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Former President Donald Trump has long made headlines with controversial comments about everything from immigration to trade, but translating those talking points isn't always easy. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

Former President Donald Trump has long made headlines with controversial comments about everything from immigration to trade, but translating those talking points isn't always easy.

Former President Donald Trump has a history of using provocative language to draw headlines, stir up support and attack enemies.

His words, at times, have been his greatest weapons but also his biggest vulnerability.

In recent weeks, he has described Nov. 5, Election Day, as "liberation day" for "hardworking Americans" and "judgment day" for his political enemies. He has called undocumented immigrants who commit crimes "not people" and has claimed Jews who vote for Democrats hate Israel.

It's not easy trying to make sense of what often appears to be indiscriminate attacks on migrants and political enemies, but Trump knows how to generate headlines, excite his base and provoke the left simultaneously.

He has described political correctness as a cancer that prevents honest discussion. He says that people are too easily offended and that the country doesn't have time to worry so much about others' feelings.

His language is also a political weapon and a very effective one to use against his enemies. It's a tool that stokes his base and baits one of his favorite foils, the media.

NPR examined Trump's campaign speeches, interviews and social media posts since he held his first rally last year in March, as well as additional relevant comments in recent years, to provide context to how his language reflects his political agenda. Here are a few of his most common talking points:

Nowhere has the former president pushed the boundaries of appropriate language more than on the issue of immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border.

He has described migrants as poisoning the blood of the country and calling those who commit crimes "animals."

This demonization of migrants is not new. It has been a pillar of his political career ever since he announced his presidential campaign in 2015 and called Mexican immigrants rapists, bringing drugs and crime, while also saying that some are "good people."

The border has now become one of the fieriest political issues ahead of the November elections as both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have been pointing fingers at the other to cast blame for a myriad of problems.

It's a clear vulnerability for President Biden and the Democrats.

Biden has struggled with historic numbers of people coming across the border. It's not just Republicans who are concerned. An increasing number of Democratic mayors and governors have raised real concerns about the drain of state and local resources in cities hundreds of miles from the border.

In a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, only 29% of respondents said they approve of how Biden is handling immigration. Republicans win the issue over Democrats by 12 percentage points when asked which party handles it better.

Critics say Trump is capitalizing on those concerns by playing up anti-immigrant sentiments.

While there is little evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than U.S.-born citizens, Trump and his supporters use anecdotal stories, such as the killing of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley, to paint an ominous picture about America being overrun by violent migrants.

During speeches in Michigan and Wisconsin, Trump accused Biden of creating a "border bloodbath."

"This is country-changing, it's country-threatening, and it's country-wrecking," Trump said in Michigan. "They have wrecked our country."

"They're poisoning the blood of our country. That's what they've done. They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world. Not just in South America. Not just the three or four countries that we think about. But all over the world they're coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world. They're pouring into our country." Dec. 16, 2023, New Hampshire rally

"They're rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums. You know, insane asylums that's Silence of the Lambs stuff." March 4, 2024, interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network

"Hannibal Lecter, anybody know Hannibal Lecter? We don't want 'em in this country." March 4, 2024, interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, salutes at a campaign rally on March 16 in Vandalia, Ohio. Jeff Dean/AP hide caption

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, salutes at a campaign rally on March 16 in Vandalia, Ohio.

Trump has been accused of using autocratic language in this campaign that echoes rhetoric of strongman leaders of the past.

Rather than rejecting those comparisons, Trump has been wielding them as a means to stoke his base, stir up media attention and, in some ways, win back former supporters.

One example is when he sparked the anger and indignation of his many critics after declaring he wouldn't be a dictator, "except for Day 1," said Chris Stirewalt, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

He says you could see a flash in Trump's eyes when Fox News host Sean Hannity provided Trump an opportunity to assure voters he wouldn't abuse his power.

"He realizes he's got a live one on the line, right?" explained Stirewalt, who is also the political editor for NewsNation. "He has the moment where he knows that the person who he's talking to wants him to say the right thing. And he knows that the advantage comes in saying the wrong thing."

