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May 2, 2025
European News of Interest
May 1, 2025
The Economy Shrinks by 0.3%, A Sharp Reversal from Last Quarter.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis | By The New York Times
The economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, a sharp reversal from the previous quarter’s strong growth. The decline, however, may not be as bad as it sounds. It mostly reflects quirks in the way we measure economic activity. (Ben Casselman, The Times’s chief economic correspondent, explained those quirks in detail.)
The data suggests that the economy would be solid if Trump’s tariffs didn’t fuel uncertainty and scare American consumers and businesses. David Sanger, a White House correspondent, explained how Trump’s own policies strike directly at his political appeal as a competent steward of the economy.
The report doesn’t cover the period after what Trump called Liberation Day, when he announced tariffs that tanked stock markets and launched a trade war with China. In other words, tariffs could make coming reports worse. We just don’t know how much worse yet. — German Lopez, writer for The Morning
Trump held a televised two-hour Cabinet meeting today, at which administration officials sat behind red MAGA hats and praised him so extravagantly that right-wing commentator Ann Coulter posted: “Would it be possible to have a cabinet meeting without the Kim Jong il–style tributes?” He blamed Biden for the contracting economy and told reporters that “you could even say” that any downturn in the second quarter is Biden’s fault, too. The White House put out an official statement blaming former president Joe Biden for today’s report of the shrinking GDP and saying the country’s underlying economic numbers remain strong. In fact, Biden left behind an economy that The Economist called “the envy of the world,”
The pain from Trump’s tariffs has already hit agriculture as China has largely stopped buying American products, from pork and soybeans to lumber. Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, a leading export trade group for farmers, told Lori Ann LaRocco of CNBC that the sector is already in “full-blown crisis” as farmers have sustained “massive” financial losses.
Economists expect the confusion and uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs to hurt growth more broadly in the second quarter of 2025 as container ships from China stop arriving in the U.S. in early to mid-May, about a month after Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” imposed a 145% tariff on goods from that country. Executive Director Gene Seroka of the Port of Los Angeles told CNBC’s Squawk Box yesterday that beginning next week, shipping volume at the port will drop over 35%. Executive Director of the Port of Oakland, California, Kristi McKenney noted that the lack of import trade will hurt exports as well, endangering the jobs of dockworkers, warehouse workers, and truck operators.
The East Coast ports will see similar drops a couple of weeks after the West Coast ports. United Parcel Service (UPS) has already announced that it is laying off about 20,000 employees and closing 73 of its buildings by the end of June. It says it anticipates lower volumes of shipping from its largest customer, Amazon, because of the tariffs.
Economists expect the lack of goods from around the globe, especially from China, to create shortages and higher prices. Notably, the tariffs will hit toys and Christmas items. China produces 80% of the toys sold in the U.S. and 90% of the Christmas goods. Ordering of inventory for the holidays is normally underway by now, Daisuke Wakabayashi of the New York Times reports, as it takes four to five months to make, package, and ship products to the U.S. from China. But currently the tariffs have shut down that trade.
Trump seemed to acknowledge that today when he said: “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way. They have ships that are loaded up with stuff. Much of which—not all of it—but much of which we don’t need.” Ironically, the Republican Party made accusations that Biden was “ruining Christmas” a central theme of political attack in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Chip Cutter, Bob Tita, and Stephen Wilmot of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that more than 80% of senior executives are worried about Trump’s tariffs and his other economic policies, and many companies say they are unable to predict future earnings. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that uncertainty is strategic, intended to give the administration a leg up in negotiations.
The S&P 500 has fallen 7 percent since Trump took office. That’s the worst start to a presidential term since Gerald Ford in 1974.
The Senate rejected an effort to undo Trump’s tariffs.
Adidas said that its sneakers and sportswear would cost more in the U.S
.
Tariffs led Japan to slash its economic growth forecast.
Ukraine Minerals Deal With U.S.
The United States and Ukraine agreed to a deal that creates an investment fund to search for minerals in Ukraine, and set out how revenues would be split between the countries. Zelensky proposed the deal last year, hoping to improve relations with Trump.
The deal aims to give Trump a personal stake in Ukraine’s fate and to address his concerns that the U.S. has provided Ukraine with a blank check to fight Russia.
The U.S. did not immediately provide details about the agreement, and it was not clear what it meant for the future of American military support for Ukraine.
Despite the fanfare, the deal will have little significance if fighting between Ukraine and Russia persists.
A former official said the agreement would serve the important purpose of building good will with Mr. Trump, and giving him an economic interest in the country’s survival and stability.
Earlier drafts had swiveled between what critics called a brazen extortion of Ukraine by the Trump administration and versions that included points sought by Ukraine, such as references to U.S. support for postwar security guarantees. Without them, Ukraine says, Russia could quickly violate any cease-fire or restart the war after regrouping and rearming.
Mr. Zelensky has made clear that the minerals agreement is not an end in itself. Wrapping up the deal is aimed at clearing the way to more consequential talks on U.S. military backing and on the terms of a possible cease-fire with Russia, he said.
“We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” Mr. Zelensky said in March in a post on X.
Ukrainian authorities say the country holds deposits of more than 20 critical minerals; one consulting firm valued them as being worth several trillion dollars. But they may not be easy to extract, and the Soviet-era maps outlining where the critical deposits are have never been modernized nor have they all been thoroughly vetted.
Ukraine now earns about $1 billion a year in natural resources royalties, far below the hundreds of billions of dollars Mr. Trump said he expected the United States to gain from the agreement.
SUPREME COURT LOOKS AT RELIGIOUS CHARTER SCHOOLS
A girl in Nevada leads her class in the Pledge of Allegiance with her hand on a Bible. Isadora Kosofsky for The New York Times
Faith in schools
By Adam Liptak
I cover the Supreme Court.
