S&P Global cut its rating for Israel on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East escalate.
Israel's economy may suffer if there's a broad and drawn-out conflict, S&P said.
Moody's, another ratings agency, downgraded Israel for the first time in February.
S&P Global downgraded Israel on Thursday, warning that escalating tensions in the Middle East could affect its ability to repay debt.
The ratings agency cut Israel's sovereign credit score from "AA-" to "A+" while maintaining a negative overall outlook.
"The recent increase in confrontation with Iran heightens already elevated geopolitical risks for Israel. We expect a wider regional conflict will be avoided, but the Israel-Hamas war and the confrontation with Hezbollah appear set to continue throughout 2024," it said in a statement.
S&P forecast that Israel's overall deficit will rise from about 4% to 8% by the end of this year, mostly due to higher defense spending. It projected that net general government debt is likely to peak at 66% in 2026, and any broadening of the conflict in the Middle East could take an even bigger toll on the country's economy.
"A wider regional conflict, which is not our baseline scenario, could have a further material negative impact on Israel's security situation and, consequently, its economic, fiscal, and balance-of-payments parameters," S&P said.
The downgrade — which puts Israel's credit rating on the same level as countries including China, Bermuda and Kuwait — came as senior US officials told multiple outlets that Israel had struck Iran overnight. Tel-Aviv is yet to claim formal responsibility for the attack.
Another major credit ratings agency, Moody's, downgraded Israel for the first time in February, citing the impact that the ongoing war in Gaza could have on the country's finances.
The Israeli shekel fell 0.2% against the US dollar on Friday as markets digested both the downgrade and the reported strike on Iran, according to data from Refinitiv.
A stock image shows a tourist photographing the Gorner Glacier in Switzerland.
Roberto Moiola / Sysaworld via Getty Images
A Florida man received a $143,000 phone bill from T-Mobile after an overseas trip to Switzerland.
The charges were due to his phone not being set for international roaming, according to ABC Action News.
After legal intervention and media coverage, T-Mobile agreed to credit the entire amount.
A Florida man returned from a trip to Switzerland with his wife last September to discover he was facing an unexpectedly massive phone bill, Tampa's ABC Action News reported.
Rene Remund said that after returning home he received his bill from T-Mobile. He initially thought he was being charged $143 for sending photos and texts to family and friends from the Alps, according to the local news outlet.
But the actual charge was much higher — around $143,000 for 9.5 gigabytes of data used overseas.
According to Forbes, the average annual salary in Florida is $55,980, making the bill more than twice what an average worker makes each year in the state.
Remund had incurred thousands of dollars in daily roaming charges because his phone was not set up for international roaming, the report said.
Remund said he contacted T-Mobile, which confirmed the bill was indeed what he owed, per ABC Action News.
T-Mobile and Remund did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Remund enlisted an attorney, who wrote letters to T-Mobile's president hoping for a response, the local outlet reported. The attorney also contacted ABC Action News, which subsequently contacted T-Mobiles's corporate office.
The local news outlet reported that the carrier ultimately agreed to credit Remund's account for the entire month.
In a statement to ABC Action News, T-Mobile advised customers who may be on older plans to check to see if international roaming and data are included.
Remund reportedly said he always notifies T-Mobile before leaving the US for vacations, and this time visited a T-Mobile store to notify them of his travels.
He also told the news outlet that it was a huge relief to no longer be on the hook for the six-figure bill.
The amount of data Remund used isn't considered excessive. According to telecommunication company Ericsson, the North American monthly average data usage per smartphone was an estimated 25.9 gigabytes in 2023.
Swastika Chandra had her Uber account banned because of her name.
Uber eventually apologized to the Australian woman and reinstated her account.
Chandra said she's proud of her Hindu identity and her name and wouldn't change it for anyone.
An Australian woman was banned from using Uber after the company deemed her first name to be offensive.
Swastika Chandra tried to order food from Uber Eats last year, but when she typed in her name, a pop-up told her it violated the company's terms and she'd have change it, she told A Current Affair.
