Hamas published a propaganda video showing Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin on Wednesday on their Telegram channel.

Warning: The content of the video included in this article may be graphic for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Jerusalem Post cannot confirm the date or authenticity of the video. The Goldberg-Polin family has given permission to Israeli media outlets to share the video.

Hamas has periodically published videos of hostages in an attempt to increase pressure on the Israeli government to agree to its terms and as a form of psychological warfare. In the past, hostages have been forced to read from scripts prepared by the terrorist organization.

Goldberg-Polin seriously injured in Hamas’s assault on Nova Music Festival

In the video, Goldberg-Polin notes that he was hanging out with friends at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked the festival and kidnapped him and his friends, countering claims that Hamas leaders have made in the past that they did not target civilians.

Warning: The content of the video below may be graphic for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

“The airstrikes carried out by the Israeli air force have killed at least 70 Israeli captives. Benjamin Netanyahu has abandoned thousands of Israeli citizens. He should be ashamed!”

—Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli captive currently held in Gaza

pic.twitter.com/ulZwqZfUP1

— Tiberius (@ecomarxi) April 24, 2024

Goldberg-Polin was seriously injured by a grenade during the Hamas assault on the Nova Music Festival and lost his left hand.

“On Friday evening, our family gathered to celebrate Simchat Torah,” said John Goldberg-Polin, Goldberg-Polin’s father, in October. “Hersh went to a party around 11:00 at night. We wished him a good time. On Saturday morning, we heard alarms and realized something serious had occurred. My wife checked her phone. At 08:00 in the morning, we received a message from Hersh saying, ‘I love you.’ Ten minutes later, he sent another message ‘I’m sorry.'”

Rachel Goldberg, Goldberg-Polin’s mother, has been a central activist in the worldwide effort to push for the release of the 133 Israelis still being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Hostage Families Forum: ‘We cannot afford to waste any more time’

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum stressed after the publication of the video that “for more than 200 days, 133 hostages have been held captive by Hamas, enduring daily physical, sexual, and psychological torment.”

“Hersh’s cry is the collective cry of all the hostages – their time is rapidly running out. With each passing day, the fear of losing more innocent lives grows stronger,” added the Forum. “We cannot afford to waste any more time; the hostages must be the top priority. All the hostages must be brought home – those alive to begin the process of rehabilitation, and those murdered for a dignified burial.”

“This distressing video serves as an urgent call to take swift and decisive action to resolve this horrific humanitarian crisis and ensure the safe return of our loved ones.”

Tikva Forum of hostage families calls on gov’t to increase pressure on Hamas

Tikva Forum, one of the two central groups of hostage families, responded to the video on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “This video is another signal that Hamas is undeterred and wants to abuse us, the families of the hostages.”

“Our hearts go out to the Goldberg-Polin family, and we grieve with them for the cruelty and disgust of Hamas,” said the Forum, urging media outlets “not to cooperate with the Nazi propaganda videos.”

“We expect the prime minister and the War Cabinet to stop shuffling and start using significant levers of pressure that will bring back Hirsch and the rest of the hostages to their homes as soon as possible,” said the Tikva Forum. “There are many pressure levers for the return of the hostages that have not been used, such as the annexation of territories from the Gaza Strip, the cessation of ‘humanitarian’ aid, the occupation of the Philadelphi Corridor, and more.”

Some anti-government protest groups affiliated with friends of Goldberg-Polin announced that they would hold a demonstration in front of the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on Wednesday afternoon in order to demand that the government work harder for the release of the hostages.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned of the heightened possibility of a coordinated terror attack in the US.

Wray told NBC News the FBI is ‘increasingly concerned [about] the potential for some kind of coordinated attack here in the homeland.’

Explaining that such an event ‘may be not that different from what you saw against the concert hall in Russia a few weeks ago from ISIS-K.’

The attack on a Moscow concert hall on March 22 killed at least 144 people, making it the deadliest terror attack in Russia for 20 years.

Wray has previously raised concerns over the elevated terror threat, telling a House of Representatives panel earlier this month that the current terror threat is the highest he can remember in his career.

‘As I look back over my career in law enforcement, I would be hard-pressed to think of a time where so many threats to our public safety and national security were so elevated all at once,’ he told the panel.

The FBI had 4,000 international terrorism investigations open at the end of the 2023 fiscal year, according to Wray’s testimony.

Wray told NBC the terror threat for the US has increased following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

‘We thought that even before October 7’ he explained ‘that the terrorism threat was already elevated.

‘Post-October 7 it has gone to a whole other level.’

Speaking about the increasingly hostile international environment and the potential spill over of terror Wray added: ‘Whether it’s the threat from China, Russia, Iran, [there are] terrorism threats both foreign terrorism threats and domestic terrorist threats.’

Wray, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, has been campaigning in Congress to receive more funding for his agency.

The FBI’s fiscal 2024 budget fell $500 million short of what was needed to maintain its current functions, Reuters reported.

Wray and the FBI have been a target for former president Trump’s ire, arguing that they have unfairly targeted him in investigations.

Trump recently called on Congress to slash the agency’s funding, while calling the FBI and the Justice Department as ‘vicious monsters.’

The increasingly heated attacks on the bureau have led to a rise in attacks on its employees and buildings, according to Reuters.

‘We have seen a substantial jump in threats towards FBI personnel and facilities from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023,’ Wray told Congress.

Adding: ‘In fact, we created a dedicated unit to try to deal with those issues.’

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the March attack on Crocus City Hall.

IS released shocking footage of the terrorists firing indiscriminately into the crowd of 6,000 inside the concert hall.

Four suspects were arrested hours after the attack and appeared to have been beaten before appearing before a Russian court.

Footage of brutal interrogation sessions by the Russian security forces appeared online with reports that at least one of the suspects suffered electric shocks, the BBC reported.

President Vladimir Putin said ‘we know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, followers of an ideology that the Islamic world itself has been fighting against for centuries’.

President Joe Biden signed into law Wednesday a $95 billion war aid measure that includes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan that also includes a provision that would force social media site TikTok to be sold or be banned in U.S.

The announcement marks an end to long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress over urgently needed assistance for Ukraine.

“We rose to the moment. we came together. and we got it done,” Biden said at White House event to announce the signing. “Now we need to move fast, and we are,”

But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration’s effort to help Ukraine repel Russia’s brutal invasion during the funding impasse that dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine aid. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, it is unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks.

Biden said the transfer of an initial aid package of military assistance will begin in a matter of hours — the first tranche from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win.

But longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine — after months of losses in Eastern Ukraine and sustaining massive damage to its infrastructure — can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning through the latest influx of money.

“It’s not going in the Ukrainians’ favor in the Donbas, certainly not elsewhere in the country,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. “Mr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we’ve got to try to make up some of that time.”

Russia now appears focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Russian forces have exploited air defense shortages in the city,pummeling the region’s energy infrastructure, and looking to shape conditions for a potential summer offensive to seize the city.

House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental aid package for months as members of his party’s far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to oust him if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats persist.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested his fellow Republicans’ holding up the funding could have a lasting impact on Ukraine’s hopes of winning the war.

“Make no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression,” McConnell said Tuesday. “Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face.”

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential GOP nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. While he stopped short of endorsing the supplemental funding package, his tone has shifted in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine’s survival is important to the United States.

Indeed, many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump presidency would mean decreased U.S. support for Ukraine and for the NATO military alliance. The European anxiety was heightened in February when Trump in a campaign speech warned NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that don’t meet defense spending goals if he returns to the White House.

It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting “American and European soldiers at increased risk.” Biden days later called Trump’s comments “dangerous” and “un-American” and accused Trump of playing into Putin’s hands.

But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for Ukraine started months earlier.

Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants’ stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime time address to make his pitch for the supplemental funding.

At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy’s reckoning with the GOP’s far right came after he agreed earlier in the year to allow federal spending levels that many in his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone.

Far-right Republicans have also adamantly opposed sending more money for Ukraine, with the war appearing to have no end in sight. Biden in August requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing into Ukraine, but the money was stripped out of a must-pass spending bill even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make a personal plea for continued U.S. backing.

By late October, Republicans finally settled on Johnson, a low-profile Louisiana Republican whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next speaker. Biden during his congratulatory call with Johnson urged him to quickly pass Ukraine aid and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to bring the matter to a vote.

In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials leaned into the stakes for Europe if Ukraine were to fall to Russia. Five days after Johnson was formally elected speaker, national security adviser Jake Sullivan outlined to him the administration’s strategy on Ukraine and assured him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where the aid was going — an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives.

On explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid — a directive the president repeatedly instilled in his senior staff.

For his part, Johnson came off to White House officials as direct and an honest actor throughout the negotiations, according to a senior administration official. Biden had success finding common ground with Republicans earlier in his term to win the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, and an expansion of federal health care services for veterans exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits. And he knew there was plenty of Republican support for further Ukraine funding.

At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to “just keep talking, keep working,” according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions.

So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president’s top aides — seated around a big oval table in Zients’ office — would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about Ukraine’s dire situation in the absence of aid.

Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson’s senior staff also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus.

The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For instance, administration officials at the speaker’s request briefed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson.

All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell as well as key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden’s instincts to resist pressuring Johnson proved correct.

“Joe Biden has a very good sense of when to heavily intervene and when to try to shape things,” Schumer said.

In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading intelligence that demonstrated Russia’s efforts to tighten its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow’s defense industrial complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions.

For example, U.S. officials this month laid out intelligence findings that showed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry. Earlier, the White House publicized intelligence that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and has acquired attack drones from Iran.

The $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say.

Realistic goals for the months ahead for Ukraine — and its allies — include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia’s momentum and getting additional weaponry to Kyiv that could help them go on the offensive in 2025, said Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.

“In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results,” Bowman said. “And sometimes things are just hard and you can’t get immediate results. I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine.”

New video evidence uncovered by CNN significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations, the latest of which was released last week, into an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport, during the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.