In just the last month, the Supreme Court has heard three important religion cases, culminating in yesterday’s argument over a Catholic charter school in Oklahoma. Judging from the justices’ questioning, the side pressing religious-freedom claims seemed likely to prevail in all three.
That would extend a remarkable winning streak for religion at the Supreme Court.
Since 2012, the pro-religion side has won all but one of 16 First Amendment cases about the government’s relationship with faith. (The exception: The court rejected a challenge to the first Trump administration’s ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.)
The court has been especially active in cases involving religious education. It said if the government was helping private schools, it couldn’t exclude religious ones. It exempted religious schools from anti-discrimination laws. In one pending case, the justices seemed poised to let parents with religious objections withdraw their children during discussions of gay and transgender themes. Yesterday they seemed likely to let a Catholic organization start a charter school in Oklahoma — which would make it the first religious school to get state charter funds.
A 2021 study of religion rulings since Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court in 2005 found that the Roberts court ruled in favor of religious people and groups over 83 percent of the time, compared with about 50 percent of the time for other courts since 1953. “In most of these cases, the winning religion was a mainstream Christian organization, whereas in the past pro-religion outcomes more frequently favored minority or marginal religious organizations,” the study’s authors — Lee Epstein, of Washington University in St. Louis, and Eric Posner, of the University of Chicago — wrote.
If the court rules in favor of religious claims in all three of the pending cases, that figure will rise to 88 percent.
A movement
By Sarah Mervosh
I cover education.
Regardless of what the justices decide about yesterday’s Oklahoma case, state money is already helping faith bloom in American education.
The main vehicle is via school vouchers, which have proliferated in Republican-led states.
Vouchers allow you to use taxpayer money — funds the government would have spent on a public school — to pay for your kid’s private school (or home-school supplies). More than half of states have such programs, and more than one million students use them, double the number in 2019.
The Supreme Court blessed vouchers for religious schools in a 2002 case, but their use took off after the pandemic as more states embraced them widely. In states like Florida, where vouchers have expanded to be available to all students, some religious schools now receive nearly all of their funding from state dollars, said Doug Tuthill, who helps manage Florida’s program.
States are looking for other ways to expand religion in public schools, too. Oklahoma wants to put Bibles in its classrooms. Louisiana is in a legal battle to get the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Texas is considering a similar move.
State lawmakers pushing to expand religion in public schools sometimes cite the Supreme Court rulings that my colleague Adam mentions above, such as a 2022 decision siding with a football coach who prayed at the 50-yard line after games. “There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in our Constitution, and recent Supreme Court decisions by President Trump’s appointees reaffirmed this,” said a lawmaker in Texas, who put forth a bill proposing prayer in schools.
Harvey accuser claims 2015 coverup
Claims 2015 coverup Italian model wants NYPD, Manhattan DA’s office probed, alleging city bigs moved to get molest case dropped
A lawyer for Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez (seen in 2020) is calling for federal probe of actions by the NYPD and the Manhattan district attorney’s office about the failure to charge movie mogul Harvey Weinstein (opposite page in police custody in 2018) in alleged sex attack on Gutierrez in 2015.
A lawyer representing Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez — who filed a police report in 2015 against Harvey Weinstein for groping her in his Tribeca office and watched as her allegations were rejected by the Manhattan DA’s office — asked federal prosecutors in Manhattan Tuesday to look into the “coverup” and is claiming high-powered New Yorkers intervened on behalf of the now-disgraced mogul.
Based on the work of Michael Osgood, the NYPD chief who oversaw the detectives involved in the investigation, lawyer Sarena Townsend argues the NYPD had the evidence to bust Weinstein in the first 24 hours — until higher-ranking police officials and others stepped in.
“In order to justify dismissing her claims and to cater to Weinstein, law enforcement exaggerated irrelevant aspects of her life and ignored the actual evidence that had been assembled,” said Townsend, a former prosecutor in the Brooklyn DA’s sex crimes bureau.
“That’s why a new investigation is necessary.”
Among others, Townsend’s 11-page letter to Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton alleges former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was representing Weinstein, used his influence with then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce to upend the case.
Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr.’s sex crime chief Martha Bashford first approved an arrest of Weinstein, but then ordered detectives to back off hours later, the letter claims.
While Gutierrez’s account of Weinstein grabbing her breasts and reaching under her skirt on a Tribeca “casting couch” have been previously reported, the backstory of why Weinstein was not arrested despite what appeared to be a solid case has remained largely unclear.
The events occurred more than two years before Weinstein’s role as a predator was uncovered by The New York Times and The New Yorker. A decade later, Osgood sees the case as a massive missed opportunity.
“This case was one of the best cases in terms of the quality of the investigation in the history of the NYPD. We basically had it wrapped up in the first 24 hours,” said Osgood, who served as chief of Special Victims from 2010 to 2018. “Instead, there was a coverup that caused extensive damage.”
Gutierrez told The News last week the fallout from the case has continued to damage her career.
“I lost years and years of my life because back in 2015, they didn’t believe me,” she said. “I knew I was right, but my reputation got destroyed so much that it has been very difficult to rebuild.”
Clayton’s office declined to comment.
‘Overwhelming Evidence’
Gutierrez, then 22, went with her modeling portfolio to Weinstein’s office at the Tribeca Film Center on March 27, 2015, at about 6 p.m., according to the account in the letter. On his couch, he asked her if her breasts were real and grabbed them, the letter states. She told him to stop and removed his hands. Weinstein put his hand up her skirt to her thigh and asked her for a kiss. She removed his hand and refused the kiss.
Gutierrez then fled. The encounter lasted less than 15 minutes.
