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Stormy lawyer accuses Michael Cohen of lying, but it’s Trump who’s on trial

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Stormy lawyer accuses Michael Cohen of lying, but it’s Trump who’s on trial

Donald Trump’s hush money trial was back in action yesterday, and there was news right out of the box.

Judge Juan Merchan, to absolutely no one’s surprise, ruled that Trump had violated his gag order – and fined him $9,000.

Now that’s just pocket change for him, but the larger point is that Merchan ruled against the former president on nine of the 10 accusations, a thousand bucks a pop. The order barred him from attacking witnesses, but Trump has repeatedly said it’s unfair and unconstitutional to keep him, as a presidential nominee, from speaking out and responding to attacks from the likes of Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

COLUMBIA PROTESTORS OCCUPY BUILDING AS TRUMP BLAMES BIDEN FOR ANTISEMITIC DEMONSTRATIONS

The judge had castigated Trump for breaching the gag order during oral arguments, and scolded his attorney Todd Blanche for “losing all credibility” in defending his client. So it didn’t take a soothsayer to divine how he would rule.

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Merchan ordered Trump to remove the offending posts, and said he would be subject to further fines and possibly incarceration (which is up to 30 days). No way I see that happening, even if Trump punched a witness in the nose. That would cause a surge in public sympathy, even among some Trump critics, and give the defendant something to take to the appeals court in arguing that the judge was blatantly biased against him.

The first witness, Gary Farro, Cohen’s former banker, delivered testimony that was very damaging to Trump’s fixer. It’s sure to be cited when Cohen, a disbarred lawyer who has served prison time, takes the stand.

But Michael Cohen isn’t on trial. Donald Trump is. And none of the testimony got to the central allegation–which Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg has stretched into a felony–that Trump falsified expense records to reimburse Cohen.

Farro said he had no indication that the account Cohen was establishing – with $131,000 from his home equity line – was related to a political candidate. That, he said, might have required additional scrutiny.

Nor did Farro know the account was related to someone in the adult film business. “It is not an industry we do work with,” he said.

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In Former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in the state of New York, the names Michael Avenatti and Michael Cohen are often heard in the courtroom.

Next, Cohen created an account under Essential Consultants, and transferred it to an account that lawyer Keith Davidson maintained for Stormy Daniels. Cohen, he said, listed it as “retainer,” an obvious falsehood. 

If he had known, Davidson said when he took the stand, that this was a shell company and not an operating business, he would not have approved it.

Davidson also represented Karen McDougal, the Playboy playmate, and what followed seemed to belie her later proclamation that she didn’t want to be “the next Monica Lewinsky.” She told him her 10-month relationship with Trump was “sexual in nature” (which he denies).

Davidson started shopping her story.

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He texted Enquirer Editor Dylan Howard in June 2016: “I have a blockbuster Trump story.”

Howard responded: “I will get you more than ANYONE for it.”

THE ANTI-TRUMP MOVEMENT’S SECRET ZOOM CALLS GIVE THEIR TARGET AMMO

And: “Did he cheat on Melania?”

Davidson was also pitching McDougal to ABC.

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He arranged a meeting with David Pecker’s American Media Inc., but the company declined, citing a lack of evidence.

Later on, though, Davidson offered an AMI deal that would pay McDougal for fitness columns. “She did not want to tell her story,” the lawyer testified. “She liked the AMI deal, which wouldn’t force her to do that.” Yep, we now know why.

Davidson asked for an initial million-dollar payment. Howard cautioned it would be more hundreds than millions.

A couple of clips were played, one from the E. Jean Carroll deposition and one from a North Carolina rally, weeks before the election, in which Trump said: “I’m being viciously attacked with lies and smears. It’s a phony deal. I have no idea who these women are.”

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower on his way to Manhattan criminal court, Monday, April 15, 2024, in New York. The hush money trial of former President Donald Trump begins Monday with jury selection. It’s a singular moment for American history as the first criminal trial of a former U.S. commander in chief. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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In the AMI deal, McDougal was granted rights to an “affair with a married man,” who Davidson testified with Trump. 

