A jury ordered Donald Trump to pay over $83m in damages to E. Jean Carroll for defaming her. Last year Mr Trump was found liable of sexually assaulting Ms Carroll, a writer, in the 1990s. He had denied her accusations, and attacked her repeatedly online and during his time in the White House. The barrage continued even during the trial’s closing arguments, as Mr Trump’s social-media account issued insults against Ms Carroll and the presiding judge. The sum awarded Ms Carroll on Friday well exceeds the $24m that her lawyers had requested. Mr Trump called the verdict “absolutely ridiculous”.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, cast doubt on the fortunes of a bipartisan border deal in a letter to colleagues. The rumoured draft proposal, he said, would have been “dead on arrival” in the House—and appears to be stalled in the Senate. Mr Johnson reiterated his support of some provisions in HR2, a Republican-sponsored hardline immigration bill that Democrats resoundingly rejected.
Joe Biden paused America’s pending export permits for liquefied natural gas. The approvals process will be resumed once his administration draws up new criteria to assess environmental effects. The decision affects more than a dozen planned terminals around the Gulf of Mexico. The proposed projects would collectively result in 3.2bn tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions a year, according to one study.
An investigation by the Justice Department found that Andrew Cuomo, the former Democratic governor of New York, subjected women to a “sexually hostile work environment” and retaliated against employees who spoke out. It bolsters the conclusions reached by New York’s attorney-general, Letitia James, who found in 2021 that Mr Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women, prompting him to resign. He has denied all allegations.
Kenneth Eugene Smith, a convicted murderer, became the world’s first person to be executed by nitrogen gas. Appeals by his lawyers to the Supreme Court, claiming cruel and unusual punishment, failed. Three states, including Alabama, where the execution took place, have approved nitrogen for executions because of difficulties in sourcing lethal-injection drugs.
MoveOn, a liberal fundraising and advocacy group, unveiled a $32m strategy to boost Democrats’ election chances in 2024. It aims to keep Joe Biden in the White House and return control of the House to Democrats by invoking the spectre of Donald Trump. It will target what it calls “surge voters”—people who were drawn into politics only after the 2016 election.
Polling suggests that just 27% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s handling of immigration. More than twice as many say they trust Donald Trump. Illegal immigration across America’s southern border has become a huge liability for Mr Biden in the run up to November’s election. The Economist’s data team created ten charts showing how the border crisis developed over several administrations.
Daily quiz
Every weekday we’ll quiz you on one question about American politics.
The weekly winner, chosen at random, will be announced here on Fridays.
This week’s winner is Tim Graham.
Figure of the day
32%, the percentage of Americans aged between 18 and 29 who said they regularly got their news on TikTok in 2023. Read our story on the new age of the news anchor.
HEARD IN THE LONE STAR STATE
—Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, in a radio interview earlier this month
Read all of our recent coverage of the 2024 election.
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