With the New York trial against former President Donald Trump coming to an end, the prosecution and the defense are set to give their closing arguments this week.Acting Justice Juan Merchan said he anticipates providing jury instructions on Wednesday, according to live updates from the courthouse. The attorneys were provided with the judge's jury instructions on Thursday afternoon, and neither party flagged any errors, Merchan noted.'The district attorney has not met their burden of proof.'Ahead of closing arguments, Merchan reminded jurors that nothing said by the attorneys constitutes "evidence.""You are the finders of fact, and it is for you and for you alone to determine the facts from the evidence," Merchan stated.Trump attorney Todd Blanche presented the defense's closing argument first on Tuesday. He estimated that it would take approximately two and a half hours."I started out by saying something that I'm going to repeat to you right now. It's as true right now as it was on April 22. And that is President Trump is innocent. He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof — period. The evidence is all in," Blanche told the 12-person jury. Blanche focused the majority of his time on discrediting the prosecution's key witness, Michael Cohen, Trump's former attorney, who claimed that he paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep silent about an alleged affair she had with the former president. During his testimony, Cohen, a convicted felon and admitted liar, stated that he made the settlement payment to Daniels at Trump's request and that the Trump Organization reimbursed him. Last year, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied Daniels' affair allegations. Bragg's entire case hinged on the testimony of Cohen, who claimed that Trump falsified business records by marking payments to his then-personal attorney as legal expenses. Blanche argued that the government failed to corroborate Cohen's testimony."The evidence should leave you wanting more. You should want and expect more than the testimony of Michael Cohen," Blanche told jurors. "This case is about documents. It's a paper case. This case is not about an encounter with Stormy Daniels 18 years ago."He argued that the business records were "not false" and that there was "not intent to defraud."Trump's defense team noted that Cohen's testimony mentioned many critical conversations with individuals who were not called as witnesses in the case, including former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, Trump's former bodyguard Keith Schiller, and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard."Cohen lied to you," Blanche told jurors.In 2017, Trump paid Cohen $35,000 monthly, a total of $420,000. Cohen claimed that the payments were partly a reimbursement for the $130,000 settlement he paid to Daniels. He also stated that Trump reimbursed him for a $50,000 payment he made to RedFinch for technology services. While on the stand, Cohen admitted to only paying RedFinch a portion of what he reported to Trump. He claimed that Trump shortchanged him on his yearly bonus and argued that "it was almost like self-help" to steal $60,000.Blanche told the jury, "The idea that President Trump would agree to pay Cohen $420,000" when the Daniels settlement agreement was only $130,000 "is absurd."Blanche also attempted to discredit Daniels' testimony."Why did prosecutors call Stormy Daniels, when there was no dispute that there was an NDA settlement and she knew nothing about Trump's internal business practices?" Blanche asked. "I'll tell you why. They did it to try to inflame your emotions; they did it to try to embarrass President Trump."Prosecutors attempted to object to Blanche's comment, but Merchan overruled the objection.Blanche returned to Cohen's lack of credibility."He's repeatedly lied under oath. He's lied to his family. He lied to his wife about the home equity line of credit ... he lied to his banker," Trump's attorney told jurors. "He's literally like an MVP of liars."Blanche provided the jury with a list of 10 reasons they should have reasonable doubt. He argued that Cohen had created the invoices and there was no evidence that Trump knew the invoices had been sent. The defense argued that there was no evidence of any intent to defraud, attempt to commit, or conceal another crime. Additionally, he contended that there was no agreement to influence the 2016 election, as the prosecution alleged. Blanche further claimed that the National Enquirer would have run the story it purchased from the former Trump Tower doorman if it had been true, but it was not. Karen McDougal wanted to keep her story private, he noted. Blanche added that Daniels' story was already public years before the settlement agreement. The defense also argued that there was manipulation of evidence. For Blanche's final reason, he told the jurors that Cohen is "the human embodiment of reasonable doubt."Like Blaze News? 