The incident was a gruesome coda to America’s longest war, leaving dead 13 United States military service members and about 170 Afghans who were desperately seeking US help to flee the Taliban takeover of Kabul. For two years, the US military has insisted that the loss of life was caused by a single explosion, and that troops who reported coming under fire and returning it were likely confused in the chaotic aftermath, some suffering from the effects of blast concussion.

But video captured by a Marine’s GoPro camera that has not been seen publicly in full before shows there was far more gunfire than the Pentagon has ever admitted. A dozen US military personnel, who were on the scene and spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals, have described the gunfire in detail. One told CNN he heard the first large burst of shooting come from where US Marines were standing, near the blast site. “It wasn’t onesies and twosies,” the Marine said. “It was a mass volume of gunfire.”

An Afghan doctor who spoke to CNN on the record for the first time said he personally pulled bullets from the wounded, and with his hospital staff counted dozens of Afghans who died from gunshot wounds.

Combined, the new evidence challenges the credibility of the two US military investigations and raises serious questions for the Pentagon, which has continued to dismiss mounting evidence that civilians were shot dead.

The blast at 5:36 p.m. on August 26, 2021, outside Hamid Karzai International Airport marked the worst casualty incident for Afghan civilians and US troops in Afghanistan in over a decade.

For days, hundreds of desperate Afghans – military aged-men, women, children, and the elderly – had been standing in the blistering heat, hoping to persuade their way into the airport and onto a stream of US cargo planes that flew over a hundred thousand people out to safety.

The scene outside the airport’s Abbey Gate, where crowds were densest, was gruesome even before the blast. Former translators and other Afghans who had assisted the near-20-year NATO presence waded in trash and knee-deep sewage water that filled a concrete drainage canal.

When an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated a backpack device just above the densely populated concrete canal, the evacuation was drastically curtailed.

The Pentagon has insisted all deaths and injuries were caused by the explosive device and the ball bearings it fired into the crowd. Though it has acknowledged there was gunfire from American and British forces, it says that was limited to three bursts that were near-simultaneous – one of 25 to 30 warning shots from UK troops, and two bursts of fire from US troops aimed at suspected militants, which did not hit anyone.

The US Central Command ordered a supplemental review into the incident in September 2023, after criticism of its investigation’s conclusions, particularly around whether the bombing could have been prevented – in harrowing emotional testimony from survivors on social media and to Congressional hearings.

Those results, which were released on April 15, reaffirmed that a lone ISIS-K bomber carried out the attack, and found that “new information obtained during the review did not materially impact the findings in the November 2021” investigation, and the review “did not recommend any modifications to those findings.” The review did not pursue numerous reports from Afghan survivors of significant gunfire in the wake of the blast.

The Marine’s GoPro footage runs nearly continuously for many minutes before and after the blast. It shows 11 episodes of shooting after the explosion, over nearly four minutes. This is significantly more than the three “near simultaneous” bursts of gunfire that the Pentagon investigations have claimed occurred.

One sustained burst of about 17 gunshots comes just over 30 seconds after the bomb detonates, according to the video, with the other 10 bursts of two to three rounds each. At no point are Marines seen firing on camera or is anyone visibly hit by gunfire. It is unclear where the gunmen are or what they are firing at.

It shows Marines, some on their first deployment to a warzone, race for cover from gunfire, and choke from CS gas released when the blast tore open a canister on a Marine’s flak jacket.

One Marine, presumably the cameraman, notes after the blast: “I got that on film, dude.” Seconds later, as Afghans seem to race towards the airport walls to seek safety, another voice adds: “They’re breaking through.” The remainder of the footage shows the Marines swiftly getting accountability of their own units, struggling to come to terms with the blast’s impact, and hearing a steady series of controlled, isolated bursts of gunfire close by.

Robert Maher, an audio forensic expert at Montana State University in Bozeman, who reviewed the footage for CNN, found at least 11 episodes of gunfire over a four-minute window, totaling a minimum of 43 shots. He added that the burst near the start contained at least 17 shots, with multiple weapons likely firing and overlapping. He said in two other bursts of fire, the rounds appeared to follow a “crack-boom” sequence – the crack of the bullet breaching the sound barrier recorded before the sound of the gunshot reached the microphone – indicating the bullet traveled over or across the camera.

Sarah Morris, a digital forensics expert from the University of Southampton in England, examined both the audio and video files for evidence of digital corruption, alteration, or manipulation, and found none. She said the location data and metadata of the two clips that lead up to and follow the blast showed they were filmed “very close to each other.”

Separately, Morris used an algorithm to phase out predictable background noise on a GoPro from clothing or motion, and found in 16 instances where there were peaks in audio which she said were “unusual noises that appear consistent with a firearm.” The 16 overlapped with the 11 episodes discerned by Maher.

While some Marines aid wounded Afghans, the video also shows that, 21 minutes and 49 seconds after the bombing, Marines fired a CS gas canister from inside the airport walls towards the area near the blast. It may have landed near injured and dead Afghan civilians, still gathered around the sewage trench that ran along the scene of the blast at that time, according to videos shared on social media.

The Pentagon’s investigations have made no reference to the video, half an hour of which CNN obtained. It is unclear how much of it the Pentagon saw prior to publication of this story. It released four seconds of the video – the moment of the blast itself – as part of its initial investigation in February 2022, although the source of that brief clip remains unclear.

CNN described the full video and findings of this story in significant detail to the Pentagon ahead of publication. A spokesman said the Pentagon would need to see any “new, previously unseen, video out there” before assessing it. Army Lt. Col. Rob Lodewick, public affairs adviser to the supplemental review team, said the latest review supported the Pentagon’s initial findings.

He said in a statement: “The 2021-2022 Abbey Gate Investigation thoroughly investigated the allegations of a complex attack”, which would have involved gunfire from militants after the blast, “as well as allegations of outgoing fire from US and coalition forces following the blast. The Supplemental Review found no new evidence of a complex attack, and uncovered no new assertions of outgoing fire post-blast. Consequently, the Supplemental Review found no materialistic impact to the original findings of the Abbey Gate investigation.”

A spokesperson for the British Ministry of Defense said that its troops fired “warning shots above the crowd to prevent a surge,” none of which were fired at people – the same position it held in 2022.

CNN has previously reported that 19 Afghan witnesses said they saw gunfire or were shot themselves.

“I saw people who were injured in the explosion trying to get up, but they fired on them,” Shogofa Hamidi, whose sister Morsal was shot in the face, told CNN for an in-depth report published in February 2022. “They were targeting people,” another, Nazir, 16, told CNN. “In front of me, people were getting shot at and falling down.”

Noorullah Zakhel, whose cousin was killed, said that bullets appeared to hit those who tried to flee, and recalled soldiers standing in front of him, as he dropped to the ground below the canal wall. Their accounts were supported by that of a doctor and 13 medical reports which detailed bullet wounds among Afghans.

In 2022, Dr. Sayeed Ahmadi, director of the Wazir Akhbar Khan hospital in Kabul, spoke to CNN anonymously as he feared for his safety. He now has asylum in Finland, where he agreed to speak on camera about the harrowing scenes that night in his trauma unit.

“Explosion injuries come with severe injuries and lots of holes in the bodies,” he explained. “But people who were shot had just one or two holes in the chest or head.”

Ahmadi spent many years treating injuries across war-torn Afghanistan. “Of course, when you see the bullets, it’s totally different from the ball bearing. Everybody knows if they are a soldier or a doctor.”

Video obtained by CNN shows bodies piling up outside the hospital on the night of the attack. As they treated patients, Ahmadi said he received a threatening phone call telling him to stop his team from recording which patients had been shot and who had been killed or injured by the blast.

“He spoke fluently Dari,” he said. “He told me, ‘What are you doing, Doctor? You love your life. You love your family. This is not good when you are collecting that data. It would make a big dangerous situation for you. You should stop that as soon as possible.’”

The man called another time to repeat the warning, and Ahmadi advised his team to stop recording data and destroy the evidence they had collected.

The Pentagon, in response to Ahmadi’s initial anonymous statement to CNN in 2022 that he had treated gunshot wounds, said that he was mistaken. They said bullet and ball-bearing injuries are hard to distinguish – a claim disputed by multiple combat medics who spoke to CNN, and by Ahmadi himself.

Ahmadi said he was never approached by American investigators.

“I hope one day they ask me,” he said. “Now I am safe. I feel well… Sometimes just this secret that I have in my mind haunts me.”

Pentagon spokesman Lodewick said no Afghans were interviewed for the original AR 15-6 investigation “because its scope and focus on US operations did not demand it.” He said the supplemental review was “even more refined” in its scope, focusing more on events before the blast and the bomber, “and again presented no overwhelming need for the pursuit of external Afghan-centric information.”

Accounts from US servicemen of the aftermath have often been dismissed by officials as the product of blast concussion, or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). As Marine survivors leave active duty and continue to struggle with their trauma and an official narrative that jars with their personal experience, their dissent has grown.

CNN spoke with about ten Marines anonymously, many of whom described hearing gunfire and feeling under attack from it. Some have reported seeing what they thought was a militant gunman. The Pentagon has insisted no other gunmen opened fire in the area at the time of the attack, bar US and UK troops. No American or Afghan witness has specifically stated they directly saw a militant open fire.

One Marine, who decided to speak out of conscience and requested anonymity, fearing reprisals for his account, has become the first American eyewitness to describe shots fired from where US personnel were located. He said that the burst of gunfire after the explosion – heard by witnesses on the ground and audible in the new video – came from the area around the Abbey Gate sniper tower, where US Marines were grouped.

While he could not be certain the Marines had fired directly into the crowd of Afghan civilians in front of them, he said: “They would not have fired into the air.” Marines had been told to not fire warnings shots, he said, as these rounds fired in the air often landed later in civilian areas. “It wasn’t a direct order,” he added. “But it was a common understanding: no warning shots.” He said he did not think any of the shots fired in the four-minute window of gunfire audible on the new video would have been warning shots.

Public orders issued in the Navy in December 2020 banned warning shots unless specifically permitted on deployment. The Pentagon’s report said Marines from the 2/1 unit that made up most of those on the scene “did not use warning shots and only used flash bang grenades infrequently.” The Marine said he did not see any US military open fire and did not fire himself.

