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People magazine sent correspondent Natasha Stoynoff to Mar-a-Lago in late 2005 to write a wedding anniversary story about Donald Trump, who had then recently married Melania Knauss. Almost two decades later, her experience of the future president allegedly “forcing his tongue” down her throat could prove essential testimony in the E Jean Carroll civil rape trial that began on 25 April in a federal court in New York City. On 9 May, the jury in the civil case returned a verdict that Mr Trump was liable for sexually abusing Ms Carroll, but not raping her. Ms Stoynoff took the stand at the Manhattan courthouse on 3 May. Before joining People magazine, Ms Stoynoff was a reporter and photographer at The Toronto Star, a columnist at The Toronto Sun, and a freelancer for Time Magazine. She then worked for People magazine for almost 20 years. She now writes books and screenplays, according to her bio on Goodreads. The Trump legal team failed to stop the inclusion of Ms Stoynoff’s testimony in the trial. Ms Carroll claims that Mr Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in 1995 or 1996 and that he later defamed her in 2019 as president when he rejected her allegation. About a decade after the alleged rape of Ms Carroll, the People magazine journalist was at Mar-a-Lago to interview Mr Trump and his new wife. “Now, I’m a tall, strapping girl who grew up wrestling two giant brothers. I even once sparred with Mike Tyson. It takes a lot to push me,” Ms Stoynoff wrote in 2016. “But Trump is much bigger – a looming figure – and he was fast, taking me by surprise and throwing me off balance. I was stunned. And I was grateful when Trump’s longtime butler burst into the room a minute later, as I tried to unpin myself.” “The butler informed us that Melania would be down momentarily, and it was time to resume the interview,” she added. Mr Trump then asked, “You know we’re going to have an affair, don’t you?” according to the reporter, adding that the following morning, she went to the spa at the private club, where the receptionist told her Mr Trump had been waiting for her, but that he had left to attend a meeting. Ms Stoynoff later told her editors to not have her cover Mr Trump again. Ms Carroll wrote for The Atlantic in 2020 that “each new boxing trainer tells Natasha that she should turn professional. Her punch is between hospitalization and murder”. About the 2005 incident with Mr Trump, Ms Carroll wrote that Ms Stoynoff “wishes” that she had punched the former president. Alyssa Shelasky wrote for The Cut that “Stoynoff was my mentor when I worked at People magazine, about ten years ago. She was the brilliant, hilarious, confident, and warm writer who got all the good assignments because Larry Hackett, the editor-in-chief at the time, knew she was the best. Naturally, I worshipped her”. “Trump is frustrating to interview,” Ms Stoynoff told Ms Carroll in The Atlantic. “If all you need are sound bites, he’s easy. He’s got his one sentence ready for you. If you want something deeper, that’s a challenge. Because he doesn’t do deep.” Ms Stoynoff noted that Melania Trump was “upstairs changing. Nothing led me to think he would do such a thing,” she said of Mr Trump’s alleged actions. “I remember it being a dark room,” she said of where the incident took place. “But there are windows, so not too dark. We go in. I’m looking around, wondering what he wants to show me. I hear the door close. I turn around. And he’s right at me, pushing me against the wall.” In an op-ed for The Washington Post in October 2019, Ms Stoynoff wrote, “After the election, I told myself his supporters hadn’t believed” the women who had stepped into the public arena and accused Mr Trump of misconduct. “How else could they have voted for such a man? It took months before the cruel truth dawned on me — Trump supporters knew we were telling the truth. They just didn’t care,” she added. “Within a year of my story being published, the #MeToo movement exploded ... but still, the reckoning skipped Trump,” she wrote at the time. The journalist wept as she told a jury how she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Mr Trump. The former People writer told the jury that Mr Trump asked to show her a room at his Palm Beach club in between conducting interviews for the magazine with him and his wife Melania, who was pregnant with their son Barron at the time. “I hear the door shut behind me, by the time I turn around he has his hands on my shoulder, pushing me up against the wall and he starts kissing me,” she said. Ms Stoynoff, who now lives in Canada, said that she was “flustered and in shock” as she tried to push Mr Trump away from her. The alleged encounter lasted a few minutes, and only ended when a Mar-a-Lago butler entered the room, she said. “I gave (the butler) a ‘get me out of here look’,” Ms Stoynoff said. As they were walking back to meet Melania, Ms Stoynoff testified that Mr Trump told her: “You know we’re going to have an affair. Don’t forget what (his second wife Marla Maples) said, ‘best sex I ever had’.” Ms Stoynoff became emotional as she told the court she was in a state of shock and unable to speak. “I choked up, I couldn’t answer him,” she said. When they met up with Melania, Mr Trump “doted” on his wife, she added. Ms Stoynoff said she went into “auto-pilot” and tried to pretend the incident never happened while finishing the interviews. She said she told her former journalism professor and newsroom supervisor at People at the time, but didn’t mention it to anyone more senior as she hadn’t wanted to cause trouble for the magazine. In October 2016, Ms Stoynoff went public about the alleged incident for the first time in an article for People magazine. She said she had been “horrified” by the Access Hollywood tape in which Mr Trump had been caught on a hot mic bragging about sexually assaulting women. The tape, recorded in 2005, had emerged two weeks earlier, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. The jury was shown the two-minute clip, in which Mr Trump states he “automatically” starts kissing women he’s attracted to. “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,” he says in the footage. Days later, Mr Trump appeared at a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton where he denied ever forcibly kissing a woman without their consent after a direct question from moderator Anderson Cooper. Ms Stoynof told the court she became “sick to her stomach” watching his denials, and spoke to her editors at People about publishing her firsthand account. “I actually thought to myself, ‘oh he does this to a lot of women’, it’s not just me, it’s not something I did,” she said. “The horrible part was I worried that because I did not say anything that at the time other women were hurt by him. So I had regret there. I thought to myself, ‘you liar’. I just felt really upset that he was lying to the American people.” Mr Carroll’s attorneys then played a clip from a Trump campaign rally in October 2016 which he denied the claim, and disparaged Ms Stoynoff. Asked by Ms Carroll’s attorney Mike Ferrara what she understood him to mean, Ms Stoynoff replied: “I’m assuming he means that I’m unattractive.” Ms Stoynoff said she had been assigned to the “Trump beat” in 2003, and interviewed The Apprentice host about 10 times prior to the Mar-a-Lago encounter. He had asked her out to dinner before, but never forced himself on her before, she said. The jury was then played portions of Mr Trump’s deposition in which he repeated that Ms Carroll had “made up” allegations that he had raped her in a dressing room at the luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told the court that the defence would not be calling any witnesses. He confirmed their sole expert witness would no longer be appearing. It was confirmed on Tuesday that Mr Trump would not testify in his own defence. On 9 May the jury in the civil case returned a verdict that Mr Trump was liable for sexually abusing Ms Carroll, but not raping her, and awarded the writer a total of $5m in damages, which includes the defamation claim. In the courtroom, the clerk read the verdict: “As to battery, did Ms Carroll prove that Mr Trump raped Ms Carroll?” The jury answered “No”. The jury also found Mr Trump liable for wonton disregard, for which Ms Carroll was awarded $20,000, according to Inner City Press. Mr Trump was also found liable for defamation as the jury found that he made false statements about Ms Carroll. The jury found that Mr Trump acted with actual malice and that Ms Carroll had been injured, for which she was awarded $1m. For repairing her reputation, Ms Carroll was awarded $1.7m. Read More Trump verdict - live: Trump rages as E Jean Carroll trial jury orders him to pay $5m for sexual abuse Donald Trump found liable for sexual abuse in E Jean Carroll trial Trump furiously repeats false claim he’s never met E Jean Carroll as jury finds he sexually abused her Soccer executive and celebrity attorney: Who is Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina? Who is E Jean Carroll? The writer and TV host taking on Donald Trump

