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  • J. Harrison Ghee, Alex Newell become first openly nonbinary Tony winners for acting

    J. Harrison Ghee, Alex Newell become first openly nonbinary Tony winners for acting

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    Tony Awards history was made Sunday when Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee became the first nonbinary people to win Tonys for acting as the Broadway community seized the moment amid a Hollywood writers’ strike that left theater’s biggest night without a script.

    “Thank you for the humanity. Thank you for my incredible company who raised me up every single day,” said leading actor in a musical winner Ghee, who stars in “Some Like It Hot,” the adaptation of the classic cross-dressing comedy film.

    The soulful Ghee stunned audiences with their voice and dance skills, playing a Chicago musician, on the run from gangsters, who tries on a dress and is transformed.

    The 76th Annual Tony Awards - Show
    J. Harrison Ghee accepts the award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for “Some Like It Hot” onstage during The 76th Annual Tony Awards at United Palace Theater on June 11, 2023 in New York City.

    Theo Wargo


    Newell, who plays Lulu — an independent, don’t-need-no-man whiskey distiller in “Shucked” — has been blowing audiences away with their signature number, “Independently Owned.”

    “Thank you for seeing me, Broadway. I should not be up here as a queer, nonbinary, fat, Black little baby from Massachusetts. And to anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I’m going to look you dead in your face that you can do anything you put your mind to,” Newell said to an ovation upon winning best featured actor in a musical.

    The 76th Annual Tony Awards
    Alex Newell at the 76th Annual Tony Awards.

    Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images


    Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” which explores Jewish identity with an intergenerational story, won best play, also earning wins for director Patrick Marber, featured actor Brandon Uranowitz and Brigitte Reiffenstuel’s costumes.

    The British-Czech playwright, who now has five best play Tony Awards, joked he won his first in 1968 and noted that playwrights were “getting progressively devalued in the food chain” despite being “the sharp ends of the inverted pyramid.”

    Tony Awards host Ariana DeBose opened a blank script backstage before dancing and leaping her way to open the main show with a hectic opening number that gave a jolt of electricity to what is usually an upbeat, safe and chummy night. The writers strike left the storied awards show honoring the best of musical theater and plays to rely on spontaneity in a new venue far from the theater district.

    Before the pre-show began, DeBose revealed to the audience the only words that will be seen on the teleprompter: “Please wrap up.” Later in the evening, virtually out of breath after her wordless performance, she thanked the labor organizers for allowing a compromise.

    “I’m live and unscripted. You’re welcome,” she said. “So to anyone who may have thought that last year was a bit unhinged, to them, I say, ‘Darlings, buckle up.’”

    The 76th Annual Tony Awards - Show
    Host Ariana DeBose speaks onstage during The 76th Annual Tony Awards at United Palace Theater on June 11, 2023 in New York City.

    Kevin Mazur


    Winners demonstrated their support for the striking writers either at the podium or on the red carpet with pins. Miriam Silverman, who won the Tony for best featured actress in a play for “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window,” ended her speech with: “My parents raised me to believe in the power of labor and workers being compensated and treated fairly. We stand with the WGA in solidarity!”

    There had initially been concerns the WGA may picket the award show, but an agreement between the writers union and Tony Awards Productions, which hosts the award show, was reached in mid-May.

    “Tony Awards Productions (a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing) has communicated with us that they are altering this year’s show to conform with specific requests from the WGA, and therefore the WGA will not be picketing the show,” the union told CBS News in a statement last month.   

    Jodie Comer, the three-time Emmy-nominated star of “Killing Eve” won the leading actress in a play trophy for her Broadway debut, the one-woman play “Prima Facie,” which illustrates how current laws fail terribly when it comes to sexual assault cases.

    Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Underdog,” a Pulitzer Prize winning play about sibling rivalry, inequality and society’s false promises, won the Tony for best play revival. She thanked director Kenny Leon and stars Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II: “They showed up to be large in a world that often does not much want the likes of us living at all.”

    Bonnie Milligan, who won for best featured actress in a musical for “Kimberly Akimbo,” had a message to the audience: “I want to tell everybody that doesn’t maybe look like what the world is telling you what you should look like — whether you’re not pretty enough, you’re not fit enough, your identity is not right, who you love isn’t right — that doesn’t matter.”

    “‘Cause just guess what?” she continued, brandishing her award. “It’s right, and you belong.”

    Many of the technical awards — for things like costumes, sound, lighting and scenic design — were handed out at a breakneck pace on a Pluto TV pre-show hosted by Skylar Astin and Julianne Hough, allowing winners plenty of airtime for acceptance speeches but little humor.

    The pre-show featured some awkwardly composed shots and some presenters slipped up on certain words. The tempo was so rapid, the Pluto telecast ended more than 10 minutes before the CBS broadcast was slated to start.

    John Kander, the 96-year-old composer behind such landmark shows as “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and “The Scottsboro Boys,” was honored with a special lifetime award during it.

    “This is a very big deal,” he said. “When your own community honors you, it’s very humbling and a little bit scary.”

    He thanked his parents; his husband, Albert Stephenson; and music, which “has stayed my friend through my entire life and has promised to stick with me until the end.”

    Jennifer Grey handed her father, “Cabaret” star Joel Grey, the other lifetime achievement Tony.

    “Being recognized by the theater community is such a gift because it’s always been, next to my children, my greatest, most enduring love,” the actor said.

    Tony Awards: Act One, Live Pre-Show Of Exclusive Content On PLUTO TV
    Joel Grey accepts the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre from Jennifer Grey.

    Kevin Mazur


    Grey said earlier on “CBS Sunday Morning” that it was “fitting” he and Kander were both being honored together 56 years after the Tony Awards were first aired. 

    “John has been one of the great collaborators of my life, and collaboration is what the theater is all about”, he said. “Teamwork. Building something together that none of us could have created alone.”

    Director Jerry Mitchell won the Isabelle Stevenson Award in recognition of his dedication and contributions to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

    “Parade” — a doomed musical love story set against the real backdrop of a murder and lynching in Georgia in pre-World War I that won Tonys as a new musical in 1999 — won for best musical revival on Sunday, with Michael Arden winning for best director of a musical.

    “‘Parade’ tells the story of a life that was cut short at the hands of the belief that one group of people is more valuable than another and that they might be more deserving of justice,” Arden said. “This is a belief that is the core of antisemitism, white supremacy, homophobia and transphobia and intolerance of any kind. We must come together. We must battle this.”

    Performances from all the nominated musicals were on tap and Will Swenson — starring on Broadway in a Neil Diamond musical — led the audience in a vigorous rendition of “Sweet Caroline.”

    It all took place at the United Palace Theatre, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan — a new venue for the ceremony, many miles from Times Square and the theater district.

    “Thank you all for coming uptown. Never in my wildest dreams, truly,” Lin-Manuel Miranda joked onstage. He, of course, wrote the musical “In the Heights,” set in Washington Heights.

    CBS News and CBS are both owned by Paramount.

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  • How charging drivers to go downtown would transform American cities | CNN Business

    How charging drivers to go downtown would transform American cities | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden’s administration is set to allow New York City to move forward with a landmark program that will toll vehicles entering Lower Manhattan, after a public review period ends Monday.

    The toll is formally known as the Central Business District Tolling Program — but it’s commonly called “congestion pricing.”

    In practice it works like any other toll, but because it specifically charges people to drive in the traffic-choked area below 60th street in Manhattan, it would be the first program of its kind in the United States.

    Proposals range from charging vehicles $9 to $23 during peak hours, and it’s set to go into effect next spring.

    The plan had been delayed for years, but it cleared a milestone last month when the Federal Highway Administration signed off on the release of an environmental assessment. The public has until Monday to review the report, and the federal government is widely expected to approve it shortly after.

    From there, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) can finalize toll rates, as well as discounts and exemptions for certain drivers.

    New York City is still clawing out of from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Congestion pricing advocates say it’s a crucial piece of the city’s recovery and a way to re-imagine the city for the future.

    “This program is critical to New York City’s long-term success,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said last month.

    The plan would also mark the culmination of more than a half-century of efforts to implement congestion pricing in New York City. Despite support from several New York City mayors and state governors, car and truck owners in outer boroughs and the suburbs helped defeat proposals.

    In 2007 Mayor Michael Bloomberg called congestion “the elephant in the room” when proposing a toll program, which state lawmakers killed. A decade later, Gov. Andrew Cuomo — who had long resisted congestion pricing — said it was “an idea whose time has come” and declared a subway state of emergency after increased delays and a derailment that injured dozens. Two years later, the state gave the MTA approval to design a congestion pricing program.

    Ultimately, it was the need to improve New York City’s public transit that became the rallying cry for congestion pricing.

    Each day 700,000 cars, taxis and trucks pour into Lower Manhattan, one of the busiest areas in the world with some of the worst gridlock in the United States.

    Car travel at just 7.1 mph on average in the congestion price zone, and it’s a downward trend. Public bus speeds have also declined 28% since 2010. New Yorkers lose 117 hours on average each year sitting in traffic, costing them nearly $2,000 in lost productivity and other costs, according to one estimate.