The Marine calmly described key details of blast and its aftermath, but became emotional when discussing the Pentagon’s investigations, including what he described as a lack of transparency about what happened, and the possible role Marine gunfire played in raising the Afghan civilian death toll.

But he defended the immediate response of his colleagues under attack. “The reaction that the Marines had was a reaction that I believe anybody trained to do in that scenario would have had,” he said, suggesting they were in the first phase of the three-stage practice of RTR – Returning fire, Taking cover and then Returning accurate fire.

“You’ve got to think, these are kids,” he said. “They’re young. And they’ve only been taught what they’ve been taught. Some of these kids had been with the unit for quite literally two, three months prior to deployment. They didn’t have the training to be able to recognize some of the things that, you know, might have occurred – nor could you have the training for what had happened on August 26. Or really what happened in Kabul.”

He said the significant gunfire response from Marines after the blast was common knowledge among Marine survivors, even though it was not spoken of publicly. “It’s incredibly weird,” he said. “It’s frustrating, you know? Why hide from what happened?”

Reacting to the Pentagon’s dismissal of accounts from US personnel who recalled gunfire as the product of TBI, the Marine said: “It’s a pathetic excuse. To say that every Marine, every soldier, every Navy corpsman on the deck has a traumatic brain injury and cannot remember gunfire is, is lunacy. It’s outright disrespectful. And especially for it to come from somebody that wasn’t there.”

“To the Afghani [sic] families – I’m sorry that after 20 years of war, that that is the way that this (was) conducted. And that we weren’t able to uphold a promise that we gave your people after removing the Taliban in 2001. And it should not have ended like that.”

Many of the 10 other Marines with whom CNN spoke anonymously also describe gunfire.

One told CNN that he ran through a hole in the fence outside the Abbey Gate in the minute after the blast to assist with the wounded. As he emerged, he said, he heard suppressed rifle fire nearby from another Marine. Many US Marines’ rifles were fitted with suppressors, reducing the noise of their fire, according to footage from the incident.

“I would probably say five, 10 meters away from me, was where it was,” he said. He said the Marine firing was not from his own unit, and after he had opened fire, “whoever was shooting at us wasn’t shooting at us anymore.”

Another Marine told CNN he was about 20 meters (65 feet) from the blast. “There was definitely, shooting,” he said. “Snapping over our heads after the blast and it wasn’t the Taliban.” He said he used his rifle optic to look at the Taliban, who were some distance away on nearby shipping containers used to control access to the Abbey Gate area. “When I looked over at them, none of them were holding their guns. They looked just as shocked as us.”

Other US servicemen who said they witnessed gunfire in the aftermath of the bombing have spoken out on social media.

Sgt. Romel Finley, who received a Purple Heart, said that another sergeant ordered US troops into position to open fire after the bomb blast. Finley told The Brrks YouTube channel, a social media account run by a former Marine and Master Barber which interviews active or former Marines, that he recalled, while being dragged from the scene, “My platoon sergeant running past us, saying ‘get back on that wall and shoot back at those motherf**kers.’ So I was like, we are in a gunfight too.”

Finley, who sustained significant leg injuries in the attack, added that he did not witness Marines firing, or responding to the order. He declined to comment to CNN, as did his platoon sergeant. CNN is withholding the names of Marines who did not specifically consent to being identified in interviews.

Christian Sanchez, another Marine survivor, who was injured in his left arm, told the same Brrks Barber channel that he opened fire after the blast. “All I see is flashes. And all I could hear was ringing. Like all hear is ringing and f**king flashes going on. And I start hearing snaps. And I start realizing that that’s a f**king dude shooting at me,” he said. “And I just started shooting at the dude,” he added, breaking down.

Sanchez also declined to speak to CNN about his recollections and it is unclear if he specifically saw the purported militant gunman open fire.

Significant gaps remain in the evidence presented by the Pentagon. Investigators have only released five edited minutes of drone footage from the aftermath, which they said supported their findings that no gunfire hit anyone.

A recent congressional hearing for the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and then-Central Command Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie ended with Congressman Darrell Issa presenting the two generals with a list of unpublished video that, under a Freedom of Information Act request, the Pentagon had admitted they held. The generals told the session they had seen the videos, and that it should be released to congressional investigators.

Another American military survivor who spoke to CNN said he had endured two years of “leadership saying what you saw was basically not the truth.” He summarized the two investigations as: “Shut your mouth. We’ll talk for you.”

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In the first quarter of 2024, the South American country recorded a budget surplus of about 275 billion pesos (some $309 million at the official rate), he told national TV late Monday.

This amounted to a surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP.

“This is the first quarter with a financial surplus since 2008,” said Milei, referring to his left-wing rival Cristina Kirchner’s first year in the presidency.

Milei, who took office in December, boasted of “a feat of historic significance on a global scale.”

“If the state does not spend more than it collects and does not issue (money), there is no inflation. This is not magic,” the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” said.

Milei won elections last November vowing to reduce the deficit to zero — a target even more ambitious than required by the International Monetary Fund, with whom Argentina has a $44 billion loan.

To that end, he has instituted an austerity programme that has seen the government slash subsidies for transport fuel and energy even as annual inflation stands at 290 percent year-on-year, poverty levels have reached 60 percent and wage-earners have lost a fifth of their purchasing power.

Thousands of public servants have lost their jobs.

“Don’t expect a way out through public spending,” Milei warned on Monday.

University students, backed by unions and opposition parties, have called a march for Tuesday to protest financing cuts to higher public education, research and science under the new president.

Universities have declared a budgetary emergency after the government approved a 2024 budget the same as the one for 2023, despite inflation approaching 300 percent and a near 500-percent increase in energy costs that higher learning institutions say has brought them to their knees.

“At the rate at which they are funding us, we can only function between two and three more months,” University of Buenos Aires (UBA) rector Ricardo Gelpi said.

An ex-lobbyist infiltrated Donald Trump’s inner circle, pocketed tens of thousands in a political donation scam, and even faked cancer treatment to swindle the rich and famous of Palm Beach, his alleged victims claim.

Former Idaho lobbyist Jesse Taylor, 38, has now been banned from all Trump properties and the former president’s lawyers have sent him a cease and desist letter, obtained by DailyMail.com.

The ex lobbyist met Trump several times, was close with top campaign officials, and even wheedled his way into parties at Donald Trump Jr. and fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle’s house, multiple sources told DailyMail.com.

Charming, exuberant and well-connected, he gave members of the ritzy Mar-a-Lago club the impression he was a successful political consultant with a penchant for champagne and flying private – and a tragic ongoing battle with bladder cancer.

But in a twist worthy of AppleTV show Palm Royale, Taylor’s house of cards tumbled when sources close to the Trump campaign say he bounced a $25,000 donation check, and they discovered he had been selling photo opportunities with the hopeful US president for $6,600 and pocketing the proceeds.

He even allegedly offered ambassadorships in a future Trump administration to would-be donors – without the campaign’s knowledge – in exchange for up to $10,000 per month in consulting contracts, one source told DailyMail.com.

He convinced a lobbying client, drag racer John Odom of the reality TV show Street Outlaws, to pay him $60,000 for supposed cancer medical bills in 2022, Odom claimed. He got another $20,000 from top GOP donor Greg Mosing for the same.

The Mosings say they never thought that the request could be a scam. Photos Taylor texted to Greg’s wife Donna in October 2022 appeared to be of him from the waist down getting cancer treatment in a hospital bed.

But an investigation by DailyMail.com reveals that Taylor ripped the photo from a 2015 blog by a woman documenting her own cancer treatment, and passed it off as himself.

It is unclear whether Taylor has ever been treated for cancer.

Livid Odom says he will be pressing criminal charges.

‘I am meeting with the [Ada County, Idaho] District Attorney’s office soon and will be asking them to file charges of credit card fraud, grand theft and fraud against him,’ he said.

‘I hope that other individuals he has taken advantage of will do the same. I watched my mom die of cancer and to have someone lie about that for financial gain, there is a special place in hell for them.’

A March 15 ‘cease and desist’ letter from Trump’s lawyer to Taylor accuses him of ‘fraud and extortion’ and ‘shameless and manifest deceit’.

‘You are promising donors a photo with President Trump in exchange for campaign contributions in the amount of $6,600, an offer you are not authorized to make, nor can you fulfill,’ the letter by Dhillon Law Group attorney David Warrington said.

Warrington’s letter claimed Taylor promised donors positions in a future administration in exchange for consulting contracts, and that he ‘threatened’ campaign staff with leaking ‘sensitive information’

Taylor told DailyMail.com: ‘I categorically deny these allegations made and I will take steps to prove they are false.’

‘This is a hit job from several people and at best distorts the truth and at worst is outright lies,’ he said.

‘These allegations and rumors are absolutely unproven and made by three individuals who’ve set out to ruin me, my career and life.’

Taylor claimed that Odom and Mosing will ‘stop at nothing to achieve their goal of ruining my life and career’.

According to his former confidants, Taylor had been racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt to his Mar-a-Lago member friends since he moved to Florida last January, borrowing from one to pay the other, couch surfing and relying heavily on hospitality from his rich contacts to keep up appearances in Palm Beach.

‘He was trying to live that champagne lifestyle on nickel beer money,’ said Lafayette oil baron Mosing. ‘As far as I’m concerned he was looking for victims.’

A former friend of Taylor’s told DailyMail.com that the ex-lobbyist was frequently seen with Trump’s family.

‘He was often with the family, whether he was at Mar-a-Lago, out for a dinner, or at their house,’ said the source, who asked to be anonymous. ‘He was somebody that was known to be connected to the Trumps.

‘He’s the Anna Delvey of Palm Beach,’ said a source close to the campaign, referring to the fake German heiress.

‘It’s infuriating how he was able to access that inner sanctum in an election year. Although he wormed his way into our inner-circle, he never had unfettered access to President Trump.

‘Sadly, the only way to stop people like Jesse is to expose them.’