Trump responded "only on Day 1," so that he could close the border and start drilling.

"After that, I'm not a dictator, OK?" Trump quipped to Hannity as the crowd in Iowa applauded.

Those fiery remarks set off a chain reaction of events and coverage. The media dissected the language, often repeating the dictator-for-a-day comments, and Trump's supporters came out in mass, largely on conservative outlets, attacking the media for, they argued, taking the comments out of context.

Stirewalt says Trump also triggered what he called "the anti-anti-Trump immune response," which means Trump reengaged former supporters, who may have felt he went too far on Jan. 6, 2021, and/or objected to his authoritarian tendencies, to come to his defense.

"What you get is the volleying back and forth between platoons on the left and the right," Stirewalt said. "Some of it's sincere some of it's rage, content for clicks and attention. And by the time you're done, you have strength. Trump has managed to both inflame and distract his opponents, but also to further consolidate Republican support."

"This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!" Sept. 22, 2023, Truth Social, referring to Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"Your victory will be our ultimate vindication, your liberty will be our ultimate reward, and the unprecedented success of the United States of America will be my ultimate and absolute revenge." Feb. 24, 2024, Trump's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference

"We're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not going to be able to sell those guys if I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a blood bath for the whole that's gonna be the least of it. It's going to be a blood bath for the country. That'll be the least of it." March 16, 2024, Dayton, Ohio

During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump described himself as a "proud political dissident" and promised "judgment day" for political opponents.

He has vowed to "root out" political opponents whom he has described as "vermin," echoing the language of authoritarian leaders who rose to power in Germany and Italy in the 1930s.

"The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within," Trump said during a Veterans Day rally in New Hampshire.

The former president faces four different criminal trials related to allegations of interference in the 2020 election, fraud stemming from a hush money payment to an adult film star and mishandling of classified documents.

He has repeatedly claimed the prosecutions are a political witch hunt, and he has cast himself as a martyr who is being targeted by Democrats.

George Lakoff, a professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, says Trump often uses salesman tricks to frame a debate on his own terms. He knows how to use repetition to strengthen association.

He repeats phrases over and over on the campaign trail and on social media, such as fake news or that he's going to obliterate "the deep state." Those descriptions, right or wrong, are then repeated by others, such as the media in its coverage. They're repeated again as opponents attack him over the use of such words.

"There is a neural reason for this," Lakoff said. "The main thing is, if it's in your brain and it's activating the neural system, whatever is activating your neural system, then your brain makes it stronger."

Trump has sought to employ the prosecutions against him to justify his own calls to overhaul the "deep state," including those longtime federal lawyers who make up the Justice Department, as well as other federal agencies that he argues are politically biased against him.

He and his allies have begun to draft plans to overhaul the Justice Department as well as expand his presidential powers by ending protections for tens of thousands of federal employees so that they can be replaced with partisan loyalists.

"We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections." Nov. 11, 2023, New Hampshire

"The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within." Nov. 11, 2023, New Hampshire

"In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add, I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution." March 25, 2023, Waco, Texas

"Either the deep state destroys America, or we destroy the deep state." March 25, 2023, Waco, Texas

During a winter campaign rally, Trump said he told a NATO leader that he would encourage Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to countries that were "delinquent" and had not paid bills they "owed" the NATO alliance.

His remarks set off a firestorm domestically and internationally, as Congress remains locked in a stalemate over whether to provide Ukraine with additional military assistance so that it can defend itself from the invasion by Russia.

As president, Trump sought to largely pull the United States out of foreign conflicts. But that hasn't stopped him from making bold claims about the current armed conflicts raging in Europe and the Middle East.

He has repeatedly insisted that those conflicts are related to Biden's election.

"Look what happened to our country," Trump said at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. "You have wars that never would have taken place. Russia would have never attacked Ukraine. Israel would have never been attacked. You wouldn't have had inflation."

If elected in November, Trump has vowed that both conflicts would be resolved fast. He has said he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours but has provided no details.

"There's a very easy negotiation to take place. But I don't want to tell you what it is because then I can't use that negotiation it'll never work," Trump told Fox's Hannity last year. "But it's a very easy negotiation to take place. I will have it solved within one day, a peace between them."

