By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JILL COLVIN, ERIC TUCKER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ Associated Press
Donald Trump's fixer-turned-foe, Michael Cohen, is directly implicating the former president in a hush money scheme. He told jurors during highly anticipated testimony Monday that his celebrity client approved hefty payouts to stifle stories about sex that he feared could be harmful to his 2016 White House campaign. Cohen quoted Trump as telling him to "handle it" after learning that a doorman had come forward with a claim that he had fathered a child out-of-wedlock. The Trump Tower doorman was paid $30,000 to keep the story "off the market" even though the claim was ultimately deemed unfounded. A similar episode occurred after Cohen alerted Trump that a Playboy model alleged that she and Trump had had an extramarital affair.
The Biden administration plans to partially end the 27-year-old court supervision of how the federal government cares for child migrants, shortly after producing its own list of safeguards against mistreatment. Opposing attorney Leecia Welch says the Justice Department has said it will ask a federal judge to terminate what is known as the Flores agreement at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. The move could strain President Joe Biden's already rocky relationship with immigration advocates as he confronts an unprecedented surge in border crossings, with arrests topping 2 million in each of the last two budget years.
A bill in California wants to make more rental housing available to tenants with pets. Assembly Bill 2216 would ban blanket no-pets policies and prohibit landlords from charging extra for security deposit and rent for tenants who have cats, dogs or other common household animals. Supporters say too many renters struggle to find housing because landlords won't take pets. Some tenants are forced to relinquish pets to overcrowded shelters. But property owners say they're worried about property damage and liability. The bill is awaiting a vote by the full Assembly. Then it needs to go to the state Senate.
The Supreme Court is questioning whether federal prosecutors went too far in bringing obstruction charges against hundreds of participants in the Capitol riot. Former President Donald Trump also faces the same charge for his efforts to overturn his election loss in 2020. The justices heard arguments Tuesday over the charge of obstruction of an official proceeding in the case of Joseph Fischer, a former Pennsylvania police officer who has been indicted for his role in disrupting Congress' certification of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election victory over Trump. Fischer is among 330 people facing that charge, which stems from a law passed 22 years ago in the aftermath of the Enron financial scandal. Next week, the justices will weigh whether Trump can be prosecuted at all.
