Judge Aileen Cannon rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request that former President Donald Trump be barred from speaking about the law enforcement agents who searched his Florida home for classified documents.

On Friday, Smith requested that Trump be barred from talking about the law enforcement agents who searched his home for their safety. Cannon said Smith’s request was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy” due to the timing of the request.

“Sufficient time needs to be afforded to permit reasonable evaluation of the requested relief by opposing counsel and to allow adequate follow-up discussions as necessary,” Cannon wrote in response to Smith’s motion.

“Because the filing of the Special Counsel’s motion did not adhere to these basic requirements, it is due to be denied without prejudice,” Cannon said.

Cannon’s ruling echoes a motion Trump’s legal team filed on Monday, requesting Smith be sanctioned for his Friday evening request.

They said the motion was filed Friday at 5:30 p.m. ahead of the Memorial Day weekend holiday, to which Trump’s team responded within 10 minutes.

“We noted the suspicious timing of the communication,” the filing from Trump’s legal team said. Trump’s lawyers said they offered to meet with Smith’s team Monday evening, to which the special counsel called a conferral a “fruitless exercise.”

On Friday afternoon, Smith requested a gag order against Trump because of the claim Trump made last week regarding the FBI agents who searched his home in August 2022, stating they were “authorized to shoot me” and were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”

During the search, the FBI followed a standard use-of-force policy that prohibits the use of deadly force except when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject being searched has an intent to harm the officer or another person.

Cannon laid the groundwork for future motions and said failure to comply may result in sanctions.

“Any future, non-emergency motion brought in this case — whether on the topic of release conditions or anything else — shall not be filed absent meaningful, timely, and professional conferral,” Cannon said.

The Secret Service has reportedly met with jail officials in New York in anticipation of a possible conviction in former President Donald Trump‘s hush-money case.

A corrections source told CBS News that such preparations were underway as the Manhattan trial reached closing arguments and jury deliberations this week.

The report said corrections officers would be responsible for protecting any Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding Trump if he spends any time behind bars.

Although the location of where Trump might serve jail time remains unclear, CBS noted shorter sentences can be served at the Rikers Island complex, which has two wings typically used for high-profile inmates.

Trump’s allies expressed outrage in response to the report, criticizing the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and pointing out how the defendant himself is a candidate for the presidency.

“Today the government is trying to throw the leading candidate for President in prison on bogus charges in a city stacked with far left jurors,” political commentator Robby Starbuck said on X.

“The lack of evidence won’t matter to many of these lunatics. Total commies. Trump’s only way out is if some sane people got on the jury,” he added.

Social media influencer Rogan O’Handley, better known as “DC Draino,” said, “If Biden puts Trump in jail, Trump will win in a landslide we haven’t [seen] since Reagan.”

The case involves 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up damaging information as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election.

Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, is also trying to fend off other criminal matters ahead of a potential 2020 rematch against President Joe Biden in November’s White House contest.

If Trump is convicted in New York, POLITICO said the presiding judge would schedule a separate hearing to determine a sentence. He may not end up serving any prison time, with possible alternatives including probation or community service.

During closing arguments, defense lawyer Todd got a scolding from Judge Juan Merchan for suggesting to the jury that Trump could go to jail if convicted, according to The Washington Post.

“That was outrageous, Mr. Blanche. Someone who’s been a prosecutor as long as you have, someone who’s been an attorney as long as you have knows that is highly inappropriate,” he said.

Merchan also reportedly announced that he would give the jury a curative instruction after a lunch break.

A pervasive sense of fear has settled in at the highest levels of the Democratic Party over President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects, even among officeholders and strategists who had previously expressed confidence about the coming battle with Donald Trump.

All year, Democrats had been on a joyless and exhausting grind through the 2024 election. But now, nearly five months from the election, anxiety has morphed into palpable trepidation, according to more than a dozen party leaders and operatives. And the gap between what Democrats will say on TV or in print, and what they’ll text their friends, has only grown as worries have surged about Biden’s prospects.

“You don’t want to be that guy who is on the record saying we’re doomed, or the campaign’s bad or Biden’s making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that guy,” said a Democratic operative in close touch with the White House and granted anonymity to speak freely.

But Biden’s stubbornly poor polling and the stakes of the election “are creating the freakout,” he said.

“This isn’t, ‘Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.’ It’s ‘Oh my God, the democracy might end.’”

Despite everything, Trump is running ahead of Biden in most battleground states. He raised far more money in April, and the landscape may only become worse for Democrats, with Trump’s hush-money trial concluding and another — this one involving the president’s son — set to begin in Delaware.

The concern has metastasized in recent days as Trump jaunted to some of the country’s most liberal territories, including New Jersey and New York, to woo Hispanic and Black voters as he boasted, improbably, that he would win in those areas.

While he’s long lagged Biden in cash on hand, Trump’s fundraising outpaced the president’s by $25 million last month, and included a record-setting $50.5 million haul from an event in Palm Beach, Florida. One adviser to major Democratic Party donors provided a running list that has been shared with funders of nearly two dozen reasons why Biden could lose, ranging from immigration and high inflation to the president’s age, the unpopularity of Vice President Kamala Harris and the presence of third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Donors ask me on an hourly basis about what I think,” the adviser said, calling it “so much easier to show them, so while they read it, I can pour a drink.”

The adviser added, “The list of why we ‘could’ win is so small I don’t even need to keep the list on my phone.”

On the day after news broke that Biden had trailed Trump in fundraising last month, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey raised the pressure on donors as she introduced the president to a crowd of 300.

The cluster of fundraising events Biden attended in Boston that day were expected to bring in more than $6 million for his political operation. But Healey said that wasn’t good enough.

“To those of you who opened up your wallets, thank you,” said Healey, a Democrat in her first term. “We’d like you to open them up a little bit more and to find more patriots — more patriots who believe in this country, who recognize and understand the challenge presented at this time.”

Laughter rippled through the room. But Healey’s voice turned serious. With unusual urgency for Healey, the governor implored the room of high-dollar donors and local Democratic leaders to “think long and hard” about the stakes of the election.

There have been few moments in Biden’s term as president that haven’t been second-guessed, and his aides have made sport of sneering at grim predictions, compiling dossiers of headlines and clips in which the president was underestimated. Biden campaign aides and allies point to some positive polls, including in the battlegrounds, and Trump’s comparative lack of campaigning and infrastructure in the key states, including staff, organizing programs and advertising.

A Biden campaign adviser granted anonymity to speak freely stressed that the president’s team never made any indication that Trump’s hush-money trial would help — or hurt — him. Instead, the adviser contended that Trump will be forced to defend cutting back abortion rights, attacking democracy and advancing corporate interests as president.

“Trump’s photo-ops and PR stunts may get under the skin of some very serious D.C. people as compelling campaigning, but they will do nothing to win over the voters that will decide this election,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz told POLITICO. “The work we do every day on the ground and on the airwaves in our battleground states — to talk about how President Biden is fighting for the middle class against the corporate greed that’s keeping prices high, and highlight Donald Trump’s anti-American campaign for revenge and retribution and abortion bans — is the work that will again secure us the White House.”

Biden supporters who remain optimistic say they’d rather be him than Trump, before rallying around abortion and issues of reproductive rights, which Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, called “a fundamental game-changer.”

“We have to run a campaign, where honestly, we drive home the message that Donald Trump takes us back to the 19th century. Biden takes us further into the 21st century,” Kildee said.

He did not remark on whether such a campaign is being run, or run to his satisfaction.

“A lot can happen between now and then,” acknowledged Rep. Ann Kuster, a Democrat from New Hampshire, who is retiring after the fall election. She, too, pointed to eroding abortion rights under the conservative-led Supreme Court remade by Trump. “I know a significant number of voters are going to be motivated by the Dobbs decision.”

But Democratic critics of the campaign’s approach — while agreeing that abortion should be a winning issue — said they’re challenged when pressed by friends to make the case for why Biden will win.

“There’s still a path to win this, but they don’t look like a campaign that’s embarking on that path right now,” said Pete Giangreco, a longtime Democratic strategist who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “If the frame of this race is, ‘What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or four years under Trump,’ we lose that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

In the swing state of Michigan, Democratic state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky suggested Biden’s standing is so tenuous that down-ballot Democrats can’t rely in November “on the top of the ticket to pull us along.”

“In 2020, there was enough energy to get Donald Trump out and there were other things on the ballot that brought young people out in subsequent elections.”

