to discredit Cohen, who has a historical past of perjury. This has allowed the Trump crew, and Trump himself, to go after Cohen as a witness with out credibility.

“When are they going to take a look at all of the lies that Cohen did within the final trial?” Trump mentioned within the courthouse corridor in March. Prosecutors argued this assertion amounted to a gag order violation.

Weeks earlier than the trial started, New York Choose Juan Merchan issued a gag order on Trump that particularly bars him from making or directing others to make public statements about potential witnesses, jurors, court docket workers or relations of workers.

Final week, Merchan directed prosecutors to additionally ask Cohen to cease speaking in regards to the case and about Trump.

Background on the case

In 2019, Cohen advised Congress that he mentioned “reimbursements” for the hush cash, with Trump, early in his presidency, on the White Home.

“And he says to me one thing to the impact of, ‘Don’t be concerned, Michael. Your January and February reimbursement checks are coming,'” Cohen advised Congress. “They had been FedEx’d from New York. And it takes some time for that to get by means of the White Home system.'”

Jurors have been offered with a photograph, a gathering memo, copies of FedEx receipts. The prosecution and the protection this week might be locked within the battle over whether or not Cohen is an unrepentant liar, as Trump claims, or whether or not he has lied, however on this case is telling the reality.

Cohen’s journey from somebody who as soon as mentioned he’d “take a bullet” for Trump to somebody who has emerged as a key witness in opposition to the previous president has been lengthy.

In 2018, the 2 males had a falling out in 2018 amid a federal investigation into Cohen’s monetary dealings and particular counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump marketing campaign’s potential ties to Russia through the 2016 presidential race.

Previous to that, Cohen did Trump’s soiled work: stiffing distributors, intimidating reporters, making secret offers. However after the Daniels’ story blew up in 2018, Trump stopped paying Cohen’s authorized payments, and Cohen grew to become what Trump very publicly referred to as “a rat.” The Daniels case is on the coronary heart of the legal case in opposition to Trump in New York.

In late 2018, Cohen pleaded responsible to a raft of federal fees, together with marketing campaign finance violations associated to hush cash payouts to 2 ladies in change for his or her public silence about their private relationships with Trump. He mentioned he did that “on the path” of Trump.

In February 2019, Cohen testified earlier than the Home Oversight Committee.

“Mr. Trump is a cheat,” Cohen advised lawmakers on the time. “It was my expertise that Mr. Trump inflated his complete property when it served his functions, comparable to attempting to be listed amongst the wealthiest individuals in Forbes, and deflated his property to cut back his actual property taxes.”

Trump has lengthy argued that he has executed no fallacious and has repeatedly solid Cohen as untrustworthy. That has executed little to discourage prosecutors who’ve made Cohen’s account of working for Trump a cornerstone of their case in opposition to the previous president. He’s anticipated to be one of many final prosecution witnesses in opposition to Trump this week.

Cohen’s testimony to Congress may very well be a harbinger of what the court docket may hear from him within the coming says. A few of his testimony to Congress has already been corroborated. Hope Hicks, the previous Trump communications aide, testified about how involved the marketing campaign was after the discharge of the Entry Hollywood tape earlier than the 2016 election.

“I do not assume anyone would dispute this perception that after the wildfire that encompassed the Billy Bush tape, {that a} second comply with as much as it will have been nice,” Cohen advised Congress in 2019. “And he was involved with the impact that it had had on the marketing campaign, on how ladies had been seeing him, and in the end whether or not or not he would have a shot within the basic election.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was intimately concerned with all facets of a scheme to stifle tales about intercourse that threatened to torpedo his 2016 marketing campaign, his former lawyer stated Monday in matter-of-fact testimony that went to the center of the former president’s hush cash trial.

“All the pieces required Mr. Trump’s sign-off,” stated Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer-turned-foe and the prosecution’s star witness in a case now coming into its ultimate, pivotal stretch.