    The toll is designed to reduce the number of vehicles entering the congestion zone by at least 10% every day and slash the number of miles cars travel within the zone by 5%.

    Congestion comes with physical and societal costs, too: more accidents, carbon emissions and pollution happen as belching, honking cars take up space that could be optimized for pedestrians and outdoor dining.

    Proponents also note it will improve public transit, an essential part of New York life. About 75% of trips downtown are via public transit.

    But public-transit ridership is 35% to 45% lower compared to pre-pandemic levels. The MTA says congestion fees will generate a critical source of revenue to fund $15 billion in future investments to modernize the city’s 100-year-old public transit system.

    The improvements, like new subway cars and electric signals, are crucial to draw new riders and improve speed and accessibility — especially for low-income and minority residents, who are least likely to own cars, say plan advocates.

    New York City is “dependent on public transit,” said Kate Slevin, the executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, an urban planning and policy group. “We’re relying on that revenue to pay for needed upgrades and investments that ensure reliable, good transit service.”

    Improving public transportation is also key to New York City’s post-pandemic economic recovery: If commutes to work are too unreliable, people are less likely to visit the office and shop at stores around their workplaces. Congestion charge advocates hope the program will create more space for amenities like wider sidewalks, bike lanes, plazas, benches, trees and public bathrooms.

    “100 years ago we decided the automobile was the way to go, so we narrowed sidewalks and built highways,” said Sam Schwartz, former New York City traffic commissioner and founder of an eponymous consulting firm. “But the future of New York City is that the pedestrian should be king and queen. Everything should be subservient to the pedestrian.”

    While no other US city has yet implemented congestion pricing, Stockholm, London and Singapore have had it for years.

    These cities have reported benefits like decreased carbon dioxide pollution, higher average speeds, and congestion reduction.

    Just one year after London added its charge in 2003, traffic congestion dropped by 30% and average speeds increased by the same percentage. In Stockholm, one study found the rate of children’s acute asthma visits to the doctor fell by about 50% compared to rates before the program launched in 2007.

    Some groups are fiercely opposed to congestion charges in New York City, however. Taxi and ride-share drivers, largely a low-income and immigrant workforce, fear it will hurt drivers already struggling to make ends meet. The MTA said congestion pricing could reduce demand for taxis by up to 17% in the zone.

    Commuters and legislators from New York City’s outer boroughs and New Jersey say the program hurts drivers who have no viable way to reach downtown Manhattan other than by car, and that this would disproportionately impact low-income drivers. (But out of a region of 28 million people, just an estimated 16,100 low-income people commute to work via car in Lower Manhattan, according to the MTA.)

    Other critics say it could divert more traffic and pollution from diesel trucks in Manhattan into lower-income areas like the Bronx, which has the highest rates of asthma hospitalization in the city.

    The MTA and other agencies have plans to mitigate many of these adverse effects, however.

    Taxis and for-hire vehicles will be tolled only once a day. Drivers who make less than $50,000 a year or are enrolled in certain government aid programs will get 25% discounts after their first 10 trips every month. Trucks and other vehicles will get 50% discounts during overnight hours.

    Additionally, the MTA pledged $10 million to install air filtration units in schools near highways, $20 million for a program to fight asthma, and other investments to improve air quality and the enviornment in areas where more traffic could be diverted.

    The stakes of New York City’s program are high, and leaders in other cities are watching the results closely.

    If successful, congestion pricing could be a model for other US cities, which are trying to recover from the pandemic and face similar challenges of climate change and aging public infrastructure.

    “It’s good to see New York City’s program is moving forward,” said the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board last month. “Los Angeles should watch, learn and go next.”

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  • Rise Over Manhattan In This Boutique Penthouse Apartment

    Rise Over Manhattan In This Boutique Penthouse Apartment

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    A stylishly renovated three-bedroom penthouse in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood takes in two iconic views of the city from a pair of terraces.

    The more than 2,200-square-foot unit has two outdoor spaces, one that has a view of the Empire State Building, and another catty-corner space that takes in lower Manhattan to One World Trade.

    With windows in all directions, the apartment is bathed in natural light.

    The current owners undertook a gradual renovation costing nearly $1 million. It includes a kitchen with modern wood cabinets, a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Wolf range. A leather breakfast nook next to the kitchen seats up to six people. A wall of slatted dark wood is retractable so the kitchen can be open or closed to the dining area.

    “This has a lot of personalized touches and thought put into it,” says listing agent Mick DiStasio of Elegran. “It was very thoughtfully designed.”

    The edge of the L-shaped living room is currently used as an office.

    The primary en-suite bedroom has warm, modern wood built-ins and can fit a king-sized bed.

    There are two other large bedrooms, along with a second full bathroom and half bathroom.

    The unit sits at the top of the 13-story Chelsea House, a boutique-style condominium built in 2005. It has a full-time doorman and concierge, fitness center, residents’ lounge, bicycle storage and pet spa. The building is at the center of Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, a few blocks to Union Square and the Greenmarket to the east and the High Line, Chelsea Market and the Whitney Museum to the west.

    Along with the terraces, penthouse residents can also enjoy a landscaped roof deck.

    The penthouse is on the market for $4.3 million. DiStasio disclosed that there have already been several offers.

    There are nearly 1,350 active listings in the Chelsea neighborhood, up 2.9% from the prior month and down 0.3% compared with the same period a year ago, according to UrbanDigs.

    Although supply remains near recent averages, pending sales (226) are currently up 17.1% from the previous month and 8.1% from the previous year. The median price-per-square-foot in May was $1,797, while the median sale price for the month was $1.75 million, up 34.3% from the previous year.

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  • Airbnb sues New York City over restrictions on short-term rentals

    Airbnb sues New York City over restrictions on short-term rentals

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Airbnb sued New York City on Thursday over an ordinance that the company says imposes arbitrary restrictions that would greatly reduce the local supply of short-term rentals.

    The 2022 ordinance, which the city plans to begin enforcing next month, would require owners to register with the mayor’s office, disclose who else lives in the property, and promise to comply with zoning, construction and maintenance ordinances.

    Airbnb said called the restrictions “extreme and oppressive” and a de facto ban against short-term rentals that left the company no choice but to sue.

    “Taken together, these features of the registration scheme appear intended to drive the short-term rental trade out of New York City once and for all,” Airbnb said. The company said the mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement “failed to consider reasonable alternatives.”

    A spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams said city hall will review the lawsuit.

    “This administration is committed to protecting safety and community livability for residents, preserving permanent housing stock, and ensuring our hospitality sector can continue to recover and thrive,” said the spokesman, Jonah Allon. “The rules governing short-term rentals … have been clear for years,” and the 2022 registration law was properly adopted by the city council, he added.

    San Francisco-based Airbnb filed the lawsuit in state court in Manhattan. Three Airbnb hosts filed a companion lawsuit against the city.

    Airbnb sued New York state in 2016 over a ban on advertising short-term rentals. It dropped that lawsuit when the city promised not to enforce it. In 2020, Airbnb settled a lawsuit against the city over monthly reporting requirements for its listings. Airbnb said the 2022 ordinance violates both settlements.

    The New York restrictions are among many efforts by local communities to regulate short-term rentals without banning them. New Orleans is among cities taking on the rental giant, after a court struck down a previous law.

    In some places, opponents have raised concerns about noise and safety. Critics also say the growth of short-term rentals pioneered by Airbnb has contributed to a shortage of affordable housing for residents, particularly in vacation towns. Those complaints extend far beyond U.S. borders.

    On Thursday in Italy, the popular tourist destination of Florence announced an immediate ban on new vacation rentals in the city’s historic center.

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  • Central Park Views And Celebrity Neighbors Are Highlights Of This NYC Condo

    Central Park Views And Celebrity Neighbors Are Highlights Of This NYC Condo

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    A two-bedroom condo in famed architect Robert A.M. Stern’s celebrity-filled 15 Central Park West takes in panoramic views of the park.

    The apartment sits on the 27th floor of “the Tower” of the two-building complex, overlooking the iconic green space and the Manhattan skyline that borders it.

    The building was constructed in the mid-2000s and has been home to numerous celebrities and public figures, including actors Denzel Washington and Robert De Niro, musician Sting, baseball player Alex Rodriguez and former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

    While the building is relatively new, its limestone facade was sourced from the same quarry as the Empire State Building and the New Classical style complements its neighbors on the iconic street. It also has a long list of amenities, including a 75-foot pool, 14,000-square-foot fitness center, basement wine cellar with tasting bar and 20-seat screening room.

    The unit features 11-foot ceilings and tall windows that frame the protected view. The more than 2,300 square feet of space includes two large en-suite bedrooms and a half bathroom. The master bedroom has a large walk-in closet outfitted with shelving and inset lighting, along with a modern light fixture.

    “It’s the ideal pied-à-terre,” says listing agent Thomas Duger of Elegran.

    Duger noted that the position toward the middle of the 43-story tower provides a great vantage point.

    “Sometimes, when you’re too high up, you lose perspective of the park,” Duger shares.