The Mosings first met Taylor in 2021 at a GOP fundraising event in Idaho, and he became close friends with them over the following months, joining them for trips on their $27 million private jet and staying for weeks in their Louisiana and Alabama homes.

‘I’d bring him up to Asheville [North Carolina]. He’d fly himself to Lafayette, he’d spend a few days with us, then fly to Washington with us, come back and spend a few more days. We didn’t put it together then, but he had no place to live.

Donna said Jesse told her he had cancer at 21, and again at ages 29 and 36.

‘He reaches out to the women, becomes better friends with them and pulls on their heartstrings,’ she said. ‘In the beginning he was sweet and I felt sorry for him.

‘He’d have these deep heart-to-heart chats with us about how he loved us. I think it was just a bunch of bull now.’

‘He said he was real sick but didn’t want to have the surgery again because it was grueling, he’d rather just live life to the fullest now, and if it’s time to go, he goes.’

In text messages to Donna, obtained by DailyMail.com, Taylor wrote about trips to Maryland for a new experimental treatment.

On October 25, 2022 he texted a picture of what appeared to be him, wearing a medical gown and sitting on a hospital bed, the image showing only his legs.

‘Well more tests are required,’ he wrote. ‘Dior needs to make me a hospital gown or rob[e]!’

An internet reverse image search shows the picture is in fact of Emily Breeden, 33, from her 2015 blog documenting her battle with an abdominal tumor.

Taylor found the image online, cropped it to cut out her black nail polish and patient bracelet showing her name, then texted it to Donna.

The Mosings say Taylor waited until December 2023 to ask them for cash.

‘He came to us and said, “Look I’m in a bind, I need $200,000 to pay these medical bills tomorrow”,’ said Greg. ‘”I can pay you back by the end of the week. But if I don’t pay, I’m going to be hit with a huge charge in interest.”’

The couple say they offered to pay the hospital directly, but Jesse refused, so they agreed to wire him $20,000.

He then strung out excuses over the next month, dodged repayment and blamed his bank for delays, the Mosings said. Eventually he gave Greg a check, which later bounced.

It wasn’t his only debt. Three sources told DailyMail.com Taylor had befriended a Mar-a-Lago member, then charged $15,000 of dinners at the Palm Beach resort to their club account.

Texts show he only repaid the member $8,700 after receiving the wire from the Mosings.

‘He wanted to live that lifestyle at Mar-a-Lago. It was almost like a pyramid scheme. He’d use one to pay the other back,’ said Greg.

As his debts grew, Taylor allegedly resorted to defrauding Republican donors.

One GOP fundraiser told DailyMail.com that in December 2023 Taylor offered her donors an unmissable deal: a photo with Trump, two nights at Mar-a-Lago, a black-tie dinner, and a round of golf at Trump International in West Palm Beach – all for $6,600 each.

‘Normally it’s a $25,000 fee just to get a picture with Trump,’ said the fundraiser, who asked to remain anonymous. ‘He was like, “I’m working on this thing with Kimberly Guilfoyle’s foundation, and it’s just a friends and family fundraising opportunity. This is the most unbelievable deal you’ll ever get”.’

The fundraiser said she didn’t question the offer, having regularly seen Taylor at exclusive campaign fundraiser events, and believing he had the imprimatur of top officials.

But multiple sources said Taylor would brag and exaggerate the closeness of his relationship with the Trump family.

‘He told people he worked on the Trump Campaign in 2016, he was best friends with Kimberly Guilfoyle, he could get access,’ the fundraiser said.

The fundraiser relayed the offer to a Trump-supporting midwestern couple looking for an anniversary trip, who jumped at the chance and wired the cash to Taylor that day.

‘A month goes by,’ the GOP fundraiser said. ‘My client was asking about it. I asked Jesse six or seven times. There was always some excuse.

‘I started asking around people I know who are very senior in the Trump Campaign. They said, “He did what?”’

People with knowledge of the Trump campaign’s activities told DailyMail.com that staff had already been pursuing Taylor for his own $25,000 donation debt, after he promised the sum to attend an exclusive event with his girlfriend and get a photo with Trump.

‘I’d heard grumblings about him owing Mar-a-Lago members thousands of dollars in dinners. But once he started defrauding normal supporters, that was the last straw,’ one source said.

‘The campaign is furious. It’s a big hit for them. We don’t know how many people this affected. But he’s never setting foot on a Trump property again. They’re considering further legal action.’

The source added that the midwestern couple will still get their anniversary celebration.

‘Kimberly and the campaign are making good on the photos. The donor, she practically burst into tears when they said they were going to honor it.’

Adding insult to injury, photos show Taylor continued to dodge his alleged debts while taking a lavish trip to Switzerland with his girlfriend in December.

The ex-lobbyist bought furs and posted pictures on Instagram sipping coffee in a robe at his luxury hotel room overlooking the Alps in St Moritz.

A former friend of Taylor’s said that when he began to be outed and accused of fraud, Taylor lashed out with comments that sounded like ‘threats’.

‘He said words to the effect of: “I’ll bring them and everyone else down. They don’t want to f*** with me, they don’t know what I have.”

‘It wasn’t said just once, he said it several times,’ the former friend added.

A source close to the Trump family said top staffers are still furious at Taylor’s alleged brazen fraud, after he gained access to top figures in Trumpworld.

‘A good charmer will start name-dropping, little names here and there who they know you know, and that makes you feel more comfortable,’ they said.

‘When he was at Don and Kimberly’s, he was the guest of a high-ranking campaign official. He was always around.’

However, one source close to the family downplayed Taylor’s access to Trumps.

‘This scammer was not well known by either Don or Kimberly. He apparently lied to donors about his access, which was literally no access,’ said the source.

Odom said he was impressed by Taylor’s access to Republican politicians when he met him in Idaho in 2021, and hired him as a lobbyist for prison reforms.

‘He introduced me to everybody,’ Odom said. ‘To Trump, Jeff Landry, who’s now governor of Louisiana. And to a bunch of attorney generals.’

Odom gave Taylor a credit card for expenses, but said he was dismayed when his new hire started billing tens of thousands of dollars to the account.

‘He started needing to fly people around,’ said Odom. He billed a helicopter to the Hamptons. He billed a play or a show that was about $20,000. I came to find out later, he went with his friends.

‘It was just paying a bill for his fancy lifestyle.’

Odom said he fired Taylor in 2022 – but the lobbyist continued to put charges on his card, including a $1,200 Marriott hotel room on a trip to London.

Odom reported the charges as fraud to American Express.

‘I’ve called and made an appointment with the District Attorney. I’m going to file charges against him for credit card fraud.’

Taylor has a criminal record which began at an early age.

Bear Lake County, Idaho court records show that in 2003, 18-year-old Taylor stole more than $1,000 of merchandise from an Alco Discount Store storage container.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, but the judge allowed him to avoid a felony conviction and gave him 15 days in jail, served on weekends.

He was also convicted of two DUIs, in 2014 and 2021.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-2 on Tuesday to ban noncompete agreements that prevent tens of millions of employees from working for competitors or starting a competing business after they leave a job.

From fast food workers to CEOs, the FTC estimates 18 percent of the U.S. workforce is covered by noncompete agreements — about 30 million people.

The final rule would ban new noncompete agreements for all workers and require companies to let current and past employees know they won’t enforce them. Companies will also have to throw out existing noncompete agreements for most employees, although in a change from the original proposal, the agreements may remain in effect for senior executives.

“It is so profoundly unfree and unfair for people to be stuck in jobs they want to leave, not because they lacked better alternatives, but because noncompetes preclude another firm from fairly competing for their labor, requiring workers instead to leave their industries or their homes to make ends,” FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter (D) said in prepared remarks.

The new rule is slated to go into effect in 120 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. But its future is uncertain, as pro-business groups opposing the rule are expected to take legal action to block its implementation.

Business groups say noncompete agreements are critical for protecting proprietary information and intellectual property, although the rule would not ban other methods for protecting that information, including nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. They also question the agency’s authority to issue the blanket, retroactive ban.

Congress has not given the agency explicit authority to ban noncompetes, although there have been several bipartisan bills introduced to reform noncompete agreements, including the Workforce Mobility Act sponsored by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and the Freedom to Compete Act sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest pro-business lobbying group in the country, has said it will sue to block the rule.

Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark called the FTC vote to ban noncompetes “a blatant power grab that will undermine American businesses’ ability to remain competitive.”

“This decision sets a dangerous precedent for government micromanagement of business and can harm employers, workers, and our economy,” Clark said. “The Chamber will sue the FTC to block this unnecessary and unlawful rule and put other agencies on notice that such overreach will not go unchecked.”

While the dissenting commissioners said they did not support noncompete agreements carte blanche, they did not believe the agency had the authority to issue the rule without an express directive from Congress.

“Beginning with policy puts the cart before the horse,” FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson (R) said. “No matter how important, conspicuous and controversial the issue, and no matter how wise the administrative solution, an administrative agency’s power to regulate must always be grounded in the valid grant of authority from Congress. Because we lacked that authority, the final rule is unlawful.”

The lawsuit would be the latest battle between the business community and President Biden’s administration, with agencies including the FTC rolling out measures to crack down on corporate price gouging, junk fees and alleged anticompetitive behavior. Last month, the Chamber led a lawsuit challenging a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that caps credit card late fees at $8 for the largest issuers.

The Biden administration, Democrats and labor advocates have argued noncompete agreements limit workers’ mobility, depress their wages and harm entrepreneurship and competition in the U.S. economy.

When the FTC first proposed the rule in January 2023, it estimated the rule would increase earnings by almost $300 billion each year. FTC Chair Lina Khan told reporters Tuesday morning that around 25,000 of the 26,000 public comments the agency received supported the proposal, with health care workers making up “a pretty significant chunk.”

These policy battles are playing out against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election, as Biden aims to draw distinctions between himself and the presumed Republican nominee, former President Trump.

Biden and Trump are neck and neck in the race for the White House, according to national polling averages analyzed by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ. But the incumbent has been trying to turn around negative perceptions of his handling of the economy, with voters saying his predecessor handled it better.