Uber's guidelines restrict names that contain potentially offensive words.
Swastika comes from a Sanskrit word meaning good fortune or well-being. It's a symbol that has been relevant to many religions across Asia, like Jainism and Buddhism, long before it was co-opted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and became associated with antisemitism.
"They don't know that the Hindus used it for thousands of years before Hitler used it in the wrong way," Chandra said. Her name was common in Fiji, where she grew up, and which has a large Indian population.
"I'm very proud of my name. I believe in the good that comes with it and I'm not changing it for anyone," she told ACA.
Five months later, Uber reinstated her account and apologized to Chandra. However, it took interventions by the Hindu Council of Australia and the New South Wales attorney-general, according to ACA.
"We have apologised to Ms Chandra for the inconvenience this caused her, and we appreciate her patience as we reviewed the matter, which took longer than we hoped it would," Uber told the program.
Uber is no stranger to these types of moderation issues. In 2021, it deactivated a number of accounts of transgender drivers over what it deemed to be fraudulent profile pictures taken after the drivers had transitioned.
The company also faced backlash last year after the owner of a Palestinian restaurant in Toronto said Uber Eats had suddenly labeled his restaurant as Israeli. Uber Eats previously told Business Insider that the "unintentional" issue had been fixed.
Mortgage holders are shelling out a record $2,800 on average to cover their monthly payments.
Mortgage costs have soared due to rising house prices and soaring interest rates.
Mortgage rates are at a five-month high after stubborn inflation dashed hopes for rate cuts soon.
The average home owner is now forking out a record $2,800 just to cover their monthly payment, as soaring house prices and surging interest rates have made it costlier than ever to own a home.
The median monthly mortgage payment has jumped 11% over the past year to hit $2,775 for the four weeks ended April 14, Redfin data shows.
That's an astounding 58% of the median pre-tax monthly income for full-time US workers of $4,773 in March — calculated by taking the government's latest weekly earnings figure and multiplying it by four.
Rising rates are largely responsible for the sharp increase in mortgage payments. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate spiked to a five-month high of 7.4% this week, per Mortgage News Daily. The upshot is that anyone taking out a mortgage to buy a home is paying a lot more every month than in the past.
The median sale price for homes has also jumped 5% in the past year to $380,250 — only about $3,100 short of the record high in June 2022, per Redfin. People are probably borrowing more to afford increasingly pricey homes, meaning they have to pay more each month.
The painful rise in mortgage costs is just one headache for households. Inflation spiked to a 40-year high of over 9% in the summer of 2022 and was still running at 3.5% in March, well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. That speaks to the rising cost of food, energy, rent, and other goods and services for consumers.
The Fed's response to surging prices has been to hike its benchmark interest rate from virtually zero to more than 5%. That has driven 30-year mortgage rates from about 3% at the start of 2022 to more than 7%, which has caused monthly mortgage payments to spike.
The rate hikes have also raised monthly payments for car loans, credit cards, and other types of debt. The result is that consumers face a double-whammy of painful price increases and steeper monthly interest payments.
Mortgage rates did ease earlier this year, but have rebounded as stubborn inflation has spurred the Fed to push back rate cuts.
The steep rise in mortgage rates has also frozen the US housing market, as prospective sellers are loath to give up lower rates they've locked in by listing their homes, and potential buyers are balking at near-record prices and chunkier monthly mortgage payments.
The affordability crisis contributed to sales of existing homes dropping 4.3% between February and March, the biggest percentage decline since November 2022.
The bleak picture has led some experts to predict a buying boom once rates fall. "Shark Tank" investor Barbara Corcoran has declared that house prices will "go through the roof" if rates drop by just a single percentage point, while investor Bill Pulte recently suggested they could spike 20% to a record $500,000 if the Fed cuts too soon.
As of Friday, the mysterious site had a simple message on it: "Forgiveness. Permission. Please donate to the Trussell Trust."