The former treasurer of rapper Kanye West’s unsuccessful but still legally extant 2020 presidential campaign resigned on Monday, accusing right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannpopolus of committing potential campaign finance violations while working on the rapper’s White House bid last year. Patrick Krason, the campaign’s former treasurer, alleged in a pair of letters to the Federal Election Commission that Mr Yiannopoulos “submitted falsified invoices for expenditures that would be deemed unlawful” and committed a “potentially serious criminal transaction,” according to the documents, which were obtained by Politico. While working for the West campaign, Mr Yiannopoulos was paid nearly $10,000 in November for the “domain transfer” of a potential Kanye 2024 website, a purchase which he made using a credit card belonging to the campaign of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, in whose office Mr Yiannopoulos previously served as an intern, according to federal election filings reviewed by The Daily Beast. The Greene campaign reported an expenditure on a web hosting site the same day worth $7,020, according to the filings. Mr Yiannopoulos has denied any wrongdoing on behalf of either campaign, telling The Daily Beast a “junior staffer” working for him used the wrong credit card to make the purchase. “The truth is a junior staffer made an error with the stored credit cards on a third-party vendor GoDaddy account, picking the one ending 2032 instead of 2002,” he said in a statement to the outlet. “The accident was quickly rectified and the correct card charged. I have apologized privately to Marjorie for the mixup.” The Independent has contacted Rep Greene’s office for comment. In November, West said he had plans to run for president in 2024, though he hasn’t formally filed paperwork declaring his candidacy. The rapper has been largely quiet since the end of 2022, in which he made a series of highly antisemitic remarks and was dropped by major partners like Adidas. Mr Yiannopoulos was previously fired from the West campaign following the rapper’s infamous Mar-a-Lago dinner with Donald Trump and a Holocaust denier, but was rehired last week to serve as the campaign’s political director. Last month, a documentary filmmaker who had previously worked with West said the rapper and fashion designer wasn’t showing very much interest in his previously announced 2024 campaign for president. “I just want to be left alone,” the filmmaker reported the rapper as saying. Read More Adidas breakup with rapper Ye, lost Yeezy sales hit earnings Kim Kardashian tearfully discusses her silence throughout Kanye West’s ‘lies’ in new Kardashians trailer Milo Yiannopoulos fired from Kanye campaign