She immediately told her manager and his girlfriend and the three of them went right away to file a report at the 9th Precinct, stationhouse, the letter states.
In all, five cops and detectives over the next few hours heard Gutierrez’s account and witnessed her distressed demeanor, the letter states. At one point, the letter states, after she said she was filing a complaint about Weinstein, a female cop exclaimed, “Not him again.”
Osgood ordered his detectives to have Gutierrez call Weinstein on a recorded line and to set up a recorded in-person meeting between the two — unusual steps in a misdemeanor case, but he was concerned about Weinstein’s public stature. On the call, which took place about 11:30 p.m. that same night, Gutierrez asked Weinstein how her breasts felt, the letter states.
He said they were “fine,” the letter states.
A controlled meeting was set for the next day at 5:30 p.m. at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. Osgood directed Lt. Austin Morange to call Bashford, the Manhattan DA’s sex crimes chief and brief her, the letter states.
Gutierrez wore a wire and also recorded with her phone, the letter states. She asked him why he touched her breasts.
“Please, I’m sorry, I’m used to it,” he replied. Later he said, “I will not do another thing to you.”
Parts of that recording were published two years later on the New Yorker website.
At 6:35 p.m., Morange and a sergeant told Weinstein to come with them to the 9th Precinct stationhouse to be interviewed, the letter states. In the car, Weinstein declared he knew “powerful people in government,” and threatened to call Commissioner Bratton.
Within just 24 hours of the incident, Osgood’s detectives had Gutierrez’s account repeated several times on the record, the two civilian witnesses to what she had told them, the accounts of the five police officers, and video of her fleeing the initial encounter.
They also had Weinstein making incriminating statements on the recorded call and in the recorded meeting.
“The evidence is overwhelming,” Osgood told The News. “It’s greater than in 99% of the misdemeanors I investigated where the DA agreed to an arrest and greater than in 94% of felonies where the DA agreed to an arrest.”
‘Do not arrest him!’
But then, as Townsend puts it, “The case began to nosedive.”
Osgood had been trying to reach NYPD Chief of Detectives
Robert Boyce for some 20 hours, the letter states. When Boyce called that Saturday evening, Boyce said not to arrest Weinstein. Osgood told Boyce that Weinstein was already in the car on the way to the 9th Precinct.
Boyce shouted, according to the letter, “F—! Interview him and then cut him loose. I have to call Bratton back.”
At the precinct, Weinstein learned his accuser’s name and immediately asked for a lawyer, ending the interview. Detectives then took Weinstein to his office. In the car, the letter states, Weinstein continued to verbally berate the detectives.
Two days later, on March 30, Osgood’s detectives met with Bashford. Osgood says Bashford told them the evidence “far exceeded the probable cause standard.” “I don’t see why you can’t make an arrest,” Bashford told them, according to the letter.
That same morning, the letter states, Weinstein convened a meeting in his office which included Giuliani. The letter alleges Giuliani “covertly” called Bratton that day and spoke with Boyce. At some point after that, Osgood said he spoke with Boyce, who questioned Gutierrez’s motivation.
Osgood says he did not learn of this meeting or Giuliani’s call until March 2018, three years later, when a Weinstein aide was interviewed by detectives as part of the second Weinstein investigation.
“[The aide] tells my guys in 2018 that Giuliani says, ‘All right, I’m going to call Bill Bratton now,’” Osgood said in an interview.
Osgood says Boyce confirmed the Giuliani call in a conversation right before Boyce retired in April 2018. “Boyce says Bratton called me and told me to call Giuliani,” Osgood says. “But there’s never any need for a chief of detectives to call a defendant’s attorney. It’s unacceptable.”
Reached Monday, Boyce questioned Osgood’s recollection of events.
“It was clearly the Manhattan DA that didn’t want to go forward,” he said. “I was asked to call Giuliani. I don’t remember by who. It was a brief call. I spoke to him for about two minutes, I asked for someone else, and I told that person the facts of the case and that we had probable cause to arrest. It was a good case.”
About 2 p.m., just a few hours after Bashford endorsed the arrest, she called Osgood’s deputy, Morange, and said she had spoken with the “Eighth Floor” — the location of Vance’s office — and to “hold off” on arresting Weinstein, the letter states.
Very soon after that, a New York Post article appeared with a blind law enforcement quote saying the case was “BS” and “not going anywhere.” A “source close to Weinstein” called it “a blackmail attempt.” The story also reported without context Gutierrez then 18, was at a party five years earlier in 2010 thrown by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that included escorts.
“In one day, Mr. Weinstein’s team was able to convince the DA to shut down Weinstein’s imminent arrest and completely tarnish Ms. Battilana-Gutierrez’s credibility,” Townsend writes in the letter.
Bashford, now the chair of the Defense Department’s Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution and Defense of Sexual Assault, could not be reached for comment.
But a former official with the DA’s office who requested anonymity questioned the idea she was pressured into the decision.
“This office was the first to indict Weinstein and the first to convict him,” the official said. “There was certainly no pressure exerted on [Bashford] by any external force. She is a remarkably skilled attorney who came to a conclusion after extensive review of the case. We make decisions on a case-by-case basis, and sometimes people are upset, but the conclusion is always based on the merits.”
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, blasted the accusations.
“It’s a disgrace that the names of some of the heroes of New York City such as Commissioner Bratton and Mayor Giuliani are being dragged through the mud in this frivolous letter,” he said. “District Attorney Vance has a reputation that highlights his integrity and honesty. He eventually did bring charges against Harvey Weinstein
on which Mr. Weinstein is now standing trial. That fact alone flies in the face of the contents of this ridiculous letter.”
Bratton and Giuliani also could not be reached. Vance declined comment.