In hours of extremely anticipated testimony, Cohen positioned Trump on the middle of the hush cash plot, saying the then-candidate had promised to reimburse the lawyer for the cash he fronted and was continuously up to date about behind-the-scenes efforts to bury tales feared to be dangerous to the marketing campaign.

“We have to cease this from getting out,” Cohen quoted Trump as telling him in reference to porn actor Stormy Daniels’ account of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. The then-candidate was particularly anxious about how the story would have an effect on his standing with feminine voters.

An identical episode occurred when Cohen alerted Trump {that a} Playboy mannequin was alleging that she and Trump had an extramarital affair. “Make sure that it doesn’t get launched,” was Cohen’s message to Trump, the lawyer stated. The girl, Karen McDougal, was paid $150,000 in an association that was made after Trump acquired a “full and complete replace on all the things that transpired.”

“What I used to be doing, I used to be doing on the path of and advantage of Mr. Trump,” Cohen testified.

Trump has pleaded not responsible and denied having sexual encounters with the 2 girls.

Cohen is by far the prosecution’s most vital witness, and although his testimony lacked the electrical energy that outlined Daniels’ activate the stand final week, he nonetheless linked Trump on to the funds and helped illuminate a number of the drier proof equivalent to textual content messages and telephone logs that jurors had beforehand seen.

The testimony of a witness with such intimate data of Trump’s actions might heighten the authorized publicity of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee if jurors deem him sufficiently credible. However prosecutors’ reliance on a witness with such a checkered previous — Cohen pleaded responsible to federal fees associated to the funds — additionally carries sizable dangers with a jury and could possibly be a boon to Trump politically as he fundraises off his authorized woes and paints the case because the product of a tainted felony justice system.

The lads, as soon as so shut that Cohen boasted that he would “take a bullet” for Trump, had no seen interplay contained in the courtroom. The sedate environment was a marked distinction from their final courtroom faceoff, when Trump walked out of the courtroom in October after his lawyer completed questioning Cohen throughout his civil fraud trial.

This time round, Trump sat on the protection desk along with his eyes closed for lengthy stretches of testimony as Cohen recounted his decade-long profession as a senior Trump Group govt, doing work that by his personal admission typically concerned mendacity and bullying others on his boss’s behalf.

Jurors had beforehand heard from others in regards to the tabloid business follow of “catch-and-kill,” through which rights to a narrative are bought in order that it will probably then be quashed. However Cohen’s testimony, which continues Tuesday, is essential to prosecutors due to his direct communication with the then-candidate about embarrassing tales he was scrambling to suppress.

Cohen additionally issues as a result of the reimbursements he acquired from a $130,000 hush cash fee to Daniels, which prosecutors say was meant to purchase her silence prematurely of the election, type the premise of 34 felony counts charging Trump with falsifying enterprise data. Prosecutors say the reimbursements had been logged, falsely, as authorized bills to hide the funds’ true objective. Protection attorneys say the funds to Cohen had been correctly categorized as authorized bills.

Below questioning from a prosecutor, Cohen detailed the steps he took to masks the funds. When he opened a checking account to pay Daniels, an motion he stated he informed Trump he was taking, he informed the financial institution it was for a brand new restricted legal responsibility company however withheld the precise objective.

“I’m undecided they might’ve opened it,” he stated, in the event that they knew it was ”to repay an grownup movie star for a nondisclosure settlement.”

To ascertain Trump’s familiarity with the funds, Cohen informed the jury that Trump had promised to reimburse him. The 2 males even mentioned with Allen Weisselberg, a former Trump Group chief monetary officer, how the reimbursements could be paid as authorized companies over month-to-month installments, Cohen testified.

And although Trump’s attorneys have stated he acted to guard his household from salacious tales, Cohen described Trump as preoccupied as a substitute by the influence they might have on the marketing campaign.

He stated Trump even sought to delay finalizing the Daniels transaction till after Election Day so he wouldn’t need to pay her.

“As a result of,” Cohen testified, “after the election it wouldn’t matter” to Trump.