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who has been away from the Senate since February while recovering from shingles, will return to Washington on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson.

Texas law enforcement officials said on Tuesday the gunman who killed eight people over the weekend at an

A statement from the White House says the events surrounding the death of Jordan Neely “demand a thorough investigation,” as Manhattan prosecutors and police continue to investigate the case more than a week after the 30-year-old homeless street performer was choked to death on a subway traincar. “Jordan Neely’s killing was tragic and deeply disturbing,” according to the statement from President Joe Biden’s administration. The incident has prompted city, state and federal officials, advocacy groups and protesters to demand an arrest and call attention to urgently needed support for mental health services and people experiencing homelessness. A veteran New York photojournalist was arrested on Monday night during a vigil and protest, one of several in New York City in the week after Neely’s death. At least 10 people were arrested by NYPD officers, including photojournalist Stephanie Keith, who was filmed being carried away by police while displaying her press pass and announcing that she is a member of the press. Widely shared footage from 1 May shows a men identified as Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old former US Marine, wrapping his arm around Neely’s neck on the floor of the traincar. He has not been charged with a crime. Read More Daniel Penny: Everything we know about ex-Marine filmed choking Jordan Neely in fatal subway incident Jordan Neely wanted help. A brutal narrative about homelessness blamed him for his own death Jordan Neely family attorneys call statement from Daniel Penny’s legal team ‘character assassination’ Protesters jump on New York subway tracks in anger over Jordan Neely death

