Headline News from The Associated Press
AP Headline News - May 16 2024 22:00 (EDT)
AP News, I'm Ben Thomas. Donald Trump's Hushmani trials wrapped up for the week, Julie Walker has the latest. Trump sitting classively, arms folded across his chest as his lawyers continue their cross examination of star prosecution witness Michael Cohen, who was once Trump's lawyer. At points, Trump appearing to be watching him on the stand, Cohen's testimony flat and muted compared to the man who was once Trump's bombastic fixer. The defense attempting to paint an unflattering picture for jurors of a man who should not be believed. Cohen is back on the stand Monday, and then the trial could head to closing arguments if Trump doesn't testify in his own defense and his team doesn't call a witness. Court is off Friday, Trump attending son Barron's high school graduation, and then a fundraiser. At Criminal Court in Manhattan, I'm Julie Walker. The White House has blocked the release of audio from President Biden's interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents. The House is voted to force delivery of U.S. bombs to Israel. The Biden administration had put a shipment of 3,500 on hold to discourage Israel from its offensive on Rafa. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said it's not going anywhere in the Senate. Meanwhile, the U.S. military's finished installing a floating pier to begin ferrying humanitarian aid into Gaza by Admiral Brad Cooper. We have about 500 tons of humanitarian assistance loaded on ships. That's about a million pounds ready for delivery in the coming days. The Justice Department's formally moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. However, the proposal would not legalize it outright for recreational use. Texas Governor Greg Abbott's pardoned a white former army sergeant convicted of murder for fatally shooting an armed demonstrator who was also white during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. In southeast Texas is getting hit by severe thunderstorms again, power out nearly 900,000 in the Houston area, flash flood warnings from multiple counties, and tornadoes possible. This is AP News. Three people have been arrested in connection with the North Korean identity theft scheme involving IT workers. The Justice Department says that the complex stolen identity scheme generates enormous proceeds for the North Korean government, including for its weapons program. This scheme involves thousands of North Korean information technology workers who prosecutors say are dispatched by the North Korean government to live abroad, with those workers relying on the stolen identities of Americans to obtain remote employment at US-based Fortune 500 companies. Those IT jobs then give them access to sensitive corporate data and lucrative paychecks. Officials say the fraud is way for heavily sanctioned North Korea, which is cut off from the US financial system to take advantage of a high-tech labor shortage and the proliferation of remote telework. I'm Lisa Dwyer. And I'm Ben Thomas, AP News.