The Latest | UN General Assembly votes to give Palestine more rights by a wide margin

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution Friday to give Palestine more “rights and privileges” and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider Palestine's request to become the 194th U.N. member.

In Gaza, heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern city of Rafah has left aid crossings inaccessible, a U.N. humanitarian official said Friday. The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives.

About 110,000 people have fled Rafah for other parts of the besieged territory, the U.N. estimates. Some 1.4 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in the city.

Israel says Rafah is the last stronghold of the Hamas militant group and vowed to launch a full-scale invasion of the city. The U.S. says a Rafah offensive would jeopardize cease-fire talks and threatened to halt more military aid to Israel.

The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, most of them women and children, according to local health officials. Israeli bombardments and ground assaults have caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, schools and refugee centers across several cities.

The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Currently:

— A West Bank village feels helpless after Israeli settlers attack with fire and bullets.

— U.N. General Assembly grants Palestine new rights and revives its U.N. membership bid.

— Biden administration won’t conclude Israel violated terms of U.S. weapons agreements, AP sources say

— The Biden-Netanyahu relationship is strained like never before. Can the two leaders move forward?

— What are the latest obstacles to bringing aid into Gaza, where hunger is worsening?

— Pro-Palestinian protesters demand endowment transparency. But it's proving not to be simple.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Here's the latest:

WASHINGTON — White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Israel’s intensified operations near Rafah was not “a broad, large scale invasion” or “major ground operation” that President Joe Biden has warned the Israeli government against carrying out.

Kirby said the most recent operations were focused near the Gaza-Egypt border crossing in Rafah, which was captured by Israeli forces earlier this week and involved those same troops.

“That said, we’re watching it with concern,” Kirby said. ”Every day that that crossing is not available and usable for humanitarian assistance, there’s going to be more suffering. And that’s of deep concern to us. And so, once again, we urge the Israelis to open up that crossing to humanitarian assistance immediately. That aid is desperately needed.”

The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israel assault on Rafah, on the border with Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties.

Kirby also told reporters the White House was disappointed that hostage-for-truce talks in Cairo have ended without Israel and Hamas coming to an agreement.

He added that the Biden administration remains “all in” at working to complete a deal.

“We are certainly not going to sit back and abide by an end to an effort to keep the dialogue going and to try to rectify and resolve these differences so that we can get a deal,” Kirby said.

Hamas this week said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but Israel said the plan does not meet its “core” demands and launched the assault on the Rafah crossing hours later.

JERUSALEM -- Hamas on Friday charged Israel with using cease-fire talks as cover to push ahead with a military offensive in southern Gaza and the Rafah border crossing.

The Palestinian militant group said it had shown “necessary flexibility” in the most recent round of negotiations, which ended inconclusively this week as Israel launched a ground operation in Rafah. The fighting has raising global alarm about the lives of 1.3 million Palestinians sheltering in the city.

“Hamas’s leadership will consult with the leaders of Palestinian resistance factions to reconsider our negotiation strategy,” the group’s statement said, because Israel was not negotiating in good faith by continuing its offensive in Rafah.

Earlier this week, Hamas said it had accepted a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire deal that would end the war and bring about the phased release of some of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Israel swiftly rejected the deal, saying it did not meet “core demands,” and hours later sent tanks to capture the Rafah crossing. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Hamas’ demands for a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza “extreme.”

WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be released Biden administration report to Congress does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons.

That’s according to three people who have been briefed on the national security memorandum to be submitted by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to lawmakers. All three requested anonymity to discuss the matter before the report’s release.

The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel, even though it didn’t conclude that Israel violated terms of U.S.-Israel weapons agreements, according to one U.S. official.

A presidential directive mandated the review of whether Israel had complied with international law in its use of U.S.-provided weapons and other security support during the course of the war.

The Biden administration’s first-of-its-kind assessment of its close ally’s conduct of the war comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Any finding against Israel could endanger Biden’s support in this year’s presidential elections from some voters who keenly support Israel.

