Friday Briefing – The New York Times

Trump is guilty on all counts

Donald Trump has been convicted of all 34 felony counts in a criminal case stemming from a hush-money payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. He is the first American president to be declared a felon, a stain he will carry as he seeks to regain the presidency.

The 12 New Yorkers who made up the jury heard weeks of tawdry testimony describing tabloid deal-making, a sexual encounter between Trump and the porn star Stormy Daniels, and the $130,000 payoff that kept her silent.

Prosecutors contended that Trump had engaged in a fraud against the American people, arguing that he had falsified records related to the reimbursement of his onetime fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid her out of his own pocket.

After hearing the verdict, Trump did not visibly respond, my colleague Jonah Bromwich reported from the courtroom. But once outside, he recited a now-familiar litany of complaints: that the judge was biased, that the prosecutors brought the case to keep him out of the White House, and that he should have been granted a venue change because of how liberal-leaning Manhattan is. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5, by the people,” Trump said.

The jury’s decision is an indelible moment in America’s history, concluding the only one of four criminal cases against Trump likely to go to trial before Election Day. Sentencing has been set for July 11, four days before the beginning of the Republican National Convention.

Details: The felony conviction calls for a sentence of up to four years behind bars, but Trump may never see the inside of a prison cell. He could receive probation, and he is certain to appeal the verdict. It may be years before the case is resolved.

But no matter the sentence, nothing prevents a felon from running for president or serving in the White House. And Trump is already leveraging the verdict for his campaign, painting himself as the victim of a Democratic cabal. Shortly after he was found guilty, Trump’s campaign emailed out a fund-raising appeal calling him a “political prisoner.”

If the former president is sentenced to prison, the Secret Service — which is required by law to protect former presidents — would go with him. Here’s what that could look like.

Biden will allow Ukraine to use U.S. weapons in Russia

The Biden administration has decided to allow Ukraine to strike inside Russia with U.S.-made weapons with the aim of blunting Russia’s attacks in the Kharkiv area, senior American officials said yesterday.

The decision follows weeks of discussion with the Ukrainians after Russia began a major assault on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city. U.S. permission is intended solely for strikes on military sites in Russia being used to attack the Kharkiv area.

The Russian military has been hitting the area around the city with artillery and missiles fired or launched from inside Russian territory, and the Ukrainians have asked the Americans to give them greater leeway, an American official said.

The leaders of NATO, France and Germany had recently urged the U.S. to make that decision. In internal administration discussions, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, also supported the move.

In Germany’s east, the G.D.R. Museum Pirna hosts a May Day event where people can celebrate Communist-era cars. They’re smaller and less powerful than their Western counterparts — the Trabant had a reinforced cardboard chassis — but they are sources of both local pride and political discontent.

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ARTS AND IDEAS

What makes a museum?

New York City’s new Banksy Museum does not own or display any actual Banksys — just reproductions. It charges $30 for admission, just like the Met, but even in the loose sense of the word, it’s not really a museum.

But it’s an interesting thought experiment: Does street art still function when removed from the street? Can an artist be anti-establishment while still fetching millions of dollars at auction?

Ultimately, the Banksy Museum is the kind of thing Banksy himself might produce to mock the market’s fetishization of street art. In many ways this endeavor proves his point: Art has become inseparable from commerce.

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