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Abstract artist Jackson Pollock once said that his paintings have no objective meaning, so the best way for people to enjoy them is to stop looking for it. For many of us, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has created a new school of abstract law where there is no need for objective meaning. The jury is simply supposed to enjoy it for what it is: a chance to convict Donald Trump. Pollock was famous for his painting drips on large canvases. Bragg has achieved the same effect by regenerating a dead misdemeanor on falsifying business records as 34 felony counts....

Below is my column on Fox.com on the closure of the government and defense cases in the Trump trial. It is clear that the government is going to achieve its objective in avoiding a direct verdict and giving this matter to the jury, which it hopes that the paucity of direct evidence of a crime will be overcome with an abundance of hostility to Donald Trump. As I previously have written, I am still hopeful that these jurors will vindicate the New York legal system with at least a hung jury. In the end, we will see if a Manhattan...

(CNN) - The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office made a significant tactical error announcing they were resting their case after calling Michael Cohen as their final witness in the Donald Trump hush money trial. But it’s not because Cohen, a convicted felon and disbarred lawyer, was a bad witness. He actually did pretty well in responding to the prosecution’s warm-up when confronted with his prior bad acts, convictions and bias toward the former president, staying steady on the stand and not losing his cool. But Cohen lost his footing during cross-examination Thursday, where it appeared he omitted important information when recounting...

While all eyes were focused on a Manhattan courthouse for Donald Trump’s trial, a curious thing happened in Washington. President Joe Biden invoked executive privilege in defiance of Congress. It is not the invocation that is particularly unusual. What is curious is that Biden is withholding the audiotape of his own interrogation by Special Counsel Robert Hur, even though the transcript has been released as unprivileged. It appears that Joe Biden is “he who must not be heard.”

New York City's Rikers Island is prepared if former President Donald Trump is ordered to serve time in jail amid his unprecedented trial in Manhattan, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday. "Our amazing commissioner … is prepared for whatever comes on Rikers Island," Adams told the media Tuesday when asked if Rikers, New York City's largest prison, is prepared if Trump is ordered to jail for violating a gag order imposed during the trial. "I'm pretty sure [the Department of Corrections commissioner] would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation. As you see what's happening with Harvey Weinstein, we...

WASHINGTON — As Donald Trump rolled out the red carpet for a parade of foreign dignitaries in recent weeks, some aides to President Joe Biden took notice — and umbrage — at what they saw as the former president playing pretender-in-chief. In less than two months, Trump has hosted Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and David Cameron, the former British prime minister who now serves as the U.K.’s foreign secretary. He’s also talked with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and others by phone. It’s not unusual for a party...

CNN — President Joe Biden on Wednesday called close US ally Japan “xenophobic” at a Washington, D.C., fundraiser, just weeks after lauding the US-Japan alliance at a state dinner. The president made the remark at the off-camera event while arguing that Japan, along with India, Russia and China, would perform better economically if the countries embraced immigration more.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US has seen evidence of Chinese attempts to “influence and arguably interfere” with the upcoming US elections, despite an earlier commitment from leader Xi Jinping not to do so. Blinken made the comments to CNN’s Kylie Atwood in an interview Friday at the close of a three-day to trip to China, where the top American diplomat spent hours meeting with top Chinese officials including Xi, as the two countries navigated a raft of contentious issues from US tech controls to Beijing’s support for Moscow. Blinken said he repeated a message President Joe...

Former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia on Saturday called out President Joe Biden for apologizing for calling Georgia nursing student Laken Riley's murderer an illegal and not an "undocumented immigrant." Trump added Biden has no remorse or compassion. "We are profoundly honored to be joined today by the family and loved ones of Laken and some of her great friends," Trump said. "I met them. They're so incredible. The whole whole group is incredible. To Laken's parents, John and Allyson and her sister Lauren, her roommate, Connolly. And all of those who loved Laken and...

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court Wednesday that he’s prepared to post a $100 million bond to halt collection of his staggering civil fraud penalty, arguing that provisions of the verdict make it impossible for the former president to secure a bond for the full amount. Trump’s lawyers floated the offer in court papers asking the state’s mid-level appeals court for an order preventing New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office from enforcing the $454 million judgment while his appeal plays out. Trump would have to post the full amount to pause collection...

Lara Trump, former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law whom he endorsed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said Wednesday that she believes Republican voters are interested in the RNC funding Trump’s legal bills. After speaking at the former president’s South Carolina campaign headquarters Wednesday evening, Lara Trump was asked by NBC News if she thinks the RNC paying for his legal bills is something that would be of interest to Republican voters. “Absolutely. That’s why you’ve seen a GoFundMe get started,” she said in remarks to a gaggle of reporters, referring to a GoFundMe page set up by Trump’s supporters...