Stirewalt says the secret to Trump talking about foreign policy is making it sound so easy and simple even the most incredibly complex problems of the day and people believe him.

"The authoritarian tendency in politics, not just in the United States but anywhere, is to say that there is a simple and easy answer," Stirewalt said. "But the bad people will not let you obtain it because they're weak or they're corrupt."

Meanwhile, Trump has pressured lawmakers on Capitol Hill to oppose billions of dollars in additional aid for Ukraine. He has also seemed to go out of his way to avoid criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump's approach to the war in Gaza has been a little more nuanced.

Then-President Donald Trump talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a ceremony in 2017 in Jerusalem. Evan Vucci/AP hide caption

Then-President Donald Trump talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a ceremony in 2017 in Jerusalem.

While they worked closely together during his administration, Trump was angry when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Biden after winning the 2020 presidential election.

He at first criticized Netanyahu for being unprepared for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people, and he complimented the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah when it stepped up attacks against Israel.

While he has since pledged strong support for Israel, Trump has also called on Netanyahu to end the war and has warned that Israel was losing the PR war.

"What I said very plainly is get it over with, and let's get back to peace and stop killing people," Trump told The Hugh Hewitt Show. "And that's a very simple statement. Get it over with. They've got to finish what they finish. They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast, because we have to, you have to get back to normalcy and peace."

Time magazine: You think you could work better with [Israeli politician] Benny Gantz than [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in a second term?

Trump: I think Benny Gantz is good, but I'm not prepared to say that. I haven't spoken to him about it. But you have some very good people that I've gotten to know in Israel that could do a good job.

Time: Do you think

Trump: And I will say this: Bibi Netanyahu rightfully has been criticized for what took place on October 7.

Interview with Time magazine, published April 30, 2024

"You didn't pay? You're delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills." Feb. 10, 2024, rally in Conway, South Carolina

"You know, Hezbollah is very smart. They're all very smart." Oct. 11, 2023, speech in West Palm Beach, Florida

"Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves." interview with former Trump administration senior adviser Sebastian Gorka on March 18, 2023

Anti-abortion activists march outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2022. Jose Luis Magana/AP hide caption

Anti-abortion activists march outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2022.

Trump's abortion stances are all about politics. He has repeatedly changed his positions over the years in 2016, he told MSNBC's Chris Matthews during a town hall that if abortion were outlawed, "there has to be some form of punishment" for women seeking abortions. He later retracted that statement.

As president, he supported a 20-week federal abortion ban, pushing the Senate to pass it. He also repeatedly took credit for the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But by the time of the 2024 presidential campaign when Roe was overturned, meaning a federal ban would be possible his position on a federal ban was unclear.

Notably, he went the entire Republican primary without clarifying his stance on abortion, instead saying he would bring together both sides abortion-rights supporters and abortion-rights opponents and negotiate a compromise policy.

When he has spoken about abortion policy during this year's campaign, he has often stressed one point in particular: that he wants to win.

He said exactly that again when he made an abortion policy announcement on April 8. In that announcement, he said that he wants states to make their own policies and that he supports exceptions to protect a mother's life, as well as for pregnancies caused by incest or rape. He later added, "But we must win. We have to win."

Trump is attempting to walk a careful line on abortion. On the one hand, he wants to maintain the favor of the abortion-rights opponents who have long been the Republican base. But on the other hand, he understands that most Americans are not abortion hard-liners and that tight restrictions have proved unpopular in several statewide elections.

In addition, he has not taken a position on sweeping abortion restrictions proposed in Project 2025 a road map for a conservative presidency written by a coalition of right-wing groups. Those restrictions include curtailing access to abortion pills, as well as using the Comstock Act a 19th-century law intended to stop indecency to prohibit the mailing of any goods used in abortions.

Time magazine: Are you comfortable if states decide to punish women who access abortions after the procedure is banned?

Trump: Are you talking about number of weeks?