It then linked to a JustGiving page purportedly in support of a well-known UK food bank charity.
The JustGiving page has the message: "not meghan. hope meghan wouldn't mind."
A screenshot of the homepage of americanrivieraorchard.uk on April 19, 2024
americanrivieraorchard.uk
It adds: "thoughts with catherine. x" — a likely reference to Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, who announced on March 22 that she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
The maker of the page, who did not leave contact information, was unreachable for comment.
At the time of publication, the fundraiser had attracted more than £8,300, over $10,000, far exceeding its £1,000 target.
The Sussexes did not immediately respond to a BI request for comment, sent outside of US working hours.
Donors to the food bank used the comment section to pass on remarks about Meghan and Prince Harry.
"A worthy cause that the Sussexes would no doubt approve of," one donor wrote.
Another was a little more pointed: "Fantastic — No one needs 200 pound jars of jam — this is a brilliant cause and thankyou for diverting the uk website to real people not shallow lifestyle gurus."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attend the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards in May 2023.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
It's unclear what Markle plans to do with the American Riviera Orchard brand, but an associated trademark application says the brand intends to sell tableware, cookbooks, jams, and spreads.
The Trussell Trust, meanwhile, is the UK's leading food bank charity, supporting a network of 1,200 food banks across the country.
In a statement sent to BI, the charity's director of public engagement, Sophie Carre, said: "The charity is not connected with this website domain and have no knowledge of who set it up."
But she said that the trust would accept any donations that ensue, saying that "the money raised would not meet the requirements for rejection."
The Sussexes appear not to have learned lessons from previous cybersquatting efforts.
A man rides a motorbike past a billboard depicting Iranian ballistic missiles in service in Tehran on April 19, 2024.
-/AFP via Getty Images
An Israeli strike hit Isfahan in Iran, multiple outlets said, citing unnamed senior US officials.
It came after Iran fired drones and missiles at Israel in its first-ever direct attack.
The nature of Israel's response suggests it wants to limit the conflict, say analysts.
The relatively restrained nature of an apparent Israeli attack on Iran suggests that both sides are seeking to step back from the brink of a regional war, according to experts.
Several explosions caused by an Israeli attack were heard in the central province of Isfahan on Friday, unnamed senior US officials told multipleoutlets.
The exact nature of the strike, which hit key military targets, is unclear, they said. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that none of Iran's nuclear sites in the region were damaged.
Initial reports from Iranian officials suggest that Israel may have used small drones or quadcopters for the attack on Friday. However, US sources told CBS News that Israel used missiles.
"If the extent of Israel's retaliation is a small drone (quadcopter) attack inside Iran, the current escalation might be contained within the boundaries of the pre-7th Oct status quo," Andreas Krieg, an expert on the Middle East at King's College London, wrote on X.
It comes after more than 300 Iranian drones and missiles were fired at Israel on Saturday. That was itself a response to an Israeli strike on Iran's consulate in Damascus.
"I would actually think that we will be surprised and that things may very well wind down," Charles Miller, a security expert at Australian National University told The Washington Post.
"It seems that actually both sides want to be seen to be doing something without actually undertaking the risks of doing anything that's too provocative."
The terrorist attacks by Iran-ally Hamas on Israel on October 7 sparked the latest conflict in the Middle East, with Israel responding by launching an attack on Gaza and Iranian proxies in the region.
Krieg pointed to the fact that Iran's media had downplayed the attack, "suggesting they won't have to respond."
Iranian state media outlet Press TV posted footage of what it described as "a tranquil atmosphere in the Iranian city of Isfahan, with residents going about their usual routines, despite the recent explosions heard near the city."
Analysts on Israeli TV echoed that assessment.
"Israel can do elegant military maneuvers that are not noisy or cause significant military damage but which deliver the message Israel wants," Dana Weiss, a diplomatic affairs analyst for Israel's Channel 12, said, reported The New York Times. "And that is what we have seen them do."
