TRUMP ON TRIAL: Former White House Press Secretary Hope Hicks broke down on the witness stand yesterday as she testified as a prosecution witness against her former boss, Donald Trump. 

  Admittedly nervous and unhappy to be a prosecution witness, Hicks became emotional on cross examination when answering questions about her years working for the Trump organization in New York, on the 2016 campaign, and at the White House. 

  Trump is on trial for 34 felony charges of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal involving the porn star Stormy Daniels.

  Hicks damaged the Trump defense describing him as a micromanager obsessed with his public image. She said it seemed implausible that Trump’s legal fixer, Michael Cohen, would pay Daniels for her silence without the then-candidate’s approval.

  She also said Trump mentioned that payoff years later. “Mr. Trump’s opinion,” she said, was that “it would have been bad to have that story come out before the election.”

  Hicks spoke about tamping down various scandals for Trump, including the release of the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump said you could freely grab women by the privates, although that’s not the word he used.

  Hicks said she knew it would be a massive story and that she advised other aides to “deny, deny, deny” even though the tape was undeniably real.

INDICTED: Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife have been charged with taking part in a $600,000 bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, according to a federal indictment unsealed in Houston. 

  Cuellar is a more conservative anti-abortion Democrat who occupies a critical swing district.

  The accusations against Cuellar, 68, and his wife Imelda, 67, stem from their efforts on behalf of an oil and gas company owned by Azerbaijan’s leaders as well as an unnamed bank based in Mexico City. The couple says they are innocent and will fight the charges. 

  Payments to Cuellar and his wife from 2014 to 2021 were laundered through “sham consulting contracts” and shell companies owned by the congressman, who performed “little to no legitimate work” under the contracts, the indictment says.

  Cuellar is also accused of acting as an agent of a foreign entity while a US government official.

THE BIG ISSUE: South Dakota and Missouri are on the cusp of joining 10 other states with abortion rights measures on the November ballot.

 Abortion rights groups in Missouri turned in more than double the 172,000 signatures required to get their bill on the ballot. Activists in South Dakota also announced that they had turned in many more signatures than required.

  Among other states with abortion measures on the ballot are Arizona and Nevada, swing states where Democrats hope the issue will help to rally voters around Joe Biden.

THE WAR ROOM: A top United Nations official says that northern Gaza is now in “full-blown famine” after more than six months of a food blockade and war between Israel and Hamas militants. Cindy McCain, the American director of the UN World Food Program, said “It’s horror” in an interview to air tomorrow on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There is famine,” she said, “full-blown famine in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”

  More than 34,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks to wipe out the Hamas militants who rule Gaza.

HOOP DREAMS: Former Iowa star Caitlin Clark last night scored a team high 21 points for the Indiana Fever in her debut WNBA appearance during a pre-season 79-76 loss to the Dallas Wings. Clark’s opening shot was a 28-foot three-pointer. 

  Clark performed before a sellout crowd of 6,521 at College Park Center in Dallas.

THE SPIN RACK: The New York police revealed that a sergeant in the Emergency Services Unit accidentally fired his gun during the re-taking of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. No one was hit. — The bodies of three missing surfers, two Australian brothers and an American, have been found near a popular Mexican surfing resort just 8o miles south of San Diego. Police have three suspects, including a woman found with a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the surfers. — Amidst changing opinions about a centuries-old tradition, Spain’s Culture Ministry said it is getting rid of its national bullfighting award as attendance dwindles and concerns about animal welfare are in the rise. Diehard bullfighting fans are outraged.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Kristi Noem, the dog shooting governor of South Dakota, tells a tale in her new memoir about meeting the dictator of North Korea.

  “I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders — some who wanted our help, and some who didn’t,” Noem writes about her time in Congress. “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all). Dealing with foreign leaders takes resolve, preparation, and determination.”

  Oooh, he must have been scared. One thing though … it never happened. She never faced down the man with an arsenal of nukes. Noem’s publishers say the story will be eliminated in future editions. But she really did shoot her dog. 

For an audio review of the week’s news, click here.

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