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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., appears to be backing off her threat to force a vote on ousting Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., this week.

“We’ve had discussions in the speaker’s office and right now the ball is in Mike Johnson’s court,” Greene told reporters alongside Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Tuesday. 

The pair met with Johnson for roughly an hour and a half Tuesday after a two-hour meeting on Monday afternoon, where they outlined a list of demands for the speaker that included a pledge to not pass any more aid to Ukraine and de-funding Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into former President Trump.

They’re also seeking assurances that Johnson would not bring any bills to the floor without support from a majority of the House GOP conference, and commitments to cutting federal spending if a deal to fund the government in fiscal year 2025 is not reached by Sept. 30.

ANTI-MCCARTHY GOP REBELS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PUSH TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

“He understands that he’s got to be our Republican Speaker of the House. The things that we’ve discussed about, that got leaked out to the press, are very simple and they serve the American people. They serve the people that gave us the majority,” Greene said.

It comes after Greene and Massie held a press conference last week announcing that they would aim to force a vote on their motion to vacate the chair this week. The motion to vacate is a procedural measure whereby, under current rules, just one lawmaker can call for a House-wide vote on the speaker’s removal.

But the pair would not give details on how they planned to move forward on Tuesday, nor if they would be meeting with Johnson again.

“We didn’t give a specific timeline, but it’s pretty short,” Greene told reporters when asked how long Johnson had to adhere to their demands, later adding that it would be “unrealistic” to expect results right away.

2 HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON 6 MONTHS AFTER HE TOOK GAVEL

Massie said that he communicated to Johnson, “If his plan is to drag this out until the pressure comes off of this, and to drag it out for weeks or days without making some movement in our direction, then he would just be far better off to have this vote and get it behind him. It doesn’t serve him or us to drag this out.”

“But if it does become obvious that he’s just trying to drag this out, we’ll do him a favor. We’ll do you a favor. We’ll do the GOP a favor, and we’ll call this motion,” he added later.

MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN

When pressed about if she expects a third meeting with Johnson, Greene said, “I expect to walk in his office and him to say, here’s my action items, here’s what I’m going to do. That requires a meeting, right?”

Johnson told reporters of his second meeting with the pair, “We’re talking through ideas and suggestions. It’s what I do with all members all the time. So there’s nothing unusual.”

Greene, Massie and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., are the three lone Republicans actively pushing to oust Johnson in protest of his handling of foreign aid and government spending.

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It’s the product of long-simmering concerns of conservatives who have felt sidelined by Johnson on critical pieces of legislation. They’ve accused him of not fighting hard enough for GOP priorities and instead acquiescing to the Democrat-controlled White House and Senate.

Johnson, for his part, has repeatedly emphasized that he’s operating with a historically slim majority – now just one seat – and in control of one half of one third of the government.

Nearly two-thirds of voters say former President Trump will be found guilty on some charges in his unprecedented criminal trial. 

Sixty-five percent of registered voters questioned in a Suffolk University/USA Today national poll of registered voters predicted the former president would be convicted on some of the nearly three-dozen state felony charges he faces in his trial in New York City, which is the first in the nation’s history for a former or current president.

Trump is charged with falsifying business records in relation to hush-money payments during the 2016 election he made to Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about his alleged affair with the adult film actress. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.

The former president has repeatedly denied falsifying business records as well as the alleged sexual encounter with Daniels.

STORMY DANIELS TAKES THE STAND IN TRUMP’S CRIMINAL TRIAL 

The poll, released on Tuesday as Daniels took the witness stand for the first time in the blockbuster trial, indicates that half of those questioned believe Trump will be found guilty on some, but not all, counts. Fifteen percent predict the former president will be convicted on all counts, with 23% saying he’ll be found not guilty on all charges.

HEAD HERE FOR FOX NEWS LIVE UPDATES IN THE TRUMP TRIAL 

“The poll sets expectations going into the remainder of the trial and the verdict, in terms of what voters see. This could be vastly different than what the jury sees,” director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center David Paleologos told Fox News.

Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they don’t believe the trial has been fair to date, with 39% saying Trump was getting a fair trial. Sixteen percent were undecided.

“Fairness cut along party lines, with 76% of Democrats saying Trump is receiving a fair trial, while 80% of Republicans claimed that the trial has not been fair,” Paleologos spotlighted. “Independents were split evenly on the question of fairness at 37% each, with 24% undecided.”

Trump has continuously charged in speaking to reporters, in interviews, and in social media postings that the trial is not fair. And he’s also repeatedly criticized prosecutors, the judge, and witnesses in the case.

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New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan recently found Trump in contempt nine times for violating a gag order in the case that prevents the former president from speaking out and taking aim at jurors and witnesses.

And on Monday Merchan ruled that Trump again violated his gag order and warned he would consider jailing the former president if the violations continued.

Trump and his defense attorneys have argued that the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, saying it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters.

The trial has partially sidetracked Trump from the campaign trail as he faces off with President Biden in a 2024 election rematch.

The Suffolk University poll for USA Today was conducted April 30-May 3, with 1,000 registered voters nationwide questioned. The survey’s overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former President Trump’s defense attorneys are moving for a mistrial amid the testimony of pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. 

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, after court’s lunch break, told Judge Juan Merchan that Daniels’ testimony Tuesday morning was prejudicial. 

Merchan said a mistrial was not warranted, and stated that he was doing everything he could to control the witness — including once objecting to Daniel’s testimony himself.

“I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,” Merchan said.

Blanche said the prosecution is trying to inflame the jury with Daniels’ testimony, including with evidence that he says does not matter. Blanche said it is prejudicial testimony and evidence, saying Daniels has been trying to sell her story about an alleged consensual sexual encounter since 2016. 

Blanche said Daniels’ testimony on Tuesday was about “consent and danger” and said that was “not the story that she was selling in 2016.” Blanche also said that Daniels is testifying about consent, and said that kind of testimony “makes it impossible to come back from.”Blanche said the defense “objected as best we could but she was able to say what she said.” 

Blanche questioned how the defense could “come back from this” in a way that could be “fair” to former President Trump.”We believe there should be a mistrial,” Blanche said. “Or that this witness’ testimony is excluded and extremely limited.”

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger says the defense was fully briefed on Stormy’s testimony in the motions prior to trial, and argued that Daniels’ testimony was probative to Trump’s intent. Hoffinger said the defense is attacking Daniels’ credibility, and argued there is “no basis for this.”

During the break, the former president and 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee, posted to his Truth Social account, without naming Daniels. 

“THE PROSECUTION, WHICH HAS NO CASE, HAS GONE TOO FAR,” Trump posted. “MISTRIAL!” 

Before lunch, Merchan said the “the degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary,” pointing to Daniel’s testimony, asking prosecutor Susan Hoffinger to move things along. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

House Republicans are warning Speaker Johnson, R-La., against making any potential “side deals” with the GOP rebels threatening to oust him.

Johnson is holding his second meeting in as many days on Tuesday afternoon with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. They made several demands of Johnson on foreign aid and government funding in a two-hour closed-door meeting on Monday. 

It’s not immediately clear if they will back off their threats if their requests are fulfilled, but several House Republicans told Fox News Digital they hope Johnson stands firm against their demands unless he decides something is in the best interest of his conference.

“I think his job as speaker is to listen a lot, and then he has to ultimately make a decision, so I don’t have a problem with him listening,” Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., said on Tuesday morning. “What I would have a problem with – and we had this problem with Speaker McCarthy – is when you start making special deals, side deals and hidden deals…And then people [say]…’What about my deal?'”

ANTI-MCCARTHY GOP REBELS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PUSH TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON

Hern was referring to the closed-door conversations ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., held with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies, at times shifting House GOP policy after hours behind closed-doors with those members. That includes side deals he made in January 2023 to win the speaker’s gavel after a record 15 rounds of voting.

“It’s hard to equate him and Speaker McCarthy, they’re just entirely different and they had a different approach to most of everything,” one GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely told Fox News Digital.

The GOP lawmaker argued that the concessions being asked of Johnson were mostly non-controversial, but added, “I just feel like it’s not good practice to establish separate arrangements with separate members.”

2 HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON 6 MONTHS AFTER HE TOOK GAVEL

“My management style has always been – you never, ever, ever grease a squeaky wheel,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., said when asked about potential side deals. “Because if you do, you’re going to end up with more squeaky wheels.”