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When New Jersey gym owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti defied the Garden State’s COVID-19 regulations by keeping their gym open, the pair were ordered to pay around $165,000 in fines for violating public health emergency rules. After an almost four-year legal battle, Smith has been cleared of more than 80 charges. These charges were “thrown at us really to scare us into shutting down,” Smith tells Sara Gonzales. “When that didn’t work, Governor Murphy took those municipal charges as well as a health department shutdown order and went before a judge in New Jersey.” Murphy asked for a court order to close Smith’s business, which Smith explains is “where a lot of the really tangible, very scary punishments came in.” “We were being fined $15,497.76 per day for every day that we were in operation. The state took upwards of $200,000 from our bank account,” he explains. “We had one member arrested, my former co-partner and I were arrested, we had our doors forcibly locked by the sheriff’s department.” When Smith refused to comply and opened the doors, the sheriff’s department came to lock them again. So they took the doors off the hinges and stayed inside to protest for over a month. “They arrested us, they held us in criminal and civil contempt at court, so there was a five-year prison sentence hanging over our head at one point from this court order,” he tells Gonzales, who says “it’s making my blood boil all over again just listening to you.” While it’s been a rough journey for Smith, he’s finally free of those looming charges. “They were just writing these, they were firing off the hip. They didn’t expect people to push back, and they just panicked. And you know, these people are not used to people wagging a finger in their face and saying no, so they never wanted to touch these cases because nobody wants to put their name on it, because they know it’s unconstitutional,” Smith explains. “The judge finally had enough, she said, ‘I can’t put these gentlemen through this any longer,’ and you know, she was very clear that this was going to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning the state can’t revisit these charges.”Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

One of the most vocal members of the group of Democrat congresswomen known as the Squad has once again publicly slammed Joe Biden for his handling of the war in Gaza initiated by an ambush on innocent Israelis on October 7.On Saturday, Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents a district in southeast Michigan, made what the New York Post described as "a surprise appearance" at the People’s Conference for Palestine. Held at Huntington Place in Detroit — a city that Tlaib described as "the most beautiful, blackest city in the country" — the conference allegedly included speakers affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the U.S. and other foreign governments have designated a terrorist organization.'It is disgraceful that the Biden administration and my colleagues in Congress continue to smear them for protesting to save lives ... . It is cowardly. But we’re not gonna forget in November, are we?'In her remarks, clips of which can be heard here, Tlaib repeatedly called out the Biden administration for failed leadership. She claimed that America's continued support for Israel has left American schools underfunded."Every single bullet, every single gun, every single weapon, bombs that we send is the sacrifice of our own schools here at home," she railed. "Many of which when I go into the schools have garbage bags over their drinking fountains because they don't have clean water."President Biden, I hope you hear us loud and clear."She also took aim at Biden for insisting last week that Israel's retaliatory aggression into Rafah, where many Palestinian refugees were reportedly taking shelter, did not amount to genocide. "The International Court of Justice just ruled that the Israeli government must stop its invasion of Rafah," she continued. "But President Biden says what's happening in [inaudible] is not a genocide."Where's your red line, President Biden?"Tlaib even claimed that Biden's criticism of the International Criminal Court for indicting Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — as well as several leaders of Hamas — made Biden an "enabler" of genocide."Attacking the authority of the International Criminal Court and interfering in the legal process is nothing more than an attempt to prevent the genocidal maniac Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials from being held accountable for their crimes against humanity," she claimed."You are an enabler, President Biden."Though Biden recently flirted with restricting weapons shipments to Israel, he ultimately reiterated that the U.S. and Israel remain firmly allied. "We'll always stand with Israel and its — in the threats against its security," he said.Finally, Tlaib castigated Biden and other Democrats, whom she referred to as her "colleagues," for focusing on the violent protests that have sprung up on college campuses across the country in recent weeks rather than on the plight of Palestinians."They're more outraged [about] that than the atrocities happening right now on the ground and full of steam, the war crimes," she stated as the audience applauded and cheered.She even claimed that Democrats may soon lose significant political power because of their continued support for Israel: "It is disgraceful that the Biden administration and my colleagues in Congress continue to smear them for protesting to save lives no matter faith or ethnicity. It is cowardly. But we’re not gonna forget in November, are we?"Earlier this year, Tlaib encouraged Michigan Democrats to vote "uncommitted" in the state's primary. Whether she will ultimately back Biden during what promises to be a contentious battle for a second term remains to be seen.The Biden-Harris campaign did not respond to the Post's request for comment.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