Only 38 percent of surveyed voters rated the economy as good under Biden, compared to 65 percent who said it was good under Trump, according to a CBS News poll of 2,159 American adults released in March.

While inflation has fallen significantly from its 9 percent peak in June 2022 to around 3 percent in recent months, high prices are top of mind for many voters. The CBS News poll found just 17 percent of surveyed voters believe Biden’s policies will help bring prices down, compared to 44 percent who think Trump’s will.

The Tennessee legislature passed a bill allowing teachers to carry guns, causing protesters to scream their disapproval and cause chaotic scenes on the state House floor.

The bill was passed just over a year after the Covenant school shooting when a former student killed three students and three adults. It was strongly objected to by Democrats and gun control activists, who made a scene in the state Capitol building. “Blood. On. Your. Hands,” the crowd in the gallery shouted, brandishing protest signs.

It’s chaos in the House as protesters have derailed session.

Representatives all over the floor, Democrats and Republicans going after each other for breaking rules, etc.@WKRN #TNLeg24 pic.twitter.com/3KiPI80q5z

— Chris O’Brien (@THEChrisOB) April 23, 2024

Republican and Democratic state representatives conversed and argued on the floor, accusing each other of breaking rules.

Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton kicked out at least one protester for being too disruptive, according to the Washington Post.

House Democrats, a clear minority in the deep red state, protested the measure.

Democratic state Rep. Bo Mitchell shared his outrage over the passage of the bill in light of the Covenant tragedy. “This is our reaction to students and teachers being murdered in a school? Our reaction is to throw more guns at it. What’s wrong with us?”

At one point, Sexton appeared to mute Mitchell’s microphone, after he drifted off topic in apologizing to the parents in attendance.

During debate on a bill to arm teachers, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) mutes and laughs at State Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) as he tries to apologize for Covenant School shooting victims for what the legislature is doing.

SEXTON: “His mic’s not on.” pic.twitter.com/CeN3viAdm9

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 23, 2024

Also in attendance was Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones, who was expelled last year for disregarding House rules before being quickly reinstated. He joined a “die-in” protest, where activists pretended to be dead.

The Tennessee House just passed a bill that allows teachers and staff to carry a gun to protect the students. Staff who want to carry must go through 40 hours of gun training and have a psychological evaluation.

Left wing activists including Rep. Justin Jones staged a “die in”… pic.twitter.com/i0XbzuUuPg

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 23, 2024

“This is what fascism looks like,” he said in a post about the bill on X.

Tennessee Republicans just cut off debate and passed a bill to arm teachers in our schools.

The public chanted “Blood on your hands!” as the Speaker ordered troopers to clear the gallery.

This is what fascism looks like. pic.twitter.com/9mg67oWMxM

— Rep. Justin Jones (@brotherjones_) April 23, 2024

Other gun control activists were quick to condemn the bill.

“RECKLESS: The Tennessee House just passed a bill that would allow more teachers to carry guns in schools without notifying parents, despite overwhelming constituent opposition,” Everytown for Gun Safety said in a statement. “This comes one week after Iowa’s governor signed a similar bill. Both Iowa and Tennessee experienced tragic school shootings — and both failed to do the right thing to prevent further gun violence and keep kids safe.”

RECKLESS: The Tennessee House just passed a bill that would allow more teachers to carry guns in schools without notifying parents, despite overwhelming constituent opposition. This comes one week after Iowa’s governor signed a similar bill.

Both Iowa and Tennessee experienced… https://t.co/apCKrIG74p

— Everytown (@Everytown) April 23, 2024

The bill is expected to be signed by Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN). It allows teachers and school staffers to carry concealed handguns if the school’s top administrators approve, but parents, students, and other teachers will not be allowed to know who is armed.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, testified at Donald Trump’s trial Tuesday that the tabloid completely manufactured a negative story in 2016 about the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, who was then Trump’s rival for the GOP presidential nomination.

The paper had published a photo allegedly showing Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963, not long before Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

Trump repeatedly referred to the story on the campaign trail and in interviews.

“I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump said in an interview with Fox News in May 2016. “It’s horrible.”

Manhattan prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked Pecker about the story’s origins during the trial Tuesday in Manhattan. Pecker said that then-National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard and the tabloid’s research department got involved, and Pecker indicated that they faked the photo that was the foundation for the story.

“We mashed the photos and the different picture with Lee Harvey Oswald. And mashed the two together. And that’s how that story was prepared — created I would say,” Pecker said on the witness stand.

Asked by Steinglass whether Cruz had gained popularity in the presidential race at the time, Pecker said, “I believe so.”

The revelation came up as the prosecution focused on negative articles that were published by the tabloid about Trump’s Republican opponents at the time. Pecker explained that it was Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, who would orchestrate the planting of these stories.

Pecker said Cohen would call and say they’d like his publication to run an article on a certain candidate, adding that Cohen would then send him a piece about Cruz, for example, and the National Enquirer “would embellish it from there.”

Pecker suggested that Trump was directly involved in the process, too. He said that the negative stories about Trump’s opponents were published as part of an arrangement that was struck in 2015 at a Trump Tower meeting that also included a directive to write positive stories about the real estate mogul.

Steinglass also entered into evidence National Enquirer headlines published during the 2016 race about Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who was also running for president. They suggested that he had a love child and had a connection to cocaine.

Asked why the tabloid ran stories about the senators and candidate Ben Carson, Pecker said, “After the Republican debates, and based on the success that some of the other candidates had, I would receive a call from Michael Cohen, and he would direct me and direct Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go.”

When asked for his response Tuesday, Cruz told NBC News he’s “not interested in revisiting ancient history.”

When the story about Cruz’s dad was published, the senator told reporters that Trump was a “pathological liar” after he promoted the story.

“He doesn’t know the difference between truth and lies,” he said. “He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook, his response is to accuse everyone else of lying.”

No ruling yet on whether Trump violated a gag order

Tuesday wasn’t all about David Pecker.

The morning was largely given over to exchanges about whether Trump had violated the terms of a gag order in the case.

Judge Juan Merchan has yet to rule on the question.

The gag order Merchan issued last month bars Trump from attacking people involved in the case, including witnesses, court officials and members of the judge’s family — the last stipulation an apparent reaction to Trump’s attacks on Merchan’s daughter Loren, for her work relating to political consultancy for Democrats.

Prosecutors allege Trump has breached the order 10 times. They are seeking a fine of $1,000 for each violation. Trump’s team argue he is replying to the comments made about him, which he has a right to do.

In the process of the legal tangling over the issue, Trump’s legal team acknowledged that other people sometimes post stories onto Trump’s Truth Social account.

Sens. Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton called on President Biden to mobilize the National Guard to protect Jewish American college students in response to anti-Israel, pro-terrorist demonstrations on campuses.

Mr. Hawley, Missouri Republican, wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Biden Monday:

“On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk. … In your statement on Passover, you stated that ‘in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.’ Now you must take action to match those words.”

He continued, “You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens.”

Mr. Hawley referenced President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1957 Executive Order 10730, which deployed the Arkansas National Guard and 101st Airborne Division to ensure the safety of Black students attending Central High School in Little Rock.

“I urge you to similarly mobilize the National Guard and other necessary authorities to protect Jewish American students on Columbia University’s campus and any other campus where Jewish students are at risk,” the senator said. “’Never again’ means never again,” a phrase often associated with the lessons of the Holocaust.

Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on X that the “nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop.”

Referring to the mayor and governor, Mr. Cotton added, “If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.”

Mr. Biden on Monday stated he condemned the antisemitic campus protests as the tensions have increased amid pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University and other colleges.

“I condemn the antisemitic protests; that’s why I set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” he said.

Mr. Hawley noted that campus police and local law enforcement have failed to secure the campus of Columbia University for several days after anti-Israel action erupted at the school.

On Sunday, Rabbi Elie Buechler, the director of the university’s Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, said those authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety” and recommended that Jewish students “return home as soon as possible.”

The following day, on Passover, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik canceled in-person classes, citing “too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus.”

Mr. Hawley noted that demonstrators have “illegally established a ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ on the university’s campus and engaged in shocking displays of antisemitism” as well as assaults on Jewish students, theft and attempted burning of an Israeli flag.

He also wrote in his letter to Mr. Biden that campus rioters are shouting “violent, genocidal rhetoric” such as “Never forget the 7th of October. That will happen not 1 more time, not 5 more times, not 10 more times, not 100 more times, not 1,000 more times, but 10,000 times.”

Last October, the Senate unanimously passed Mr. Hawley‘s resolution condemning Hamas and the antisemitic rhetoric emanating from campus student groups, which have continued to celebrate the Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) attempted to run defense for the anti-Israel protesters — a group that includes her daughter, Barnard student Isra Hirsi — and got hit with an immediate wave of backlash.

Omar, whose daughter was among the students who were suspended and detained for their participation in anti-semitic protests on Columbia University’s campus, defended the protests in an X post, claiming that the protests had been “co-opted” and that was the real reason they looked bad.

“Throughout history, protests were co-opted and made to look bad so police and public leaders would shut them down. That’s what we are seeing now at Columbia University,” Omar said. “The Columbia protesters have made clear their demands and want their school not to be complacent in the ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Public officials and media making this about anything else are inflaming the situation and need to bring calmness and sanity back.”

Throughout history, protests were co-opted and made to look bad so police and public leaders would shut them down. That’s what we are seeing now at Columbia University. The Columbia protesters have made clear their demands and want their school not to be complacent in the ongoing…

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 22, 2024

Omar’s efforts to spin the anti-semitic protests were quickly met with rebuttals from critics, many of whom pointed out the fact that protesters were on camera shouting and chanting slogans that called for the genocide of the Jews and the destruction of Israel.

“Inventing a conspiracy to blame the antisemitism and terror support of the protestors on police and others doesn’t work when everyone can see the truth …” AG (@aghamilton29) posted, adding, “It’s almost hilarious the extent to which the defenders of the antisemitic mobs at Columbia are completely reliant on pretending the numerous videos and the witness testimony from Jewish students simply don’t exist to preserve their narratives.”

