(CLEVELAND) -- A late night shooting inside an Ohio movie theater has left one man dead, police said.
The shooting took place at approximately 11 p.m. when the Massilon Police Department were notified of a shooting inside a Regal Cinemas movie theater in Massilon, Ohio -- some 50 miles south of Cleveland.
“Massilon Police Officers responded and found a male deceased near the front lobby,” authorities said in their statement early Saturday morning detailing the shooting. “The victim was identified to be Daron Davis, 27, from Canton Ohio.”
Shortly after 11:30 p.m., police say a suspect was taken into custody outside the Massilon Police Department. Authorities did not disclose the identity of the suspect or reveal a possible motive in the killing.
Additional details on the shooting were not immediately available and the investigation is currently ongoing.
ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
Erik Jepsen/Board of Regents of the University of California
(SAN DIEGO) -- Scientists may have found the answer to manufacturing plastics products that actually break down without forming into microplastics, or tiny pieces of plastics that could linger for thousands of years.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and materials company Algenesis said they found a way to construct plastic with polyurethane, a “bio-based” polyurethane polymer that could compost and break down in the natural environment, compared to typical petroleum-based plastic polymers, which typically are inaccessible to biological processing, according to a study published in Scientific Reports earlier this year.
But the big question is whether the algae-based material would break down into microplastics -- microscopic pieces of plastic smaller than one micrometer in size, or less than one-seventieth the width of a human hair.
"The argument then was always put back to us, 'How do you know they're just not making microplastics?'" Skip Pomeroy, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at U.C. San Diego and one of the authors of the study, told ABC News.
So the researchers set a goal to prove their substances don't make microplastics over time because they're really being broken down by the microbes in the environment, Pomeroy said.
They found a strain of bacteria in compost that could live completely off of the polyurethane-made plastics, Michael Burkart, another U.C. San Diego chemistry researcher and co-author of the paper, told ABC News.
"In the past, we thought that maybe we needed multiple different microbes working together to biodegrade these materials," Burkart said. "But no, we found a single bacterial strain that could live off these things, and so that that really means that these materials that we're making are truly, completely biodegradable."
The organisms that break down the bio-based plastic think the material is similar to leaves or wood that they would find in a normal compost, Burkart said. And the process -- from manufacturing with algae-based materials to break-down -- is 100% renewable, according to the research.
The study shows that their plant-based polymers can biodegrade past the microplastic level in under seven months. Examination of samples after 90 days of aerobic composting showed a 68% decrease in the number of particles. After 200 days, a 97% overall reduction from the starting count was observed, according to the paper.
Burkart said part of the reason why adoption of plastic made of a bio-based polymer is because people were skeptical that it could work.
"Some people didn't believe us," Burkart said. "They didn't think that what we were doing -- that we were actually making truly biodegradable materials or that or that it was even possible at all."
Accumulation of microplastics in the natural environment is ultimately due to the chemical nature of widely used petroleum-based plastic polymer, the researchers said. Microplastics can take hundreds or thousands of years to break down completely.
"We do not need to be using these materials that are going to live forever," Burkart said. "We really can now start replacing all of these materials we have around us into things that are a lot more sustainable."
However, cost is currently a prohibitive issue to widespread use, the researchers said. While petroleum is readily available to siphon from the ground, widespread infrastructure for algae farming will be needed for plastics made of the bio-based polymer to become used en masse, Burkart said.
However, the process the researchers devised can also be applied to other plant-based material, Burkart said.
The researchers hope their new process can eventually be implemented widely for food packaging, Pomeroy said.
"But if you're going to ask me, 'Could we do this with anything?' I'm pretty sure we could do this with most anything," he said
(GOLDEN, Colo.) -- One of three Colorado teenagers charged in connection with a rock-throwing spree that killed a 20-year-old driver last year has pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal, officials said Friday.
Seven vehicles were hit by large landscaping rocks on the night of April 19, 2023. Three people were injured and one -- Alexa Bartell, the final victim -- was killed, prosecutors said.
Three then-18-year-old seniors were charged with 13 counts -- including first-degree murder with extreme indifference -- in connection with the incident.
One of the teens -- Zachary Kwak, now 19 -- pleaded guilty Friday to three new charges in connection with the rock-throwing attack, according to the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case.
Kwak pleaded guilty to first- and second-degree assault and criminal attempt to commit assault in the second degree. Kwak's original charges were dismissed as a result of his plea, the district attorney's office said.
"As part of today’s plea, Kwak agreed that with regard to the death of Bartell, the defendant acted knowingly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, by engaging in conduct which created a grave risk of death," the Colorado First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Kwak's attorneys had no comment on the plea deal.
Kwak faces 20 to 32 years in prison as a "result of his plea and cooperation," the district attorney's office said. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 3, following the resolution of the cases involving the other two teens charged in the rock-throwing spree, Joseph Koenig and Nicholas "Mitch" Karol-Chik.
First-degree murder with extreme indifference carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The three teens were all being tried separately. Karol-Chik's trial is scheduled to start on June 7, while Koenig's trial is set to start on July 19.
Both pleaded not guilty to their charges.
Karol-Chik allegedly told police while in custody that all three teens threw rocks at cars and they were "excited" when they hit them, according to court documents.
When Kwak was questioned, he allegedly said he took a photo of Bartell's car because he "thought Joseph or Mitch would want it as a memento," according to court documents.
After Bartell's death, Kwak allegedly said Koenig and Karol-Chik talked about being "blood brothers," and said they agreed to never speak of the incident again, according to court documents.
(NEW YORK) -- Judge Juan Merchan on Friday issued a warning to Michael Cohen ahead of his planned testimony next week in former President Trump's criminal hush money trial, telling prosecutors to ask him to stop talking about the case after Trump's team brought up his continued out-of-court statements following ABC News' exclusive reporting.
"I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case," Merchan said. "That comes from the bench and you are communicating that on behalf of the bench."
It came after defense attorney Todd Blanche brought up recent statements by Michael Cohen, including his going on TikTok this week wearing a shirt with a photo of Trump behind bars.
"It's becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness," Blanche urged. "He has stated on social media that he is going to stop talking and he doesn't."
The government said they had already "repeatedly" asked Cohen and others not to post, but claimed they had no control over the witnesses.
Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment that Cohen, who at the time was Trump's attorney, made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost Trump's electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.
On Wednesday night, days before he is slated to take the stand, Cohen went live on TikTok wearing a shirt that depicted Donald Trump wearing an orange jumpsuit, in handcuffs, and behind bars, according to video of the stream reviewed by ABC News. The shirt is merchandise for Cohen's show called the "Mea Culpa Podcast," and are sold for $32, which he has been selling since 2022.
Cohen previously said he would "cease posting anything" about Trump during the trail, but has since appeared multiple times on TikTok discussing the former president and the trial, according to hours of Cohen's streams reviewed by ABC News.
Judge Merchan's warning on Friday comes after ABC News first reported last week that Cohen had been discussing the case and blasting Trump in nightly livestreams on TikTok during the trial.
During the gag order hearing last week, both sides appeared to directly reference ABC News' reporting on Cohen's out of court statements and the financial benefit he has been earning while appearing on TikTok during the trial-- something legal experts have called "disastrous."
"As has been reported, because it's true, Mr. Cohen has started going on TikTok nightly and literally making money -- apparently you can make money -- with people doing things while they're watching you on TikTok," Trump's attorney Todd Blanche told the judge.
Blanche then proceeded to read out the statement Cohen gave to ABC News in response to the story, which Merchan firmly nodded to when he heard.
Trump's team has repeatedly argued Trump has merely been responding to political attacks with his statements about Michael Cohen and others. The DA's office also mentioned Michael Cohen's TikTok videos.
"This is not a man that needs protection from the gag order," Blanche stated.
(NEW YORK) -- Americans across the country may get a chance to see the northern lights this weekend.
A series of solar flares and "explosions" from the sun may lead to geomagnetic storms that "can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth" from Friday evening through the weekend, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center said on Thursday.
Because the geomagnetic storms are severe, Americans in many of the northern states and some in the lower Midwest will likely see the aurora borealis. But lights may be seen as far south as Alabama, according to the federal agency.
This is NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center's first severe geomagnetic storm watch in nearly 20 years.
The solar flares, which began Wednesday around 5 a.m. ET, are associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) directed toward Earth.
CMEs are expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the sun's corona, the outermost part of the sun's atmosphere, according to the SWPC.
When these ejections head toward Earth, taking as long as days or as little as 15 hours, they cause geomagnetic storms, which are disturbances in the magnetic field around the planet.
"Then fast-moving particles slam into our thin, high atmosphere, colliding with Earth's oxygen and nitrogen particles," according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "As these air particles shed the energy they picked up from the collision, each atom starts to glow in a different color," giving us the aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere and the aurora australis in the southern hemisphere.
The SWPC recommends traveling away from city lights to experience the full brightness of the aurora and to be looking at the skies within two hours of midnight, between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.
Beautiful ribbons of lights are not the only result of geomagnetic storms.
These storms also have the ability to potentially disrupt communications, the electric power grid, radio signals and satellite operations. SWPC said it has notified operators of the various systems so they can take protective action.
Severe geomagnetic storms in October 2003 caused the northern lights to be seen as far south as Texas but it affected more than half of all Earth-orbiting spacecrafts and temporarily disrupted satellite TV and radio services. Additionally, several deep space missions had to be put in safe mode or completely shut down to prevent them from being disrupted.
"As far as the worst situation expected here at Earth, that's tough to say and I wouldn't want to speculate on that," NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said during a media briefing on Friday. "However, severe level is pretty extraordinary. It's a very rare event to happen."
(NEW YORK) -- After two days of dramatic testimony from Stormy Daniels, the hush money trial of Donald Trump finished up the week with a businesslike string of custodial witnesses.
Before that, Friday started with the conclusion of the cross-examination of former White House aide Madeline Westerhout, who spoke glowingly of the former president and said she felt he was hurt by hush money revelations due to concerns for his family.
Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.
The proceedings will resume Monday, when Cohen, the state's star witness, is expected to take the stand. He earned a rebuke from Judge Juan Merchan before proceedings ended on Friday for commenting about the case on social media.
Here are three big takeaways from Day 15 of the trial.
Ex-White House aide scores points for defense During her morning testimony, Madeline Westerhout said Donald Trump "was very upset" with a 2018 Wall Street Journal story that reported on the hush-money payment to Daniels -- adding that "my understanding is he knew it would be hurtful to his family."
It was an important moment for Trump's defense counsel, who have repeatedly sought to frame Trump's motive in suppressing negative stories about him as a means to protect his family -- not his campaign.
In another moment of testimony favorable to Trump, Westerhout described him as someone who signed a "tremendous amount of documents" -- including "commissions, proclamations, executive orders, memos, letters" -- and often signed them while handling other tasks.
"Sometimes he would sign checks without reviewing them?" defense attorney Susan Necheles asked.
"Yes," Westerhout said, possibly undermining prosecutors' contention that Trump would have been keenly aware of signing the checks to Cohen reimbursing him for the hush payment to Daniels.
Custodial witnesses set the stage for Cohen's testimony After Westerhout, a parade of custodial witnesses took short turns on the stand, introducing evidence to set the stage for Michael Cohen's testimony.
They included an AT&T employee, a Verizon employee, and two paralegals from the district attorney's office, who testified about phone logs and business records associated with the case.