    The current owners have renovated the apartment, and finishes include light-colored herringbone wood floors, detailed moldings and a half bathroom with a full slab of onyx marble.

    “To have a new-ish condo in a building of this nature, there’s nothing like it,” Duger says.

    The apartment was recently listed for $13.5 million.

    The building is in the center of cultural life in Manhattan, close to Broadway theaters and Lincoln Center, and blocks from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History.

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  • Trump makes video appearance in New York criminal case, trial date set for March primary season

    Trump makes video appearance in New York criminal case, trial date set for March primary season

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump threw up his hands in frustration Tuesday as a judge scheduled his criminal trial for March 25, putting the former president and current candidate in a Manhattan courtroom in the heat of next year’s presidential primary season.

    Trump, appearing by video conference at a pretrial hearing in the hush-money case, glowered at the camera as Judge Juan Manuel Merchan advised him to cancel all other obligations for the duration of the trial, which could last several weeks.

    Trump, wearing a blue suit against a backdrop of American flags at his Florida estate, then turned to a lawyer by his side — their brief discussion inaudible on the video feed — before sitting with his arms folded for the remainder of the hearing.

    Trump said little during the hearing, but lashed out afterward on social media, writing: “Just had New York County Supreme Court hearing where I believe my First Amendment Rights, ‘Freedom of Speech,’ have been violated, and they forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of Primary season.”

    “Very unfair, but this is exactly what the Radical Left Democrats wanted,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE, and nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before!!!”

    Trump pleaded not guilty last month to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters. He has denied wrongdoing.

    Merchan said he arrived at the March 25 trial date after discussions with Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors. Trump’s lawyer, Susan Necheles, said Trump knew about the date prior to Tuesday’s hearing and said she didn’t see his exasperated reaction.

    Trump’s case is proceeding in state court even as his lawyers seek to have it moved to federal court because some of the alleged conduct occurred while he was president. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has until next week to file paperwork stating why it should remain in state court, where the historic indictment was brought.

    Trump has made the New York case and the long list of other investigations into his personal, professional and presidential conduct central to his campaign to reclaim the White House in 2024. The Republican has portrayed himself as the victim of a coordinated, politically motivated effort to sully his chances.

    Trump often discusses the cases at his rallies, in speeches, TV appearances and on social media. He has repeatedly attacked prosecutors, accusers and judges by name, including Merchan, and has shown no willingness to back down — even after a recent $5 million verdict in a writer’s sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against him.

    The plaintiff in that case, writer E. Jean Carroll, filed a new claim Monday seeking an additional $10 million or more to hold Trump liable for remarks he made bashing her on CNN the day after the May 9 verdict.

    Trump responded Tuesday by doubling down on his contention that Carroll’s allegations were a “Fake, Made Up Story” and a “TOTAL SCAM” and that her case is “part of the Democrats playbook to tarnish my name and person.”

    Merchan spent the bulk of Tuesday’s 15-minute hearing reviewing an order he issued May 8 that sets ground rules for Trump’s behavior in the lead-up to the trial.

    It’s not a gag order and Trump is free to speak about the case and defend himself, Merchan said, but he can’t use evidence turned over by prosecutors to attack witnesses or post sensitive documents to social media. If he violates the order, he risks being held in contempt.

    Among concerns raised by prosecutors were that Trump could weaponize “highly personal information” found on witnesses’ cellphones, such as personal photos and text messages with family and friends, as well as secret grand jury testimony and other material, to rile up anger amongst his supporters.

    Nothing in the order prevents Trump from being able to speak “powerfully and persuasively” in his defense without the need to “start attacking individuals, disclosing names, addresses, cellphones’ numbers, identity, dates of birth, or anything along those lines,” Merchan said. Certain sensitive material shared by prosecutors must be kept only by Trump’s lawyers, not Trump himself.

    Prosecutors sought the order soon after Trump’s arrest, citing what they say is his history of making “harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements” about people he’s tangled with in legal disputes.

    Trump was spared a personal appearance at the courthouse Tuesday, avoiding the mammoth security and logistical challenges that accompanied his arraignment last month. Instead, the Republican was connected by video conference, with his face beamed onto TV monitors positioned around the courtroom.

    Trump isn’t required to appear in court in person again until Jan. 4, just weeks before the first primary votes are expected to be cast.

    __

    Associated Press reporter Jill Colvin contributed to this report. __

    Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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  • NYC bike path terrorist set to be sentenced to life in prison after avoiding death penalty verdict at trial | CNN

    NYC bike path terrorist set to be sentenced to life in prison after avoiding death penalty verdict at trial | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A terrorist convicted of striking and killing eight people with a rented truck on a New York City bike path in an attack for ISIS is scheduled to be sentenced to serve life in prison Wednesday.

    Sayfullo Saipov effectively learned his sentence in March, when the jury in the penalty phase of his trial in Manhattan federal court told a judge it was unable to reach an undivided decision favoring the death penalty on any of the nine capital counts against him.

    The capital counts each carry a mandatory life imprisonment sentence by law after the jury didn’t unanimously vote for the death penalty.

    Saipov’s case was the first death penalty case under the Biden administration.

    About 25 surviving victims and family members of those killed in the attack are expected to give victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing Wednesday morning, according to court filings.

    Of the eight people killed in the attack, five were from Argentina, two were Americans, and one was from Belgium. The majority of those participating in the Manhattan federal court hearing are traveling from Argentina and Belgium, the prosecutors said in a memo.

    The convicted terrorist will have an opportunity to address the court before he is sentenced, but it is unclear if he will do so.

    On Halloween in 2017, Saipov drove a rented U-Haul truck into cyclists and pedestrians on Manhattan’s West Side bike path, then crashed the vehicle into a school bus, authorities said.

    After leaving the truck while brandishing a pellet gun and paintball gun, he was shot by a New York City Police Department officer and taken into custody, officials said.

    The jury convicted Saipov in January of all 28 counts against him for the fatal attack.

    Those counts included murder in aid of racketeering activity, assault with a dangerous weapon and attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity, provision of material support to ISIS, and violence and destruction of a motor vehicle.

    Saipov is expected to serve his life sentence at the Federal Bureau of Prisons ADX facility in Florence, Colorado, in solitary confinement at least 22 hours a day, his attorneys said during trial.

    Federal prosecutors who say Saipov deserves no leniency want District Judge Vernon Broderick to sentence Saipov to the fullest extent of the sentencing guidelines for his 28-count conviction; eight consecutive life sentences, a consecutive term of 260 years’ imprisonment and two concurrent life sentences.

    “Because Saipov deliberately committed the most abhorrent crime imaginable for which he has expressed no remorse, he deserves no leniency. Only the maximum punishment on each count of conviction will reflect the unimaginable harm inflicted and send the appropriate message that terrorist attacks on innocent civilians will be punished as harshly as the law allows,” prosecutors said in a pre-sentencing court filing.

    The harshest sentence, prosecutors wrote, would be “an exercise of such discretion to hold the defendant fully accountable for his crimes, and to send the appropriate message to the defendant, the public, and any others who might contemplate an attack on U.S. soil.”

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  • Elon Musk must still have his tweets approved by Tesla lawyer, federal appeals court rules

    Elon Musk must still have his tweets approved by Tesla lawyer, federal appeals court rules

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk cannot back out of a settlement with securities regulators that was reached after his 2018 tweets claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private caused the electric vehicle maker’s share price to jump and led to a temporary halt in trading, an appeals court ruled Monday.

    The summary order by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan was released just days after a three-judge panel heard lawyers’ arguments in the case.

    Musk had challenged a lower court judge’s ruling last year requiring him to abide by the deal on the grounds that circumstances have changed and because the decree contains a “prior restraint” that Musk contends violates the First Amendment.

    The settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission required that his tweets be approved first by a Tesla attorney. It also called for Musk and Tesla to pay civil fines over the tweets in which Musk said he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

    The funding wasn’t secured, and Tesla remains public.

    In its ruling, the 2nd Circuit said it saw “no evidence to support Musk’s contention that the SEC has used the consent decree to conduct bad-faith, harassing investigations of his protected speech.”

    Instead, it said, the SEC had opened “just three inquiries into Musk’s tweets since 2018” and each challenged tweet “plausibly violated the terms of the consent decree.”

    The appeals court also rejected Musk’s prior restraint argument, saying parties entering consent decrees may voluntarily waive their First Amendment and other rights.

    Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, said in a statement: “We will seek further review and continue to bring attention to the important issue of the government constraint on speech.”

    Musk can appeal to the full 2nd Circuit or to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Lawyers for the government did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

    The SEC was investigating whether the Tesla CEO’s November 2021 tweets asking Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock violated an October 2018 settlement that Musk signed after the SEC brought an enforcement action against him alleging that his tweets about going private violated antifraud provisions of securities laws.

    In a written ruling in April 2022, Judge Lewis Liman said Musk sent the tweets without getting pre-approval.

    Musk’s deal with the SEC called for Musk and Tesla to each pay $20 million in fines over Musk’s tweets about having secured funding to take Tesla private. The funding was not secured, but Tesla’s stock price jumped in response to the tweets. Trading in the shares was subsequently halted.