Cohen additionally gave jurors an insider account of his negotiations with David Pecker, the then-publisher of the Nationwide Enquirer, who was such a detailed Trump ally that Pecker informed Cohen his publication maintained a “file drawer or a locked drawer” the place information associated to Trump had been saved.

That effort took on added urgency following the October 2016 disclosure of an “Entry Hollywood” recording through which Trump was heard boasting about grabbing girls sexually.

The Daniels fee was finalized a number of weeks after that revelation, however Monday’s testimony additionally centered on a deal earlier that fall with McDougal.

Cohen testified that he went to Trump instantly after the Nationwide Enquirer alerted him to a narrative in regards to the alleged McDougal affair. “Make sure that it doesn’t get launched,” he stated Trump informed him.

Trump checked in with Pecker in regards to the matter, asking him how “issues had been going” with it, Cohen stated. Pecker responded, ‘We’ve got this beneath management, and we’ll maintain this,” Cohen testified.

Cohen additionally stated he was with Trump as Trump spoke to Pecker on a speakerphone in his Trump Tower workplace.

“David had said that it’s going to value them $150,000 to regulate the story,” Cohen stated. He quoted Trump as saying: “No drawback, I’ll maintain it,” which Cohen interpreted to imply that the fee could be reimbursed.

To put the inspiration that the offers had been executed with Trump’s endorsement, prosecutors elicited testimony from Cohen designed to indicate Trump as a hands-on supervisor. Performing on Trump’s behalf, Cohen stated, he typically lied and bullied others, together with reporters.

“When he would job you with one thing, he would then say, ‘Preserve me knowledgeable. Let me know what’s occurring,’” Cohen testified. He stated that was very true “if there was a matter that was troubling to him.”

Protection attorneys have teed up a bruising cross-examination of Cohen, telling jurors throughout opening statements that he’s an “admitted liar” with an “obsession to get President Trump.”

Prosecutors purpose to blunt these assaults by acknowledging Cohen’s previous crimes to jurors and by counting on different witnesses whose accounts, they hope, will buttress Cohen’s testimony. They embrace a lawyer who negotiated the hush cash funds on behalf of Daniels and McDougal, in addition to Pecker and Daniels.

After Cohen’s house and workplace had been raided by the FBI in 2018, Trump showered him with affection on social media and predicted that Cohen wouldn’t “flip.” Months later, Cohen did precisely that, pleading responsible to federal campaign-finance fees.

Moreover pleading responsible to the hush cash funds, Cohen later admitted mendacity to Congress a couple of Moscow actual property challenge that he had pursued on Trump’s behalf throughout the warmth of the 2016 marketing campaign. He was sentenced to 3 years in jail, however spent a lot of it in house confinement.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Caitlin Clark’s a lot anticipated WNBA debut is ready for Tuesday evening in Connecticut.

The No. 1 choose within the WNBA draft is coming off a record-setting faculty profession at Iowa.

“That is what you’ve labored for and dreamed of. Now you get to place your jersey on for the primary actual time and go on the market and play,” Clark mentioned. “We get to play on the largest stage, there’s gonna be lots of people there, it’s gonna be loud. However you solely play your first WNBA sport as soon as. I feel I simply wish to take pleasure in it. It’s gonna be aggressive. They’re actually good, so that you’ve acquired to prep the appropriate means, too. Greater than something, we’re prepared for the problem.”

Even earlier than enjoying a WNBA sport, Clark has left her mark within the execs. The league’s draft had report viewership, and her No. 22 jerseys have been flying off the cabinets.

Three WNBA groups have already moved their video games to greater arenas to maintain up with the demand for tickets to look at her play. Her debut in Connecticut is bought out — the primary sellout for the Solar in a season opener since they performed their inaugural sport at Mohegan Solar Enviornment in 2003 after transferring from Orlando.

This would be the second bought out crowd Clark will play in entrance of in her extraordinarily younger WNBA profession. Her preseason sport in Dallas was bought out, too. Over 13,000 followers additionally turned up for her solely dwelling preseason sport.

Clark’s dwelling debut can be Thursday, when the Fever host the New York Liberty.

