Elections

The stakes will be high on Thursday when a judge in Atlanta seeks to determine whether the Fulton County district attorney, Fani T. Willis, should be disqualified from leading the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump on election interference charges.If Judge Scott McAfee determines that Ms. Willis has a conflict of interest because of her romantic relationship with the prosecutor she hired to manage the case, and that it merits disqualification, his decision would, by extension, disqualify her entire office.The case would then be reassigned to another Georgia prosecutor, who would have the ability to continue with the case exactly as it is, make major changes — such as adding or dropping charges or defendants — or to even drop the case altogether. The latter decision would end the prosecution of Mr. Trump and his allies for their actions in Georgia after the 2020 election, when the former president sought to overturn his loss in the state.It would be up to a state entity called the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find someone else to take up the case. More specifically, the decision would fall to the council’s executive director, Pete Skandalakis, an experienced former prosecutor.In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Skandalakis said that he could ask a prosecutor to take on the Trump case voluntarily. But he could also appoint a prosecutor to do the job — whether they wanted to or not.Mr. Skandalakis said he could also try to find a lawyer in private practice to replace Ms. Willis. But that is an unlikely scenario, he said, because he could only pay such a lawyer roughly $70 per hour.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Plus: a guide to LED bulbs, an elegant hotel in Majorca — and more recommendations from T Magazine.Step by StepThe Dutch Designer Sabine Marcelis’s Beauty RegimenLeft: Sabine Marcelis has collaborated with La Prairie since 2021, mentoring young artists and creating objects and installations for the brand. Right: clockwise from top left: Davines Oi conditioner, $47, us.davines.com; Diptyque Paris Mimosa candle, $74, diptyqueparis.com; La Prairie Skin Caviar Harmony L’Extrait, $860, laprairie.com; Susanne Kaufmann Bath for the Senses, $70, susannekaufmann.com; Byredo Blanche eau de parfum, $205, byredo.com; Davines Minu hair serum, $30, us.davines.com; MAC Cosmetics MACStack mascara, $28, maccosmetics.com; Chanel La Palette Sourcils brow wax and brow powder duo in 02 Medium, $52, chanel.com.Left: courtesy of La Prairie. Right: courtesy of the brandsI shower and wash my face with La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo Milky Cleanser. I like to use body washes that I bring back from my travels to remind me of those trips: I have this Kokum Almond Cleansing Shower Oil that I got on a trip to India that smells so good. Because I dye my hair, it’s quite thirsty — I use L’Oréal Professionnel Purple Shampoo to keep the yellow out, and Davines Oi Conditioner. I always use Davines Minu Hair Serum when I blow dry my hair and finish with Oi Oil.La Prairie’s Skin Caviar Liquid Lift wakes my skin up. For moisture, I use Skin Caviar Luxe Cream and then every second or third day, I’ll put on Skin Caviar Harmony L’Extrait. I feel like it’s feeding my skin. For makeup, I basically only wear a light bronzer to even out my skin tone, mascara and a little bit of an eyebrow wand. This New Zealand brand called Thin Lizzy has a 6in1 Professional Face Powder Compact that I’ve used for 18 years. I’ve tried to find fancy alternatives, but there’s just nothing as good as this. For mascara, I use MACStack; the eyebrow wand is MAC Eye Brows Big Boost Fibre Gel. If I’m going out, I like to wear Chanel lipstick in a hard-core vampy red, like the shade 57 Rouge Feu, with a gloss. Or I have a Chanel brow product that I’ll put on my eyes quite heavily. All day long I wear Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm. I was recently on a work trip to Atlanta and picked up a new flavor, Cucumber Mint. I use Byredo Vetyver Lotion on my body, and in the studio I have La Prairie Cellular Hand Cream to give my hands a bit of attention after I’ve done labor- intensive stuff.At night, I wash my face with water, and just before going to bed I put on Skin Caviar Nighttime Oil. I love the way it smells. For perfume, I’m currently wearing Byredo Blanche. I like the fresh cottony smell of that. My friends have this brand called Aeir and my boyfriend wears their Virgin Olive scent; another one we like is Grand Rose. He layers them. I’m a big bath person and I have this supernice oil from Susanne Kaufman. I smell delicious afterward and my skin is so nourished. My favorite scent in the whole world is mimosa. When I can’t get that smell from the flower itself, I like to burn Diptyque’s candle. I also have this maple syrup candle that is insanely good. A lot of wintry smells are spicy and this doesn’t have that at all — it’s still fresh.Stay HereA 17th-Century Palace Turned Serene Small Hotel in Palma, MajorcaThe lounge, and behind it the open kitchen, at Portella, a 17th-century palace that’s been transformed into a 14-room hotel in Palma, Majorca.Bárbara VidalMajorca’s creative renaissance might be easiest to access in its capital, the city of Palma, a short direct flight from European cities like London and Paris. Ambitious restaurants, world-class galleries and independent boutiques are tucked between Gothic and Art Nouveau architecture and, in the last decade or so, several historic palazzos have been transformed into exceptional boutique hotels. The latest is Portella, a 14-room property opened this week by the brother-and-sister team Enrique and Inés Miró-Sans (she previously launched Casa Bonay, a fashionable hotel in Barcelona) and designed by the Paris-based design duo Festen. Hugo Sauzay, a co-founder of Festen along with his partner, Charlotte de Tonnac, says the couple intended to create “an oasis of calm and green in the city.” They drew on the history of the 17th-century palazzo, which is near Palma’s 11th-century Arab baths. Ten of the bedrooms include a small kitchen, but otherwise each is unique. One has a Joan Miró lithograph hanging over a long, cobalt blue couch surrounded by vintage Moroccan chairs. De Tonnac and Sauzay worked with local artisans such as the heritage glass company Gordiola to create a number of bespoke pieces. Visitors can spend time in the larger open kitchen on the ground floor or in the leafy courtyard, both closed to the general public. “We want guests to feel like it’s their home,” says Inés Miró-Sans, “but the most idealistic and indulgent version of one.” From about $320 a night, portellapalma.com.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