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) added, “Ilhan, there’s video. Lots of it. These antisemites don’t need police & public leaders to make them look bad. They’re doing that all by themselves. Only demands should be: Hamas, surrender; Release the hostages.”

Ilhan, there’s video. Lots of it.

These antisemites don’t need police & public leaders to make them look bad.

They’re doing that all by themselves.

Only demands should be:
-Hamas, surrender.
-Release the hostages. https://t.co/o6QUnNpFPZ

— Anthony P. D’Esposito (@ANTHONYDESPO) April 22, 2024

Referencing Columbia’s move to remote learning on Monday due to the increased tensions on campus, Erielle Azerrad pointed out: “Jews are studying remotely because of Omar’s daughter.”

Jews are studying remotely because of Omar’s daughter. https://t.co/Z1wgdsOT4t

— Erielle Azerrad (@politicalelle) April 22, 2024

“Nothing was co-opted here,” Pradheep Shankar said. “These idiots were always fascists and antisemites (including her daughter). Nothing has changed since the evening of 10/7. The Columbia protester demands are irrelevant, because they are nonsense, and they should ignored. Kick them out.”

Nothing was co-opted here.

These idiots were always fascists and antisemites (including her daughter). Nothing has changed since the evening of 10/7. The Columbia protester demands are irrelevant, because they are nonsense, and they should ignored. Kick them out. https://t.co/j1cBe7DCM8

— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. (@neoavatara) April 22, 2024

A handful of the migrants shipped off to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis 18 months ago are now legally allowed to work in the US — because they’re considered victims of a crime, their attorney says.

The migrants applied last year for a special type of visa designated for crime victims — known as a U-visa — after they claimed they were duped into boarding charter flights from San Antonio, Texas, to the upmarket liberal enclave in Massachusetts with the false promises of jobs and housing.

At least three of the 49 migrants involved in the flight operation — spearheaded by DeSantis in September 2022 — received “bona fide determinations” for their U-visa applications this week, their immigrant attorney, Rachel Self, told the Boston Globe.

It means they can now find jobs and can’t be deported while they wait for their visa to come through, Self added.

The approval of a U-visa can often lead to permanent lawful status in the country as well.

The developments come after a sheriff in Bexar County, Texas, launched a criminal probe in late 2022 after DeSantis took credit for the two taxpayer-funded migrants flights that landed in Martha’s Vineyard after a brief pit stop in the Sunshine State.

At the time, Sheriff Javier Salazar, an elected Democrat, railed against the flights that originally took off in his city — claiming the migrants were victims of a crime because they were allegedly “exploited and hoodwinked into making this trip” as part of a political stunt.

DeSantis, meanwhile, insisted the migrants boarded the flights “voluntarily.”

“Immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless, and ‘left to fend for themselves,’” a DeSantis rep said at the time.

“Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected.”

Still, the migrants were able to apply for the U-visas after the Bexar County sheriff confirmed they were assisting with his law enforcement probe.

The U-visa is specifically set aside for “victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity,” according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Congress only permits the feds to issue 10,000 U-visas per year.

“These determinations are one step closer to justice,” said Self, the immigrant attorney. “[They] further underscore that anyone who knows all the facts … simply cannot ignore the criminality of the actors.”

Meanwhile, there have been no updates in the Bexar County investigation since last year — despite the sheriff recommending the local district attorney file felony and misdemeanor charges of unlawful restraint against those who operated the flights.

The Bexar County DA hasn’t announced any such charges.

“The Bexar County DA’s inaction in this matter is concerning and cannot be understated,” Self said. “Crickets from the DA’s office. Why?”

Separately, a federal judge in Boston ruled earlier this month that the Martha’s Vineyard migrants can sue the charter flight company — Florida-based Vertol Systems Co. — that transported them to the island.

The court said that “unlike ICE agents legitimately enforcing the country’s immigration laws … the court sees no legitimate purpose for rounding up highly vulnerable individuals on false pretenses and publicly injecting them into a divisive national debate.”

The ruling also found that the facts of the case, “taken together, support an inference that Vertol and the other Defendants specifically targeted Plaintiffs because they were Latinx immigrants.”

A Democratic state senator in Minnesota was charged with first-degree burglary on Tuesday after authorities say she broke into her stepmother’s house where the lawmaker claimed she was trying to get her late father’s belongings, including his ashes.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell, 49, was booked into the Becker County Jail on Monday for a suspected first-degree burglary offense, according to online jail records.

A homeowner on the 700 block of Granger Road in Detroit Lakes reported an active burglary to 911 around 4:45 a.m., Detroit Lakes Police Chief Steve Todd told FOX9 Minneapolis.

During a search of the home, officers found Mitchell dressed in black clothing and a black hat, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the station. A flashlight with a sock over it and a black backpack containing two laptops, a cellphone, a driver’s license, Senate identification and Tupperware.

Mitchell allegedly entered through a window and told investigators that she was trying to get her father’s ashes, photos, a flannel shirt and other items of sentimental value, the complaint said. Mitchell claimed that her stepmother refused to give her the items.

“I was just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore,” Mitchell allegedly said to her stepmother as officers placed her under arrest.

The complaint stated that one of the laptops found in Mitchell’s backpack belonged to her stepmother, who told officers that she did not give it to Mitchell. Mitchell, however, claimed otherwise.

Mitchell, of Woodbury, represents District 47 since she was elected to the state Senate in 2022. She was previously a meteorologist for KSTP-TV and Minnesota Public Radio, and currently serves as lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard.

The Senate Democratic Caucus told The Associated Press in a statement that it’s “aware of the situation and has no comment pending further information.”

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, of East Grand Forks, released a statement to news outlets saying that he was shocked by the arrest, but did not know any further details.

“The public expects Legislators to meet a high standard of conduct,” Johnson said. “As information comes out, we expect the consequences to meet the actions, both in the court of law, and in her role at the legislature.”

Mitchell’s arrest could pose a problem for Democrats, who currently hold a one-seat majority in the Senate with four weeks left in the legislative session.

The disgraced cop who is on the run with his son after he allegedly shot dead his ex-wife and his teenage girlfriend was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car Tuesday afternoon after a 24-hour manhunt.

Elias Huizar, 39, allegedly killed his ex-wife Amber Rodriguez at William Wiley Elementary school on Monday afternoon during dismissal, according to Washington State Police.

Police searching for Huizar found a second victim, his girlfriend, dead in his home, which is on the same block as the West Richland school.

Huizar was found in his car of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head around 3pm local time Tuesday afternoon, according to the West Richland Police Department.

His 1-year-old son with the teenager, Roman, was found safe. A spokesperson for Washington State Police confirmed to DailyMail.com that the Amber Alert has been canceled.

Oregon State Police located his vehicle driving southbound on Interstate 5 near Eugene and started a chase.

It ended with a state trooper reporting that Huizar had shot himself in the head. His current condition is unknown.

They noted that his son had been taken into their custody safely.

Huizar allegedly killed his ex-wife Amber Rodriguez at William Wiley Elementary school on Monday afternoon during dismissal, according to Washington State Police.

Police searching for Huizar found a second victim, his girlfriend 17-year-old Angelica ‘Jelly’ Santos, dead in his home, which is on the same block as the school.

Huizar, a former Yakima police officer, shared Roman with Santos, who was 15 year’s old when she was impregnated, according to police.

The former school cop was due in court Monday to face child rape charges; he is accused of raping his underaged girlfriend and her 16-year-old friend.

In February, Huizar pleaded not guilty to rape charges. Days before the two murders, Rodriguez had filed for a new custody arrangement involving their two children.

Rodriguez worked at the school where she was killed, according to the Washington State Police. In addition Rodriguez also worked as a real estate agent.

Santos’ family appeared to at first believe that she had been abducted alongside her son, asking people on Facebook for help finding them.

However, hours later the family confirmed that Santos had been killed.

Her brother Damien Santos wrote: ‘It breaks my heart to write this but unfortunately my sister has passed away at the young age of 17 November 5 2006 – April 22 2024.’

The former school cop was due in court accused of raping a drunk 16-year-old girl and his 17-year-old girlfriend whom he is believed to have impregnated when she was 15, according to multiple reports.

Police did not confirm if the girlfriend Huizar is accused of raping and impregnating is the girlfriend found dead in his home or if he had moved on to a new relationship.

Huizar and Rodriguez divorced in 2020 and share two children. Following the rape charges, Rodriguez filed to modify their custody agreement and had requested a protection order, because she believed he was a threat to her and their children.

Rodriguez claimed Huizar has been harassing her since the divorce and says he was mentally and emotionally unstable. He also owns guns, she said.

It was unclear what the result of the case was, a hearing had been set for May 14.

Family and friends have started Gofundme’s for both Rodriguez and Santos.

Huizar served with the police department between 2014 and 2022 and was assigned to be a school resource officer at Washington Middle School in Yakima. It was not clear where he was employed after he’d left the department.

On February 3, he was arrested after his 17-year-old girlfriend reported him for the attack on her 16-year-old friend who was staying overnight at their home in West Richland.

Huizar and his underage girlfriend have a baby who was nine months old at the time of his February court appearance, according to the Tri-City Herald.

The Tri-City Herald reported that Huizar secured a protection order against his teenage girlfriend in 2019 after she told friends they were in a relationship and the friends reported it to the school principal.

The girl denied it and claimed her account had been hacked when social media posts about the alleged relationship were revealed.

‘A criminal investigation was completed by the Attorney General’s Office and the case was unfounded,’ Huizar wrote in his petition for the protection order.

‘(She) was then expelled from school.’

The petition claimed the girl had contacted Huizar’s then wife, downloaded photos from the couple’s Facebook pages, and taken ‘numerous’ covert photos of Huizar.

Yakima County Judge Gayle Harthcock approved the protection order that prevented the girl from coming within 500 feet of him or his family for a year.

The girl claims in the court documents that Huizar contacted her in 2022 when she was 15 and they began a relationship.

Their child was born in April last year, and the pair began living together in the West Richland home when she was 17. The age of consent law in Washington is 16 years old, though police have been investigating whether he slept with her before that.