They finally got to Stormy Daniels, whose manager told Davidson that “some jerk called me and was very, very aggressive.” It was Cohen.

Davidson said his call to Cohen was met with “a hostile barrage of insults, insinuations and allegations… He was just screaming.” 

When the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, there was a “crescendo” of interest in the Stormy story, said Davidson. His own view of the candidacy: “Trump is F***ed.”

“Final nail in the coffin,” said Howard.

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Davidson testified that he was handed off to Cohen once again, with Dylan Howard “washing his hands of the deal.

Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his criminal trial, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15, 2024.  (Angela Weiss/AFP via AP Pool)

“The moral of the story is nobody wanted to talk to Cohen,” Davidson said. But the $130,000 deal finally got done when Cohen said he’d pay the money himself.

And yet it wasn’t a blockbuster day. One pet peeve: Since we’re all dependent on reporters’ feeds from inside the courtroom, after the networks go to break, they jump ahead to what’s happening at that moment and you miss what you missed. At one point, CNN got bored and switched to police and protestors confronting each other at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–though nothing was happening except a standoff. Fox switched to Columbia anti-Israel demonstrators continuing to occupy a building.

At the trial, there were technical witnesses like the C-SPAN archive director and a court reporter official. This was so dull that I would have fallen asleep faster than Trump could close his eyes.

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Sure, these are building blocks, but you’d think the Bragg prosecutors would want to maintain the momentum from the damaging testimony last week of David Pecker, the Enquirer’s former publisher.

But it bears repeating: Pecker (who has immunity) isn’t on trial. McDougal isn’t on trial. Stormy isn’t on trial.

This other stuff may make for titillating drama, or would if there were cameras in the courtroom. But the case, even in anti-Trump Manhattan, will come down to whether prosecutors can prove that Trump committed a crime–and all he needs is one holdout juror.

SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES

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Footnote: One person is kinda, sorta on trial, with his famous client, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan report.

Trump has “griped” that his lead lawyer Todd Blanche has been “insufficiently aggressive” and wants him to “attack witnesses, attack what the former president sees as a hostile jury pool, and attack the judge.” He’s also complained about high legal fees.

They write in the New York Times that Trump views himself as his own best legal strategist and casts about for attorneys who will do what he wants, such as contest the 2020 election. He has told associates he needs “a Roy Cohn,” who represented him early in his career and was repeatedly indicted and later disbarred.

Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said their team was “focused entirely on fighting a ‘ridiculous’ case and that ‘anonymous comments from people who aren’t in the room are just that…I would be highly skeptical of any gossip or hearsay surrounding this case.”

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Pennsylvania

10-year-old stabbed Dollar Tree employee during robbery in Pennsylvania, police say

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10-year-old stabbed Dollar Tree employee during robbery in Pennsylvania, police say


Generic police lights (FOX 9)

A 10-year-old boy who allegedly robbed a Dollar Tree store in Pennsylvania is also accused of stabbing multiple times one of the employees trying to detain him.

Big picture view:

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The Swatara Township Police Department reported that its officers were called around 5 p.m. on Monday to the discount store in Harrisburg where they found the boy being held by store employees. 

Timeline:

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After speaking with witnesses, officers determined that the grade-school-age child went into the store holding a fixed-blade knife, threatened an employee, and told her to give him all the money.

Customs officers use Heimlich maneuver to save choking toddler

The employee’s co-workers jumped in to help her. As they struggled to subdue the boy, he stabbed one of them multiple times, the police department reported. Its statement did not indicate how badly that employee was injured, only saying that medical treatment was needed.

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Dig deeper:

The suspect was taken by officers to a detention facility where he was booked on counts of robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possessing an instrument of a crime.

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The Source: Information for this article was taken from Swatara Township Police Department. This story was reported from Orlando.

