Trumps hush money trial. President biden raises tariffs on chinese imports to protect key u. S. Industries. Ignoring massive protests, georgias Parliament Enacts a law that says sets back democracy. The law will be very grateful for the Civil Society of georgia for the opposition of georgia. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. And friends of the newshour. Including kathy and Paul Anderson and camilla and george smith. Certified Financial Planner professionals are proud to support pbs newshour. Cfp professionals are committed to acting in the clients best interest. Cunard is a proud supporter of public television. On a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. A world of flavor, diverse destinations, and immersive experiences. A world of leisure and british style. All with cunards white star service. The john s and James L Knight foundation, fostering informed communities. More at kf. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Welcome to the newshour. The key witness in the manhattan criminal trial against former President TrumpMichael Cohen continued his testimony today. Further detailing the alleged scheme to hide the payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to protect candidate trump in 2016. During crossexamination, trumps legal team painted cohen as a man motivated by greed determined to convict trump no matter what. William brangham was in court and joins us from downtown manhattan. Mr. Cohen is arguably the most critical witness for the prosecution. His second day on the stand. What did he ask in his testimony . As you mentioned, he continued his testimony central to the charges, which is trump and others comped up this scheme to falsify Business Records to hide the fact they had paid Stormy Daniels to stay quiet during the campaign. And cohen repeatedly said he made those payments specifically to help Donald Trumps campaign and that donald trump has urged him to do so. He reiterated some of the details of that. He was shown invoices he sent to the Trump Organization asking to be paid for what he called a legal retainer and said these were for Legal Services, which he acknowledged he never provided any Legal Services during this period of time. He was shown each of those invoices at each of the checks by prosecutor susan hoffinger. Many of them signed by donald trump himself. Each of the check stubs said that this was for a legal retainer. This is the central allegation here, that these payments were not from legal work, and all of these records were knowingly falsified to hide the whole Stormy Daniels scheme. What about mr. Trumps role in all of this, given he was being charged . What did Michael Cohen have to say . This is a Central Point to this. There was not that much new today on that front. Cohen reiterated trump knew of and approved the broad outlines of this repayment to the scheme, and trump felt Stormy Daniels story getting out during the campaign would be devastating to him, and that he deputized Michael Cohen to deal with that. But there was no direct testimony today that directly linked trump to the exact detail of those financial payments. Prosecutors will likely argue as the head of the Trump Organization, it is likely trump looked at every single bit of business, every dollar that went out of his company. We have not heard directly donald trump knew of the granular details of these allegedly falsified Business Records. This was middle mr. Trump legal team, their chance to crossexamine Michael Cohen. How did they go about that. Trumps lawyer from the very minute tried to portray Michael Cohen as the profanity spinning insult machine. A man with this deepseated hatred of the former president , and now that Michael Cohen is a disbarred lawyer, is trying to support himself by capitalizing on that hatred by selling podcasts, subscriptions to tiktok, selling books, talking about his time with trump. Michael cohen admitted he made 4 million off of his first book, about a lot of his time with trump the defense team tried to say this was a man who adored donald trump and listened to a lot of testimony about how he used to love him, doing everything he good to be complement to buy trump and be credited by trump read now that he feels jilted and frustrated, and hes doing anything he can. And in public many times, understand he desperately wants to do. In the defenses, crossexamination, they did not touch on any of the central allegations. We expect that will happen on thursday. Both inside and outside, mr. Trump had very high profile supporters. Including the republican speaker of the house mike johnson trade you see another number of republicans who showed up to support him. What can you tell us about why they were there. There was a continuing parade yesterday and today of highprofile republicans coming to support donald trump to condemn the trial happening behind me. We saw a couple of senators who were here supporting trump. We saw vivek ramaswamy, the north dakota governor doug burgum, all three of those gentlemen i dont know if they coordinated this or not, but wearing the signature trump uniform of our redshirt and red tie. Seeing the speaker of the house, the man who was third in line by succession coming to manhattan to stand outside the courthouse a few feet from where im at right now to condemn the trial and to denigrate the witnesses in this, just incredibly striking moment. Hes soon to be officially the nominee of one of the major parties in our country running for president. They have him tied up in the ridiculous prosecution that is not about justice, it is all about politics. Having the speaker here supporting donald trump is again one more piece of evidence that the Republican Party of today is 100 Donald Trumps party. A very striking show support for the former president. Remarkable scenes inside and outside the courtroom. William brangham reporting from new york with us. Thank you. In the days other headlines, at least eight people were killed and Dozens Injured in a bus crash in central florida. 