Friday Briefing: Stormy Daniels, day two
Good morning. We’re covering the cross-examination of Stormy Daniels and another setback in talks between Israel and Hamas. Plus, how loneliness can affect the brain.
A tense day in court for Stormy DanielsLawyers for Donald Trump again sought to make Stormy Daniels look as if she was lying yesterday about her account of a 2006 sexual liaison. But Daniels — who took the $130,000 hush-money payment at the heart of the 34 felony charges Trump is facing — pushed back. “You made all this up, right?” a lawyer asked. Daniels responded with a forceful “No.” During a combative cross-examination — which started on Tuesday and continued yesterday — Daniels swung between vulnerability and defiance. When the defense attacked her for hawking gear to supporters, she responded by likening it to Trump’s own merchandising. Susan Necheles, Trump’s lawyer, searingly questioned Daniels for more than two hours. As Necheles tried to undermine her credibility, Daniels continuously parried. In one exchange, Necheles suggested that Daniels, because of her career in porn, had a lot of experience with “phony stories about sex.” Daniels shot back, “The sex in the films is very real, just like what happened to me in that room.” A Daniels-Trump recap: They met in July 2006, but their lives intersected over the next decade and beyond. Here’s a breakdown of the timeline.
Hopes for a Gaza deal shrank as talks stalledHigh-level negotiations in Cairo were put on hold yesterday; the Israeli and Hamas delegations left, as did the C.I.A. director, dealing a blow to hopes a deal could be reached soon. The pause is a setback, given that some had seen signs earlier in the week that a deal might be close. Still, one official said that negotiators were interpreting the suspension as a pause rather than a derailment. Israel’s actions in Rafah could set the tone for future discussions. On Wednesday, President Biden acknowledged that Israel had used American bombs to kill civilians in Gaza. He said the U.S. would also withhold artillery if Israel were to go ahead with a major operation in Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel reacted defiantly to Biden’s comments: “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone.” Fears are growing that a rift with the U.S. could affect Israel’s ability to continue its war. Netanyahu is caught between allies demanding a cease-fire deal and right-wing demands in his own country to go forward with the invasion.
A view from the sky: These satellite images of Rafah, taken after Israeli forces entered the city, show widespread damage and clusters of Israeli armored vehicles.
Ukraine strikes deep in RussiaUkraine struck an oil refinery far inside Russia, officials on both sides said yesterday, as Kyiv works to weaken Russia’s military and its energy industry. The drone strike on the facility, which is one of Russia’s largest and lies more than 700 miles (over 1,100 kilometers) from Ukraine’s border, shows that Kyiv is increasingly able to reach targets further inside its enemy’s territory. Background: This attack, along with others on two oil depots, were part of an ongoing campaign. Kyiv hopes to disrupt Russia’s military logistics by targeting the facilities that supply fuel for its tanks, ships and planes. Ukraine also hopes to undermine Russia’s energy industry, which is central to its economy. Impact: An energy expert in Belgium said the strikes had taken more than 10 percent of Russia’s oil-refining capacity off line, temporarily reducing its ability to turn its crude oil into products like gasoline, diesel and petrol. |
