Tuesday morning news: May 14, 2024

Trump trial » Donald Trump says prosecutors are coming up empty in New York’s so-called hush money case against him. He spoke to reporters from a Manhattan courtroom:

TRUMP: They have not come close to proving fraud, or that any fraud has taken place. There's no fraud here. There's no crime here.

His former attorney Michael Cohen is expected to take the stand again today.

On Monday, he testified that he arranged payments on Trump’s behalf to silence stories about extramarital affairs ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump says the alleged affairs never happened. And he strongly denies charges that he improperly passed off one such payment as a valid business expense.

Some Republican lawmakers gathered outside the courtroom on Monday in a show of support for Trump. Sen. Tommy Tuberville …

TUBERVILLE:  I'm glad to stand by President Trump. I'm a friend of his. I'm here more as a friend than a, than a, uh, backing him as candidate, as president.

And Sen. J.D. Vance said Cohen’s testimony should carry no weight with the now-disbarred attorney having pleaded guilty several years ago to lying under oath.

Israel Independence, Memorial Days, Netanyahu » Israel, today marks its national Day of Independence one day after observing the country’s Memorial Day. With grief and anger still gripping the country from the October Hamas terror attack Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no alternative but to destroy the terror group.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

He said “It's either us–Israel–or them–the Hamas monsters. Either continued existence, liberty, security and prosperity - or destruction, slaughter, and enslavement.”

Republicans push back on White House criticism of Israel » And some Republicans on Capitol Hill are firing back at the Biden administration after Secretary of State Tony Blinken sharply criticized Israel on Sunday. Blinken said the United States would like to see Israel get out of Gaza. Sen. Rick Scott …

SCOTT:  What would you do? I mean, they wouldn't, they're just, they're killing your fellow citizens and they're telling him Blinken and Biden want Israel to get out of Gaza. I mean, who's going to go in? Who's going to help? Is the United States going to go in and do anything? So, I mean, this makes no sense.

But National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the White House does believe that some countries are taking their criticism of Israel a bit too far.

SULLIVAN: We believe Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and well-being of innocent civilians. We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition.

Several countries have called for Israel to be tried for genocide in Gaza.

The White House says Hamas started the war and could end it immediately if it chose to.

Russia new offensive in Ukraine » Sullivan also spoke to reporters Monday about efforts to get newly-approved military aid into Ukraine as quickly as possible.

He said Moscow’s forces continue to take aim at targets with no military value.

SULLIVAN: Russia has continued to push the envelope in terms of just the brutality and intensity of its campaign. It has sought more targets across a wider range of Ukraine. Most of them are civilians.

Sullivan said the Biden administration is trying to speed up deliveries of weapons and ammo as Russia expands the battlefield along Ukraine’s northern border.

SOUND: [Explosion and evacuation]

Police evacuated hundreds of residents from villages in the Kharkiv region with Russian troops on the move.

China Tariffs » President Biden will announce today that he’s massively expanding tariffs on electric vehicles from China by some reports even quadrupling them.

The White House is also raising tariffs on Chinese semiconductors and solar equipment.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre:

PIERRE: They play by a different set of rules, and this is what we know to be clear. And it has been unfair and anti-competitive economic practices.

The Biden administration worries that China is overproducing products like EVs and says the increased duties will help protect American workers.

SOUND: [Loud boom]

Baltimore Bridge » Demolition crews in Baltimore bringing down the largest remaining chunk of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge Monday.

It’s a big step toward freeing up the grounded container ship that crashed into the bridge back in March and has been stuck in the wreckage ever since.

That has largely choked off a major shipping lane but Maryland Governor Wes Moore says…

MOORE: We're now very close to fully clearing the channel, and we're already getting large ships in and out of the port of Baltimore.

The state is working with the federal government on the far bigger challenge of rebuilding the bridge.

Canadian wildfires » A massive wildfire is threatening at least one town in Western Canada.

British Columbia Emergency Management leader Bowinn Mah …

MAH:  In light of the elevated risk in and near Fort Nelson, I am asking those who have not yet evacuated to please do so.

Roughly 5,000 residents have evacuated the small town.

Wildfires in Alberta are creating an air quality hazard not only in Canada, but also in the U.S., in the Upper Midwest and Great Plains states.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: What’s required for a two-state solution in the Middle East. Plus, Pro-life legislation.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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