Trump fights charges with politics
Donald Trump, who last week became the first former president to face federal charges, arrived in Florida before his scheduled first appearance tomorrow in federal court on criminal charges of mishandling sensitive national security documents and seeking to thwart the government’s efforts to reclaim them.
My colleagues reported that Trump is planning to spend tonight at his Doral resort in Miami, where he and his legal team will conduct last-minute interviews with lawyers to represent him in the case. (One of his current attorneys could be a key witness.)
His defense against the federal prosecution, which is likely to play out during his campaign for president, is likely to focus more on the politics of charging a former president than on the facts of the case. In recent days, Trump has been quick to place blame for his indictment on Democrats, the “Deep State,” and the Justice Department — which he described as “a sick nest of people that needs to be cleaned out immediately.”
Some of Trump’s allies have taken the political attacks even further, portraying the charges as an act of war and calling for violent retribution. It is unclear, in the end, what a jury of Floridians will make of it all; even some reliable Republicans there have complicated feelings about the former president.
NATO aims to be a war-fighting alliance again
Twenty-four NATO countries — including Finland, the alliance’s newest member — participated today in giant air force drills in Germany, which called them the largest deployment of aircraft in the alliance’s history.
The training comes as fighting escalates in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces are mounting an offensive to reclaim territory captured by Russia. More than 250 aircraft and 10,000 personnel are taking part in the two-week exercises, which one expert described as a “signaling” campaign to President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
“A lot of what today was, was to show Russia that it’s ready,” said my colleague Lara Jakes, who reported from an air base in Wunstorf, Germany. “This was a war game that was supposed to look exactly like the response should a NATO state be attacked.”
The exercises are a reflection of NATO’s broader shift from deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial, which will mean more alliance troops based permanently along the Russian border.
In Russia, recent Ukrainian attacks have killed more than a dozen civilians and displaced thousands. But they have not fundamentally changed the calculus for Putin.
JPMorgan will pay $290 million to Epstein’s victims
JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank, said today that it had reached a settlement with sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier, after weeks of embarrassing disclosures about its longstanding relationship with him. The bank is expected to pay $290 million to resolve a lawsuit over claims it ignored warnings about Epstein.
The end of an era in Italy
Whatever people in Italy thought of Silvio Berlusconi — the brash media mogul who revolutionized Italian television and then became the country’s most polarizing and prosecuted prime minister — they all recognized his outsize influence. He left an imprint, or a bruise, on almost everything he touched.
When he died today at 86, both his allies and his enemies came out to praise a life lived to the fullest.
More top news
New York: The commissioner of the N.Y.P.D., Keechant Sewell, resigned.
Antitrust: The Federal Trade Commission plans to sue Microsoft to stop the company from closing its $69 billion purchase of the video game powerhouse Activision Blizzard.
Politics: A root canal forced President Biden to cancel his public events today and postpone his meeting with NATO’s secretary general.
Philanthropy: George Soros gave control of his $25 billion foundation to his son Alex.
Senegal: Clashes in the West African nation have left at least 16 dead, many of whom died from gunshot wounds, according to families who suspect that the police fired on demonstrators.
Disaster: Commuters can expect months of traffic disruption after an elevated portion of Interstate 95 collapsed yesterday in northeast Philadelphia.
Media: Fox News demanded that Tucker Carlson stop posting videos to Twitter.
#MeToo: The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers in Britain apologized to several women for its handling of sexual harassment complaints.
Climate: A trial opened in Montana, where 16 young residents are arguing that the state’s embrace of fossil fuels is robbing them and other residents of a healthy future.
Newspapers: Fred Ryan, the publisher of The Washington Post, is stepping down after a nearly decade-long run.
EVENING WIND DOWN
How noise could take years off your life
The world has plenty of noise we can’t tune out — shrilling sirens, barking dogs, blazing jets and clacking jackhammers — all of which affects us more than we might think. A growing body of research suggests that chronic noise is an unrecognized health threat.
Unpleasant noises are relayed to the stress detection center in your brain, and they can trigger a cascade of reactions that over time can lead to inflammation, hypertension and plaque buildup in arteries — increasing the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke. Here’s how to check noise exposure wherever you live, work or gather.
A Denver championship or a Miami comeback
The Nuggets have a chance tonight at 8:30 p.m., Eastern, to close out the N.B.A. finals in Denver and earn the franchise’s first championship. Last time they were this close, the year was 1976 and they were playing in the A.B.A. finals against the Hall of Famer Julius Erving.
Standing between the Nuggets and glory are the Miami Heat, who appear confident that they can become just the second team in finals history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit.
For more: We explored why American team owners seem to always raise the championship trophy first.
Dinner table topics
Doctor Chatbot: Some physicians are asking ChatGPT to help them communicate with patients in a more compassionate way, including finding words to break bad news.
Smart sex: Emily Morse, a sex educator, recommends a monthly check-in for couples to help determine what’s working and what’s not.
Dress code: “Colorful formal” is another newish dress code at some weddings. Our chief fashion critic explains what it means.
Going viral: Jimmy Donaldson, a.k.a. MrBeast, has become a YouTube sensation for mostly giving stuff away.
WHAT TO DO TONIGHT
Cook: Its name comes from “Respect” by Aretha Franklin: This sock-it-to-me cake is made with abundance in mind.
Watch: A documentary by Jay Rosenblatt, capturing moments with his daughter over the course of 17 years, airs tonight on HBO.
Reserve: “Kimberly Akimbo” won the Tony Award for best musical. To plan your theater outing, here’s the full list of winners.
Read: In “Girlfriend on Mars,” the writer Deborah Willis tells a story with the grip of a good drama series.
Listen: “Five-Star” is the third No. 1 album in 15 months by the K-pop group Stray Kids.
Pedal: Try out a gravel bike, which can help you conquer both roads and dirt paths.
Play: Here are today’s Spelling Bee, Wordle and Mini Crossword. Find all our games here.
ONE LAST THING
Some statues just can’t get a head
As often as not, the ancient statues on display in the world’s most famous and frequently visited museums have lost their heads. It’s similarly common to see a severed statue head on display.
The explanations for the separations are aplenty, including wear and tear, smugglers looking to sell two pieces rather than one and ancient insurgents who decapitated statues to undermine the authority of rulers.
Many museums have sought to reunite the headless torsos with wayward heads, or vice versa. But finding a match can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Have a complete evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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