Time: Yeah. Let's say there's a 15-week ban

Trump: Again, that's going to be I don't have to be comfortable or uncomfortable. The states are going to make that decision. The states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.

Interview with Time magazine, published April 30, 2024

"The states will determine [their abortion policies] by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land in this case, the law of the state. Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others. ... Always go by your heart. But we must win. We have to win." April 8, 2024, Truth Social

"The number of weeks, now, people are agreeing on 15, and I'm thinking in terms of that, and it'll come out to something that's very reasonable. But people are really, even hard-liners, are agreeing, seems to be 15 weeks, seems to be a number that people are agreeing at. But I'll make that announcement at the appropriate time." Sid & Friends in the Morning, WABC, March 19, 2024

Trump: People are starting to think of 15 weeks. That seems to be a number that people are talking about right now.

Kristen Welker: Would you sign that?

Trump: I would sit down with both sides and negotiate something, and we'll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years. I'm not going to say I would or I wouldn't.

Trump: Both sides will come together. And for the first time in 52 years, you'll have an issue that we can put behind us at the federal level. It could be state or it could be federal. I don't frankly care.

Meet the Press, NBC, Sept. 16, 2023

"I support the three exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. And I think it's very hard politically if you don't support, but you have to go with your heart. You have to go with what you believe, and you have to rely on your heart for that." speech to the Concerned Women for America, Sept. 15, 2023

"After 50 years of failure, with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade, much to the 'shock' of everyone." May 17, 2023, Truth Social

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Translating Trump's talking points as he ratchets up rhetoric on campaign trail - NPR

A sex discrimination lawsuit against Donald Trumps campaign has triggered new accusations that Trumps lawyers have intentionally covered up settlement payments to women, in violation of federal law.

On Friday, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, demanding an investigation into the alleged cover-up. The complaint cites new allegations from 2016 Trump campaign aide A.J. Delgado, which she lodged in a sworn court declaration earlier this week as part of her ongoing discrimination suit against Trumps political operation.

Delgados filing presented evidence of top Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz openly admitting that the campaign wanted to use a law firm to cover up a potential settlement payout in 2017. The arrangement, as Delgado described it, appears specifically designed to evade the consequences of federal disclosure laws that require campaigns to publicly report the identities of payment recipients.

In other words, the payment would be routed through a middleman, to hide the fact that the Campaign had settled, from the public and the FEC, Delgado stated. I thus have direct, personal experience with the Defendant-Campaign hiding settlement payments to women, routing them through a middleman law firm, which to the public would only appear as payments for legal services.

Delgado also claimed to have information and reason to believe that other campaign payments have hidden settlements with women who raised complaints of gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment. Those payments, she said, are related to the $4.1 million that flowed to Kasowitzs law firm over a two-month period immediately following the November 2020 election, as well as millions in mysterious legal reimbursements to the campaigns compliance firm, Red Curve Solutions, which The Daily Beast first reported earlier this month, prompting a federal complaint.

The declaration is particularly significant in that it captures a direct admission of the campaigns actual intentions behind this middleman arrangementto keep the existence of a settlement from the public, and, by doing so, from the FEC itself.

In a statement to The Daily Beast, CREW president Noah Bookbinder demanded an investigation, saying that Delgados allegations raise serious concerns about a potentially illegal cover-up.

The allegations made in AJ Delgados declaration paint a deeply troubling picture of potentially illegal activity carried out by Donald Trumps campaign. The FEC must conduct an investigation to determine the validity of these claims and establish the degree to which any wrongdoing occurred, Bookbinder said.

The statement added that the public has the right to know how political money is spent, and schemes to hide that information undercut Americans faith in our political system.

Donald Trumps admission of using pass-through payments to hide their purpose and protect his political prospects makes it even more important that the FEC investigate. No candidate or campaign is above the law, not even Trump, the statement continued.

The Daily Beast sent comment requests to the Trump campaign and Delgado, but did not receive a reply. In a statement, a Kasowitz Benson Torres spokesperson wrote: Ms. Delgados accusations that there were FEC violations or that the firm acted as a middleman to hid[e] settlement payments to women from the Campaign are pure fantasy and false.