Fox News Digital reported early on Tuesday that among the requests Greene and Massie made to Johnson were assurances that the House would not vote on any more Ukraine aid and a pledge to defund Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of former President Trump.

They are also demanding that Johnson vow to block any legislation from getting a House-wide vote unless it has the support of a majority of the House GOP – a longstanding informal provision called the Hastert rule, named after a former Republican speaker.

Greene confirmed those requests when she arrived at Johnson’s office on Tuesday afternoon for their second meeting.

“These are not unreasonable requests. These are the right things to do. These are the right things to do for our conference,” Greene told reporters.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital he did not believe Johnson would agree to their requests, but called them “nonsense.”

MASSIE THREATENS TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON IF HE DOESN’T STEP DOWN OVER FOREIGN AID PLAN

“Look, they get to weigh in, they get a vote. That’s what they get. They don’t get to form our total policy,” Meuser said.

A second GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely acknowledged there would always be “concerns” about possible side deals with House Republicans’ razor-thin majority.

“I think there’s always concerns about that, that there’s specific members that are getting more attention than others from the speaker himself,” the second GOP lawmaker said. “But, you know, overall, I think it’s kind of like, we’re just trying to figure out how to move forward on some of this stuff. Everybody realizes the majority is so thin, that, you know, anybody could walk into the speaker’s office and make demands.”

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Johnson was asked about some GOP lawmakers’ concerns about his negotiating with Greene and Massie during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“It’s not a negotiation, OK? This is how I have operated as speaker…Everybody knows I have lengthy discussions, detailed discussions on a daily basis with members across the conference. There are 217 of us. It takes a lot of time,” Johnson said. “So I take Marjorie’s ideas and Thomas’ and everybody else’s equally, and we assess them on their own value and where we can make improvements and changes and all of that. And that’s what this is.”

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels took the stand to testify in the unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump on Tuesday.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, a $130,000 hush money payment ahead of the 2016 presidential election in an effort to keep her silent on allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006.

The payments to Daniels were first revealed in January 2018 in a Wall Street Journal report that said Cohen and Daniels’ lawyer negotiated a nondisclosure agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing the supposed sexual encounter with Trump.

At the time, though, Cohen, Trump, and even Stormy Daniels denied the arrangement.

In January 2018, Cohen said the alleged encounter between Daniels and Trump was a rumor that had circulated “since 2011.”

And in a letter dated Jan. 10, 2018, obtained and reviewed by Fox News, Daniels also denied the allegations.

“I recently became aware that certain news outlets are alleging that I had a sexual and/or romantic affair with Donald Trump many, many, many years ago. I am stating with complete clarity that this is absolutely false,” Daniels wrote. “My involvement with Donald Trump was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more.”

Daniels wrote in the letter that when she met Trump, he was “gracious, professional and a complete gentleman to me and EVERYONE in my presence.”

“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the letter read. “If indeed I did have a relationship with Donald Trump, trust me, you wouldn’t be reading about it in the news, you would be reading about it in my book. But the fact of the matter is, these stories are not true.”

But in March 2018, Daniels changed her story. During an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Daniels claimed she had a one-time, unprotected sexual encounter with Trump.

At the time, Trump said he was not aware of the payment made to Daniels.

FLASHBACK: STORMY DANIELS AND TRUMP: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

When asked in April 2018 why Cohen made the payment, Trump responded: “You have to ask Michael Cohen — Michael’s my attorney.”

Initially, there were questions about whether the non-disclosure agreement that was signed by Daniels — but not by Trump — was valid.

Daniels began legal efforts to depose Trump and Cohen over the payment. She also filed a defamation suit against Cohen, following a cease-and-desist letter sent by Cohen’s attorney that directed her to refrain from any further “false and defamatory” statements about Cohen following her tell-all “60 Minutes” interview.

Prosecutors, during the third week of the trial, called a number of witnesses to testify, including Keith Davidson, an attorney who once represented Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal. 

Davidson said Daniels’ denial of an affair with Trump was technically true. He also testified that the money ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid her was not a payoff, but a “consideration.” 

Trump’s defense attorneys, during cross-examination, played audio recordings of Davidson, in which he can be heard admitting Cohen did not need authority from Trump to make the payment to Stormy Daniels. 

Meanwhile, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison, after pleading guilty to federal charges that included lying to Congress, campaign-finance violations and tax evasion. The charges against Cohen arose from two separate investigations – one by federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the other by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

FLASHBACK: MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY, GETS 3 YEARS IN PRISON FOR TAX FRAUD, CAMPAIGN FINANCE VIOLATIONS, LYING

Cohen pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about his work on a proposal to build a Trump skyscraper in Moscow, and hiding the fact that he continued to speak with Russians about the proposal well into the 2016 presidential campaign.

In the New York case, prosecutors accused Cohen of a years-long “tax evasion scheme” to avoid paying federal income taxes on more than $4 million made through a number of ventures, including through his ownership of taxi medallions, his selling of real estate in Florida and his consulting work for other clients.

Cohen pleaded guilty to arranging the $130,000 payment to Daniels and a payment of $150,000 to model Karen McDougal to prevent them from going public with alleged affairs with Trump. Trump has repeatedly denied those alleged encounters.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Former President Trump greeted the media Tuesday morning holding a sheet of paper detailing news reports that there’s  “no smoking gun” in the unprecedented Manhattan trial. 

“NBC ‘Today’ show: ‘The challenge is that there is no smoking gun, no email or tape to prove the president’s intent. They don’t have a way to prove that.’ That’s NBC ‘Today’ show,” Trump said Tuesday morning. 

Trump rattled off a series of media reports and expert commentary, including from “fake news CNN,” “Good Morning America” and Fox News, arguing the prosecution team is failing to prove Trump is guilty of falsifying business records with an intent to commit or conceal a second crime. 

“On ‘Good Morning America,’ they said, ‘We heard that expense payments to lawyers are legal expenses.’ You pay a lawyer expenses payments. We didn’t put it down as construction costs, the purchase of sheet rock, the electrical cost. The legal expense that we paid was put down as legal expense. There’s nothing else you could say. You don’t have to put down anything, I guess. But we put down legal expense.”

LIVE UPDATES: NY V. TRUMP TRIAL RESUMES WITH WITNESS TESTIMONY AFTER JUDGE MERCHAN THREATENS TRUMP WITH JAIL TIME

The case focuses on Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paying former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.

TRUMP SAYS JAIL TIME TO DEFEND FREE SPEECH IS ‘SACRIFICE’ HE’S WILLING TO MAKE

The court heard from its 10th witness Monday, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, who testified that Trump did not direct him to set up repayments to Cohen. 

“Michael Cohen was a lawyer?” defense attorney Emil Bove asked former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney on Monday at the start of the fourth week of the trial.

“Sure, yes,” McConney responded. 

“And payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?” asked Bove.

“Yes,” said McConney.

“President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described… correct?” Bove asked.

“He did not,” McConney replied.

NY V TRUMP: DA’S WITNESS TESTIFIES TRUMP DID NOT DIRECT HIM ON COHEN REPAYMENTS

Trump said Tuesday that “with all this going on, they have no case.” 

NY V TRUMP TO RESUME MONDAY AFTER EVENTFUL 3RD WEEK OF TESTIMONY, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF GAG ORDER FINES

“Every single legal scholar that I see, I mean, maybe there’s somebody out there, some whack job. But for virtually… everyone that I’ve seen, has said there’s absolutely no case. It’s a case that shouldn’t have been brought. The previous D.A. wouldn’t bring it. Bragg didn’t want to bring it. And then he brought it because I’m running and in number one place,” Trump continued Tuesday. 

Amid the trial, Trump has been placed under a gag order that prevents him from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff. Trump has railed against the order as “unconstitutional” and trampling on his free speech rights. 

On Monday, presiding Judge Juan Merchan said he would consider a jail sentence for Trump if he continues to violate the gag order. 

The DA’s office argued that Trump violated the order more than a dozen times, with the judge ruling last week that Trump violated the order nine times, resulting in a combined $9,000 fine. Merchan fined the former president another $1,000 for an additional violation on Monday, arguing that it’s “clear” the $1,000 fines for each violation are not effective.

NY V TRUMP: WITNESS SAYS COHEN DREAMED OF WHITE HOUSE JOB DESPITE DENYING AMBITIONS IN HOUSE TESTIMONY

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.”

Trump said Monday afternoon that potential time in jail to protect the Constitution is a “sacrifice” he’s willing to make. 