As the investigation wore on, Osgood ordered Gutierrez placed in a hotel not only, he says, because of the paparazzi and recurring press leaks, but also because he was concerned about both Vance’s office and his NYPD superiors.
On April 2, Gutierrez was in a car with detectives when she learned from her roommates there were two DA investigators in their apartment interrogating them. The questions included: was Gutierrez a stripper or a prostitute, did she bring home strange men, the letter says.
Gutierrez began crying, and Osgood was irate when his detectives notified him.
“This is how I find out Bashford is doing a separate investigation, which is against protocol,” Osgood says. “The NYPD conducts the investigation up to arraignment.
“But she wasn’t also doing a background investigation on Weinstein. If you did, you would trip over his history of being a predator.”
For its part, the DA’s office pushed back at the time, suggesting it was not notified of the controlled call and other “proof issues.” Contacted for this story, the DA’s office declined comment.
The next day, April 3, Osgood took the unusual step of bringing in an NYPD lawyer, Gregg Turkin, to review the strength of the evidence, the letter states. Turkin agreed there was more than probable cause to arrest Weinstein, Osgood says.
On April 3 and again on April 7, Bashford interviewed Gutierrez. In the latter interview, Bashford asked pointed questions about a so-called “bunga bunga” party and about a lawsuit the model filed in Italy — none of which, Townsend writes, “actually created doubt about her credibility or her account.”
But on April 10, a Friday, Bashford called Morange and told him the DA was declining to charge Weinstein and that she agreed with the decision. The call took a few seconds, Osgood says.
Gutierrez only learned of the decision from the media on the following Monday.
She was soon approached by Weinstein’s lawyers offering a settlement if she signed a nondisclosure agreement. She said she only agreed to sign it after she’d learned the DA would not be going forward with the case and she was fearful of what might happen if she refused.
On April 20, 2015, she signed the NDA and accepted a $1 million payment.
Endgame
In October 2017, the first blockbuster stories about Weinstein’s serial sexual predation appeared, forcing prosecutors to open new investigations in several jurisdictions.
In New York, the investigation resulted in Weinstein’s arrest in May 2018. Osgood says he was so concerned about a repeat of 2015 that he asked the NYPD Legal Bureau to petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor instead of Vance’s office.
Weinstein was convicted in the New York case in 2020. But an appellate panel overturned the conviction in 2024 leading to a retrial currently underway in Manhattan.
The conviction was overturned because Vance presented testimony from victims uninvolved in the specific charges the mogul was facing.
Through the period, there was pressure for an accounting of what happened in the Gutierrez case. In 2018, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now running for New York City mayor, ordered an investigation, but eight months later, after Weinstein was charged, he “temporarily postponed” the probe, the letter states.
In 2021, according to Osgood, a second probe under Cuomo was initiated by Attorney General Letitia James, but that too appears to have been prematurely discontinued after Cuomo resigned and Gov. Hochul took over that September.
Neither James nor Hochul responded to requests for comment.
Osgood was reassigned to Staten Island in November 2018 and soon retired. In 2021, he sued the NYPD claiming he was forced out as retaliation for refusing to follow orders to stonewall a broader probe of SVU. The case was settled in 2023 for $850,000.
In November 2022, Gutierrez testified as a witness against Weinstein during his trial in Los Angeles.
Osgood was in the gallery watching the case he oversaw finally being presented in open court.
“I flew out to L.A. to support her and let her know there are honest people in the NYPD,” Osgood said.
“Watching my evidence being presented was stunning.”
April 30, 2025
Trump Immigration Actions
In an ABC interview, Trump said he is able but not willing to bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the wrongly deported Maryland man, back from El Salvador.Trump’s comments undermined previous statements by his top aides and were a blunt sign of his administration’s intention to double down and defy the courts. “The ‘evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York — a place he has never lived,” Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing the efforts to bring Mr. Abrego Garcia back to the United States, wrote in an order this month.
During the interview with ABC News, Mr. Trump also argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s tattooed hands were evidence of his gang ties. Mr. Trump has accused him of being a member of MS-13, previously sharing a photograph of the tattoos, altered with the label MS-13 above the symbols. As the interviewer, Terry Moran, pointed out, the label was clearly photoshoped. As Moran repeatedly told Trump that the tattoos had been photoshopped, Trump got visibly angry, first suggesting that it was thanks to Trump that Moran got the interview, and complaining that “you’re not being very nice.” Trump then continued to insist that Abrego Garcia has MS13 tattooed on his knuckles and said that Moran’s refusal to agree to that “is why people no longer believe the news…. It’s such a disservice,” the president said. “Why don't you just say yes, he does[?]”
Trump couldn’t let it go. He brought it up again later in the interview, calling Moran “dishonest” for saying the tattoos were photoshopped.
Abrego Garcia has no criminal record, and experts on MS-13 say his tattoos are not tied to the gang.That was not the only astonishing moment in the interview. Although the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with a lower court that the administration must work to get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador, the White House has insisted that it cannot comply because only El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, can release Abrego Garcia. But when Moran said to Trump he could pick up the phone and get him back, Trump replied “I could…. And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.” When Moran replied “But the court has ordered you to facilitate that,” Trump replied: “I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers who don't want to do this.”
“You’re the president!” Moran replied.
The Trump administration sent the mother of a 2-year-old girl to Venezuela and the father to a Salvadoran prison. The toddler is now in foster care in the U.S.