The judge presiding over Lori Vallow’s murder trial has ruled that the court will stream the verdict of the high-profile case once it’s reached. The decision was made public on the fourth week of Ms Vallow’s trial over charges of conspiracy to kill her children JJ Vallow, seven; and Tylee Ryan, 16; as well as his doomsday preacher husband Chad Daybell’s wife Tammy Daybell. Last year, Judge Steven Boyce banned cameras from the courtroom, citing concerns that they could prevent a fair trial. It came after Ms Vallow’s attorneys contended that one news organisation abused the privilege by repeatedly zooming in on Ms Vallow’s face during previous hearings. Prosecutors sided with the defence and said the cameras should be banned as news coverage could make it hard for the court to find an impartial jury. A coalition of more than 30 news organisations including The Associated Press and East Idaho News asked the judge to reject the motion but the court ultimately decided that news organisations would no longer be able to shoot still photography or videos inside the courtroom. Judge Boyce stated in his Tuesday ruling that the reasoning behind the ban loses validity upon the reaching of a verdict, allowing the court to stream the final chapter of the weeks-long trial through its YouTube channel, according to East Idaho News. On Monday, the court heard testimony from retired FBI Agent Doug Hart, whose role in the investigation was to comb through Ms Vallow’s iCloud accounts. With more than 4,500 text messages saved to the accounts, he was able to piece together a timeline of the developing relationship between Mr Daybell and Ms Vallow over 2019. This included the period in which Ms Vallow’s previous husband Charles Vallow was shot to death by her brother Alex Cox and she was able to pursue a romance with doomsday author Mr Daybell. In addition to raunchy text messages — some threaded together to form a lengthy story — the couple’s bizarre beliefs about possession and zombies and rating individuals on a light-to-dark scale were laid out. Shortly after the death of Charles Vallow on 11 July 2019, Ms Vallow and her son JJ, seven, took a trip with her niece Melani Boudreaux and her two children. It is not known if Tylee Ryan was on the trip. In texts, Mr Daybell referred to the Boudreaux children as “3s” based on where he placed them on his strange rating system. He sent Ms Vallow a text asking if she wanted him to “cause pain” to the two 3s she was travelling with. The two believed in an ability to use their minds to cast out demons from people and “work on them”. She replied to him telling him to hold off, but added that if they started to act up again “we can zap them”. Mr Daybell agreed and responded: “If they are going to act up, we’ll at least give them a reason to scream.” JJ and Tylee vanished without a trace back in September 2019, with their mother refusing to reveal their whereabouts to authorities for many months. One month after they were last seen alive, Tammy – an otherwise healthy 49-year-old – died suddenly and Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell soon jetted off to Hawaii to get married on the beach. In June 2020, the remains of JJ and Tylee were found buried on the grounds of Mr Daybell’s property in Rexburg, Idaho, and the doomsday cult couple were eventually charged with murder. Prosecutors allege that Ms Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with Ms Vallow’s brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs – but also for financial purposes so that they could collect Tammy’s life insurance money and the children’s social security and survivor benefits. Mr Daybell will stand trial separately with a potential date of June 2024 spoken about in court. Read More Lori Vallow trial - live: Court hears chilling ‘demons’ comments as judge allows livestream of verdict Lori Vallow trial verdict will be livestreamed, judge rules after banning video of testimony Lori Vallow’s disturbing texts revealed: ‘A reason to scream’

A man in Louisiana has been detained after he shot his 14-year-old neighbour in the back of the head as she played hide and seek in his yard. David Doyle, 58, told the authorities that he “unknowingly” struck the girl after he discharged his firearm at a group running away from his home who turned out to be a number of children playing hide and seek. A press release from the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office states that police were called to the scene in a small Lake Charles neighbourhood early on Sunday. The wounded teen girl was found at the scene, after which police learned that multiple children had been playing in the area and hiding on the property of a neighbour. “When detectives spoke with the property owner, David V. Doyle, 58, [of] Starks, he stated he observed shadows outside his home, at which time he went inside and retrieved his firearm,” the press release said. Mr Doyle told investigators that he went outside and started firing his gun at those he spotted running away from the home. The teenager was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the Sheriff’s Office said. Members of her family told KPLC7 News that she’s “okay and recovering”. The local TV station reported that the area where the shooting occurred “is a dead-end road with only three residents: Doyle, the victim’s family and a relative to the victim’s family”. An area resident connected to the teenager’s family told The Daily Beast that Mr Doyle’s nephew was one of those playing hide and seek with the wounded teen girl. “Things like this need to stop,” the resident told the outlet. “I believe in people owning guns, but your life has to be in danger first. That man’s life was not in danger… It was just lucky, that her guardian angel had their hand on her, and it wasn’t worse than it was.” Mr Doyle was booked on Sunday at 6.45am, according to online jail records. He has been charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a firearm, and illegal discharge of a firearm. This incident is just one of several similar incidents recently. Older people have shot several younger individuals after they made simple and harmless mistakes. Ralph Yarl, a Black 16-year-old honour student, was shot and wounded last month after he accidentally rang the door of an 84-year-old resident in Missouri. Two days later, Kaylin Gillis, 20, was shot and killed by a 65-year-old man after she was in a car alongside others that entered his driveway in upstate New York as they were looking for the house of a friend. Read More Mike Pence makes excuses for shootings of Ralph Yarl and Kaylin Gillis Man who shot at Florida couple when they went to wrong house on Instacart delivery will not face charges ‘License to kill’: How ‘Stand Your Ground’ gun laws are fuelling random shootings and racism across the US