“I have to watch every word I tell you people. You ask me a question, a simple question I’d like to give it, but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and [says] you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said in remarks outside the Manhattan courtroom Monday afternoon.  

JUDGE DOUBLES DOWN ON NOT SHOWING TRUMP ‘ACCESS HOLLYWOOD’ TAPE TO JURORS

“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”

Trump continued in his comments Tuesday morning that the case is promoted by the Biden administration in the lead-up to the presidential election. 

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“This all comes out of the White House and Crooked Joe Biden. This comes from the White House. And it’s all Biden because it’s an attack on his political opponent. That hasn’t happened in this country. It does happen in third world countries, but it hasn’t happened in this country. And it’s a shame. And the trial is a very unfair trial. It’s a very, very unfair trial. The good news is they have nothing,” he said. 

Several Columbia University students spoke out to Fox News Digital on Monday after administrators announced they would be canceling the school’s main commencement ceremony. Security concerns in the wake of raucous anti-Israel protests were top of mind in making the decision, a university official told Fox News.

One graduating senior, who also testified before the House Education & Workforce Committee about the antisemitic agitators, said she did so in order to give voice to those in the community who all have the same concerns as well as a way to urge Columbia administrators to act.

“I think that [Columbia] has the potential to be the amazing institution that I know that it is,” Yola Ashkenazie told Fox News Digital.

Ashkenazie said she was disappointed that the main commencement ceremony was canceled, saying graduation festivities are as much for the students as they are for the parents and families who work hard to ensure their children can attend a venerated institution like Columbia.

ANTI-ISRAEL UNREST FORCES COLUMBIA TO CANCEL LARGE COMMENCEMENT AS PROTESTS CONTINUE

“So, it’s really sad that we don’t get to properly mark this moment with them and with all of our friends across all the different schools,” she said.

Ashkenazie said administrators had at first acted like the anti-Israel protests were peaceful demonstrations, but she added that if that were true, she still would be attending graduation.

“[W]hy would they cancel commencement if they thought that they were entirely peaceful? It doesn’t really make sense. And the administration can’t keep their story straight.”

Ashkenazie also told Fox News she had been affected by antisemitic sentiment on campus long before the protests began in April.

“So, I have been vocal [in] speaking out against antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7th, and the students sort of pegged me as that,” she said.

TRUMP DECRIES COLUMBIA AGITATORS, CALLS CHARLOTTESVILLE ‘PEANUTS’ COMPARED TO CAMPUS ANTI-ISRAEL UNREST

“So a couple of months ago, a cyberbullying Instagram account posted a photo of me holding Israeli flags, and that caused students to post horrible things about me on anonymous campus forums. I had people there, even an instance in which someone came up to me in the middle of campus and confronted me about my support for Israel. So yeah, it’s been an incredibly, incredibly frightening couple of months on campus.”

Sophomore Elisha Baker isn’t graduating this year, but he told Fox News Digital the ceremony’s cancelation still affected him.

“Here’s the thing about commencement. This movement that has been on campus has been advocating to ‘shut it down’ and to cancel joy. And by canceling commencement, it seems that the university has caved to both of those demands and basically allowed the mob to win,” he said.

“And to me, that’s really sad. And my heart goes out to the seniors who lost high school graduation due to COVID, lost freshman year of college to COVID and now lost their senior springs and their graduations to a violent mob,” he said.

Baker said he watched protesters unfurl a 20-foot pro-intifada banner from a major academic building in the wee hours of one recent morning.

COLUMBIA LAW STUDENT GROUP REPORTEDLY DECLARES NO JEW IS SAFE UNTIL ‘EVERYONE IS SAFE’

“To me, that was just really sad – really shocking; violent and totally emblematic of exactly what this movement has been calling for this entire time, which is violence against Jews, which is a prolonged state of war rather than peace,” said Baker, who is Jewish.

He told Fox News Digital that Jewish students have been subjected to hate speech and violence since the protests began.

One of Baker’s friends had an Israeli flag ripped out of his hands by protesters, who purportedly tried to set it ablaze and later pelted him with projectiles.

“Columbia has completely abdicated leadership to a mob that is a small but rageful and vocal minority.”

“That’s full-blown assault inside the campus gates,” Baker said.

When asked about the prospect of not returning to campus because of the protests, Baker said the decision is difficult because to stay away might appear as “let[ting] the bully win.”

“So, to me, to leave campus right now as a Jewish student is almost to give in to the mob. And yes, we have to be concerned for our safety. But also, there’s something about staying and about making very clear that these people can say, ‘We don’t want no Zionists here.’ But guess what? We’re still here. And you cannot bully Jewish students off of this campus.”

“It’s up to the university to decide if wearing a kippah and a hostage dog tag … if that’s going to make me a target or if I’m safe here. Right. Because I deserve to be safe here.”

HARVARD STUDENT SAYS ‘PRO-TERRORISM HATE FEST’ IS HAPPENING IN ENCAMPMENT BEYOND SCHOOL’S LOCKED GATES

Meanwhile, Columbia junior Eden Yadegar told Fox News Digital the cancellation of commencement proves “the inmates are running the asylum.”

“Columbia has completely abdicated leadership to a mob that is a small but rageful and vocal minority. And it’s really unfortunate that now, as a result, all students … are now having to face the consequences that this mob kind of forced everyone else to deal with and also that the Columbia administration put everyone in a situation to deal with,” she said.

Yadegar said the school drew multiple proverbial “red lines” but then did not enforce the promised repercussions.

“And so it’s no wonder that students think there are no consequences for their actions and think that they can get away with wreaking havoc on campus and doing essentially whatever they want.”

BIDEN DONORS FUNDING GROUPS BEHIND ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: REPORT

Another Columbia student, Batya Tropper, told Fox News Digital that although she appreciates much of what Columbia has offered her during her academic career, she now finds it harder to encourage fellow Jewish students to attend college there.

“I cannot guarantee that this will be a safe or comfortable environment for them,” she said. “And I never thought that I would be in a position to say that.”

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“And the reason that is so upsetting is because I love this university, and I love the normalcy that I’ve had here and the experiences that I’ve had. But I think it’s very unfortunate that a lot of Jewish students looking to come to colleges might not choose Ivy League universities because they are concerned for their safety, or they might not want to come to college and have to advocate for their identity every day.”

“They might just want to come and get an education, which they should be entitled to, just like everyone else.”

Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

A member of the far-left “Squad” facing a tough challenge from within his own party recently attended a fundraiser co-hosted by an Islamic leader who said he was “happy to see” the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who represents New York’s 16th Congressional District, attended the May 1 fundraiser at a private residence in Fairfax, Virginia, and didn’t seem to mind the presence of Nihad Awad, a highly controversial and antisemitic figure who serves as the national executive director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Awad faced sharp scrutiny last year after expressing his pleasure with the Hamas attack that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 Israelis, including women and babies, and claiming Israel “does not have a right to self-defense.”

WAR VETERAN IN CRUCIAL BATTLEGROUND RACE EXPANDS CAMPAIGN, SETS SIGHTS FIRMLY ON VULNERABLE DEMOCRAT

“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege – the walls of the concentration camp – on Oct. 7,” Awad said during the 16th annual Convention for Palestine on Nov. 24 near Chicago. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in.”

He continued, “And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense.”

The Biden administration later scrambled to distance itself from CAIR following Awad’s comments, stating it was removing the group from its publicly listed pledge to fight antisemitism.

At the time, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital in a statement, “We condemn these shocking, Antisemitic statements in the strongest terms.”

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIAL ANNOUNCES MAJOR ‘DEPORT THEM ALL’ BORDER INITIATIVE AMID BID TO FLIP CRUCIAL SENATE SEAT

“The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on October 7th were, as President Biden said, ‘abhorrent’ and represent ‘unadulterated evil,’” Bates said.

“October 7th was the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust,” he continued. “The atrocities of that day shock the conscience, which is why we can never forget the pain Hamas has caused for so many innocent people.”

“There are families who are in agony mourning loved ones, and there are also families in agony as they do everything in their power to free loved ones being held hostage,” Bates said. “Every leader has a responsibility to call out Antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head.”

GOP IN BATTLEGROUND STATES RIP TRUMP TRIAL JUDGE’S ‘DANGEROUS’ RULING

Ahead of the fundraiser, Awad posted on social media praising Bowman as “a staunch defender of Palestinian rights” and asking people to attend the fundraiser and donate.