During the interview with ABC News, Mr. Trump also argued that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s tattooed hands were evidence of his gang ties. Mr. Trump has accused him of being a member of MS-13, previously sharing a photograph of the tattoos, altered with the label MS-13 above the symbols. As the interviewer, Terry Moran, pointed out, the label was clearly photoshoped. As Moran repeatedly told Trump that the tattoos had been photoshopped, Trump got visibly angry, first suggesting that it was thanks to Trump that Moran got the interview, and complaining that “you’re not being very nice.” Trump then continued to insist that Abrego Garcia has MS13 tattooed on his knuckles and said that Moran’s refusal to agree to that “is why people no longer believe the news…. It’s such a disservice,” the president said. “Why don't you just say yes, he does[?]”
Trump couldn’t let it go. He brought it up again later in the interview, calling Moran “dishonest” for saying the tattoos were photoshopped.
Abrego Garcia has no criminal record, and experts on MS-13 say his tattoos are not tied to the gang.That was not the only astonishing moment in the interview. Although the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with a lower court that the administration must work to get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador, the White House has insisted that it cannot comply because only El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, can release Abrego Garcia. But when Moran said to Trump he could pick up the phone and get him back, Trump replied “I could…. And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that.” When Moran replied “But the court has ordered you to facilitate that,” Trump replied: “I'm not the one making this decision. We have lawyers who don't want to do this.”
“You’re the president!” Moran replied.
The Trump administration sent the mother of a 2-year-old girl to Venezuela and the father to a Salvadoran prison. The toddler is now in foster care in the U.S.
Carney Wins Canada Election
Mark Carney’s Liberal Party narrowly failed to win a majority of seats in Canada’s Parliament. He’ll be in power, but he will need help from smaller parties to pass legislation.
Carney won a rare fourth term for the Liberals by persuading Canadians he was the right person to stand up to Trump.
Carney won a rare fourth term for the Liberals by persuading Canadians he was the right person to stand up to Trump.
TRUMP'S TARIFFS
Trump reduced some auto tariffs after U.S. carmakers complained that the levies would squeeze their profits.
General Motors abandoned a previous forecast for solid profit growth this year because of uncertainty created by Trump’s policies.
Trump’s tariffs have already slowed manufacturing activity in China.
The White House attacked Amazon after a report that the company planned to display tariff costs in its listings. Amazon denied it. By the end of the day, Trump was praising Jeff Bezos.
General Motors abandoned a previous forecast for solid profit growth this year because of uncertainty created by Trump’s policies.
Trump’s tariffs have already slowed manufacturing activity in China.
The White House attacked Amazon after a report that the company planned to display tariff costs in its listings. Amazon denied it. By the end of the day, Trump was praising Jeff Bezos.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN’S (NEW) TRIAL
Harvey Weinstein at a Manhattan court. Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times
The disgraced Hollywood producer whose downfall propelled the #MeToo movement is back in a New York courtroom. That’s because New York’s top court overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for rape and a criminal sexual act. What happens now? I asked Hurubie Meko, who is covering his new trial for The Times. — Adam B. Kushner
Why is Harvey Weinstein on trial again?
New York’s Court of Appeals said Weinstein had been deprived of a fair trial, because several women accused him of doing bad things to them even though they were not named in the charges against him. Now he’s being retried — this time with a new indictment.
The charges are different this time?
Yes, partly. A jury convicted Weinstein of rape and a criminal sexual act but acquitted him on three other charges, including accusations that he was a sexual predator. On those acquittals, he can’t be retried. This case is about sexual crimes against three women (two from before, plus a new one). They, but no other victims, will testify about Weinstein’s behavior toward them.
Could he get out of prison if he wins this case?
No. Weinstein was also convicted in California on sex-crime charges and sentenced to 16 years there. (He is appealing.) If he is acquitted in New York, he’ll begin his prison sentence there.
TRUMP'S CHAOTIC & HISTORIC FIRST 100 DAYS
A furious start
The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second presidency have been a study of extremes, especially when compared with the start of presidential terms over the last century. Today, The Upshot — a section of The Times focused on data and policy — published eight charts comparing Trump’s performance with that of his predecessors. Here are a few of them: He issued more executive orders than any other modern president …
On his first day in office, Trump signed a record 26 executive orders — and he didn’t stop there. The executive order has become something of a hallmark of his governing style, a way to express clear policy directives without the bureaucracy of regulation or the horse trading of legislation. Some orders direct federal agencies to develop policy in particular areas, like oil drilling, prescription drug prices or the water pressure delivered by shower heads. Some mostly express the president’s sentiment on an issue. Some function as warnings or punishments for political enemies. But many — in key areas like immigration and tariffs — effectively carry the force of law. Compare the president’s output with that of Congress, which has passed only a handful of laws since Trump’s inauguration. … and was sued in federal court more, too
Trump’s executive actions have already led to an explosion of lawsuits. In other recent administrations, the suits have come later, in response to laws and regulations that take months and years to develop. But Trump is moving quickly to cut funding, fire federal workers, impose tariffs, reshape immigration policy and more. Although the Supreme Court has begun considering aspects of a few cases, most of this litigation is in preliminary stages. Markets plunged
During his first term, Trump often referred to the stock market as a barometer of success for his presidency. This time, he seems less focused on it. And some of his proclamations — on tariffs or his views on the Federal Reserve and interest rates — have led to wild swings in recent weeks. The S&P 500 has fallen by more than 7 percent since Trump’s inauguration, on track for the worst performance for stocks in this period of a presidency since Gerald Ford in 1974. Trump’s popularity fell, too
When Trump entered office, voters said they trusted him to handle the economy and immigration. But 100 days into his second term, his approval is underwater. Partly it’s because he turned those long-term strengths on the economy and immigration into weaknesses. Read about how Trump fared in our recent poll here. Our charts also look at revenue from tariffs and the fate of the dollar. See them here. More on Trump’s first 100 days
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April 29, 2025
N.Y. Budget Deal Includes School Cellphone Ban, Public Safety Changes & a Tax Refund to Cover Inflation
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $254 billion state budget agreement that includes tax credits. A measure to restrict mask wearing was watered down.