___

AP WNBA:

Valeri Nichushkin is completed for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche ahead has been positioned in Stage 3 of the Participant Help Program, the NHLPA and NHL introduced Monday. Beneath the phrases of the joint program, Nichushkin will probably be suspended with out pay for at least six months after which will probably be eligible to use for reinstatement.

The information got here roughly an hour earlier than the Avs have been set to play the Dallas Stars on Monday evening at Ball Enviornment in Sport 4 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff sequence. Dallas leads the best-of-seven sequence 2-1.

It was not revealed by the league or gamers affiliation what led to Nichushkin being admitted to this system.

Nichushkin frolicked within the participant help program earlier this season. He additionally missed the ultimate 5 video games of Colorado’s 2023 playoff sequence towards the Seattle Kraken after leaving the group for what the membership termed “private causes.” A Seattle police report later revealed that an intoxicated lady was present in Nichushkin’s lodge room the morning earlier than Sport 3 of that sequence in Seattle.

Coming into Stage 3 of this system means Nichushkin violated his Stage 2 remedy plan, which stems from his absence earlier this season. He was suspended with out pay in the course of the lively portion of his remedy.

Stage 1 includes a previous in-patient remedy, which carries no penalty. If Nichushkin is reinstated someday on Nov. 13 or later and violates his Stage 3 remedy plan, Stage 4 carries a one-year suspension and reinstatement to the league isn’t assured.

Nichushkin has six extra years left on his contract. It runs by means of the 2029-30 season and carries a cap hit of $6.125 million per season. His contract won’t rely towards the Avalanche’s wage cap at the beginning of subsequent season whereas he’s suspended, a number of sources confirmed.

Regardless of lacking almost two months, this was Nichushkin’s finest offensive season of his profession. He completed with profession highs in objectives (28) and factors (53) regardless of taking part in in solely 54 video games.

Nichushkin has additionally been one of many hottest aim scorers within the league to start out the playoffs. He’s tied for the league lead with 9 objectives in eight video games, having scored at the least as soon as in every of Colorado’s 5 video games towards Winnipeg and the primary two of the Avs’ sequence towards Dallas.

Nichushkin participated in an non-compulsory apply Sunday and a fully-attended morning skate Monday at Ball Enviornment. He granted just one transient interview in English after getting back from the participant help program in March, and didn’t reply any questions on that have.

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PARIS (AP) — Diego Maradona’s heirs will launch a lawsuit to try to cease the public sale of a trophy he was awarded after the 1986 World Cup received by Argentina, their lawyer advised The Related Press on Tuesday.

The Golden Ball trophy rewarding the most effective participant of the match had been lacking for many years after it disappeared in unclear circumstances and solely just lately resurfaced. It’s set to be auctioned in Paris subsequent month, the Aguttes public sale home mentioned final week.

Maradona, who died in 2020 at age 60, captained Argentina in its 3-2 win over West Germany within the 1986 closing in Mexico Metropolis. Earlier than that had been the “Hand of God” purpose and the “Aim of the Century” in a 2-1 win over England within the quarterfinals.

Maradona’s heirs say the trophy was stolen and declare the present proprietor can’t be entitled to promote it.

Gilles Moreu, a lawyer working with Paradox Attorneys agency, mentioned he’ll throw an pressing request to the president of the Nanterre judicial courtroom close to Paris to have the Golden Ball withdrawn from the public sale. He advised the AP he can even request a judicial sequestration of the trophy and file a criticism for theft and hid theft.

Aguttes mentioned the trophy reappeared in 2016 amongst different heaps that had been acquired from a non-public assortment at public sale in Paris.

Maradona obtained the award in 1986 at a ceremony on the Lido cabaret on the Champs-Élysées. It subsequently disappeared, giving rise to rumors.

Some say it was misplaced throughout a poker recreation or offered to repay money owed, Aguttes mentioned. Others say Maradona saved it in a protected in a Naples financial institution that was robbed by native gangsters in 1989, when he performed within the Italian league. Maradona’s heirs imagine it was stolen from the financial institution.