While Democrat U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas voted in favor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, he also has family in law enforcement and, of course, supports police. Those opposing forces were at play when three armed thugs carjacked Cuellar in Washington, D.C., last October. The congressman wasn't hurt, and his vehicle was recovered — but soft-on-crime approaches to law enforcement took a beating. Fox News said conservatives reacted to Cuellar's scary encounter with calls to confront rapidly rising crime in D.C. 'This chaos is the result of Democrat-led soft-on-crime policies, no different than their Open Border debacle.' "Rep. Cuellar was carjacked near my same DC apartment building," GOP U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah posted at the time, according to Fox News. "This chaos is the result of Democrat-led, soft-on-crime policies, no different than their Open Border debacle. It's time for Democrats to start taking the safety of Americans seriously." What's more, the National Republican Congressional Committee in March 2023 said 173 House Democrats supported reduced sentences for violent crimes. Cuellar hardly can be called anti-cop, but plenty of Democrats are. Many are soft on crime, have pushed for defunding the police, and are far left in many respects. What's particularly revealing is what often happens when thugs victimize leftist, soft-on-crime, defund-the-police Democrats. And wouldn't you know it? In those instances, cops suddenly aren't so awful after all. The following are but a handful of examples: Democrat congresswoman who voted to defund the police gets carjacked, robbed at gunpoint in broad daylightDemocrat U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania was carjacked around 2:45 p.m. December 21, 2021, in Philadelphia. Police said Scanlon was walking to her vehicle after attending a tour with other members of Congress when two armed men demanded the keys to her blue 2017 Acura MDX; they also made off with her personal cell phone, her government cell phone, her purse, and her identification. Fox News said Scanlon cosponsored legislation to make it easier for state and local governments to replace police officers and defund police by instead employing mental health specialists. But she sure was grateful for the quick response from police when she was carjacked.Progressive member of Seattle City Council who voted to defund the police turns to cops after her home is targeted in rock attackIn December 2020, a progressive Democrat on the Seattle City Council — who had voted to cut the city police budget and supported effectively legalizing certain misdemeanor crimes — turned to cops for help after a rock was thrown at her house. Lisa Herbold reportedly told police "she was on the west side of the living room near the kitchen when she heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot and dove into the kitchen for cover." When city council voted in August 2020 to defund police, only one member voted against the measure, and it wasn't Herbold. She also proposed amending the city code to allow a so-called "poverty defense" when people commit petty crimes like trespassing or shoplifting, KOMO-TV reported. In fact, Herbold told the council's Public Safety Committee just days before her home was attacked that such amendments would result in "giving people an opportunity to tell their stories and giving judges and juries the opportunity to hear those stories and make a decision based on the values of our city." Herbold declined to run for her seat in 2023.Anti-cop New York City councilmembers want police protection after receiving death threats: ReportSources told the New York Post last month that anti-cop New York City council members Chi Osse, Yusef Salaam, Shahana Hanif, and Carlina Rivera — all Democrats — want police protection after receiving death threats. All four have been vocal critics of the NYPD and pushed the “How Many Stops Act” that buries police officers in paperwork, the Post said, adding that they've also angered pro-Israel New Yorkers for publicly supporting pro-Palestinian protesters. None of the four council members immediately responded to the paper's requests for comment.Soft-on-crime, Soros-funded district attorney carjacked at gunpoint — and soon changes his tune about crime and punishmentA pair of armed suspects carjacked New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams last October in the city's Lower Garden District; the Democrat's 78-year-old mother was in the black Lincoln Navigator at the time of the crime. The masked thieves didn't get very far since Williams kept the vehicle’s key fob in his pocket. Police said his SUV was recovered at an undisclosed location, but crooks stole some of his mother’s belongings, including her wallet and phone. George Soros gave a Williams PAC $220,000 leading to his successful election in December 2020 on a criminal justice reform platform. But just a month after the carjacking, Williams told WWL-TV he changed his