    ___

    Associated Press Auto Writer Tom Krisher in Ann Arbor, Michigan, contributed to this report.

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  • Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

    Former Trump prosecutor mostly mum before Congress on details of hush-money investigation

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — An ex-prosecutor who once oversaw Manhattan’s investigation of former President Donald Trump declined to substantively answer questions at a closed-door deposition Friday of the House Judiciary Committee, according to a Republican lawmaker in the meeting. The prosecutor and his boss said he was merely abiding by grand jury rules.

    Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, exited the meeting after roughly one hour and said Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor, repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment that protects people from providing self-incriminating testimony.

    Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to bury allegations of extramarital affairs that arose during his 2016 White House campaign. GOP lawmakers have decried the investigation as a “political persecution” and launched an oversight probe.

    Pomerantz in a written opening statement called the committee’s inquiry itself “an act of political theater.” He also explained he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had previously warned him before he published a book on the investigation that he could face criminal liability if he revealed grand jury material or violated a provision of the New York City Charter dealing with misuse of confidential information.

    Pomerantz, who left Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after disagreements over the direction of the Trump investigation, was subpoenaed by the Republican-controlled House committee. The panel, chaired by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, is probing how Bragg handled Trump’s historic indictment.

    “This deposition is for show,” Pomerantz also said in prepared remarks. “I do not believe for a moment that I am here to assist a genuine effort to enact legislation or conduct legislative ‘oversight.’”

    Bragg had sued to halt Jordan’s subpoena of Pomerantz, but last month agreed to Pomerantz’s testimony after a delay and a condition that lawyers from the prosecutor’s office be present. The committee has said it would have allowed the district attorney’s lawyers even without the agreement.

    Pomerantz had argued in court papers that the subpoena left him in an “impossible position” and would potentially require him to violate his ethical obligations.

    Issa, the GOP lawmaker, told reporters, “This is an obstructing witness who has no intention of answering any questions.”

    Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, another member of the committee, also said lawmakers were “not getting many answers.”

    Jordan exited the meeting room after a deposition that lasted well over five hours and told reporters he was “surprised at some of the answers,” but declined to provide further details, citing committee rules.

    Pomerantz’s attorney, Ted Wells, told reporters that his opening statement explaining why he would not be answering questions made it “very clear as to what happened.”

    Pomerantz is allowed to refuse to answer certain questions that touch on legal privilege and ethical obligations, but Jordan could also rule on those assertions on a case-by-case basis. The Republican lawmaker said he would be conferring with the committee’s attorneys and members about taking legal action against Pomerantz, including holding him in contempt of Congress.

    A contempt of Congress charge would require a full committee vote before going to the floor of the Republican-majority House.

    Pomerantz recently wrote a book about his work pursuing Trump and discussed the investigation in interviews on “60 Minutes” and other shows. But Issa said he was not answering questions even on previous statements he had made.

    Issa suggested the fight over testimony will return to the legal system, saying it would be “for the court to decide when we object to his failure to answer any questions.”

    Bragg’s office said in a statement, “Consistent with the agreement we reached with the committee last month, the District Attorney’s Office is participating in today’s deposition and asserting our rights to oppose disclosure of confidential information protected by law.”

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  • Trump liable for sexual abuse, defamation; ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million

    Trump liable for sexual abuse, defamation; ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million

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    A federal jury in New York found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in a civil trial stemming from allegations he raped the writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

    She was awarded $5 million total in damages.

    The jury, made up of six men and three women, got the case earlier Tuesday and deliberated for less than three hours. The jury’s decision had to be unanimous. In closing arguments, Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan reminded the jury that for the battery charge, “all you need is that it is more probable than not” that Trump attacked Carroll to find him liable, which is a much lower standard than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard applied in criminal trials.

    The jury found Trump liable for sexual assault, but not rape, and also found that he defamed Carroll. 

    After the verdict, Trump posted on Truth Social: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” 

    In two videos posted to his Truth Social account later Wednesday night, Trump called the verdict a “disgrace” and a “sham” and said that he and his legal team will be “appealing this decision.”

    Court sketch of E. Jean Carroll and attorneys in her civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.

    Jane Rosenberg


    Before Judge Lewis Kaplan discharged the jurors, who remained anonymous throughout the trial, he thanked them and told them they are now free to speak publicly about their service. However, he advised them against doing so. If they do, he barred them from identifying any of their peers on the panel.

    As the jurors exited the courtroom one last time, it appeared none of them made eye contact with Carroll on their way out. After the jurors had gone, Carroll’s attorneys embraced her. Trump was not in the courtroom for the verdict or any of the trial.

    During the eight-day trial, attorneys for Carroll pressed a case to the jury laying out how her allegations fit a pattern, or “modus operandi,” for Trump. In addition to witnesses who said Carroll confided in them after the incident, the jury heard from two other women who described Trump suddenly turning casual confrontations into sexual misconduct. They also watched the “Access Hollywood” video clip in which Trump could be heard crudely describing grabbing women by their genitals.

    Attorneys for Trump did not call any witnesses and he did not testify in the trial. They argued Carroll and the 10 other witnesses her team called were conspiring to tarnish a former president out of hatred for him.

    Ahead of the verdict on Tuesday morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was “not allowed to speak or defend myself, even as hard nosed reporters scream questions about this case at me.”

    Trump was permitted to testify in his own defense, but chose not to. Jurors were shown Trump’s videotaped deposition from October in which he repeatedly denied the accusations. 

    Carroll accused Trump of assaulting and raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in New York City in the mid-1990s, and then defaming her after she published her account in 2019. Trump, who has claimed he never met Carroll and “she’s not my type,” forcefully denied her accusations.

    E. Jean Carroll leaves court after winning her lawsuit against Donald Trump
    E. Jean Carroll, center, walks out of Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in New York. A jury has found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing the advice columnist in 1996, awarding her $5 million.

    Seth Wenig / AP


    His statements about Carroll were core to her defamation claim. The jury was shown a late-1980s photo that appears to depict Trump and Carroll in conversation with their then-spouses. They also watched the moment in Trump’s videotaped deposition when he was shown the photo and incorrectly identified Carroll as his ex-wife Marla Maples. Defense attorney Roberta Kaplan argued it was proof Carroll was indeed Trump’s “type.”

    After Trump was told of mistaking the women during his deposition, he said the photo was “blurry.”

    Carroll testified during the trial, saying she bumped into Trump while exiting the store one evening. She said Trump recognized her, saying “Hey, you’re that advice lady,” referring to a magazine column she wrote for nearly three decades. She said she replied, “Hey, you’re that real estate tycoon.”

    Carroll, then 52, said Trump, then 50, wanted advice on a gift purchase for a girl. She described pleasant, “joshing” banter as they perused the store, even after he suggested they go to the lingerie department.

    Carroll, who wrote for “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s, said the encounter seemed like a comedic scene, until things took a dark turn when they went to a dressing room. 

    Carroll said Trump pushed her against the wall, her head slamming against it. She said Trump forcefully penetrated her with his hand, causing severe pain, and then penetrated her with his penis. 

    Carroll said she managed to force her knee between them, pushing him away before leaving as fast as she could.

    She said she told two other people about the alleged attack soon after, her friends Lisa Birnbach and Carol Martin. Both were called to testify during the trial, delivering testimony that largely matched Carroll’s recollection.

    Trump attorney Joe Tacopina showed jurors emails and text messages between Carroll, Martin and Birnbach that appeared to show their animosity to Trump, who was then the president, as the defense tried to portray a politically motivated effort by the trio to use Carroll’s story to tarnish him. 

    Tacopina laid out the case as one in which Trump had “no story to tell,” because he said Carroll’s claim was entirely made up. In her closing arguments, Kaplan said the jury had to decide who was telling the truth: “the nonstop liar” Trump, or 11 people who testified under oath on Carroll’s behalf.

    Ultimately, the jury believed her.

    What is the difference between sexual battery and rape? 

    The jury chose to go with sexual battery instead of rape, potentially for a variety of reasons, CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman explained. 

    Klieman defined sexual battery as “a forcible touching, plus more.” 

    One possible reason the jury chose sexual battery over rape is they came to a “compromise” about what actually happened, Klieman explained. Klieman said Carroll was very “emphatic” about a finger, and what that felt like. 

    “In many jurisdictions, that kind of penetration of the vagina by a finger would also be considered rape, but perhaps this jury felt differently,” she said. “There is no doubt that they saw and heard enough to say, ‘Well perhaps it wasn’t rape for all kinds of extraneous reasons,’ but nonetheless they felt that that, one question down, they could find it a sexual abuse. They didn’t go further down the list of the judge’s “lesser” included offenses, as we lawyers would say.” 

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  • New York City Rents Are Going Up – Here’s How To Play It

    New York City Rents Are Going Up – Here’s How To Play It

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    A look at the supply/demand dynamic for Manhattan and Brooklyn rentals suggests that rents are going up.