This Manhattan project is the latest from the British designer Kit Kemp, who is known for her fanciful interiors.Despite being one of the most coveted residential neighborhoods in Manhattan, TriBeCa has long had a dearth of beautiful places to stay. That changed this month when the London-based Firmdale Hotels opened its third New York property, the 57-room Warren Street Hotel. However, unlike the red brick structures that surround it, this building is painted a bright cerulean. TriBeCa offers just the right mix of “artists, designers, families and a sprinkling of Hollywood glamour,” says Kit Kemp, Firmdale’s co-founder and creative director, whose interior design studio also has its own furniture and accessories line. “We wanted to build something that contributes to this narrative in a bold and exciting way.”Inside, Kemp’s signature aesthetic — all colorful, mismatched patterns, whimsical Pierre Frey wallpaper and dramatic sculptures (a monumental 21-foot-long steel, bronze and plaster piece by the British artist Gareth Devonald Smith looms above the bar) — defines the public areas, along with pieces by some of her other favorite artists and craftspeople. A tapestry made from recycled paper beads by the Ugandan mixed-media artist Sanaa Gateja hangs near the main entrance, and the Argentine designer Cristián Mohaded’s sculptural basket towers appear throughout the lobby.A ground-floor restaurant will serve dishes such as heirloom carrots with pistachio gremolata in a Thai coconut curry, and a sunchoke risotto with chanterelles, as well as afternoon tea. Outdoors, the Brooklyn-based Brook Landscape has designed meadowlike vistas on the terraces of some suites, with a variety of grasses, cherry trees and ferns. For Kemp, bringing nature into an urban environment was perhaps the most rewarding aspect of the project: “You can sit in the drawing room of a suite overlooking a garden, or even in the bath, watching the flowers grow.” Rooms from $925 a night, firmdalehotels.com. More