“We worked through some really challenging issues,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “We refused to be drawn into the toxic, divisive politics of the moment.”Credit...Cindy Schultz for The New York Times
By Benjamin Oreskes and Grace Ashford
Reporting from the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y.
April 28, 2025
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced the framework of a roughly $254 billion state budget agreement, ending a monthlong stalemate over public safety issues that the governor had insisted on including in the fiscal plan.
The budget deal, which will now go to the Legislature for a full vote, includes changes to make it easier to remove people in psychiatric crisis from public spaces to be evaluated for treatment, and eases so-called discovery requirements for how prosecutors hand over evidence to criminal defendants in the pretrial phase.
Ms. Hochul also successfully pushed for an all-day ban on students having cellphones in schools. But another of the governor’s policy priorities relating to the restriction of the wearing of masks was whittled down by legislators over concerns that it would be selectively enforced and infringe on people’s civil liberties.
“We worked through some really challenging issues,” Ms. Hochul said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “We refused to be drawn into the toxic, divisive politics of the moment.” Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader, and Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker, were not present at the announcement.
The changes related to criminal justice and mental health were major priorities of Mayor Eric Adams and district attorneys from New York City, who appeared several times with Ms. Hochul to push for the proposals. She made them clear priorities, frustrating lawmakers who were forced to pass several so-called budget extenders to keep the government running after the April 1 deadline passed.
Ms. Hochul did not provide many details on what exactly would be changed and to what degree, saying that her aides would iron out the final details with legislative leaders in the coming days.
Other changes may yet be in store, depending on the severity of the rolling cuts to federally subsidized programs, the specter of which has heightened anxiety among lawmakers. Most concede that a special legislative session may be needed to reckon with the shortfalls once Congress passes its budget. Ms. Hochul and others have been saying for months now that it is essentially impossible to plan until they fully understand the cuts.
“We can only devise a budget based on the information we have at this time,” Ms. Hochul said, adding the state had already been hit with about $1.2 billion in cuts.
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“There’s a possibility that we’ll have to come back later this year and update our budget in response to federal actions,” she added.
Image
Ms. Hochul, who is keenly aware of voters’ frustrations with rising costs for basic goods like food and housing, is up for re-election next year. Credit...Cindy Schultz for The New York Times
Still, New York’s budget agreement, which will be fleshed out and voted on next week, dealt only glancingly with the transformed fiscal picture that could be on the horizon a few months from now — a bleak outlook made even more uncertain by President Trump’s tariff-driven global trade war.
State Democratic leaders have stressed that congressional Republicans seem all too willing to cut entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Social Security.
Yet the budget proposal called for New York to spend $17 billion more than last year, made possible in part after state officials disclosed earlier this month that tax revenues and the state’s general fund closed the fiscal year with billions more dollars than expected.
Ms. Hochul, who is keenly aware of voters’ frustrations with rising costs for basic goods like food and housing, is up for re-election next year. Several Democrats are considering primary challenges, and several prominent Republicans, including Representative Elise Stefanik, are also weighing bids.
In effort to boost her flagging political prospects, she stuffed her executive budget proposal in January with populist efforts to “put money back in people’s pockets.” It included a $3 billion tax refund that would have seen New Yorkers receive between $300 and $500 and a generous expansion of the state’s child tax credit program.
The framework agreement with the Legislature included the governor’s proposed child tax credit of up to $1,000 for families with a child under 4, but the refund was scaled back in negotiations, amid pushback over whether that was the best use of so much cash. Now about $2 billion will be devoted to the program, with New Yorkers receiving between $200 and $400, depending on their income.
Similarly Ms. Hochul had promised no increases to state income taxes, although she proposed an extension of an existing tax on residents making more than $1.1 million through tax year 2032, and relief for many middle-class New Yorkers earning up to $323,000 per year as joint filers. The budget agreement reached on Monday maintains the tax cut but includes an increased payroll levy on companies with more than $10 million in revenue.
This largess would help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $68 billion five-year plan to make systemwide infrastructure upgrades. Smaller companies will see a cut in their payroll tax burden because of the deal. The M.T.A., the state and New York City will each kick in $3 billion to fund the plan. Ms. Hochul also said that $1.2 billion that had been previously allocated for renovating Penn Station will go toward safety improvements and stopping fare evasion.
“We worked through some really challenging issues,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “We refused to be drawn into the toxic, divisive politics of the moment.”Credit...Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesBy Benjamin Oreskes and Grace Ashford
Reporting from the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y.
April 28, 2025
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced the framework of a roughly $254 billion state budget agreement, ending a monthlong stalemate over public safety issues that the governor had insisted on including in the fiscal plan.
The budget deal, which will now go to the Legislature for a full vote, includes changes to make it easier to remove people in psychiatric crisis from public spaces to be evaluated for treatment, and eases so-called discovery requirements for how prosecutors hand over evidence to criminal defendants in the pretrial phase.
Ms. Hochul also successfully pushed for an all-day ban on students having cellphones in schools. But another of the governor’s policy priorities relating to the restriction of the wearing of masks was whittled down by legislators over concerns that it would be selectively enforced and infringe on people’s civil liberties.
“We worked through some really challenging issues,” Ms. Hochul said at a news conference Monday afternoon. “We refused to be drawn into the toxic, divisive politics of the moment.” Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the majority leader, and Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker, were not present at the announcement.
The changes related to criminal justice and mental health were major priorities of Mayor Eric Adams and district attorneys from New York City, who appeared several times with Ms. Hochul to push for the proposals. She made them clear priorities, frustrating lawmakers who were forced to pass several so-called budget extenders to keep the government running after the April 1 deadline passed.