It’s unclear why Bowman decided to attend a fundraiser alongside Awad, and his campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Bowman is facing what is expected to be a tough primary battle against George Latimer, who serves as a Westchester County executive and previously served in the New York State Assembly and state Senate.

The primary will be held on June 25. The winner will likely become the next representative of the district as elections analysts rate the race as either “safe” or “solid” Democrat.

Fox News’ Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump resumes Tuesday morning after the 2024 presumptive Republican presidential nominee was again held in contempt of court, fined, threatened with jail time for future gag order violations, and told he’ll be required to sit in the Manhattan courtroom for at least another two weeks. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a years-long investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

The charges are related to alleged payments made to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels about an alleged 2006 extramarital affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

NY V TRUMP: JUDGE THREATENS JAIL TIME FOR ‘POSSIBLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT’ FOR FUTURE GAG ORDER VIOLATIONS

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg must convince the jury that not only did Trump falsify the business records related to alleged hush money payments but that he did so in furtherance of another crime, conspiracy to promote or prevent election, which is a felony.

On their own, falsifying business records and conspiracy to promote or prevent election are misdemeanor charges. 

Monday’s day in court began with Judge Juan Merchan ruling on remaining alleged gag order violations, and ruling, once again, that the former president violated that rule.

Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump before the trial began, ordering that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses with regard to their potential participation or about counsel in the case – other than Bragg – or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

The judge on Monday fined Trump another $1,000 for a Truth Social post about the trial and said he will begin to “consider a jail sentence” for the former president should he violate the gag order again.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

“The magnitude of that decision is not lost on me,” he continued. “Your continued willful violation of the court’s order … constitutes a direct attack … and will not be allowed to continue. … It is not allowed to continue.”

Trump and his defense attorneys have argued that the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee should not be bound by the gag order, saying it violates his First Amendment rights as well as the First Amendment rights of his supporters.

EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’

Trump has been fined a total of $10,000 for gag order violations so far.

Also on Monday, the prosecution called its 10th witness in the case: Jeff McConney, who served as senior vice president controller at the Trump Organization until his retirement last year. McConney handled tax returns for the company.

McConney testified that he was directed by then-Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to give ex-Trump attorney Michael Cohen $35,000 per month. He said they switched from making payments from Trump’s trust account to his personal account. A total of $420,000 was sent to Cohen – a number McConney said was “grossed up” for tax purposes.

But McConney said Trump “did not” personally task him with carrying out any payments in 2017.

“Michael Cohen was a lawyer?” Trump defense attorney Emil Bove asked McConney during cross-examination. 

“Sure, yes,” McConney responded. 

“And payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?” asked Bove.

“Yes,” said McConney.

“President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described … correct?” Bove asked.

“He did not,” McConney replied.

NY V TRUMP: DA’S WITNESS TESTIFIES TRUMP DID NOT DIRECT HIM ON COHEN REPAYMENTS

Next, the prosecution called Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, who allegedly helped arrange hush money payments to Cohen.

Tarasoff labeled the payments to Cohen as “legal expenses” or “retainer” at the time they were made.

Tarasoff said that “only Mr. Trump” could sign checks from his personal account and added that if he “didn’t want to sign a check, he didn’t sign it.” Tarasoff also testified that she did not have any decision-making authority and only followed instructions.

Meanwhile, the prosecution said Monday it would need at least two to three more weeks to make its case against the former president.

“So, we just found out the government just said that they want two to three more weeks. That means they want to keep me off the trail for two to three more weeks,” Trump said after the jury was released for the day Monday. “The judge is so happy about two to three more weeks because they all want to keep me off the campaign trail.”

He added, “That’s all this is about. This is about election interference.”

Also after court on Monday, Trump addressed Merchan’s threat of jail time over gag order violations, telling reporters he would make the “sacrifice” of a prison sentence to defend free speech.

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Speaking to reporters, Trump said they asked him “a simple question” and that he would “like to give [an answer], but I can’t talk about it because this judge is giving me a gag order and says you’ll go to jail if you violate it.”

“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day,” Trump said.

A group of 13 U.S. federal judges appointed by former President Trump have vowed not to hire law school students and undergraduates from New York City-based Columbia University due to the school’s handling of the anti-Israel protests that ultimately led to an academic hall being occupied.

In a letter obtained by Reuters which was addressed to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester, the 13 conservative judges said they lost confidence in the university as an institution of higher education, saying instead it has become “an incubator of bigotry.”

“Since the October 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas, Columbia University has become ground zero for the explosion of student disruptions, antisemitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints on campuses across the nation. Disruptors have threatened violence, committed assaults, and destroyed property,” the letter reads. “As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country.”

The judges offered the administrators guidance on how the university could reclaim its “once-distinguished” reputation, starting with punishing students and faculty with profound consequences for those who participated in campus disruptions and violated established rules regarding the use of university facilities and public spaces as well as threats against fellow members of the school community.

NYC COUNCILWOMAN BLASTS FAILURE OF ‘MODERN PROGRESSIVISM’ AFTER ANTI-ISRAEL HIGH SCHOOL RIOT

They explained that in the past, citizens were warned that trespassing on public spaces was enough to warrant incarceration, and the same conduct should warrant lesser measures like expulsion or termination.

“After all, elite universities purport to train not just law-abiding citizens but future leaders,” the letter reads. “Universities should also identify students who engage in such conduct so that future employers can avoid hiring them.”

The judges also offered their stance on free speech, saying the university should offer neutrality and nondiscrimination when protecting free speech and enforcing the rules of conduct on campus.

NYC PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNDER FIRE FOR FAILING TO ADDRESS ANTISEMITISM: ‘NOT SEEING ANY ACTION’

“Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts or threats of violence or terrorism. Speech is not violence, and violence is not speech,” the judges wrote. “It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct.

“By favoring certain viewpoints over others based on their popularity and acceptance in certain circles, Columbia has failed as a legitimate, never mind elite, institution of higher education,” they added.

The third thing the judges suggested the school do is change the composition of its faculty and administration to restore confidence in Columbia.

NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS BLASTS STUDENTS’ ‘VILE SHOW OF ANTISEMITISM’ THAT FORCED TEACHER TO HIDE IN OFFICE

Recent events show that “ideological homogeneity” throughout the university “has destroyed its ability to train future leaders of a pluralistic and intellectually diverse country.”

Administrators and professors have been on the front lines of the protests, the judges wrote, while encouraging the spread of bigotry and antisemitism.

“Considering recent events, and absent extraordinary change, we will not hire anyone who joins the Columbia University community – whether as undergraduates or law students – beginning with the entering class of 2024,” the letter reads, noting that the objective is not to hamper academic freedom but instead to restore it at Columbia.

William A. Jacobson, president of the Legal Insurrection Foundation and founder of EqualProtect.org, told Fox News Digital he has mixed feelings about judges getting involved in issues not presented to them in the courtroom.

NYC JEWISH COMMUNITY ON HIGH ALERT FROM PROTESTS THREATENED WITH TRIO OF BOMB THREATS AT SYNAGOGUES

“I actually agree with them on the substance, but I do find it a bit concerning that the judiciary gets involved with these, sort of, counter boycotts,” he said.

Just like everyone else, he explained, judges have First Amendment rights, so there should not be any ethical issues, but he finds it concerning when judges get involved with issues involving protests.

While he may not blame a judge for not wanting to hire from Columbia, the collective action of them getting together and issuing a statement rubs him the wrong way.

But Jacobson also said he has no sympathy for the students and faculty at Columbia, many of whom endorsed boycotting Israel.

“What goes around, comes around, and the student body, not all of them, but a significant percentage … support the boycott of Israel,” the professor said. “I have no sympathy for Columbia as an institution. But a boycott is a blunt instrument, and therefore you would be boycotting students who are not participating in this, and that’s, again, another thing that I have very mixed feelings on.”

ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED

Eventually, there will be a protest of the protesters or counterprotesters, Jacobson said.

The student and faculty protesters are “so aggressive and so hostile” toward Israel, and so determined to drive Israelis and supporters out of civil society, that he believes it is inevitable that pushback is on the horizon.

Federal judges tend to hire from top tier schools like Columbia, which has become “the poster child” for everything that has gone wrong in academia, Jacobson said.