Among them was paralegal Georgia Longstreet, who guided jurors through text messages between Stormy Daniels' former agent and an editor at American Media Inc. regarding the hush payment negotiations between Daniels' and Trump's representatives in the weeks before Election Day.
Cohen earns rebuke ahead of Monday appearance Before court wrapped on Friday, Judge Merchan asked prosecutors to instruct Michael Cohen to cease making comments about Trump or the case on social media.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that the judge should restrain Cohen "the same way President Trump is," referring to the limited gag order the prohibits Trump from speaking about witnesses and jurors in the case.
Instead, Merchan said, "I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case."
"That comes from the bench," he added.
Cohen's name and voice have already come up repeatedly in the first three weeks of testimony -- but on Monday, jurors are expected to get a firsthand look at the man at the heart of the state's case.
Whether they find him credible could dictate the outcome of the trial.
(NEW YORK) -- As anger over Israel's military operations in Gaza mounted, students from Columbia University's Apartheid Divest coalition assembled on the university's South Lawn on April 17, demanding that school officials disclose its financial investments.
A day later, at least 108 students were suspended and removed after the school's president, claiming outside agitators were posing a risk on campus, asked the New York Police Department to intervene. The police presence was "uncalled for," Angelica Ang, a student journalist at Columbia University, told ABC News – though the president said she made the decision with the support of the university's trustees.
There have been protests at least 39 campuses since April and nearly 2,600 students have been arrested, according to The Associated Press.
While some universities were able to de-escalate student protests quickly, others struggle to calm protests relating to the conflict in Gaza, as Israel tries to defeat Hamas terrorists.
Schools that negotiated with students versus calling in law enforcement have seen different results, University of Alabama at Birmingham criminal justice professor John Sloan III said.
University of California, Berkeley sociology professor Cihan Tugal said the heaviest protester participation has only happened in "cases where the administration cracks down violently."
The University of Chicago and George Washington University protests escalated as police dismantled student encampments in May.
GWU had five days of demonstrations before the school president asked Washington's Metropolitan Police Department for assistance; however, the request was rejected, according to The Washington Post. Officers used pepper spray against the protesters and 33 people were arrested during the confrontation, Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
Some schools, including Columbia and the University of Southern California, canceled their university-wide commencements. In April, USC canceled its commencement speeches, including the valedictorian's, citing safety concerns.
Not all schools have experienced heated confrontations. Brown University allowed five students to present their divestment proposal to administrative leaders if they cleared encampments. Northwestern University said students could join the school's investment committee if students removed tents. Moreover, Northwestern students were given permission by administrators to continue "peaceful demonstrations" and keep one tent on campus. Other schools that have de-escalated protests include Rutgers and Evergreen State College in Washington state.
One thread among schools that were able to de-escalate demonstrations: communication between the administration and students. "In any crisis, people want to be heard, if they aren't things will escalate," said Sandy Lish, an expert on crisis management who focuses on higher education.
Brown University had an initial encampment of 90 students. According to a statement by the school's office of the president, "the demonstrations might make some feel uncomfortable on the College Green, or create inconvenience" but "university staff will work with the protesters to address these issues."
At Columbia, the president said she reached out to police after seeing "too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior," including antisemitic language that she said was being used to intimidate and harass people.
"I do know that better adherence to our rules and effective enforcement mechanisms would obviate the need for relying on anyone else to keep our community safe," Minouche Shafik said in a statement last month. "We should be able to do this ourselves."
But some students said they felt disappointed at the lack of communication between the administration and the protesters. "Not once did the president come by," Ang said.
"We are responding appropriately as we have long made clear we would," a university spokesperson said after Columbia students occupied Hamilton Hall and the president asked the NYPD to come to campus for the second time.
At Harvard, the Palestine Solidarity Committee was suspended and student protesters were told they would be placed on "involuntary leave."
The move prompted an emergency rally on campus for those who opposed the suspension of the group, which drew controversy earlier this year after releasing a statement immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack saying it held "the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."
More than 300 Harvard professors signed a letter urging the administration to negotiate with students. "The administration has issued escalating threats of punitive disciplinary action, the severity of which the university has not seen in decades," the professors wrote.
As colleges begin commencement and summer recess, the challenges universities face are far from over. Sloan said schools face incident reviews to analyze "the lines of communication, where they did well or poorly, and who was doing the talking."
(NEW YORK) -- Author Zarifa Adiba discusses her journey from Afghanistan to international music fame in her new book "Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl."
Adiba said she was just like other Afghan girls, with ambition, dreams and courage. However, she says what made her luckier was her passion for music.
Music became Adiba's lifeline, her escape from the harsh realities of Afghanistan. Her dedication to the viola led her to the prestigious Afghanistan National Institute of Music, where she rose to the position of co-conductor of the Afghan Women's Orchestra.
ABC News sat down with Adiba, who discussed her heartbreak about what is going on in Afghanistan today and her new book.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan three years ago, life for women has once again become much more difficult. But since she was very young, Zarifa Adiba has always had a plan and plenty of ambition to live freely.
In her new book, "Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl," she tells the remarkable, nearly decadelong voyage that has led her ultimately to America. Zarifa, it's so good to have you in our studio. Thank you so much for coming.
I understand that you grew up very poor in Afghanistan. What ultimately got you here? I know there was a lot of drive, a lot of ambition, but what makes you different, perhaps, from other young Afghan girls?
ADIBA: Thank you for having me here. I don't think anything makes me different than other Afghan girls. I feel every Afghan girl has a lot of ambition, dreams, and they are very courageous. But what made me, made me luckier, was music.
I had a different kind of passion for music, and I, I was like: it is music or nothing. So I went for music, and music opened many other doors for me.
ABC NEWS LIVE: So you picked up the viola, feverishly began playing. You end up joining the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and ultimately start conducting, as co-conductor of the Afghan Women's Orchestra. Wanted to take a look at a clip from you performing at just 18 years old in Davos, Switzerland, where -- it's just beautiful to listen to you.
You say that this gave you the reputation back at home as a bad girl. What happened when you returned back?
ADIBA: So nobody knew that I'm a musician. And, it was a risk to perform at the World Economic Forum. A risk that I took it from the very beginning when I started playing my first notes. I feel like, Afghanistan, my beautiful homeland, has been at war for several decades and war usually destroys culture, education, system, traditions. It destroys everything.
And partially it had destroyed music, too; music's reputation. Music was very hard, even for boys. Let's not even talk about girls, because it was just, it was just not easy. Today, girls are not allowed to go to school. Just imagine that. How would it be to play music and hold a viola? Everything that I used to do, I think was making me a bad girl.
And in my country, a good girl is the one who does what society decides for them and, for me, I always have been the one deciding for myself whether it was music, whether it was having my hair out, or, traveling abroad or, studying English or having the dream to go to Harvard. Whatever dream I used to have, I was deciding them for myself.
ABC NEWS LIVE: What do you think about what's happening in your homeland in Afghanistan today?
ADIBA: To be honest, I'm heartbroken what is happening to my homeland. We could change a lot in Afghanistan, but everyone left us and, the Taliban, who have killed my friends, I cannot forgive them.
But the entire world just gave it up again to them. But today, after three years, now, sometimes I sit and I think I'm like, I wish, I wish I could just hold all the girls and women of Afghanistan out of that country. I wish there was another land.
We could put all the women and girls there and leave the entire country to the men and the politicians and be like, OK, fight now. Do whatever you want to do with with that land, right? But it's not like that.
If it's education, it is banned for girls. If it's music, it's banned. If it is work, not for women. If it is anything, all the politics, all their rules and regulations, everything is on women. And, all of those things. I'm just, I'm just heartbroken, and, I just hope that it change.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Zarifa, we thank you so much for talking with us. Really a pleasure to have you on. Want to let our viewers know "Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl," is now available wherever books are sold.
(NEW YORK) -- "Black Twitter: A People's History," a three-part docuseries premiering May 9 on Hulu, is directed by Prentice Penny and based on Jason Parham's WIRED article titled, "A People's History of Black Twitter."
The film explores the emergence, growth, and impact of Black Twitter, which has become a powerful and influential force in various aspects of American political and cultural life through its movements, voices and memes, according to the writer.
Black Twitter was formed as a thriving community on the Twitter platform rather than an app or URL. According to Parham, Twitter was chosen because it was a lightning rod moment. He believes that social tools best spoke to the moment of the 2010s.
Parham also said that Twitter had the platform's immediacy and allowed people to come together and connect, which led to so many things happening.
ABC News sat down with Parham and Penny to discuss the importance of Black Twitter.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Black Twitter was never a URL or an app. Instead, it emerged organically as a thriving community within the Twitter platform itself.
Hulu's new three-part docuseries, "Black Twitter: A People's History," directed by Prentice Penny and inspired by Jason Parham's WIRED article series, "A People's History of Black Twitter," traces the evolution of this digital community from its humble beginnings as a hashtag to its impact on everything from entertainment to activism.
Thank you so much for joining us tonight, gentlemen.
PENNY: Thank you.
PARHAM: Thanks for having us.
ABC NEWS LIVE: So I had a former boss who one time I remember we had done this story that was really blowing up on Black Twitter. And so we were telling him like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is getting so much attention on Black Twitter.' He happened to not be Black. And he was like, 'Do I need a special password?' That was funny. So we'll start out with the general question: How do you find Black Twitter?
PARHAM: I mean, you don't. It's, it's sort of this it's, it's sort of like the not right if you know it. You know what? If you get it, you get it. It's one of those things where it's like, we're not going to explain it to you, but if you're there and you know where to look for it. Yeah, but it's a community of many communities, sort of Black users on the platform, sort of showing up, coming together around moments of joy, courage, sacrifice, sorrow. It's all these things together. Yeah.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And, Prentice, congratulations to you on your nonfiction directorial debut. What made you decide you know, 'I'm actually going to do a docuseries about this'?
PENNY: Yeah. I mean, I'd finish "Insecure" for HBO and I kind of wanted the feeling of being scared creatively again, and I knew whatever I did next, if it was scripted, would inevitably be compared to that. And I didn't really want that.
And so I thought about my favorite filmmaker, Spike Lee, who had done narrative. But it also done docs like, you know, "When the Levees Break" and "Four Little Girls." And so I really wanted to pursue that feeling again. And Condé Nast brought me the article that Jason wrote and, once I read it, I was just like, I'm here for this.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And, Jason, what inspired you to write the article?
PARHAM: At the time, and I've been a part of Black Twitter since the beginning, 2009, almost sort of when the origin of it starts for me. And I just kind of wanted to give Black Twitter its flowers while it was still around, you know, so many things on the social editor are here today and gone tomorrow.
So, I felt like Black Twitter had it had been enough distance from its origin in, its founding where we could like, really put some care and thought and really give it, uh, it's just due.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Do you feel like, for either of you, it's not as prominent any longer now that Elon Musk is part of, there's been so many changes, change from Twitter to X. Has that at all changed the community?
PARHAM: I mean, the data shows that, you know, there has been an exodus of users from the platform, less so for Black users. I think they're not on the main avenue in the way that they used to be, like in moments of the Black Lives Matter movement or during Trump's election, but they're still there doing what they're doing, doing what they do in their own corners of the app, for sure.
PENNY: I was going to say I think our culture, in this country, is usually pushed out right in certain ways. And I think our presence on the platform is another way of defiance of being right, just because you own it. We've kind of established a home here, and it may not be a physical home, but it's a digital space again where you feel support, you feel joy. And so I think there is a hesitance to go, like, 'why should we leave?'