If the use of drones is confirmed, it wouldn't be the first time Israel has targeted Iran using UAVs. In January 2023, Israel was accused of attacking a military factory in Isfahan in the same way.
Other analysts said the attacks were apparently designed to signal that Israel could do far more damage to Iran's nuclear program if it wanted.
There remain fears that the conflict between the countries could spiral into a broader regional war. Before Friday's strikes, Israel's Western allies had urged the country's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to be moderate in his response.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had previously warned in a CNN interview that the Iranian response to an Israeli attack would be "immediate and at a maximum level."
Soldiers from the Ukrainian 63rd Brigade are hiding artillery unit 2S3 Akatsiya, a Russian-made self-propelled howitzer of 152 caliber, on the firing positions as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 13, 2024.
Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu via Getty Images
The House is expected to soon vote on a long-awaited aid package including support for Ukraine and Israel.
The aid would be life-saving for Ukraine, helping resolve air defense and ammo issues.
Ukraine's current condition is dire, experts say, and this moment is critical for its future.
Ukraine currently faces a grim outlook. Its forces are lacking sufficient numbers, low on just about everything, fatigued from two years of war, and in some places, barely holding on. Russia, on the other hand, has rebuilt its strength and is launching brash and devastating attacks that could give it further momentum.
It's perhaps the most perilous moment for Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and it could either be fixed or worsened by US lawmakers in Washington DC, some of whom have been holding assistance hostage for months now.
"It's a remarkable situation that the US really has tremendous agency in determining the course of this year," Frederick Kagan, a senior fellow and the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, explained to Business Insider.
"And it comes down to, really, this package being so critical," he added.
Kagan's assessment is in line with other experts and analysts who have been increasingly sounding the alarms on the importance of US aid to Ukraine. In recent weeks, it seems concerns have spiked, as Ukraine feels the effects of diminished US support.
Many observers of the war agree: Ukraine's fate rests on US support, and the future of that critical assistance rests in the hands of Congress, which is about to put it to an important vote.
Ukraine faces serious problems that this aid package could fix
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the unit of the mobile air defense group shoot down enemy drones using the ZU-23-2 Soviet 23-mm twin anti-aircraft gun on April 16, 2024, in an undisclosed location in Ukraine.
Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images
It's been over six months since a $110 billion foreign aid package, which included roughly $61.4 billion for Ukraine, stalled in Congress. In the following months, Ukraine has urged the US to send more assistance, raising concerns about ammo shortages and Russia going on the advance against an ill-equipped Ukrainian defense.
As debates in Congress on aid continued into this year, Ukraine's situation got progressively worse. Now, potential scenarios that didn't seem likely months ago — such as the collapse of Ukrainian lines — are becoming plausible, Kagan explained.
The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in DC that is focused intently on the conflict, has been documenting recent Russian advances and consistently assessing that depleted US aid is severely hurting Ukraine's ability to defend itself.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers walk past destroyed cars at the site of a missile attack in Chernigiv on April 17, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine is currently facinga very bleak situation on the battlefield. The Ukrainians are low on artillery shells needed to keep Russian ground forces at bay, and they also lack sufficient air defenses, both systems and ammunition.
Additionally, manpower shortages are stretching the lines thin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law Tuesday that is aimed at overhauling Ukraine's mobilization rules, effectively making it possible to bring even older troops into a war already being fought by soldiers with an average age over 40.
And while Ukraine's been facing these issues for a months now, it has gotten severely worse — and continues to each day US assistance isn't approved. This aid package, however would provide immediate relief, experts argue.
"It will be life-saving," Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army major general and strategist, told BI just weeks after visiting Ukraine, calling the planned aid "an enormous shot in the arm," and not just materially, but also for morale.
If the stalled aid package is approved, it remains to seen how the rollout of aid will go. The US will likely pull out all the stops to get the most urgent requirements for the next few months — such as artillery, air defenses, and electronic warfare equipment, for example — to Ukraine as soon as possible. But it has got to get through Congress first.