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“I think it’s a little curious that it ends up being 13 federal judges who are the first to send that warning, but I think it is a warning that, and I’ve said this many times before, that academia has become so radicalized that it cannot be reformed internally,” Jacobson said. “The only way to reform it is from outside pressure. I’m not even sure that will work, but it cannot be reformed internally. Places like Columbia are too far gone, and society is going to have to address that. The issue moving forward is not how we are going to reform our universities, because that is going to be a generational effort, but how can we protect society from our universities.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

The election might well be slipping away from Joe Biden.

And that’s the view among some who want the president to win a second term.

Biden’s passivity, and his reluctance to communicate, are fueling a narrative that he is a weak leader, and that’s now tied to a larger theme that will be difficult to shake by November.

For years, Biden’s refusal to take dramatic action – unilateral or otherwise – on the record-breaking illegal migration at what has become an open border, has been his greatest liability. It also happens to be Donald Trump’s strongest issue.

BIDEN’S LACK OF RESPONSE TO ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS GIVES SENSE AMERICA’S ‘OUT-OF-CONTROL’: HOWARD KURTZ

Then came the violent protests and antisemitic hatred that swept across college campuses like wildfire, and the president stubbornly remained silent for two long weeks. This has been the biggest and most alarming story in America, and Biden felt no need to address it as college buildings were being occupied and police were making mass arrests of pro-Hamas protesters.

The core concern here is that America feels out of control. The outbreak of lawlessness is heightened by a sense that no one is in charge. 

Despite the White House spin, Biden said nothing about the campus protests as a deputy spokesman put out releases under his own name. His two-sentence answer to a shouted question could barely be heard amid the background noise.

A Barack Obama adviser once told the New Yorker, fairly or unfairly, that Obama’s approach to Libya amounted to “leading from behind.” That seems to describe Biden’s approach to the violence and arrests at Columbia, NYU, Yale, Darthouth, USC, UCLA and many other colleges. His words were fine and well-crafted, but it felt like too little too late.

UNIVERSITIES CAVE TO ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS TO END OCCUPATIONS, WHILE SOME ALLOW ENCAMPMENTS TO CONTINUE

Now, it would be crazy to make predictions about an election six months away. Trump’s law-and-order stance is marred by his having to sit through the first of four criminal cases, the hush money trial. What’s more, the election will probably be decided by perhaps 50,000 voters in five swing states. 

Andrew Sullivan wants Biden to be re-elected, but doesn’t see it happening:

“Biden had an opportunity to move to the center on illegal immigration – his core vulnerability – and decided to move, with his entire party, to the extreme left,” he wrote on his Substack. Besides, it was too late for Biden to have “serious cred” on the issue.

As for the president’s brief and belated speech on violent campus protests, “it was given only when he had no choice, after Trump goaded him, and it reminded me of his sad attempts to distance himself and his party from the rioting and looting in the hellish summer of 2020. He was reactive, not proactive. His quiet words were overwhelmed with the noise of the streets.”

All this, says Sullivan, “will help Trump get an Electoral College landslide, just as the new left handily elected Nixon in 1968 and 1972…

“Biden is losing this election, deservedly. And if he cannot pull off an almighty pivot – and I suspect at this point, he really can’t – this election really is Trump’s to lose.”

Another Andrew – former prosecutor and National Review writer Andy McCarthy – is opposed to a second Trump term. He thinks the former president should have been impeached and convicted after Jan. 6:

“I don’t want a Trump presidency,” the Fox News contributor said. “It’s a historic, even if inevitable, blown opportunity by Republicans not to have nominated a reliable conservative who might have ushered in eight-to-16 years of restorative administrations. But a second Biden government, which would likely become a Harris government, would be a disaster.”

ABC HOST ISSUES STERN WARNING ABOUT 2024 ELECTION: ‘NO MORE CRYING WOLF’

Okay, he’s torn, but it’s a binary choice. McCarthy is now hedging his bets on his previous prediction that Trump can’t win a general election.

His original reasoning: Trump’s ceiling continues to be around 46 to 47% in major polls. Plus, he’s at minus-10 in favorability ratings. It’s not clear how much Trump’s numbers will dip after a potential felony conviction, but it would be “negligible” if it’s D.A. Alvin Bragg’s “farcical” case, McCarthy said.

“The Dems haven’t yet unleashed the torrents of negative messaging that are coming. That is not going to help him reel in at least some of the close to one-in-five Republicans who are dead set against him — the voters he needs to have any chance of winning… Put it all together and I still think Trump’s a 2024 also-ran.”

I don’t agree – or at least I’d say that Trump is highly competitive despite running against an incumbent, who happens to be 81, and who has a substantial record of legislative accomplishment.

What’s more, the major issue for voters remains inflation. Unfortunately for Biden, prices are again creeping back up, even though we’re in a record stretch of unemployment below 4%.

There’s one other potential parallel to 1968, beyond the fact that it was exactly 56 years since the first time Columbia protesters seized control of Hamilton Hall.

The Washington Post reports that “pro-Palestinian activists are ramping up plans for a major show of force at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, increasingly worrying Democrats who fear the demonstrations could interfere with or overshadow their efforts to project unity ahead of the November election.”

If “unruly” protests erupt in late August, “especially if they feature inflammatory rhetoric, property damage or police intervention — they could strike at the heart of the Democratic message that President Biden represents competent and stable leadership” while Trump is “an agent of chaos and confusion.”

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

Uh, remind me again why the Dems are holding the convention in Chicago, with its horrible echoes, when Illinois is a blue state? Wouldn’t Detroit or Philadelphia have made more sense?

The paper quotes William Daley, whose father, the senior Mayor Richard Daley, sent out the cops who wound up busting heads, as minimizing the comparison. That convention took place not long after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, and the National Guard was sent in to quell the riots.

“To analogize what’s going on in the country today with 1968 is ridiculous,” Daley said. “Only people who weren’t alive in ’68 have that idiotic perception.”

But even less violent protests could utterly distract from Biden’s renomination, and cement the perception that, as with the porous border and campus demonstrations, the president is failing to keep the country safe.

When Biden ran four years ago, it was based on the notion that a president didn’t have to be in the public’s face all the time, commenting on everything from basketball protests to awards shows.

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But, somehow, that gradually evolved into avoiding interviews (except with the likes of Howard Stern), terse answers to shouted questions and remaining silent or taking no action as lawless events swirl around him. Whether his staff is shielding him or not, he operates slowly by digital-age standards, his instincts appearing dulled.

And that often makes the president seem like a bystander to grave events. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Democratic National Committee paid Trump prosecutor Matthew Colangelo thousands of dollars for “political consulting” in 2018, Fox News Digital has learned. 

Colangelo delivered opening statements in the unprecedented criminal trial of former President Trump and currently serves as a top prosecutor with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s Office on the case. 

Colangelo joined Bragg’s office in December 2022 after the resignations of Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne — prosecutors who were investigating Trump and resigned in protest of Bragg’s initial unwillingness to indict the former president. Colangelo left a senior role at the Biden Justice Department to join Bragg’s team. Bragg afterward brought charges against the former president in April 2023, raising questions among some in the GOP about alleged politicization of the case. 

House Republicans are investigating Colangelo and his past work as he prosecutes Trump. 

NY V. TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ

According to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by Fox News Digital, DNC Services Corp/Democratic National Committee paid Colangelo twice on Jan. 31, 2018. Colangelo was given two payments of $6,000, for a total of $12,000. 

The “description” for the purpose of payment is labeled “Political Consulting.” 

Neither the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office nor the DNC immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

At the time, Colangelo was serving in then-New York Attorney General Eric Scheiderman’s office as the deputy attorney general for social justice, assuming the role from Bragg. Bragg, at the time, was appointed as chief deputy attorney general. 

TRUMP PROSECUTOR QUIT TOP DOJ POST FOR LOWLY NY JOB IN LIKELY BID TO ‘GET’ FORMER PRESIDENT, EXPERT SAYS

Schneiderman resigned in May 2018 amid allegations of sexual assault. Barbara Underwood replaced him as New York attorney general. 

Just months after Colangelo received the payments from the DNC, in June 2018, Underwood, with Colangelo as executive deputy attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. The lawsuit claimed that Trump used the foundation’s charitable assets to pay off his legal obligations. The Trump Foundation ultimately agreed to dissolve in December 2018.  

BRAGG ‘ALLOWED POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS’ TO ‘INFECT’ PROSECUTION OF TRUMP, HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP SAYS

Colangelo stayed in the New York Attorney General’s Office after Underwood’s tenure, and under the leadership of current Attorney General Letitia James, who took over in 2018, when he continued to work on Trump lawsuits and investigations. 