ABC NEWS LIVE: And why Twitter do you feel, in particular, now known as X? Why do you think that this started? Because there are a lot of other this could have happened on Facebook. It could have happened on Instagram.
PARHAM: It really was a lightning rod moment. I think it was the social tool that best spoke to the moment of the 2010s. We were coming out of the Obama years. We had the Black Lives Matter movement.
There were so many things that I think Twitter, that was sort of the immediacy of the platform and people coming together and to connect. It was the news almost before the news.
PENNY: And we talk about this in the doc, too. I think Twitter was a lot of different things. It wasn't sure what it was trying to be. So, as a result, it was very pliable as a platform; you could use it.
And Black culture is typically really good at, in this country, of taking something and repurposing it or remixing it, not in its original intention, but doing what works for us. And I think that's why you see memes and that sort of language take off or activism take off is because we could bend the platform to kind of do whatever we needed it to do.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You talk about it as coming of age. How do you think that the future will evolve for Black Twitter? Do you feel like it is growing up and changing the dynamic different?
PENNY: I think it's definitely grown up and stepped into its own power in its own way, and I feel like it's even off the platform now.
I mean, I think you're seeing it obviously in other social media apps. I feel like you're seeing and in real life, I have three kids. They have lived in a life where they have always heard the phrase Black Lives Matter or Black Girl Magic, and that's all a result of of stuff that happened on Black Twitter.
So I feel like it's just bigger than the platform now. I think it's always been in us, and I think that's, just gave us the tools to take it out into the real world.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Prentice, Jason, we thank you both so much for coming on and talking with us. Really appreciate it. Want to let our viewers know "Black Twitter: A People's History" is now available to stream on Hulu.
(OAKLAND, Calif.) -- Officials in Oakland, California, approved modifying the name of the city's airport to include "San Francisco," despite a federal trademark lawsuit from the city of San Francisco, while also filing their own lawsuit against the neighboring city over the name-change dispute.
The Oakland Board of Port Commissioners unanimously voted Thursday to rename Metropolitan Oakland International Airport to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. The name change has since gone into effect on the airport's website and social media accounts. The airport's three-letter code -- OAK -- and visual brand will remain the same.
The board said the new name is part of the port's efforts to "strengthen and grow the airport."
"Our Board came to these discussions with a shared love of Oakland and a desire to see our city and airport thrive," Port Commission President Barbara Leslie said in a statement following Thursday's vote. "We are moving forward with a commitment to honoring our past while building a stronger, more inclusive future."
After announcing the proposed name change in late March, the board voted unanimously to modify the airport's name in a first reading vote on April 11. Leslie said the port then met with "dozens of community leaders and stakeholders" to hear their concerns over the change.
The city of San Francisco filed a federal trademark lawsuit over the plan on April 18, arguing that the proposed name would cause confusion for travelers and infringe on San Francisco International Airport's (SFO) trademark. The city attorney's office said it filed its lawsuit following "multiple attempts" to work with the Port of Oakland on alternative names.
Two days before Thursday's vote, which allowed the Port of Oakland to move forward with the renaming, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu "strongly" urged the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners to reconsider their plans.
In a letter to the board, he called on the commissioners to "instead engage in discussions with the City and others about a different name that would achieve the Port's objectives without infringing on the City's trademark and engendering consumer confusion and harm."
San Francisco's lawsuit seeks injunctive relief to immediately stop the use of the name and orders declaring that Oakland has infringed on SFO's mark and requiring the city to destroy any materials containing the new name. The lawsuit is also seeking unspecified damages and fees.
San Francisco has owned the U.S. federal trademark registration for the mark "San Francisco International Airport" with the first date of use in commerce in 1954, according to the city's lawsuit.
In a countersuit filed on Thursday, Port of Oakland asked the court to rule that SFO's trademark does not extend to the use of "San Francisco Bay" and argued that other places have several airports whose names begin with the same geographic identifier, such as London, Paris, Beijing, Chicago and Dallas.
"The San Francisco's City Attorney's decision to pursue litigation is an attempt to stop consumer education, prevent expanded air travel options for Bay Area residents and visitors, and is a misguided use of San Francisco taxpayer dollars," Port Attorney Mary Richardson said in a statement. "OAK is committed to enhancing its airline routes and increasing competition for the benefit of all of San Francisco Bay Area's visitors and residents, including those residing in the City and County of San Francisco. We stand ready and willing to partner with SFO to increase choices for travelers and invite any productive dialogue to this end."
The Port of Oakland's lawsuit is not seeking any financial compensation or damages.
In a statement to ABC News, Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, said it is "disappointing that Oakland chose this path and has ignored our multiple offers to collaborate on alternative names and avoid litigation."
"We have strong federal trademark infringement claims against Oakland, and they have given us no choice but to move forward with next steps in our lawsuit," the statement continued.
There were 11.2 million passengers who came through Oakland's airport in 2023, while San Francisco's airport saw 50 million passengers last year.
(NEW YORK) -- Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 10, 1:54 PM Trump, exiting court, slams judge over Cohen remarks
Former President Trump, on his way out of the courtroom at the end of the day's proceedings, assailed Judge Juan Merchan for declining to gag upcoming witness Michael Cohen for remarks he's been making about Trump and the case on social media.
"There is no gag order to Michael Cohen. What the judge did was amazing, actually was amazing," Trump said of Merchan telling prosecutors to ask Cohen to stop making comments.
"Everybody can say whatever they want. They can say whatever they want. I'm not allowed to say anything about anybody," Trump said.
Trump also reiterated that his repayments to Cohen for Stormy Daniels' hush payment were properly recorded in his company's ledger. Prosecutors have said the repayments were unlawfully marked as a "legal expense" to conceal their true nature.
"I didn't do the bookkeeping. I didn't even know about it, but a very good bookkeeper marked a legal expense down as a legal expense," Trump said. "They didn't call it construction. They didn't call it building something or concrete or electrical cost. They called it, very simply, a legal expense to a lawyer -- who's a lawyer, not a fixer -- he's a lawyer."
"A legal expense to a lawyer," Trump repeated.
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Mike Pappano
May 10, 1:19 PM Judge rebukes Cohen ahead of Monday's expected testimony
Judge Merchan communicated a bit of a warning to Michael Cohen ahead of his planned testimony next week, telling prosecutors to ask him to stop talking about the case after Trump's team brought up his continued out-of-court statements.
"I would direct the people to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case," Merchan said.
"That comes from the bench and you are communicating that on behalf of the bench," said the judge.
Merchan's rebuke came after defense attorney Todd Blanche brought up recent statements by Cohen, including his appearing on TikTok this week wearing a shirt with a photo of Trump behind bars.
"It's becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness," Blanche urged. "He has stated on social media that he is going to stop talking, and he doesn't," Blanche said of Cohen.
Prosecutors said they had already "repeatedly" asked Cohen and others not to post about the case, but claimed they had no control over the witnesses.
Court was subsequently adjourned for the week.
May 10, 1:12 PM Judge suggests Weisselberg could testify
With the jury out of the courtroom, defense lawyer Emil Bove argued that Judge Merchan should not allow former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg's severance agreement with the company to get into evidence.
Weisselberg, who is currently serving a five-month sentence on New York's Rikers Island for committing perjury during Trump's civil fraud trial, he received a $2 million severance agreement from the Trump Organization.
Prosecutor Christopher Conroy argued the separation agreement "offers a real explanation for why he is not going to be here in this trial."
"We just respectfully disagree with that," Bove responded, saying Weisselberg is not testifying because the district attorney's office pursued a perjury case against him.
Judge Merchan did not issue a ruling on the matter but suggested the parties might have "jumped the gun" by suggesting Weisselberg can't testify "without making an effort to get him here."
As an alternative, Merchan suggested that Weisselberg could testify outside the presence of the jury before determining the appropriate next step.
May 10, 1:05 PM Prosecutors could rest their case by end of next week
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass indicted that the state's case could be headed into the home stretch.
"We expect to call potentially two witnesses" next week, Steinglass told Judge Merchan, saying it is "entirely possible" the state rests their case by the end of next week.
That will be followed by the presentation of the defense's case, then a prosecution rebuttal.
In another sign of how quickly the case is moving along, Merchan also invited the parties to begin submitting suggestions for the jury charge -- the instructions on the law delivered by the judge before the jury begins deliberating.
May 10, 12:50 PM Defense tries to show Pecker-Hicks call never took place
Defense attorney Emil Bove used DA office paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider's testimony to highlight a point about former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and longtime top Trump aide Hope Hicks.
Earlier in the trial, Pecker testified about a phone call he had with with Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders where they discussed extending Karen McDougal's "catch-and-kill" agreement with the publication.
However, Hicks testified that she never had such a phone call with Pecker.
Bove, during his cross-examination of Jarmel-Schneider, suggested that no phone records exist to document the call taking place.
"I don't think that's true," Jarmel-Schneider responded, muddying Bove's point. The two briefly discussed which exhibit might contain a record of the call.
Bove subsequently completed his cross-examination.
With the day's testimony over, Judge Merchan then dismissed the jury for the weekend.
May 10, 12:34 PM Jurors see chart of 34 records Trump allegedly falsified
Jurors saw a summary exhibit prepared by DA office paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider that breaks down the 34 records that prosecutors allege Trump falsified in the course of repaying Michael Cohen for Stormy Daniels' hush money payment.
The exhibit shows each of the vouchers, checks, and invoices -- broken down by each criminal count -- that prosecutors say Trump falsified to disguise his reimbursement to Cohen.
The chart appears to be the jury's clearest roadmap so far to each of the documents at the center of the case.
Defense attorney Emil Bove -- once a paralegal himself -- began his cross-examination by asking Jarmel-Schneider how much time he spent on the project, suggesting it was "tedious."
"Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it," Jarmel-Schneider said, prompting jurors and several members of the gallery to break out into laughter.
"I hear you -- respect," Bove said in a rare moment of levity.
May 10, 12:21 PM Custodial witness testifies about phone call exhibits
Prosecutors next called Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal with the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Jarmel-Schneider testified that he prepared exhibits to summarize the phone calls between relevant witnesses in the case.
Using the phone records, Jarmel-Schneider said he removed extraneous calls, standardized the time zones, and created charts to act as a "roadmap" so jurors could easily see the witnesses' relevant communications.
These charts are likely to be used during Michael Cohen's testimony, which is scheduled to start Monday, and the jury will have access to the records during their deliberations.
May 10, 11:42 AM Witness reviews text messages with Daniels' allegations
After reviewing a series of Trump's tweets about Michael Cohen, custodial witness Georgia Longstreet read into evidence several 2016 text messages between Stormy Daniels' agent Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer.
"Story Daniels ... I have her," Rodriguez wrote in one text.
"Is she ready to talk," Howard asked. "I thought she denounced it previously."
"She said she would do it under two conditions," Rodriguez wrote. "She doesn't want to go on record about it but will tell the story through a source," Rodriguez said.
"She's had sex with him. She wants 100K," Rodriguez wrote.
May 10, 11:35 AM Witness reviews Trump tweets about Michael Cohen
Custodial witness Georgia Longstreet read into evidence a series of 2018 tweets by Trump.
"The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don't speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will 'flip,'" one tweet said.
"If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don't retain the services of Michael Cohen!" read another tweet.
Prospectors are introducing these posts to demonstrate what they argue is a "pressure campaign" by Trump to prevent Michael Cohen's cooperation with authorities.
