Trump trial date set in Stormy Daniels hush money case

A Manhattan judge Tuesday set the trial date for Donald Trump’s hush money case.

Judge Juan Merchan has set the date for March 25, 2024, CNN’s Abby D. Phillip tweeted.

Trump is charged with 34 felony counts on allegations he falsified business records. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” charging documents state.

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s neighbors sent him a "pointed message" by organizing a protest on his front lawn, according to a new report.

The Daily Beast reported on Sunday that Kennedy's neighbors placed a skeleton sitting in a chair on his lawn, holding a sign that says "I wish I took my vaccine!" There is also a small bottle of Tylenol at the skeleton's feet, alluding to Kennedy's comments about links between Tylenol usage during pregnancy and autism. They also put a headstone in his yard that reads "I did my own research," according to the report.

“We have people taking photos of it constantly,” Christine Payne, one of Kennedy's neighbors, told the outlet.

Payne added that she and other neighbors included specific imagery to comment on some of Kennedy's recent claims. Kennedy has had to walk back his claims that Tylenol usage causes autism.

Experts have also noted that Kennedy's stance on vaccines undermines President Donald Trump's achievements with Operation Warp Speed, the federal program that developed the first COVID-19 vaccine.

"My son has autism, and a neighbor is very active in anti-vaccine efforts," Payne said.

"There is a small bottle of Tylenol also next to his feet because we’re very concerned about it affecting children," she added.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

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Prominent political analyst Ezra Klein of the New York Times argued in a new essay published on Sunday that Democrats need to adopt a new "spirit" if they want to defeat Trumpism.

Klein argued in the essay that the Democrats have undergone a culture change over the last several elections, one that has left them more room to grow on the political left than it does on the right. He added that this presents an opportunity for the party to grow into areas that are otherwise leaning toward supporting President Donald Trump.

"Think of it this way: If Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayor’s race running as a democratic socialist in New York City and Rob Sand wins the Iowa governor’s race next year running as a moderate who hates political parties, did the Democratic Party move left or right?" Klein argued. "Neither: It got bigger. It found a way to represent more kinds of people in more kinds of places."

"That is the spirit it needs to embrace," he continued. "Not moderation. Not progressivism. But, in the older political sense of the term, representation."

Klein added that Democrats would benefit from embracing these candidates because they are successfully breaking through to voters on issues such as the cost of living and the economy.

"For all the talk of what the Democratic Party should learn from Sanders and Mamdani, there should be at least as much talk of what they should learn from Manchin or Golden or Marie Gluesenkamp Perez or Sarah McBride," Klein added. "The party should be seeking more, not less, internal disagreement."

Read the entire essay by clicking here.

The top drug regulator at the Food and Drug Administration resigned on Sunday after it was revealed he undertook a "revenge campaign" against a former colleague, according to a new report.

Dr. George Tidmarsh, who was appointed to lead the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, or CDER, in June 2025, was accused of accepting bribes and defaming a former colleague in a lawsuit from a Canadian pharmaceutical company in Maryland on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Tidmarsh had previously been put on administrative leave by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on Friday because of “serious concerns about his personal conduct,” according to the report.

“Secretary Kennedy expects the highest ethical standards from all individuals serving under his leadership and remains committed to full transparency,” a HHS spokesperson told WSJ.

The lawsuit accuses Tidmarsh of causing more than $350 million in damages to Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, a company making a kidney drug called voclosporin. The damages stemmed from a LinkedIn post Tidmarsh made, which said the drug had "not been shown to provide a direct clinical benefit for patients." The Journal described the statement as an "unusual" one for someone in Tidmarsh's position to make.

Tidmarsh's statement caused Aurinia's stock to drop by 20%, wiping out more than $350 million in the process, according to the report.

The report adds that Tidmarsh appeared to be going after Aurinia because of a feud with the company's board chair, Kevin Tang. The report indicates that Tang forced Tidmarsh to resign as CEO of a previous drug company before he joined the administration.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

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