Manhattan prosecutors delivered a raw recounting of Donald J. Trump’s seamy past on Monday as they debuted their case against him to jurors‚ the nation and the world‚ reducing the former president to a co-conspirator in a plot to cover up three sex scandals that threatened his 2016 election win. Their opening statement was a pivotal moment in the first prosecution of an American president‚ a sweeping synopsis of the case against Mr. Trump‚ who watched from the defense table‚ occasionally...

A majority of the Supreme Court appeared inclined on Monday to uphold a series of local ordinances that allowed a small Oregon city to ban homeless people from sleeping or camping in public spaces. The justices seemed split along ideological lines in the case‚ which has sweeping implications for how the country deals with a growing homelessness crisis. In a lengthy and‚ at times‚ fiery argument that lasted almost two and a half hours‚ questioning from the justices reflected the complexity...

A man was charged Monday with a federal hate crime following the vandalism and burglary of an Islamic student center at Rutgers University earlier this month. Jacob Beacher has been arrested and is in federal custody‚ according to an email to the Rutgers community from Kenneth Cop‚ the chief of the Rutgers University Police Department. HuffPost obtained the email Monday‚ and Megan Schumann‚ a spokesperson for Rutgers‚ subsequently confirmed the arrest and shared additional information....

The Supreme Court brushed aside a lawsuit Monday from Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake challenging the use of electronic voting machines in Arizona. Lake‚ who filed the lawsuit during her failed campaign for governor in 2022‚ challenged whether the state’s electronic voting machines assured “a fair and accurate vote.” Two lower courts dismissed the suit‚ finding that Lake and former Republican state lawmaker Mark Finchem had not been harmed in a way that allowed them to sue. Calling...

Infighting in the Republican Party has increased in recent months due to divisions over foreign aid and Mike Johnson's speakership. On Saturday‚ after months of wrangling‚ lawmakers passed the $95 billion package that will provide military aid to Ukraine‚ Israel and Taiwan. In total‚ 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans voted in favor of the Ukraine aid bill‚ while 112 Republicans voted against it. Some hard-right Republicans argued that Congress should instead focus on increased security at...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wants to put the “U.S. budget on blockchain‚” a ledger of transactions typically associated with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “I’m going to put the entire U.S. budget on blockchain so that any American — every American can look at every budget item in the entire budget anytime they want 24 hours a day‚” Kennedy said Sunday during a rally in Michigan. The public accounting of spending would theoretically allow more...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday rejected suggestions that Washington might have a &;quot;double standard&;quot; when applying U.S. law to allegations of abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza and said that examinations of such charges are ongoing. &;quot;Do we have a double standard&;#63; The answer is no‚&;quot; Blinken told a news conference announcing the Department's annual human rights country reports. &;quot;In general‚ as we're looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the...

Recent headlines about UCLA School of Medicine suggest that the institution has lost its focus. Instead of brushing up on organic chemistry‚ its students were subjected to lessons on “Indigenous womxn” and “two-spirits.” Future doctors had to take a class on “structural racism” and were led in a “Free Palestine” chant by a Hamas-praising guest speaker. The school made plans to segregate students by race for courses on left-wing ideology‚ and two of its...

House GOP Speaker Mike Johnson pushed for sending additional aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia‚ even though a majority of Republicans nationwide oppose such funding. On Saturday‚ 101 House Republicans voted with all Democratic members to advance a foreign aid package providing $60.8 billion to Ukraine‚ as well as billions more in assistance to Israel and Taiwan. However‚ polling shows a majority of Republican adults and voters don’t approve of sending additional aid to Ukraine‚ and...

President Joe Biden delivered a qualified denunciation of anti-Israel protests on college campuses‚ voicing support for the Palestinian people as he condemned the wave of antisemitism facing Jewish students. The president‚ asked by reporters about a series of disruptive protests sweeping elite universities including Columbia University and Yale University‚ denounced the tactics of protesters‚ who have established pro-Palestinian encampments that have led to harassment and intimidation on...