Delgados statements come as she pursues a sex discrimination lawsuit against the 2016 campaign, where she served as a senior adviser but was back-seated when she revealed that she had become pregnant. (The father was Delgados then-supervisor and top Trump 2024 adviser Jason Miller, whom Delgado has also accused of raping hera claim Miller denies.)

Delgado, a Harvard Law grad who is representing herself in the case, claims the campaign sidelined her specifically because she was pregnant, and is seeking damages for unlawful discrimination.

The Daily Beast reported last week that Trumps previous lawyers in the Delgado case have bailed on him. The firmLaRocca, Hornik, Greenberg, Kittredge, Carlin & McPartlandhas defended Trump in other high-profile cases against women, including E. Jean Carroll, but the attorneys told the court last week that they were withdrawing, citing an irreparable breakdown in their relationship with the Trump campaign.

According to Delgados declaration, during her brief 2017 settlement negotiations with the campaignwhich, according to Delgado, the campaign ultimately renegedTrump lawyer Marc Kasowitz expressed to her that Trump and the Campaign would need to keep this confidential because Trump is known for not settling.

That proposal caught the attention of Delgados own lawyers, who raised the issue of federal disclosure laws.

My attorneys expressed this would not be possible because disbursements by a Campaign are public record, the declaration said.

Kasowitz, however, dismissed the concerns easily, Delgado said, telling her that disclosure was not a problem at all, and, what we would do is the campaign pays me and then I cut a check to you guys.

Now, Delgado is alleging that Kasowitz has funneled Trump campaign money to other women making discrimination claims.

In all, Kasowitzs firm has received about $4.5 million from the Trump campaign, almost all of it coming in the two months after the 2020 election. In that time, FEC records show, the campaign issued three massive payments to Kasowitz in flat dollar amounts$600,000 on Nov. 11, $1 million on Dec. 18, and $2.5 million on Jan. 13, 2021. Delgado now claims that those payments are related to complaints of gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and sexual harassment. (At the time, Kasowitz served as Trumps counsel in the opening stages of E. Jean Carrolls first sexual assault lawsuit.)

Delgado also says that some of the mysterious legal reimbursements to Trumps campaign finance compliance firm, Red Curve, appear related to discrimination complaints. (Red Curve does not provide any actual legal services.) The Daily Beast uncovered those payments this month, prompting nonprofit watchdog Campaign Legal Center to file an FEC complaint alleging that the Trump team was obscuring the nature of those payments.

As The Daily Beast previously reported, Trump has a history of shielding payouts behind law firms, including his 2016 campaign. That practice has continued through this year, with his Save America leadership PAC reporting a $392,638 legal consulting expense to Trump attorney Alina Habba on Valentines Daythe exact dollar amount that Trump was ordered to pay to The New York Times after losing his defamation case the month prior.

The CREW complaint also notes that Delgados claims overlap with recent eventsthe 2016 hush-money payments currently at the center of Trumps criminal trial in Manhattan.

The use of pass-throughs to hide the true purpose of payments is not unfamiliar to Mr. Trump and his businesses, the complaint states. For example, Mr. Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, for payments made to catch and kill a story concerning Mr. Trumps alleged extramarital relations.

CREW also notes that Trump himself made recent public remarks about that case, confirming his belief that payments routed through attorneys could be marked legal expenses even if they were reimbursements for expenses paid to third parties.

Regardless of what Mr. Trump may have experienced in the business world, federal law does not permit a political committee to report any expense routed through an attorney or any other intermediary as a payment to the intermediary for legal expenses or otherwise, the complaint states.

Rather, federal law requires political committees provide detailed and truthful information about who they are paying and why they are paying them, even if doing so would reveal facts embarrassing to the campaign such as the settlement of legal claims, the complaint states.

Originally posted here:
Trump Campaign Hid Settlements With Women, New Complaint Says - The Daily Beast

TRENTON, N.J. -- After a long week in court, Donald Trump is heading to the Jersey Shore. And his campaign says he'll be joined by tens of thousands of his friends.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, expects to draw what his team is calling a mega crowd to a Saturday evening rally in the southern New Jersey resort town of Wildwood. It will be held 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of the New York City courthouse where he has been forced to spend most weekdays sitting silently through his felony hush money trial.