She said, “That’s not the case this time. I worry that because we’ve had four years with a stable White House, particularly young voters don’t feel that sense of urgency and might not remember how disastrous 2017 was right after the Trump administration took over.”

Whatever the Biden campaign has been doing over the past two months — and it’s a lot of activity, including $25 million in swing-state ad spending, according to AdImpact — it has had only a limited effect. According to FiveThirtyEight, Biden’s average job-approval rating on March 7, the date of his State of the Union Address, was 38.1 percent. As of Friday, it’s 38.4 percent.

And his standing against Trump has also changed little. On April 22, the day Trump’s criminal trial began, the presumptive GOP nominee held a 0.3-point lead in national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump is up about a point since then, currently leading Biden by 1.4 points in the FiveThirtyEight average.

Asked about polling, Munoz said: “The only metric that will define the success of this campaign is Election Day.”

Trump, meanwhile, has already started his incursion into safe blue states. His campaign’s psychological warfare in New York, California and New Jersey — where House districts will determine control of Congress’ lower chamber — is spiking Democrats’ already-elevated blood pressure.

“New York Democrats need to wake up,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. “The number of people in New York, including people of color that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is alarming.”

Biden’s weaker numbers bear that out. A Siena College poll released Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in New York by only 9 points — 47 to 38 percent among registered voters. Four years ago, Biden won the state by 23 points. The president is under water with every demographic delineated in the poll — other than Black voters. Fifty-three percent of Latinos and 54 percent of whites reported having an unfavorable opinion of him. To that end, Biden released TV and radio ads in the Empire State on Thursday, ahead of Trump’s campaign rally in the Bronx.

Levine has been something of a Paul Revere in New York, sounding alarms two years ago when a Trump-aligned Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lee Zeldin, appeared to be gaining on Kathy Hochul, the moderate Democratic incumbent. Hochul narrowly held him off.

“I’m worried it’s going to be a 2022 situation, where everyone wakes up in the last seven weeks and has to scramble,” Levine said of his state, which hasn’t swung to the GOP since Ronald Reagan in 1980.

This cycle, Democrats also have to contend with the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has deeply divided their ranks and contributed to a sense of chaos. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat known for his ardent defense of Israel, was similarly concerned for his party, though he pointed to the higher cost of groceries and goods that started during the pandemic and has yet to abate.

“The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an “i,” but it’s not Israel, it’s inflation,” Torres said. “The cost of living is a challenge that we have to figure out how to manage.”

He said Biden should focus on issues around affordability and continue to tout his success in capping insulin costs in areas with high rates of diabetes, like his Bronx district.

“The election is more competitive than it should be, given the wretchedness of who Donald Trump is,” he said. “In a properly functioning democracy, Donald Trump should have no viable path to the presidency. The fact of a competitive race is cause for concern.”

Trump has railed against blue-state officials, starting with the justice system in New York. In California, he dispatched his daughter-in-law, Lara, and one of his sons, Eric, to hold up the West Coast’s Democratic heavyweight as a cautionary tale.

“I’m sorry you have to live in communism,” Eric Trump said Wednesday at the Stampede, a country music venue in Temecula, an inland community between Los Angeles and San Diego. Trump casually dismissed California Democrat Gavin Newsom as the nation’s “worst governor.”

“Make no mistake,” Trump said, “there is a war happening in this country.”

The elder Trump is set to appear in early June at the San Francisco fundraiser hosted by tech investor David Sacks and his wife, Jacqueline, a clothing brand executive, along with venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.

Palihapitiya’s past political donations run the gamut, from Elizabeth Warren to a super PAC supporting Kennedy Jr. He also gave to the recall committee against Newsom in 2021 and briefly considered running for governor. Silicon Valley’s red pilling has brought even more unwanted national attention on issues of open-air drug use, homeless encampments and gangs of thieves who ransack retail stores across the Bay Area.

And as in New York, California Democrats are bracing for more incoming from Trump.

“San Francisco has changed with the taxpayers, the job creators, the tech CEOs who want to engage with the city and its politics,” said Harmeet Dhillon, the RNC committee member from California.

Dhillon was reflecting on her run-ins with Democrats in the city, where she spent years leading the local GOP before her law firm represented Trump in legal fights to remain on state ballots. Few Democrats are willing to confide in Dhillon about their fears, she conceded, but no one is sharing a sense of enthusiasm for Biden, either.

“The most diplomatic thing I hear from Democrats is, ‘Oh my God, are these the choices we have for president?’”

Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gays to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s ban on gay priests.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a statement acknowledging the media storm that erupted about Francis’ comments, which were delivered behind closed doors to Italian bishops on May 20.

Italian media on Monday had quoted unnamed Italian bishops in reporting that Francis jokingly used the term “faggotness” while speaking in Italian during the encounter.

He had used the term in reaffirming the Vatican’s ban on allowing gay men to enter seminaries and be ordained priests.

Bruni said Francis was aware of the reports and recalled that the Argentine pope, who has made outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy, has long insisted there was “room for everyone” in the Catholic Church.

“The pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he extends his apologies to those who were offended by the use of a term that was reported by others,” Bruni said.

Francis was addressing an assembly of the Italian bishops conference, which recently approved a new document outlining training for Italian seminarians. The document, which hasn’t been published pending review by the Holy See, reportedly sought to open some wiggle room in the Vatican’s absolute ban on gay priests.

The Vatican ban was articulated in a 2005 document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, and later repeated in a subsequent document in 2016, which said the church cannot admit to seminaries or ordain men who “practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.”

Francis strongly reaffirmed that position in his May 20 meeting with the Italian bishops, joking that “there is already an air of faggotness” in seminaries, the Italian media reported, after initial reporting from gossip site Dagospia.

Italian is not Francis’ mother tongue language, and the Argentine pope has made linguistic gaffes in the past that raised eyebrows. The 87-year-old Argentine pope often speaks informally, jokes using slang and even curses in private.

He has been known for his outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, however, starting from his famous “Who am I to judge” comment in 2013 about a priest who purportedly had a gay lover in his past.

House Republicans are examining evidence that top leadership at the National Institutes of Health intentionally avoided compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests and other oversight efforts during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) wrote to current NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli on Tuesday requesting more information regarding the agency’s document retention, personal email, and FOIA policies.

His inquiry follows the revelation that the former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, David Morens, used his personal email address to avoid FOIA and received assistance from the agency’s “foia lady” to obfuscate public records requests.

“This evidence taken together suggests a conspiracy at the highest levels of NIH and NIAID to avoid public transparency regarding the COVID-19 pandemic,” Wenstrup wrote to Bertagnolli. “If what appears in these documents is true, this is an apparent attack on public trust and must be met with swift enforcement and consequences for those involved.”

In an email chain between Morens and former NIH employee Gerald Keusch in February 2021, Morens referenced the so-called “foia lady” instructing him how to delete emails from NIH records.

Keusch advised Morens to use his personal email address to discuss sensitive information regarding COVID-19 in order to protect their mutual friend Peter Daszak, the head of EcoHealth Alliance, which had funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, using an NIH grant.

“You are right, i need to be more careful,” Morens responded to Keusch. “However, as i mentioned once before, i learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after i am foia’d but before the search starts, so i think we are all safe. Plus i deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail.”

Neither the emails nor the letter from Wenstrup references the NIAID FOIA office by name. The chairman of the full Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), however, confirmed with Morens that the “foia lady” was Margaret Moore, who has subsequently retired from the agency.

Morens told the select subcommittee when testifying in an open hearing last week that he had been in contact with the public records officer for NIAID but she had said there was no way to delete emails permanently from NIH records.

Fauci’s top adviser also told the subcommittee last week that he did not realize emails from his government account constituted federal records.

Evidence also uncovered by the subcommittee indicates that NIAID staff routinely misspelled keywords in their day-to-day email correspondence, such as COVID-19 and EcoHealth, in order to avoid FOIA requests with specific keyword searches.

“After an agency receives a FOIA request, it is common to employ key word search terms to identify and subsequently produce responsive documents to the requester,” Wenstrup wrote to Bertagnolli. “However, it can be undermined by government employees that strategically use language to avoid key word searches.”

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the department had received the letter and “will respond directly to the Chairman.”

Although the select subcommittee is sharply divided on the origins of COVID-19, there is strong bipartisan agreement that accountability for any corruption in government health agencies is essential to restoring public trust.