Soldiers from the Ukrainian 63rd Brigade are shooting artillery rounds on the Russian positions from 2S3 Akatsiya, a Russian-made self-propelled howitzer of 152 caliber as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Lyman, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on April 13, 2024.
Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu via Getty Images
While US lawmakers have spent months debating Ukraine aid, Russia has been given a golden opportunity. Not only are its forces on the offensive, but it's been given time to reconstitute for future offensive operations. As the Russian war machine fires up, the army is putting pressure on Ukraine's defenses, seeing where it can potentially break through and seize territory.
"Russia is slowly building up its forces for future offensive operations in Ukraine," according to Franz-Stefan Gady, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. It continues, he explained, "to conduct probing attacks, intertwined with larger-scale assaults,"to set itself up with certain tactical advantages for operations later this year.
But there is also a clear immediate effect."The Russian military has been able to steadily press ahead and capture smaller swaths of territory in recent weeks," Gady said. The primary goal at the moment, though, appears to be to deplete Ukrainian forces.
An element of Russia's recent attacks have been air strikes on Ukraine's critical energy and defense infrastructure.
Along with slowly grinding down Ukrainian defenses, "Russia is also conducting a sustained campaign of air and missile strikes against critical infrastructure and other targets in various parts of Ukraine in an attempt to deplete Ukrainian air defenses," likely an attempt to "give Russian airpower more freedom to maneuver to engage Ukrainian targets at the front line in support of larger-scale ground operations later this year," Gady said.
As Ukraine struggles, Russia has achieved certain manpower, industrial, and materiel advantages. The top American general in Europe said last week that Russia has just about "grown back" its military strength to what it was when it invaded, while experts like Ryan have said it is "more dangerous" now than it was then.
"You can't deny that the effectiveness of the Russians has improved since the beginning of the war," Ryan said. There are still weaknesses and vulnerabilities, but ultimately, "two years of war has actually made the Russian military probably a better organization than what it was when it started."
And the longer that the war against Ukraine goes, the more they're going to learn. Experts like Kagan have warned that the Russians will pose a greater threat to NATO if they win this war.
Ukraine is stuck waiting to see how things turn out as it fights to survive
Ukrainian soldiers fire with the Archer Artillery System on Russian position on January 3, 2024, in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
Photo by Roman Chop/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
When House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson unveiled the long-awaited foreign aid package earlier this week and announced a vote possibly as soon as this weekend, he was met with expected resistance from some of the usual staunch Republican opposers, who called on Johnson to promote a stronger bill on border security along with the foreign aid assistance.
Such a deal has long been the proposed compromise between Democrats and Republicans. One massive, bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill notably failed in Senate back in February. A $95 billion bill for security assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, however, passed in the Senate shortly after.
Johnson's planned foreign aid package comes in at a similar cost and includes about $61 billion for Ukraine. More than a third of that would be directed toward replenishing weapons and ammunition for the US military.
A Ukrainian soldier with the nickname Dragon shows the fatigue of months of fighting without a break, as the rest of the tank crew make adjustments to a captured Russian T-72B tank, as they drive it toward the northeastern Kharkiv region frontline on a road to Izyum, Ukraine, on September 28, 2022.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images
Aid to Ukraine is complicated, and the assistance packages have typically included military aid, humanitarian assistance, money for Ukraine's government, and funds for US operations related to assisting Ukraine. In the short term after a package is approved, the US transfers both US weapons and some purchased from allies to Ukraine. It also gets the funds to replenish its stockpiles and buy new weapons from defense contractors.
Both the Pentagon and the White House have long explained to Congress that these aid packages create and fuel defense production jobs across the country.
In the long term, the provided US aid allows Ukraine to purchase weapons which may need to be manufactured and, therefore, take a bit more time to secure.
Complications aside, the packages, like the one in the House, have profound effects. If this assistance passes, Kagan said, there's high confidence "that the Ukrainians would be able to slow and ultimately stop this Russian offensive and then very likely would be able to conductcounteroffensive operations to regain territory" likely next year.
