Elections

Ms. James, New York’s attorney general, argued that the civil fraud judgment, which the former president has appealed, should stand. It could wipe out his cash reserves.The New York attorney general’s office late Wednesday night urged a state appellate court to uphold a more than $450 million civil fraud judgment against Donald J. Trump, arguing that the punishment was needed to protect “the integrity of the marketplace.”In a legal filing, the attorney general, Letitia James, defended a judge’s February ruling that Mr. Trump had conspired to inflate the value of his properties to receive favorable loans and other financial benefits. Mr. Trump, the attorney general’s office has argued, exaggerated his net worth by as much as $2.2 billion in any given year.“Mr. Trump indisputably participated in the fraud,” Ms. James’s office wrote in response to an appeal filed last month by Mr. Trump, adding that he, his adult sons and his company had “used a variety of deceptive strategies.”The response marked the latest phase of a battle between Mr. Trump and Ms. James that has spanned the better part of five years. The appeals court will hear oral arguments on Sept. 26 and its decision could come by year-end, coinciding with the final stretch of a presidential campaign that has pitted Mr. Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris.Ms. James, a Democrat who campaigned for her office on the promise of bringing Mr. Trump to justice, began to investigate the former president in 2019 and filed the lawsuit in 2022. Since then, Mr. Trump has lost nearly every step of the way. Even before the trial, the judge overseeing the case, Arthur F. Engoron, ruled against Mr. Trump, finding that he had committed fraud by inflating his assets.The trial was held largely to determine how much Mr. Trump, his company and his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. would owe the state. Justice Engoron was the decider — there was no jury — and after 11 weeks and 40 witnesses, he ordered Mr. Trump to pay $355 million plus interest, a total of more than $450 million.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

Night 3 of the Democratic National Convention is not lacking for stars of the small screen: Mindy Kaling is the evening’s M.C., and the “Saturday Night Live” stalwart Kenan Thompson made a cameo.But the appearance of one television icon was kept under wraps until she stepped onstage to deafening cheers from her hometown crowd: Oprah Winfrey, the talk-show host turned billionaire media mogul who built her career in Chicago.The fact that Ms. Winfrey, an inspirational figure for many women and Black voters, appeared at all represented a feat by aides to Vice President Kamala Harris.The television star had never before spoken at a national convention. Her message of uplift and optimism is a neat fit for the themes that Democrats have sought to emphasize at this week’s jamboree. And as far as political campaigns go, she has carefully picked her battles, withholding the Oprah seal of approval for all but a few candidates.In 2007, Ms. Winfrey endorsed a presidential hopeful for the first time: Barack Obama, a close friend and a compatriot from Chicago’s power circles. Ms. Winfrey hosted fund-raisers and barnstormed cities in Iowa to round up votes for Mr. Obama, who at the time seemed a long shot to win the nomination.In 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign sought to capitalize on Ms. Winfrey’s popularity by lobbying her for a full-throated endorsement. It never came. Ms. Winfrey mostly stayed away from politics that year, although she did tell one morning show interviewer, “I’m with her.”In 2018, Ms. Winfrey stirred speculation that she herself might seek the White House. A speech she delivered at the Golden Globes, where she was accepting a lifetime achievement award, was shared widely for its stirring delivery and approach to grand themes like sexism and racism in America.The conversation died down after Ms. Winfrey poured cold water on the idea of a run, but it highlighted the thirst among Democrats, in the midst of Donald J. Trump’s administration, for a media-savvy contender who could wave the party flag. More

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The agreement includes $70 million from the state, which needs legislative approval. Some lawmakers objected, calling for a more comprehensive solution with tech companies.Google, a news industry trade group and key California lawmakers announced a first-in-the-nation agreement on Wednesday aimed at shoring up newsrooms in the state with as much as $250 million.Through a mix of funding from Google, taxpayers and potentially other private sources, the five-year deal would let Google avert a proposed state bill that could force tech companies to pay news organizations when advertising appeared alongside articles on the tech company’s platform.The announcement was packed with praise for the effort to stabilize the news industry, which has faced layoffs and shuttered newsrooms as readership has shifted online.“The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.The trade group, the California News Publishers Association, called the agreement “a first step toward what we hope will become a comprehensive program to sustain local news in the long term.” The author of the bill, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, praised it for being a “cross-sector commitment” and called it “just the beginning.”A union representing journalists, however, denounced the deal as a “shakedown,” and lawmakers who had been working for months on more comprehensive proposals criticized its scope. Also, the president pro tempore of the State Senate, Mike McGuire, questioned legislative support for the state’s share of the deal, which would require approval as part of the annual budget process.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