A spokesperson for the subcommittee Democrats told the Washington Examiner that they “consider recordkeeping requirements to be an important tool for promoting transparency to American taxpayers so that they can continue to maintain the highest degree of confidence in our nation’s premier scientific and public health agencies.”

The leading Democrat on the subcommittee, Raul Ruiz (D-CA), said in his opening statement at Morens’s hearing last week that the adviser’s behavior “willingly betrays decades of dedication, diligence, and decorum for the thousands of federal scientists and public health workers who came before [him].”

“It is not anti-science to hold you accountable for defying the public’s trust and misusing official resources,” Ruiz said to Morens.

Wenstrup requested a briefing from the NIH regarding the agency’s records policy to occur no later than June 4, one day after Fauci is scheduled to testify before the subcommittee.

A Pro-Isis group has sent a chilling threat ahead of the T-20 World Cup game between India and Pakistan at the newly-opened Nassau Stadium in New York. The tournament is set to be held in the United States and the Caribbean in June.

A previous report in the Express had revealed that online chat rooms were being used via the Matrix.org network by ISIS supporters as they urged followers to “prepare your weapon, devise your plan and then lure them in” in relation to targeting sporting events including the T-20 World Cup. Other events that they allegedly were encouraging followers to target were the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley stadium on June 1 and the Olympic Games in Paris.

A threat posted by the group shows a graphic of a man in a hood, who is brandishing a rifle. According to the report, the post read: “You wait for the matches…”, alongside the chilling message: “And we wait for you…”

The poster also namechecks the location of ‘Nassau Stadium’ as well as the date June 9, which is when India and Pakistan are set to play each other in the cricket tournament. The competition itself will commence on June 1, with countries contesting the tournament through until June 29.

The graphic also depicts airborne drones above a rendering of a stadium, while also including a stick of dynamite, alongside a ticking clock. It is expected that a capacity crowd of 34,000 spectators will be present to see India and Pakistan play at the new ground, situated outside of Manhattan.

This will be one of eight games which are planned for the temporary stadium at Eisenhower Park. Previously fears of terrorist attacks have been downplayed by the ICC. The prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Keith Rowley also said: “Unfortunately, the threat of terrorism in its many and varied expressions is an ever-present danger in the world of the 21st century.

“Given the fact that bad actors can choose to misbehave in any way possible it makes it virtually impossible to completely seal off all opportunities.”

He added: “However, in order to ameliorate these dangers, we at the local and regional levels have remained alert to many threats and singularly or together have our intelligence and other security agencies working to protect the population in countries and at venues throughout the tournament.”

ICC and Cricket West Indies have not confirmed whether the post originated from the Islamic State or propaganda channel, Nashir-e Pakistan. However, the ICC and CWI did state: “We work closely with authorities in the host countries and cities, and continually monitor and evaluate the global landscape to ensure appropriate plans are in place to mitigate any risks identified to our event.

“We want to assure all stakeholders that safety and security of everyone at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is our number one priority and we have a comprehensive and robust security plan in place.”

Previously, Professor Dr. Christian Kaunert, Chair of Policing and Security at University of South Wales, said: “I would imagine this is a very, very high risk summer with a number of high profile events happening from the European Football Championships to the Olympic Games in Paris.

“The current anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli climate makes a much more fruitful environment for ISIS to radicalise people as they try to outdo Hamas.”

The Denver Police Department has launched a new program that will include the use of drones as a tool to help officers respond to 911 calls.

The law enforcement agency that was recently defunded by millions to pay for migrants is now launching its own drone program, along with other Colorado police departments.

Robert White, the former chief of The Denver Police Department originally disagreed with the use of drones in 2013 and in 2018, and the agency’s only drone was shelved.

Now, the department is planning on using a $100,000 grant from the Denver Police Foundation to start the program. Denver police plan to buy several drones with that money, and begin their drone program within six to 12 months.

‘We would never simply replace calls-for-service response by police officers,’ Phil Gonshak, director of the department’s Strategic Initiatives Bureau told The Denver Post.

‘The DPD would respond to any call for service where someone is physically requesting a police officer on scene. But if there was a fight at Colfax and Cherokee and we put a drone in the air and there is no fight and nothing causing traffic issues, then we would reroute our police officers to other emergent calls.’

‘It’s beginning to lift off,’ Gonshak said.

‘The long-term scope of what we are trying to do is drones as first responders,’ he added.

‘Basically, having stations on top of each one of our districts so we can respond with drones to critical needs or emergencies that arise throughout the city.’

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, based in Centennial, Colorado, has been using the robotic flying devices since 2017.

‘This really is the future of law enforcement at some point, whether we like it or not,’ Sgt. Jeremiah Gates, who leads the drone unit at the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, said.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office has 14 pilots that have used 20 drones to conduct tasks, including tracking fleeing suspects, searching for missing people, providing overhead surveillance during SWAT operations, and mapping crash or crime scenes.

Gates said that the department is now considering using its drones to respond ahead of officers and in some rare instances, instead of them attending at all.

If a drone is deployed before an officer responds to a call, it could map out the area and send live streamed video footage back to the cop before they arrive.

In the case that a drone is flown to the scene of a 911 call, the device will be able to determine the severity of the call to inform officers if they need to respond.

‘I could fly the drone over (a reported suspicious vehicle) and say, “Hey, that vehicle is not out of place,” and I never had to send an officer over to bother them and I can clear it with that,’ Gates said. ‘It’s saving resources.’

The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office is still in the ‘very early stages’ as they have to consider the cost, public opinion, and determine what kind of equipment will be needed to operate the drones for emergency calls.

Gates said that the flying devices could also be used to respond to traffic light outages by sending a live video to officers.

He added that the remote devices would get to emergency scenes faster than a cop would as they won’t have to deal with traffic congestion in the area.

Gates told The Denver Post: ‘What if we get a call about someone with a gun, and the drone is able to get overhead and see it’s not a gun before law enforcement ever contacts them?’

While Gates is for the use of drones, American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado staff attorney Laura Moraff, is worried that law enforcement agencies using drones could impact people’s rights.

‘We’re worried about what it would mean if drones were really just all over the skies in Colorado,’ Moraff said.

‘We are worried about what that would mean for First Amendment activities, for speech and organizing and protesting — because being surveilled by law enforcement, including by drones, can change the way people speak and protest.’

Moraff also expressed concern that the deployment of drones could result in ‘more over-policing’.

‘We know there is a problem with people reporting Black people doing normal everyday things as if there is something suspicious going on,’ she said.

‘So sending out a drone for any time there is a 911 call, it could be dangerous and lead to more over-policing of communities of color.

‘There is also just the risk that the more that we normalize having drones in the skies, the more it can really affect behavior on a massive scale, if we are just looking up and seeing drones all over the place, knowing that police are watching us.’

Meanwhile, Littleton Police Department only uses drones ‘proactively during large public events to monitor certain areas,’ spokeswoman Sheera Poelman said.

The Loveland Police Department used a drone to deliver a defibrillator to a patient before paramedics and authorities were able to respond, Sgt. Bryan Bartnes said.

‘One drawback to it is, obviously, it requires the citizen on scene to apply it and put it on,’ Bartnes said. ‘Drones don’t do that yet.’

The largest drone that the Loveland Police Department has can carry up to 16lbs, Bartnes explained.

Ben Birdsell, the Commerce Police Department’s community service officer supervisor said that the agency plans to launch drones for 911 calls within the next year.

‘What we see out of it is, it’s a lot cheaper than an officer, basically,’ he said.

Drones have to be flown at a limited range as they have to operate in the line of sight to the pilot, and have to follow the Federal Aviation Administration regulations around flights.

White said that kickstarting a drone program for the Denver Police Department would cost about $1.5million to $2million.

The department has already drafted up a ‘Drones as a First Responder Program’ policy and have several trained pilots on the force.

Denver Police spokesman Doug Schepman said that the agency’s SWAT team uses a single drone for limited indoor searches and can use it for emergency response upon approval.

‘So there is no question about what we are doing, because I know there is concern about us flying drones and peering through windows without search warrants,’ Gonshak said.

‘We want to be very public-conscientious in our efforts.’

In April, the Denver City Council’s Finance and Governance Committee approved plans to defund the police as the ongoing migrant crisis has cost the democrat-led city about $89.9million.

The finance committee determined that $41 million in cuts from multiple city departments is needed to house migrants, KDVR reported.

