Around Our Network
Hochul heads to the Vatican
With help from Shawn Ness
New from New York
Happening now:
- First the New York City mayor, and now Gov. Kathy Hochul is headed to Rome.
- A ‘Big’ Hall of Famer visited the state Capitol.
- The Adams administration was in Albany today to push for procurement changes.
- Rep. Nicole Malliotakis showed up outside the trial of former President Donald Trump.
THE POPE AND HOCHUL: Gov. Kathy Hochul will be jetting away to Rome this week for a climate conference hosted by Pope Francis.
She’ll be giving a 15-minute talk, titled “Climate Leadership in the Empire State: Building Resiliency for All,” at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Vatican City time.
The pontiff will hold an audience with the governor and other world leaders shortly after Hochul’s speech.
The governor’s trip to the Vatican comes just days after Mayor Eric Adams also visited the Holy See. (Adams and his team flew back from Rome today, after arriving on Friday).
The nearly back-to-back visits to the Vatican seem to be coincidental.
“Our goal for this trip is simple: strengthen international connections that will create economic opportunities for New Yorkers and a cleaner future for the next generation,” Hochul said in a statement.
Hochul, unlike Adams, is Catholic, and she frequently talks about her faith during public addresses.
The three-day summit will also be attended by California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey; the mayors of Boston, London, Rome, São Paulo, Paris, Athens and Venice; and other politicians and academics.
A main goal of the summit will be to create a “Planetary Climate Resilience protocol,” fashioned in the likes of the Montreal Protocol, and all the global leaders will sign their names to it. The document will then be submitted to the United Nations.
“This is a great opportunity for New York to discuss their climate bill and all the actions going on right now to reduce our climate footprint,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director at Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “This is a critically important meeting that can hopefully inspire other leaders to take action.”
It won’t be the first time the governor and the pope are side by side. In 2015, then-Lt. Gov. Hochul visited the White House on behalf of her boss, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for the pontiff’s first visit to the U.S.
“For me personally, as a Catholic, it was amazing to be in the presence of such a humble but inspirational individual,” Hochul said at the time.
Hochul spokesperson Avi Small said the trip is official business of the governor and will be bankrolled by the state.
“Climate change is a critically important issue to the Holy Father, and we are pleased that Governor Hochul will have a chance to possibly meet him and discuss this pressing matter period,” said Dennnis Proust, the executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference.
“Our hope is it would be a moment of grace for her as a Catholic to meet Pope Francis.” — Jason Beeferman
BIG PAPI TO ALBANY: Famed Yankees beater David “Big Papi” Ortiz stopped by the state Capitol today to be honored for his charitable work.
“My career as an athlete and off the field with the community, this is what people really love about me as a person,” Ortiz said. “It’s not just me as an athlete who was out there doing my thing.”
Sen. Luis Sepulveda – ironically a Bronx resident – invited the former Red Sox player to Albany and lauded his efforts with groups like the Maestro Cares Gala.
Ortiz said he’s always been a fan of the Empire State: “New York is a state that every Dominican has someone related to them here,” he said.
“The only fans worldwide who stop me and say ‘I love and respect you’ are the Yankees fans. No Dodgers fans, no other team’s fans, but the Yankees fans are the only ones who spread that to me.”
While he said he’s “very familiar with the Bronx,” he hadn’t been to Albany before. “I drive by a lot,” he said. The Capitol is “beautiful,” he said. — Bill Mahoney
ADAMS ASK: Adams has another ask for Albany.
Officials with the mayor’s administration were at the Capitol today to push for changes to procurement law to speed up construction of infrastructure and other projects.
“These tools, my colleagues in the rest of the country already have them,” said Tom Foley, commissioner at the New York City Department of Design and Construction, which is responsible for public building projects. “We need these tools… to build better, faster and cheaper.”
The delegation also included Meera Joshi, deputy mayor for operations, and Michael Garner, chief business diversity officer.
Lawmakers supporting the mayor’s agenda indicated they’re willing to give Adams more latitude than previous officials.
State Sen. Jim Sanders also said it might seem late in session for a push, but that Adams was successful last year in a late effort for changes related to minority and women-owned businesses. The session ends the first week of June.