thinking about crime and punishment, with the station saying he's "even reversed his positions on some of his strongest campaign promises." He recused himself from working on the carjacking case.Democrat who backed dismantling police left bloody after violent carjacking in front of her children, leading her to call for tougher treatment of criminalsThe vice chairwoman of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota — who had previously called for dismantling the police — last September was violently carjacked in front of her children and left bloody. Shivanthi Sathanandan said she suffered a broken leg, deep lacerations on her head, and bruising and cuts all over her body. She also demanded the increase of criminal penalties to deter violent crimes: “We need to get illegal guns off of our streets, catch these young people who are running wild creating chaos across our city and HOLD THEM IN CUSTODY AND PROSECUTE THEM,” she wrote on Facebook.'Anti-police king' congressman called out for hypocrisy after requesting enhanced police patrols at his homeA progressive Democrat congressman who voted to defund Austin police as a city council member in 2020 and then blasted the department in December 2023 for alleged racist practices, even asking the Justice Department to investigate it, actually requested a patrol of his home from the same department, Fox News reported. "It’s come to our attention that Anti police king of the defund movement in Austin [Greg Casar] who only last week called APD an agency with racist practices has requested enhanced patrols around his house for the next week," the Austin Police Retired Officers Association posted on X, according to the cable news network. Casar was arguably the loudest proponent of defunding Austin police in 2020 while he was a city council member, Fox News said, adding that it led to an officer shortage and retirements from which critics said the Texas capital has not recovered. Casar's office added to Fox News Digital it does "not comment on active security matters related to the Congressman."Left-wing thugs punch, scream at left-wing Portland mayor during his restaurant dinnerThe eventful dinner took place in January 2021 and featured far-left militants barging past restaurant staff to confront Wheeler. One of the thugs made physical contact with the Democrat mayor. No arrests were made. Angry residents at the time accused Wheeler of not supporting police enough while militants said the opposite, even though months before the dinner showdown he said he was willing to defund the police but only to an extent. In July 2020 — the hottest month of the George Floyd summer — Portland rioters threw objects at Wheeler and endlessly berated him after he showed up on the streets for what he called a "listening session."Democrat who once employed anti-cop staffer blasts soft-on-crime policies she says led to physical attack against herIt wouldn't be fair to categorize Democrat U.S. Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota as soft-on-crime or anti-cop — but one of her top staffers most definitely was in favor of defunding the police, the Washington Free Beacon reported in February 2022. A year later Craig was violently attacked in the elevator of her Washington, D.C., apartment and soon spoke out against the lack of prosecution of violent crime repeat offenders. "I got attacked by someone who the District of Columbia has not prosecuted fully over the course of almost a decade, over the course of 12 assaults before mine that morning," she told CBS News, adding that "we have to think about how in the world can we make sure we're not just letting criminals out." Just hours after the attack, Craig voted against the new D.C. criminal code that would significantly soften criminal penalties in the nation's capital. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn — a main subject of an ongoing Blaze News investigation uncovering the truth about January 6 — on Tuesday blasted former President Donald Trump as the "greatest threat to our democracy" during a news conference outside a Manhattan courthouse where Trump's controversial Stormy Daniels trial was being held.Video shows Dunn saying the following: The fight for a lot of us didn't end on January 6 that evening when we went home. The fight still continues now. What happened that day was an attempt to halt, to overthrow an election. Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today. He has encouraged and continued to encourage political violence. We've been called traitors, just today. We were all called traitors on January 6 for doing our job. And yes, we protected Republicans, we protected Democrats alike. It's not about the story that we don't agree with. Political violence is never acceptable ... but you have a presidential candidate that champions it, that encourages it, that supports it. We cannot have that.'The fact that Harry Dunn, Fanone, and the others are going to do a swing-state tour with Biden is just fodder for those of us who know the truth of what they really did happen on January 6.'Dunn also said, “Americans need to wake up. This is not a drill,” the Associated Press reported.The former cop — who also recently lost a bid for a U.S. House seat — added, “We can’t count on these institutions to stop Donald Trump. It’s going to take us Americans at the ballot box to