Where US support for Ukraine goes from here
Ukrainian soldiers of a tank unit continue their military mobility to prepare for combat as the Russia-Ukraine war continues after the 2nd year anniversary in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 01, 2024.
Jose Colon/Anadolu via Getty Images
Whether the aid package passes or not, it's quite clear that American lawmakers — and voters — remain divided on the US role in supporting Ukraine.
That conversation "is part of a larger debate about America's place in the world," Ryan said. Those who may not see the need for the US to be involved in the security concerns of other countries, he said, may be short-sighted, overlooking the destructive consequences if Ukraine loses.
And a loss for Ukraine is a very real possibility. CIA Director William Burns said that without aid "there is a very real risk that the Ukrainians could lose on the battlefield by the end of 2024," and even Zelenskyy has acknowledged retreat and a loss could be the outcome without further support. The ramifications of that could be dire.
Experts, officials, and analysts have long warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin is ultimately successful in achieving victory in Ukraine, it could have serious consequences, not only for the people of Ukraine, but for others globally. A win for Russia could embolden it to take further aggressive action and potentially encourage others, like China and North Korea, to throw their weight around, stirring further tensions and conflict.
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – 2023/07/01: A protester holding a placard gathered on Union Square in support of Ukraine and to call for more weapons and ammunitions to be sent to Ukraine to help defeat Russia.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
A victorious Russia could take its war towards NATO, possibly leading to a devastating and large-scale conflict directly involving the US.
"Americans really need to understand that we are standing on a fundamental precipice," Kagan said. Cutting off assistance to Ukraine, which could lead to its loss against Russia, will not only jeopardize American security, he said, but also "actually significantly increase the likelihood that Americans will have to enter wars ourselves."
Kagan wrote something similar earlier this week, noting that "the US thus has only two real choices today. It can quickly resume providing military aid to let Ukraine stabilize the front lines near the current locations. Or it can let the Russians defeat the Ukrainian military and drive toward the NATO borders from the Black Sea to central Poland. There is no third option."
Johnson himself told reporters something similar earlier this week, saying that, "to put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys."
Elon Musk at Tesla's Cybertruck delivery event in November.
Tesla
Tesla is voluntarily recalling almost 4,000 Cybertrucks, NHTSA said.
The affected vehicles have a fault with their accelerators that could cause the pedal to jam, it said.
Tesla said it was not aware of any collisions, injuries, or deaths related to the fault.
Tesla is voluntarily recalling almost 4,000 Cybertrucks over a fault with their accelerators, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
The recall covers all Cybertruck vehicles made between November 13, 2023, and April 4, 2024. NHTSA said that this included an estimated 3,878 vehicles, all of which it said would have the defect.
"When high force is applied to the pad on the accelerator pedal, the pad may dislodge, which may cause the pedal to become trapped in the interior trim above the pedal," NHTSA said in the recall report, noting that this could increase the risk of a collision.
NHTSA said that the fault had occurred because of an "unapproved change" to the vehicle's production in which soap had been added to the component assembly. "Residual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal," it said.
NHTSA said in the recall report that Tesla received its first alert from a customer about the fault on March 31 and got a second just days later. After conducting an assessment, Tesla decided on April 12 to voluntarily recall the vehicle, NHTSA said.
Tesla will fix or replace the accelerator pedal assembly on the recalled Cybertrucks at no charge, NHTSA said. Owners will be notified mid-June, it said. Cybertrucks at delivery centers will also be fixed or have their parts replaced.
As of April 15, Tesla said it was not aware of any collisions, injuries, or deaths related to the fault. "We are just being very cautious," CEO Elon Musk posted on X on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the owner of a Cybertruck said in a viral TikTok video that part of his accelerator pedal came loose while he was driving and got stuck on "full throttle."