Following the decision, the department experienced $8.4million budget cuts, including the sheriff’s office which lost $3.8million, and the fire department that lost $2.4million.

The sanctuary city’s progressive Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled the budget proposal, allocating $89.9million to assist incoming undocumented migrants, who he referred to as ‘newcomers.’

Has a trip through the drive-through become an extravagance? The vast majority of Americans say so.

A recent nonprobability survey conducted by LendingTree found 78% of consumers now consider fast food to be a “luxury” purchase due to how expensive the meals have become.

Half of those polled said they view fast food as a luxury because they’re struggling financially. This is especially true among Americans who make less than $30,000 a year (71%), parents with young children (58%), and Gen Zers (58%).

Americans love their fast food, but a majority say they are pulling back on their consumption due to high prices. The findings show 3 out of 4 Americans typically eat fast food once a week, but 62% of respondents said they are eating it less frequently due to the cost.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed agreed fast food should be cheaper than eating at home, but 75% say that is not the case. Nearly half of Americans (46%) say a meal at a fast-food restaurant costs about the same as one at their local sit-down restaurants, and 22% said fast food is actually more expensive.

Fast-food price hikes have outpaced inflation in recent years. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows the cost of fast-food meals is up 41% from 2017, while the consumer price index has risen by 35.9%.

Columnist Dan O’Donnell of the free market think tank the MacIver Institute wrote in a blog post on Thursday that prices on “basic items like McDonald’s cheeseburgers and Chick-fil-A nuggets have risen as much as 200% in less than five years with dire consequences for the lower- and middle-class families who make up much of the fast food customer base.”

“Fast food patrons are generally lower-income earners — many with young children — who rely on a quick, affordable meal before soccer practice or a band concert,” O’Donnell wrote. “When prices at these restaurants spike from $35-$40 for a family meal to $65-$70 in just a few years, those families either have to sacrifice a night out or extend themselves just a little further to afford it.”

In the LendingTree survey, when asked about their go-to for an easy, inexpensive meal, 56% of respondents cited making food at home. And that is exactly what more people are doing.

Global restaurant chains such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have seen lower-income customers opting to eat more meals at home amid a cost-of-living crisis, prompting the companies to offer steeper promotions in an attempt to lure customers back.

This week, Wendy’s rolled out a $3 budget-friendly breakfast meal, and McDonald’s is planning a $5 combo meal in June. Both offerings will be for a limited time.

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial is nearing an end, with closing arguments beginning on May 28. Here’s what you need to know to catch up with the case.

What Are the Charges?

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged President Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, a Class E felony.

The former president was charged under the statute New York Business Law 175.10, which states, “A person is guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree when he commits the crime of falsifying business records in the second degree, and when his intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.”

The second crime in this case was the alleged violation of New York Election Law 17-152: “Conspiracy to promote or prevent election. Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

The 34 records in this case consist of 11 checks cut to Michael Cohen, a former personal attorney to President Trump, and the corresponding vouchers and invoices. Prosecutors allege that these payments, categorized as legal expenses, were reimbursement for money Mr. Cohen paid to Stephanie Clifford, better known as adult actress Stormy Daniels, as part of a scheme to influence the 2016 elections.

In order to prove their case, prosecutors need to show that President Trump had the intent to defraud—more specifically, the intent to conceal the alleged conspiracy—when causing the creation of the business records.

Who Testified?

David Pecker, former head of American Media Inc. (AMI) and publisher of the National Enquirer, was the first to take the witness stand.

Over several days, he outlined an agreement with Mr. Trump and collaboration with Mr. Cohen as AMI purchased two stories that Mr. Pecker believed would harm the 2016 Trump campaign. Neither of the two deals Mr. Pecker was involved in are related to the current charges, but prosecutors argued that they provide important context and evidence of a conspiracy.

Next, longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff testified, affirming that she had entered contact information for key people in the case into her contact management system, offering evidence that Mr. Trump was in touch with alleged co-conspirators.

Then, Gary Farro, a banker formerly with First Republic Bank, took the witness stand to confirm the creation of accounts for Mr. Cohen’s LLCs and a $131,000 wire transfer.

Robert Browning, executive director of the C-SPAN Archives, took the witness stand to allow into evidence several video clips of President Trump’s campaigning. Philip Thompson, a regional director at Esquire Deposition Solutions, testified to the authenticity of a deposition transcript from another Trump case.

Lawyer Keith Davidson testified next, detailing his representation of Karen McDougal and later Ms. Clifford and his dealings with Mr. Cohen to complete a settlement contract for Ms. Clifford. Several revealing texts were entered into evidence throughout his testimony, showing exchanges between Mr. Davidson and others.

Then, two members of the district attorney’s office were called to the witness stand. Forensic analyst Doug Daus had reviewed Mr. Cohen’s cell phones, and through his testimony, phone records were admitted into evidence. Paralegal Georgia Longstreet had reviewed President Trump’s social media posts, and several were entered into the record, including ones depicting a change in attitude toward Mr. Cohen.

Next, Hope Hicks, former Trump campaign communications director, testified and affirmed then-candidate Trump’s schedule on key dates, allowing into evidence emails exchanged within the Trump campaign.

Jeffrey McConney, former Trump Organization comptroller, testified about his oversight of the process of accepting and processing Mr. Cohen’s invoices, which Mr. McConney categorized as legal expenses, allowing into evidence email exchanges about the payments. Deb Tarasoff, a bookkeeper for The Trump Organization who worked under Mr. McConney, testified that she processed these invoices, cutting the checks that Mr. Trump ultimately signed.

Sally Franklin with Random House was then called to the witness stand to read into the record several excerpts from Trump books on life and business advice. Later during the trial, Tracey Menzies with Harper Collins read into the records excerpts from other Trump books.

When Ms. Clifford took the witness stand, it was in a crowded courthouse. Ms. Clifford, whom the judge described as a “difficult to control” witness, gave salacious details in her testimony that led to the defense calling for a mistrial, which the judge denied on the basis that the issues could be resolved during cross-examination.

Next, Trump Organization employee Rebecca Manochio testified that she shipped checks from Trump Tower to Washington for President Trump to sign in 2017. Former Oval Office Director of Operations Madeleine Westerhout testified that she saw President Trump signing checks, which had been sent through FedEx to bodyguard Keith Schiller and later herself.

Daniel Dixon with AT&T and Jennie Tomalin with Verizon testified to the authenticity of phone records that were then entered into evidence. Paralegal Jaden Jarmell-Schneider, with the district attorney’s office, created summary charts of records from Mr. Cohen’s phone that the prosecutors believed relevant to the case.

Finally, Mr. Cohen testified as the final witness for the prosecutors, with testimony lasting a week.

The defense called few witnesses. Paralegal Danny Sitko, with defense attorney Todd Blanche’s office, had created summary charts of phone records between Mr. Cohen and attorney Robert Costello. Mr. Costello’s testimony refuted claims that Mr. Cohen made that Mr. Costello was meant to keep tabs on him for Rudy Giuliani, who later became an attorney to President Trump.

Who Didn’t Testify?

Two people frequently mentioned in testimony were unavailable to the court. The first, Dylan Howard, chief content officer for AMI, initially brought the Clifford deal to the attention of Mr. Pecker and Mr. Cohen. Mr. Howard facilitated the purchase of the three stories mentioned at trial and received and sent many texts shown in court exchanged between him and Mr. Davidson and Mr. Cohen. Mr. Howard now lives in Australia and is unable to travel because of a serious health condition.

Also unavailable was Allen Weisselberg, who is currently serving a five-month prison sentence for committing perjury in a separate civil fraud case that went to trial last fall. Mr. Weisselberg, former chief financial officer of The Trump Organization, came up with the idea to pay Mr. Cohen $420,000. Mr. Cohen could not testify as to why his reimbursement request for $130,000 was grossed up to $420,000, saying that he “just wanted to get my money back.”

Mr. Cohen also testified that Mr. Weisselberg requested that he call the payments legal expenses, when Mr. Cohen believed that they were not. Mr. Cohen testified that then-candidate Trump was fully briefed on these issues. President Trump didn’t take the witness stand.

Why Didn’t Trump Testify?

In a WABC Radio interview on May 22, President Trump said Justice Juan Merchan had “made rulings that [make] it very difficult to testify.”

Before the trial, President Trump had made multiple public statements that he was willing to testify in all of his criminal cases. However, Justice Merchan issued a number of rulings leading up to the trial that were intended to prevent President Trump from repeating on the record the messages he often shared just outside the courtroom.