Ms. Hochul did not provide many details on what exactly would be changed and to what degree, saying that her aides would iron out the final details with legislative leaders in the coming days.
Other changes may yet be in store, depending on the severity of the rolling cuts to federally subsidized programs, the specter of which has heightened anxiety among lawmakers. Most concede that a special legislative session may be needed to reckon with the shortfalls once Congress passes its budget. Ms. Hochul and others have been saying for months now that it is essentially impossible to plan until they fully understand the cuts.
“We can only devise a budget based on the information we have at this time,” Ms. Hochul said, adding the state had already been hit with about $1.2 billion in cuts.
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“There’s a possibility that we’ll have to come back later this year and update our budget in response to federal actions,” she added.
Image
Ms. Hochul, who is keenly aware of voters’ frustrations with rising costs for basic goods like food and housing, is up for re-election next year. Credit...Cindy Schultz for The New York TimesStill, New York’s budget agreement, which will be fleshed out and voted on next week, dealt only glancingly with the transformed fiscal picture that could be on the horizon a few months from now — a bleak outlook made even more uncertain by President Trump’s tariff-driven global trade war.
State Democratic leaders have stressed that congressional Republicans seem all too willing to cut entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Social Security.
Yet the budget proposal called for New York to spend $17 billion more than last year, made possible in part after state officials disclosed earlier this month that tax revenues and the state’s general fund closed the fiscal year with billions more dollars than expected.
Ms. Hochul, who is keenly aware of voters’ frustrations with rising costs for basic goods like food and housing, is up for re-election next year. Several Democrats are considering primary challenges, and several prominent Republicans, including Representative Elise Stefanik, are also weighing bids.
In effort to boost her flagging political prospects, she stuffed her executive budget proposal in January with populist efforts to “put money back in people’s pockets.” It included a $3 billion tax refund that would have seen New Yorkers receive between $300 and $500 and a generous expansion of the state’s child tax credit program.
The framework agreement with the Legislature included the governor’s proposed child tax credit of up to $1,000 for families with a child under 4, but the refund was scaled back in negotiations, amid pushback over whether that was the best use of so much cash. Now about $2 billion will be devoted to the program, with New Yorkers receiving between $200 and $400, depending on their income.
Similarly Ms. Hochul had promised no increases to state income taxes, although she proposed an extension of an existing tax on residents making more than $1.1 million through tax year 2032, and relief for many middle-class New Yorkers earning up to $323,000 per year as joint filers. The budget agreement reached on Monday maintains the tax cut but includes an increased payroll levy on companies with more than $10 million in revenue.
This largess would help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $68 billion five-year plan to make systemwide infrastructure upgrades. Smaller companies will see a cut in their payroll tax burden because of the deal. The M.T.A., the state and New York City will each kick in $3 billion to fund the plan. Ms. Hochul also said that $1.2 billion that had been previously allocated for renovating Penn Station will go toward safety improvements and stopping fare evasion.
April 27, 2025
Harry Siegel: Limited NYC mayoral picks in a limited primary
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at the New York City District Council of Carpenters while campaigning for mayor of New York City, Sunday, March 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
By Harry Siegel | harrysiegel@gmail.com
PUBLISHED: April 26, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT
There’s a fresh glimpse of a silver lining in another slow-motion catastrophe of an election where circumstances and a relative handful of voters are again poised to decide on the city’s future with millions of other people here along for the ride.
Let’s start with the dark clouds:
The historically unpopular mayor, a Democrat who cut a crooked deal with President Trump, lied for months about how he was committed to running for reelection as a member of his party until announcing on the last possible day that, actually, he’d try to win a second term as an independent. (But Eric Adams is hardly running so far, while using his public office as a de facto campaign operation).
The Democratic candidate dominating the polls is doing his damndest to coast on name recognition and avoid engaging with the public, the press or the other candidates while racking up endorsements from many of the same institutional players who demanded he resign as governor not even four years ago because of his bad behavior toward women who worked for him. (And while Andrew Cuomo now prefers to say he was pushed out, he did resign).
A socialist with compelling presence and posters and promises but limited accomplishments, experience or credibility has broken out to lead the crowded pack of challengers as they’re all running short on time to close what remains a vast gap in the polls between them and Cuomo ahead of the primary in June. (Zohran Mamdani might want to talk with Dianne Morales or Andrew Yang about what can happen to surging candidates with dubious credentials when the klieg lights stay on them).
It’s a bizarre race where Cuomo and Adams are laying low while their challengers are running a gauntlet of candidate forums and interviews and appearances while laying out ambitious proposals for more housing, more cops, free buses, rent freezes, universal 3-K and afterschool and more as if the Trump administration wasn’t already punishing the city and state even before pushing a federal budget slashing slash huge new holes into already tattered social safety nets.
Voters will have their say soon in this clown-car election, first Democrats in June’s closed, ranked-choice primaries and then everyone in November’s general election.
Remember: Bill de Blasio effectively won eight years in City Hall on the basis of a quarter million primary votes in the 2013 primary. Eric Adams won his seat at the table by eking out a win in 2021 by a margin of 7,000 votes.
Now Adams has convened a commission to consider changes to the City Charter for voters to decide on in November. He’s doing so in part to block the City Council, which is well to his left largely because of how low-turnout primary elections have outsized influence on how the city is run, from offering its own ballot proposals.
The mayor’s commissioners are reportedly considering city election changes, including moving the city’s elections to even years and creating open ranked-choice primaries with the top candidates then competing in a ranked-choice general election.
Those are both fine ideas, with open primaries in particular being an overdue fix to New York’s deeply flawed democracy that too many voters are checked out of and effectively disenfranchised from.