A senior Biden administration official said the memorandum is expected to be released later Friday, but declined to comment on the findings.

Human rights groups long have accused Israeli security forces of committing abuses against Palestinians and have accused Israeli leaders of failing to hold those responsible to account.

Israel says that it is following all U.S. and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas.

As the suffering of Palestinian civilians grew, Biden and his administration edged away from their initial unwavering public support of Israel and began to criticize its conduct of the war.

Associated Press writes Aamer Madhani, Ellen Knickmeyer, Mike Balsamo and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The 193-member world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions.

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.

Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.

The resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership — dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”

The renewed push for full Palestinian membership in the U.N. comes as the war in Gaza has put the more than 75-year-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict at center stage.

JERUSALEM — A Hamas rocket attack from Gaza lightly injured a woman in the southern city of Beersheba, Israel’s military and rescue services said Friday.

The 37-year-old woman was hit by shrapnel in a city playground, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.

Hamas’s armed wing claimed the attack, saying it targeted the city with a “missile barrage” in response to “massacres against civilians” in Gaza. Israel’s military said five rockets were launched toward the city; one was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and most fell in open areas.

Rocket attacks from Gaza against Israeli cities and towns have grown far less frequent since the start of the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 7. Most are intercepted by Israel’s missile defenses. However, Hamas has recently demonstrated its ongoing capabilities with high-profile rocket attacks on major border crossings into Gaza.

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops are battling Palestinian militants in the southern city of Rafah, where a rocket attack and an Israeli incursion earlier this week closed crucial crossings needed for humanitarian aid.

There are also battles underway in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas there.

In a statement released Friday, the military said it had located several tunnels in eastern Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and had eliminated militants “during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike.”

Hamas’ military wing said it carried out a complex attack in which it struck a house where Israeli troops had taken up a position, an armored personnel carrier and soldiers operating on foot.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. It was not possible to independently confirm the battlefield accounts from either side.

Hamas also said it launched a number of mortar rounds at the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, close to where Israeli troops are operating. The military said it intercepted two launches.

The crossing was closed after a rocket attack last weekend that killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel says it has re-opened its side of the crossing, but the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the Gaza side is inaccessible because of the ongoing fighting.

Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, forcing it to shut down. It’s unclear when it will reopen.

Aid groups say a prolonged closure of the crossings will severely hinder humanitarian operations in the territory, where hunger is already rampant.

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Britain’s Ministry of Defense says the Royal Air Force has completed its 11th airdrop over Gaza, delivering in total 120 tons of aid including ready-to-eat meals, water, rice, flour and canned goods.

The ministry said the airdrop Friday delivered 13 tons of aid to northern Gaza. The airdrops began in late March as part of a Jordanian initiative. The Royal Air Force used A400M transport aircraft flying from Amman, Jordan, where aid pallets attached to parachutes are collected and loaded.

The aid is dropped along the northern coastline of Gaza, with drop zones regularly surveyed to ensure civilians are not harmed. Each flight takes around one hour and British personnel work closely with the Royal Jordanian Air Force to plan and conduct each mission.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron said land routes into Gaza remain the best way to transport needed humanitarian assistance.

The Royal Navy ship RFA Cardigan Bay recently set sail from Cyprus to support a maritime aid corridor to Gaza. The ship provides accommodation for hundreds of U.S. sailors and soldiers building a temporary pier off the Gaza coast.

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike on a southern Lebanese village killed a paramedic and an employee of a telecommunications company Friday as military activities have increased along the frontier in recent days.

State-run National News said the paramedic and the technician died in the drone strike on Teir Harafa, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the border with Israel.

The Islamic Risala Scout Association paramedic group said one of its members, Ghaleb Hussein al-Haj, was killed while performing his duties in south Lebanon. The group is the paramedic arm of the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

The strike came a day after a similar attack on a car in a southern Lebanese village killed four members of the militant Hezbollah group.