Jurors also read a 2018 tweet from Trump where he denied an affair with Daniels but defended the nondisclosure arrangement between them as a "private" agreement.
Trump, marking up papers at the defense table, stopped as Longstreet read some of his tweets into the record. He stared at the tweets displayed on the monitor in front of him, then resumed writing.
May 10, 11:26 AM Prosecutors call back paralegal from DA's office
Prosecutors have called back to the stand Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Longstreet testified last week to introduce some of Trump's social media posts into evidence.
Trump, sitting at the defense table, has been working diligently -- scribbling notes and thumbing through a stack of papers, marking some of them, and then placing them in another pile.
May 10, 11:19 AM Judge won't admit Larry King interview as evidence
When court resumed after the mid-morning break, Judge Juan Merchan handed the defense a victory -- ruling to block the state's effort to include an excerpt of an interview Trump did with Larry King in 1999 as evidence.
"You are asking the jurors to draw an in inference that because Mr. Trump knew the laws in 1999, he knew them in 2016," Merchan said in denying the request. "That's a lot of speculation."
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg entered the courtroom with prosecutors following the break. Trump turned around to look at the gallery before he sat down, appearing to spot Bragg.
Merchan signaled that the proceedings will likely end early today, after the prosecution calls its final two witnesses of the day.
May 10, 11:03 AM Verizon employee testifies about Weisselberg's phone records
Prosecutors next called custodial witness Jenny Tomalin, who works for Verizon, to testify about call records for former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg's Verizon mobile phone.
Prosecutors may refer to calls between Weisselberg and Michael Cohen when Cohen testifies next week.
Jurors saw toll records from Weisselberg which appeared to stretch to hundreds of pages, showing each of the calls placed and received by Weisselberg. The records detail the length of each call in minutes, as well as the date, time, origination, destination, and the other phone number.
After Tomalin's direct examination concluded she stepped off the stand and court broke for the mid-morning recess.
May 10, 10:54 AM AT&T analyst testifies about Cohen's phone records
Prosecutors called Daniel Dixon, who works as a lead compliance analyst at AT&T, to testify as a custodian of records about cell phone data.
Prosecutors used his testimony to enter into evidence phone records for Michael Cohen's company phone that jurors will likely see later when Cohen testifies.
As Dixon testified, Trump leaned forward in his chair with a yellow highlighter in hand, flipping through and marking up a stack of papers.
Defense attorney Emil Bove then did a detailed cross-examination of Dixon, as part of an effort to cast any possible doubt on records related to Cohen.
Dixon then stepped off the stand, with he and Trump exchanging tight smiles as he passed the defense table.
May 10, 10:25 AM Westerhout exits with a quick word of thanks from Trump
During a short redirect examination, Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout confirmed that she currently works as the chief of staff for Robert C. O'Brien, who served as Trump's national security adviser from 2019 to 2021.
Westerhout then concluded her testimony.
She and Trump both smiled at each other as she stepped off the witness stand. As she passed by the defense table, Trump whispered what appeared to be a brief word of thanks to her.
May 10, 10:19 AM Westerhout says Trump was 'very upset' by WSJ article
Defense attorney Necheles concluded her cross-examination of Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout by asking Westerhout about Trump's reaction to the 2018 Wall Street Journal story about the Stormy Daniels hush money payment.
Westerhout confirmed she spoke with Trump after the story came out and recalled that "he was very upset by it."
"Why?" Necheles asked.
"My understanding is he knew it would be hurtful to his family," Westerhout said.
Part of her testimony about Trump's response was struck from the record because Westerhout could not recall Trump specifically mentioning his family.
"I could just tell that the whole situation was unpleasant," Westerhout said.
May 10, 10:14 AM Defense suggests avoiding White House mail is standard
Defense attorney Susan Necheles suggested that the practice of not mailing Trump's personal items directly to the White House -- including checks for him to sign -- was a standard practice used by past presidents to quickly get their personal mail.
"It was a way that items could be sent to you and you could get them promptly to President Trump?" Necheles asked Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout, suggesting that security practices delayed mail sent to the White House and that packages might get lost.
"That's right," Westerhout said.
"This was a problem [that] … exists for everybody who is in that office?" Necheles later asked, suggesting past administrations used a similar solution.
"I don't have any knowledge of what is was like in previous administrations, but I can't imagine it would have been any different," said Westerhout.
Necheles also sought to contradict the prosecution's contention that Trump personally reviewed every check he signed.
"You said he signed a tremendous amount of documents ... commissions, proclamations, executive orders, memos, letters ... hundreds of documents a day?" Necheles asked Westerhout.
"Not every day, but sometimes," Westerhout said.
"Sometimes he would sign checks without reviewing them?" Necheles asked.
"Yes," said Westerhout.
May 10, 10:00 AM Defense seeks to distance Trump from CFO, repayments
Seeking to distance Trump from his then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg -- and thus the repayment arrangement for Michael Cohen -- defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout, "I'm correct that you don't ever have a recollection of Donald Trump and Allen Weisselberg speaking in his first year in office?"
"That's correct, yes," Westerhout responded.
Meanwhile, a long week of testimony appears to have caught up with some of the jurors, several of whom appear to be stifling yawns.
All 18 were leaning back into their chairs as attorneys gathered at the bench for a sidebar conference.
May 10, 9:52 AM Defense asks Westerhout about Trump's contact list
After taking the stand yesterday, Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout is back undergoing cross-examination by defense attorney Susan Necheles.
After asking Westerhout about her time at the Republican National Committee, where Westerhout worked before joining the Trump Administration, Necheles quickly changes topics, asking Westerhout about a list of contacts that Trump Organization executive assistant Rhona Graff shared with Westerhout in 2017.
Jurors yesterday saw the list of likely contacts -- which included Tom Brady, Bret Baier, Sean Hannity, Jerry Falwell, Bill O'Reilly, and Joe Scarborough. Prosecutors emphasized that the list included Michael Cohen, Allen Weisselberg, and David Pecker.
"There were many people on that list who never called the Oval Office?" Necheles asked Westerhout.
"Many, yes," Westerhout responded.
May 10, 9:37 AM Judge quashes defense subpoena in written order
In an written order issued this morning, Judge Juan Merchan quashed the defense's attempt to subpoena former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Mark Pomerantz.
Pomerantz resigned from the Manhattan district attorney's office in 2022 soon after DA Alvin Bragg opted not to pursue his case against Trump.
Pomerantz later wrote a book about his investigation, and defense lawyers issued multiple requests for his records related to the book and files from his time with the Manhattan DA's office.
In his ruling, Merchan said that Trump's requests were too broad, sought irrelevant information, and were procedurally improper. He wrote some of the requests were "far too broad and amount to an improper fishing expedition into general discovery."
May 10, 9:31 AM Trump arrives in court
Donald Trump has entered the courtroom carrying a stack of papers.
He immediately took his seat at the defense table.
He is joined in court today by the woman who runs his presidential campaign, Susie Wiles, and his legal adviser Boris Ephsteyn.
May 10, 9:26 AM Prosecutors arrive in courtroom
Prosecutors and staff from the Manhattan district attorney’s office have arrived in court.
Prosecutors Joshua Steinglass, Becky Mangold and Christopher Conroy are seated at counsel table.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not present in court Friday morning.
May 10, 8:08 AM Michael Cohen expected to testify Monday, sources say
Michael Cohen, the prosecution's star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial, is expected to take the stand Monday, according to multiple sources familiar with the case.
Trump's former attorney and "fixer," Cohen made the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels that sits at the center of the case, in order to buy her silence and help Trump's electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
Prosecutors accuse of Trump falsifying business records when he repaid Cohen the $130,000.
May 10, 7:49 AM Key Trump White House aide set to resume testimony
Former Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout is set to resume her testimony this morning in former President Donald Trump's New York criminal trial.
For prosecutors, Westerhout's testimony yesterday offered a detailed picture of how Trump approached his personal finances while serving as president -- including how he signed personal checks for his then-attorney Michael Cohen and others.
Defense attorneys, meanwhile, appeared to use Westerhout to highlight Trump's character following hours of abrasive testimony from Stormy Daniels.
"He never once made me feel like I didn't deserve that job and I didn't belong there, especially in an office filled with older men," Westerhout told jurors about working by Trump's side for over two years. "He was a really good boss. I hope he respected me in my job, and I just found him very enjoyable to work for."
Westerhout at one point broke down in tears on the witness stand while recounting to the jury how she lost her job after she shared private details of Trump's family with reporters at an off-the-record dinner.
"That mistake, eventually -- ultimately, cost me my job, and I am very regretful of my youthful indiscretion," Westerhout said while crying.
May 09, 5:20 PM 'We are so innocent,' Trump says exiting courtroom
Judge Juan Merchan dismissed court for the day following the late hearing.
Trump, speaking to reporters on his way out of the courtroom, railed against the judge.
"Everybody saw what happened today -- I don't think we have to do any expert explaining," Trump said. "I'm not allowed to anyway because this judge is corrupt," he said, criticizing Merchan -- who is not protected by the limited gag order in the case.
"I got to get back on the campaign trail. I'm not supposed to be here. We are so innocent," Trump said.
-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh and Mike Pappano
May 09, 5:04 PM Judge, slamming defense, denies 2nd motion for mistrial
Merchan took defense attorney Susan Necheles to task for her failure to object to a line of inquiry about whether or not Donald Trump used a condom during his alleged encounter with Stormy Daniels.
"For the life of me, I don't know why Ms. Necheles didn't object," the judge said.
Merchan emphasized that Daniels testimony was necessary because Trump's lawyers continue to deny the encounter occurred.
"That pits your client's words against Ms. Daniels' word," the judge said.
"These details add a sense of credibility if the jury chooses to believe them," Merchan said. "Your motion for a mistrial is denied."
May 09, 4:53 PM State argues that Daniels' testimony corroborated her account
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass heavily pushed back on defense attorney Todd Blanche's motion for a mistrial based on Stormy Daniels' detailed and explicit testimony.
"It has always been the people's contention that the details in this case -- details of the two-hour conversation that Ms. Daniels had with the defendant in the living room and the dinner room of his hotel room in Harrah's -- corroborate her account," Steinglass said.
"They corroborate that the sex happened, which is motivation to silence her," he said.
Steinglass argued that defense lawyers cannot attack Daniels' credibility in their opening statement, then move for a mistrial after the state thoroughly questioned Daniels to develop her credibility with the jury.
"They're trying to have their cake and eat it too," Steinglass said.
Steinglass also argued that the condom testimony was permissible because Trump, according to Daniels, asked her a series of questions about protection and STDs in the adult film industry during their conversation in Trump's suite.
"Mr. Trump asked a lot of questions about the testing in the adult film industry," Steinglass said. "The reason that is relevant is because it explains his decision not to wear a condom."
"You know who knew what happened in that room? Mr. Trump knew," Steinglass said. "That was Mr. Trump's motive to silence this woman in 2016."
Trump has been sitting with his arms crossed, staring at Merchan, during the hearing.
May 09, 4:36 PM Defense, seeking mistrial, says, 'This is not a case about sex'
In the defense's motion for a mistrial, defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that prosecutors went too far with their questions during Stormy Daniels' direct examination.
"What proceeded to happen was a whole host of questions that went way beyond the mere fact that it happened," Blanche said.
"It almost defies belief we are here about a records case," Blanche said. "This is not a case about sex."
"The nondisclosure agreement was entered. Whether it happened or not has nothing to do with the charges in this case," he argued.
