PEOPLE V. TRUMP

The judge is now hearing arguments from the lawyers over how he should instruct the jury next week after closing arguments.

For example: Trump's jury may need to decide whether the October 2016 payment to Stormy Daniels was campaign-related or not.

MORE TOP HEADLINES

Congress

Senate Democrats split on next steps after Alito flag flap

By Anthony Adragna and Ursula Perano

Two Republican senators criticize Trump's 'reich' post — but most plead ignorance

"I don’t know why you would say such a thing," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.

By Anthony Adragna

Hemp and marijuana go to war

The farm bill has pitted the allies against each other over how to handle intoxicating products.

By Natalie Fertig

President Joe Biden speaks at Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant, Wisconsin.

White House

VIDEO

Donald Trump Jr. rails against hush money trial outside New York court

NEWSLETTERS

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Visit Magazine

Here's what Ramit Sethi would advise Biden on housing

Q&A

A Finance Guru on What the Inflation Debate Gets Wrong

The bestselling author and Netflix star Ramit Sethi sees a major opportunity for the Biden campaign to change the conversation about the cost of living.

By Alexander Burns

White House

Opinion | Time to Close the Hatch Act’s Escape Hatch

The head of the Office of Special Counsel announces an enforcement update for White House officials.

Opinion by Hampton Dellinger

Jim Woodward on his property in Sagle, Idaho on April 2, 2024. Woodward is running against opponent Scott Herndon for both Senate and for Precinct.

Letter from Idaho

North Idaho Has Drifted to the Extreme Right. One Republican Thinks It’s Hit Its Limit.

One candidate is testing the power of a moderate coalition to stand up to extremism in a region that has been powerless to its advance.

By Cassidy Randall

GEOPOLITICS OF 2024

The Coming War Between DC and Silicon Valley

A political fight is brewing over who’ll benefit most from the AI revolution — and what if anything Washington should do to shape the outcome.

By Matthew Kaminski

Demonstrators build a barricade to close an entrance of the Parliament building during an opposition protest.

LETTER FROM GEORGIA

‘They Say They Will Wait for Me There to Beat Me Up’: A Week of Attacks Rocks Georgia

Vicious crackdowns have taken the small country’s democracy to the brink.

By Paul Salopek

An illustration featuring grayscale photos of Hannah Arendt, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler

Q&A

‘A Truer Reality Beyond Reality’: Hannah Arendt's Warning About How Totalitarianism Takes Root

A Q&A with a leading Arendt scholar adapts the philosopher’s ideas to today’s politics.

By Joanna Weiss

Then President Donald Trump, left, and then Democratic nominee Joe Biden speak during the debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn

Q&A

‘Political Malpractice’: The Debate Commission Chief Thinks Trump Blew It

Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. lets loose on the potentially mortal wound to the Commission on Presidential Debates, and why Biden got the better of Trump.

By Ryan Lizza

Joe Biden sits at a table and signs a document while people around him watch.

Column | Capital Letter

Trade War: What Is It Good For?

Biden is playing with Trump’s deck of cards on trade. But tariffs aren’t a solution to everything.

By Victoria Guida

Donald Trump speaks outside a convenience store surrounded by people.

Column | Fourth Estate

Fox News Is Flipping Trump’s Trial Coverage on its Head

The conservative network is curating its coverage to boost Trump.

By Jack Shafer

Former President Donald Trump gestures as he returns to the courtroom after a break in his trial.

Law And Order

An Oral History of Trump — As Told on the Witness Stand

The Trump trial is a bracing reminder of the dawn of the Trump era and its transactional nature.

By Calder McHugh

Photo illustration of an intern badge on a lanyrad with multiple hands reaching out at the bottom to grab it.

COLUMN | CAPITAL CITY

It’s Suddenly a Lot Harder to Snag the Lowest Rung on the Washington Ladder

Remote work and higher pay have made internships harder to find.

By Michael Schaffer

Illustration of Sarah Huckabee Sanders holding a the top of a dollhouse version of the Arkansas capitol building replacing the Arkansas flag with a MAGA flag.

The Friday Read

‘A Governor Who Doesn’t Seem to Have Much Interest in Governing Arkansas’

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ increasing number of critics think she’s too worried about her national profile.

By Dana Liebelson

INTERACTIVES

Photo illustration of Joe Biden signing a bill (center) paired with photos surrounding him of (left to right): A broadband tower outside the Comporium, Inc. building in Brevard, NC, ; Biden walking with workers in Chandler, Arizona, at the Intel Ocotillo Campus; The Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Biden speaking to a roomful of people at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Biden’s biggest challenge: How do you even spend $1.6 trillion?

Tracking the Trump criminal cases

TRUMP HUSH MONEY TRIAL

Judge Juan Merchan castigates witness Robert Costello.

‘Are you staring me down right now?’: Key Trump defense witness draws judge’s wrath

The judge briefly cleared the courtroom while he admonished the witness and threatened to kick him off the stand.