defeat him once and for all," the AP said.The news conference also featured anti-Trump barbs from left-wing actor Robert De Niro, who called Dunn and another former Capitol Police officer, Michael Fanone, "true heroes." A person standing close by called them "traitors" and said "they lied under oath." That set off De Niro, who clearly didn't know what the person was talking about. The actor finally admitted, "I don't know, I don't even know how to deal with you, my friend. I don't even know how to deal with you."Blaze News investigative journalist Steve Baker has penned multiple analyses pushing back against Dunn's many claims about January 6, such as "January 6 and the N-word that wasn't," "Harry Dunn's account of January 6 does not add up. At all." and "Why did a powerful veterans' PAC endorse Harry Dunn, phony ‘hero’ of January 6?" Baker offered Blaze News the following reaction to Tuesday's news conference:The fact that Harry Dunn, Fanone, and the others are going to do a swing-state tour with Biden is just fodder for those of us who know the truth of what they really did happen on January 6. Watching this presser with De Niro when someone said, "They lied under oath" and "they're traitors," and De Niro replied, "I don't even know how to deal with you" — of course he doesn't know. He's unaware that we have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that some of those cops lied under oath, both in congressional and trial testimonies.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Some Democrats are reportedly freaking out over the state of President Joe Biden's re-election campaign. For almost the entirety of the 2024 campaign, Biden has trailed Donald Trump in national polling. Not only is Biden losing to Trump, but the Democratic Party's coalition of voters is splintering, the polls show, as Trump and Republicans make inroads with black voters, Hispanic voters, and younger voters. 'The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an 'I,' but it's not Israel — it's inflation.' Biden's consistently bad polling is setting off alarm bells for Democrats — and a "full-blown freakout," according to Politico. In fact, one prominent adviser to Democratic donors shared with Politico the list he gives donors with the reasons why Biden could lose re-election, which includes "nearly two dozen" reasons, Politico reported, including Biden's age, the economy, inflation, the border crisis and immigration, and Vice President Kamala Harris' deep unpopularity. "The list of why we 'could' win is so small I don't even need to keep the list on my phone," the adviser said. The problem for Biden, another Democratic strategist explained, is that Americans remember their lives were better when Trump was president. "If the frame of this race is, 'What was better, the 3.5 years under Biden or four years under Trump,' we lose that every day of the week and twice on Sunday," Democratic strategist Pete Giangreco told Politico. While the Biden campaign ignores polls and the obvious uphill battle the campaign faces, Democrats, according to Politico, are experiencing "a pervasive sense of fear" in which "anxiety has morphed into palpable trepidation." "This isn't, 'Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.' It's 'Oh my God, the democracy might end,'" one Democratic operative said. It's clear, meanwhile, that Republicans smell blood in the water. Last week, Trump held a campaign rally in the Bronx, a typical Democratic stronghold. But polls even show that Biden's lead in New York is shrinking despite winning the state by more than 20 points in the 2020 election. "New York Democrats need to wake up. The number of people in New York, including people of color that I come across who are saying positive things about Trump, is alarming," Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine told Politico. If you asked James Carville why Democrats stand to lose this election, he would say that his party is focused on the wrong issues. "We keep wondering why these young people aren't coming home to the Democrats: Why are blacks not coming home to the Democrats? Because Democratic messaging is full of s***, that's why," Carville said over the weekend. "Talk about cost of living and 'We're gonna help deal with this,'" he advised. "Don't talk about f***ing Gaza and student loans. That's so out." Rep. Richie Torres (D-N.Y.) couldn't agree more. "The greatest political challenge confronting the president starts with an 'I,' but it's not Israel — it's inflation," Torres admitted to Politico. "The cost of living is a challenge that we have to figure out how to manage." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Outrage has grown across India as many have viewed the teen's punishment as too lenient, with family members of the victims calling for the cancellation of his bail. The post The Teenage Son Of A Wealthy Indian Businessman Killed Two People While Driving His Porsche Drunk — And His Punishment Was A 300-Word Essay appeared first on All That's Interesting.

Alvin Bragg has pulled it off.

Allowing boys to compete as girls will harm women’s sports. But many activists believe their feelings and the feelings of transgender athletes are more important.

They cannot lament the present state of the general-election campaign without questioning the collective judgment of the American electorate.