Wednesday morning news: May 22, 2024

Trump trial » The first ever criminal trial of a former president is drawing to a close. The defense has rested its case without feeling the need to call Donald Trump to the stand.

For his part, Trump is entirely confident that New York prosecutors did not prove their claims.

TRUMP: We have a phenomenal case. We've won the case by any standard. Any other judge who would have thrown this case out.

Judge Juan Merchand has dismissed the jury until next week for closing arguments.

Prosecutors had a tall task coming into this case. They had to prove several things:

First, that payments were made by Trump or on his behalf to silence information about alleged extramarital affairs and that those payments were made for political reasons ahead of the 2016 election.

They also had to prove this claim outlined by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg:

BRAGG:  The defendant repeatedly made false statements on New York business records. The defendant claimed that he was paying Michael Cohen for legal services performed in 2017. This simply was not true.

The former president has called the proceedings a show trial and says he’s looking forward to getting it over with and getting back on the campaign trail.

Israel/ICC » Many top U.S. allies are siding with Washington in condemning a decision by the top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak:

SUNAK: There is no moral equivalence between a democratic state exercising its lawful right to self defense and the terrorist group Hamas. And it's wrong to conflate and, uh, as I said, equivocate between those two.

Other allies, including Australia and Poland have said the same.

But at least a few Western countries are breaking ranks. France, Belgium, and Slovenia have released statements in support of the request for arrest warrants for leaders of both Hamas and Israel.

UN Aid in Gaza » The United Nations has suspended badly needed food distribution in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

It says Israel’s military operation there has made the main UN food warehouse and distribution center inaccessible.

Another issue: securing delivery of the food and supplies.

The U.S. military has installed a floating pier to get food and other aid loaded onto trucks and into Gaza, but over the weekend, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says…

DUJARRIC: 11 of those trucks never made it to the warehouse. Crowds had stopped the trucks at various points along the way. There was what I think I would refer to as self-distribution.

Pentagon Press spokesman Pat Ryder says aid from the pier was paused for a few days, but started up again Tuesday.

RYDER: You’re going to see, as we work together, the amount of aid increase and the ability to get it distributed increase. But we never said it was going to be easy. I mean, again, the circumstances that we’re dealing with here are challenging.

The UN says if food and other supplies don’t start re-entering Gaza on a large scale, famine-like conditions could spread throughout the territory.

Russia has begun tactical nuke drills » Pat Ryder also reacted Tuesday to new Russian nuclear drills.

RYDER: Again, you know, we’ve seen that rhetoric in terms of the threat to use nuclear weapons. It’s irresponsible and inappropriate, and I’ll just leave it there.

Vladimir Putin is making good on a threat to carry out drills, practicing the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

He says it’s in response to what the Kremlin calls militant statements made by Western officials.

Tactical nukes are less powerful and have a smaller explosive yield than conventional nuclear weapons. But their use would mark an extraordinary escalation.

Germany Patriot systems to Ukraine/EU giving Russian fund interest » Meantime, in Kyiv …

SOUND: [German and Ukrainian foreign ministers shake hands]

Cameras flashed as Germany’s foreign minister shook hands with her counterpart in Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s visit to Kyiv was part of a show of solidarity with Ukraine. She touted what she called a global initiative launched by Germany to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses.

She said the initiative had already raised more than one-billion-dollars, but more was still needed.

BAERBOCK (in German): That is why today we are making an urgent, joint appeal to our international partners to provide additional air defense systems. Because one thing is clear: any dithering and hesitation in supporting Ukraine costs the lives of innocent people.

She says her country is making an “urgent appeal” to global partners to provide more air defense systems adding that any hesitation will cost innocent lives.

Interest on frozen Russian funds to Ukraine » And Ukraine got some more good news: The European Union announced that it will give the Ukrainian military billions of dollars earned from interest accrued by frozen Russian assets. One EU council member said Ukraine could get up to $3 billion dollars in interest payments this year alone.

But Ukraine and some key allies are pushing for all Russian assets frozen under sanctions to be sent to Kyiv.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen:

Yellen: I believe it’s vital and urgent that we collectively find a way forward to unlock the value of Russian sovereign assets immobilized in our jurisdictions for the benefit of Ukraine.

Yellen said mobilizing the frozen funding will be a main topic of discussion at the G-7 meetings this week.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The upcoming presidential debates…on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

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