May 09, 4:29 PM Judge, quoting Trump himself, declines to modify gag order
Judge Merchan, after hearing arguments from the defense, declined to modify the limited gag order so Trump could respond publicly to Stormy Daniels' testimony.
"I don't see what you're referring to as a new set of facts," the judge told the defense.
"My concern is not just with protecting Ms. Daniels or a witness who just testified," the judge said. "My concern is protecting these proceedings as a whole."
In making his ruling, Merchan quoted Trump's words from an excerpt of Trump's book that the jury saw today: "When you are wronged, go after those people because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it."
The judge said that other witnesses would see how Trump treats Daniels if he modifies the gag order.
May 09, 4:21 PM Defense seeks gag order exception so Trump can reply to Daniels
Judge Juan Merchand, preparing to hear the defense's request to limit the expected testimony of Karen McDougle, who was paid by the National Enquirer to suppress her claim of a year-long affair with Trump, was told that the motion is no longer necessary.
"The people informed me they no longer intend to call Ms. McDougal," defense attorney Tood Blanche said.
Blanche then argued to Judge Merchan that Trump should be able to respond to Stormy Daniels' testimony, seeking to an exception to the limited gag order that prohibits Trump from targeting witnesses and jurors.
Blanche asked that Trump be "allowed to respond publicly to what happened in court the past day and a half."
"He needs an opportunity to respond to the American people," Blanche said.
Because Daniels is off the witness stand, Blanche argued that Trump's comments about her testimony would not impact the proceedings.
Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy opposed the request to loosen the gag order.
"It seems as if the other side lives in an almost alternate reality. There is a proceeding here that this order is designed to protect," Conroy said, adding that the appropriate place to respond to testimony is in the courtroom.
"We have seen the fear in some of these witnesses," Conroy added, citing Westerhout's reaction when her personal information appeared on some exhibits. He added that a recent custodial witness had concerns for their safety.
According to Conroy, the fear was Trump's "doing."
Conroy argued that the gag order should protect witnesses before, during, and after their testimony.
May 09, 4:08 PM Westerhout calls Trump's relationship with Melania 'special'
On cross-examination by defense attorney Susan Necheles, Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout sang Trump's praises.
"You thought he was a great person to work for?" Necheles asked.
"Yes," Westerhout said, telling jurors that Trump was a great president.
Westerhout previously testified that she found Trump's relationship with his wife Melania Trump "special," and described their dynamic in glowing terms.
"He was my boss, but she was definitely the one in charge," she said. "I just remember thinking that their relationship was really special. They laughed a lot when she came into the Oval Office."
Necheles sought to pull this thread, asking Westerhout about how they engaged with one another at the White House.
"There were times when I could tell [Trump] was on the phone with Mrs. Trump, and he would say 'Honey ... come to the window,' and they would kind of wave to each other," from the residence," Westerhout said.
Westerhout then stepped off the stand so Judge Juan Merchan could hear the three motions the defense has asked to bring. The judge dismissed the jury in preparation for hearing the motions.
Westerhout's testimony is scheduled to resume tomorrow.
May 09, 3:56 PM Westerhout breaks down recalling her White House departure
"I am very regretful of my youthful indiscretion," Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout said, explaining that she left the White House after sharing information with reporters at an off-the-record dinner.
Trump appeared to confer with Blanche as Westerhout began to cry.
Fighting back tears, Westerhout said she has "grown a lot since then."
She spoke through tears and choked up as she told the jury about why she wrote her book about her time in the White House.
"I don't think he was treated fairly and I wanted to tell that story," Westerhout said of Trump.
May 09, 3:51 PM 'Sorry, sir,' Westerhout says, testifying about picture frame purchase
In June of 2017, Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout sent Trump Organization executive assistant Rhona Graff a photo and said then-President Trump wanted it framed.
"President Trump wanted to put in a frame to put behind his desk in the office," Westerhout testified. "Behind the Resolute Desk there was a little credenza."
Graff responded that she had no empty frames and offered to go to Tiffany & Co., next door to the Trump Tower, but she said the frames were "on the pricey side," about $650.
"Does DJT want to spend that much?" Graff asked in the email.
"Is this the type of thing that Mr. Trump would want to weigh in on?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked Westerhout.
"I don't recall another instance like this," said Westerhout, but she said this was a photo of Trump's mother that he wanted it framed.
"We may have made the executive decision without his approval," Westerhout said. She glanced toward Trump sitting at the defense table, and said, "Sorry, sir."
May 09, 3:42 PM Jurors see example of Trump approving personal expenses
Jurors saw an example of Donald Trump individually approving an expense. Prosecutors showed the jury a handwritten note on Trump's bill for the Winged Foot Golf Club. The bill totaled approximately $7,000.
"PAY," the note said. "ASAP OK."
"Whose handwriting is that?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout.
"That's the president's," Westerhout said, referring to Trump. "That looks to be a Sharpie or another felt tip pen."
May 09, 3:39 PM Westerhout testifies about Trump's check signing process
Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout testified that Trump would sometimes receive a stack of checks to sign from the Trump Organization that was sometime "maybe half an inch thick."
"It was consistent -- maybe twice a month," she said about the frequency of receiving a package of checks.
Asked about the number of checks in each package, Westerhout said, "Sometimes there was one. Sometimes there was a stack -- maybe half an inch thick. I never counted them."
From the times when Westerhout saw Trump signing checks, she recounted that Trump signed the checks individually using a felt-tip pen.
Once he was done signing, "He would give the folder back to me, and I would put it in a pre-labeled Fedex envelope and send it back to the Trump Organization."
If Trump had a question about any of the checks, Westerhout said Trump would call then-CFO Allen Weisselberg.
May 09, 3:36 PM Westerhout says she brought checks for Trump to sign
Prosecutor Becky Mangold asked Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout about a series of exhibits, including an email with Michael Cohen coordinating an in-person meeting with Donald Trump in February 2017, as well as correspondence with then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
"I understood them to be close," she said of Trump's relationship with Weisselberg.
The conversation with Westerhout then turned to then-President Trump's personal expenses.
"It's my understanding they were handled by checks," Westerhout said. "Checks were sent from the Trump Organization to an employee at the White House and I brought them in for the president to sign."
At first, the checks were sent to Keith Schiller, "and then later they were sent to me," Westerhout said.
"The checks came in a FedEx envelope. Inside was a manila folder with a stack of checks and I brought the manila folder into the president," testified Westerhout, who said there were invoices attached to some of the checks.
May 09, 3:27 PM Westerhout had list of people who got patched through to Trump
Prosecutors showed jurors a contact list for Trump that Trump Organization executive assistant Rhona Graff passed along to White House aide Madeleine Westerhout in 2017.
Among the names listed were Tom Brady, Bret Baier, Sean Hannity, Jerry Falwell, Bill O'Reilly, and Joe Scarborough.
Michael Cohen, David Pecker, and Allen Weisselberg were also included on the list.
Westerhout said the list included the names of people Trump spoke to often or might want to speak with.
Westerhout said if someone called the White House who was included on the list, she would try to patch them through to Trump directly.
May 09, 3:09 PM Westerhout testifies that Trump didn't use computer, email
Trump White House aide Madeleine Westerhout testified that Trump did not use email or a computer.
"What is Mr. Trump's preferred method of communications?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked.
"He liked speaking to people in person or over the phone," Westerhout said.
"Did Mr. Trump use a computer?" Mangold asked.
"Not to my knowledge," Westerhout said, adding Trump did not use email.
"He liked hard-copy documents," Westerhout said.
Westerhout testified that Trump paid attention to details and signed things himself, preferably with a Sharpie.
"He preferred to sign things himself," Westerhout said.
"Did he typically read things before signing them?" Mangold asked.
"Yes," Westerhout said.
May 09, 3:05 PM No one sat closer to Trump in White House, Westerhout says
Jurors saw a map of the West Wing of the White House to demonstrate where Madeline Westerhout's desk was in relation to the Oval Office.
"That is the area known as the outer oval office -- that is where the presidential secretaries or assistants sat," Westerhout told the jurors, highlighting the location of her desk.
Westerhout said she sat near John McEntee, Hope Hicks, and Keith Schiller, but no one sat closer to Trump's desk in the Oval Office than she did in the early days of the Trump administration.
"Who was the focus of your job?" prosecutor Becky Mangold asked.
"The president," Westerhout responded.
May 09, 2:58 PM Westerhout testifies about 'Access Hollywood' fallout
Before she worked in the White House, witness Madeleine Westerhout worked at the Republican National Committee.
On the stand, she testified about the aftermath of the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.
"It was a tape of Mr. Trump and Billy Bush," she said. "At the time I recall it rattling RNC leadership."
Prosecutor Becky Mangold asked, "Did the RNC consider replacing Mr. Trump as a candidate?"
Westerhout told the jury, "It's my recollection there were conversations how it would be possible to replace him as the candidate if it came to that."
Westerhout testified that after Trump won the election, she helped with the presidential transition.
She said she earned the nickname "Greeter Girl" in the media after she helped coordinate meetings at Trump Tower, appearing in videos and photos accompanying potential Trump appointees in the Trump Tower lobby.
May 09, 2:51 PM Prosecutors call White House aide Madeline Westerhout
Prosecutors have called their next big witness: Madeline Westerhout, who was Trump's director of Oval Office operations in the White House.
Westerhout was subpoenaed to testify.
Asked if she is nervous to testify, she responded, "I am now." This is her first time in a courtroom, she said.
Trump leaned forward in her chair, watching her intently.
May 09, 2:46 PM Jury hears quotes from Trump on his management approach
The prosecution has next called Tracy Menzies, a senior vice president at HarperCollins.
She is testifying about Donald Trump and Bill Zanker's 2007 book, "Think Big: Make It Happen in Business and Life."
Trump, at the defense table, tilted his head up at the large screen at the front of the courtroom and then leaned toward his monitor at the defense table as his image appeared on the cover jacket for the book.
Menzies testified about passages from the book, quoting Trump's approach to business and people management.
"As a matter of fact, I value loyalty above everything else -- more than brains, more than drive, more than energy," Trump wrote in one portion of the book, read aloud by Menzies. Another portion of the book noted that loyalty has become "part of the corporate culture of the Trump Organization."
"My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades," read another quote.
"When you are wronged, go after those people because it is a good feeling and because other people will see you doing it."
Also: "Get the best people and don't trust them."
May 09, 2:29 PM Defense highlights that Trump checks were for 'personal bills'
Defense attorney Susan Necheles conducted a short cross-examination of Trump Organization Rebecca Manochio about her time at the Trump Organization.
"Is it a nice place to work?" Necheles asked.
"Yes," Manochio said.
"You didn't really interact with President Trump?" Necheles asked.
"No," Manochio replied.
During her cross examination, Manochio also testified that then-CFO Allen Weisselberg rarely communicated with Trump once he took office.
"President Trump and Allen Weisselberg did not speak at all?" Susan Necheles asked.
"Correct," Manochio responded.
Necheles attempted to highlight that the checks made out to Michael Cohen, that were sent to Trump for his signature, were sent to Trump's bodyguard in Washington because they were for "personal bills" that needed to be quickly paid, and the White House delayed Trump's personal mail.
"These were all personal bills that had to be paid promptly?" Necheles asked.
"Yes," Manochio said.
May 09, 2:21 PM Proceedings ready to resume for afternoon session
Donald Trump has returned to the courtroom following the lunch break.
Trump surveyed the gallery as he got to the defense counsel table.