Moreu, who represents two daughters of Maradona, say the heirs came upon solely just lately that the trophy had been stolen. In keeping with the lawyer, Maradona’s household desires the sale to be banned as a result of it believes the Golden Ball belongs to them.

Moreu mentioned he was contacted by an Argentine colleague after the 2 daughters mentioned the matter with the opposite heirs, who gave their approval to the authorized motion.

The public sale home’s argument is the one who purchased the trophy years in the past was not conscious it had been stolen.

“If the proprietor of an object can declare possession underneath French regulation, it’s on the plain situation that his or her good religion can’t be referred to as into query,” the Paradox Attorneys agency mentioned in a press release to the AP. “This can’t be the case for the proprietor of a trophy that was famously stolen from Diego Maradona and whose heirs can legally declare possession.”

Moreu mentioned, “It doesn’t seem that the vendor contacted Diego, which wasn’t that sophisticated.”

The public sale home mentioned it expects the trophy “to fetch tens of millions as a result of its uniqueness.”

Bidders will probably be requested to make a deposit of 150,000 euros ($161,000) to take part within the June 6 public sale.

The Hand of God purpose got here when Maradona punched the ball into England’s internet. 4 minutes later, he weaved by England’s midfield and protection and previous goalkeeper Peter Shilton for what FIFA later declared the best purpose in World Cup historical past.

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Petrequin reported from Montpellier, France.

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AP soccer:

DENVER — Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar mentioned the pregame information of ahead Valeri Nichushkin being suspended for at the very least six months was not “an excuse” for his workforce’s 5-1 loss Monday to the Dallas Stars in Sport 4 of their Western Convention semifinal collection.

The Avalanche have misplaced three straight video games since coming again to win the collection opener, with the Stanley Cup contenders now dealing with elimination.

“We’re not going to make use of that as an excuse. We won’t. We can’t,” Bednar mentioned. “Once more, we deal with it identical to [Logan O’Connor] — injured, performed for the 12 months. You get information like that on a regular basis. You proceed to play with the gamers that you’ve got, and we’ve got the flexibility to play a heck of so much higher than we did at the moment no matter any information.”

The information of Nichushkin being positioned in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHL Gamers’ Affiliation participant help program was introduced slightly greater than an hour earlier than puck drop. No additional info was given about why Nichushkin was admitted into this system.

Avalanche ahead Casey Mittelstadt mentioned that he and some teammates discovered about Nichushkin as they entered Ball Area hours earlier than they took the ice for pregame skate.

“We’re hoping Val’s OK and hoping for one of the best for him,” Mittelstadt mentioned.

Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson advised The Denver Submit after the sport, “[Nichushkin] made his choices. That is all I’ll say on that. He made his choices.”

Earlier within the day, Nichushkin was on the ice for morning skate. After the sport, the Avalanche had already eliminated his nameplate from his stall within the workforce’s dressing room.

A league supply advised ESPN that the NHL/NHLPA participant help program has 4 phases. Stage 1 is the primary in-patient remedy for which there isn’t any penalty. In Stage 2, following a violation of the Stage 1 remedy plan, a participant could be suspended with out pay throughout the lively part of remedy after which turn into eligible for reinstatement.

Stage 3, following a violation of the Stage 2 remedy plan, carries a suspension with out pay for at the very least six months after which a participant can turn into eligible for reinstatement. Stage 4, following a violation of the Stage 3 remedy plan, carries a suspension of at the very least one 12 months, and reinstatement is just not assured.

Nichushkin will likely be suspended for at the very least six calendar months, which implies the earliest he might return could be mid-November.

His absence meant the Avalanche had been with out their main playoff objective scorer after Nichushkin recorded 9 objectives and 10 factors in eight video games.

Bednar adjusted a lineup that was additionally lacking defenseman Devon Toews due to sickness however returned Jonathan Drouin, who had been out since April 20 due to a lower-body damage.

