Articles written by Michael R. Sisak


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  • New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleads not guilty to taking bribes and illegal campaign contributions

    JAKE OFFENHARTZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK|Sep 27, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty Friday to federal bribery charges, firmly rejecting allegations that he accepted overseas travel, campaign cash and other perks from foreign interests seeking to harness his influence. Adams, a former police captain, entered the plea in a packed courtroom that's just a short walk from City Hall, which has been roiled in recent weeks by a cascade of investigations, searches and subpoenas. The first-term Democrat maintains he did nothing wrong and has vowed to stay in office, r...

  • Sean 'Diddy' Combs will stay in jail after bail is denied for a second time

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER|Sep 18, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Sean "Diddy" Combs is staying locked up after a judge Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul's proposal that he await his sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion instead of a grim Brooklyn federal jail. U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled that Combs' plan — which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors — was "insufficient" to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case. Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in jail,...

  • Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean 'Diddy' Combs is locked up: violence, squalor and death

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO|Sep 18, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — As they unsuccessfully fought to keep Sean "Diddy" Combs out of jail after his sex trafficking arrest, the music mogul's lawyers highlighted a litany of horrors at the Brooklyn federal lockup where he was headed: horrific conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths. Combs, 54, was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Tuesday — a place that's been described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy" — after pleading not guilty in a case that accuses him of physically and sexually abusing women for more t...

  • Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and PHILIP MARCELO|Sep 13, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial in his landmark #MeToo case, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing Thursday. The indictment will remain under seal until Weinstein is arraigned on the new charges, which could happen as early as Sept. 18. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg disclosed in court that the indictment charges "Mr. Weinstein with additional crimes" and that multiple accusers are prepared to testify against him. Wei...

  • US arrests reputed Peruvian gang leader wanted for 23 killings in his home country

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and FRANKLIN BRICENO|Aug 16, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — A reputed Peruvian gang leader suspected in nearly two dozen killings in his home country was arrested Wednesday in New York by U.S. immigration authorities. Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, the leader of "Los Killers" who is wanted for 23 killings in Peru, was arrested in Endicott, New York, about 145 miles (233 kilometers) northwest of New York City, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday. He is being held at a federal detention facility near Buffalo pending an immigration hearing, Immigration and Customs E...

  • What to know about the US arrest of a Peruvian gang leader suspected of killing 23 people

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and ELLIOT SPAGAT|Aug 16, 2024

    A South American crime boss wanted in the killings of at least 23 people in Peru was captured this week in New York, three months after U.S. immigration authorities arrested and then released him after he illegally entered the country at the Texas-Mexico border. The arrests Wednesday of Gianfranco Torres-Navarro and his girlfriend, Mishelle Sol Ivanna Ortíz Ubillús, ended an international search that gripped Peru in the wake of violence attributed to Torres-Navarro and his "Los Killers" gang. Their capture also raised questions about why the n...

  • George Santos pleads guilty, acknowledging lies and blaming ambition for conning his way to Congress

    PHILIP MARCELO and MICHAEL R. SISAK|Aug 16, 2024

    CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — George Santos, who spun lies about his life into an 11-month stint in Congress, pleaded guilty Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in a case that led to his expulsion from office and the admission that he'd allowed ambition to cloud his judgment. The former representative, 36, is likely to spend at least six years in prison and owes more than $370,000 in restitution. His guilty plea in federal court on Long Island came weeks before the case was to go to trial. He is to remain free on bond until he is s...

  • Biden signs bill strengthening oversight of crisis-plagued US Bureau of Prisons after AP reporting

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO|Jul 26, 2024

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday a bill strengthening oversight of the crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons after reporting by The Associated Press exposed systemic corruption, failures and abuse in the federal prison system. The Federal Prison Oversight Act, which passed the Senate on July 10 and the House in May, establishes an independent ombudsman to field and investigate complaints in the wake of sexual assaults and other criminal misconduct by staff, chronic understaffing, escapes and high-profile d...