In the most recent alleged rape, the 17-year-old girlfriend had gone to sleep in a spare room next to her 16-year-old friend who was feeling sick after all three had spent the evening drinking at the home on February 3, court documents record.

She then woke to find Huizar attacking her drunken friend before he left the room ‘like nothing had happened’, when she confronted him, according to the Tri-City Herald.

Huizar was charged with second-degree rape, furnishing alcohol for minors, and third-degree rape over his relationship with the 17-year-old.

His bail was set at $200,000 but he has since bonded out of jail with stipulations that he doesn’t contact either of the teens or consume any alcohol.

The opening date of his trial was set for Monday, according to a local NBC station.

The school district in Richland, Washington, sent out an alert to parents that confirmed the shooting at William Wiley Elementary earlier Monday.

The shooting occurred at 3:23pm local time during dismissal. Nobody else at the school was injured in the shooting there.

A resident said he heard four to five gunshots while in his backyard Monday afternoon.

‘I thought it was someone hitting something with a hammer. It didn’t sound like a gun. Then a woman came flying out here before the cops even got here and started screaming that someone was shot ,’ Chris Worley told the Tri-City Herald.

Caitlin Clark is on the cusp of breaking another record as the former Iowa star is set to sign a historic deal with Nike.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal and The Athletic reported a pending eight-year, $28million contract, including a signature shoe. The deal would give Clark the richest sponsorship contract for a women’s basketball player.

The Athletic and WSJ cited unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations between Nike and the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer, who recently became the first overall pick of the WNBA Draft.

Clark’s initial name, image and likeness deal, signed in 2022, expired at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Under Armour and Adidas also participated in contract discussions with Clark’s team in February, according to the WSJ and The Athletic. Puma also showed some interest but walked away when told the bidding would start at $3 million per year, according to the WSJ.

Clark received offers of $16 million over four years from Under Armour and $6 million over four years from Adidas, with both including a signature shoe, according to the WSJ.

Clark earned about $3 million in NIL money at Iowa with deals she has had with State Farm, Gatorade and others, according to the WSJ.

Clark’s agents were working on the new Nike contract even before she announced she would turn pro instead of return to Iowa for a fifth season under the COVID-19 exemption offered to players in college during the 2020 pandemic season.

After averaging 31.6 points and leading the Hawkeyes to a second straight national championship game, Clark was drafted No. 1 by the Indiana Fever on April 15.

She’ll earn a $76,000 salary as a rookie. She’s been the main driver for the dramatic uptick in women’s basketball interest with her mix of deep 3-point shots, flashy thread-the-needle passes and overall court presence. A women’s basketball record of 18.9 million watched Iowa’s loss to South Carolina in the NCAA title game, and a WNBA-record 2.45 million watched the draft.

Of the Fever´s 40 games this season, 36 will be nationally televised, and ticket sales have skyrocketed around the league.

Clark’s marketability is enhanced by her polished performances in media settings, and her surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live two weeks ago was widely acclaimed and exposed her to an even wider audience.

The reported eight-year contract with Nike shows the sportswear giant’s commitment. At 22, Clark could play well over a decade in the WNBA and she could be on the U.S. roster for the Olympics in Paris this year, in Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia, in 2032.

Harvard University is a mess and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, is the man who can save the once-prestigious institution and help it “recalibrate from far-left orthodoxy,” according to Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

Daniel Rosen, who graduated Harvard in 1996, penned a Washington Post opinion piece last week which details recent issues at the school and called for the Utah senator – and former Massachusetts governor – to clean it up. Fetterman, a Harvard alumnus who has repeatedly irked his Democratic colleagues with his strong support for Israel, co-signed the suggestion.

“Harvard University remains in an almighty mess after months of turmoil over hate speech. There is a way to fix this: appoint former Massachusetts governor and retiring U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) university president,” Rosen wrote.

Fetterman posted the piece on X and wrote, “As an alumnus of Harvard, and after this mad season of antisemitism at Columbia, I co-sign. This former Governor of Massachusetts doesn’t need a paycheck, but Harvard and its academic peers need to recalibrate from far-left orthodoxy.”

Rosen said he was a lifelong Democrat who didn’t vote for Romney when he ran for president, but made the suggestion “in the sincere and robust hope that he is someone who can navigate the university through painful but necessary reform and drive back the antisemitism that is tarnishing the institution’s credibility.

“As the grandson of Holocaust survivors and president of the American Jewish Congress, I find it devastating that Harvard has failed to vigorously address the unchecked antisemitism on campus,” he wrote.

Rosen wrote that anyone who studied at Harvard can attest it is “not an antisemitic institution” despite recent events that indicate otherwise.

“I never for a moment felt oppressed or marginalized as a student on the Harvard campus. But to my dismay, recent years have seen an unconscionable spike in — and even worse, an administrative tolerance of — hate speech directed at Jews, including targeting Jewish students. The university’s response has thus far been ramshackle and unproductive, to put it mildly,” Rosen wrote.

Rosen reminded readers of “the disastrous congressional testimony of then-President Claudine Gay,” in which she famously failed to say that calls for intifada or the genocide of Jews on campus violated Harvard’s code of conduct or policy against bullying and harassment.

After her congressional testimony, Gay issued an apology and the university’s board initially decided to stick by her despite widespread calls from donors and members of Congress for her ouster. However, she stepped down shortly afterward after being hit with significant plagiarism allegations.

“The university president must be the flag-bearer of our values. There is no doubt that there are other Americans of similar standing and stature, but Romney’s unique bridge-building character is precisely what Harvard needs in an age of toxic polarization,” Rosen wrote, praising him for working with Democrats on issues like “gun safety reform” and voting to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

Romney, who has stood out among Senate Republicans with his opposition to former President Trump, has said he will not seek re-election in the Senate in 2024. He voted to convict Trump in both his impeachment trials, the only Republican to do so, and has not supported him in any of his White House bids.

Buoyed in part by his successful overseeing of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Romney served one term as Massachusetts governor from 2003 to 2007. He later made a failed bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He won the Republican nomination in 2012 – the last candidate other than Trump to do so – and lost the general election to President Obama.

Jurors in the murder case against a Nogales-area rancher accused of killing an illegal unarmed migrant on his property were unable to reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked on the charges.

After more than 15 hours of deliberation, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Thomas Fink declared a mistrial just after 4:30 p.m. The court scheduled a status meeting for 1:30 p.m. April 29 to allow the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office to decide if it wants to retry the case.

“They won’t wear me down,” rancher George Alan Kelly told reporters after the mistrial was declared.

The trial centered on the Jan. 30, 2023, death of Mexican migrant Gabriel Cuen Buitimea, who was found shot after Kelly fired warning shots into the air, his defense attorney said.

Kelly faced a second-degree murder charge in Buitimea’s death, and a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for putting another man, Daniel Ramirez, in danger. Ramirez had been traveling with Buitimea looking for work in the U.S. Buitimea’s body was found 115 yards, a football field away, from Kelly’s house hours after the shooting incident.

Attorneys and the judge discussing which instructions to pass on to the jury noted the jurors looked tired and frustrated earlier that day when they told the judge they were at an impasse.

Kelly’s defense attorneys called it a victory and the second-best outcome. One of his two attorneys, Texas attorney Kathy Lowthorp, said the trial is the longest she has had in her 24 years of practice. She said she will represent Kelly if the case goes to trial again. She called the disclosure requirements in Arizona “mind-boggling.”

“Here you disclose everything and depositions,” Lowthorp said. “It’s just like you tried the case a few times before you get to an actual trial with a jury. That is just mind-boggling to me.”

On Monday, Kelly’s wife sat in the front row of the courtroom clutching a plush cat stuffed animal as she awaited the verdict.

After the verdict Wanda Kelly said she has felt like she has been in suspense for the last year.

“I feel like I’ve been in suspension for 15 months, and I’m getting nowhere, and I’m still on that treadmill. We have to wait a little longer,” said Wanda Kelly, Kelly’s wife, after the mistrial was declared.

Kelly said he wasn’t worried about himself as much as his wife, noting this trial has been challenging for her. He and his wife are stubborn, Kelly said, and they will not give up.

“They want ice water in you-know-where. And they ain’t got it. So, it is what it is. … They won’t wear me down,” Kelly said about the mistrial and potentially having a retrial.

Prosecution led by the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office argued that Kelly, armed with an AK-47 rifle, opened fire on two unarmed men. The defense argued Kelly’s testimony was changed by law enforcement and that the investigation into the shooting was biased.

Kelly’s defense attorney alleged that Kelly saw a group of armed migrants and shot up in the air as a warning. Prosecutors said Kelly shot Buitimea with a barrage of bullets. Although spent casings were found near the property, no bullet was ever retrieved.

Last year, Ramirez, the prosecution’s key witness, gave a dramatic testimony during a preliminary hearing in February, when he reenacted how he said he saw Kelly shoot and kill Buitimea. It was later revealed that he had previously pleaded guilty to smuggling cannabis across the Arizona-Mexico border in 2015.

#BREAKING George Alan Kelly’s co-counsel Kathy Lowthorp walks out of court after judge declares mistrial—She says it was 7 to 1 for a not guilty verdict—One juror thought he was guilty of 2nd degree murder (or lesser charges to include negligent homicide and manslaughter).

The… pic.twitter.com/LRJBczMowp

— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) April 23, 2024

Monday’s opening statements in the first criminal trial of a former American president provided a clear roadmap of how prosecutors will try to make the case that Donald Trump broke the law, and how the defense plans to fight the charges on multiple fronts.

Lawyers presented dueling narratives as jurors got their first glimpse into the prosecution accusing Trump of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to squelch negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential campaign.

Still to come are weeks of what’s likely to be dramatic and embarrassing testimony about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s personal life as he simultaneously campaigns to return to the White House in November.

Here’s a look at some key takeaways from opening statements:

ELECTION FRAUD VS. ‘BOOKKEEPING’ CASE

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. But prosecutors made clear they do not want jurors to view this as a routine paper case. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said the heart of the case is a scheme to “corrupt” the 2016 election by silencing people who were about to come forward with embarrassing stories Trump feared would hurt his campaign.