The defense is barred from making arguments that the case was timed for election interference or that other agencies didn’t want the case but the district attorney picked it up because of political pressure, relying on a tell-all book from a prosecutor who claimed that he left the district attorney’s office in protest when they didn’t indict President Trump. The former president is also prohibited from arguing that he relied on the advice of his then-attorney Mr. Cohen, as the defense opted not to use an advice-of-counsel defense.

“The other reason is because they have no case,” President Trump said during the WABC interview. “In other words, why testify when they have no case. … There’s no crime.”

Will the Case Reach the Jury?

Defense attorneys made two requests for the judge to make a significant decision before turning things over to the jury: to dismiss the case or to find Mr. Cohen’s testimony not credible.

Justice Merchan is likely to issue a quick ruling on the motion, as he already instructed jurors to be present for closing arguments after the long weekend.

What Happens Next?

Justice Merchan asked jurors to prepare for a long day on May 28 following Memorial Day.

Summations from both sides are expected to last the whole day, and the judge said his instructions to the jury would take an hour.

Prosecutors will sum up their case by reminding jurors of what they believe is the most compelling evidence. But for the defense, especially having called only two witnesses, this will be a key moment to present their own narrative.

Defense attorneys are expected to argue that nothing criminal occurred, as the nondisclosure agreements are legal, as is the payment of an attorney for legal services, and that the promotion of a person in an election through lawful means is not a crime.

On May 21, the judge held a charge conference with attorneys, who debated over what language would be used to instruct jurors on the applicable laws and their interpretation.

In some cases in which Justice Merchan rejected the attorneys’ proposed language, he said they could argue those points at summations on May 28.

The charge conference allowed both parties to present to the judge arguments about why certain language would prejudice their side, allowing the judge to put together an instruction script that avoids such prejudice. How the judge delivers this interpretation of the law will inevitably influence the jury’s decision.

Should jurors be instructed that President Trump needed to have “willfully” concealed intent to defraud? Should the instructions include an example explaining that a legal expense might not classify as a campaign expenditure? Should jurors be told up front all the things prosecutors are not required to show?

Should jurors be given an example of what it means “to cause a false entry to be made”?

The jurors will work on May 29, when previously they have taken Wednesdays off, to begin deliberations while closing arguments are still fresh in their minds.

The jury’s job is to determine the facts of this case and decide whether those actions violated the law.

If the 12 jurors don’t come to a unanimous decision, the case will end in a mistrial.

There is no set time in which the jurors are required to return their verdict; a decision could be returned the same day or even take weeks.

Bill Walton, a college basketball icon, former NBA MVP and Hall of Famer who then became a legendary broadcaster, died from cancer Monday surrounded by family, the league announced.

He was 71 years old.

“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

Walton starred at UCLA under John Wooden before being selected No. 1 overall in the 1974 NBA Draft, where he embarked on a career with the Trail Blazers, Clippers and Celtics across 10 seasons — with five seasons entirely lost to foot injuries mixed in.

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Walton also had a long career as a broadcaster for CBS, NBC and ESPN.

He initially joined ESPN in 2002 after 12 years at NBC to serve as their lead NBA analyst, and in 2012, he began calling games again with the network — this time as a college basketball analyst for Pac-12 broadcasts, where he became a figure symbolic of and connected with a league that held its final basketball games this year and final conference tournament this week with baseball.

Walton, who won one NBA title with Portland and another with Boston, became known for his unique style of broadcasting, with bizarre and hilarious moments scattered throughout the games that often had little to do with the action on the court.

There was the cupcake getting shoved into his mouth with a candle still burning.

The collection of vibrant shirts.

The camera with peanut butter that he licked.

The easy-going nature — and so many other iconic moments while wearing a headset — that helped him mesh with a variety of play-by-play broadcasters.

It all shaped the latest chapter in his legacy that didn’t even begin until after he retired from the NBA.

“It’s very hard to put into words what he has meant to UCLA’s program, as well as his tremendous impact on college basketball,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said in a statement. Beyond his remarkable accomplishments as a player, it’s his relentless energy, enthusiasm for the game and unwavering candor that have been the hallmarks of his larger than life personality.”

After Walton’s death was announced, memories, messages and iconic clips from Walton’s broadcasts were posted on X — with former players such as Julius Erving and former broadcasters such as Jason Benetti sharing tributes.

Jay Bilas, a former Duke star who now serves as an ESPN college basketball analyst, said during a segment with the network that Walton might’ve been one of the greatest players to ever compete in college basketball.

Walton had four sons — Nate, Adam, Chris and Luke, who has embarked on a coaching career and served as the head coach for the Lakers and Kings — and was also survived by his wife, Lori.

“As a Hall of Fame player, he redefined the center position,” Silver continued in his statement. “His unique all-around skills made him a dominant force at UCLA and led to an NBA regular-season and Finals MVP, two NBA championships and a spot on the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. Bill then translated his infectious enthusiasm and love for the game to broadcasting, where he delivered insightful and colorful commentary which entertained generations of basketball fans.

“But what I will remember most about him was his zest for life. He was a regular presence at league events — always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.”

President Biden made a surprise nighttime visit to the Delaware home of Hallie Biden on Sunday — just before she’s due to serve as one of the most important witnesses at first son Hunter Biden’s federal trial for alleged gun crimes.

Biden stopped by Hallie’s home around 8 p.m. for a brief private talk eight days before the 54-year-old first son’s trial is scheduled to stand trial beginning June 3.

Hallie dated Hunter at the time of his alleged gun crimes and is one of a dozen expected witnesses.

She was married to the president’s son Beau Biden, who died in 2015 of brain cancer, before her relationship with his troubled younger brother.

Prosecutors allege Hunter lied about his drug use on gun purchase forms and then briefly illegally possessed at least one weapon — which Hallie disposed of in a public dumpster in 2018.

Although many commentators noted the awkward optics due to the looming trial, the visit came four days before the anniversary of Beau’s death.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates told The Post that the president didn’t discuss the trial with Hallie Biden during the visit.

“No,” he replied. “He visited her because of the approaching 9th anniversary of Beau’s passing.”

The first son faces the possibility of prison time in his first of two scheduled criminal trials.

Hunter is also set to stand trial in Los Angeles in September for allegedly failing to pay more than $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016-2019.

The pair of criminal trials follow an alleged Justice Department coverup to shield the Biden family from liability for foreign business dealings in which Joe Biden played a recurring role.

Hunter agreed to a probation-only plea deal to the gun and tax crimes last June, but walked away from the “sweetheart” bargain at a July court hearing at which his attorneys demanded broad immunity of past conduct, including violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his father.

The 81-year-old president, an attorney and former law school instructor, has boasted of his past legal exploits — with the serial embellisher telling Howard Stern last month that as a young lawyer he had worked on “a couple murder cases,” though none are publicly known.

Boxing legend Mike Tyson had a medical scare, becoming nauseous and dizzy on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles on Sunday, his representatives told the New York Post.

However, his team says the 57-year-old is “doing great” after the incident that occurred just before landing.

“He became nauseous and dizzy due to an ulcer flare up 30 minutes before landing,” his representatives said in an email to The Post. “He is appreciative to the medical staff that were there to help him.”

In Touch Weekly was first to report Tyson’s scare, which they categorized as a “medical emergency.”

“Mike had some kind of medical emergency on the plane and paramedics boarded,” a source told In Touch Weekly. “Before the paramedics arrived, the flight issued an announcement asking for a doctor – the message even came on everyone’s screens.”

That could certainly be a scary moment for all those involved who were unaware of what Tyson was going through. Luckily, it appears Tyson is doing much better.

The medical scare reportedly delayed passengers from leaving the plane for 25 minutes.

“He was in first class, but we were in an exit row and the stewardess was very chatty,” a source told In Touch Weekly. “They asked us to stay on the plane and landed, so paramedics could enter. She said something like, ‘He’s a really important passenger so we wanna make sure he’s OK.’ I knew it was him, but I just mouthed the words ‘Mike Tyson,’ and she nodded her head yes.”

This scare for Tyson comes before his fight with Jake Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer, on July 20 at AT&T Stadium. The fight was sanctioned, meaning this will count toward both boxers’ professional records.

There are some who have questioned whether Tyson can physically get back in the ring again. He will turn 58 years old next month (June 30), and he openly said his body feels like “s— right now” with soreness, during a press conference for the fight earlier this month.