The first Cybertrucks were delivered to customers in November after a series of delays. The electric pickup truck has a base price of $60,990 for the rear-wheel drive model, though this model is yet to be released to the public.
Are you affected by the Cybertruck recall? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.
Good morning. An Israeli strike hit Iran on Thursday night, per multiple reports that cited US officials. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
We did get a preview of Trump's potential defense: "Some accountant" handled the paperwork he's on trial for, Trump told reporters. And there have been some great courtroom sketches.
However, things are set to heat up in the coming weeks.
The trial is focused on 34 felonies alleging the Trump Organization's business records were falsified to hide other crimes. That might not seem spicy. But prosecutors say some books were cooked, in part, to hide a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
That means Daniels will eventually take the stand and likely testify that she had sex with Trump in 2006.
How Trump, who has steadfastly denied there was a sexual encounter, reacts will be interesting to see. The former president has previously been reprimanded for his courtroom outbursts.
Pool/Getty Images
The trial is expected to take about six weeks, wrapping up in late May or early June.
Trump's legal team still has appeals underway regarding the case. But a mid-trial stoppage would be highly unlikely, according to legal experts.
So, barring a hung jury, that basically leaves one of two outcomes:
Trump gets acquitted. From a legal perspective, this would be the least complicated. But a win in the hush-money trial doesn't mean Trump is out of the woods. He faces three other criminal trials related to the 2020 election and the holding of classified documents, all of which are still in the indictment stage.
Trump is found guilty on some or all charges. Here's where things get tricky.
Trump will almost certainly appeal the conviction. In the meantime, there is nothing in the Constitution preventing a convicted felon from running for president. In fact, it's happened before, but both candidates were longshots.
Still, Trump might not be able to vote for himself come November. Convicted felons in Florida, where Trump is registered to vote, are disenfranchised until after completing their sentences.
Which gets to the bigger question: Could Trump actually see jail time?
Trump's campaign is suggesting as much, texting supporters that he "could be locked up for life." But legal experts Business Insider spoke to said the former president likely won't spend time behind bars.
But if Trump did go to jail and won November's election…
No one seems to know how a sitting US president could run the country from a jail cell. And while Trump could pardon himself as president, that only applies to federal crimes and has never been done before.
3 things in markets
Peter Zelei Images/Getty Images
The Fed wants you to know it will not be rushed into a rate cut. Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said the central bank's policy will eventually loosen up, "but we don't have to do that in a hurry." New York Fed President John Williams is in a similar boat: "I definitely don't feel an urgency to cut interest rates."
Speaking of annoyingly high rates… Mortgage rates have spiked above 7% again. That coincides with the housing market screeching to a halt, as March saw the largest monthly drop in existing home sales in over a year.
These six stocks are set to benefit from the AI data center boom. It takes massive data centers to train and distribute large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for public use. Bank of America highlighted six stocks to buy if you're looking to take advantage of the trend.
3 things in tech
Rebecca Zisser/BI
Meet Y Combinator's newest group partner. David Lieb, the man who led Google Photos to 1 billion users, is stepping into the role. His move comes after a year and a half of advising at the startup accelerator.
Google just made a huge company shakeup. CEO Sundar Pichai announced a series of reorgs in an effort to move faster in AI. As a result, Demis Hassabis, Google's DeepMind chief, has gained more power, and the head of Pixel will also oversee Android.
Is tech dealmaking back? Bankers and venture capitalists nibbled on caviar sushi and sipped champagne and sake at the closing dinner of the Jefferies Private Investor Conference, BI's Ben Bergman writes. There was talk of a comeback for IPOs and M&As, and plenty of buzz about generative AI being a new catalyst for rising tech valuations.
3 things in business
Eddie Mulholland/Pool via AP; Alyssa Powell/BI
ALICEs abound. More Americans are becoming ALICEs, an acronym for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. The growing demographic earns too much to qualify for government assistance but not enough to afford daily life.