As the Daily News Editorial Board explained it:
Under RCV as it now works, voters can put candidates first, second, third and so on rather than picking just one candidate. That doesn’t make support for a candidate zero sum; it also means that a voter could express support for a candidate who may not have a realistic chance of victory without throwing his or her ballot away.
The problem is that, in service of the political parties, ranked-choice is only operative in primaries, which remain closed. That means some slice of the city’s 3,081,389 active Democratic Party members who come out to vote in the mayoral primary — it was 26.5% in 2021, a relatively high number — choose the top Democratic contender for mayor, who then faces off in November against a Republican and any independent who might happen to get on the ballot.
In a city where Democrats are two-thirds of registered voters, that makes the general election a foregone conclusion.
That’s no way to run a democracy. A chance to vote for open elections would be a reason for every voter to show up this November, so that their votes matter in future Novembers.
Siegel (harrysiegel@gmail.com) is an editor at The City, a host of the FAQ NYC podcast and a columnist for the Daily News.
Let’s start with the dark clouds:
The historically unpopular mayor, a Democrat who cut a crooked deal with President Trump, lied for months about how he was committed to running for reelection as a member of his party until announcing on the last possible day that, actually, he’d try to win a second term as an independent. (But Eric Adams is hardly running so far, while using his public office as a de facto campaign operation).
The Democratic candidate dominating the polls is doing his damndest to coast on name recognition and avoid engaging with the public, the press or the other candidates while racking up endorsements from many of the same institutional players who demanded he resign as governor not even four years ago because of his bad behavior toward women who worked for him. (And while Andrew Cuomo now prefers to say he was pushed out, he did resign).
A socialist with compelling presence and posters and promises but limited accomplishments, experience or credibility has broken out to lead the crowded pack of challengers as they’re all running short on time to close what remains a vast gap in the polls between them and Cuomo ahead of the primary in June. (Zohran Mamdani might want to talk with Dianne Morales or Andrew Yang about what can happen to surging candidates with dubious credentials when the klieg lights stay on them).
It’s a bizarre race where Cuomo and Adams are laying low while their challengers are running a gauntlet of candidate forums and interviews and appearances while laying out ambitious proposals for more housing, more cops, free buses, rent freezes, universal 3-K and afterschool and more as if the Trump administration wasn’t already punishing the city and state even before pushing a federal budget slashing slash huge new holes into already tattered social safety nets.
Voters will have their say soon in this clown-car election, first Democrats in June’s closed, ranked-choice primaries and then everyone in November’s general election.
Remember: Bill de Blasio effectively won eight years in City Hall on the basis of a quarter million primary votes in the 2013 primary. Eric Adams won his seat at the table by eking out a win in 2021 by a margin of 7,000 votes.
Now Adams has convened a commission to consider changes to the City Charter for voters to decide on in November. He’s doing so in part to block the City Council, which is well to his left largely because of how low-turnout primary elections have outsized influence on how the city is run, from offering its own ballot proposals.
The mayor’s commissioners are reportedly considering city election changes, including moving the city’s elections to even years and creating open ranked-choice primaries with the top candidates then competing in a ranked-choice general election.
Those are both fine ideas, with open primaries in particular being an overdue fix to New York’s deeply flawed democracy that too many voters are checked out of and effectively disenfranchised from.
As the Daily News Editorial Board explained it:
Under RCV as it now works, voters can put candidates first, second, third and so on rather than picking just one candidate. That doesn’t make support for a candidate zero sum; it also means that a voter could express support for a candidate who may not have a realistic chance of victory without throwing his or her ballot away.
The problem is that, in service of the political parties, ranked-choice is only operative in primaries, which remain closed. That means some slice of the city’s 3,081,389 active Democratic Party members who come out to vote in the mayoral primary — it was 26.5% in 2021, a relatively high number — choose the top Democratic contender for mayor, who then faces off in November against a Republican and any independent who might happen to get on the ballot.
In a city where Democrats are two-thirds of registered voters, that makes the general election a foregone conclusion.
That’s no way to run a democracy. A chance to vote for open elections would be a reason for every voter to show up this November, so that their votes matter in future Novembers.
Siegel (harrysiegel@gmail.com) is an editor at The City, a host of the FAQ NYC podcast and a columnist for the Daily News.
April 26, 2025
American Consumers Serve Up Bleak Outlook on Economy
The University of Michigan’s closely watched sentiment index fell to its lowest levels ever among Democrats and independents
By Harriet Torry
Surveys this year suggest growing economic worry among households and businesses. PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESS
Key Points
Consumer sentiment fell to 52.2 in April, from 57 in March, according to the University of Michigan.
Consumers expect prices to surge 6.5% over the next year, the highest reading since 1981.
Concerns about higher prices and a weaker labor market suggest fears of stagflation.
American households ended April feeling much worse about the economy than they did in March, according to a closely watched measure of consumer sentiment.
The University of Michigan said Friday its final index of consumer sentiment for April was 52.2, down from 57 in March, a drop of 8% from the previous month. The index hit its lowest levels ever for Democrats and for independents.
By Harriet Torry
Surveys this year suggest growing economic worry among households and businesses. PHOTO: RICHARD B. LEVINE/ZUMA PRESSKey Points
Consumer sentiment fell to 52.2 in April, from 57 in March, according to the University of Michigan.
Consumers expect prices to surge 6.5% over the next year, the highest reading since 1981.
Concerns about higher prices and a weaker labor market suggest fears of stagflation.
American households ended April feeling much worse about the economy than they did in March, according to a closely watched measure of consumer sentiment.
The University of Michigan said Friday its final index of consumer sentiment for April was 52.2, down from 57 in March, a drop of 8% from the previous month. The index hit its lowest levels ever for Democrats and for independents.
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