Hezbollah started attacking Israeli army posts along the Lebanon-Israel border a day after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.

Since then, more than 350 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 275 Hezbollah members and more than 70 civilians and non-combatants. In Israel, 15 soldiers and 10 civilians have died.

Foreign officials have been visiting Lebanon over the past month in attempts to bring calm to the border, but Hezbollah has repeatedly said it will not stop fighting until there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.

Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.

Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority.

The draft resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership, dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”

At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.

JERUSALEM — The pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera said Friday it no longer has any staff operating inside of Israel after an order closing the broadcaster’s offices and halting its on-the-ground reporting there.

The comment by Al Jazeera to The Associated Press comes after Israel’s Communication Ministry said police raided an office of the broadcaster in Nazareth on Thursday after alleging it had been transmitting live video from there.

“Al Jazeera has no staff operating inside Israel. All of our staff have moved to Ramallah to continue the coverage from there, abiding by the law,” the channel said. “However, whoever makes such comments does not understand modern day technologies which allow users to utilize a simple mobile phone to post or share a video online.”

Al Jazeera’s headquarters are in Doha, Qatar.

Israel ordered the local offices of Al Jazeera to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance.

The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.

Since the order, the broadcaster has moved many of its English-language service correspondents from Israel to Amman, Jordan. Others still operate from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

MADRID — Spain’s Reina Sofía Museum has defended the title of a cultural program called “From the River to the Sea” that denounces the war in Gaza, despite criticism from the World Jewish Congress that the slogan is used by Hamas and “represents a call for the annihilation of the Jewish state.”

The modern art museum in Madrid, best known for its anti-war Picasso masterpiece “Guernica,” on Friday referred to a note on its website that says “From the River to the Sea” refers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and is a motto used to demand rights for Palestinians.

“It is from that call to respect life — and in no case from the promotion of war or violence, nor referring in any way to the disappearance of the State of Israel,” the museum says.

The World Jewish Congress on Thursday issued a statement saying it is “reprehensible” that an institution such as the Reina Sofía would stage such an initiative when Hamas still holds hostages from Israel and the people of Gaza face a humanitarian crisis.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — On foot, in vehicles or riding donkey carts loaded with belongings, a stream of displaced Palestinians fled Rafah in southern Gaza on Thursday for the relative safety of the territory’s center, as Israel threatens to expand its ground offensive in the south.

It’s an all-too-familiar scene for Palestinians who had sought safter in Rafah after escaping fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Families set up tent camps on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea near the central city of Deir al-Balah. Upon arrival, dozens rushed to collect water near a building for UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. More wait in the heat.

“The situation is difficult and continues to worsen,” Wafaa Masarei said as she rested beside her children and their few belongings: boxes, bags of clothes, pots, mattresses, a plastic jug. Her two kids sought protection from the sun under a table and blankets.

Ahmad Abed, who has an 8-month-old daughter, says he’s fed up from constantly moving drags on. He feels there’s no safe place for his family, even in the schools being used as makeshift shelters.

“Where are we supposed to go? Where is the world, that is just watching us?” he said. “It’s like we’re sheep.”

Houthi supporters attend a rally against the U.S.-led strikes against Yemen and in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Protesters lock arms on Penn campus as police clear the encampment showing support for Palestinians in Gaza, at University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Activists hold a large banner in Arabic, English and Hebrew in Paris Square to call for a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, outside of the official residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Friday, May 10, 2024.(AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

A poster of Noa Argamani is taped to one of the empty chairs for hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as relatives and their supporters gather together to mark the start of Shabbat, outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence to call for an immediate deal to release their loved ones, in Jerusalem, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Women activists hold a silent protest with placards in Arabic, Hebrew and English calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and safety, freedom and equality for Israelis and Palestinians, outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, Friday, May 10, 2024. It was the group's first sit-in in Jerusalem, although they have been a weekly fixture in Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip walk through a makeshift tent camp in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians line up for food distribution in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip arrive at a makeshift tent camp west of Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FILE - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2022, at the U.N. headquarters. The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote Friday, May 10, 2024, on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

