International
Trump, portrayed by his former lawyer: Fixation for silencing porn actress and reluctant to pay
The testimony of Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, during this Monday’s session in the criminal trial faced by the former president in New York portrayed him as someone with such a fixation for silencing the ‘affair’ with porn actress Stormy Daniels as a will to try to dodge payments.
Emails, invoices and even a recording of an audio of Trump himself were provided today by the Prosecutor’s Office during Cohen’s statement, which assured that the former president, accused of forging accounting documents to silence Daniels and thus protect his 2016 campaign, prioritized his political career over his marriage.
“I want it to be hidden until the elections are passed (2016). If I win, it will have no relevance because I will already be president; if I lose, I won’t even care,” Cohen paraphrased Trump to add that Trump’s obsession with silencing the adult film performer “was for the campaign, not for Melania (his wife).”
Melania – who has not accompanied the former president on any day of this trial – and Trump met in 1998, when he was 52 years old and she was 28, and the couple arrived at the altar in 2005, just a year before the alleged slip with Daniels; an adventure that, if proven, would have happened when she was pregnant.
Despite Cohen’s quiet face, these harsh statements provoked some of Trump’s most agitated-headed denial movements today. Meanwhile, a hundred journalists and ordinary citizens scrutinized their gestures with maximum expectation from the court or a surrounding room to follow the process.
Cohen, sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for illicit financing of the Republican presidential campaign two years earlier, defined as “catastrophic” the possibility that the alleged sexual relationship between him and Daniels would come to light.
“Women are going to hate me… Men may think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign,” the former head of the U.S. Executive allegedly said according to Cohen’s account.
Trump agreed to seal an agreement in 2016 with Daniels’ former lawyer, Keith Davidson, to send the story to limbo for $130,000, but the transfer was postponed again and again, and the porn actress’s legal team began to become impatient to the point of threating with publishing the story in the Daily Mail media, according to the lawyer, who is now disabled.
He then detailed multiple meetings with Allen Weisselberg, former financial director of the Trump Organization, to solve the problem.
Among the proposals that were considered were, according to Cohen, creating an event of the institution whose entries were aimed at paying for it or presenting it as a “business opportunity” to the related tabloid The National Enquirer to buy the story and apply the ‘catch and kill’ technique, for which history would never see the light.
The former president, who even boasted with his condition of “billionaire”, avoided the payment and this then fell to Cohen, according to his version, who agreed to advance the money and then receive it through a screen company and under the false concept of legal services provided to the Trump Organization.
Finally, the premium that was paid to advance the money was “disappointing” for Cohen, who said that he was very angry with this undisclosed amount and that he let Weisselberg know: “I expressed how angry he was in a very clear language (…) I was even surprised how irritated I was,” he said as Trump sketched a half-smile.
Cohen also corroborated today the scheme set out by the Prosecutor’s Office in which, as a former lawyer for the former president, he allegedly worked hand in hand with the former editor of The National Enquirer, David Pecker, to acquire the exclusive rights of other extramarital Trump scandals and exercise ‘catch and kill’, as well as favoring the publication of positive news towards the future Republican candidate, along with other negative news about his political rivals.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
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