However, on Jan. 20, 2021, the first day of the Biden administration, Colangelo began serving as acting associate attorney general in the Justice Department. 

Colangelo then became the principal deputy associate attorney general at the Biden Justice Department. Colangelo helped to oversee multiple departments, including the Civil, Civil Rights, Antitrust and Tax Divisions. 

Colangelo joined Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office in December 2022. 

TRUMP TRIAL: FORMER PRESIDENT ‘INNOCENT,’ DEFENSE SAYS AS DA ALLEGES ‘CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY’

Prior to his work in New York and in the Biden Justice Department, Colangelo worked in the Obama administration, serving in a number of different roles. Colangelo worked in the DOJ’s civil rights division and served as the chief of staff to then-Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who later served as chair of the DNC in 2017. 

Perez was DNC chairman at the time Colangelo was paid for “political consulting.” 

Colangelo also worked as a deputy assistant to then-President Obama and as the deputy director of the White House Economic Council. 

The House Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over records related to Colangelo’s employment at the Justice Department as it conducts “oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials.” 

Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts. 

A charge of falsifying business records typically is a misdemeanor, but Bragg, Colangelo and New York prosecutors must convince the jury that Trump allegedly falsified those records in the furtherance of “another crime.” 

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Prosecutors suggest that the other crime was in violation of New York State law — to prevent or promote election. On its face, as a stand-alone offense, that charge is also typically a misdemeanor. 

Coupling the alleged falsification of business records with alleged prevention or promotion of election becomes a felony crime, according to Bragg. 

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., found himself in hot water Monday after he was accused of perpetuating a racist stereotype about Asians in a now-deleted post on X.

The post had been in response to a CBS Mornings’ interview with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, discussing her request to remove an excerpt from her forthcoming book, “No Going Back,” about supposedly meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

The Republican governor, who is rumored to be a potential vice president pick for Donald Trump, told the interviewers she “should not have” included that anecdote in the book, and refused to answer directly whether the meeting had in fact taken place. 

It was the latest controversy Noem is facing over her book, after receiving bipartisan backlash for a story of how she once shot her hunting dog.

NOEM ADDRESSES FEELING ‘THREATENED’ BY NIKKI HALEY, A CONTROVERSIAL DOG KILLING, TRUMP VP SPECULATION IN BOOK

Weighing in on the controversy, Moskowitz responded in a post on X: “Why am I getting the feeling that she wanted to eat dog with Kim Jong Un.” 

Moskowitz deleted the post after some backlash. 

Politico reporter Nicholas Wu wrote that Moskowitz’s tweet used a stereotype about Asians and dogs. 

In response, Moskowitz wrote that he had “tremendous respect for Nick as a fantastic journalist.” 

“I made a joke about 2 specific people. No one else,” Moskowitz wrote. “However, I would never want to be insensitive and feed into a stereotype. He called me out, deserved.” 

Wu later shared a statement from Democratic Reps. Andy Kim of New Jersey and Marilyn Strickland of Washington. 

“While we appreciate our colleague standing up to GOP extremism, we cannot perpetuate harmful stereotypes in the process,” wrote the two lawmakers. “We thank Rep. Moskowitz for apologizing and taking down his tweet.”

Moskowitz deleted another post on X in March involving an edited photo of President Biden. 

It featured side-by-side pictures of actress Sydney Sweeney wearing a revealing outfit on her recent Saturday Live Appearance and the president, looking shocked as he arrived to give his State of the Union address. 

The original photo depicted Biden’s reaction to seeing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., at the address.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Noem and Moskowitz for further comment. 

Kentucky Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, who worked to expand early voting in the Bluegrass State and has spoken out against election denialism in his own party, has been chosen to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this year.

In its announcement Monday, the JFK Library Foundation said Adams was recognized “for expanding voting rights and standing up for free and fair elections despite party opposition and death threats from election deniers.”

MICHIGAN GOV. WHITMER TO RECEIVE JFK ‘PROFILE IN COURAGE’ AWARD DESPITE RECENT COVID-19 SURGE

Adams — whose signature policy objective is to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat — was at the forefront of a bipartisan effort with Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear that led to the enactment of 2021 legislation allowing for three days of no-excuse, early in-person voting — including on a Saturday — before Election Day. Adams hailed it as Kentucky’s most significant election law update in more than a century. About one-fifth of the Kentuckians who voted in last year’s statewide election did so during those three days of early, in-person voting, Adams’ office said Monday.

As his state’s chief election officer, Adams has pushed back forcefully against false claims about rigged elections, referring to election skeptics as “cranks and kooks.”

“There’s a lot of irresponsible chatter out there and demagoguery about us having hacked elections,” Adams said in a 2022 interview on Spectrum News 1. “It’s all hogwash. Our elections have never been hacked and are not hacked now.”

First elected in 2019, Adams won reelection by a wide margin last year after dominating his party’s primary, which included a challenger who promoted debunked election claims.

Adams, a Kentucky native and graduate of Harvard Law School, said Monday that Kennedy’s “admonition to put country before self still resonates today, and rings true now more than ever.”

“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of election officials and poll workers across America who, inspired by his call, sacrifice to keep the American experiment in self-government alive,” he added.

Adams is part of an effort begun after the last presidential election that seeks to bring together Republican officials who are willing to defend the country’s election systems and the people who run them. They want officials to reinforce the message that elections are secure and accurate, which they say is especially important as the country heads toward another divisive presidential contest in November.

“It’s an obligation on Republicans’ part to stand up for the defense of our system because our party — there’s some blame for where we stand right now,” Adams said recently. “But it’s also strategically wise for Republicans to say, ‘Hey Republicans, you can trust this. Don’t stay at home.’”

During a recent campaign rally, former President Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee for president this year — repeated his false claim that Democrats rigged the 2020 election.

Just 24% of Republicans said they had a great deal or quite a bit of confidence that votes will be counted accurately in the 2024 presidential election, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in December.

Adams is seen as a potential candidate for governor in 2027, when he and Beshear will be term-limited in their current jobs.

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Honorary JFK Library Foundation President Caroline Kennedy and her son, Jack Schlossberg, will present the award to Adams on June 9 at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

President Kennedy’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands for unpopular positions. Past winners of the Profile in Courage Award include former U.S. presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama.

• Thousands more signatures than required were submitted in favor of a “top two” primary system in South Dakota.
• Under the proposed system — already implemented in states like California and Washington — candidates from all parties would appear on a single, nonpartisan ballot, and the top two would advance to the general election regardless of affiliation.
• Deanna “De” Knudson, a registered Republican sponsoring the measure, stated her belief that the current nomination system “excludes about half of the voters from the real race, and we just really believe that this is a fairness issue.”

Supporters of a “top two” primary election system in South Dakota that would replace the current partisan process with one open to all voters have submitted thousands more petition signatures than required to bring a vote this fall on their ballot initiative.

On Monday, South Dakota Open Primaries sponsors said they submitted petitions with 47,000 signatures to Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s office. The measure group needs 35,017 valid signatures to make the November ballot. Johnson’s office has until Aug. 13 to validate the measure, a proposed constitutional amendment.

Under South Dakota’s current primary election system, candidates in gubernatorial, congressional, legislative and county races compete in a partisan primary. The measure would allow all candidates to compete against each other in one primary, and the top two vote-getters in each race or for each seat would advance to the general election. A similar measure failed in 2016.

NOEM ADDRESSES FEELING ‘THREATENED’ BY NIKKI HALEY, A CONTROVERSIAL DOG KILLING, TRUMP VP SPECULATION IN BOOK

Other states such as California and Washington have “top two” primary elections similar to the measure proposed in South Dakota.

Measure sponsor Deanna “De” Knudson, a registered Republican, said she doesn’t think the state has a fair system, in that it “excludes about half of the voters from the real race, and we just really believe that this is a fairness issue.”

Republicans control South Dakota’s Legislature and hold all statewide elected offices and congressional seats. Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since 2008, when former U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson and U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin won reelection to their last terms.

South Dakota has nearly 602,000 registered voters, including 304,000 Republicans and 144,000 Democrats, but people registered as “no party affiliation” or “independent” total nearly 150,000 voters, according to online voter registration tracking.

State Republican Party Chairman and state Sen. John Wiik said he vehemently opposes the measure. He said he sees “no good coming out of it for the Republican Party.” The state GOP’s central committee unanimously opposed the measure, he said.

