Defense pushes Cohen on walking back guilty plea


Trump’s attorney is bringing up Cohen’s various statements after he pleaded guilty to tax crimes in which he appeared to walk back his admission of guilt.

In his book, Cohen called the charges “bogus,” and attorney Todd Blanche brought up how the witness at one point had even called one of his judges “corrupt” and “in on it.”

Cohen has repeatedly tried to clarify he doesn’t dispute the underlying facts of his guilty plea, but he believes he should not have been charged because he was not “given the same opportunities” as others to first correct any issues with his taxes.

“I did not believe that it was a crime that I should have been charged with,” Cohen said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Court takes morning break

The judge asked jurors to let the sergeant know if they cannot work next Wednesday.


8 minutes ago
Cohen admits he once wanted be pardoned by Trump: ‘I wanted this nightmare to end’

Michael Cohen said he once wanted Donald Trump to pardon him while Trump was president — despite telling Congress that he never asked for one in 2019.

“At that present moment, it was true. I wanted this nightmare to end," Cohen testified.

In his opening remarks to the House Oversight Committee, Cohen said at the time: "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump."

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/15/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped above 40,000 for the first time as investors bet inflation pressures would ease and interest rates would come down, allowing the bull market to march on.

The Dow
 was last up 127 points, or 0.3%. At its high of the day, the average touched 40,0051, the culmination of a bull market that began in October 2022. The index had neared the 40,000 mark earlier this year, before a slight April pullback on worries about high interest rates knocked it back down. The rally was rekindled in May on the back of strong earnings and some soft inflation readings.

The S&P 500
 rose 0.3% Thursday to a new record after closing above the 5,300 level for the first time ever on Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite
 also gained 0.3% to an all-time high. The Dow has climbed more than 6% for 2024, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are up 11% each.

“This achievement is a testament to the powers of capital formation, innovation, profit growth, and economic resilience,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management. “The recent technical momentum and fundamental strengths, including earnings and interest rates, suggest further near-term gains.”

It was Walmart that led the charge above 40,000 as the world’s biggest retailer popped 6% on strong fiscal first-quarter results. Walmart is now up 26% on the year.

The Dow’s march toward 40,000 comes as expectations of interest rate cuts and enthusiasm around artificial intelligence boost investor sentiment. The first Federal Reserve rate cut is priced in for September, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. That expectation grew after a smaller-than-expected increase in consumer prices for April was reported earlier this week.

On top of that, tech-related darlings such as Amazon
, Meta Platforms
 and Nvidia
 are all up sharply year to date.

Amazon, which just joined the more than century-old Dow in the first quarter, is up more than 22% for the year. Other top Dow performer this year include American Express and Goldman Sachs with both up more than 20% as investors bet the economy would skirt a recession and the consumer would remain strong.

Nvidia, which is not in the Dow, is leading the overall bull market and was up another 0.7% on Thursday. The AI chip maker is up 90% this year.