The beachfront gathering is designed to serve as a show of force at a critical moment for Trump, a presidential candidate known for drawing huge crowds.

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said the tens of thousands expected attendees would be a notable contrast to the number that typically show up for President Joe Bidens political events, which Miller described as being only eight circles, two of which are empty.

Trump's gathering in deep-blue New Jersey comes less than six months before Election Day.

The former president's extraordinary legal woes, which include three other unrelated criminal cases, have emerged as a central focus of the campaign.

Trump has repeatedly accused the Biden administration and Democratic officials in New York of using the legal system to block his return to the White House. Prosecutors allege the former president broke the law to conceal an affair with a porn actor that would have hurt his first presidential bid.

And while Trump will almost certainly seize on his legal woes Saturday, a judge's gag order and the threat of jail will limit Trump's ability to comment publicly on witnesses, jurors and some others connected to the New York trial, which is expected to consume much of the month. The judge in the case already has fined Trump $9,000 for violating the order and warned that jail could follow if he doesnt comply.

Trump's responsibilities as a defendant have limited his ability to win over voters on the campaign trail.

He spent last week's off-day from court in the general election battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan. And he's expecting to face a massive crowd Saturday in New Jersey, a reliably Democratic state. Parts of New Jersey have deep-red enclaves and the southern shoreline in particular draws tourists and summer homeowners from neighboring Pennsylvania, a key swing state.

Saturdays visit to the New Jersey Shore resort isnt Trumps first.

While president, Trump held a rally there in January 2020 to thank Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., the congressman who had just left the Democratic Party for the GOP as a rebuke for the former presidents first impeachment.

Trump drew a crowd at the time that lined the streets, filled bars and supported numerous vendors in what is usually a sleepy city in the winter. This time, the summer season is around the corner for the resort known for its wide beaches and boardwalk games and shops.

Wildwood is in New Jerseys 2nd District, which Van Drew has represented for three terms and covers all or part of six counties in southern New Jersey. It went for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020 after earlier backing Barack Obama.

Trump is set to return to the courtroom next week, when key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, Trump's fixer-turned-foe, is expected to take the witness stand. Last week, he was visibly angry at times as he was forced to sit through testimony from former porn actor Stormy Daniels, who described a sexual encounter with the former president in shocking detail.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. The charges stem from paperwork such as invoices and checks that were deemed legal expenses in company records. Prosecutors say those payments largely were reimbursements to Cohen, Trump's attorney, who paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet.

The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week. It's unclear if Trump himself will take the stand when the defense presents its case.

___

Peoples reported from New York.

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Trump heading to Jersey Shore to rally 'mega crowd' in break from hush money trial - ABC News

Happy Weekend! Youve made it through a week of dramatic Stormy Daniels testimony, a brain worm and a failed attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. Today were covering a different trip Trump took to court and well meet an unlikely surrogate for the Biden administrations Gaza outreach.

Donald Trump was running for president and leading in the polls. He was spending lots of time in New York. And he had a nagging legal problem that had landed him in court.

I speak, of course, of Trumps 2015 summons for jury duty.

Not long after he clashed with Megyn Kelly on a debate stage and made a crude comment about her in the aftermath Trump showed up at State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan on Aug. 17, 2015. He had a backlog of jury summonses he hadnt responded to, and it was time to make it right.

My colleague Rebecca Davis OBrien has been thinking a lot about this episode, in light of Trumps current status as a criminal defendant in the courthouse just down the block from the one where he appeared nine years ago.

Rebecca was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal at the time, assigned to cover his appearance that day. She was later part of the team that broke the story of the hush-money payment to the porn actress Stormy Daniels a central element of the sex scandal cover-up for which Trump is now on trial. But she thinks the tale of his jury duty reveals just as much about his rise as a politician and the problems he is facing now.

