Even Trump’s Advisers Stunned by Details from Hush-Money Trial

Donald Trump’s hush-money trial is revealing new details from his life, including things that even some of the people in his inner circle didn’t know.

“I’m talking to these Trump senior advisers… a lot of them are learning about this in real time,” reporter Kristen Holmes said Friday on CNN. “They have no idea what’s going on inside the courtroom.”

Trump can’t communicate with anyone while he’s in the Manhattan court, and only a small number of his aides are in the (apparently frigid) courtroom with him. That means the rest of them have to keep up with media reports—and find out new revelations at the same time as the public.

“It is exactly as salacious as they thought it was going to be. There was no mistake. We know what is at the heart of this alleged cover-up for an alleged affair with a porn star,” Holmes said.

So far, the court has heard testimony from David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media Inc. and ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, who has provided damaging information about Trump’s activities and even how many of Trump’s associates were involved. Trump has been hesitant to attack Pecker, leading some observers to suspect that he’s afraid of the tabloid magnate.

Trump faces 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime for having his former fixer and attorney, Michael Cohen, pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair before the 2016 presidential election. Both Cohen and Daniels are expected to testify in the trial, meaning that more shocking details are forthcoming.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, suspended an account owned by the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela on Friday.

It is currently unclear why the social media platform, owned by Elon Musk, banned Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa. The company has issued no statement regarding its decision to restrict the South African politician’s speech, but the timing is questionable.

Mandela has spent the last week making multiple public appearances in support of Palestinian liberation, quoting his grandfather ahead of his voyage aboard a Freedom Flotilla trip sailing to Gaza from Turkey with the intention to provide more than 5,000 tons of aid to the war-torn enclave.

“He regarded the Palestinian struggle as the greatest moral issue of our time,” Mandela said in a speech posted on social media Friday, referring to his grandfather while donning a keffiyeh. “He made a commitment to the Palestinian people by saying that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.”

In a separate statement issued on Thursday, Mandela explained that the “Freedom Flotilla for Gaza aims to draw the attention of the international public to the atrocities, genocide and war crimes being committed against the people of Gaza.”

So far, the departure of the flotilla of ships has been waylaid due to a bevy of ship inspections triggered by an Israeli pressure campaign, reported Al Jazeera, even though a retired U.S. Army colonel and State Department official organizing the flotilla said the ships had already passed all of their inspections and were ready to set sail.

In order to reach Gaza, the flotilla will need to break through an Israeli blockade originally set in place in 2007. Previous efforts to break the blockade by humanitarian missions have ended in death. In 2010, the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla I was intercepted by Israeli forces, who boarded the ships via helicopters and speedboats on international waters, shooting and killing nine activists.

Having eyes on the flotillas is critical for their safety, according to one of the aid shipment’s organizers.

“We’re trying to get all eyes on the Flotilla to make sure the world knows and Israel knows we’re coming so that they can’t fire a missile on us and say it was unintentional,” Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American attorney and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, told Al Jazeera.

Donald Trump’s attorney Alina Habba shared an interesting explanation for why the former president has been holding on to printouts of news articles in court:“He’s educating himself.”

During an interview on Fox News, Habba was asked about Trump’s current mood during his hush-money trial. She replied that Trump is “the biggest fighter I know,” before mentioning why Trump carries papers around.

“He’s reading. He’s educating himself, and he’s educating the country on what is happening,” she said.

It’s not the first time Habba has mentioned Trump’s reading habits. She used them to defend against reports that the former president dozed off in court last week, claiming that it was because “he reads a lot.” Carrying printouts of news articles even in court would seem to back up Habba’s words, except for the fact that Trump notoriously has a short attention span. While he was president, memos and policy papers were kept to a single page, with plenty of graphics and maps to hold his attention.

Trump is a voracious reader of print media, though, particularly when it’s all about him. Even after his presidency, Trump still maintains print subscriptions to The New York Post and The New York Times at his Mar-a-Lago residence, and aides print out articles from the internet for him to read, according to a recent Politico report.