  • Firefighter killed at Trump rally honored with bagpipes, gun salute and a bugle sounding taps

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and MARYCLAIRE DALE|Jul 19, 2024

    CABOT, Pa. (AP) — The keen of bagpipes, a three-volley gun salute and a bugle sounding taps pierced the air of a small Pennsylvania town on Friday as hundreds gathered to honor an ex-fire chief who was shot and killed at a rally for former President Donald Trump. Following funeral services for Corey Comperatore, large crowds of mourners waiting outside the Cabot Methodist Church fell silent as firefighters loaded his flag-draped casket onto a fire truck draped in black bunting. Three firefighters stood sentry on the back of the truck, trailed b...

  • Judge says Rudy Giuliani bankruptcy case likely to be dismissed. But his debts aren't going away

    MICHAEL R. SISAK|Jul 10, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — A judge said Wednesday he was leaning toward throwing out Rudy Giuliani 's bankruptcy case after lawyers for the cash-strapped former New York City mayor and his biggest creditors — two ex-Georgia election workers who won a $148 million defamation judgment against him — agreed this was the best way forward. The case has been roiled by creditors' allegations that Giuliani is flouting bankruptcy laws and potentially hiding assets. A dismissal would end his pursuit of bankruptcy protection, but it wouldn't let him off the hook for...

  • Trump to undergo probation interview Monday, a required step before his New York sentencing

    MICHAEL R. SISAK|Jun 7, 2024

    Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to be interviewed by New York probation officials Monday, a required step before his July sentencing in his criminal hush money case, according to three people familiar with the plan. Trump will do the interview via a computer video conference from his residence at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, the people told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to disclose the plans publicly. One of Trump's lawyers, Todd Blanche, will be present for...

  • Trump's lawyers ask judge to lift gag order imposed during New York trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK|Jun 5, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's lawyers are asking a New York judge to lift the gag order that barred the former president from commenting about witnesses, jurors and others tied to the criminal case that led to his conviction for falsifying records to cover up a potential sex scandal. In a letter Tuesday, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to end the gag order, arguing there is nothing to justify "continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump" now that the trial is over. Among other r...

  • Here's what you should know about Donald Trump's conviction in his hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JILL COLVIN|May 31, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president's historic hush money trial but the fight over the case is far from over. Now comes the sentencing and the prospect of a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process. And all the while, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still has to deal with three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House. The Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records after more than nine hours of d...

  • Jurors in Trump hush money trial end 1st day of deliberations after asking to rehear testimony

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 29, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — The jury in Donald Trump's hush money trial ended its first day of deliberations without a verdict Wednesday but asked to rehear potentially crucial testimony about the alleged hush money scheme at the heart of the history-making case. The 12-person jury was sent home around 4 p.m. after about 4 1/2 hours of deliberations. The process is to resume Thursday. Jurors also asked to rehear at least part of the judge's instructions meant to guide them on the law. The notes sent to the judge with the requests were the first burst of c...

  • Here's what every key witness said at Donald Trump's hush money trial. Closing arguments are coming

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 24, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — After 22 witnesses, including a porn actor, tabloid publisher and White House insiders, testimony is over at Donald Trump's criminal trial in New York. Prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two. Trump decided not to testify on his own behalf. The trial now shifts to closing arguments, scheduled for Tuesday. After that, it will be up to 12 jurors to decide whether prosecutors have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified his company's business records as part of a broader effort to keep stories a...

  • Defense rests without ex-President Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAKE OFFENHARTZ|May 22, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defense Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money criminal trial, moving the case closer to the moment when the jury will begin deciding his fate. "Your honor, the defense rests," Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge. Trump's team concluded with testimony from a former federal prosecutor who had been called to attack the credibility of the prosecution's key witness, one of two people summoned to the stand by the defense. The Manhattan d...