Car No. 53 took a special Valentine’s Day ride up Nob Hill, stopping at the hotel where Bennett debuted “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” in 1961.Susan Benedetto, left, and Mayor London Breed enjoying a ride on cable car No. 53, which was dedicated to Tony Bennett.Jim Wilson/The New York TimesCable car No. 53 took a special Valentine’s Day ride up Nob Hill in San Francisco on Wednesday morning, including a stop outside the Fairmont Hotel, where the car was officially dedicated to the singer Tony Bennett, who died in July at age 96.It was inside that hotel — at the Venetian Room, in 1961 — that Bennett first publicly performed his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” with its lyrics about cable cars climbing halfway to the stars. The tune still stirs pride and nostalgia in many San Franciscans, and the Giants play it after every home victory.The dedication, attended by Susan Benedetto, Bennett’s widow, added to a recent string of positive news about the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates the city’s buses, streetcars and light rail lines.Not long ago, the agency’s director, Jeffrey Tumlin, was worried that it was barreling toward a “fiscal cliff,” when it would run out of money and have to make big cuts in service.But like a cable car climbing steep California Street, the agency’s fortunes are slowly rising.The system now has 71 percent of the ridership it had before the pandemic, Tumlin said, which is fairly high compared with other public transportation agencies in the Bay Area. The figure for weekend ridership is even better, at 86 percent. Some bus lines have more riders than ever before, and Tumlin said the system’s three historic cable car routes, loved by tourists, were once again fairly full.“The cable cars are thriving,” he said. “Everyone who visits San Francisco is apparently getting on our cable cars.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

At the heart of the effort to disqualify the prosecutors in Donald J. Trump’s election interference case is the argument that the romantic relationship between Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and Nathan J. Wade, the special prosecutor she hired, created a conflict of interest.That argument has been put forth primarily by Ashleigh Merchant, the lawyer for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official and a co-defendant in the case. Ms. Merchant accuses the district attorney of hiring Mr. Wade after they became romantically involved, and notes that the pair took several vacations together that were paid for by Mr. Wade.But Mr. Wade says the romantic relationship began after he was hired. And according to Ms. Willis, they “roughly divided” the costs of the trips.Ms. Merchant said in a recent court filing that the pair had “personally enriched themselves off the case.” That enrichment, she wrote, “is a form of self-dealing, which creates a personal interest in the case. In other words, the more work that is done on the case (regardless of what justice calls for) the more they get paid.”That personal interest, she added, is “at odds with the district attorney’s obligation to seek justice.” Ms. Merchant and other defense lawyers have also argued that the situation violates various laws and the State Bar of Georgia’s rules of professional conduct.Some legal observers have rejected out of hand the idea that the relationship and Mr. Wade’s financing of the couple’s vacations amount to a conflict of interest under Georgia law. But the presiding judge in the matter, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, has indicated that he thinks that it is at least possible that such a conflict exists, depending on what additional details emerge in Thursday’s hearing.“The state has admitted that a relationship existed,” Judge McAfee said earlier this week. “And so what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit — again, if there even was one.”He said that even “the appearance of” a conflict could lead to disqualification. More

A long-running network of accounts, known as Spamouflage, is using A.I.-generated images to amplify negative narratives involving the presidential race.A Chinese influence campaign that has tried for years to boost Beijing’s interests is now using artificial intelligence and a network of social media accounts to amplify American discontent and division ahead of the U.S. presidential election, according to a new report.The campaign, known as Spamouflage, hopes to breed disenchantment among voters by maligning the United States as rife with urban decay, homelessness, fentanyl abuse, gun violence and crumbling infrastructure, according to the report, which was published on Thursday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit research organization in London.An added aim, the report said, is to convince international audiences that the United States is in a state of chaos.Artificially generated images, some of them also edited with tools like Photoshop, have pushed the idea that the November vote will damage and potentially destroy the country.One post on X that said “American partisan divisions” had an image showing President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump aggressively crossing fiery spears under this text: “INFIGHTING INTENSIFIES.” Other images featured the two men facing off, cracks in the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and terminology like “CIVIL WAR,” “INTERNAL STRIFE” and “THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.”The campaign’s artificially generated images, some of them also edited with tools like Photoshop, have pushed the idea that the November vote will damage and potentially destroy America.via XWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