    Despite worries about oversupply and lower demand in the commercial sector, the opposite dynamic appears to be taking place in the residential sector. The year-over-year change in the number of new rental listings is starting to fall as the market heads into the typically busy summer.

    While the days of 30% and higher rent increases are likely in the past, with current asking rents already approaching their highs, it will not take a big move to push past those highs into record territory.

    For instance, as seen above, the median asking rent in Manhattan is currently only $50 below the record-high, set during the summer of 2022. Even the slightest bit of renter competition will propel rents higher. Looking at the chart below, showing the declining number of new rental listings in Manhattan, it’s clear that things are about to get interesting.

    Brooklyn, too, is experiencing many of the same issues, albeit not as acutely as Manhattan. As seen below, the current median asking rent in Brooklyn is $3,600, 5% below the record high set last summer.

    However, like Manhattan, the level of new rental listings is dropping off.

    Taken together, an uptick in renter demand in Brooklyn could easily power asking rents to new highs.

    Indeed, even breaking down the data into neighborhoods shows that all areas in Manhattan and Brooklyn remain under pressure.

    Last spring, I wrote about how rents sharply increased on a percentage basis due to the pandemic’s whipsaw effect. At that time, the talk was about the surge in rents, which, when viewed against pre-pandemic measures, were up less than 10%. Now, however, the discussion is not necessarily about the rise in rents, but rather the level of rent. In other words, will rents ever go down again?

    Not anytime soon, if the lower amount of supply has anything to say. The following chart looks at how the monthly rental supply for 2023 in Manhattan (blue) and Brooklyn (red) is doing this year compared to the average for each month in previous years (2019-2022). The comparison shows a solidly negative trend that suggests renters today are entering a very landlord-friendly environment. Looking back to the supply/demand dynamics charts earlier, it can be seen that rents tend to fall significantly only after a notable increase in supply. That is certainly not the case today in either Manhattan or Brooklyn.

    With tight supply, renters will be forced to compete to sign leases. That means asking rents should be seen more as a guide than a goal. In reality, a perfectly capable apartment for rent in a perfectly normal neighborhood asking $3,500 per month will likely be swarmed with prospective tenants. In this situation, the final rent could approach $4,000 as participants weigh their options for not going higher than the next person.

    In short, as the Manhattan and Brooklyn rental markets head into the busy summer, all signs point to higher rents in the months to come. With tomorrow’s rents likely higher than today’s, prospective tenants needing to sign leases in the next few months would do well to analyze their local market and weigh whether paying a premium today to secure an apartment might be worthwhile, rather than potentially paying even more in a couple of months. Alternatively, it might be worth comparison-shopping the sales market over the summer, when it is typically quieter, to see if it might be time to buy.

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    John Walkup, Contributor

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  • In Trump trial over rape, defamation, another woman claims Trump accosted her

    In Trump trial over rape, defamation, another woman claims Trump accosted her

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    A woman who says Donald Trump silently molested her on an airliner in the late 1970s testified Tuesday in support of the writer who alleges that a flirtatious 1996 encounter with the future president ended in a violent sexual attack.

    Jessica Leeds, 81, of Asheville, North Carolina, said Trump accosted her with what seemed like “40 zillion hands.” She joined other witnesses who supported the testimony of E. Jean Carroll, a longtime advice columnist who publicly aired her claims against Trump in 2019, when she published a memoir. Trump has repeatedly denied the claims, saying Carroll lied to sell books and disparage him.

    The witnesses were meant to support Carroll’s testimony over three days ending Monday that Trump raped her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in midtown Manhattan.

    Lisa Birnbach, a longtime friend of Carroll, testified that an emotional and hyperventilating Carroll telephoned her minutes after her encounter with Trump to report what occurred. She said she told Carroll that Carroll had been raped and urged her to go to the police, but Carroll refused, leading them to argue before Birnbach agreed never to speak of it again.

    Leeds said she was in her late 30s and working in sales when she was invited by a flight attendant aboard a daytime flight from Dallas or Atlanta to New York to sit in the only empty aisle seat in the first-class cabin.

    “The gentleman sitting by the window introduced himself as Donald Trump,” she said.

    Conversation between the pair was mostly forgettable, Leeds recalled, as they ate a nice meal, before “all of a sudden Trump decided to kiss me and grope me.”

    “There was no conversation. It was like out of the blue. It was like a tussle. He was trying to kiss me, trying to pull me towards him. He was grabbing my breasts. It was like he had 40 zillion hands. It was like a tussling match between the two of us,” she recalled.

    Leeds said the standoff ended when she realized no aircraft employees were coming to the rescue and Trump seemed to get more aggressive.

    “It was when he started putting his hand up my skirt that gave me strength. I managed to wriggle out of my seat and storm back to my seat in coach. I don’t think there was a word or a sound made by either one of us,” she recalled.

    Asked to describe how long the encounter took, Leeds said “it seemed like forever, but it probably was just a few seconds.”

    When the plane landed, Leeds recalled, she remained on the plane until everyone else had left to avoid running into Trump again. 

    Leeds admitted in court that she is politically active. A Democrat living in North Carolina, she has donated to candidates including Sen. Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams, but not to Trump’s 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina, during cross examination asked if Leeds had told her story when Trump ran for president in the hope that it would influence the election against him. Leeds said she had done so and later said that she does not want him to regain the presidency. 

    The former president will not be appearing in court in this case, Tacopina informed the judge Tuesday. He said that the defense plans to call one witness virtually Thursday afternoon. Carroll’s legal team has several more witnesses to call to the stand, including Carroll’s sister, Candy Carroll.

    The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll and Leeds have done.

    Clare Hymes contributed to this report.

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  • Manhattan prosecutors ask judge to limit Trump’s ability to publicize information about his criminal case | CNN Politics

    Manhattan prosecutors ask judge to limit Trump’s ability to publicize information about his criminal case | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have asked the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case to impose a protective order restricting the former president’s ability to publicize information about the investigation.

    In a motion, prosecutors told the judge that Trump’s team would not consent to a protective order.

    “The risk that this Defendant will use the Covered Materials inappropriately is substantial. Defendant has a long history of discussing his legal matters publicly—including by targeting witnesses, jurors, investigators, prosecutors, and judges with harassing, embarrassing, and threatening statements on social media and in other public forums—and he has already done so in this case,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.

    Manhattan prosecutors have accused Trump of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign. The criminal charges stem from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into hush money payments, made during the 2016 campaign, to women who claimed they had extramarital affairs with Trump, which he denies. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

    In seeking the protective order, prosecutors cited some of Trump’s past attacks on witnesses who previously spoke out against him, including his former personal attorney Michael Cohen and Alexander Vindman, a former national security official who testified publicly during Trump’s first impeachment.

    They asked the judge to order that Trump only be allowed to view certain material turned over by prosecutors in the presence of his defense counsel and not allow him to copy material designated as “limited dissemination materials.”

    Specifically, they asked the judge to instruct anyone who receives materials, including grand jury testimony, to not post them on any news organization or social media websites without approval from the judge. They also asked the judge to limit the use of any materials they provide to Trump to defending the present case.

    “At the outset, it is important to note that the People are not at this time seeking a gag order in this case. Defendant has a constitutional right to speak publicly about this case, and the People do not seek to infringe upon that right,” prosecutors wrote.

    Prosecutors also asked the judge to limit the review of images of two cell phones related to a witness in the case to Trump’s defense lawyers, saying there is highly personal information included on the phones.

    In addition to limiting the disclosure of certain information prosecutors turn over to Trump from becoming public, they also asked the judge to limit the disclosure of identifying information about any support staff working for the prosecution team to the public until jury selection begins in the case.

    They cited Trump’s past statements about Bragg and the judge in the case.

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  • Did Ed Sheeran hit steal Marvin Gaye classic? Trial to tell.

    Did Ed Sheeran hit steal Marvin Gaye classic? Trial to tell.

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    Jury selection and opening statements are set to begin Monday in a trial that mashes up Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”

    The heirs of Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer of the 1973 soul classic, sued Sheeran, alleging the English pop star’s hit 2014 tune has “striking similarities” to “Let’s Get It On” and “overt common elements” that violate their copyright.

    The lawsuit filed in 2017 has finally made it to a trial that is expected to last a week in the Manhattan federal courtroom of 95-year-old Judge Louis L. Stanton.

    Sheeran, 32, is among the witnesses expected to testify.

    “Let’s Get It On” is the quintessential, sexy slow jam that’s been heard in countless films and commercials and garnered hundreds of millions of streams, spins and radio plays over the past 50 years. “Thinking Out Loud,” which won a Grammy for song of the year, is a much more marital take on love and sex.

    While the jury will hear the recordings of both songs, probably many times, their lyrics — and vibes — are legally insignificant. Jurors are supposed to only consider the raw elements of melody, harmony and rhythm that make up the composition of “Let’s Get It On,” as documented on sheet music filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

    Sheeran’s attorneys have said the songs’ undeniable structural symmetry points only to the foundations of popular music.

    “The two songs share versions of a similar and unprotectable chord progression that was freely available to all songwriters,” they said in a court filing.