  • Michael Cohen pressed on his crimes and lies as defense attacks key Trump hush money trial witness

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 17, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — With prosecutors' hush money case against Donald Trump barreling toward its end, defense lawyers pressed former attorney Michael Cohen on his criminal history and past lies Thursday as they worked to convince jurors not to believe the star witness' pivotal testimony. As Trump looked on, defense attorney Todd Blanche peppered Cohen with questions about his own misdeeds, painting him to the jury as a serial fabulist who is bent on seeing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee behind bars. Whether the defense is successful...

  • Check stubs, fake receipts, blind loyalty: Cohen offers inside knowledge in Trump's hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and ERIC TUCKER|May 15, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn't until after a decade in the fold, after his family pleaded with him, after the FBI raided his office, apartment and hotel room, Michael Cohen testified Tuesday, that he finally decided to turn on Donald Trump. That decision led to a 2018 guilty plea to federal charges involving a payment to the porn actor Stormy Daniels to bury her story of an alleged sexual encounter with Trump and to other, unrelated crimes. And it's that insider knowledge of shady deals that pushed Manhattan prosecutors to make Cohen the star w...

  • Stormy Daniels delivers shocking testimony about Trump, but trial hinges on business records

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAKE OFFENHARTZ|May 10, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's defense attorney on Thursday accused Stormy Daniels of slowly altering the details of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, trying to persuade jurors that a key prosecution witness in the former president's hush money trial cannot be believed. "You made all this up, right?" attorney Susan Necheles asked. "No," Daniels shot back. As the jury looked on, the two women traded barbs over what Necheles said were inconsistencies in Daniels' description of the encounter with Trump in a hotel room. He denies the w...

  • Star witness Michael Cohen directly implicates Trump in testimony at hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JILL COLVIN|May 10, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's fixer-turned-foe, Michael Cohen, directly implicated the former president in a hush money scheme Monday, telling jurors that his celebrity client tasked him on several occasions to stifle stories about sex that he feared could torpedo his 2016 presidential campaign. "Stop this from getting out," Cohen, the prosecution's star witness, quoted Trump as telling him in reference to porn actor Stormy Daniels' account of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. A similar episode occurred when Cohen alerted T...

  • Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 8, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later. Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels, over the repeated objections of defense lawyers and occasional admonitions from the judge, offered a detailed and at times graphic account of an encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead as Daniels entered the c...

  • Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and PHILIP MARCELO|May 3, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president. A visibly irritated Trump leaned forward at the defense table, and jurors appeared riveted as prosecutors played the September 2016 recording that attorney Michael Cohen secretly made of himself briefing his celebrity client on a plan to buy Karen McDougal's story of an extramarital r...

  • Hope Hicks, ex-Trump adviser, recounts fear in 2016 campaign over impact of 'Access Hollywood' tape

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JAKE OFFENHARTZ|May 3, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's 2016 campaign was seized with worry about the potential political damage from a tape that showed Trump bragging about grabbing women sexually without their permission, longtime Trump adviser Hope Hicks testified Friday at his hush money trial. Hicks, a former White House official, was compelled to testify by Manhattan prosecutors, who are hoping her remarks bolster their argument that the uproar over the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape hastened Trump's then-lawyer to pay off porn actor Stormy Daniels to bury a ne...

  • Judge raises threat of jail in hush money trial as he holds Trump in contempt, fines him $9,000

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ|May 1, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. And if he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed. Prosecutors had alleged 10 violations, but New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found there were nine. Trump stared down at the table in front of him as the judge read the ruling, frowning slightly. It was a stinging rebuke of the R...

  • Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction is overturned by New York's top court

    MICHAEL R. SISAK and DAVE COLLINS|Apr 26, 2024

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York's highest court on Thursday threw out Harvey Weinstein 's 2020 rape conviction with a ruling that shocked and disappointed women who celebrated historic gains during the #MeToo era and left those who testified in the case bracing for a retrial against the ex-movie mogul. The court found the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren't part of the case. Weinstein, 72, will remain in prison because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. But the New York r...

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