Judge Merchan is back on the bench and Trump Organization bookkeeper Rebecca Manochio has taken her seat on the witness stand to resume her testimony.
May 09, 1:08 PM Defense filing motion to dismiss, plus 2 other motions
Trump's defense team, after Judge Juan Merchan dismissed the jury for a lunch break, informed the judge they have a renewed motion for a mistrial plus two additional motions.
In in addition to seeking a mistrial, the defense will asking to preclude Karen McDougal's potential testimony, and seek to modify part of the limited gag order placed on Trump.
Merchan said he will break testimony early at 4 p.m. ET and handle the three motions then.
Before excusing the jury for the lunch break, Merchan announced that the trial is currently on or ahead of schedule.
May 09, 12:52 PM Checks for Trump to sign were sent to bodyguard's home
As questioning of the Trump Organization's bookkeeper continued, Trump, sitting at the defense table, continued to appear to give instructions to his attorneys.
Trump wrote down a note on a yellow legal bad and passed it to attorney Susan Necheles, who read it and then looked up at Trump and nodded in agreement. She then went back to her own notepad and took down a note.
Bookkeeper Rebecca Manachio is testifying as a custodian of records for the Trump Organization, as prosecutors have entered into evidence a series of emails and Fedex records.
The jury sees FedEx invoices for checks Manachio says she sent to Washington for Trump to sign while he was president. They have seen two instances where Manachio mailed checks to the home of Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, instead of directly to the White House.
Schiller also mailed the checks back, according to Manachio.
Asked who directed her to mail the checks to Schiller, Manachio said that either then-CFO Allen Weisselberg or Trump assistant Rhona Graff told her to do so.
May 09, 12:42 PM Bookkeeper testifies she mailed checks for Trump to sign
For their next witness, prosectors have called Rebecca Manochio, a Trump Organization employee.
Manachio, on the stand, said she has worked for the Trump Organization for 11 years, including working as former CFO Allen Weissleberg's assistant for eight years. She now works as a junior bookkeeper at the company.
She said that she is testifying pursuant to a subpoena. "I was compelled to testify," she said.
Manochio testified she was the one who personally mailed the checks for Michael Cohen to Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., while he was president, for him to sign.
"How frequently did you have to FedEx checks to Mr. Trump?" she was asked.
"About once a week," she responded.
"Deb would give me the checks in a manilla folder, and I would put them in a FedEx envelope with a return," she testified.
Manachio said she would send Trump a bundle of checks weekly via Federal Express.
Asked about how many checks she sent at one time, she said, "Maybe between 10 and 20. I am not sure though."
Manachio said she would normally receive the signed checks back within a few days.
"Did you always check to make sure they were signed once you got them back?," she was asked.
"Yes," she affirmed.
"Who's signature was on them?" she was asked.
"Mr. Trump's," she said.
May 09, 12:32 PM Stormy Daniels concludes testimony
During her redirect examination, Stormy Daniels suggested Trump targeted her in a Truth Social post.
"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU," Trump wrote in August 2023.
Daniels said that Trump made the post shortly after he sued her for legal fees in Florida.
"I wasn't sure, but I thought it was me," Daniels said about the subject of the post.
Prosecutors previously told Judge Merchan that they planned to introduce social media posts to demonstrate a pressure campaign by Trump against known witnesses in the case.
On recross examination, defense attorney Susan Necheles suggested that the post likely referenced Trump's attitude toward a Republican political action committee, not Daniels' conduct.
With her testimony complete, Daniels stepped off the witness stand.
May 09, 12:24 PM Daniels says she's been telling the truth about Trump
"Have you been telling lies about Mr. Trump or the truth about Mr. Trump?" prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Stormy Daniels.
Daniels answered, "The truth," and she said it has cost her.
"I've had to hire security, take extra precautions for my daughter, move my daughter to a safe place to live, move a couple times," she said.
Hoffinger concluded her redirect examination with this question: "On balance, has your publicly telling the truth about your experiences with Mr. Trump been net positive, or net negative?"
"Negative," Daniels answered.
May 09, 12:19 PM Prosecutors display social posts disparaging Daniels
Prosecutors showed the jury disparaging tweets posted about Daniels, including one that said, "Good luck walking down the street after this."
"Are these two tweets examples of some of the tweets that you have received ... in relation to things you have said publicly about Mr. Trump?," Hoffinger asked.
"Yes. These are tame actually," Daniels responded.
May 09, 12:15 PM Daniels addresses questions from cross-examination
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked Daniels about some of the topics from Daniels' cross-examination.
Daniels, under questioning, said that her 2011 InTouch magazine interview – which defense attorney Susan Necheles used to highlight some inconsistencies in Daniels' story about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump -- was edited by the publication.
Hoffinger also asked Daniels about her interview with "60 Minutes."
"You didn't tell every single detail to Anderson Cooper, did you?" Hoffinger asked.
"No," Daniels responded.
May 09, 12:06 PM Prosecutors begin Daniels' redirect examination
Following the conclusion of defense attorney Susan Necheles' cross-examination of Stormy Daniels, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger returned to the lectern for her redirect examination.
Hoffinger began her questions by asking Daniels to clarify why she wanted to go public with her allegations in 2016.
"You are safer hiding in plain sight," Daniels said. "Something won't happen to you if everyone is looking at you."
May 09, 11:59 AM Defense seeks to distance Trump from nondisclosure
In her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels, defense attorney Susan Necheles sought to distance Donald Trump from the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed.
"You have no personal knowledge of his involvement in that [agreement] and what he did and didn't do?" Necheles asked.
"Not directly," Daniels said.
Necheles also emphasized that Daniels had nothing to do with the crux of the case, which is how the payment to her was labeled on Trump's business records.
"And you know nothing about Trump's business records, right?" Necheles asked.
"I know nothing about his business records, no." Daniels responded. "Why would I?"
Daniels seemed to suggest she wasn't entirely clear on the substance of the charges against Trump in this case -- leading to a jab against the former president.
"You have no knowledge of what he's indicted for?" Necheles asked.
"There are a lot of indictments," Daniels responded.
The judge declined to strike that statement.
May 09, 11:51 AM Daniels returns to the stand following break
Trump reentered the courtroom after the break and returned to the defense table. Before he sat, he turned around to scan the room.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles entered in front of him, smiling.
Trump then conferred with Necheles at the defense table, whispering into her ear as she nodded in agreement.
As Daniels walked by him to the witness stand, he turned to his left to confer with attorney Todd Blanche, facing away from her.
May 09, 11:35 AM Trump gives fist-pump to reporters
Former President Trump gave a fist-pump as he exited the courtroom for the mid-morning break.
He did not address reporters on his way out .
May 09, 11:26 AM 'It hasn't changed,' Daniels says of her story
Defense attorney Susan Necheles is continuing to try to find inconsistencies in the stories Daniels has previously told about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump, but Daniels, on the stand, has remained steadfast.
"Your story has completely changed, hasn't it?" Necheles asked her at one point.
"No!" Daniels shouted into the microphone. "Not at all. You are trying to make me say that it changed, but it hasn't changed."
Several jurors, watching the exchange, looked like they were watching a tennis match, with their heads and eyes shifting back and forth.
The judge subsequently called for the mid-morning break.
As Necheles returned to the defense table, Trump gave her a pat on the waist, seemingly in approval. She nodded back to him.
Daniels smiled at prosecutors as she left the stand.
May 09, 11:14 AM Defense questions Daniels about feeling lightheaded
In Susan Necheles' first sustained effort to call into question Stormy Daniels' story of the alleged sexual encounter, which her client has steadfastly denied for years, the defense attorney turned to the details of what happened when Daniels says she exited the bathroom of Trump's suite and saw Trump in his underwear.
Necheles attempted to cast doubt on Daniels' account of feeling light-headed -- highlighting her experience working with naked men in the adult film industry.
"But according to you, seeing a man on a bed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts was so upsetting that you got light-headed, the blood left your hands and feet, and you almost fainted?" Necheles asked.
Daniels responded by highlighting Trump's age, telling jurors she did not expect to find Trump undressed, and emphasizing the power imbalance in the room.
May 09, 11:05 AM Defense asks Daniels if she and Trump ate dinner
Defense attorney Susan Necheles pressed Daniels on whether she and Trump had dinner during their time in his suite.
According to Necheles, Daniels told InTouch magazine in 2011 and Anderson Cooper in 2018 that she "had dinner" with Trump.
During Daniels' testimony on Tuesday, Daniels said she never ate food during the interaction with Trump.
"I maintain that I didn't see any food," Daniels said today. "My story is the same ... it was dinner, but we never got any food."
Daniels alleged that Necheles was cherry-picking her past statements to falsely suggest her testimony was inconsistent.
"You are showing me one sentence of an entire conservation," Daniels told Necheles.
"Your words don't mean what you say, do they?" Necheles said.
Daniels' posture during this exchange belied her confrontational tone with Necheles. She reclined in her seat, leaning slightly on her right elbow in a relaxed way. Her body was oriented toward the jury even as her face and eyes were turned to Necheles, periodically using hand gestures to emphasize a point.
Trump, meanwhile, remained sitting back in his chair, listening to much of Daniels' testimony with his eyes closed.
May 09, 10:56 AM Defense presses Daniels on details of her story
Defense attorney Susan Necheles turned her focus to the alleged sexual encounter between Trump and Stormy Daniels in 2006.
Necheles recounted the details of the golf tournament where Daniels said she and Trump met in Lake Tahoe, California, asking Daniels to confirm each part of the story.
Necheles homed in on an apparent inconsistency between Daniels' testimony on Tuesday and her description of the encounter to InTouch magazine in 2011.
"This is a totally different story than you told in 2011?" Necheles said.
"No," Daniels responded.
According to Necheles, Daniels told InTouch that Trump kept looking at her when they first met on the golf course and that he offered to take her out to dinner.
On Tuesday, Daniels testified that her interaction with Trump on the course was brief and said that Trump's bodyguard extended the dinner invite on behalf of Trump.
May 09, 10:48 AM Defense suggests Daniels has experience with 'phony stories'
Jurors saw photos of some of the merchandise Stormy Daniels sells on her online store, including T-shirts, comic books and a "Stormy Saint of Indictments candle."
Defense attorney Susan Necheles used the line of questioning to again suggest that Daniels makes a "large part of her livelihood" by selling the story about her alleged affair with Trump.
Necheles suggested Daniels is well-practiced in making up stories about sex, pointing to her career in adult films.
"You have a lot of experience of making phony stories about sex appear to be real?" Necheles asked.
"The sex in the films is very real, just like what happened to me in that room," Daniels responded, adding that if she were to fictionalize her encounter with Trump, she "would have written it to be a lot better."
Trump attorney Todd Blanche let out a chuckle at one point when Daniels, in referring to the sex in adult films, said, "I think we all know how to do that."
May 09, 10:44 AM Defense questions Daniels about her recent social posts
"Isn't it a fact that you keep posting on social media that you would be instrumental in putting President Trump in jail?" defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Stormy Daniels.
"Show me where I say I would be instrumental in putting President Trump in jail," Daniels replied.
Necheles displayed for the court a social media post Daniels made responding to a message calling her a "TOILET," that read: ""Exactly! Making me the best person to flush the orange turn down."
"I don't see the word 'instrumental' or 'jail,'" Daniels said. "You're putting words in my mouth."
Daniels explained the joke, citing the reference to a "toilet" as her predicate for using the "orange turd" expression: "See how that works?"