But, while he’s honest about how his body feels training for the fight, Tyson’s signature confidence has also been on display.

“He’s going to knock me out? Anderson Silva. He couldn’t even knock out the little guys, how’s he going to knock me out?” Tyson said, while previously bringing up Paul’s fight with Nate Diaz as well

“He never knocked out a real man, come on. He didn’t knock out Tommy Fury. I’m going to f— Jake up.”

Meanwhile, Paul, 27, has oozed confidence throughout the press tour thus far.

“I’m going to show the world that I can outbox Mike Tyson, prove everyone wrong, and show that I will be the one doing the killing,” Paul said in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.

The last time Tyson was in a boxing ring for a fight was an exhibition against Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020, which resulted in a draw. Tyson last fought in a sanctioned fight in June 2005.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a shot to make the June presidential debate, but the clock is ticking on two challenging thresholds.

He would be the first independent presidential candidate to make the debate stage in 32 years — and just the third in presidential debate history.

Kennedy has the financial support, aggressive ballot access plan and strong polling to make his long-shot endeavor a fight.

Kennedy has blasted Biden and Trump over the June debate, accusing them of “colluding” against his campaign to “avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure.”

Instead of having until September to get on enough state ballots to qualify for a debate, Kennedy now has about a month.

Former President Trump and President Biden agreed earlier this month to forgo the traditional fall debates held by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Ross Perot, the last independent presidential candidate to make the debate stage, didn’t qualify for the ballot in all 50 states until Sept. 18, 1992, per CNN. (He briefly suspended his campaign from July to September).

To qualify, Kennedy has to hit at least 15% in four national polls that meet CNN’s standards and achieve ballot access in enough states to have a chance at winning 270 electoral votes.

Kennedy, polling higher than any independent candidate since Perot, appears to have met the polling requirement in three polls.

He received 16% among registered voters in two polls from last month that meet CNN’s requirement, CNN/SSRS and Quinnipiac University.

Kennedy drew 17% in a Marquette Law School Poll of registered voters out this week, another CNN-approved poll.

He has until June 20 to qualify in a fourth poll.

Kennedy’s campaign has launched a robust ballot access plan to get him on ballots before the election, but not by June 27.

Five states confirmed to ABC News that Kennedy had qualified for the ballot — Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma and Utah, totaling 35 electoral votes.

The Kennedy campaign says it has submitted signatures for ballot access in seven states, totaling 139 electoral votes. It has collected enough signatures for eight other states, the campaign said.

The secretary of state offices still have to validate many of the signatures, a process that is out of Kennedy’s control.

Signature collection isn’t due in many states until late summer, per Ballot Access News, so there’s no way to know how long verification could take.

Kennedy campaign director Amaryllis Fox wrote on the social media platform X earlier this month that enforcing a 270 electoral college threshold before September is “nonsensical.”

“Nonetheless, thanks to the exceptional dedication of our tens of thousands of volunteers across the country, we are in a position to meet their criteria. And we shall do so.”

Kennedy’s ballot access mission has gotten a boost from the strong financial support of his running mate, Nicole Shanahan.

Shanahan, a lawyer who is the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has given $10 million to their campaign.

That’s on top of the $4 million she gave to the super PAC supporting Kennedy’s campaign that ran an ad during the Super Bowl.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday blamed a “tragic mistake” for displaced civilians getting killed in a tent city in Rafah, a strike that sparked widespread condemnation, even from key allies.

The prime minister addressed his parliament Monday as Hamas-run health officials reported Sunday’s attack on Gaza killed 45 people, including women and children — and as an Egyptian soldier was killed in a separate gunfight in the border region, further stoking tensions.

“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu told the Knesset Monday of Sunday’s strikes sparking a giant blaze in the tent city.

“We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy,” he added above shouted objections from opposition members.

Israel had initially called it a counterattack “against legitimate targets” after Hamas for the first time in months fired a barrage of rockets Sunday.

The strike eliminated Hamas’ chief of staff for the second and larger Palestinian territory, the West Bank, plus another official behind deadly attacks on Israelis, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said.

However, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed that more than half of the dead were women, children, and elderly people who’d fled to the area after being displaced by violence elsewhere. The death toll will likely rise with many left with severe burns, according to those officials.

The Israeli military’s top legal official said authorities were examining the strikes and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life.

Still, Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi warned that such tragedies are inevitable “in a war of such scope and intensity.”

Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt, has been packed with over one million people who were displaced from other parts of Gaza earlier in the Israel-Hamas war.

Survivors said families were preparing to sleep when the strike hit the Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood where thousands were sheltering after Israeli forces began a ground offensive in the east of Rafah over two weeks ago.

“We were getting our children’s beds ready to sleep. There was nothing unusual, then we heard a very loud noise, and fire erupted around us,” said Umm Mohamed Al-Attar, a Palestinian mother in a red headscarf.

Suddenly, they heard a missile and “all the children started screaming,” the mom recalled. “The sound was terrifying.”

The civilian deaths brought a new wave of condemnation, even from some of Israel’s close allies.

“These operations must stop,” French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X. “I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.”

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a TV interview that such bombings are “spreading hatred, rooting hatred that will involve their children and grandchildren.”

Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks.

The foreign ministry in Egypt — which separately announced the “martyrdom” of a soldier killed in gunfire in the region Monday — condemned the strike as a “new and blatant violation of the rules of humanitarian international law.”

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry called it a “war crime.”

The United Nation’s Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, said he was “deeply troubled” by the strikes and called upon Israel to “conduct a thorough and transparent investigation,” the Times of Israel reported.

The UN’s top court last week demanded Israel immediately halt the Rafah assault.

The US urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians, but stopped short of calling for a halt to the Rafah incursion.

“Israel has a right to go after Hamas, and we understand this strike killed two senior Hamas terrorists who are responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.

“But as we’ve been clear, Israel must take every precaution possible to protect civilians.”

A rocket launched by North Korea to deploy the country’s second spy satellite exploded shortly after liftoff Monday, state media reported, in a setback for leader Kim Jong Un’s hopes to field satellites to monitor the U.S. and South Korea.

Monday’s failed launch came hours after leaders of South Korea, China and Japan met in Seoul in their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. It’s highly unusual for North Korea to take provocative action when China, its major ally and economic pipeline, is engaging in high-level diplomacy in the region.

The launch drew rebukes from the North’s neighbors because the U.N. bans North Korea from conducting any such launches, viewing them as covers for testing long-range missile technology.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it launched a spy satellite aboard a new rocket at its main northwestern space center. But KCNA said the rocket blew up during a first-stage flight soon after liftoff due to a suspected engine problem.

KCNA cited the unidentified vice director of the National Aerospace Technology Administration as saying that a preliminary examination showed that the explosion was related to the reliability of operation of the newly developed liquid oxygen-petroleum engine. He said other possible causes will be investigated, according to KCNA.

Japan’s government briefly issued a missile warning for the southern prefecture of Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter inside buildings and other safer places. The warning was lifted later because the region was no longer in danger, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

Earlier Monday, North Korea had notified Japan’s coast guard about its plans to launch “a satellite rocket,” with a warning to exercise caution in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the main Philippine island of Luzon during a launch window from Monday through June 3.

North Korea has steadfastly maintained it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles.

Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara called the North’s launch “a serious challenge to the entire world.” South Korea’s Unification Ministry called a satellite launch by the North “a provocation that seriously threatens our and regional security.”

During the trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for stern international action if North Korea went ahead with its launch plan.

Kishida, for his part, urged the North to withdraw its launch plan, but Li didn’t mention the launch plan as he offered general comments about promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through a political resolution.

Some observers say that North Korea’s satellite launch on the first day of its eight-day window might have been aimed at casting a chill over the Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo meeting and registering its displeasure with China. Kim Jong Un has been embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and seeking to boost ties with Beijing and Moscow to forge a united front against Washington, so China’s diplomacy with Seoul and Tokyo might have been a disturbing development for Pyongyang.

Kim’s primary focus in recent months has been on Russia, as Pyongyang and Moscow — both locked in confrontations with Washington — expand their military cooperation. China, which is much more sensitive about its international reputation, has joined Russia in blocking U.S.-led efforts at the U.N. Security Council to tighten sanctions on the North but has been less bold and open about supporting Kim’s “new Cold War” drive.