House and vehicles of Ibrahim Dawabsha and his family that were torched during an attack by Israel settlers last month, in the West Bank village of Duma, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

House and vehicles of Ibrahim Dawabsha and his family that were torched during an attack by Israel settlers last month, in the West Bank village of Duma, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

A Palestinian child wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is brought to a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are seen during the sunset from southern Israel, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, at a hospital in Rafah, Gaza, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's hush money trial entered its final stretch as the prosecution's star witness Michael Cohen returned to the stand Monday.

In his testimony last week, Cohen placed the former president directly at the center of the alleged scheme to stifle negative stories to fend off damage to his White House bid. Among other things, Cohen told jurors that Trump promised to reimburse him for the money he fronted and was constantly updated about efforts to silence women who alleged sexual encounters with him. Trump denies the women’s claims.

Defense attorneys resumed cross-examination of Cohen with a series of questions about his business dealings and other activities in the lead-up to the payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. They further dug into Cohen's sources of income in the years since Trump originally took office, as well as income he has earned criticizing the former president.

Prosecutors have said they will rest their case once Cohen's testimony concludes, though they could call rebuttal witnesses. The defense said Monday it will call at least one witness, but it remains unclear whether Trump will testify.

Merchan said earlier in the day that closing arguments could take place the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

The trial is in its 19th day.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The case is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions of Trump to reach a jury.

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Here's the latest:

Back on the witness stand Monday afternoon, Michael Cohen testified that he has “no doubt” that Donald Trump gave him a final sign-off to make the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. In total, he said he spoke with Trump more than 20 times about the matter in October 2016. Some conversations were brief, while others were longer, he said, adding that they happened both by phone and in person.

Prosecutors appear to be eliciting testimony from Cohen aimed at diminishing the importance of a single phone call, which defense attorneys contend was not about the Daniels payments, but about a teenage prank caller who had been harassing Cohen.

After initially objecting, Donald Trump’s lawyers have agreed to let prosecutors show the jury in his hush money trial a still image taken from a C-SPAN video of Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event at 7:57 p.m. on Oct. 24, 2016.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he agreed to what’s known as a stipulation, allowing prosecutors to introduce the image without the need for extra steps — such as summoning a C-SPAN representative back to the witness stand to authenticate the image.

The defense made the compromise after prosecutors said they would seek to have the C-SPAN representative testify Tuesday morning, likely after the prosecution rests its case and the defense starts calling witnesses.

Blanche conferred with prosecutor Joshua Steinglass and reached the deal during a short break in the trial after conferring with Trump and other members of his defense team about how to proceed.

The judge in the case previously ruled against showing the image on grounds that the photo would amount to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche on Monday objected to having a C-SPAN representative return to court after prosecutors floated it in their request to show a screenshot of an October 2016 video from the network.

Blanche argued that doing so will unnecessarily prolong Donald Trump's hush money trial. He added that prosecutors are on the verge of resting their case and that the defense may rest its case Monday, too.

The defense plans to call a campaign finance expert, a lawyer who offered to represent Cohen after the FBI raided his property in 2018, and a paralegal.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he hopes to have Robert Browning, the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, back on the witness stand on Tuesday.

Chuck Zito, the former president of the Hells Angels' New York chapter, was among those in court Monday to support Donald Trump during his hush money trial.

Zito, who helped found the biker club’s local branch in the 1980s before setting his sights on Hollywood, was part of Trump’s entourage Monday, and was sitting in the back row of the courtroom before lunch.

Also known for his role as “Chucky The Enforcer” on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” Zito served real prison time on a drug charge in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

He’s not the only Trump ally in the courtroom who was previously convicted of a criminal charge: Bernard Kerik served three years behind bars after pleading guilty to federal tax fraud and other charges before his release in 2013. Trump pardoned him in 2020.