Asked what she meant by "orange turd," Daniels said: "I don't know what I meant ... I'm also not a toilet."
Trump, at the defense table, put his elbows back on the table and leaned into the monitor in front of him as it displayed another post in which Daniels says she celebrated his indictment.
"You are drinking champagne because you are celebrating that Trump was indicted?" Nechelss asked Daniels.
"Yes," Daniels responded.
Trump visibly shook his head no.
May 09, 10:38 AM Testimony turns combative as Daniels is pressed on social posts
Defense attorney Susan Necheles turned the topic of her cross-examination to Stormy Daniels' recent social media posts related to the trial.
Jurors saw a March 2024 post on X where Daniels said she was the "best person to flush the orange turd down."
Pressed by Necheles, Daniels initially refused to confirm if she was referring to Donald Trump in that post.
The questioning turned combative and Daniels appeared to get defensive.
"If they want to make fun of me, I can make fun of them," Daniels said.
Daniels later relented, telling Necheles that she referenced Trump in the tweet.
"I absolutely meant Donald Trump," Daniels admitted.
May 09, 10:32 AM Defense suggests Daniels profited off the publicity
Prosecutors sought to paint Stormy Daniels as someone who profited off the publicity she generated from her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump -- pressing her on a CNN interview, a book deal, a strip tour using a pun on Trump's infamous political slogan, a reality TV show.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles said the encounter “generated a ton of publicity” for Daniels.
“Lots of bad publicity,” Daniels retorted.
“The centerpiece of your book is your story about supposedly having sex with President Trump?” Necheles asked.
“No,” she said, before acknowledging, “Sadly, I thought it was what people would turn to first.”
May 09, 10:28 AM Daniels asked about 'Make America Horny Again' tour
Defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Daniels about a tour of clubs she did in 2018, which one club dubbed the "Make America Horny Again" tour.
"I did not name that tour and I fought it tooth and nail," Daniels said. "I never used that headline -- I hated it."
Daniels pushed back against Necheles suggesting that she marketed the tour by stoking animosity towards Trump. In her book, she noted how the crowds at the tour included supportive fans who opposed Trump's presidency.
"The climate in the clubs absolutely changed, but I was not selling myself to a particular demographic," Daniels said. "I just did the same job I always did."
In the courtroom, attorneys displayed an advertisement for the tour. Trump had been sitting back in his chair before the advertisement was displayed, eyes seemingly closed, but he leaned forward and stared into the monitor when it was displayed.
May 09, 10:23 AM Defense presses Daniels on 2018 denial
Defense attorney Susan Necheles tried to distance Donald Trump from efforts to hide the Stormy Daniels story from voters by highlighting the efforts to keep it hidden in 2018.
"And he wanted you to deny it, correct?" Necheles asked about Trump in 2018.
"Yes," Daniels said.
"And he wasn't running for election in 2018?" Necheles asked.
"No," Daniels said.
"He was concerned about his family, correct?" Necheles asked.
"I was never mentioned anything about his family," Daniels responded.
"But there was nothing about his election going on then?" Necheles asked.
"No," Daniels said.
"And you understand President Trump has a brand?" Necheles followed up.
"Yes," Daniels responded.
May 09, 10:17 AM Defense asks Daniels about her 2018 denial
Defense attorney Susan Necheles asked Stormy Daniels about her January 2018 denial of the sexual encounter with Trump, showing her the statement she signed that has been prepared by her then-attorney.
“To be clear, I did not write this statement,” Daniels said. “I was told I had to sign it.”
"I signed it, but I did not write it," Daniels continued. "It was given to me and I was told I had to sign it."
Necheles then asked Daniels a series of questions about legal language in her nondisclosure agreement.
Jurors appeared to remain engaged -- but not to the extent that they were previously, when the testimony was more riveting.
One juror was sipping a glass of water, another was rubbing his eyes. Most were still jotting down notes or looking toward the witness stand.
May 09, 10:08 AM Daniels says lawyer on call referenced someone else
Stormy Daniels testified that she didn't recall the conversation her then-attorney Davidson referenced in the secretly recorded phone call the jury just heard.
She added that Davidson referenced what someone else -- her agent Gina Rodriguez's boyfriend -- might say about the call, not her recollection of it.
"I never yelled at Keith Davidson over the phone," Daniels said. "It sounds like a threat from Keith Davidson."
May 09, 10:01 AM Jurors hear secretly recorded call between Daniels' attorney and Cohen
Jurors heard a surreptitiously recorded phone call between then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels' then-attorney, Keith Davidson.
"I just didn't want you to get caught off guard, and I wanted to let you know what was going on behind the scenes," Davidson says on the recording. "And I would not be the least bit surprised if, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if you see in the next couple of days that Gina Rodriguez's boyfriend goes out in the media and tells the story that Stormy Daniels, you know, in the weeks prior to the election was basically yelling and screaming, and calling me a p----."
"Can I, can I ask you a question? Right," says Cohen.
"No, hold on one second," says Davidson. "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he comes out and says, you know what, Stormy Daniels, she wanted this money more than you can ever imagine. I remember hearing her on the phone saying, you f------ Keith Davidson. You better settle this goddamn story. Because if he loses this election, and he's going to lose, if he loses this election we lose all f------ leverage this case is worth zero. And if that happens, I'm going to sue you because you lost this opportunity. So settle this f------ case. That's a far cry, that's a far cry from far cry from being, you know, bullied and pushed into settling a case."
Trump, sitting at the defense table, appeared highly pleased with this testimony -- he hunched forward over the table in leaned into the monitor on his table that displayed the transcript of the call, firmly nodding is head yes in agreement repeatedly when the tape said "we lose all f------ leverage."
Trump then looked directly at the witness stand when Daniels responded to the tape, saying she never yelled at Davison.
May 09, 9:52 AM Daniels said she wanted a 'paper trail'
Stormy Daniels told defense attorney Necheles that despite the nondisclosure agreement effectively killing her story, the deal resulted in a "paper trail" that made her feel safe.
"I wanted the truth to be printed with some paper trail," Daniels said. "With a target on my back on my family's -- it was the perfect solution."
Necheles, who suggested on Tuesday that Daniels had been attempting to extort Trump, then resumed those efforts.
"You were threatening that you would try to hurt Trump politically if he didn't give you money?" Necheles said.
"False," Daniels retorted.
May 09, 9:48 AM Daniels says she chose nondisclosure for her safety
Defense attorney Susan Necheles resumed her cross-examination of Stormy Daniels by focusing on Daniels' motivation for selling her story ahead of the 2016 election.
Daniels previously testified that she wanted to get her story out but was afraid for her safety, so she opted instead to sign the nondisclosure with Trump and receive $130,000.
Pressed on the topic, Daniels said she initially wanted to get her story out.
"I was asking to sell my story to publications to get the truth out," Daniels. "I wanted to do a press conference."
Daniels added that she thought she was "running out of time" to get the story out.
"You were running out of time to get money?" Necheles asked.
"No, to get the story out," Daniels responded.
Daniels said she opted to sign a nondisclosure agreement to prioritize her safety.
"I choose to be safe," Daniels said.
"You choose to make money, right?" Necheles said.
"I choose to take a nondisclosure," Daniels replied.
May 09, 9:40 AM Stormy Daniels retakes the stand
"Good morning, Mr. Trump," Judge Merchan said as he opened the day's proceedings.
The judge began the morning by precluding defense lawyers from questioning Daniels about a past arrest that never resulted in a conviction.
"Anybody can be arrested," Merchan said. "That does not prove a thing."
Stormy Daniels entered the courtroom and took her seat on the witness stand for the defense to resume its cross-examination. Judge Merchan reminded her that she is still under oath.
Trump appeared to glance at her as she passed his counsel table.
May 09, 9:32 AM Court is back in session
Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench and court is back in session for Day 14 of Donald Trump's criminal trial.
Defense attorney Susan Necheles is sitting on Trump's right at the defense table, Todd Blanche is to his immediate left, and Emil Bove occupies the seat over.
A packed row of Trump's supporters, including Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, occupy the first row of the gallery directly behind Trump.
May 09, 9:28 AM Trump enters courtroom
Former President Donald Trump has entered the courtroom.
As he made his way down the isle to his seat at the defense table, a man seated on the right side of the court room stood up -- something that is not allowed -- and gave Trump a thumbs-up as he passed.
May 09, 9:20 AM Prosecutors arrive in courtroom
Prosecutors have entered the courtroom.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was not with them when they came in.
May 09, 9:15 AM Five members of public are in court after waiting overnight
Members of the public lined up as early as 12:30 a.m. to get a spot in the courtroom to see Stormy Daniels' testimony this morning.
Two friends who live in Brooklyn, who identified themselves as Shmuel and Levi, said their first attempt to watch the trial from the courtroom on Tuesday failed. They said they arrived at 3:30 a.m. but could only secure a spot in the overflow room, so they changed their approach this morning.
"We went back home last night ... and decided to come at like 12:30 a.m.," Shmuel told ABC News. "We figured that it would be safe."
Both said they stayed awake while waiting overnight and appreciated the weather cooperating.
"It was really a beautiful night," Levi said.
A total of five members of the public made it into the courtroom this morning.
May 09, 8:18 AM Stormy Daniels arrives at courthouse
Stormy Daniels has arrived at the lower Manhattan courthouse ahead of her second day of testimony.
Proceedings are scheduled to resume at 9:30 a.m. ET.
May 09, 7:54 AM Judge said defense's concerns can be address on cross
On Stormy Daniels' first day on the stand on Tuesday, her graphic testimony about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump -- which Trump denies took place -- prompted attorneys for the defense to seek a mistrial.
Daniels told the jury about noticing an "imbalance of power" with Trump, how she was "blacking out" and found herself nearly naked on the bed of Trump's hotel suite, and how the two engaged in unprotected sex.
Defense attorneys for Trump argued that the testimony did enough damage to merit tossing the trial entirely on the grounds that it was prejudicial in the eyes of the jury.
Judge Juan Merchan denied the bid, saying the defense will have its say during their cross-examination -- which began Tuesday and is scheduled to continue today.
May 09, 7:33 AM Stormy Daniels to return to the witness stand
Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress whose allegations of a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump prompted the hush money payment that lies at the center of the Manhattan DA's criminal case against Trump, is scheduled to return to the witness stand this morning.
On Daniels' first day on the stand on Tuesday, she testified that first met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, California, and that he invited her to his hotel suite. Daniels told the jury that when she came out of the bathroom, she found Trump on the bed dressed in only his underwear and a T-shirt.
"The next thing I know, I was on the bed," said Daniels, who then described how they had sex. Trump has denied that the two ever had a sexual encounter.
Daniels told jurors that she became afraid to go public with her story of the encounter after she was threatened by an unknown man in a Las Vegas parking lot in June 2011. She said that the 2016 offer from then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen to buy her silence for $130,000 on the eve of the 2016 election allowed her to keep the allegations private while profiting from the deal.
"They were interested in paying for the story, which was the best thing that could happen because then my husband wouldn't find out, but there was still documentation of a money exchange and a paperwork exchange, so that I would be safe and the story wouldn't come out," Daniels said.
(NEW YORK) -- There have been at least 105 reported tornadoes across the country since Monday with at least five reported tornadoes Thursday across Iowa, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi.
Elsewhere, hail up to 5 inches in diameter was reported west of Austin, Texas -- greater than the size of a softball -- and winds up to 76 mph produced damage in Alabama.