 

Crime and Public SafetyU.S.
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Rhode Island

Three generations killed during driving lesson after car plunges into river

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Three generations killed during driving lesson after car plunges into river


Three generations of a family, including a two-year-old girl, have been killed during a driving lesson after their car plunged into a Rhode Island river.

Police received a report that a car had driven into the Seekonk River in Pawtucket on Sunday evening at the small boat-launching area, The Boston Globe reported.

After hours of searching for the submerged car, authorities pulled it out of the water Monday afternoon. The 45-year-old woman, a 22-year-old woman and the two-year-old girl inside the car were found dead.

Pawtucket resident Josue Gomez told The Globe it was his wife, Floridalma Arceno, their daughter, Linora Sucely Gomez, and their granddaughter, Ana Sofia Garcia Gomez, who were killed in the accident.

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Gomez said Arceno was teaching their daughter how to drive with their granddaughter in the car when his wife called him in a panic and said, “‘It won’t brake, it won’t brake.’’

Three generations, including a two-year-old girl, have been killed during a driving lesson after their car plunged into a Rhode Island river
Three generations, including a two-year-old girl, have been killed during a driving lesson after their car plunged into a Rhode Island river (Google Earth)

“It was the last thing she said to me,” he said.

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that a “Good Samaritan riding a jet ski in the vicinity heard the car enter the water and attempted to help,” The Providence Journal reported.

“While this was occurring, another individual called 911, and first responders were on scene within 3 minutes,” Goncalves said.

Gomez said he hurried to the boat ramp Sunday evening, but the car was already submerged.

Police tried to find the car, but suspended the search around 1 a.m. Monday due to poor conditions, according to reports.

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The search resumed Monday morning, and by around 2:30 p.m. ET, a tow truck pulled the car out of the water.

“They were good people,” Gomez told The Globe.

The car was submerged for hours before authorities were able to pull it out of the Seekonk River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
The car was submerged for hours before authorities were able to pull it out of the Seekonk River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Getty Images/iStock)

The Independent has reached out to the Pawtucket Police Department and the Rhode Island Office of the State Medical Examiners for comment.

Authorities called it a “tragic accident,” and said there were no indications of foul play, according to reports.

“Preliminary findings suggest the vehicle was in proper working order,” Pawtucket Detective Sergeant Paul Trout said in an email to The Globe.

Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy” in a statement shared with the media.

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“Our community mourns alongside them, and we want them to know they are not alone during this unimaginable time,” Grebien said.



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Vermont

She moved from Paris to Vermont and found her ‘dream job’ opening a bakery – The Boston Globe

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She moved from Paris to Vermont and found her ‘dream job’ opening a bakery – The Boston Globe


BURLINGTON, Vt. — Shelley MacDonald and her husband, both Canadian citizens, had been living in Paris for over a decade when the pandemic hit. She’d been selling baked goods and hosting a dinner club called Paris Bread in their apartment. She wanted to open a business in the United States, where she could operate in English. It was time to leave, except that, at the moment, only American passport holders could fly into the United States.

With ingenuity and grit, the couple discovered a visa for foreign entrepreneurs and secured one from the American Embassy the day it reopened after lockdown. Once their passports were stamped, they had 30 days to fly out and move everything they owned to this picturesque college town.

Since 2022, MacDonald has run Belleville Bakery & Catering near City Hall in Burlington, Vt., down the street from the University of Vermont. She’s training staff, including students, and offering confections you might see in a Parisian patisserie, most not as fancy. She has different varieties of all-butter croissants, cinnamon snails and feta-garlic snails made with croissant trimmings, tempting lunch items such as bacon cheddar quiche and tuna sandwiches with smoked Gouda on homemade onions buns, and dinners such as lasagna, rigatoni, and chicken pot pie to take home.