Before the jury returned from the lunch break, Judge Juan M. Merchan ruled that prosecutors can’t show the jury screenshots of a C-SPAN video of Donald Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event the evening of Oct. 24, 2016 — about five minutes before Michael Cohen called Schiller’s cell phone.

The judge said the photo amounts to hearsay without being authenticated by a representative of the TV network. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said prosecutors are arranging to have the executive director of the C-SPAN archives, Robert Browning, return to the witness stand. Browning testified earlier in the trial to authenticate videos of Trump campaign speeches in 2016.

Steinglass had said they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question.

During a bench conference before the resumption of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, defense lawyers said they would call attorney Robert Costello to the witness stand during their defense case.

In addition to Costello, defense lawyer Todd Blanche said potentially they would also call Bradley A. Smith and a paralegal.

Costello, whose well-publicized split from Michael Cohen was chronicled in testimony last week, was invited last year to appear before the grand jury that indicted Trump after asserting that he had information that undermined Cohen’s credibility.

In a news conference after his grand jury appearance, he told reporters that he came forward to provide exculpatory information about Trump and to make clear that he did not believe Cohen — who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and served time in prison — could be trusted.

The move to call Costello is risky for the defense because it could open the door to additional testimony about what Cohen alleged was a strong-armed effort by the lawyer to keep him in line during the federal hush money investigation and to deter Cohen from cooperating with prosecutors after his home, office and hotel room were raided by the FBI in 2018.

After the jury was excused for lunch on Monday, prosecutors said they’re seeking to show them a screenshot from a C-SPAN video of Donald Trump and his bodyguard Keith Schiller together at a campaign event on Oct. 24, 2016, just minutes before Cohen called Schiller’s cell phone.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told Judge Juan M. Merchan they wanted to show the image to blunt any suggestion by the defense that Trump and Schiller might not have been together at the time in question. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he never suggested, nor would he suggest, they were apart.

Cohen previously testified that he needed to speak with Trump “to discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it” and he knew that Schiller would be with him. Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ lawyer two days after the call in question.

Citing text messages and telephone records, Blanche pressed Cohen last week on the subject matter of the call, eliciting testimony that the witness was also dealing with harassing phone calls from a person who’d identified himself as a 14-year-old boy.

Donald Trump’s entourage of political supporters spoke to news reporters Monday in the park across from the Manhattan courthouse where his criminal trial is currently taking place.

The group sought to attack the case, the judge, the judge’s daughter and President Joe Biden.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Michael Cohen — who is currently on the witness stand — lied to Congress, the media and the court.

“You’d have trouble finding a single person he has actually told the truth to,” Wilson said.

Kash Patel, who served in Trump’s administration, said that Monday’s proceedings marked the first time in six weeks of trial that “we finally have a crime,” because Cohen admitted to stealing money from the Trump Organization.

“We also have a victim. That victim is Donald J. Trump,” Patel said.

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia called for the U.S. government to withhold any federal money from being used in New York’s court system and Illinois Rep. Mary Miller said “any normal judge would have dismissed this case by now.”

As she questioned Michael Cohen again on redirect, prosecutor Susan Hoffinger took a dig at the defense’s exacting cross-examination of him during Donald Trump's hush money trial.

“I know you might feel like you’re on trial here after cross-examination, but are you actually on trial here?,” she asked.

“No, ma’am,” Cohen replied after a defense objection was overruled.

Asked to describe the difference between testifying in court against Trump and the 2018 federal case in which he pleaded guilty to various crimes, Cohen said: “My life was on the line. My liberty. I was the defendant in that case. Here, I’m just a non-party subpoenaed witness.”

Michael Cohen’s admitted theft from the Trump Organization came after his annual holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 from the $150,000 he usually received, he testified on Monday.

Cohen said that Donald Trump owed technology firm Red Finch $50,000 for its work artificially boosting his standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen.