“There’s no waiting for another year, there’s getting it done now,” Sanders said.
But some of the measures Adams’ officials were pushing haven’t even been introduced, including making the Department of Design and Construction into an authority and expanding design-build contracting ability. Two have been introduced: changes to the public hearing requirements (A8864/S7833) which has passed the Senate and changes to the New York State Insurance Fund (A7317/S7975). — Marie J. French
TRUMP ON TRIAL
THERE FOR TRUMP: Rep. Nicole Malliotakis showed her support for former President Donald Trump today at his Manhattan criminal hush money trial, helping to slam key prosecution witness Michael Cohen because a gag order prohibits the former president from doing so.
The Staten Island Republican accompanied Trump in court and then stood alongside Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to challenge the credibility of Trump’s one-time fixer.
“He’s a convicted, disbarred perjurer,” Malliotakis told reporters of Cohen outside the courthouse during a break in his testimony.
Prosecutors have said Cohen’s testimony can be corroborated with other evidence.
Malliotakis also assailed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democrat who has become a frequent foil for Republicans. She said Bragg should be focused on “actual crime.”
NYPD statistics show shootings and homicides have been trending downward in Manhattan since Bragg took office. — Emily Ngo
‘SEEING US:’ After a long public engagement campaign, the City of Buffalo and victims’ families of the racially-motived mass-shooting in Buffalo in 2022 have come to a decision on how to honor the lives lost.
“Seeing Us” will consist of 10 unique pillars inscribed with the names of the victims.
"As we approach the solemn two-year anniversary of when our neighbors were senselessly slaughtered solely because of the color of their skin, we rededicate ourselves in supporting the East Buffalo community, remembering those we lost, and supporting those who were injured,” Hochul said in a statement.
Ten Black people were murdered in a Tops grocery store after a white 18-year-old drove over 200 miles from his hometown in Broome County to the predominantly-Black neighborhood.
Twenty designs were submitted to the 5/14 Memorial Commission, which consisted of 11 members. Five were appointed by Hochul, five from local leadership and one agreed on by both. — Shawn Ness
FAITH COMMUNITY SUPPORTS COLUMBIA STUDENTS: The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York is creating a safe space for Columbia University students in the wake of recent pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, the seat of the bishop, is providing room for a daily lunch for students currently banned from the university’s dining halls, Bishop Matthew Heyd wrote in a newsletter to parishioners this morning.
The church is also hosting an alternative commencement for students next week.
Ryan Kuratko and Megan Sanders, college chaplains at Columbia and New York University, are also supporting their respective campuses.
“The Cathedral is providing safe and open space for everyone at a time when Columbia University is not safe,” Heyd said, adding that all events at the cathedral “are open to everyone.”
This comes as Columbia kicks off smaller graduation ceremonies in lieu of its university-wide commencement, which the institution canceled last week.
There have been no arrests at the cathedral so far, Heyd added, noting he instructed the church to not cooperate with the NYPD around the demonstrations.
The Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations — made up of committees that collaborate with representatives for the Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities — is scheduled to meet this week. The General Convention, the governing body of the Episcopal Church that includes bishops, will also weigh resolutions related to the Israel-Gaza war this summer.
“It’s my hope the Commission can facilitate a wider diocesan conversation about the Israel-Gaza war,” Heyd said.
He, along with two other bishops — who have denounced Israel’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Hamas militants as well as the taking of hostages — called for a cease-fire in Gaza as well as access to humanitarian aid.
The bishop was scheduled to meet with young adults in the diocese who have expressed concerns about the church response to the war later this morning. — Madina Touré
CHECK, PLEASE: The restaurant industry has a bot problem. And state lawmakers may try to crack down on it by the end of the legislative session June 6.
Assemblymember Alex Bores and state Sen. Nathalia Fernandez today pushed a measure that’s meant to address websites that scoop up a restaurant’s reservations and sell them to customers.
That’s costing restaurants, especially those in high-demand in New York City, big when there’s a no-show.
“It’s a lot like ticket scalping, but it’s even worse. Reservation being held by the bot system,” New York State Restaurant Association President and CEO Melissa Fleischut told reporters. “They staff up, they order all the food, they think they’re going to have a full restaurant.”