In Saturday’s Sport 3, the Avalanche used an aggressive strategy to regulate possession and launch photographs from all angles just for the Stars to attain the primary objective for a 3rd straight sport en path to a 4-1 Colorado defeat.

On Monday, the Stars had been the extra aggressive workforce. They outshot the Avalanche by a 16-2 unfold within the first interval and took a 2-0 lead by means of Wyatt Johnston, who on the eve of his twenty first birthday scored lower than six minutes into the second body after additionally scoring within the first.

Dallas pushed it to 3-0 when defenseman Miro Heiskanen’s shot from the left level beat Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Somewhat greater than a minute later, the Avs reduce the result in 3-1 when Mittelstadt scored on a objective assisted by Drouin.

A story of the collection has been how the Stars maintain getting early leads solely to have the Avalanche win, as they did in Sport 1, or come actually shut, which is what occurred in Video games 2 and three.

Mittelstadt’s objective was as shut because the Avalanche would get. The Stars padded their result in 4-1 off a objective from Evgenii Dadonov about midway by means of the third, whereas Sam Metal’s empty-netter with lower than two minutes left made it 5-1.

“Us, as a bunch, as an entire, we acquired higher than that. That was our worst sport of the collection,” Bednar mentioned. “It seemed prefer it was a battle for our guys. It seemed like we lacked power. It seemed like we had been the actually drained workforce, they usually had been the recent workforce. I haven’t got the reply for that. I want I did.”

Bednar would later describe his workforce’s four-goal defeat as “atrocious.”

Even for all of the questions dealing with the Avalanche about avoiding elimination, a lot of the eye remained on Nichushkin, as this will likely be his third absence up to now 13 months.

The 29-year-old Nichushkin’s earlier absence from the Avalanche was in mid-January when he was admitted into the participant help program for undisclosed causes. On the time, it was introduced that he could be out for an indefinite interval.

Nichushkin resumed skating with the Avalanche in late February earlier than returning to the lineup March 8 of their 2-1 extra time win towards the Minnesota Wild.

His first absence away from the Avalanche was in April 2023 when he missed the ultimate 5 video games of a first-round collection that ended with the Avs dropping to the Seattle Kraken. That point, the workforce mentioned Nichushkin left for private causes. His absence got here after cops responded to a disaster name on the workforce’s lodge in Seattle on the afternoon earlier than the Avalanche and Kraken performed Sport 3 of their quarterfinal collection.

A 28-year-old girl was in an ambulance when officers arrived, and medics had been advised to talk with an Avalanche workforce doctor to obtain extra particulars.

The police report, which was obtained by ESPN, amongst different shops, mentioned the Avalanche’s doctor advised officers that workforce workers discovered the lady after they had been checking on Nichushkin. The doctor advised police that the lady gave the impression to be intoxicated and was too intoxicated to have left the lodge “in a journey share or cab service,” and wanted EMS help.

When the Avalanche returned for preseason camp, Nichushkin advised reporters, “I feel we must always shut it. It is a new season proper now. We now have to give attention to that.”

A primary-round decide by the Stars in 2013, Nichushkin spent 4 seasons with the membership that drafted him. He scored 23 objectives and 74 factors in 223 video games and by no means fairly reached the heights that had been anticipated of a first-rounder.

The Avalanche signed him firstly of the 2019-20 season on a one-year deal price $850,000. Nichushkin labored his means from a bottom-six function to changing into one of many workforce’s most vital gamers. It led to him signing a two-year deal price $2.5 million yearly in 2020 earlier than he signed an eight-year deal price $6.125 million per 12 months that began firstly of the 2022-23 season.

“I’ve two ideas: Yeah, it sucks for our workforce … however we acquired to go play means higher than we did at the moment,” Bednar mentioned. “There’s nonetheless 20-plus guys in that room that care and that need to win, and that is what we’ve got to give attention to.

“And the second is I’ve gotten to know Val as an individual. … I would like what’s finest for him. I would like him to be completely happy and I would like him to be content material in his life whether or not that is with our workforce or not with our workforce. I would like one of the best for him and his household.”