Cohen said he’d paid the company’s owner $20,000 in cash “to placate him for the time being” after Trump had gone months without paying the bill.

Cohen said he later sought reimbursement for the full amount at the same time he was seeking payment for the money he paid Stormy Daniels. He said he kept the difference instead of paying Red Finch as a way of making up for his reduced bonus.

“I was angered because of the reduction in the bonus and so I just felt like it was self-help,” Cohen said.

Michael Cohen testified on Monday that he shelled out money to a tech firm to help boost Donald Trump’s performance in an online CNBC poll about the most famous businessmen of the last half-century.

At first, Trump was polling near the bottom “and it upset him,” Cohen said during redirect. So Cohen reached out to Red Finch, who said they could create an algorithm that would get Trump’s name “to rise and rise significantly” in the poll by acquiring IP addresses to cast phony votes.

He said Trump initially wanted to finish first, but the two decided that would be suspicious. Instead, they decided to settle for ninth. But Trump refused to pay the firm after CNBC decided to nix a second round of the poll featuring the top 10 names. Trump, Cohen testified, didn’t feel he’d gotten his money’s worth.

When he was later reimbursed by Allen Weisselberg to pay back Red Finch, Cohen kept the proceeds for himself — an act of deception that, Cohen admitted earlier in the day, amounted to stealing from the Trump Organization.

But describing his actions to the prosecutor, Cohen defended the move. “I felt it was almost like self-help,” he said.

As prosecutor Susan Hoffinger began questioning Michael Cohen during redirect on Monday, she took aim at a point that Donald Trump’s defense made during their questioning: that Cohen helped Trump and his family with some legal matters in 2017, when Cohen received $420,000 from the then-president.

The sum included reimbursement for the $130,000 that Cohen had paid Stormy Daniels, according to testimony and evidence at the hush money trial.

Prosecutors say the $420,000 in payments was deceptively logged as legal expenses to disguise the Daniels deal. Trump’s defense says Cohen was indeed paid for legal work, so there was no cover-up.

Cohen testified that he never billed for the work he did for Trump and his family in 2017. When Hoffinger asked whether the $420,000 was related at all to those 2017 legal endeavors, Cohen answered, “No, ma’am.”

The defense's cross-examination of Michael Cohen in Donald Trump's hush money trial ended with Cohen reiterating that he discussed the Stormy Daniels deal with the former president.

“Notwithstanding everything you’ve said over the years, you have specific recollection of having conversations with then-candidate Donald J. Trump about the Stormy Daniels matter?” defense lawyer Todd Blanche asked.

“Yes, sir,” Cohen answered.

“No doubt in your mind?”

No doubt, Cohen averred, and Blanche said he had no more questions.

Pushed before the morning break in Donald Trump's hush money case to describe his lucrative Trump-related side businesses, Michael Cohen told defense attorney Todd Blanche “there is a television show” in the works.

Tentatively titled “The Fixer,” the show is based on Cohen’s own life and career. A producer on his podcast is currently shopping the show to studios, but it hasn’t been picked up yet, Cohen testified.

Later asked about his recent claim that he might run for Congress because he has “the best name recognition out there,” Cohen insisted he hasn’t built his profile on Trump’s back.

“My name recognition is because of the journey that I’ve been on. Is it affiliated to Mr. Trump? Yes. Not because of Mr. Trump,” he testified.

“Well, the journey that you’ve been on,” Blanche noted, “has included near-daily attacks on President Trump.”

“My journey is to tell my story, yes, sir,” Cohen said, eventually acknowledging his frequent criticisms of Trump.

Cohen also testified he’d be better off financially if Trump isn’t convicted because it would give him more fodder for the podcasts that provide a sizeable chunk of his livelihood.

Cohen was responding to questions asking if he’d benefit financially from a conviction in the hush money case.

As he spoke, Trump looked directly at the witness box, his arm draped over his chair.

Before a morning break in Donald Trump's criminal trial, defense lawyer Todd Blanche probed Michael Cohen’s profitable new career as a media-forward Trump critic.