“No politician wants bad press,” Colangelo said. “But the evidence at trial will show that this was not spin or communication strategy. This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior.” He added: “It was election fraud, pure and simple.”

The business records charges stem from things like invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in Trump Organization records when prosecutors say they were really reimbursements to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Daniels was threatening to go public with claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump. He says it never happened.

Trump, meanwhile, sought to downplay the accusations while leaving the courtroom on Monday, calling it all a “bookkeeping” case and “a very minor thing.” But he, too, has said it’s all about an election — the one this November. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the case is part of a sweeping Democratic attempt to harm his chances at reclaiming the presidency.

TRUMP’S DEFENSE COMES INTO VIEW

Trump’s attorney used his opening statement to attack the case as baseless, saying the former president did nothing illegal.

The attorney, Todd Blanche, challenged prosecutors’ claim that Trump agreed to pay Daniels to aid his campaign, saying Trump was trying to “protect his family, his reputation and his brand.”

Blanche indicated the defense will argue that after all the very point of a presidential campaign is to try to influence an election.

“It’s called democracy,” Blanche told jurors. “They put something sinister on this idea, as if it was a crime. You’ll learn it’s not.”

Blanche also portrayed the ledger entries at issue in the case as pro forma actions performed by a Trump Organization employee. Trump “had nothing to do with” the allegedly false business records, “except that he signed the checks, in the White House, while he was running the country,” Blanche said. And he argued that the records’ references to legal expenses weren’t false, since Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer at the time.

PROSECUTORS AIM TO PUT TRUMP AT THE CENTER

The 34 counts in the indictment are related to the payment to Daniels. But prosecutors plan to introduce evidence about a payoff to another woman — former Playboy model Karen McDougal — who claimed a sexual encounter with Trump, as well as to a Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Trump having a child out of wedlock. Trump says they were all lies.

Prosecutors said they will show Trump was at the center of the scheme to silence the women, telling jurors they will hear Trump in his voice talking about the plan to pay McDougal. Cohen arranged for the publisher of the National Enquirer supermarket tabloid to pay McDougal $150,000 but not print the story in a practice known as “catch-and-kill.”

Colangelo told jurors that prosecutors will play for them a recording Cohen secretly made during a meeting with Trump weeks before the 2016 election. In the recording, which first became public in 2018, Trump is heard saying: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”

Trump “desperately did not want this information about Karen McDougal to become public because he was worried about its effect on the election,” Colangelo said.

COHEN’S CREDIBILITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The defense’s opening statement previewed what will be a key strategy of the defense: trying to discredit Cohen, a Trump loyalist turned critic and expected star witness for the prosecution. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money payments in 2018 and and served prison time.

Whether jurors believe Cohen, who says he arranged the payments to the women at Trump’s direction, could make or break the case for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.

Trump’s lawyer highlighted Cohen’s criminal record, describing him as a serial liar who turned against Trump after he was not given a job in the administration and found himself in legal trouble. Blanche said Cohen’s “entire financial livelihood depends on President Trump’s destruction,” noting he hosts podcasts and has written books bashing his ex-boss.

“He has a goal and an obsession with getting Trump,” Blanche said. “I submit to you that he cannot be trusted.”

Anticipating the defense attacks on Cohen, the prosecution promised to be upfront about the “mistakes” the former Trump attorney has made. But Colangelo said “you can credit Michael Cohen’s testimony” despite his past.

“I suspect the defense will go to great lengths to get you to reject his testimony precisely because it is so damning,” the prosecutor said.

BUT UP FIRST: DAVID PECKER

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker is the first witness for prosecutors, who say that Trump’s alleged scheme to conceal potentially damaging information from voters began with a 2015 Trump Tower meeting among the then-candidate, Pecker and Cohen. Pecker took the witness stand Monday before court broke for the day and his testimony is expected to continue Tuesday.

At the meeting, Pecker — a longtime Trump friend — agreed to aid Trump’s campaign by running favorable pieces about him, smearing his opponents, scouting unflattering stories about him and flagging them to Cohen for “catch-and-kill” deals. Those included the claims made by Daniels, McDougal and the former Trump Tower doorman, Dino Sajudin, prosecutors say. Trump says all were false.

Pecker will likely be asked about all the alleged efforts made by the Enquirer’s then-owner, American Media Inc., on Trump’s behalf. Federal prosecutors agreed in 2018 not to prosecute American Media in exchange for its cooperation in a campaign finance investigation that led to Cohen’s guilty plea, and the Federal Election Commission fined the company $187,500, calling the McDougal deal a “prohibited corporate in-kind contribution.”

Pecker’s brief turn on the stand Monday was mainly just about his background and other basic facts, though he did say the Enquirer practiced “checkbook journalism” — paying for stories — and that he had the final say on any story about a famous person.

‘THE DEFENDANT’ OR ’PRESIDENT TRUMP’?

The prosecutor referred to Trump during his opening statement as “the defendant.” Trump’s lawyer took a different tack, calling him “President Trump.”

“We will call him President Trump, out of respect for the office that he held,” Blanche said. At the same time, Trump’s lawyer sought to portray Trump as an everyman, describing him as a husband, father and fellow New Yorker.

“He’s, in some ways, larger than life. But he’s also here in this courtroom, doing what any of us would do: defending himself,” Blanche said.

Trump sat quietly while listening to opening statements, occasionally passing notes to his lawyers and whispering in their ears. But outside of the courtroom, he continued his pattern of trying to capitalize politically on the case that will require him to spend his days in a courtroom rather than on the campaign trail.

“This is what they’re trying to take me off the trail for. Checks being paid to a lawyer,” Trump said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has shot down Kari Lake’s request to take up her ballot tabulator case that aimed to stop the use of the machines to count millions of Arizona ballots.

The highest court in the nation did not provide any comment on Monday when it denied the U.S. Senate hopeful’s petition to overturn the lower court’s decision to throw out her case.

Lake and fellow Republican Mark Finchem initially filed the suit in April 2022, while she was running for Arizona governor and he was running for secretary of state. They alleged that the electronic ballot tabulators used in Maricopa and Pima counties were “hackable” and that the courts should place an injunction on their use ahead of the November 2022 election, and instead force elections officials to count all the ballots by hand.

In August 2022, U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi threw out the lawsuit and issued a scathing ruling. He later ordered $122,000 in sanctions against the attorneys in the case, saying that Lake and Finchem’s claims amounted to mere “conjectural allegations of potential injuries.”

In October 2023, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with Tuchi’s decision to reject the case, agreeing that it was “frivolous.”

“None of Plaintiffs’ allegations supported a plausible inference that their individual votes in future elections will be adversely affected by the use of electronic tabulation, particularly given the robust safeguards in Arizona law, the use of paper ballots, and the post-tabulation retention of those ballots,” the appellate court wrote.

Finchem and Lake, who both lost their 2022 bids for statewide office to Democrats, each filed lawsuits after that election seeking to overturn the results. In both cases, judges found that neither candidate could prove that there was any fraud, malfeasance or maladministration that changed the outcome.

In their petition to the Supreme Court, Lake and Finchem go as far as to accuse Arizona election officials of illegally altering the tabulator software — a crime under Arizona law — and concealing those alterations from the court when the case was originally filed.

They also claimed that Dominion Voting Systems equipment used in Maricopa County, and in many other counties across the country, “have a built-in security breach enabling malicious actors to take control of elections, likely without detection.”

The Arizona Republican Party — alongside the Georgia Republican Party and the Republican State Committee of Delaware — backed up Lake in her petition to SCOTUS, filing their own supporting brief earlier this month urging the court to take up the case.

The Virginia attorney representing the Republican parties, William J.Olson argued that, since 2020, state and federal courts across the U.S. began using what he called “unreasonable standards” to determine whether election cases have legal standing to move forward.

“The decision of the district court of Arizona to dismiss Petitioners’ challenge to the conduct of the 2022 Arizona election is one of the clearest illustrations of this abusive line of cases which have required much more than well-pled allegations, brought by candidates, that elections were being conducted in violation of law,” Olson wrote.

Andrew isn’t the only Cuomo trying to stage a comeback.

In the wake of the failure of Charles Barkley and Gayle King’s prime-time talk show, sources at CNN have been gossiping about the network’s next move. (King has insisted it was always a limited run.)

“The top brass are pulling their hair out trying to find a solution before the election really heats up,” said an insider.

“They have Anderson Cooper, but they’re saying they need ‘another Chris.’ ”

In 2021, Chris Cuomo was CNN’s highest-rated prime-time star. But he was fired by then-CEO Jeff Zucker after allegations he provided assistance to his bro, then-Gov. Andrew, on how to combat sexual harassment allegations leveled by former aides.

After his ouster, Chris filed for arbitration, demanding $125 million from CNN over his exit. He also landed a new gig at NewsNation.

Last year, Variety reported sources as saying part of Zucker’s reasoning for axing Chris was to ingratiate himself with incoming Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav.

Zucker, who adamantly refuted the Variety report, was pushed out himself in 2022.

A source told Page Six this week: “CNN insiders say there could be a deal to be made with Chris down the road — this is already being whispered about, and discussed quietly, but still unofficially.

“Management has changed, and CNN could be ready to move beyond the old issues, especially since they have not been able to replicate Chris’ success with their audience.”

The source also told us: “Although Chris isn’t talking about this openly . . . it’s generally accepted by his circle that he misses his old job, loves being on TV and making a difference on national topics of interest to everyone. He wants to be in Israel reporting on the war.”

Reps did not get back to us.

“American audiences love a comeback,” the source added. “It remains a longshot that CNN would amicably settle Chris’ lawsuit and bring him back, but stranger things have happened in TV when it comes down to ad dollars and almighty ratings.”

Cuomo has previously said of his time at CNN in a podcast interview with Anthony Scaramucci: “I wasn’t set up to be [No. 1]. I wasn’t the big name there, I didn’t have the big team, they didn’t do the advertising about me. But I was still No. 1. Why? Because it was the best show. Because I was giving people what they needed in that moment.”