A large share of independents don’t support President Joe Biden across multiple polls as he launches his 2024 re-election campaign. Interactive Polls tweeted out four surveys that showed Mr Biden has a net negative 29 per cent approval rating. A survey from The Washington Post and ABC News showed that in a rematch against former president Donald Trump, 42 per cent of independents said they would back Mr Trump compared with 34 per cent who said they would support Mr Biden. In addition, 30 per cent of independents approve of the job Mr Biden is doing compared to 60 per cent who disapprove. By comparison, Mr Biden beat Mr Trump with the group by nine points in 2020, according to the Pew Research Centre. Mr Biden also lags in other polls among independent voters. A The Economist/YouGov poll found that 33 per cent of independent voters approve of Mr Biden. Meanwhile, a Civiqs poll found that 29 per cent of independent voters approve of him compared to 58 per cent who disapprove of Mr Biden. An Investors Business Daily/TIPP found that 27 per cent of independent voters approve of Mr Biden’s job performance while 63 per cent disapprove. The numbers come as Mr Biden announced his re-election campaign last month, aiming to create a contrast between himself and Mr Trump as well as “MAGA Republicans” who want to restrict abortion and ban books. But Mr Biden faces significant headwinds as he faces re-election. The Post/ABC poll found that 44 per cent of people polled said they would vote for Mr Trump and only 38 per cent said they would vote for Mr Biden. Similarly, 42 per cent said they would vote for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis while 37 per cent said they would back Mr Biden. Read More Biden trails Trump in brutal new poll Two days, three attacks, 18 dead: Texas reels from weekend of horror

Benchmark rates for oil-carrying supertankers have collapsed as OPEC+ follows through on a surprise vow to slash supply

The jury in E Jean Carroll’s civil rape trial against Donald Trump will soon decide whether or not the former president raped and defamed the magazine columnist. Both sides delivered closing arguments in a Manhattan courtroom on Monday, with Ms Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan using Mr Trump’s own words – “grab ’em by the pussy” – against him. “In a real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said. Mr Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina countered that while his comments in the infamous Access Hollywood tape are “rude” and “gross”, he claimed “that doesn’t make Ms Carroll’s unbelievable story believable”. Judge Lewis Kaplan is instructing the jury before they will begin deliberations in the case. Ms Carroll has claimed that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s. In other legal troubles, the judge in Mr Trump’s hush money case issued a gag order on Monday banning him from posting information about the evidence and witnesses on social media. Read More Who is Natasha Stoynoff? The journalist whose testimony could help bring down Trump Soccer executive and celebrity attorney: Who is Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina? Trump rape case explained: How a chance department store meeting led to a court case decades later Who is E Jean Carroll? The writer and TV host taking on Donald Trump What are the allegations in E Jean Carroll’s rape case against Donald Trump?

Ryanair agrees a deal which will see it purchase up to 300 aircraft over the next decade.

The US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides will depart from his post in August, according to two sources familiar with the matter.