    Marvin Gaye At The Holiday Star
    The American Soul musician Marvin Gaye, who died in 1984, performs onstage at the Holiday Star Theater, Merrillville, Indiana, June 10, 1983.

    Paul Natkin / Getty Images


    Townsend family attorneys pointed out in the lawsuit that artists including Boyz II Men have performed seamless mashups of the two songs, and that even Sheeran himself has segued into “Let’s Get It On” during live performances of “Thinking Out Loud.”

    They sought to play a potentially damning YouTube video of one such Sheeran performance for the jury at trial. Stanton denied their motion to include it, but said he would reconsider it after he sees other evidence that’s presented.

    Gaye’s estate is not involved in the case, though it will inevitably have echoes of their successful lawsuit against Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. over the resemblance of their 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” to Gaye’s 1977 “Got to Give it Up.”

    A jury awarded Gaye’s heirs $7.4 million at trial — later trimmed by a judge to $5.3 million — making it among the most significant copyright cases in recent decades.

    Sheeran’s label Atlantic Records and Sony/ATV Music Publishing are also named as defendants in the “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit. Generally, plaintiffs in copyright lawsuits cast a wide net in naming defendants, though a judge can eliminate any names deemed inappropriate. In this case, however, Sheeran’s co-writer on the song, Amy Wadge, was never named.

    Townsend, who also wrote the 1958 R&B doo-wop hit “For Your Love,” was a singer, songwriter and lawyer. He died in 2003. Kathryn Townsend Griffin, his daughter, is the plaintiff leading the lawsuit.

    Already a Motown superstar in the 1960s before his more adult 1970s output made him a generational musical giant, Gaye was killed in 1984 at age 44, shot by his father as he tried to intervene in a fight between his parents.

    “Way too common now”

    Major artists are often hit with lawsuits alleging song-stealing, but nearly all settle before trial — as Taylor Swift recently did over “Shake it Off,” ending a lawsuit that lasted years longer and came closer to trial than most other cases.

    But Sheeran — whose musical style drawing from classic soul, pop and R&B has made him a target for copyright lawsuits — has shown a willingness to go to trial before. A year ago, he won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You,” then slammed what he described as a “culture” of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.

    “I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim,” Sheeran said in a video posted on Twitter after the verdict. “It’s really damaging to the songwriting industry.”

    The “Thinking Out Loud” lawsuit also invokes one of the most common tropes in American and British music since the earliest days of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and hip-hop: a young white artist seemingly appropriating the work of an older Black artist — accusations that were also levied at Elvis Presley and The Beatles, whose music drew on that of Black forerunners.

    “Mr. Sheeran blatantly took a Black artist’s music who he doesn’t view as worthy as compensation,” Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who represents the Townsend family but is not involved in the trial, said at a March 31 news conference.

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  • Kendall Roy’s New York City Penthouse On ‘Succession’ Is Listed For $29 Million

    Kendall Roy’s New York City Penthouse On ‘Succession’ Is Listed For $29 Million

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    Want to live like a member of the Roy family? As Succession’s Season 4 continues, viewers get an even deeper glimpse into the lives of the ultra-wealthy Roy family, including their homes. While it was only on screen for a few seconds, the Manhattan penthouse of Kendall Roy at the start of Episode 4 showcased his glamorous living quarters.

    The new Waystar Royco CEO’s fictional home is on the market IRL for a cool $29 million. The triplex Manhattan penthouse is located in the swanky Upper East Side residential tower 180 East 88th Street, designed by Joe McMillan’s DDG. The 5,508-square-foot unit has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and two half-bathrooms. The modern penthouse has high ceilings reaching up to 28 feet, floor-to-ceiling windows encircling each room, and a sculptural spiral staircase that connects the levels. Views stretch far across Manhattan, overlooking Central Park and the city skyline.

    This home is truly fit for a billionaire. The penthouse’s main and lowest level features an airy living room, dining room, and a kitchen outfitted by Molteni and C Dada with Statuario marble countertops and Gaggenau appliances. This floor also has a den that could be used as a studio, personal office, extra bedroom, or library. The second floor houses the bedrooms, including the spacious primary suite with a gas fireplace, loggia terrace overlooking Central Park, a dressing room, and a spa-like bathroom. The bathroom has travertine slabs, mosaic-accented walls and flooring, oak cabinetry, honed Bianco Grigio marble countertops, a rain shower, and cove lighting. The light herringbone floors throughout the home give it a bright, upscale feel.

    The other bedrooms share a loggia terrace that overlooks the eastern cityscape and bridges. The third floor is where you can find the sprawling rooftop terrace, spanning 2,100 square feet, with panoramic city views and an extra powder room for guests. The terrace hovers 467 feet over the city and is divided into two areas. For added convenience, an elevator services all three floors.

    The building has just 47 condo residences, and there’s a 24-hour doorman, concierge services, and a whopping eight floors of amenities, like a fitness studio, double-height basketball court, soccer pitch, playroom, game room, residents’ lounge with a catering kitchen, wine storage, and bike storage.

    This tower is the highest residential tower north of 72nd Street on the city’s Upper East Side, making this the highest unit in this area as well. Just steps from the tower’s Carnegie Hill location is fabulous shopping and dining, though the area benefits from a safe and quiet residential location between Lexington and 3rd Avenue.

    This isn’t the first time that Succession has depicted swoon-worthy real estate. Last season, the family traveled to Italy for the late Logan Roy’s ex-wife Caroline Collingwood’s wedding. There, the HBO show showcased two spectacular Italian villas, Cetinale and Villa La Cassinella. In addition to the many Hamptons and New York City properties already shown on the show, it’s likely that real estate lovers are in for a treat for the rest of this final season.

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    Emma Reynolds, Senior Contributor

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  • Trump’s House GOP allies take fight to Manhattan DA’s turf

    Trump’s House GOP allies take fight to Manhattan DA’s turf

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Republicans upset with Donald Trump’s indictment are escalating their war on the prosecutor who charged him, trying to embarrass Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his home turf partly by falsely portraying New York City as a place overrun by crime.

    The House Judiciary Committee, led by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, held a field hearing Monday near Bragg’s offices to examine the Democrat’s “pro-crime, anti-victim” policies.

    New York City has “lost its way when it comes to fighting crime and upholding the law,” Jordan said. “Here in Manhattan, the scales of justice are weighed down by politics. For the district attorney justice isn’t blind — it’s about advancing opportunities to promote a political agenda — a radical political agenda.”

    Democrats said the hearing was a partisan stunt aimed at amplifying conservative anger at Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district attorney, and pressed Republicans to instead focus on curbing the proliferation of guns. Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and former police captain, called the hearing an “in-kind donation” to the Trump campaign and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, called it “a circus.”

    New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said: “Jim Jordan engages in a lot of political theater in Washington, but he should know better than to take his tired act to Broadway. New Yorkers see through this transparent attempt to defend Donald Trump at all costs while ignoring the real public safety needs of our community.”

    In a statement, Bragg’s office said that “ending violence, stopping crime, and supporting victims and their families” are his most sacred duties and that he will “always work with any local, state or federal partner who is serious about achieving lasting public safety.”

    “For outside politicians to now appear in New York City on the taxpayer dime for a political stunt is a slap in the face to the dedicated NYPD officers, prosecutors and other public servants who work tirelessly every day with facts and data to keep our home safe,” Bragg’s office said.

    Interrupted several times by outbursts from protesters, Monday’s hearing was the latest salvo in Jordan’s weekslong effort to use his congressional powers to defend Trump from what he says is a politically motivated prosecution.

    Jordan has sent letters to Bragg demanding testimony and documents, claiming Bragg’s office is subject to congressional scrutiny because it gets federal grants. He subpoenaed a former prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, who previously oversaw the Trump investigation. Bragg then sued Jordan, calling the subpoena a “transparent campaign to intimidate” him.

    Pomerantz said in court papers Monday that the subpoena leaves him in an “impossible position” and, if enforced, will require him to violate his ethical obligations or risk being held in contempt of Congress if he refuses. A federal judge scheduled an initial hearing for Wednesday.

    Attacking New York City and its mostly Democratic leaders over crime is an old trick for politicians who represent rural and suburban districts, and the punch can still land with some audiences.

    But in reality, the city’s violent crime rate remains substantially below the U.S. average.

    In 2022, Bragg’s first year in office, there were 78 homicides in Manhattan, a borough of 1.6 million people. That was a drop of 15 percent from the year before. Palm Beach County, Florida, where Trump is one of about 1.5 million residents, had 96 killings.

    “People hear New York and they think crime, and that’s because they’ve been trained to think that way,” said Dr. Jeffrey Butts, the director of the Research & Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. “It’s not real. It’s just the stories that people tell.”

    “If you’re living in some predominantly small, white county in Iowa, you hear New York and you just imagine all the scary movies and TV shows you’ve seen,” Butts said. “I think that’s what Congress is playing off of.”

    For Bragg, scrutiny from Republicans — and even some Democrats — is nothing new.

    A Harvard-educated former federal prosecutor, chief deputy state attorney general and civil rights lawyer, Bragg won an eight-way Democratic party primary and then soared to victory with 83% of the general election vote.