The ex-lawyer said he’s made about $4.4 million from his books and podcasts since 2020, the year he was released from prison to home confinement. He was freed from home confinement in 2021.

Cohen also noted that he makes some income from a real estate rental property.

Before pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations and other charges, Cohen made about $4 million in 18 months, he testified. That money came largely from corporate consulting deals, plus the $420,000 he got from Trump to reimburse the Stormy Daniels payout and a technology expense, cover taxes and provide a bonus.

Jurors in Donald Trump's hush money trial remained largely engaged with Michael Cohen’s testimony on Monday, though some appeared to be dragging as his testimony stretched into a fourth day.

Several jurors stifled yawns while peering at the witness and looking at monitors in front of them as emails and other evidence were displayed. A few continued to take notes. Others sat back and took in the testimony, occasionally peering at the gallery of reporters and public observers.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche grilled Michael Cohen on Monday about his initial public denials that Donald Trump knew about the Stormy Daniels payoff.

After The Wall Street Journal reported in January 2018 that Cohen had arranged the payout to the porn actor more than a year earlier, Cohen told journalists, friends and others that Trump had been in the dark about the arrangement.

So until April 2018, “you had told anybody who asked that President Trump knew nothing about the payment at the time?” Blanche asked.

“That’s what I said, yes,” Cohen acknowledged.

In April 2018, federal authorities searched Cohen’s home, office and other locations tied to him. Four months later, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges and told a court that Trump had directed him to arrange the Daniels payment.

Michael Cohen testified on Monday he made $4 million from six clients — including AT&T, which was attempting to acquire Time Warner at the time — for which he was working as a consultant after Donald Trump won the 2016 election.

Another client was Columbus Nova, an investment management that paid him $80,000 a month. Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, also paid him $100,000 a month for a year.

Cohen was among a long list of former Trump aides and confidantes who raked in large sums of money as consultants after Trump won the White House as companies and countries scrambled to understand and influence the new reality star-turned-president.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen on Monday about legal matters he helped Donald Trump handle — including by finding outside lawyers — in early 2017 when he began receiving $35,000-a-month payments that reimbursed him for the payment to Stormy Daniels and some other things.

It’s a point the defense wants to hammer home to counter prosecutors’ argument that those monthly payments were deceptively logged as legal expenses to disguise the Daniels deal.

The defense, and Trump himself, have argued that the checks to Cohen were properly categorized because he was indeed working as a lawyer for Trump.

Cohen said he also did legal work for former first lady Melania Trump as part of his job — including reviewing an agreement with Madame Tussauds, the famous chain of wax museums, and working with her on a trademark issue.

Michael Cohen on Monday admitted that he stole from Donald Trump’s company when he pocketed tens of thousands of dollars that was earmarked as a reimbursement for money he said he shelled out to a technology firm.

The Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen for the costs under the same arrangement as his repayment for the hush money payment he made to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

Cohen had claimed he shelled out $50,000 to the tech firm, Red Finch, but during cross-examination in Trump's criminal trial he testified that he gave a company executive just $20,000 in cash and never forked over the other $30,000 that was owed.

The Trump Organization repaid Cohen $50,000 and then doubled that payment in a practice known as “grossing up” to cover taxes he’d incur by declaring the money as income rather than a tax-free reimbursement.

“Have you paid back the Trump Organization the money you stole from them?”

“No, sir,” Cohen responded.

Trump, who had been slouched back in his seat with his eyes closed for much of the testimony, looked directly at the witness stand as Cohen made the admission about stealing.

Eric Trump, Trump’s son, who is in court, posted on X: “This just got interesting: Michael Cohen is now admitting to stealing money from our company.”

After walking Michael Cohen through the personal business dealings and Donald Trump-related responsibilities he was juggling in the leadup to the Stormy Daniels payment, defense lawyer Todd Blanche pointedly asked about two key phone calls Cohen said he had with Trump.