Shelley MacDonald, a Canadian citizen, lived in Paris before moving to Burlington.Sheryl Julian

“I think the town is adorable with kind people who help you when you don’t need to be helped,” says MacDonald, sitting in the bright bakery. “There’s something very special about Vermont.”

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She and her husband — the hyperrealist painter André Beaulieu — picked Burlington because they had visited often when they lived in his hometown, Montreal. “The real reason is so that I could open a business in English,” she told her 48,000 Instagram followers, “so that I could function in my native language, for all of the reading and writing and dealing with lawyers and accountants and plumbers that you need to do when you own a business.”

MacDonald describes their new situation as “the best of both possible worlds, where I get to live in English in a really cute space, and he gets to live with me in English in a really cute space and he’s really close to home.” She describes her business as her “dream job.”

The 100-year-old building whose storefront she renovated is large and airy, with bakers in the kitchen in full view making croissant and brioche doughs, prepping cookie batters and galette pastry.

Quiches at Belleville Bakery.Sheryl Julian

MacDonald moves quickly, laughs easily, and greets customers warmly. “People come into a bakery looking for a treat and some kind of care,” she says. When you’ve finished eating, you don’t have to take your plates and cups to various bins for recycle and trash. That system horrifies her. “No bussing,” she says. “We take care of you.”

Her clientele skews older, she has noticed, and they’re looking for somewhere to go. “The demand is enormous,” she says. She describes her personality as “Shelley takes care of people.” Remembering her days running an underground restaurant, MacDonald now offers twice-monthly Sunday brunches and dinners, both served at a long table farmhouse-style so everyone talks to their neighbors.

MacDonald, who is willing to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, also has a successful mail-order arm to send cookies across the country. They’re thick and perfectly round in flavors such as orange gingersnap, pistachio chocolate, and lemon pistachio shortbread.

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She also gives classes in the bakery and writes a weekly newsletter, which she snail-mails for free. “People are lonely,” she says. They want to receive real mail.

Feta-garlic snails at Belleville Bakery.Sheryl Julian

Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, MacDonald, 59, also lived in Vancouver. She met Beaulieu in Montreal. His large, striking artworks hang in the bakery.

In order to get a US E-2 Investor Visa, they had to invest $15,000 in a new US company (some applicants invest considerably more) and have secured premises in the destination city. Sight-unseen, they rented a painting studio in The Soda Plant in Burlington for Beaulieu, which qualified them.

The bakery’s name is the English version of Beaulieu’s surname. Beaulieu means “beautiful place,” she says. Belleville, which means “beautiful city,” is easier for Americans to spell.

Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who happened to be there when I was — she said she stops by often since her office is so close — describes the bakery as “loveliness in this corner. [MacDonald] draws people into this community.”

Cinnamon snails at Belleville Bakery.Sheryl Julian

The bakery has become known for its I am Proud of Me Banana Cake. It’s really banana bread, but when MacDonald made it in France, customers wondered why it was called bread.

When you buy one, MacDonald asks you what you’re proud of. She’s heard many comments, mostly emotional. One woman in her 20s was going to drive on the highway for the first time, someone else was excited to have completed exams. Then a man came in to say he was proud of his wife for finishing chemo.

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“She’d been planning this cake during her treatment,” MacDonald told a local TV reporter who did a segment on her. Donations started coming in so other cancer patients at the local hospital could get a banana cake; MacDonald also sends cakes to a palliative care center and a teen drop-in center.

Those efforts came to the attention of a program director at the University of Vermont, who called MacDonald in the middle of Vermont’s dark, cold February winter. The administrator was running a mental health day for freshmen. She bought 100 banana cakes from MacDonald and asked her to come and hand them out.

The line was an hour long. Students waited patiently, not just to get an I am Proud of Me Banana Cake, but also for a moment to tell MacDonald what was on their mind.

Belleville Bakery & Catering, 217 College St., Burlington, Vt., www.bellevillevt.com


Sheryl Julian can be reached at sheryl.julian@globe.com.

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