On Friday, severe thunderstorms moved through parts of Georgia and Florida. A tornado warning was issued in Tallahassee in Leon County on Friday morning, with "multiple circulations and radar-confirmed tornadoes," according to the National Weather Service.
A woman died in Tallahassee after a tree fell on her family's home Friday, according to the Leon County Sheriff's Office.
The NWS said it received "a lot of damage reports" in the Tallahassee area.
"It is too soon to determine whether winds or a tornado are responsible. There should be more clarity as the day progresses, but for now we still have to focus on active weather," the NWS said on X.
Initial reports indicated up to three tornadoes formed in Gadsden Friday morning, according to Leon County Emergency Management, which said it is working with the NWS to confirm tornado touchdowns in the area.
The storm system brought "severe weather to all of Leon County," and crews are responding to downed trees and assessing buildings, Leon County Emergency Management said in a statement.
With possible tornadic activity in Tallahassee, early assessments of the electric grid show severe damage to transmission lines, impacting 11 substations. Restoration will possibly take through the weekend. Mutual aid has been requested. Over 66,000 customers are without service. pic.twitter.com/2AxenyHXNv
The Florida State University campuses in Tallahassee closed Friday due to the severe weather. University crews are assessing and cleaning up the damage, the school said.
More than 180,000 customers were without power in Florida midday Friday, all in the Panhandle and northern parts of the state.
Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon, a new line of storms could form in the Carolinas and Georgia with more damaging winds possible. Even though a tornado threat there is possible, the risk is currently minimal.
A new storm system developing later this weekend into early next week could bring very heavy rain for the Gulf Coast from Texas to Georgie with flash flooding possible and, locally, some areas along the Gulf Coast could see more than half a foot of rain over the next several days.
Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(SALT LAKE CITY) -- Two skiers were killed and a third was hospitalized following an avalanche on Utah's Lone Peak Thursday, according to the Unified Police Department of Salt Lake City.
The skiers were believed to have been buried by an avalanche in the backcountry, according to police.
The deceased victims were described as two men, ages 32 and 23 years old, Sgt. Aymee Race told reporters. Their bodies were recovered Friday morning, according to police.
The skiers were ascending a slope called the Big Willow Aprons and had switched from skiing to boot packing and were near the top when the avalanche occurred, according to police.
"The person in the lead was caught and carried downhill on the looker’s right side of a ridge or fin of rock. That person was partially buried and was able to self-extricate. The other two were caught and carried downhill on the looker’s left side of the ridge feature. Those two were fully buried and unfortunately did not survive," according to a report from the Utah Avalanche Center.
The hospitalized skier was being treated for minor injuries after he was able to extract himself from the snow and attempted to rescue his two friends before calling for help, according to Race.
Search and rescue professionals have not been able to get to the accident site because avalanche conditions are too dangerous, authorities said.
Recovery efforts were paused Thursday afternoon due to snow falling on the mountain again, police said. The recovery operation has been suspended until Friday, the Utah Avalanche Center told ABC News.
Large, dangerous avalanches are rare this late in the ski season because daytime warmth typically stabilizes the snowpack, the Utah Avalanche Center's Craig Gordon told reporters.
A recent storm of about 30 inches changed weather conditions very quickly, raising the danger dramatically, Gordon said. He added that this area on the north side of Lone Peak is steep and technical, complicating rescue efforts.
As is often the case for nearby ski resorts with big resources, Alta Ski Area told ABC News earlier in the day it had dispatched a ski patroller and avalanche rescue dog to assist with the search and rescue effort.
There have been 15 avalanche fatalities in the U.S. in the 2023-2024 season -- including the two from Thursday's accident -- according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
(DOTHAN, Ala.) -- Jeanette McCraney said she once was "living an American dream," happily in Dothan, Alabama.
“My kids are growing up in church," she recalled about life in early 2019. "They're seeing their mom and their dad do the right thing.”
But on March 15, 2019, that dream would quickly turn into a nightmare for the McCraney family. Police arrested Coley McCraney, Jeanette’s husband and father of their two children, for the murders of two 17-year-olds, J.B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett, who were found in the trunk of Beasley’s car in 1999.
Coley McCraney’s DNA was matched to DNA found on Beasley. McCraney, who was a minister while also working as a truck driver at the time of his arrest, would, eventually, stand trial for capital murder and rape.
A new “20/20” episode airing May 10 at 9 p.m. ET and streaming the next day on Hulu, explores the investigation, including interviews with law enforcement, family members of the victims, as well as Jeanette and Coley McCraney.
On the night of July 31, 1999, Beasley and Hawlett met to celebrate Beasley’s 17th birthday. They set off in Beasley’s car, to join their friends at a field party in Headlands, Alabama, but they couldn’t find the location.
Instead, they ended up at a gas station in rural Ozark, Alabama, where they asked for directions back to Hawlett’s home in Dothan.
While at the station, Hawlett called her mother, Carol Roberts, from a payphone.
"'We've got directions,’” Roberts remembered her daughter saying on the phone. “She didn't talk like anything was wrong. There wasn't any fear or anything in her voice. We said, ‘we love you,’ to each other and I went on to bed,” Roberts told “20/20.”
The girls never made it home.
Roberts woke up early the next morning and realized her daughter had not returned.
She quickly alerted the authorities. Within a couple of hours on August 1, 1999, law enforcement spotted Beasley’s Black Mazda sedan on the side of a road less than a mile from the gas station where they made their last phone call. Inside the car, everything looked intact. The girls’ belongings, including purses and wallets with money, and Tracie’s keys, were still there.
Law enforcement patrolled the nearby area in search of the girls but found nothing. Eventually, a police officer decided to open the vehicle’s trunk. Both girls were found dead, each with gunshot wounds to the head.
“That crime scene, that trunk, those two girls is the only homicide that I ever turned around and had to walk off,” Barry Tucker, a now-retired Trooper Captain with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, said. “When you see the innocence and a life that's just been snatched away, that's hard to swallow.”
The murders sparked a decades-long investigation that yielded more dead ends than leads. Although few clues existed, a key piece of DNA found on Beasley would play an important role.
Almost 20 years later, in 2018, Ozark Police Chief Marlos Walker saw news that forensic genetic genealogy had been used to catch the Golden State Killer in California.
"This information would be great, and so that following week, I started making some phone calls,” Walker said to “20/20.”
Walker sent DNA preserved in the teens’ case file from 1999 to a lab in Virginia with the hopes of finding names that would link to a specific donor. Five months later, in 2019, Walker received results and noticed a familiar name on the list of possible matches.
“I was looking at the list again, and when I saw the name McCraney,” Walker recalled, “that stood out because I knew of a McCraney in high school.”
In hopes of getting closer to an exact DNA match, Walker then contacted his former classmate, Coley McCraney, and asked if he would voluntarily give a DNA sample. Coley McCraney agreed to help with the investigation by providing a DNA sample at the Ozark Police Department.
Walker said he was “blown away” by the news he later learned from the lab with the results, which confirmed Coley McCraney’s DNA was a match to the traces of DNA solely found on Beasley.
On March 15, 2019, police arrested Coley McCraney and charged him with four counts of capital murder as well as first-degree rape.
Walker said Coley was not a suspect in 1999 and had not been on investigators’ radar. In an interrogation video obtained by ABC News, Coley McCraney denied ever knowing the girls or having anything to do with their murder.
Investigators said they have never found a murder weapon and haven’t found any witnesses who saw Coley McCraney with the girls that night.
While the announcement of his arrest brought some closure to the local community, some still had their doubts about Coley McCraney’s involvement in the teens’ deaths.
McCraney’s defense attorneys claim the DNA evidence, which was found in the form of semen, only proves that McCraney and Beasley had a sexual encounter.
In 2023, McCraney was tried for capital murder with the possibility of receiving the death penalty.
During the trial, Coley McCraney took the stand and claimed he met Beasley at the mall in 1999, a few months before the teens were found murdered. Coley testified Beasley said her name was Jennifer and that he gave her his phone number. He said they made plans to meet that night in Ozark and, according to his testimony, the two had consensual sex in the back of his truck after which he returned home. McCraney told ABC News that he did not make the connection between the girl he met in 1999 with J.B. Beasley until after he was arrested.
On April 26, 2023, a jury found Coley McCraney guilty of capital murder and rape, and he was later sentenced to life in prison.
The sentencing finally brought some closure needed for the families of Beasley and Hawlett, who waited more than two decades for justice.
“I was in shock,” Roberts said. “We'd waited 24 years for this, and finally somebody's going to be held accountable.”
Cheryl Burgoon, who described her daughter J.B. Beasley as a “beautiful gift” in an interview with “20/20,” remembered her emotional reaction to the verdict.
“When they read, ‘Guilty,’ I fell forward and tears just streamed down my face,” Burgoon said.
ABC News’ Deborah Roberts spoke with Coley McCraney in an exclusive phone interview from his Alabama prison, during which he maintained his innocence.
“They can call me a cheat, they can call me a dog. They can call me a lot of things at that time, but they cannot call me a killer,” McCraney said in the phone interview.
Coley McCraney’s defense attorneys filed a motion with Alabama’s Court of Criminal Appeals, hoping to secure a new trial. That ruling is expected later this year.
ABC News' Shana Druckerman, Paige Harriss, Kyla Milberger, Emily Moffet and Jeff Schneider contributed to this report.
A high definition photo of the Santuccimeryx skull discovered at Badlands National Park in 2016. -- National Park Service
(NEW YORK) -- A new genus of tiny, hornless deer that lived in South Dakota during the Oligocene Epoch approximately 32 million years ago has been discovered by a team of researchers from Badlands National Park, the American Museum of Natural History and California State Polytechnic University, officials said.
The new deer, called Santuccimeryx, meaning “Santucci’s ruminant”, was named after Vincent L. Santucci, the Senior Paleontologist and Paleontology Program Coordinator in the Geologic Resources Division of the National Park Service “to honor his history with and advocacy for the paleontology program at Badlands National Park,” according to a statement from the National Park Service announcing the discovery.
The research was published this week in the "Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science."
“Santuccimeryx belongs to the extinct family Leptomerycidae, and its skull shares features of both the Oligocene genus Leptomeryx and the Miocene genus Pseudoparablastomeryx, two animals that are nearly 10 million years apart in time,” NPS said in their statement. “The family Leptomerycidae were about the size of house cats and lived in North America from the late-middle Eocene (about 41 million years ago) to the end of the middle Miocene (about 11 million years ago). They are considered close relatives to the living chevrotains, or mouse deer, from the tropical forests of central and western Africa and southeast Asia.”
The new genus of deer has teeth very similar to Leptomeryx and a skull resembling that of the Pseudoparablastomeryx, officials said.
“Since it does not fit into either existing genus, [officials] concluded the deer must be placed into a new genus of its own,” NPS said.
"I am both personally and professionally grateful to be associated with this important new fossil discovery from Badlands National Park, where I began my career as a paleontologist with the National Park Service in 1985,” Santucci said.
The research was prompted when the first -- and still only known skull of the deer -- was discovered at Badlands in 2016.
“It's a really neat example with this paper to be able to highlight citizen science, because this is the only skull of this animal ever found,” Mattison Shreero, who headed up the research, said. “And if somebody had walked away with it, or if they just hadn't reported it and it had eroded away, we would have never known about it.”
Visitors at Badlands who spot what they think might be a fossil or artifact are asked to leave it in place and submit a Visitor Site Report at the Visitor Center, with a park ranger, or by email information about their find to Badlands_fossil_finds@nps.gov.
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