53 farmworkers were aboard headed to work when their bus collided with a truck, swerved off the road, and landed on its side. A florida Highway Patrol said it can takes months take months for what caused the accident. At this point, we are conduct a massive traffic homicide investigation. We have a full team and then some on the scene. This will be a very long and lengthy thorough investigation. We do not get in a hurry to conclude what happened until we get all the facts. The driver of the other vehicle involved was also hospitalized with serious injuries. At least three people have been killed in severe storms across a number of southern states. In louisiana, tornadoes toppled powerlines on monday night and flipped cars upside down. The region had already suffered weatherrelated damage this spring in one of the most active periods for tornadoes on record. The secretary of state is in ukraine to show support for the countrys war against russia. Hes the first u. S. Official to visit since Congress Passed the 61 billion aid package last month. He met with ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy today. He promised american arms will help beat back russian advances. The assistance is now on the way. Some has already arrived. More will be arriving. That will make a real difference against the ongoing russian aggression on the battlefield. We are determined with many other departments for ukraine to make sure you succeed on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the french president announced he will send a new military aid package to ukraine in the coming weeks. Russia struck the center of ukraines second second largest city, part of an increase of attacks. Authorities say 17 people were injured when a highrise residential building was hit. A fire broke out at the scene of another strike. Police carried out more evacuations of the region and say more than 7500 people have fled so far. A manhunt underway in northwestern france after a brazen ambush of a prison convoy that killed two guards and injured three others. A drug dealer known as the fly was being transported to jail when his van came under attack, as seen in this footage. He escaped and the assailants are at large. Hundreds of Police Officers are investigating the scene. Frances Prime Minister vowed to bring justice. Everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime. We will spare no effort, no means. We will track them down, we will find them, and they will pay. The escaped prisoner was recently convicted of burglary and is under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case. In the middle east, the united splaced in recent days aseena israel escalates attacks on both ends of the gaza strip. Most people are fleeing rafa in the south, where israel is targeting the last hamas stronghold. 100,000 people were also ordered to leave the north. In the meantime, the white house has condemned the burning of an aide convoy bound for gaza by israeli settlers. No food has made it through southern gazas two main border crossings in the past week. Harvard university reached an agreement with student protesters today to end the propalestinian encampment in the schools harvard yard. As part of the deal, University Officials agree to address calls for divestment and will begin the process of reinstating suspended students. The latest reading on u. S. Wholesale prices shows inflation remains stubbornly high. The Labor Department said his Producer Price index rose half a percent from march to april. That is more than expected. Compared to last april, prices were up 2. 2 . The biggest increase in a year. It tracks increases and are a good barometer of where inflation is heading. And on wall street, worries over the wholesale data were offset by comments from jerome powell. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 126 points to close at 29,558. The nasdaq rose nearly 123 points to close at a record high. The s p 500 tapped on 25 points. A literary passing of note. The canadian literary giant and Nobel Laureate with a master of the short story and one of the most esteemed writers of her time. Her best known fiction included the bigger made. In a statement, or canadian publisher said alice munro is a National Treasure her work leaves an indelible mark on her literary landscape she had been in poor health for years and often spoke of retirement, including in this clip from 2006. The thing about stopping writing. I say it with perfect honesty, i believe in it. I believe there is such a thing as a normal life. And that im going to find it somey. Fortunately for us, she kept writing. Her last work, a collection called dear life, came out in 2012. Alice munro was 92 years old. Still to come on the newshour. The Biden Administration seeks to change protections for Migrant Children in government custody. The editors from two digital only Community New sites talk about winning the Pulitzer Prize. When they look at the feud between Kendrick Lamar and drake. President biden announced a series of major tariffs on chinese imports. The worlds two largest economic superpowers are colliding over the future of electric vehicles and other industrial sectors. It comes about six month before the election as President Biden and former President Trump are battling to sell voters on their visions for the economy, manufacturing, and jobs. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. After reviewing former President Trumps tariffs on chinese imports, President Biden is adding to them. I want to fair competition with china, not conflict. We are in a stronger position to win the economic competition against china than anyone else because we are investing in america again. Hes targeting chinese manufacturing, especially green tech, hitting roughly 18 billion worth of goods annually. Including a more than 100 tariff on chinese electric vehicles, tripling the current amount. Tariffs will go up for solar cells to 50 . Lithiumion batteries, when he 5 . And chinese steel and aluminum products, 25 . Chinese authorities immediately called the u. S. Hypocritical. The United States is trampling on the principles of market economy and International Trade rules. It is a blatant act of bullying and hegemony. But biden is arguing china is far worse, a global trade manipulator. We will not let china flood our market. Biden means the electric vehicle industry. China is overwhelming some World Markets come a selling electric vehicles with a sicker price as low as 11,000. The Chinese State is making up the difference, artificially slicing prices. Europeans charge it may be illegal. In 2020, biden once said he would and previous chinese tariffs, but is expanding them while battling a political opponent who is aggressive on tariffs. Trump spoke in new york today. His speeches have long focused on chinese manufacturing as a threat. Both campaigns want to win in critical rust belt states. Trump wants much wider tariffs and tries to downplay bidens plan. As hes putting a 100 tariff on all chinese electric vehicles. Should have done this for years ago. But biden is not going to put this on their gasoline powered car or any other products. You have to go on other cars also. While se might win from tariffs, others are shuttering. The u. S. China Business Council said trumps tariffs and bidens new ones make it harder for American Companies to compete in the u. S. And abroad, cost american jobs, and increase prices. A heated u. S. Political fight is woven into an escalating global trade war. For the pbs newshour, lisa desjardins. For a closer look into the administrations thinking behind the new import taxes, we are joined by the treasury secretary, janet yellen. Welcome back to the newshour. Thank you so much. As you have seen, there have been experts, groups, the National Retail federation among them who have expressed concerns it would be the u. S. Consumers who eventually end up paying for these tariffs. Rising prices are the biggest concern right now. I ask to speak directly to them. Will American Consumers bear the cost of these tariffs . I dont believe American Consumers will see any meaningful increase in the prices that they face. President biden announced tariffs on roughly 18 billion of imports from china. They are very carefully targeted at sectors that we are supporting through legislation President Biden passed with congress. The clean energy sector, semiconductors, sectors where we consider it critical to create good jobs. We are seeing massive investment in manufacturing in these areas. We think it is very important to protect our workers and our firms in these strategic sectors for the kind of dumping that results when china develops massive overcapacity in these areas. And we are not alone. Japan, europe, mexico, india, brazil, south africa, other countries are all concerned. These are areas where the investments we are making will ultimately result in lower prices. I hear you saying they could end in lower prices. But you mentioned consumers may not see any meaningful price increase. Should people embrace for some price increase . I dont think anything will occur here that will be noticeable to the typical american family. Mainly these tariff increases serve to protect firms and workers that are being supported by the incentives, the tax incentives, and other incentives in the semiconductor and chips act and inflation reduction act. These are sectors where american firms are gearing up production, are very able to compete, but face an unlevel playing field. Your view on this has evolved. It was july 2021 where you are asked about the trump era tariffs on china and said they are taxes on consumers. In some cases it seems to me what we did hurt American Consumers. What changed between then and now . What we are talking about here are a targeted group of strategic sectors where we have developed a real overdependence on china. We have vulnerabilities in our supply chains, we have made it a National Priority to diversify our supply chains so we dont experience the same kinds of shortages that we did during the pandemic. And these are sectors that are core in the modern economy. This does represent an escala