    Soon after taking office, Bragg authored an internal memo announcing that, among other things, his office would not prosecute certain low-level misdemeanors.

    That set up some early clashes with NYPD leadership, and some Republicans outside the city quickly made Bragg a poster child for Democratic permissiveness.

    Republican Lee Zeldin, then representing eastern Long Island in Congress, made Bragg a focal point of his losing campaign for governor, repeatedly promising to remove the independently elected prosecutor from office. The rhetoric resonated in the suburbs, helping Republicans defeat Democrats in a number of key New York seats.

    New York, in fact, wasn’t immune from the nationwide spike in crime that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and most categories remain above 2019 levels. Burglaries, car thefts and assaults rose in Manhattan during Bragg’s first year before falling again this year.

    The House Judiciary Committee didn’t invite Bragg to testify, nor was anyone from his office expected to participate. Instead, the committee heard from crime victims, the head of the city’s detectives union, the head of an anti-gun violence group and a crime policy expert who — under questioning by Democrats — ticked off a long list of cities and states with higher violent crime rates than New York and Manhattan.

    Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana said the committee is considering holding field hearings on crime in other places and “has about five or six cities on the list,” though none have been scheduled.

    Jose Alba, a former convenience store clerk, testified about his arrest after stabbing an attacker to death in his shop. Bragg dropped the charges but critics said he should have done so sooner. Madeline Brame blamed Bragg for seeking long prison sentences only for two of four people involved in her son’s killing. Jennifer Harrison — whose boyfriend was killed in New Jersey in 2005, outside Bragg’s jurisdiction and long before he took office — spoke as a victim advocate and Bragg critic.

    “I want to thank all the witnesses including the victims of crime,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, said. “I fear that you were being used for a political purpose despite your sincerity.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporters David B. Caruso and Karen Matthews in New York and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter at twitter.com/mikesisak and send confidential tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/.

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  • Opinion: Why isn’t the House Judiciary Committee looking into red flags about Clarence Thomas? | CNN

    Opinion: Why isn’t the House Judiciary Committee looking into red flags about Clarence Thomas? | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @DeanObeidallah@masto.ai. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    On Monday, the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee — chaired by Donald Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan — is set to hold a field hearing in New York City called “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan.” A statement bills the hearing as an examination of how, the Judiciary Committee says, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies have “led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.”

    In response, Bragg’s office slammed Jordan’s hearing as “a political stunt” while noting that data released by the New York Police Department shows crime is down in Manhattan with respect to murders, burglaries, robberies and more through April 2, compared with the same period last year.

    In reality, this Jordan-led hearing isn’t about stopping crime but about defending Trump — who was recently charged by a Manhattan grand jury with 34 felonies. Trump pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges stemming from an investigation into a hush-money payment to an adult film actress. The former president also is facing criminal probes in other jurisdictions over efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

    Bragg sued Jordan and his committee last week in federal court, accusing the Judiciary Committee chairman of a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” his office for its investigation and prosecution of Trump by making demands for confidential documents and testimony.

    While Jordan and his committee appear focused on discrediting the investigation into Trump, why aren’t they looking into two recent bombshell reports by ProPublica that raised red flags about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ financial relationship with GOP megadonor Harlan Crow? After all, the House Judiciary Committee’s website explains that it has jurisdiction over “matters relating to the administration of justice in federal courts” – for which the revelations concerning Thomas fit perfectly.

    First, we learned in early April that Crow had provided Thomas and his wife, Ginni, for decades with luxurious vacations including on the donor’s yacht and private jet to faraway places such as Indonesia and New Zealand. That information was never revealed to the public. (In a rare public statement, Thomas responded he was advised at the time that he did not have to report the trips. The justice said the guidelines for reporting personal hospitality have changed recently. “And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future,” he said.)

    Then on Thursday, ProPublica reported that Thomas failed to disclose a 2014 real estate deal involving the sale of three properties he and his family owned in Savannah, Georgia, to that same GOP megadonor, Crow. One of Crow’s companies made the purchases for $133,363, according to ProPublica. A federal disclosure law passed after Watergate requires Supreme Court justices and other officials to make public the details of most real estate sales over $1,000.

    As ProPublica detailed, the federal disclosure form Thomas filed for that year included a space to report the identity of the buyer in any private transaction, but Thomas left that space blank. Four ethics law experts told ProPublica that Thomas’ failure to report it appears to be a violation of the law. (Thomas did not respond to questions from ProPublica on its report; CNN reached out to the Supreme Court and Thomas for comment.)

    The House Judiciary Committee has long addressed issues such as those surrounding Thomas. In fact, the committee is where investigations and the impeachment of federal judges often commence.

    One recent example came in 2010 with Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr., whom the committee investigated and recommended for impeachment.

    The committee’s Task Force on Judicial Impeachment said evidence showed Porteous “intentionally made material false statements and representations under penalty of perjury, engaged in a corrupt kickback scheme, solicited and accepted unlawful gifts, and intentionally misled the Senate during his confirmation proceedings.” The Senate later found Porteous guilty of four articles of impeachment and removed him from the bench.

    Yet the Judiciary Committee has neither released statements nor tweets raising alarm bells about Thomas. Instead, its Twitter feed is filled with repeated tweets whining that C-SPAN won’t cover Monday’s New York field hearing. Worse, the committee retweeted GOP Rep. Mary Miller’s tweet defending Thomas as being attacked “because he is a man of deep faith, who loves our country and believes in our Constitution.”

    Jordan’s use of his committee to assist Trump should surprise no one. The House January 6 committee’s report called the Ohio Republican “a significant player in President Trump’s efforts” to overturn the election. The report detailed the lawmaker’s efforts to assist Trump including on “January 2, 2021, Representative Jordan led a conference call in which he, President Trump, and other Members of Congress discussed strategies for delaying the January 6th joint session.” As a result, the January 6 committee subpoenaed Jordan to testify — but he refused to cooperate.

    In contrast with the House panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee — headed by Democrats — announced in the wake of the reporting on Thomas that it plans to hold a hearing “on the need to restore confidence in the Supreme Court’s ethical standards.” Beyond that, Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia sent a letter Friday calling for a referral of Thomas to the US attorney general over “potential violations of the Ethics in Government Act 1978.”

    The House Judiciary Committee’s website notes, “The Committee on the Judiciary has been called the lawyer for the House of Representatives.” Under Jordan that description needs to be updated to state that the Committee on the Judiciary is now “the lawyer for Donald J. Trump.” And the worst part is that the taxpayers are the ones paying for Jordan’s work on Trump’s behalf.

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  • Manhattan DA sues Rep. Jim Jordan over subpoena of former investigator

    Manhattan DA sues Rep. Jim Jordan over subpoena of former investigator

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    Manhattan DA sues Rep. Jim Jordan over subpoena of former investigator – CBS News


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    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has sued Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. Bragg is seeking to block Jordan’s subpoena of a former attorney who had previously worked on the Trump probe.

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  • Trump’s response to criminal charges revives election lies

    Trump’s response to criminal charges revives election lies

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Legally, the most important words former President Donald Trump said after he was charged with 34 felonies by the Manhattan District Attorney last week were “not guilty.” But, politically, the most significant may be “election interference.”

    Trump’s repetition of those words, which have been taken up by other top Republicans, show how he is trying to turn his historic position as the first former president charged with crimes to his advantage. It’s another example of what’s been a consistent refrain throughout his political career — claiming without evidence that an election is being rigged against him.

    After his initial court appearance in the New York case, the first of several in which he is in legal jeopardy, Trump ticked through the varied investigations he was facing and branded them as “massive” attempts to interfere with the 2024 election.

    “Our justice system has become lawless,” Trump said as he appeared before supporters at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. “They’re using it now, in addition to everything else, to win elections.”

    Trump has made some version of those claims in at least 20 social media posts since March 3, the bulk of which occurred in the last two weeks, accelerating when a Manhattan grand jury appeared to be wrapping up its work and preparing to indict the former president. Trump declared his latest bid for the White House shortly after the November midterms, in what some in his orbit saw as an effort to head off the various probes swirling around him.

    Alleging an election is being stolen from him is a routine Trump tactic, despite no evidence to back up his assertions. When competing for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, Trump claimed his loss in the Iowa caucuses was due to fraud. When he won the White House that November but lost the popular vote, Trump claimed the only reason for falling short in the latter category was because undocumented immigrants voted. A task force he formed to find voter fraud disbanded without finding any evidence to back up his claim.

    In 2020, Trump began arguing the election would be fraudulent months before voting started. He attacked efforts to loosen restrictions on mail voting during the coronavirus pandemic, and expanded those allegations after losing the election to claim he’d actually won it. Those lies led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

    Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

    Trump is behaving like a politician in the legal crosshairs, said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist.

    “He’s certainly not the first politician to be prosecuted — sometimes fairly, sometimes not — to play the political victim card,” Levitsky said.