Since he’s legally required to be in court every day, Trump may just be trying to keep up with his usual reading habits by taking those printouts into court. They may be a distraction from the courtroom’s cold temperatures or part of an effort to stay awake. Regardless, when you’re facing 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records to hide an affair with an adult film actress before an election, you can’t say publicly that you find your trial boring and need something to read.

The New York Post found a way to peg the nationwide, pro-Palestine student protests on billionaire investor and hedge fund manager George Soros on Friday, once again reviving the right’s favorite antisemitic conspiracy theory.

The publication tied the overarching group organizing the campus-based protests, Students for Justice in Palestine, to some nonprofits funded in part by Soros. Those include the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, which received funding from Open Society Foundations, which was founded by Soros.

“The cash from Soros and his acolytes has been critical to the Columbia protests that set off the national copycat demonstrations. Three groups set up the tent city on Columbia’s lawn last Wednesday: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Within Our Lifetime,” wrote the Post, taking aim at purchases of tents, pizza, coffee, rotisserie chickens, “organic tortilla chips,” and sandwiches, allegedly paid for by groups tied to Soros.

“An analysis by The Post shows that all three got cash from groups linked to Soros. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund also gave cash to JVP,” the publication wrote.

But the complicated, antisemitic trope forgoes the reality that American opinion has aggressively soured on Israel’s war in Gaza since it began. A poll conducted by Gallup in March revealed that just 36 percent of Americans approved of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza—down from 50 percent in November. According to the poll, Republicans are practically the only demographic still holding on to U.S. support for the war, which some U.S. lawmakers have decried as “genocide.”

Don’t be surprised if the “it’s all Soros” trope quickly picks up among others on the right. Conservative leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson have flown up to Columbia University to stoke the flames of an otherwise peaceful encampment of students who pay more than $68,000 per year in tuition to utilize the grounds, warning individuals practicing their First Amendment rights that he may call upon the National Guard to break them up. That violent call came after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, authorized the New York City Police Department to sweep and arrest protesting students on school grounds, and after the school’s sister institution Barnard suspended and evicted at least 53 students participating in the encampment.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 Palestinians injured in the conflict, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel has advanced its attacks on the beleaguered nation by engaging in what the U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has described as war crimes, including blocking humanitarian aid from reaching those who need it. Israel has also utilized mass starvation, as well as blocking or destroying access to critical resources such as water, food, fuel, electricity, and medical aid.

“Open Society has funded a broad spectrum of US groups that have advocated for the rights of Palestinians and Israelis and for peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel and the OPT,” the group said in a statement provided to the Post. “The Open Society Foundations proudly support the right of all citizens to peaceful protest—a bedrock principle of our democracy.”

Donald Trump has yet another complaint in his hush-money trial: the courtroom is too cold, and he thinks it’s deliberate.

Trump made the claim Friday in the hallway of Manhattan District Court just before the start of proceedings, according to The Hill.

“We have another day in court in a freezing courthouse,” Trump said. “It’s very cold in there, on purpose, I believe. They don’t seem to be able to get the temperature up. It shouldn’t be that complicated.”

He’s not the only one to point out the less-than-ideal temperatures. Journalists, his defense team, and prospective jurors all complained about the cold during jury selection last week, with some people reportedly even shivering. One of Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche, asked Judge Juan Merchan last Thursday if it were “possible just to warm it up a degree or two? It is so freezing in here.”

“Honest answer to that question is if I did that, it would probably go about up about 30 degrees,” Merchan said.

It’s not surprising that the courtroom would have temperature issues, considering that the building is more than 80 years old. Trump, though, has been complaining constantly about his trial, particularly that he is legally required to attend the proceedings, and can’t attend his other legal cases, such as his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court.

But at least the current courtroom temperatures will make it harder for Trump to nod off during the trial.

Trump faces 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records with the intent to further an underlying crime by having his fixer and former attorney, Michael Cohen, pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty on all counts. Several of his former employees, including Cohen and White House aide Hope Hicks, are expected to testify against him. Daniels will also take the stand, which means Donald Trump is going to be spending many more uncomfortable days in court.