Good morning.
The advice columnist E Jean Carroll told a New York jury yesterday that Donald Trump raped her, leaving her unable to have a romantic relationship, and then “shattered my reputation” by denying the attack occurred.
Carroll testified in her civil lawsuit seeking damages for battery – after Trump allegedly sexually assaulted her in a New York department store changing room in 1996 – and for defamation, after he accused her of lying and perpetrating a hoax when she went public with her accusations in a book.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back,” she told the jury.
Trump denies the accusations.
Before Carroll testified, Judge Lewis Kaplan warned that Trump may have crossed the line into jury tampering after the former president posted an attack on his social media site, Truth Social, calling Carroll’s accusations a “made-up SCAM” and a “witch-hunt”.
What did the judge say about the Truth Social post? Kaplan called Trump’s post “entirely inappropriate” and warned that it could become “a potential source of liability” for him.
What did Carroll say about the reaction to her going public? Carroll said she had been subject to considerable abuse by Trump and his supporters for going public about the alleged attack, including the then president’s dismissal of her as a liar. Carroll said she had expected him to say they had a consensual encounter, not deny it altogether. “Nobody looked at me the same. It was gone. Even people who knew me looked at me with pity in their eyes, and the people who had no opinion now thought I was a liar and hated me,” she said. “The force of hatred coming at me was staggering.”
Tucker Carlson breaks silence after abrupt departure from Fox News
Tucker Carlson has broken his silence after his abrupt departure from Fox News, posting a video to Twitter that did not directly address his reported firing.
Carlson was one of the network’s biggest stars, and gained a large following while spouting xenophobic and racist rhetoric on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. He left Fox News without explanation on Monday. News outlets have reported that Carlson was fired on the personal order of Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch for, among other things, using vulgar language to describe a female executive.
Carlson shared a cryptic two-minute video on his Twitter account yesterday that did not explain his exit, but offered sweeping complaints about the state of American discourse. He said what he noticed “when you step away from the noise for a few days” is how nice some people are.
“The other thing you notice when you take a little time off is how unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are,” he added. “They’re completely irrelevant. They mean nothing. In five years we won’t even remember we heard them. Trust me, as somebody who participated.”
Why has Fox cut ties with Carlson? Fox hasn’t commented publicly on why it cut ties with Carlson, but it came after Fox News last week agreed to pay voting equipment company Dominion $787.5m to settle a high-profile defamation lawsuit. Carlson’s stunning departure is reportedly connected to a lawsuit filed by a former senior booking producer, Abby Grossberg, who claimed she faced sexism and a hostile work environment.
Pentagon leak suspect may still have access to classified info, court filings allege
Federal prosecutors are urging a judge to keep behind bars a Massachusetts air national guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents, arguing he may still have access to secret national defence information that he could expose.
In court papers filed late yesterday, justice department lawyers said releasing 21-year-old Jack Teixeira from jail while he awaits trial would be a grave threat to US national security. Investigators are still trying to determine whether he kept any physical or digital copies of classified information, including files that haven’t already surfaced publicly, they wrote.
“There simply is no condition or combination of conditions that can ensure the defendant will not further disclose additional information still in his knowledge or possession,” prosecutors wrote. “The damage the defendant has already caused to the US national security is immense. The damage the defendant is still capable of causing is extraordinary.”
Teixeira has been in jail since his arrest earlier this month on charges stemming from the highest-profile intelligence leak in years. A detention hearing is scheduled for today in a federal court.
What has Teixeira been charged with? He’s been charged under the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information. He has not yet entered a plea, and his attorney declined after last week’s hearing to speak to reporters. If convicted, prosecutors say he could face up to 25 years in prison. He is accused of distributing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.
In other news …
A federal appeals court has denied Donald Trump’s emergency motion to block Mike Pence from testifying in a criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, paving the way for the special counsel examining the matter to obtain potentially inculpatory accounts of Trump’s desperate bid to stay in power.
House Republicans narrowly passed sweeping legislation that would raise the government’s legal debt ceiling by $1.5tn in exchange for steep spending restrictions, a tactical victory for the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, as he challenges Joe Biden to negotiate and prevent a catastrophic federal default this summer.
The US and South Korea have reaffirmed their alliance, agreeing that nuclear-armed submarines would resume port visits and threatening a “swift, overwhelming and decisive response” to any North Korean nuclear attack, including retaliation in kind by the US.
A Fugees rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted Wednesday after a trial that included testimony ranging from the actor Leonardo DiCaprio to the former US attorney general Jeff Sessions.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, spoke on Wednesday about the crisis in Sudan. Blinken’s spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said the pair discussed “collaboration to create a sustainable cessation of hostilities and end the fighting in Sudan”.
Stat of the day: Oregon grocery store worker, 91, retires after raising more than $80,000 online
A 91-year-old grocery store cashier from Oregon can finally retire thanks to an online fundraiser that was made necessary by the economic forces that compel some Americans to work virtually their entire lives. Betty Glover has spent seven decades in the US workforce and occasionally even held down two jobs at a time but nonetheless was unable to save enough to retire and still pay off her monthly bills, medicines, groceries and the camping trailer in which she lives, according to the Rogue Valley Times, which recently profiled her. One of Glover’s granddaughters helped her launch a GoFundMe campaign with an initial goal of $40,000. The campaign succeeded resoundingly and as of Wednesday had raised more than $82,000, mostly from community members and store regulars.
Don’t miss this: Bali influencer backlash intensifies as island cracks down on problem tourists
Luiza Kosykh claims she didn’t know the 700-year-old tree she posed naked in front of was sacred. However, the viral shot captured by the Russian national in Bali was enough to infuriate the local community and resulted in her swift arrest and deportation. The case is one of a growing number of incidents involving unruly visitors, as tensions between foreign influencers and locals on the Indonesian island reach boiling point. Once known as a laidback surfers’ paradise, Bali has in recent years become a popular backdrop for “content creators” looking to promote their picture-perfect lifestyles.
“Our hospitality has been taken for granted,” Niluh Djelantik, a Balinese business owner and activist, told the Guardian. Referring to a video of a foreigner riding a motorbike around Bali while standing on the seat, Djelantik says: “If you wouldn’t do these things in your own country, don’t do it in Bali.”
Climate check: human-driven climate crisis fuelling Horn of Africa drought – study
The devastating drought in the Horn of Africa would not have happened without the human-made impact of the climate crisis, new science has shown. The drought has affected about 50 million people in the Horn of Africa directly and another 100 million in the wider area. About 20 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity and potentially famine. The region has been suffering its worst drought in 40 years since October 2020, with extended dry conditions punctuated by short intense rainfall that has often led to flash flooding. There have been five consecutive seasons of rainfall below normal levels. At least 4.35 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and at least 180,000 refugees have fled Somalia and South Sudan for Kenya and Ethiopia, which have also been affected by the drought.
Last Thing: South Korean president sings American Pie at state dinner with Biden
From discussing nuclear war to belting out a beloved hit: the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol’s White House visit ended on a high note when he sang Don McLean’s American Pie to great applause. Yoon is on a six-day state visit to Washington, where he discussed with Joe Biden “the end” of any North Korean regime that used nuclear weapons against the allies. But the two leaders had more cheerful topics on the agenda at the White House state dinner in Yoon’s honour on Wednesday, with the South Korean leader – who is known at home to be something of a karaoke buff – sharing his love of American music. Yoon belted out the first few lines of the song a cappella, triggering rapturous applause from the crowd and delighting Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden.
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