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry on Monday strongly criticized a joint statement issued by Li, Yoon and Kishida, calling them “wanton interference in its internal affairs.” The ministry took issue with parts of the joint statement that said the three leaders re-emphasized their existing positions on the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

While North Korea focused much of its criticism on South Korea for allegedly being chiefly responsible for the statement, it’s still extremely rare for North Korea to slam a statement signed by China.

The failed satellite launch is a blow to Kim’s plan to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024 in addition to his country’s first military reconnaissance satellite that was placed in orbit last November.

The November launch followed two failed liftoffs.

In the first attempt, the North Korean rocket carrying the satellite crashed into the ocean soon after liftoff. After the second attempt, North Korea said there was an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday it detected a launch trajectory believed to be of a spy satellite fired from the North’s main space center at 10:44 p.m. on Monday. Four minutes later, many fragments were spotted in the waters, it said.

Republicans are increasingly optimistic they can end their four-year stint in the Senate minority and topple the incumbents Democrats are relying on to carry the cycle with less than six months until Election Day.

Here are 10 Senate seats that could change hands later this year.

West Virginia

To keep it short and sweet: Unless something drastic happens, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) will replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) next year. The only question is how big his victory will be.

Montana

The battle in Big Sky is one of the most important races on the map, with Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and businessman Tim Sheehy locked in a battle that could go down to the wire.

Tester has attempted to burnish his border bona fides as the issue continues to be a top concern and potential headache in his quest to win over supporters of former President Trump, who carried the state by more than 16 points.

Staring down GOP ads on the topic, the three-term senator in recent weeks has confronted Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin over the “unacceptable” situation at the border and became the first Democrat to sponsor the GOP-led Laken Riley Act (despite voting against it as an amendment). He also voted for the bipartisan border bill that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought to the floor.

Whether that will be enough to overcome popular conceptions about Democrats and the border is an open question.

“Few Democrats take border security as seriously as Jon Tester, but he and other battleground state Democrats are fighting an uphill political battle given the Democratic Party’s abysmal brand on this issue,” said John LaBombard, a Democratic strategist with Rokk Solutions who previously served as a top aide to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).

“Every opportunity to remind voters of his record, and that he is independent from the party base on this issue, will help on the margins,” LaBombard said. “And in this race, the margins will matter.”

Ohio

The other unquestioned top-tier race is in the Buckeye State, where Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is attempting a high-wire act in order to defeat Republican Bernie Moreno and secure a fourth term in office.

Despite Ohio’s rightward turn during the Trump years, Brown remains the rare Democrat voters still view in high regard. A March poll showed that Brown holds a double-digit net-positive approval rating, giving him a leg up in what was once the most prominent battleground state in the country.

But the national political environment is doing Brown no favors this year. Democratic operatives expect Biden to fall in the state by at least 8 percentage points, with that figure potentially hitting double digits. That would create a big mountain for Brown to climb, requiring hundreds of thousands of ticket splitters.

For now, Brown’s game plan centers on using his big-money operation to bruise Moreno. One Democratic operative noted that outside of Trump’s endorsement of the GOP nominee, not much is known about the Republican nominee.

Despite the state’s red hue becoming redder by the year, Republicans know they are in for a fight in November.

“It’s a tough challenge. Sherrod’s a popular incumbent. People know who he is,” said Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). “I think that Bernie’s going to win, but it’s not going to be an easy race.”

Pennsylvania

When McConnell was asked recently about the states the GOP has in its sights, he name-checked Pennsylvania, where Republicans are looking to David McCormick to topple Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

Republicans are largely united on two points: that McCormick is doing everything he possibly can to put himself in position for a November win, but that actually beating Casey, the scion of a formidable political family in the state, is one of the most difficult tasks at hand this cycle.

“He’s doing everything right. He’s running the campaign he should have run the first time around against [Mehmet Oz],” one Pennsylvania GOP strategist said. “Smartly, he’s actually fundraising instead of self-funding, and, most importantly, he’s been super visible.”

Republicans fear that all Casey needs to do to win is be mistake-free, with the GOP strategist in the state saying he is “Teflon” and “nothing sticks.” Republicans are increasingly of the belief that the most likely avenue for McCormick to get across the finish line is a bottoming out by Biden ahead of November.

According to the Pennsylvania-based GOP operative, internal polling across the state is showing Democrats ahead of Republicans across down-ballot races, including at the local and congressional levels.

“But the one constant is that Biden is underwater everywhere,” they added.

Nevada

Sen. Jacky Rosen’s (D-Nev.) bid for a second term is running into national turbulence.

Rosen, a first-term senator, has long been considered a difficult opponent for Republicans. With little to effectively attack her on personally, the GOP has been forced to tie her to larger Democratic narratives and hope the political environment can carry the day — and they might just get that this cycle.

“Southwestern states are feeling the brunt of the economic pain more than anywhere,” the Democratic operative said. “And it’s hard to see what the Biden campaign is doing to change the narrative.”

Most surveys of the state show a tight race at the top of the ticket, with Trump either leading Biden narrowly or a deadlocked race. The question is whether the former president can help likely Republican Senate nominee Sam Brown rise in the Senate race.

Brown, the prohibitive favorite for the state’s June GOP primary and the choice of national Republicans, was buoyed by a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that showed the race tied, though a second survey by Emerson College/The Hill shows Rosen holding an 8-point advantage.

Arizona

It’s been a rollicking couple of months in Arizona. Republican Kari Lake’s fortunes fell precipitously as Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) gained an early advantage in the key battleground state.

Lake, who lost the 2022 gubernatorial contest, has experienced a tumultuous stretch in recent months. On abortion, one of the hot-button issues of the 2024 cycle, Lake criticized state officials for not enforcing a Civil War-era abortion ban that the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated (it was later overturned by the state Legislature), despite having initially called for it to be repealed.

She has also been on the back foot on the airwaves and has been unable to catch up to Gallego’s fundraising. Gallego raised $7.5 million in the first fundraising quarter compared to $3.6 million for Lake, who continues to struggle to pull moderate Republicans and independents into her fold.

Multiple surveys show Gallego in the driver’s seat to replace Sinema, who decided against seeking a second term. Polls conducted by CBS News and Noble Predictive Insights show him with 13- and 10-point leads over Lake.

Michigan

Both parties are keeping a keen eye on the battle in Michigan as Republicans look to nab their first Senate win there in more than two decades.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) is the slight favorite to replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), the No. 3 Senate Democrat who is retiring after four terms in office. But Republicans are putting their best foot forward after they successfully recruited former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), something party leaders have tried and failed to do since he left the House a decade ago.

Rogers has widespread institutional support, including Trump’s endorsement and the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. But Michigan’s primary isn’t until August, leaving the door slightly ajar to a challenge from businessman Sandy Pensler, which has yet to materialize.

According to an Emerson College/The Hill poll taken in the last month, Rogers holds a commanding lead over the primary field, which also includes former Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.).

While the race remains an uphill climb for Republicans given the dynamics of the state, Democrats are watching how much national GOP groups spend on the race in the coming months in order to keep a lid on Slotkin’s favorables, and how money on each side of the aisle moves in and out of the state.

“Where does the map shift late? Slotkin is the favorite, but in past cycles there are shifts late where states that are percolating around edges either fall off or come online,” the Democratic operative said. “If Ohio and Montana look out of reach for Dems, do Republicans get greedy and try to pick up a state like Michigan?”

Wisconsin

It hasn’t been the easiest couple of months for Eric Hovde.

Hovde, the likely GOP nominee, is set to face off with Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) in November, but has found himself behind the eight ball early on in multiple ways.

The wealthy businessman found himself in hot water last month when he said that older voters living in nursing homes “have a five-, six-month life expectancy” and that “almost nobody in a nursing home is at a point to vote.” Democrats immediately seized on those comments, with Baldwin saying that Hovde “does not have a clue what he’s talking about.”

Hovde also has found himself behind in early polls. Five surveys released since mid-April have shown Baldwin leading by between 3 and 13 percentage points.

“He needs to win every month, and I don’t know that he’s won one yet,” one national GOP operative said.

But Baldwin is not out of the woods by any means. She, like many others on this list, is contending with the Biden factor, but has thus far found herself running far ahead of him in what will be one of the hardest-fought battleground contests this year.

Maryland

Democrats are breathing easy after Prince George County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) defeated Rep. David Trone (D-Md.) in what ended up being one of the bloodiest primary fights on either side of the aisle.

But the work on the left is far from over, as Alsobrooks will square off with former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) in November.

