Costello Will Drop Re-election Bid

On Tuesday, prosecutors in the federal trial of fugitive Chinese mogul Guo Wengui introduced a video that, they said, marked the precise moment Guo began executing a massive fraud against backers of his anti-Communist political movement. But the first image that appeared on courtroom screens wasn’t actually Guo. It was his better-known ally and former well-paid adviser, Steve Bannon, wearing glasses and a few black shirts.

President Biden on Friday announced a new three-stage deal to end Israel’s military operations in Gaza, adding that it was “time for the suffering to stop.” “At this point, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another Oct. 7,” Biden said in a televised address. “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin.” The president said that the deal was offered by Israel but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials, have not yet commented on the deal.

Speaking from his beloved Trump Tower in Manhattan—where nearly nine years ago he descended an escalator and launched his presidential campaign—Donald Trump on Friday rambled through a litany of complaints. Having just been found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush-money trial, Trump blasted the criminal case as “unfair,” “rigged,” and politically motivated.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE and JILL COLVIN (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump attacked the judge and the star witness in his criminal hush money trial and again tried to undermine New York’s criminal justice system on Friday while seeking to turn his conviction on 34 felony charges into fuel — and not an impediment — to his bid to return to the White House. Trump addressed reporters at his namesake tower in Manhattan Friday, returning to campaigning a day after he was convicted of trying to illegally influence the 2016 election by falsifying business records to hide money paid to a porn actor who claimed they had sex. The Republican ex-president, as defiant as ever, argued the verdict was illegitimate and driven by politics and sought to downplay the facts underlying the case. “It’s not hush money.

Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of social networking site Truth Social, slumped before the opening bell Friday after former President Donald Trump was convicted in his hush money trial. A New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Shares fell 9% immediately Thursday in after-hours trading as news of the verdict emerged, and were down 5% early Friday. The stock, which trades under the ticker symbol “DJT,” has been extraordinarily volatile since its debut in late March, joining the group of meme stocks that are prone to ricochet from highs to lows as small-pocketed investors attempt to catch an upward momentum swing at the right time. The stock has tripled this year, in the process frequently making double-digit percentage moves either higher or lower on a single day.

Are Democrats starting to feel a little queasy about their banana-republic lawfare campaign to knock out a political opponent?