The great-grandmother struggled with a man inside her car before being forced out and then struck by the vehicle, the police said. Her dog was later found dead in a recycling bin.An 80-year-old Seattle woman who worked as a neighborhood dog walker was killed on Tuesday morning when a man got into her car, forced her out, struck her with the vehicle and drove off with her dog, which he later killed with a knife, the police said.The woman killed in what the authorities said was a random attack was Ruth Dalton, a great-grandmother who the police said was “well-loved.”She was in her Subaru in the Madison Valley neighborhood with at least two dogs inside just before 10 a.m. Tuesday when a man got in from the passenger side, officials with the Seattle Police Department said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. The two struggled, and the moving car went off the road onto a grassy area.Nearby drivers stopped their cars and ran to help Ms. Dalton, the police said.One bystander backed away when the man pulled out a knife, but he returned with a stick or bat to help Ms. Dalton, the police said. By the time the bystander had run back to Ms. Dalton’s car, the man had already forced her out. The carjacker put the Subaru into reverse, crashed into two vehicles, struck Ms. Dalton and drove off, the police said.Others who were nearby rendered first aid to Ms. Dalton, and emergency workers with the Seattle Fire Department provided medical treatment, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.A memorial was created for Ruth Dalton, a dog walker who was killed during a carjacking in Seattle.Ivy Ceballo/The Seattle Times, via Associated PressWe 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

Brad Wiegmann’s puzzle theme is hard to pronounce.Jump to: Today’s Theme | Tricky CluesTHURSDAY PUZZLE — Constructors and puzzle editors are very good at writing tricky clues that misdirect solvers, but what do they do when they want you to pay attention to something specific in a puzzle?Today’s grid, constructed by Brad Wiegmann, offers a good example. I’ll talk more about that in the theme section.Today’s ThemeConstructors and editors have multiple ways to direct our attention to a special clue. Some clues include asterisks, some are capitalized and some are bolded. When you see a clue that fits one of those categories, assume that something tricky is up.Mr. Wiegmann’s theme consists of five phrases that are clued in unusual ways. How is an entry like EMMY AWARDS an answer to [MEDALS]? The last time I checked, Emmys were statuettes.But the puzzle makers wouldn’t just leave you hanging. There will always be a path to the correct answer. Try pronouncing the first two letters of each theme clue separately.M + E = EmmyNow look at the second word in the answer, AWARDS. [MEDALS] are types of AWARDS.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

Kellye SoRelle admitted to telling members of the far-right group to illegally delete their text messages after the mob attack.The former lawyer for the Oath Keepers militia pleaded guilty on Wednesday to advising members of the far-right group to illegally delete their text messages after the violent mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.At a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, the lawyer, Kellye SoRelle, admitted to charges that included tampering with evidence and illegally entering and remaining in a restricted area of the Capitol grounds.After Donald J. Trump lost the 2020 election, Ms. SoRelle, who is based in Texas, had close ties to the “Stop the Steal” movement, which claimed that Mr. Trump had been cheated out of a victory in his run against Joseph R. Biden Jr. She also served as the general counsel of the Oath Keepers and had a romantic relationship with the militia’s leader and founder, Stewart Rhodes, who was found guilty at a trial in Washington of seditious conspiracy for his role in the attack and sentenced to 18 years in prison.During Mr. Rhodes’s trial, prosecutors presented evidence that he and Ms. SoRelle worked closely for weeks organizing the Oath Keepers to descend on Washington on Jan. 6. The evidence also showed that she was present at a mysterious meeting in an underground parking garage near the Capitol on the day before the attack where Mr. Rhodes met with Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, another far-right group instrumental in the violence.On Jan. 6 itself, Ms. SoRelle accompanied Mr. Rhodes to the Capitol, although neither entered the building. Still, court papers say that after the building was stormed and dozens of Oath Keepers came under scrutiny by federal investigators, Ms. SoRelle advised Mr. Rhodes and other members of the group to delete encrypted messages from their cellphones.In the early days of investigation, Ms. SoRelle told reporters that she was cooperating with the Justice Department’s inquiry into the Oath Keepers’ role. She also spoke several times to staff investigators working with the House committee that investigated Jan. 6.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

It was a remarkably somber moment inside the arena as Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg spoke of their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a hostage in Gaza for more than 10 months — 320 days, as the tape on their shirts said.While the Israeli-Hamas war has been one of the only divisive undercurrents of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, delegates stood in rapt attention as Ms. Goldberg and Mr. Polin took the stage.The crowd chanted, “Bring them home,” and Ms. Goldberg doubled over in tears.“This is a political convention,” Mr. Polin said, “but needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue.”Mr. Goldberg-Polin, 23, is one of eight U.S. citizens in captivity in Gaza. Part of his left arm was blown off by a Hamas grenade as he was abducted on Oct. 7.Ms. Goldberg emphasized the diversity of the more than 100 hostages still in Gaza.“They are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists,” she said. “They are from 23 different countries. The youngest hostage is a 1-year-old redheaded baby boy, and the oldest is an 86-year-old mustachioed grandfather.”Mr. Polin ended with a plea for peace.“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East,” he said. “In a competition of pain, there are no winners.”Citing Jewish texts, he added: “Every person is an entire universe. We must save all these universes.” More