Democrats are squarely in the driver’s seat given the state’s dark-blue hue, with Biden carrying the state by 32 percentage points four years ago — the third-biggest win margin of any state he carried. But they are not underestimating the super-popular Hogan, who enjoyed sky-high approval ratings during his eight years in Annapolis that follow him today.

Still, top Democrats remain confident.

“She will beat him. She will absolutely win this election,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told The Hill. “But this is going to be a tough race, and she will take nothing for granted. None of us are taking anything for granted in this race.”

Hogan has made waves in recent weeks by declaring himself pro-choice and saying that abortion rights should be codified, which Democrats say is a pure flip-flop.

“Now people are asking: Which Larry Hogan am I talking to today?” Van Hollen said.

Texas

It’s become a familiar refrain: A much-derided Senate Republican runs for reelection in a red state, prompting Democrats and progressives to flood the state with money in a bid to take them down.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was the subject of such a push six years ago, but survived a real challenge from former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas). Now, Democrats are trying again with Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas).

Despite their high hopes, Cruz remains in pole position to win a third term, with his supporters seeing little in common between his 2018 challenger and the Democrat looking to unseat him this go-around.

“Beto fancied himself the next JFK … He really played up that image,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “[O’Rourke] was just kind of like the next coolest thing, but I don’t think Allred’s got that going for him.”

Political activist Chase Oliver has been named the Libertarian Party’s 2024 presidential nominee.

The final vote on Sunday night came down to Oliver or “none of the above” after author Michael Rectenwald was eliminated from contention. If Oliver were not chosen, the party would have had complications with their representation in November’s presidential election.

Oliver won the final vote with 60% supporting him, per Washington Post reporter Meryl Kornfield.

In his victory speech, he asked his fellow party members to help him “fight the war machine,” including the “genocide in Gaza.” He also demanded the Israeli hostages held by Hamas be released.

Oliver chose economist Mike ter Maat as his running mate.

Oliver, who has described himself as “armed and gay,” will be the party’s youngest-ever nominee at age 38. According to his website, here’s where he stands on the issues:

• LGBT: He’s said “I’m not going to stop being a visible ally for trans people. Never.” He opposes gender transition surgeries for anyone under age 18 but has written favorably of “puberty pausing” for kids. He supports having “trans women” in girl’s sports.
• Abortion: Pro-choice, said he supports codifying Roe v Wade, but opposes federal funding of abortions.
• “Climate change”: He believes in it, but seems to favor private solutions and has strongly advocated nuclear energy
• Gun rights: Opposes new gun laws and says he’d work to repeal existing ones.
• Immigration: Wants to “radically simplify our immigration system” and “create a simpler path to citizenship.” Responded to a Ron DeSantis tweet against importing Palestinians from Gaza by quoting the Statue of Liberty inscription.

Neither presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump nor independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made it through the Libertarian Party’s nomination process on Sunday.

Trump did not qualify as he is not a member of the party, and RFK Jr. did not receive enough votes in the first round of voting to continue to the next round and was eliminated.

First making his name by opposing the United States’s war in Iraq in 2003, Oliver was the Libertarian Party’s 2022 candidate for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat.

He finished a distant third place to Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and GOP challenger Herschel Walker.

Oliver’s campaign website touts the fact that he “garnered national attention” from debating Warnock (with Walker opting not to attend) and forcing a runoff between the Democrat and Republican.

He says that he “wants to bring a new vision to the broken two-party system as he runs for President of the United States.”

Johnny Wactor — an actor best known for appearing in nearly 200 episodes of “General Hospital” — has died, TMZ reported.

Wactor was shot and killed in downtown Los Angeles early Saturday morning, his mother Scarlett tells TMZ. She says Johnny was with a coworker when they saw three men messing with Johnny’s car. While authorities haven’t release his name, this matches the description of an incident where three suspects allegedly tried to steal a catalytic converter.

Scarlett says she was told Johnny didn’t try to fight or stop them … but, the men shot him anyway before taking off. According to police info, paramedics rushed to the scene just after 3 AM PT. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police have not provided a description of the suspects … but, Johnny’s mother says she hopes they’ll be found quickly.

Johnny got his start in acting back in 2007 on the hit Lifetime show “Army Wives,” playing a few different roles before working steadily over the next two decades.

Some of his bigger credits include “Westworld,” “The OA,” “NCIS,” “Station 19,” “Criminal Minds,” and “Hollywood Girl.”

Many of Johnny’s fans will remember him for his time on ‘GH’ where he played Brando Corbin — married to drug addict Sasha Corbin in the series.

He played the role from 2020 until his character was written off the program in 2022.

Wactor’s mother remembers him as a loving young man … adding his death leaves a huge hole in the family’s heart.

He’s survived by his mother, and his younger brothers Lance and Grant. He was 37.

Former President Trump on Sunday flew over the Coca-Cola 600 in North Carolina in his private plane, dubbed “Trump Force One,” before attending the NASCAR race.

Trump Force One flew over the Charlotte Motor Speedway around 4:30 p.m. Sunday and was met with scores of cheering from the audience.

“Passing over the Charlotte Motor Speedway now – Very exciting! DJT,” the former president wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

BREAKING: TRUMP FLIES OVER CHEERING NASCAR COCA COLA 600 CROWD!pic.twitter.com/GFn0WovC1i

— Freedom 🇺🇸🦅 (@PU28453638) May 26, 2024

The Coca-Cola 600 is a NASCAR Cup Series race that is the longest and only one in the series that goes from day-to-night in Concord, North Carolina. The race was slated to kick off at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Ahead of the Sunday night kickoff, Trump met with Gold Star families at the race and watched the C-17 flyover from the track, according to his deputy director of communications, Margo Martin.

Videos posted by Martin showed attendees shouting “USA” and “You’re our man Trump” as the former president made his way to the “Pit Road” viewing box at the speedway.

Watch:

Chants of “USA!” as President @realDonaldTrump goes into the Pit Road viewing box 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UPWLPl66eO

— Margo Martin (@margommartin) May 26, 2024

“You’re our man, Trump!” pic.twitter.com/Hc41tPUyeM

— Margo Martin (@margommartin) May 26, 2024

Trump’s visit marks the first time a sitting or former president has attended a race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, per multiple media reports. In 2020, Trump attended the 62nd Daytona 500 and served as grand marshal for the race. He was the second president in history to hold the title after President George W. Bush in 2004.

Democrats seized his visit as a chance to blast Trump and his policy positions.

The Charlottee Observer in North Carolina reported last week two billboards were hung up in the city that read, “Beware: Trump’s Extreme MAGA,” and pledge not to allow the former president to “ban abortions nationwide, raise costs on working families or rip away our health care.”

The billboards were reportedly paid for by the Democratic National Convention (DNC), per the Charlotte Observer.

Trump, the GOP party’s presumptive presidential nominee, currently holds a razor-thin lead of 1 percent over President Biden, the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee.

“The Apprentice,” a new biopic about former President Trump’s rise in the real estate industry, did not clinch any awards at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend.

The biopic is directed by Iranian Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi and stars actor Sebastian Stan playing the then-New York real estate developer Trump and Jeremy Strong as Trump’s real-life former attorney and mentor Roy Cohn. The movie reportedly received an eight-minute standing ovation after it premiered at the festival.

The film failed to take home any awards, with the top prize going to “Anora,” a romantic drama set in New York. Filmmaker Sean Baker became the first American to win the top award, the Palme d’Or, since 2011 with that film.

Some reports about “The Apprentice” said it depicted Trump’s relationships with Cohn and his first wife, Ivana, in a negative light. An attorney for the former president sent a cease-and-desist letter to the filmmakers behind the movie on Friday, alleging that the film is “a concoction of lies that repeatedly defames” Trump.

“If you do not immediately cease and desist all distribution and marketing of this libelous farce, we will be forced to pursue all appropriate legal remedies,” the letter stated.

The move comes after Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung warned last week that the campaign would sue those behind “The Apprentice” film, alleging that it has “blatantly false assertions.”

“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should not see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire,” Cheung said in a statement last week.

The film’s producers told Variety it was “a fair and balanced portrait of the former president.”

“We want everyone to see it and then decide,” they said.

Variety reported ahead of last week’s premiere that Dan Synder, an investor in the film through film company Kinematics and an ally of Trump, was not happy with the outcome of the movie, citing anonymous sources.

He was reportedly furious and had Kinematics’s lawyers come in to attempt to stop the release of the movie, according to Variety.