What A Day Crooked Media

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial hit a new level of chaos Tuesday as Michael Cohen, Trump’s former self-described ‘fixer,’ continued his testimony for a second day. Trump’s defense team also began cross-examination, trying to paint Cohen as a bitter former employee out for revenge and publicity. Outside the Manhattan courtroom, an entourage of MAGA Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, took turns railing against the trial and bashing the American justice system.

And in headlines: Democrat Angela Alsobrooks will face former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the race for Maryland’s open Senate seat after both won their party primaries Tuesday night, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv to reaffirm the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine amid recent Russian gains in the country’s east, and President Biden announced higher tariffs on Chinese imports of electric vehicles, solar panels, semiconductors, steel and aluminum.

Donald Trump leads President Biden in five of the six battleground states, according to two new polls released by the New York Times. These polls come at a time when Biden is struggling to win the support of young voters. But while polls are an essential snapshot of the country, that snapshot is fairly narrow. So to discuss what these numbers do and do not tell us, we spoke with Dan Pfeiffer, a co-host of Pod Save America and the host of Pollercoaster.

And in headlines: Michael Cohen takes the stand in Trump's hush money trial, three states hold primaries, and Louisiana could be the first state in the country to categorize abortion pills as controlled, dangerous substances.

"Decision Day" for high school students looking to go to college was pushed back this year to May 15th, rather than the traditional May 1st deadline. The shift was made to accommodate for a host of problems students have had using the new federal financial aid application or FAFSA. We spoke with Ellie Bruecker, the director of research at the Institute for College Access and Success, to get a better sense of where the FAFSA fiasco left college applicants.

And in headlines: Israeli forces continued to advance in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, students walk out of commencement speeches at VCU and Duke, and the start of the corruption trial of Senator Bob Menendez.

Why are middle-aged and older Americans persistently pro-Israel? It hasn’t always been the case. This week on How We Got Here, Max and Erin discuss the profound opinion shift among younger Americans, and then take a trip off campus to understand how geopolitics and propaganda in the 21st century have entrenched pro-Israel sentiments in Gen Xers, Boomers and beyond.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels took the stand this week in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. And let's just say she didn't hold back from describing what went down between them. We spoke with attorney Norm Eisen, author of "Trying Trump: A Guide to His First Election Interference Criminal Trial," to get his impressions of Trump's outlook in the New York criminal case and review the other cases the former President faces.

And in headlines: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responds to Biden's threat to cut off some military aid to Israel, universities shun U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and Barron Trump is selected as a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the U.S. would not supply Israel with some weapons if it moved forward with a ground invasion of Rafah. The announcement came hours after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the government had already paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over fears of an imminent offensive in the southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering. Israel has been ramping up its attacks on Rafah over the last few days, all while negotiators frantically try to reach a ceasefire deal in Cairo. Ben Rhodes, former Deputy U.S. national security advisor to President Obama and co-host of Pod Save The World, talks about how much leverage Biden really has over Israel's military operations.

And in headlines: A Georgia court agreed to hear an appeal over whether the Fulton County District Attorney can continue to lead former President Donald Trump's state election interference case, Republican and Democratic House Lawmakers blocked Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from ousting Speaker Mike Johnson, and third-party presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says a parasite ate part of his brain.