    Levitsky, who cowrote the book “How Democracies Die,” said that several former presidents of other countries, when prosecuted, have claimed it was a plot to foil their future elections. Most recently, that was the complaint of Brazil’s former president Luis Inácio Lula Da Silva after he was jailed before the 2018 election. Silva was freed by his country’s supreme court and won back the presidency in October.

    What’s notable in Trump’s case, however, is that his own party is echoing the stolen election claims ahead of the next campaign. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last month said he was directing his party’s committee chairs to “investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”

    “That a whole party is carrying this line is somewhat unusual,” Levitsky said.

    Last week’s charges in New York court stemmed from Trump’s reimbursements to his lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, of hush money paid in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged they had an affair. Even some critics of Trump have seen the charges as a stretch of New York laws.

    The heart of the Manhattan case is prosecutors’ claim that Trump falsified business records at his company to make the payoff in order to keep a potentially damaging story quiet while he was campaigning — an illegal attempt by Trump, they argued, to try to influence the election.

    The former president also faces legal jeopardy from other investigations, two of which are related to his attempts to try to interfere with the 2020 election.

    Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are probing Trump’s January 2021 call to the state’s top elections officer asking him to “find” enough votes to declare Trump the winner there, as well as other efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn his narrow election loss in the state.

    The U.S. Justice Department also has launched a federal special counsel probe into Trump’s attempts to try to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Trump is also enmeshed in a federal special counsel investigation of his handling of classified documents found at his Florida estate.

    Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, when asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether the timing of the case was political, responded by saying, “I bring cases when they’re ready.”

    Bragg’s office declined to comment on Trump’s statements about “election interference,” as did the Department of Justice.

    Critics warn that Trump is, once again, sowing suspicions of fraud that could damage democracy. “We’ve seen this film before,” Joanna Lydgate, chief executive officer of States United Action, which tracks politicians who embrace Trump’s election lies, said in a statement. “We know this is dangerous because we all saw what happened on January 6th.”

    Trump has routinely waved off such warnings, and has seamlessly integrated his current legal jeopardy into the false allegations he’s made for three years about Democratic Party wrongdoing leading to his ouster.

    In his first campaign rally, in Waco, Texas, days before the Manhattan indictment, Trump railed against all the investigations and said that his opponents were using the probes “because it’s harder for them to stuff the ballot boxes, of which they stuffed plenty.”

    “The new weapon being used by out-of-control unhinged Democrats to cheat on election is criminally investigating a candidate,” he said.

    Trump and other Republicans have sometimes contradicted themselves, decrying the investigations as an attempt to tarnish Trump while also predicting they’ll aid his bid for the White House.

    “I think you’ll see his poll numbers go up,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., one of the president’s most vocal backers in the House, predicated at a GOP conference last month. “He’s never been in a stronger position.” She condemned the charges last week as “unprecedented election interference.”

    Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, which has long been critical of Trump’s allegations of election rigging, noted that all the investigations of the former president began well before he started running for president again.

    “Nobody is above the law, including former presidents, and running for president cannot and must not serve as a shield for wrongful conduct,” Scherb said.

    ___ Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • The Humiliation of Donald Trump

    The Humiliation of Donald Trump

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    He shuffled quietly into the courtroom and took his seat at the defense table. He looked strangely small sitting there flanked by lawyers—his shoulders slumped, his hands in his lap, his 6-foot-3-inch frame seeming to retreat into itself. When he spoke—“Not guilty”—it came out hoarse, almost a whisper. Pundits and reporters had spent weeks trying to imagine what this moment would look like. How would a former president—especially one who prided himself on showmanship—behave while under arrest? Would he act smug? Defiant? Righteously indignant?

    No one predicted that he would look quite so humiliated.

    Of course, becoming the first ex-president in American history to be charged with a crime is not exactly a coveted résumé line. But Donald Trump’s indictment yesterday marked a low point in another way too: For a man who’s long harbored a distinctive form of class anxiety rooted in his native New York, Trump’s arraignment in Manhattan represented the ultimate comeuppance.

    The island of Manhattan plays an important role in the Donald Trump creation myth. In speeches and interviews over the years, Trump has repeatedly recalled peering across the East River as a young man, yearning to expand the family real-estate business and compete with the city’s biggest developers. For a kid born in Queens—even one who grew up in a rich family—Manhattan seemed like the center of the universe.

    Read: The outer-borough president

    “I started off in a small office with my father in Brooklyn and Queens,” Trump said in the 2015 speech launching his campaign. “And my father said … ‘Donald, don’t go into Manhattan. That’s the big leagues. We don’t know anything about that. Don’t do it.’ I said, ‘I gotta go into Manhattan. I gotta build those big buildings. I gotta do it, Dad. I’ve gotta do it.’”

    In the version of the story Trump likes to tell, he went on to cross the river, conquer the island, and cement his victory by erecting an eponymous skyscraper in the middle of town. His childhood dream came true.

    But Trump was never really accepted by Manhattan’s old-money aristocracy. To the city’s elites, he was just another nouveau riche wannabe with bad manners and a distasteful penchant for self-promotion. They recognized the type—the outer-borough kid who’d made good—and they made sure he knew he wasn’t one of them. With each guest list that omitted his name, with each VIP invitation that didn’t come, Trump’s resentment burned hotter—and his desire for revenge deepened.

    Today, the old hierarchies that defined the New York of Trump’s youth are largely gone, replaced by new ones. (Brooklyn, the middle-class backwater where Trump’s father kept his office, is now home to enough pretentious white people that even the snootiest Manhattanites have to acknowledge the borough.) Trump, meanwhile, isn’t even a New Yorker anymore, having changed his voter registration to Florida in 2019 and retreated to the more hospitable confines of Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.

    But Trump never forgot the island that rejected him. And this week, he was forced to return to it—not in triumph, but in disgrace. Hundreds of journalists descended on Lower Manhattan to chronicle each indignity: the courthouse door gently shutting on him because nobody bothered to hold it open, the judge sternly instructing him to rein in his social-media rhetoric about the case. At one point, shortly after Trump entered the courtroom, someone in the overflow room, where reporters and others were watching a closed-circuit feed, began to whistle “Hail to the Chief,” drawing stifled laughter.

    John Hendrickson: Inside Manhattan Criminal Court with Donald Trump

    In the past, Trump has succeeded in using his humiliations to his benefit. It’s a big part of why he excels at playing a populist on the campaign trail. When Trump railed against the corrupt ruling class in 2016, he wasn’t just channeling the anger of his supporters; he was expressing something he felt viscerally. Yes, his personal grievances with the “elites”—the ego-wounding snubs—might have been petty, but the anger was real. And for many of his followers, that was enough.

    Now he’s trying to pull off that trick again. In the weeks leading up to his indictment, Trump has sought to cast Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation as an act of political persecution—aimed not just at him, but at the entire MAGA movement. “WE MUST SAVE AMERICA!” he shout-posted on Truth Social last month. “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!”

    A modest contingent of pro-Trump demonstrators gathered in a park across the street from the courthouse yesterday, separated by police barricade from a larger group of counterprotesters. But the relatively muted MAGA presence, compared with the crowds of onlookers relishing the moment, only underscored how alienated the former president has become from the city with which he was once synonymous. The scene was heavier on performance artists and grifters than outraged true believers. A woman in a QAnon T-shirt strutted and gyrated for reporters as she rambled about Satan and the financial system, periodically punctuating her comments with “Bada bing!” A Trump supporter burned sage to ward off evil spirits, prompting one bystander to ask, “Is someone cooking soup?” The Naked Cowboy made an appearance.

    A handful of Trump’s New York–based supporters tried to convince me that this was still his town. Dion Cini—a MAGA-merch salesman who drew attention for his giant TRUMP OR DEATH flag and his liberal deployment of flagpole-based innuendos—told me he lived in Brooklyn. “Trump country!” he declared.

    David A. Graham: He’s back

    I asked Cini if he really believed that New York could still be considered Trump country. Cini responded by launching into an enthusiastic (and exaggerated) recitation of how much of the city had been built by the Trumps. “Sheepshead Bay was built by Trump. All 50,000 homes,” Cini said, claiming that he lives in a Trump-built house there himself. “How many towers were built by Trump? The Javits Center! I mean, you name it—the Wollman Rink, the carousel in Central Park. And they call him a Nazi. I mean, did Hitler ever build a carousel?”

    After Cini wandered away, another Trump supporter named Scott Schultz approached me. Schultz said he also lives in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, but he disagreed that it was “Trump country.” He can’t even put a Trump sign outside his house, because he knows it will be immediately defaced, Schultz said. He fantasized about a day when New Yorkers could celebrate Trump simply as a product of their city.

    “Most other [places], when someone becomes president, they have pride in that,” Schultz told me. “There was no pride at all … They want to wipe him clean. They rejected him.”

    Trump didn’t linger in the city after his arraignment. There was no impromptu press conference on the courthouse steps or chest-thumping speech to his supporters outside. Instead, his motorcade whisked him away to LaGuardia Airport for a flight back to Florida. He’d been in New York barely 24 hours. For now, at least, he seems intent on waging his battle with the Manhattan haters from a distance. Writing on Truth Social yesterday, Trump proposed moving his trial to Staten Island.

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