Samsung execs reportedly got a schedule change — and not a fun one. Executives now have to work six days a week, according to the Korea Economic Daily. It's a shift into "emergency mode," brought on by economic headwinds and underwhelming 2023 results.
Netflix's password-sharing crackdown is working. The streaming giant added more than 9 million subscribers over the first quarter, smashing Wall Street's expectations. That bodes well for Disney and Warner Bros., which plan to follow suit later this year. But Netflix's shares still tumbled in premarket trading after it posted a disappointing revenue outlook.
I was put on a PIP after working at my company for 10 years, so I decided to quit.
After not being able to find a new job, I retired at 58, and it's been a mix of both good and bad.
I sometimes wish I could have kept working, but I am enjoying retirement.
After working in my position for nine years as a communications specialist for a healthcare association headquartered in Chicago, I was put on a performance improvement plan (PIP) during my 10th annual job review.
"Has my performance changed so much from my last exemplary review?" I asked, knowing that my previous review had been conducted by a former boss who was no longer at the company.
She said all employees were pressured to improve their skills and efforts. As a result of the PIP, I was sent to the human resources department to fill out paperwork outlining how my boss would closely supervise my work. I had three months to improve.
As a 58-year-old, I worried about what this would mean for my career, but it became an opportunity for me to retire early.
I walked away from the job I had held for nearly a decade
I signed all the paperwork with HR and went back to my boss. I wanted to ensure she understood what was happening and get additional guidance on avoiding termination. I started to get nervous.
After an uncomfortable meeting with human resources the following day, I left the company voluntarily. I did not want to stick around to see how this situation worked out; I felt I already had enough information to know my days there were numbered.
Leaving my job with no plan was unsettling. My normal approach would not be so rash. I prefer to have a plan and know my next steps. I especially worried about my financial situation.
I went on several interviews, but I felt forced to retire
Shortly after I left the association, I started working part-time for a vendor I had previously done business with. I started to apply for full-time positions and go to interviews. Many of these interviews went well but somehow never resulted in an offer. I wondered if it was because I was close to the retirement age.
I could have continued working for the vendor, but the money was not worth the effort and the long commute. Meanwhile, my personal life was getting complicated. My daughter wanted help planning her upcoming wedding, my mother needed more oversight as she approached 90, and I craved more freedom to travel.
So, I decided to retire — in my 50s.
Being a young retiree has its pros and cons
I'm younger than most retirees by almost a decade — which is a blessing and a curse.
I decided to keep freelance writing. I also started writing a longer project about my father's teenage experiences as a Holocaust survivor, so having more time was welcome. In addition, I began volunteering as a docent at the Newseum, which brought me a lot of satisfaction.
Plus, being young enough to do some adventure travel is a nice perk, and I enjoyed going on an African safari and bike trips to California's wine country. It was also helpful to have extra time to help plan my daughter and son's weddings and be involved in all the pre-wedding activities. Having time to do what you want is a definite benefit of being a young retiree.
Sometimes, though, I wish I wasn't a young retiree.
I can't help but feel I still had a few more years left of full-time work in me, so I sometimes regret retiring so young. A person's late 50s and early 60s is a good time to build up one's Social Security account because they are generally peak earning years. So, from a financial viewpoint, I feel like retiring early could have been detrimental for me.
I'm also worried I will quickly lose grip on technological advances. Those advancements easily become part of your regular work environment, but as a retiree, I'm worried I'll fall behind.
Either way, I wonder if my age played a role in all of this
In the end, it all worked out, but I do wonder if my age was the cause of all of this.
According to the AARP research, "Two in three adults ages 50-plus in the labor force (64%) think older workers face age discrimination in the workplace. And among them, all (90%) believe (it) is common in the workplace."
I won't ever know for sure if I was put on a PIP because of my age, nor will I know if I struggled to find a new job for the same reason, but I now stand by my decision to retire and start a new phase. After all, I was given the opportunity to reinvent myself and try new things.
Retirement is a time of rediscovery and transformation, and exploiting that opportunity is the best way to win the game of life.