Rebecca talked to me about that weird day in August. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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Another Time Trump Was Stuck in Court - The New York Times

The fourth week of Donald J. Trumps Manhattan criminal trial veered from the salacious to the monotonous, and ended with a preview of a showdown coming next week: the long-awaited testimony of Mr. Trumps fixer-turned-nemesis, Michael D. Cohen.

On Friday, Justice Juan M. Merchan asked prosecutors to tell Mr. Cohen to stop talking about Mr. Trump, after a defense lawyer told him of a recent TikTok video in which Mr. Cohen wore a shirt with a picture of Mr. Trump behind bars.

His request capped a week in which the jury heard a porn stars lurid story of a 2006 sexual encounter with Mr. Trump but also less sensational, if potentially damning, testimony about Mr. Trumps checks, invoices and ledgers.

The former president is accused of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to the porn actress, Stormy Daniels, just before the 2016 election, a payment meant to silence her. Mr. Trump, 77, has denied the charges and says he did not have sex with Ms. Daniels. If convicted, he could face prison or probation.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trumps fourth week, and 15th day, on trial:

For almost eight gripping hours, Ms. Daniels took the jurors inside the Lake Tahoe, Nev., hotel suite where she said she and Mr. Trump had sex, a detailed account that included everything from what was in his bathroom to her conflicted feelings before and after.

Initially, her testimony meandered, leading to interruptions and a warning from Justice Merchan to avoid tangents, as well as many successful objections by defense lawyers.

But under cross-examination from Susan Necheles, one of Mr. Trumps lawyers, Ms. Daniels seemingly became more focused, sharply defending herself against charges that she made up her testimony and was out only for money.

By the end of her testimony, she had rebutted Mr. Trumps denial of their sexual encounter and given jurors a clear sense of what Mr. Trump was trying to suppress before the election.

On Thursday night, Ms. Daniels continued to provoke Mr. Trump online, needling him that real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh wait. Nevermind.

Its not yet clear yet whether the former president will testify.

Ms. Daniels testimony elicited strong feelings from Mr. Trump, who at one point caught the attention of the judge by muttering an expletive during Ms. Danielss memorable description of a playful spanking.

Justice Merchan, who has already held Mr. Trump in contempt and fined him $10,000 for breaking his gag order, privately warned his lawyers that Mr. Trump may be intimidating the witness.

I wont tolerate that, Justice Merchan said, in a sidebar.

It remains unclear whether members of the jury noticed his outburst. Until then, Mr. Trump appeared to be keeping his emotions in check, often sitting with his eyes closed. He has said he does that to listen intensely, but the jury could also view it as indifference.

It might not have been as memorable as Ms. Danielss presence in court, but testimony from Trump Organization employees and others about the chain of custody of Mr. Trumps repayment checks to Mr. Cohen was crucial to the prosecution.

It was painstaking, and sometimes dull, and included a blow-by-blow account about how checks were approved, then cut, then mailed, then signed, then returned.

But by showing the jury the paper trail, as well as phone logs and other documentary evidence, prosecutors were stitching a case without the emotional, subjective uncertainty of witnesses like Ms. Daniels.

Mr. Trump long tried to burnish his reputation with self-aggrandizing books. But the prosecution applied some of those against him this week, using his own writing to portray him as a micromanager a man who distrusted his employees for a fear that they will rob you blind. That could bolster their assertion that Mr. Trump knew about the payment to Ms. Daniels and payback arrangement with Mr. Cohen.

Mr. Trumps tendency to punch back was also evident in those excerpts, including one that espoused the policy of an eye for an eye. But Mr. Trump, already found to be in violation of the gag order, wont be able to speak out against Mr. Cohen his lawyers will. How well they tear down his opponents may be critical to their success.

Mr. Cohen will take the stand on Monday.

If the brief spectacle in court on Friday was any indication, his testimony should be passionate, prolonged and likely to trigger strong emotions from Mr. Trump.

Already, the defense is saying that Mr. Cohen is unruly, which the prosecutors acknowledged. How he performs next week could be crucial to how the jury accepts or rejects their arguments.

Prosecutors said on Friday that they may rest their case by the end of next week.

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Quiet End of Week for Trump Trial as Cohen Looms as Witness - The New York Times