By Erica Orden, Josh Gerstein and Ben Feuerherd

Attorney Robert Costello talks to reporters.

Costello testifies that Cohen told him 'Trump knew nothing about' the Daniels payment

By Erica Orden

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court.

Cohen admits he stole from the Trump Organization

By Josh Gerstein

Trump’s hush money trial is nearing an end after a day of heated Cohen cross

By Kyle Cheney, Erica Orden and Ben Feuerherd

CONGRESS

Sen. Tammy Duckworth speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill.

Duckworth brings Gaza medical team’s pleas directly to White House

The Illinois senator is attempting to help a doctor who saved her life during fighting in Iraq in 2004.

By Joseph Gedeon

Jon Tester departs a vote at the U.S. Capitol.

‘Hell no’: Endangered Senate Dems chafe at relentless GOP drive to tie them to Biden

By Burgess Everett

Exterior view of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, is seen in The Hague.

Republican lawmakers blast ICC over Netanyahu warrant

By Eric Bazail-Eimil, Anthony Adragna and Matt Berg

‘None of them have clean hands’: Dems rebuke Alito, SCOTUS over flag controversy

By Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

2024 ELECTIONS

'Don't waste your vote': Trump goes after RFK Jr. during NRA speech

‘Politically calculated’: Trump confronts his RFK Jr. problem on vaccines

The former president is accusing Kennedy of being a “fake” anti-vaxxer.

By Lisa Kashinsky, Kimberly Leonard and Brittany Gibson

Warning signs for Biden and Trump in latest campaign finance reports

By Jessica Piper and Lauren Egan

Clockwise from top left: Volunteers at the Donald Trump campaign headquarters in Iowa call voters; President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event; Biden campaign volunteers celebrate during a campaign watch party in South Carolina; Trump holds his hands out while walking out at a campaign event.

Unpacking the presidential money machines

By Jessica Piper

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the National Rifle Association Convention, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Dallas.

Trump at NRA convention floats 3-term presidency

By Myah Ward

LEGAL

Giuliani’s 80th birthday surprise — getting served with indictment papers

After weeks of successfully evading Arizona prosecutors, Trump’s former lawyer was served a notice of indictment in Arizona’s 2020 election subversion case.

By Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing

Wael Hana, right, leaves a courthouse in New York.

USDA official explains early worries about meat monopoly in Menendez case

By Ry Rivard

Robert Hur sits at a desk with a group of people behind him.

Conservative group tries to accelerate court fight over Biden-Hur audio

By Josh Gerstein

Bob Menendez (center right) leaves with his wife Nadine Menendez outside the Manhattan Federal Court.

Nadine Menendez, co-defendant in Sen. Bob Menendez's bribery trial, diagnosed with advanced breast cancer

By Katherine Dailey

WHITE HOUSE

Biden: Israel’s actions in Gaza ‘not a genocide’

Biden: What’s happening in Gaza ‘is not genocide’

The president emphasized his backing of Israel, aiming to quell frustrations he'd conditioned aid.

By Elena Schneider, Jennifer Haberkorn and Eli Stokols

Biden pushes for ‘immediate cease-fire’ at Morehouse commencement

Biden gets mild applause but no jeers in commencement speech describing ‘heartbreaking’ situation in Gaza

By Lauren Egan

Raphael Warnock, Joe Biden and Sanford Bishop walk together.

Morehouse graduates brace, anxiously, for Biden visit

By Lauren Egan

Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin takes the oath of office May 7, 2024.

White House not thrilled by Macron’s D-Day invite to Russia

By Eli Stokols and Alexander Ward

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, front, attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, in Jerusalem, Israel, Monday, May 6, 2024. (Amir Cohen/Pool Photo via AP)

The International Criminal Court just saved Benjamin Netanyahu

Far from forcing a pause in the fighting, accusations of war crimes will cause Israelis to rally around their embattled prime minister.

By Jamie Dettmer

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

European leaders divided on ICC arrest warrant bid for Netanyahu

By Nathalie Weatherald and Ben Munster

Shiite Muslims hold photos of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and others leaders shout slogans during a candlelight vigil.

The one thing US fears after Iranian president’s death

By Alexander Ward, Jonathan Lemire, Lara Seligman and Nahal Toosi

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - APRIL 12: King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and French President Emmanuel Macron visit the Quantum Gases & Quantum Information Lab at the University of Amsterdam on April 12, 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The French president and his wife are in the Netherlands for a two day state visit. (Photo by Mischa Schoemaker - Pool/Getty Images)

France riles allies by inviting Russia to D-Day commemoration

By Clea Caulcutt and Esther Webber

STATES

Vermont’s data privacy law sparks state lawmaker alliance against tech lobbyists

State lawmakers from Maine to Oklahoma say the lessons they learned from battling industry over privacy bills can provide a new playbook to fight back.

By Alfred Ng