The measure backed by Bores is meant to differentiate between the legitimate online reservation services like Open Table and the websites — many using automated bots — that have no actual relationship with the eatery.
“It’s so important for us to be protecting not just consumers, but our small businesses and our restaurants,” Bores said. — Nick Reisman
LAWMAKERS SAY ‘NEIGH’ TO HORSE SLAUGHTER: One month after the nation’s strictest anti-horse slaughtering law went into effect in New York, two equine protection groups honored five of the lawmakers that helped get it passed.
The two groups selected chair of the Senate’s Racing and Wagering Committee Joseph Addabbo; Senate Agriculture Chair Michelle Hinchey; Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Chair Gary Pretlow; Assembly Environmental Conservation Chair Deborah Glick; and Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair Donna Lupardo were the five legislators honored.
The law banned the slaughter of all horses for human and animal consumption.
“After nearly 20 years of carrying this important bill, I am thrilled that New York has finally put an end to the horse slaughter pipeline that has run through our state,” Glick, a Manhattan Democrat and bill sponsor, said in a statement. — Shawn Ness
— An increasing number of school districts on Long Island are hiring armed guards. (Newsday)
— Two advocacy groups are suing the state claiming that inmates with disabilities were placed in solitary confinement. (Times Union)
— New York’s biggest teachers union is celebrating record school aid funding and pension changes. (POLITICO Pro)
Why America needs to know about Trump getting spanked in silk pajamas
The most powerful elected Republican in America declared war on the rule of law yesterday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Congress, on behalf of wannabee “day one” dictator Donald Trump, is going to use every power available to him and his colleagues to nullify America’s court system.
“President Trump has done nothing wrong here and he continues to be the target of endless lawfare. It has to stop. And you’re gonna see the United States Congress address this in every possible way that we can, because we need accountability. … All these cases need to be dropped, because they are a threat to our system.”
READ: Governor Kristi Noem didn’t have to shoot her dog — she wanted to
“All these cases” and potential future cases include Trump:
— Sharing secrets with Russia that burned US and US ally spies.
— Inciting rebellion against the United States on January 6th.
— Running his businesses from the White House while multiple foreign governments poured cash into his properties in violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.
— Stealing national defense secrets from the White House, transporting them to Florida and New Jersey, and then lying to the FBI about them.
— Raping and then threatening and defaming E. Jean Carroll.
— Criminally obstructing investigations into his campaign’s ties to Russia.
— Conspiring with Republicans in multiple states to defraud the American people with forged Electoral College certificates.
— Threatening Georgia’s Secretary of State with criminal prosecution if he wouldn’t “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”
— Violating campaign finance laws on multiple occasions.
— Committing tax and insurance fraud.
— Extorting a foreign leader to manufacture dirt on his political opponent.
And those are just Trump’s commonly known crimes; we haven’t yet begun to dig into other consequential crimes Trump committed to become president in 2016 and during his four years in office.
From his teenage years violating fair housing laws by marking rental applications for his father’s properties with a “C” for “colored” when Black people applied, to decades of business crimes including a fraudulent “university” and fake charity, to stealing money from thousands of employees and contractors, Trump has been a one-man crime wave his entire life.
And now, given the choice between throwing in with a career criminal or defending America’s criminal justice system, separation of powers, and the rule of law, today’s Republicans have chosen to throw in with the crook. Barry Goldwater and Everett Dirksen are rolling over in their graves.
The foundational genesis of the world’s modern democracies was established on June 15, 1215 when the lords and barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteeing they could only be imprisoned or stripped of their assets through an open and transparent legal process. It forced the British royal to submit himself to the rule of law.
For four hundred years the right of habeas corpus extended only to the British nobility, but a series of revolts in the 1600s extended it to “commoner” knights working for the king and to a few others. Over the next hundred years, these rights were more broadly applied in Great Britain and other European republics and, in 1789, to citizens of the United States.
And now one of America’s two political parties, following the example of nations like Russia and Hungary — whose leaders earlier this century rejected the rule of law in favor of oligarchy and autocracy — have similarly turned away from this 809-year-long tradition.
Republican democracy, as our Founders defined our nation, can’t survive in the absence of the rule of law.