“I want Republicans to be able to choose the Republican candidate, and Democrats to choose the Democrat candidate,” Wiik said. “If you want to be an independent, then you’re independent of the decisions that affect your lives.”

Knudson said the measure would bring a much more competitive process and “will make sure that the winning candidate is the one most South Dakotans agree on.” She questioned the balance of power in the Legislature, where Democrats hold 11 of 105 seats, and whether that is truly reflective of voters’ will.

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State Democratic Party Executive Director Dan Ahlers said the party hasn’t taken a stance on the measure. The Democratic Party allows “no party affiliation” and independent voters to vote in its primary, along with registered Democrats.

Saying that “today I am announcing my intention to seek another term” in the Senate, longtime independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday formally launched his bid for re-election.

The 82-year-old progressive champion who caucuses with the Democrats is running for a fourth six-year term representing the blue state of Vermont in the Senate.

Sanders, the runner-up for the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nominations, is the chair of the Senate’s top health care committee, a senior member on both the Budget and Veterans committees, and is part of the Democrats’ leadership team in the chamber. 

“I have been, and will be if re-elected, in a strong position to provide the kind of help Vermonters need in these difficult times,” Sanders touted in an on-camera announcement posted on social media.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BERNIE SANDERS

Sanders emphasized that “in recent years, working together, we have made important progress in addressing some very serious challenges. But much, much more needs to be done if we are to become the state and the nation our people deserve.”

The senator, who has long worked to push the Democratic Party to the left, pushed for trillions in spending during the first two years of President Biden’s administration, as the nation rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic. But his efforts to pass legislation expanding Medicare and weakening the filibuster were unsuccessful.

But Sanders has also worked to seek compromise with more moderate members of the Democratic conference and at times with the GOP minority.

While a Biden ally, Sanders has been a vocal critic of the White House and Democrats in recent months over their push to provide aid to Israel as it battles Hamas in the war in Gaza.

BIDEN CAMPAIGN BUSHES OFF SANDERS TAKE ON COLLEGE CAMPUS PROTESTS

Sanders acknowledged that “Israel had the absolute right to defend itself from this terrorist attack,” as he pointed to the bloody October attack by Hamas that left of 1,200 Israelis dead.

“But it did not and does not have the right to go to war against the entire Palestinian people,” he added, as he pointed to the Israeli war in Gaza that has reportedly left over 34,000 Palestinians dead. “U.S. tax dollars should not be going to the extremist Netanyahu government to continue its devastating war against the Palestinian people.”

Sanders, a former Socialist mayor of Burlington, Vermont’s largest city, later served in the House of Representatives before winning election to the Senate in 2006.

He was narrowly edged by Hillary Clinton in a marathon and divisive 2016 Democratic presidential primary battle, and was the last candidate standing against Biden in the race for the 2020 nomination.

Democrats currently control the U.S. Senate with a 51-49 majority, but Republicans are looking at a favorable Senate map this year, with Democrats defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs. 

6 KEY SENATE SEATS REPUBLICANS AIM TO FLIP IN NOVEMBER 

Three of those seats are in red states that former President Trump carried in 2020 – Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin is not running for re-election. And five more are in key general election battleground states.

Democrats are also defending an open seat in blue Maryland, where popular former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is running for the Senate.

With Sanders running for re-election, Vermont’s seat is not considered in play and he’s expected to easily win another term.

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Republican Gerald Malloy, who lost the 2022 election in Vermont, is running again.

Framing his re-election effort, Sanders highlighted what’s at stake.

“There are very difficult times for our country and in world. And, in many ways, this 2024 election is the most consequential election in our lifetimes. Will the United States continue to even function as a democracy, or will we move to an authoritarian form of government?” the senator asked. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Former President Trump said he’d make the “sacrifice” of going to jail to defend free speech amid his trial in Manhattan where the 45th president is under a gag order that he has slammed as “unconstitutional.” 

“I have to watch every word I tell you people. You ask me a question, a simple question I’d like to give it, but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and [says] you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said in remarks outside the courtroom Monday afternoon.  

“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”

Earlier Monday, presiding Judge Juan Merchan said he will consider a jail sentence for Trump if he continues to violate the gag order. The gag order prevents Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

LIVE UPDATES: TRUMP ORG EMPLOYEE TAKES STAND AS PROSECUTORS BUILD TO MICHAEL COHEN TESTIMONY

The DA’s office argued that Trump violated the order more than a dozen times, with the judge ruling last week that Trump violated the order nine times, resulting in a combined $9,000 fine. Merchan fined the former president another $1,000 for an additional violation on Monday, arguing that it’s “clear” the $1,000 fines for each violation are not effective.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.”

In the judge’s initial gag order ruling last Tuesday, he threatened Trump with jail time if he continued to violate the order, lamenting not being able to fine Trump more than $1,000 for each violation.

Merchan wrote in the Tuesday order that if Trump carries out “continued willful violations” of the gag order, he could face “incarceratory punishment” if “necessary and appropriate.”

NY V TRUMP TO RESUME MONDAY AFTER EVENTFUL 3RD WEEK OF TESTIMONY, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF GAG ORDER FINES

In the text of his order, Merchan said the fines’ costs “unfortunately will not achieve the desired result in those instances where the contemnor can easily afford such a fine.”

Merchan continued in the order last week that it would be “preferable” if the court “could impose a fine more commensurate with the wealth of the contemnor.”

“In some cases that might be a $2,500 fine, in other cases it might be a fine of $150,000. Because this Court is not cloaked with such discretion, it must therefore consider whether in some instances, jail may be a necessary punishment,” he wrote, highlighting again that Trump could face time behind bars if he continues to violate the order.

HOPE HICKS: COHEN CALLED HIMSELF ‘MR FIX IT’ ONLY BECAUSE HE ‘BROKE IT’

Trump, who is standing trial over 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, has railed against the gag order as “unconstitutional” and accused Merchan of “election interference” while slamming the case overall as a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration.

Trump said in his remarks Monday that the trial will last an additional two to three weeks, which he said delighted Merchan because it will keep Trump away from the presidential campaign trail.

“So, we just found out the government just said that they want two to three more weeks. That means they want to keep me off the trail for two to three more weeks. Now, anybody in there would realize there’s no case. They don’t have a case. Every legal scholar says they don’t have a case. This is just a political witch hunt. It’s election interference. And this is really truly election interference. And it’s a disgrace,” Trump said, noting his high poll numbers.

NY V TRUMP: WITNESS SAYS COHEN DREAMED OF WHITE HOUSE JOB DESPITE DENYING AMBITIONS IN HOUSE TESTIMONY

“The judge is so happy about two to three more weeks because they all want to keep me off the campaign trail. That’s all this is about. This is about election interference.”

JUDGE DOUBLES DOWN ON NOT SHOWING TRUMP ‘ACCESS HOLLYWOOD’ TAPE TO JURORS

Monday marked the beginning of the fourth week of the trial in which Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The case focuses on Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paying former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

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Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.

EXCLUSIVE: Rumble, a popular video-sharing and cloud service platform, has revealed a number of censorship demands it’s received from the governments of countries that may surprise many.

The major tech company shared the details of those demands with Fox News Digital, as well as CEO Chris Pavlovski’s prepared remarks for his testimony on Capitol Hill this week, which will take place at a House hearing centered on rising censorship and free speech concerns in Brazil.

“Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are the cornerstones of a democratic society,” Pavlovski is expected to tell members of the House Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations on Tuesday.

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“Freedom of expression is so important, that not only is it the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, but it is also Article 19 in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” he is expected to say. “It is extremely troubling to me that in 2024 I have to come before the U.S. Congress to testify that these fundamental rights are being threatened.”

Of those threats Pavlovski is expected to mention – most of which would be considered the norm by countries like China, Russia or North Korea – the perpetrators are actually liberal democracies where personal freedoms have typically been held in high regard.

According to Rumble, it’s become a common theme for those countries to try and control what can and cannot be said online, especially if the content happens to be politically unpopular or inconvenient for their respective governments.

One such demand came from the French government, which wanted Rumble to essentially take action reminiscent of the Chinese Communist Party by removing content posted on its site by Russia Today – an outlet funded by the Russian government – despite none of its posting policies being violated.

Rumble is in the midst of a legal battle with the French government over the demand despite trying to engage with it over the content, and has temporarily suspended its service in the country.