An Atlanta judge on Thursday will examine whether Fulton county prosecutors charging Donald Trump and his allies over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia had improper romantic relations that merit being disqualified from bringing the case.The eventual outcome of the hearing – expected to take over two days before the presiding Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee – could have far-reaching implications for one of the most perilous criminal cases against the former president.Trump’s co-defendant in the Georgia 2020 election interference case, Michael Roman, is seeking to have the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis and her top deputy, Nathan Wade, disqualified as a result of their romantic relationship because it constituted a conflict of interest.If Roman is successful in having Willis relieved from bringing the case, it would result in the disqualification of the entire district attorney’s office, throwing into disarray a prosecution that has already been roiled politically since the allegations were made last month.The district attorney’s office has vehemently rejected the claim that the romantic relationship gave rise to a conflict, arguing in court filings that there was no impropriety under the law and there was no financial benefit to either Willis or Wade, as has been alleged.McAfee allowed the hearing to go forward after he decided on Monday that there was the possibility of conflict that he wanted to resolve. “It’s clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one,” he said at a hearing.The judge is not expected to immediately rule on the matter. The anticipated two-day proceeding is what is known as an evidentiary hearing, where both sides are expected to call witnesses to testify in open court under oath.During the potentially fraught hearing, McAfee is expected to delve into three principal issues to tackle the conflict of interest question: whether Willis financially benefited from hiring Wade, when the romantic relationship started, and whether the romantic relationship was ongoing.The main focus of the hearing is likely the testimony of Terrence Bradley, a former partner at Wade’s law firm, and those of Willis and Wade. McAfee rejected a request from the district attorney’s office to quash their subpoenas but ruled out getting into Wade’s legal qualifications.The allegations first surfaced in an 8 January motion filed by Roman’s lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who complained about a potential conflict of interest arising from what she described as “self-dealing” between Willis and Wade as a result of their then-unconfirmed romantic relationship.Roman’s filing, in essence, accused Willis of engaging in a quasi-kickback scheme, where Wade paid for joint vacations to Florida and California using earnings of more than $650,000 from working on the Trump case. The filing also alleged the relationship had started before he was hired.The filing itself, however, provided no concrete evidence that showed alleged self-dealing. At the time, Merchant said her information was based on confidential sources and information in Wade’s divorce case. Yet when the divorce records were unsealed, there was similarly no concrete evidence.After declining to address the allegations for a month, the district attorney’s office acknowledged on 2 February that Willis and Wade had been romantically involved but only after he had been hired as a special prosecutor, and insisted there was no financial benefit because travel costs had been split.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe lawyer for Roman told the judge on Monday that she could undercut that characterization with testimony from Bradley. Indeed, the central thrust of the allegations appear to be buttressed by Bradley; the judge referred at one point to Bradley as the defense’s “star witness”.But special prosecutor Anna Cross, another top deputy on the Trump case who is also representing the district attorney’s office in the matter, told the judge Bradley’s recollections were either fabricated or misrepresented, and was restricted in what he could say because of attorney-client privilege.Whether Willis will be disqualified remains uncertain. Legal experts have generally suggested the evidence to date – there has been almost none, bar Wade’s bank statements showing he paid for a couple of trips – did not show an actual conflict of interest.The potential problem for Willis is that she was previously disqualified from investigating the Georgia lt governor Burt Jones over a lower legal standard of “appearance of impropriety”, after she publicly endorsed Jones’s political rival in that re-election race.The allegations have also threatened to turn the case into political theatre. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has derided the prosecution as scandal-plagued in addition to his usual refrain that the criminal charges against him are a political witch-hunt. More

Are Rich Katz and Teddy Katz pulling a disappearing act on us?Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — If you are here after trying to solve today’s crossword by the father-and-son team of Rich and Teddy Katz and you have gotten yourself into a tizzy, come sit right here next to me. We’re going to make sense of this.Oh, and you’re not seeing things. More about that later.Rich Katz, Teddy’s father, has had three puzzles in The New York Times, and today the younger Mr. Katz makes his Times Crossword debut. Their constructor notes suggest that the theme was Teddy’s idea, and it’s an exciting one. I hope we see more from both Katzes soon.Today’s ThemeBefore we get started with the theme, let us take a moment to admire two constructors, both named Katz, who decided to make a crossword in which we are not completely sure whether the letters in the circled squares need to be there or not. Get it? Katz/cats? Schrödinger puzzles? Is this thing on?Even if you don’t appreciate that duality, stay tuned. This is an impressive theme nonetheless.Anyway, the theme revealer at 32A is DOUBLE OR NOTHING, clued as “Risky wager … with a hint to the letters in this puzzle’s circled squares.” There are five circled squares in the grid, and each one needs a double-letter rebus to complete both the Across and Down answers.Or does it?Let’s look at the intersection of 19A and 3D. The answer to 19A’s “Disturb, in a way” is RIPPLE, with the double P entered in the circled square. At 3D, the answer to “Sat on a clothesline, say” is DRIPPED.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More