John Adams was fond of quoting Aristotle’s saying that “no government can stand which is not founded upon justice.” He wrote the first draft of the Massachusetts constitution, and was particularly proud of his authorship of its Article XXX, which he frequently cited:
“In the government of the commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them; the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them; the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them; to the end that it may be a government of laws, and not of men.”
Republicans and rightwing hate media are hysterical about Stormy Daniel’s testimony yesterday in a New York City courthouse. Fox “News’” Kayleigh McEnany was particularly upset that Daniels was allowed to detail Trump’s extramarital romp:
“Imagine if you’re a juror on this case and you are a female juror and you are hearing these details. You cannot get that out of your mind.”
The simple reality is that all Americans should have heard, in the weeks before the 2016 election, about Trump’s coercing Daniel’s into having sex: If it had come out after the Access Hollywood tape, Hillary Clinton would have been our president, three rightwing cranks wouldn’t have been put on the Supreme Court, abortion would still be regulated by Roe v Wade, our democracy would be intact, and we’d be years ahead on getting climate change under control.
Instead, once Russian Intelligence learned that the Access Hollywood tape was going to be released on October 7, 2016 (fewer than four weeks before the November 5th election), it appears they — along with Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, and David Pecker — choreographed a series of efforts to refocus voters’ attention on Hillary Clinton and prevent the story of Trump’s previous philandering from coming out.
The Access Hollywood tape — which had been held by US news agencies for at least a day and probably several while it was being authenticated — dropped at 3:30 PM ET just 30 minutes after the DHS and DNI reported:
“The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations. The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts.
“These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process. Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.”
Stormy Daniel’s publicist immediately began pushing her story to The National Enquirer, with negotiations settling on $130,000 and a signed non-disclosure agreement executed on October 10th.
That same month, FBI Agent Charles McGonigal, who shared multiple connections to Rudy Giuliani and was later prosecuted and is now in prison for his work on behalf of a Russian oligarch, worked out of the FBI’s New York office and was in charge of the investigation into Trump’s connections to Russia.
His office repeatedly leaked damning false speculation about Hillary’s emails, leading Rudy Giuliani to tell Fox “News” on October 26, two weeks before the election:
“I do think that all of these revelations about Hillary Clinton are beginning to have an impact. I think [Donald Trump’s] got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises… We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.”
As The New York Post reported:
“It was agents of that [NY FBI] office, probing Anthony Weiner’s alleged sexting of a minor, who pressed Comey to authorize the review of possible Hillary Clinton-related emails on a Weiner device that led to the explosive letter the director wrote Congress.”
Two days later, James Comey caved to the pressure from McGonigal’s office, the media, Russian Intelligence, and Giuliani: He held a press conference on October 28th to announce a renewed investigation into Hillary’s emails. Trump rushed to the TV cameras and said:
“As you know I’ve had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong. Justice will prevail.”
Secretary Clinton was outraged, telling the media:
“We are 11 days out from perhaps the most important national election in our lifetimes. Voting is already under way in our country.”
With the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal stories safely buried by Trump’s conspiracy with Michael Cohen and David Pecker, as Nate Cohn reported for The New York Times, the “look at Clinton, forget about Access Hollywood” (my phrase, not theirs) campaign was successful:
“Mr. Comey’s letter came about one week after the third presidential debate and less than two weeks before Election Day. At that time, most polling averages showed Mrs. Clinton ahead by around six percentage points in national polls. A week later, her lead had declined to three points. …
“Late-deciding voters broke overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump, the exit polls showed, and the Comey letter and its disclosure of new information in the email investigation was a significant part of the news coverage over the last week of the election.”
Russia’s efforts and Trump’s criminal conspiracy cost Clinton the election and now, as Speaker Johnson told us yesterday, Republicans in the House of Representatives will be doing everything they can to bury that fact and generate a whole new set of distractions as we head toward this November’s election.
When it comes to seizing power, they are telling us that they believe the rule of law, and thus our democracy, is merely an inconvenient impediment to be brushed aside. They clearly understand the importance of yesterday’s testimony and these trials.
American democracy suffers — perhaps fatally — if their efforts (and Aileen Cannon’s) cause Trump to get away with his crimes and return to the White House.
Vote. And tell your friends.
NOW READ: Inside the Trump Crime Syndicate