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIAL ANNOUNCES MAJOR ‘DEPORT THEM ALL’ BORDER INITIATIVE AMID BID TO FLIP CRUCIAL SENATE SEAT

A similar situation has played out in Brazil following President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s election victory in 2022 and subsequent protests by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro that some likened to the Jan. 6, 2021, protests at the U.S. Capitol.

According to Rumble, whose services are also suspended in the country amid ongoing legal challenges, the Brazilian government has attempted to censor political opponents and journalists on the site.

Additionally, Rumble has faced pressure from the Australian and New Zealand governments to remove content from its site, including the viral video of a Sydney bishop being attacked while conducting a church service, and data released by a government whistleblower concerning the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The company is challenging those governments as well.

In his congressional testimony, Pavlovski is expected to inform the committee about the efforts by France, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil to block the availability of certain content from their respective citizens, and will emphasize the “overt” nature of governments’ censorship attempts.

GOP IN BATTLEGROUND STATES RIP TRUMP TRIAL JUDGE’S ‘DANGEROUS’ RULING

“Governments are acting in ways we only imagine happening 50 to 60 years ago, openly asking platforms to censor and take down disfavored content. They are back in the business of thinking they know what’s best, dictating and controlling conversations, and stripping the human right to speak and share freely,” Pavloski is expected to testify.

“These are not theoretical fears. These things are happening, and I know this personally as the CEO of a platform that receives demands from governments around the world,” he will say. “Countries in every hemisphere, all of them members of the United Nations, are no longer upholding the human right to freedom of expression. This is getting out of control, and it should alarm everyone in this room.”

Pavlovski is expected to call on the U.S. government to no longer remain “silent” on the issue of defending freedom of speech, and will issue a stark warning that although Rumble is facing these demands today, it could be other outlets in the future.

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“Today it is Rumble, yesterday it was X, but tomorrow it could be The New York Times. The platform shouldn’t matter; the universal right to freedom of speech and expression – the core of Western democracy – is at stake. America needs to step up and take a leading role,” he will add.

Members of Congress are looking to take action against a United Nations agency serving Palestinian refugees in Gaza, amid reports the international organization assisted the Hamas terror group.

Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., are introducing legislation that would demand the U.S. State Department does everything it can to return American tax dollars that went to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“For way too long, UNRWA has masqueraded as a relief organization, while in reality serving as an incubator for Palestinian terrorists. Intelligence reports indicate that as many as 10% of UNRWA workers have direct links to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihadists,” Mast said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

He added: “It’s ludicrous that our hard-earned American tax dollars were going to fund this crap. The State Department needs to do everything it can to recoup this money.”

DOSSIER REVEALS INFORMATION USED TO EXPLAIN UN AGENCY’S DEEP TIES TO HAMAS IN GAZA

The legislation comes after allegations surfaced that at least a dozen UNRWA employees joined or otherwise assisted Hamas terrorists during their overnight attack on Israeli border communities on Oct. 7. The attack left more than 1,200 people dead, and Hamas took more than 200 hostages from a music festival and from their homes back into Gaza.

After reports that some UNRWA members helped Hamas, the Biden administration announced on Jan. 26 that it would stop additional taxpayer dollars from going to the agency.

Just days before the freeze, however, the administration had already transferred $121 million to UNRWA.

Mast and Gottheimer’s bipartisan bill hopes to recoup that sum to the U.S.

The legislation is part of a continued effort from the U.S. — and other countries — to separate itself from the agency.

ISRAEL URGES PALESTINIANS TO EVACUATE RAFAH AHEAD OF EXPECTED GROUND OPERATION IN HAMAS STRONGHOLD

U.S. intelligence in February said it was likely some employees of UNRWA participated in the attack, but it also said it could not verify Israeli allegations of wider links between the agency and UNRWA, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In March, the Israeli government named 12 UNRWA employees who had ties to and assisted Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in a dossier that it shared with several of its allies. Three were suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of the hostages or keeping them in their homes.

The agency fired the 12 employees named in the allegations, but the damage was already done and UNRWA lost hundreds of millions of dollars from donors after the dossier was sent.

The information includes allegations that approximately 1,200 employees shared some connection with Hamas — including around 17% of UNRWA teachers (out of a total 8,300) and around 20% of UNRWA school principals and deputy principals (out of a total 500) are members of Hamas. Ties to the group extend to UNRWA workers in positions related to relief and humanitarian aid, with about 10% of the 151 relief workers, and members of UNRWA’s health services.

The dossier also included excerpts from textbooks used in the agency’s school curriculum that allegedly include glorification of martyrdom and antisemitic tropes. Maps provided to children in their textbooks show a singular land where Israel and the Palestinian territories exist but labeled as a singular Palestine.

After the report surfaced, Congress passed legislation to defund UNRWA until 2025. 

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Other governments similarly cut financial ties to UNRWA.

The report and subsequent response comes years after former President Trump took action against UNRWA when he was serving in the White House.

Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump did not personally direct a Trump Organization executive to set up reimbursement payments to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, according to witness testimony Monday in the NY v. Trump case. 

“Michael Cohen was a lawyer?” defense attorney Emil Bove asked former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney Monday at the start of the fourth week of the trial.

“Sure, yes,” McConney responded. 

“And payments to lawyers by the Trump Organization are legal expenses, right?” asked Bove.

“Yes,” said McConney.

LIVE UPDATES: EX-TRUMP ORG CONTROLLER TAKES STAND AS PROSECUTORS BUILD TO MICHAEL COHEN TESTIMONY

“President Trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described … correct?” Bove asked.

“He did not,” McConney replied.

NY V. TRUMP TO RESUME MONDAY AFTER EVENTFUL THIRD WEEK OF TESTIMONY, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF GAG ORDER FINES

Trump is in Manhattan for the fourth week of trial, where he is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records. The NY v. Trump case focuses on Trump’s former attorney Cohen paying former pornographic actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with the then-real estate tycoon in 2006. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels.

Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony. 

McConney, who served as the Trump Organization’s controller for more than two decades, took the stand Monday, where he was grilled by both prosecutors and the defense team. 

HOPE HICKS: COHEN CALLED HIMSELF ‘MR. FIX IT’ ONLY BECAUSE HE ‘BROKE IT’

McConney testified that he was directed by former Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to reimburse Cohen with $35,000 per month payments, with the last being sent to Cohen in December of 2017.

McConney also detailed that Cohen was initially reimbursed through a trust, before switching to payments from Trump’s personal account. An email from McConney to Cohen was entered into evidence, which showed the controller replying to Cohen and confirming that checks would have to be sent to the White House to be signed by Trump.

Cohen was paid a total of $420,000, according to the testimony, a sum that was “grossed up” so Cohen wouldn’t lose money through taxes. 

NY V. TRUMP: WITNESS SAYS COHEN DREAMED OF WHITE HOUSE JOB DESPITE DENYING AMBITIONS IN HOUSE TESTIMONY

His testimony during cross-examination bolstered the Trump team’s defense, with the executive outlining that the 45th president did not have an active role in the reimbursements to Cohen. 

“And as far as you know, President Trump did not ask anyone to do those things?” Bove continued, as prosecutors objected. 

“In none of the conversations that you had with Mr. Weisselberg, did he suggest that President Trump had told him to do these things?” Bove pressed.

HUSH MONEY TRIAL JUDGE DOUBLES DOWN ON NOT SHOWING TRUMP ‘ACCESS HOLLYWOOD’ TAPE TO JURORS

“Allen never told me that,” McConney said.

TRUMP DELIVERS PIZZA TO NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTERS IN CAMPAIGN STOP AFTER DAY IN COURT

McConney is the prosecution team’s 10th witness since the trial began in mid-April. Last week, the court heard from Keith Davidson, an attorney who once represented Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal; computer forensic analyst for the DA’s office, Doug Daus; bank executive Gary Farro; and Hope Hicks, who worked for the Trump Organization and later served as Trump’s press secretary during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

The Trump trial is expected to last at least six weeks. Trump has railed against the case as a “scam” promoted by the Biden administration ahead of the 2024 election. 

Earlier Monday, presiding Judge Juan Merchan said he will consider a jail sentence for Trump if he continues to violate a gag order. The gag order prevents Trump from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation, or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The DA’s office argued that Trump had violated the order more than a dozen times, with the judge ruling last week that Trump violated the order nine times, resulting in a combined $9,000 fine. Merchan fined the former president another $1,000 for an additional violation on Monday, while arguing it’s “clear” that $1,000 fines for each violation are not effective.

“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.” 

Fox News Digital’ Brooke Singman and Michael Lee contributed to this report.