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. will announce a major package of sanctions against Russia on Friday over the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the two-year Ukraine war, President Joe Biden said on Tuesday. Biden, speaking to reporters as he departed on a trip to California, did not give details but said he would provide more information about the package on Friday. The package will "hold Russia accountable for what happened to Mr. Navalny" and for its actions over the course of the war in Ukraine, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said, without providing details...

Was there ever a more predictable outcome than that of Donald Trump’s civil trial? Attorney General Letitia James came into office vowing to punish him and ignore all other crimes. Judge Arthur Engoron found him guilty before anyone even set foot in a courtroom. It was all over but the punishment: a $355 million fine and a three-year ban from running a business in New York. Guess they were out of tar and feathers. This was a politically motivated trial from the start, one that had the progressive James “protecting” big banks she would otherwise demean.

Ukraine has added a branch to its armed forces dedicated to drones, a sign of the growing importance of uncrewed aerial vehicles to modern warfare. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the creation of the Unmanned Systems Forces in a video message addressed to his country Tuesday. He said the new branch would improve coordination, planning and logistics as the country continues its war with Russia. “Drones — unmanned systems — have proven their effectiveness in battles on land, in the sky and at sea. Ukraine has truly changed the security situation in the Black Sea with the help of drones,”...

WORLD Australia, Italy and others halt funding to U.N. agency over claim staff involved in Hamas attack on Israel Updated on: January 27, 2024 / 10:50 PM EST / CBS/AFP Several key donor countries to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees joined the U.S. and said on Saturday they would halt their funding following accusations by Israel that several UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas's Oct. 7 attack. The U.S. State Department said on Friday they suspended payments to the organization. The U.S. underlined that "UNRWA plays a critical role in providing lifesaving assistance to Palestinians, including essential food, medicine,...

Elon Musk joined Donald Trump and Republican critics to denounce the contentious Senate border deal that President Joe Biden touted as the “toughest and fairest set of reforms.” “No laws need to be passed” to halt the US border crisis, Musk, the world’s richest person, posted on X — calling it “undeniable” that Biden has pursued an “open border” policy. “All that is needed is an executive order to require proof before granting an asylum hearing,” the Tesla and SpaceX CEO — a legal immigrant from South Africa — wrote Friday. “That is how it used to be.”

Anne Gorsuch, a former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, cut a flamboyant, defiant figure in early 1980s Washington as she slashed air and water quality regulations. She fought with environmentalists, was held in contempt by Congress and eventually resigned under pressure from the Ronald Reagan White House that had championed her. Her memoir was, appropriately, entitled: “Are You Tough Enough?” Her son Neil Gorsuch, a Supreme Court justice since 2017, has shown his own brand of defiance and anti-regulatory fervor. In recent years, Justice Gorsuch has voted against regulations that protect the environment, student-debt forgiveness and Covid-19 precautions. During...

Gonzalo Lira, a Chilean-American war commentator known for his critical views on the Zelensky regime and Russia-Ukraine conflict, passed away on January 11, 2024, in a hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Lira's death followed an eight-month imprisonment on charges of ”justifying Russia's military actions in Ukraine”, sparking international controversy and raising questions about freedom of speech and human rights during wartime. Gonzalo Lira gained notoriety in 2022 as a vocal critic of what he perceived as increasing authoritarianism in Ukraine. Lira saw the conflict as a proxy war waged by US against Russia and critisised the loss of life for a...

Washington — Texas state officials this week abruptly blocked federal U.S. Border Patrol agents from entering and patrolling a public area in the border town of Eagle Pass where they typically first encounter migrants who cross the Rio Grande illegally, two U.S. officials told CBS News on Thursday. After seizing control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas National Guard units deployed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have prevented Border Patrol agents from entering the area, the federal officials said. Border Patrol has used the park in recent weeks to hold migrants in an outdoor staging area before they are...

January 6 was a big deal for Democrats as they commemorated the third anniversary of the Capitol riots, insisting it was an "insurrection" and that our very democracy--even though we live in a constitutional republic--is at stake. This was the case not only with several posts from President Joe Biden's multiple X accounts, who had also given a speech the day before about the anniversary, but with a series of posts from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). One post stood out in particular, as she was so obsessed with the idea of "democracy," that she even misquoted Benjamin Franklin. Shaheen began...