“You do have a specific recollection that, on those two phone calls, you just talked about the Stormy Daniels deal — that’s it?” Blanche asked.

Yes, Cohen said, because it was personally important to him. He was about to shell out $130,000 from his own account to keep Daniels from selling her story publicly.

“My recollection is that I was speaking to him about Stormy Daniels because that is what he tasked me to take care of and that’s what I had been working on,” Cohen added.

The charges against Trump — falsifying business records — center on the way he ultimately reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payment. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche asked Michael Cohen a series of questions on Monday about personal business deals and other Donald Trump-related tasks that Cohen was juggling in the weeks before the Stormy Daniels payout.

Cohen testified that his attention was divided at the time by several other matters, including a real estate transaction involving an investment property he owned with his brother, a restructuring of his taxi medallion investments, securing an endorsement for Trump from one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s relatives, unrelated litigation and an issue involving photographs and a potential extortion attempt of one of Trump’s children.

The questions seem aimed at showing that he wasn’t solely focused on the Daniels matter, despite its urgency at the time.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche resumed his questioning of prosecutorial witness Michael Cohen by asking how many reporters he’s spoken to since Thursday when he was last on the witness stand.

After a brief pause, Cohen replied: “I didn’t speak to reporters about what happened last week.”

Pressed again by Blanche, Cohen clarified that he had spoken to reporters, just not about the details of last week’s testimony.

“I’ve spoken to reporters who called to say hello, to see how I’m doing, check in, but I didn’t talk about this case,” he said.

The judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial declined Monday to broaden the scope of testimony that the defense can elicit from a potential expert witness, Bradley A. Smith, a former Bill Clinton-appointed Republican Federal Election Commission member.

Judge Juan M. Merchan echoed his pretrial ruling that, if called, Smith can give general background on the Federal Election Commission — its purpose, background and the laws it enforces — and the definitions of such terms as “campaign contribution.”

Merchan rejected the defense’s renewed efforts to have Smith define three terms in federal election law, saying it would breach rules preventing expert witnesses from interpreting the law. Nor can Smith opine on whether the former president’s alleged actions violate those laws, Merchan said.

If Smith were to testify about those issues, Merchan said, the prosecution would then be permitted to call an expert of its own. That would result in a “battle of the experts,” the judge said, “which would only serve to confuse and not assist the jury.”

Smith is a law professor, and there often are guardrails around expert testimony on legal matters, on the basis that it’s up to a judge — not an expert hired by one side or the other — to instruct jurors on applicable laws in a case.

American lawyer Alan Dershowitz returns to the courtroom for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump after a short break at the municipal criminal court in Monday May 20, 2024 in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

American actor Chuck Zito returns to the courtroom for the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump after a short break at the municipal criminal court in Monday May 20, 2024 in New York. (Sarah Yenesel/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump walks with attorney Todd Blanche after a break during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before entering the courtroom with his attorney Todd Blanche at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump sits in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, May 20, 2024 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Former President Donald Trump closes his eyes, during his trial at Manhattan criminal court Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

Former President Donald Trump, center, walks by Rep. Matt Gaetz, left, R-Fla., outside the courtroom after the day's proceedings in his trial Thursday, May 16, 2024, in New York. Trump's adviser Boris Epshteyn, and attorney Emil Bove, right, follow behind him. (Mike Segar/Pool Photo via AP)

FILE - Michael Cohen leaves his apartment building on his way to Manhattan criminal court, May 13, 2024, in New York. Donald Trump's hush money trial is heading into the final stretch. The landmark trial will kick back off Monday, May 20, in Manhattan with more defense cross-examination of former Trump attorney Cohen. Cohen's pivotal testimony directly tied Trump to the alleged hush money scheme. Defense lawyers are trying to paint Cohen as a serial fabulist who is on a revenge campaign against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Former President Donald Trump walks over to addresses reporters following the day's proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court in New York, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool)