Category: Business Insider

• Porn star Stormy Daniels said she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, which Trump has denied.
• She's at the center of Donald Trump's trial in New York related to a $130,000 hush-money payment.
• During her testimony Tuesday, Daniels said she was scared and ashamed after having sex with Trump.

Porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is at the heart of the years-long investigation into former President Donald Trump's finances — a probe that led to the unprecedented indictment of Trump earlier this year.

Porn star and director Stormy Daniels says she met President Donald Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006, and the two allegedly began an affair. He was married to Melania Trump at the time, who had just given birth to their son Barron.

Just weeks before the 2016 presidential election, Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 so Daniels would keep silent about the alleged affair, which Trump has denied.

In January 2018, news of the hush money broke, and Daniels was thrust into the national spotlight.

Nearly five years after the Manhattan district attorney's office was reported to be eyeing criminal charges related to the hush-money payment, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump last month at the conclusion of an investigation into the former president's finances.

The former president surrendered himself on Tuesday where he was booked and arraigned on 34 felony charges. 

Here's what you should know about Stormy Daniels:

Daniels was born and raised in Louisiana.

She started stripping as a teenager and soon entered the porn business.

In 2002, she became the lead actress in a film for Wicked Pictures, a porn movie studio based in California.

She has won numerous awards for her roles as both a performer and a director in adult scenes and films.

She has also had minor roles in more mainstream movies, including "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Knocked Up," and "Finding Bliss." She appeared in the Maroon 5 music video "Wake Up Call" in 2007.

Sources: The Daily Beast, YouTube

She's been married four times.

Her current husband is fellow adult film actor Barrett Blade.

Source: Daniels' Instagram

Before her marriage to Blade and ex-husband Brendan Miller, Daniels stirred a bit of controversy after it was revealed that she was having a baby girl with her former boyfriend.

Source: The Daily Beast

In a 2012 interview, she addressed those who thought she was not fit to be a mother: "It’s just all the negativity towards the adult industry in general, or people's fear," she said.

Source: The Daily Beast

In 2009, she considered entering politics and challenging Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who had been accused of engaging with a prostitute, for his seat. She told a reporter at the time that while she doesn't think she's the best person for the job, "I just think I'm a better choice than the senator they already have."

Source: New York Daily News

That same year, she was arrested for a domestic violence misdemeanor following a dispute with her then-husband.

Source: The Huffington Post

She ultimately decided to not run for the Senate.

But in January 2018, she reemerged on the political scene, although perhaps not the way she had planned. The Wall Street Journal reported that she was paid more than $100,000 in hush money over an alleged sexual encounter with President Donald Trump over a decade ago.

Source: WSJ

In an interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" after Trump's 2018 State of the Union speech, Daniels refused to answer questions about the payment. Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, initially denied the existence of any payment.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

In February 2018, Cohen admitted that he personally paid Daniels the money.

"Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly," Cohen said. "The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone."

In response, Daniels' manager said Cohen's admission invalidates a non-disclosure agreement her client signed that forbid her from speaking publicly about the money. The manager said things have changed. "Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story."

Source: Associated Press

Then on March 6, 2018, Daniels sued Trump, arguing that he never signed his portion of the agreement. The lawsuit also said "attempts to intimidate Ms. Clifford into silence and 'shut her up' in order to 'protect Mr. Trump' continue unabated."

Source: Business Insider

Daniels began to tell her side of the story about her and Trump's alleged 2006 affair in a "60 Minutes" interview that aired on March 25, 2018.

Source: Business Insider

She told Anderson Cooper a man threatened to keep quiet about her relationship with Trump in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011. Daniels also wouldn't rule out that there may be photos or videos proving she had an affair with Trump.

Source: Business Insider

In April, 2018, Trump publicly acknowledged the $130,000 payment to Daniels for the first time by denying he knew about the payment or where the money came from.

Source: Business Insider

The FBI seized records of the $130,000 payment to Daniels and recordings of phone calls between Cohen and Daniels' lawyer during a raid on Cohen's office and home in April 2018.

Source: Business Insider

Also in that month, Daniels released a sketch of the man she says threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot to stay quiet about her affair with Trump in 2011.

Source: Business Insider

Outside of a Manhattan courthouse, Daniels said Cohen "acted like he is above the law" and "played by a different set of rules." "That ends now," Daniels said.

Source: Business Insider

In a stunning admission, Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the president was aware of the $130,000 payment to Daniels at the time and reimbursed Cohen in installments over several months as part of Cohen's salary.

Source: Business Insider

Trump responded to Giuliani's comments by saying that the payment was legal and that his lawyer would "get his facts straight" on the Daniels case.

Source: Business Insider

In a highly criticized statement, Giuliani took aim at Daniels' credibility: "If you're a feminist and you support the porn industry, you should turn in your credentials. I respect women—beautiful women and women with value — but a woman who sells her body for sexual exploitation I don't respect."

Source: Business Insider

Avenatti responded by calling for Giuliani to be fired and dubbing Trump's lawyer a "misogynist" and "absolute pig."

Source: Business Insider

In July 2018, Daniels was arrested in Columbus, Ohio for allowing a customer to touch her while performing at a strip club.

Source: Business Insider

Avenatti described the arrest as a "setup" that he says was "politically motivated." The prosecutors later dropped all three misdemeanor charges against her.

Source: Business Insider

On July 23, 2018, Daniels' then-husband, Glendon Crain, AKA Brendon Miller, filed for divorce.

Source: Business Insider

On August 21, 2018, Cohen struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to eight federal crimes, including one count of making an illegal campaign finance contribution.

Source: Business Insider

Cohen made the illegal campaign contribution on October 27, 2016 — the same day a $130,000 payment to Daniels was finalized.

Source: Business Insider

Cohen said in his guilty plea that Trump directed him to make the illegal campaign contribution to Daniels in order to influence the election. Trump has called Cohen a liar, and accused him of making up the story to get a plea deal.

Source: Business Insider

Daniels celebrated the news by tweeting: "How ya like me now?! #teamstormy."

Source: Business Insider

When Fox News' Ainsley Earhardt asked whether he knew about Cohen's payments to Daniels and the former Playboy model Karen McDougal, Trump said he knew "later on." "They didn't come out of the campaign — they came from me," Trump said.

Sources: Business Insider, Fox News

In a statement to NBC News, Daniels said: "Michael and I are vindicated and we look forward to the apologies from the people who claimed we were wrong."

Source: Business Insider

But in June 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison after a judge convicted the lawyer of embezzling nearly $300,000 from Daniels.

The sentence came in addition to 2 1/2 years Avenatti was already serving for fraud conviction after trying to extort $25 million from Nike.

Six months later, the disgraced attorney was sentenced to another 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of wire fraud.

Source: Business Insider

On March 15, 2023, Daniels made a surprise appearance at the Manhattan DA's office. The meeting came as prosecutors approached the final stages of a years-long investigation into the hush-money payment and Trump's alleged role in facilitating it.

Source: Business Insider

In late March 2023, Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a five-year investigation into his finances, with charges stemming from the $130,000 payment to Daniels.

Daniels called the unprecedented indictment "poetic" but "bittersweet," saying "Trump is no longer untouchable.

Source: The Times

The former president surrendered himself to the Manhattan district attorney's office on April 4, 2023, where he was booked and arraigned on the historic indictment, pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges.

The hush-money trial kicked off April 15, 2024, and Daniel took the stand on Tuesday.

Daniels' testimony included new details about when she says she met Trump at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006. She said she went to his hotel suite that night after accepting a dinner invitation.

Daniels testified that she and Trump had sex and that afterward, she felt scared and ashamed.

She said she and Trump kept in touch afterward and even met in person occasionally, though she said they did not have sex again.

In her cross-examination of Daniels, Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, said, "Am I correct that you hate President Trump?"

"Correct," Daniels said.

Editor's note: This story has been updated.

• An amateur archaeology group found a mysterious dodecahedron near an ancient Roman villa.
• The purpose of these 12-sided objects is unknown, though many theories have been suggested.
• The complex crafting process suggests they were likely custom-made and expensive.

Down a tree-lined road 100 miles north of London lies an open field where a Roman villa once stood about 2,000 to 1,700 years ago.

Amateur archaeologists with the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group have been excavating its remains, including a bathhouse, gatehouse, and ancient tiled mosaic floors for the last few years when they made a miraculous discovery.

Last year, a dozen volunteers were digging up a field about half a mile from the villa when a cry went up, Richard Parker, the group's secretary, told Business Insider.

The archaeologists had mostly been finding masonry, some animal bones, and a lot of pottery. But Richard Watts, one of the volunteers, was holding something unique.

It was a small metal object, about the size of a softball, with holes in each of its 12 sides and covered with small knobs.

"We realized we'd found something really quite significant pretty quickly," Parker said. Though he'd never seen one in person, Rob Evershed, a member of the group, recognized the hollow, rounded object as a Roman dodecahedron.

Everyone started Googling on their phones. Work stopped as they tried to figure out what to do next, Parker said.

Only around 130 dodecahedrons have ever been found. The first known one was discovered in 1739 in Hertfordshire, England.

This latest find is the first dodecahedron ever uncovered in England's Midlands region, the BBC reported. The British broadcast recently featured the object on an episode of "Digging for Britain," a show about archaeology. And England's Lincoln Museum put the object on display for the first time last weekend during its Festival of History.

No one knows the purpose of the dodecahedron

A toy? A tool? A religious relic? Once the group had identified it as a dodecahedron, they still had no idea what exactly it was. In fact, no one really knows.

"The fact that many of them were found before scientific excavation started in the 20th century does hinder our understanding of them," Frances McIntosh, an archaeologist with English Heritage who specializes in Roman artifacts, told Business Insider via email.

There often aren't detailed records of their excavation sites.

Over the centuries, more have turned up in the northwestern provinces of the Roman Empire in present-day Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, McIntosh said.

However, she noted that dodecahedrons haven't been found in Italy, Spain, Africa, or Turkey. That regionality adds to their mystery.

Made of a copper alloy, the 12-sided dodecahedrons don't have an obvious function. They come in many sizes, meaning they likely weren't used as a measurement tool. They're somewhat fragile and couldn't withstand heavy use, an archaeologist told The Washington Post.

Some scholars suggest dodecahedrons have religious significance or played a role in rituals. Other guesses range from a candle holder to surveying equipment. Their locations don't offer many clues, either.

"They have been found in all sorts of places," McIntosh said. People have dug up dodecahedrons at military camps, a temple, public baths, a theater, and a tomb, to name a few.

Dodecahedrons may have been custom-made

Parker thinks it would've taken an expert to make the dodecahedron that the Norton Disney group found. An analysis of the material found it's 75% copper, 18% lead, and 7% tin.

"The composition is fairly unusual," Parker said. "Having such a high lead content, it would've required a lot of skill to pour this particular alloy into the mold because it would've been very sticky."

McIntosh agrees an experienced craftsperson likely made it. "As this is a hollow item, it would have been a very complex process," she said.

That complexity means they wouldn't have been cheap. "They would have been expensive items," McIntosh said, "likely bespoke commissions."

The dodecahedrons' many mysteries make them fascinating, Parker said. The group plans to return to the site this year to look for more objects and possibly new clues to the dodecahedron's significance.

• Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents trial has been delayed indefinitely.
• It's now extremely unlike that it would take place before the 2024 election.
• The scheduling may allow Trump to get rid of the case if he's elected president.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal case over his holding onto secret government documents following his presidency delayed the trial indefinitely — giving him the chance to get rid of the charges if he wins the 2024 election.

In an order Tuesday afternoon, US District Judge Aileen Cannon scheduled more than a dozen more hearings and deadlines for lawyers through July. The trial, she said, couldn't happen until she decided "myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining," referring to laws related to handling classified information.

Cannon — who Trump nominated for the judgeship while he was in the White House — had previously scheduled jury selection to commence on May 20, but it had long been clear the trial would not be ready to take place by then.

For months, lawyers for Trump and his two co-defendants — Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira and aide Waltine Nauta — had been sparring with federal prosecutors over how to share discovery information, which includes classified documents.

Justice Department Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, in an indictment last June, accused Trump of violating a slew of criminal national security and obstruction laws by spiriting away sensitive government documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and other personal properties, holding on to them after his presidency, and lying about it to authorities.

The co-defendants, de Oliveira and Nauta, each helped Trump hide the documents and mislead investigators, prosecutors alleged. (A PAC controlled by Trump is paying lawyers representing de Oliveira and Nauta with political donor funds.)

Trump's busy trial schedule is playing out in the thick of the 2024 election

It's one of four ongoing criminal cases against Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2024 election and the only former president to be charged with any crime.

Trump is currently about halfway through his first criminal trial, in Manhattan, where prosecutors accused Trump of illegally falsifying business records when he covered up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with him, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Unlike in civil cases — Trump recently went through two — criminal cases generally require that the defendant be present during the entire trial, making scheduling a complicated task.

Trump may also have the power, if he were to be reelected president, to dispose of the cases brought by the Justice Department.

Another criminal case overseen by Smith, in a federal court in Washington, DC, was previously scheduled for March 4. In that case, Smith alleged Trump broke criminal laws through his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. But it has been paused as the US Supreme Court weighs whether Trump would be immune from prosecution in the case, and may not be decided in time to complete the trial process before the 2024 election.

Trump's attorneys have also made immunity arguments in the classified documents case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis also brought election interference charges against Trump, for trying to overturn the results in Georgia. That case is not expected to go to trial until 2025 at the earliest.

At a hearing in February for the New York case, Juan Merchan, the presiding judge, grew impatient with Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, as he tried to lodge the trial from its original March 25 start date. Blanche is also the lead attorney representing Trump in the government documents case.

"Stop interrupting me, please," Merchan said, when Blanche said the Florida case might move forward in May. "You don't have a trial date, not a real one."

Blanche had suggested that everyone reconvene in March and then decide on a new schedule going forward. Merchan held firm, pointing out that the DC case had been indefinitely delayed, and that he expected the Manhattan trial to last six weeks — meaning it would end even if Cannon had held onto her May start date.

"I'm sure that the trial cannot start on May 20th if this trial is ongoing May 20th and Mr. Trump is present in this courtroom on May 20th, which I don't expect," Merchan said. "I expect this trial to last about six weeks. Even so, we can't have two simultaneous criminal trials."

Merchan later pushed back the trial to April, based on a last-minute snafu related to the production of new records from a separate criminal investigation from federal prosecutors in New York.

On Tuesday, Stormy Daniels took the stand, testifying about sex she says she had with Trump in 2006 — and threats she said she experienced later.

Trump filed several motions to dismiss the Florida case in February, claiming he's immune from criminal charges and that it was OK for him to hold on to the records.

Cannon has thus far declined to dismiss the case on some of Trump's arguments, but is weighing others.

• Homebuyers pay for things beyond the purchase price of their properties — and those can add up.
• Unexpected homebuying costs include loan origination fees and property taxes.
• Home-services firm Frontdoor listed the states with the highest unexpected homebuying costs.

Buying a house is hard enough these days.

In the US, purchasing a home comes with additional fees and costs, which means you might have to pay more than you initially budgeted — and in some states, a lot more.

A report by home-services company Frontdoor identified the states that shackle buyers purchasing a median-priced property with the highest unexpected costs.

Unless you're buying in cash, mortgage payments and a down payment are routine. However, other expenses — including appraisal costs, loan origination fees, and property taxes — crop up early in the home-buying journey.

When prices of homes alone are so high, these additional costs — which can total from about $11,000 to almost $18,000 — can further burden and frustrate homebuyers.

Frontdoor used data from for-sale-by-owner site Houzeo to pinpoint the cost of 20 common additional charges for homebuyers in each state.

Here are the 10 states where homebuyers spend the most on unexpected property fees.

10. Washington

Unexpected fees: $11,400.60

Median home price: $526,633

9. New York

Unexpected fees: $12,303.95

Median home price: $658,333

8. New Jersey

Unexpected fees: $12,362.75

Median home price: $433,333

7. Massachusetts

Unexpected fees: $12,535.50

Median home price: $528,333

6. New Hampshire

Unexpected fees: $13,480.89

Median home price: $423,333

5. Vermont

Unexpected fees: $13,719.87

Median home price: $327,672

4. Delaware

Unexpected fees: $13,934.88

Median home price: $326,483

3. Maryland

Unexpected fees: $14,614.46

Median home price: $358,600

2. California

Unexpected fees: $14,693.55

Median home price: $673,333

1. Hawaii

Unexpected fees: $17,966.04

Median home price: $706,508

• Reddit beat expectations for its first financial quarter as a publicly traded company.
• Strong revenue growth and record user traffic sent the stock price up 16% in after-hours trading.
• R&D expenses were up four times compared to last year.

Reddit just delivered a big first quarter as a newly public company.

The social media platform beat analyst expectations Tuesday when it reported revenue of $243 million, up 48% from the same period last year. The company also boasted a record 82.7 million daily active users, up 37% from the year before.

"It was a strong start to the year and a milestone quarter for Reddit and our communities as we debuted as a public company," co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman said in a statement. "We see this as the beginning of a new chapter as we work towards building the next generation of Reddit."

While still not yet profitable, the net loss of $8.19 a share was below the $8.75 a share loss that investors were bracing for.

Meanwhile, research and development costs soared by 300% year-over-year as the company beefs up its AI-related revenue and advertising strategy.

This story will be updated following the earnings call at 5 p.m ET.

• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the US is "way ahead of China" in AI development.
• Schmidt cited chip shortages and more English language material to train AI models.
• He also said China's reduced funding and focus on for-profit apps are barriers to its advancement.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt thinks the US is "way ahead of China" when it comes to AI.

"In the case of artificial intelligence, we are well ahead, two or three years probably of China, which in my world is an eternity," Schmidt said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. "I think we're in pretty good shape."

Schmidt served as Google's CEO from 2001 until 2011 and remained its chairman until 2015. Following his departure, Schmidt has invested in various AI companies, including Anthropic. He also became the chairman of the Department of Defense's Innovation Board in 2016 and chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence for three years.

Schmidt said the US stands to be the clear winner in the AI race — as long as it doesn't screw up its lead. Since China is focused on dominating certain industries, the US needs to compete with them and win, he added.

At the start of 2024, China had approved over 40 AI models in a six-month period, including 14 new Large Language Models approved for public use in a week span. Baidu, a search engine giant referred to as "China's Google," is leading the pack.

Schmidt talked about four factors that contributed to his view that China is behind in the AI arms race.

Chip shortages

Schmidt said China is "struggling because of chips" and shortages.

In a separate interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Schmidt said China has been set back by the Trump and Biden administrations restricting access to high-speed chips, particularly Nvidia chips.

"They're certainly angry about that," Schmidt said.

The chips serve as a crucial component in the effort to scale AI. The tech-related tensions between the US and China have resulted in a push from the government to produce semiconductors in the US. In November 2023, the US Department of Commerce implemented the Advanced Computing Chips Rule making it harder for China to import advanced AI chips from American manufacturers.

The Biden administration most recently considered imposing sanctions on several Chinese semiconductor firms linked to Huawei in March.

Schmidt thinks there's less Chinese material to train AI models with

Schmidt also said in the CNBC interview that there's not as much Chinese material available to train large language models. Since English dominates the internet, research papers, and books that large language models train on, he believes English provides a larger pool of information to learn from.

"That's why English is so strong in these large language models," Schmidt said.

Additionally, most training data is in English, he said, which could lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations in other languages.

Reduced funding

Schmidt said that China is also facing a huge reduction in foreign investment and at-risk venture capital. Meanwhile, the US has exploded in these areas, he said.

China has been on the economic decline for the last couple of years and it continues to face deflation problems.

In November 2023, it suffered its first investment deficit as US tensions rose and Western countries leaned away from business involvement.

Focusing on the wrong areas

The former Google CEO said that China is focused on building for-profit application companies which may ultimately be successful. But they're not platform-focused, he argued.

"Three or four of the top apps in America are, in fact, of Chinese origin," Schmidt said. "But at the moment, the leadership is US."

While apps like TikTok may be successful, some industry experts think that China is lagging behind in foundational AI models, according to a report from CNBC.

"We should be very proud to be here," Schmidt said. "America has invented this future and this particular future, the one which is AI and quantum and the other technologies, that people are talking about. We have a shot of actually dominating the world for the next 10 or 20 years if we do it right."

• Calli Nguyen, 24, was fired from her job as a director of digital marketing after less than a week.
• Nguyen highlights the importance of mental health and employee respect in the workplace.
• She emphasizes Gen Z's unwillingness to settle for toxic work environments.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Calli Nguyen, a 24-year-old social media marketer from Baton Rouge, LA, about getting fired after less than one week of work. It's been edited for length and clarity.

Before I started as the director of digital marketing for a medical spa, I gave my boss the benefit of the doubt because I just wanted a job. What could go wrong?

Turns out, everything.

While I've worked many jobs, this director role was my first paid full-time position in digital marketing. I rationalized that maybe I was going through a learning curve; or that I just had the jitters. But on the third day of work, when I left my desk for a quick mental health break, I was fired on the spot. To be fair, I saw the red flags but ignored them.

I read the negative Glassdoor and Google reviews left by former clients and employees. One review said that five employees quit within two weeks. The review underscored that employers should not mistreat their employees regardless of their age. Also, before I even started the job, I agreed to change my role from client care coordinator to director of digital marketing without changing my hourly pay of $16. Yet, immediately after I was fired, I felt like a failure.

I now feel that getting fired after less than a week of employment was a blessing in disguise. The experience taught me that not every opportunity is a good opportunity. But more importantly, protecting my mental health and having employers see the value in me is more important than earning money.

My boss refused to take my advice

I didn't think it was a big deal that my former boss wanted me to switch gears to social media marketing after I applied on Indeed for an office coordinator role. Afterall, I did list my social media marketing skills on my résumé.

After I accepted the new role over the phone with her general manager, I looked forward to honing in on my creative skills while helping a small, independent business grow and gain more customers. But how can I help someone who refuses to listen to my advice?

My boss wanted her social media marketing to look a certain way: showcasing stock photos of attractive women with outdated fonts.

I showed her the analytics on the low-performing social media posts and that I knew how to update her online presence to gain more customers, but she refused to absorb anything I had to say. So I followed her creative lead — until I became overwhelmed by her demands.

I was shocked to find out that my boss wanted more from me than what I produced

On my third day, I started a project to build posts for the company's social media accounts and research her competitors' special offers. I presented everything she asked for. While she seemed happy with my social posts and the offers that I found, she needed more from me.

Without warning, she asked which products the other medical spas used. I spiraled into a tailspin.

I didn't know anything about specific products in the medical spa industry. I didn't even know what she wanted me to research. She never brought up my level of product knowledge in our initial interview, nor did anyone ask me to find out about the competitors' products when explaining the project to me.

She said I should've known to research the different products used by our competitors. Then, she launched into a list of other deliverables that I should've done. After a few minutes of her feedback, I felt overwhelmed.

Mental health and respect at work are mandatory

I stood up and told her I needed to take a break. So, I walked toward the front door.

She tried stopping me. I didn't give in. I already vowed to never let anyone disrespect me at work. I said, "Ma'am, respectfully, I need to step outside and take a breather. I'll be back in a few minutes."

She fired me, saying that I wasn't going to work out for her. I thought to myself, "Oh, awesome," as I tried to keep my demeanor professional. I was so pissed off.

To be fair, I wanted to quit, so she got me before I got her. As I approached the front desk, I looked at the general manager and trainer and told them that I was fired. The general manager offered me a recommendation letter despite all the drama.

I said goodbye to my coworkers after 2.5 days

I felt like a failure after two days and about six hours of work on day three. I said goodbye to my coworkers and told them that I was fired as I walked out the door for the last time. But I really felt depressed too.

I texted "9-1-1" to my mom while she was at work and started sobbing on the phone with her in the parking lot. I kept apologizing to her for being a failure, even though I knew I worked in a toxic environment.

Afterward, I spent a month in bed while working remotely for another company.

I've been in the workforce since I was about 16 or 17 years old and have worked with various age groups. That said, some Gen Z workers are lazy and unreliable, and I've seen the TikToks that say that Gen Z is rude, too. At the same time, we want what everyone else wants: for our employers to value us, to enjoy our jobs and work environment, and to receive proper training so that we'll thrive.

Gen Z knows that there's somewhere better for us

While the older generations might have put up with toxic work environments, we're speaking up for ourselves and not settling.

I'm more than happy to receive constructive criticism, as long as the feedback does not cross the line into degradation and disrespect. The workforce continuously changes, and employers must be open to flexibility, growth, and change.

Gen Z knows that there's somewhere better for us if we don't get what we want out of a job — that's why I'm working at a reputable advertising agency that respects me, advocates for mental health, and cultivates a fun and enjoyable work environment.

As an employee, it's not on me if a boss doesn't want to learn or be flexible. I can't help a boss to grow, and I can't grow in a toxic environment, right?

If you're a Gen Z worker and want to share your story, email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

Updated May 7, 2024 — An earlier version of this story did not clarify that the director role was Calli Nguyen's first paid full-time digital marketing job, not her first time working in digital marketing.

• About half of the North Korean missiles fired by Russia at Ukraine have failed, a Ukrainian official said.
• The missiles that failed flew off course and exploded in midair.
• Ukraine's top prosecutor told Reuters they're investigating missile debris. 

About half of the North Korean missiles Russia has fired at Ukraine have failed, Ukraine's top prosecutor said, per new reporting.

The high reported failure rate raises questions about the quality of North Korean-provided munitions and comes after months of concern about how an arms deal between the two countries could influence the war in Ukraine and North Korea's own efforts to improve its military capabilities.

State prosecutors have been examining the debris of 21 out of 50 North Korean missiles fired at Ukraine by Russia between December and February. About half of the missiles "lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air," Ukraine's top prosecutor Andriy Kostin told Reuters, noting that debris was not collected for these weapons.

This falls in line with previous assessments from Ukraine. Back in March, Yuriy Belousov, head of the war crimes department of Ukraine's office of the prosecutor general, said North Korean ballistic missiles were "very low" quality, boasting an accuracy rate of only around 20 percent.

Beyond the missiles, North Korean rockets have also been called into question. Last summer, the Ukrainians got their hands on North Korean rockets that troops characterized as "very unreliable," noting they sometimes "do crazy things." They said it wasn't odd for them to misfire or explode.

The reported problems add to suspicions about weaknesses in North Korea's stockpiles, as sanctions and dated production capabilities impact the quality of missiles and other munitions. The battlefield intelligence Pyongyang may be receiving about the performance and capabilities of its weapon systems could be invaluable though.

When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023 for a summit on a potential arms deal, officials and experts expressed concerns that such a partnership could be mutually beneficial. The concern was that Putin would get more ammo for his war in Ukraine, and North Korea would get field testing of its weapons to improve the quality of the country's munitions.

In November 2023, South Korean lawmakers estimated a million North Korean shells had been sent to Russia, beating out the European Union's collective aid to Ukraine since Moscow's forces invaded. In addition to shells, North Korea has also sent rockets and ballistic missiles to Russia as well, helping sustain it as Ukraine struggled to do the same.

One of the North Korean missiles sent to Russia appears to be KN-23s, known in North Korea as the short-range Hwasong 11. Hwasong 11s resemble Russian Iskander-M missiles and boast a range of around 430 miles.

Ukrainian officials and experts have identified fragments of the Hwasong 11 in the aftermath of several attacks, including one in early January and one in early February, both in Kharkiv. Kostin told Reuters the last recorded use of the weapon was February 27.

Along with Kharkiv, other cities, such as Kyiv, and regions, such as Donetsk and Kirovohrad, have been the targets of missile strikes. Since December 30, the attacks have killed 24 people and wounded 115, damaging various residential areas.

• Trump is currently on trial over hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
• He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
• This timeline outlines Trump's three marriages, rumored affairs, and sexual misconduct accusations.

Donald Trump has been married to or dating one of his three wives since the 1970s, with only a few breaks in between.

Then a young real estate developer, he married his first wife, Ivana Trump, in 1977.

Ivana is the mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka (whose actual name is Ivana Marie), and Eric Trump. Ivana also worked to develop the Trump Organization as vice president of interior design.

Trump's reputation was tied to his "playboy" image, which came with rumors of affairs. According to one report, Trump tried to get Playboy magazine to run a "Girls of Trump" spread featuring his employees.

"He even tried to get Playboy to do a spread called 'The Girls of Trump,' wooing his most shapely staffers, including a former beauty queen secretary, into posing for the magazine with a sliding scale of offers on everything from full nude to breast to 'wet-lip' shots," Wayne Barrett wrote in his 1991 book "Trump, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, The Downfall, The Reinvention." 

Barrett continued: "It was all part of the rakish ethos of phony glamour that he consciously fostered, even to the extent of concealing from public view a very efficient secretary with a pimplish facial condition."

At least 26 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, with allegations stretching back to the 1970s and running through 2016.

Several women have come forward with allegations of sexual assault or sexual impropriety against Trump in recent years.

Jessica Leeds told The New York Times in 2016 that Trump "grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt" when the pair were seated next to each other on a flight in the early 1980s, when Trump was married to Ivana.

"He was like an octopus," Leeds told The Times. "His hands were everywhere."

In 2019, columnist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s. She's suing him for defamation and battery. The trial is scheduled to begin April 25.

Trump has denied the allegations against him.

Trump's marriage to Ivana fell apart when he began an affair with the model Marla Maples, which dominated the tabloids in the early 1990s.

Ivana and Trump divorced in 1991, after months of headlines about Trump's affair with Maples.

"The children are all wrecks," Ivana told gossip columnist Liz Smith. "Ivanka now comes home from school crying, 'Mommy, does it mean I'm not going to be Ivanka Trump anymore?' Little Eric asks me, 'Is it true you are going away and not coming back?'"

Ivana died at the age of 73 in 2022.

Maples and Trump were married in 1993, soon after the birth of their daughter, Tiffany. In 1997, the pair announced plans to divorce.

Trump wasn't single for long. In 1998, he met model Melania Knauss. The pair married in January 2005.

Melania and Trump dated on and off in the years before they got married.

In September 2005, Trump was caught on tape telling "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that he was able to "grab" women "by the p—y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."

The tape was published by the Washington Post just before the 2016 presidential election, at which time Trump called his commentary "locker room banter."

Melania gave birth to the couple's only son, Barron, in March 2006.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels alleged that she and Trump had a sexual encounter just four months later, in July 2006.

In January 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had facilitated a $130,000 payment to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, shortly before the 2016 election.

In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal crimes, including making an illegal campaign contribution on the same day he facilitated the payment to Daniels.

Fast-forward five years, and a New York grand jury has voted to indict Trump, capping the Manhattan district attorney's office yearslong investigation into Trump's personal and business finances. The charges are likely linked to the $130,000 payment to Daniels.

Trump continues to deny having ever had an affair with Daniels.

Playboy model Karen McDougal alleged that she started an affair with Trump even closer to the birth of Barron in June 2006.

In February 2018, The New Yorker published an investigation into McDougal's alleged affair, which she said continued for months.

American Media, a media company that owns the National Enquirer and has close ties to Trump, bought the exclusive rights to McDougal's story, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016.

But the company didn't run any pieces on the story — something The New Yorker noted was a tactic some media outlets commonly used to kill a story.

The White House claimed the incidents the document outlined did not happen, with a spokesperson telling The New Yorker, "The President says he never had a relationship with McDougal."

A number of women have also alleged that Trump sexually harassed or assaulted them during his relationship and marriage to Melania.

In 2016, People's Natasha Stoynoff alleged that Trump pushed her against a wall and "shoved" his tongue "down her throat" when she went to Mar-a-Lago to interview him and the very-pregnant Melania in December 2005.

Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants said that Trump harassed and assaulted them in 2006, inspecting them before the pageants and grabbing them without consent.

Summer Zervos, a former contestant on "The Apprentice," said Trump "very aggressively" kissed her, groped her breasts, and began "thrusting" his genitals at her in a 2007 meeting at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

Trump has denied all of these allegations.

Melania has stayed by Trump's side throughout the repeated allegations that he cheated on her throughout their relationship, including when she was pregnant and soon after Barron's birth.

When she was first lady, Melania seemed to disappear from public view when Trump's alleged affairs made headlines.

In February 2018, she eschewed the traditional walk with the president across the White House's South Lawn to Marine One after The New Yorker published its report on the McDougal affair.

Melania also largely disappeared from public engagements with her husband after the Daniels news broke in January 2018.

When a New York grand jury made history in voting to indict Trump in March 2023, Daniels offered a two-word response to the news.

She quote-tweeted a Twitter user arguing that Trump's indictment should not be cause for celebration but should instead be allowed to play out in the justice system.

"Thank you," Daniels wrote.

—Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) March 30, 2023

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In a Truth Social post after the news broke, Trump called his indictment "AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE."

While he raged about the indictment online, guests at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida said they saw him and Melania "smiling and greeting guests."

The former president surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney's office.

When asked if Trump plans to fight the case all the way to trial, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said, "For sure, if it's not dismissed beforehand."

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023, Trump surrendered into the custody of the Manhattan district attorney's office.

Trump remained under arrest until mid-afternoon, and then entered a plea of "not guilty."

 

Trump's trial in Manhattan federal court began Monday, April 15, 2024.

Stormy Daniels took the stand on May 7, 2024, and said she was scared and ashamed after her night with Trump in 2006.

In her testimony, Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. She said she accepted a dinner invitation from Trump and went to his hotel suite.

Daniels testified that Trump's wife, Melania, came up in the conversation but that Trump said, "'Oh, don't worry about that. We don't even sleep in the same room."

She said that after they had sex she quickly left and was ashamed.

Daniels said she and Trump kept in touch, testifying he would call her and that they occasionally met in person. She said at one meeting in Los Angeles he introduced her to his "friend" Karen, who she later learned was Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has also alleged she had an affair with Trump.

Trump has maintained he did not have an affair with Daniels or McDougal.

Editor's note: This story was first published in March 2018 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.

• Generative AI is revolutionizing cybersecurity in connected networks.
• Companies that don't adopt AI risk falling behind in cybersecurity, IT experts warn.
• This article is part of "5G and Connectivity Playbook," a series exploring some of our time's most important tech innovations.

Generative AI has become a double-edged sword for the security of connected networks.

On one hand, generative AI can speed up cybersecurity problems, making it easier and cheaper for bad actors to conduct identity attacks. For example, it can be used to design sophisticated phishing campaigns by generating audio, images, or videos to create fake identities.

While hackers exploit AI technologies, companies are adopting AI as a defense tool. As the number of connected devices on 5G networks increases, generative AI in security operations will become more crucial, David Cooper, a global lead for Accenture Security, said.

"What used to take a human being two hours, now there's an AI solution to do it in much faster time," Cooper said. "We're able to respond faster, we're able to catch up to the bad guys faster with interesting transformational technology. We're able to move so much faster and do more with limited resources."

Business Insider spoke with several cybersecurity professionals who attended the annual RSA conference this week in San Francisco about how generative AI is increasingly used in cybersecurity for 5G devices and networks. They said that while 5G networks have higher security standards, attacks could still come from identity breaches of accounts or devices connected to those networks.

"If you can stay ahead of the risks you perceive when you implement 5G solutions, you're going to be in good shape," said Shaun McAlmont, the president and CEO of the cybersecurity-awareness-training company Ninjio.

Accelerating cybersecurity

Generative AI can speed up more routine security processes and free up resources, helping cybersecurity professionals increase productivity and make decisions faster. Things like the design and architecture of a 5G application, generating code samples, conducting tests, and speeding up authentication can be automated. It can also prevent attacks by helping to configure and manage networks.

"There's a distinct benefit for organizations where we may leverage AI for improving network quality, improving security, and network healing," Chris Novak, the senior director of cybersecurity consulting at Verizon Business, said. "There are opportunities for AI to help us analyze network traffic flows in real time, recognize where there is an issue, and ensure little to no impact to network users."

AI can also help 5G users monitor their security and ensure that the services they connect to have the appropriate certifications and authorizations for transferring data.

Large language models can help mitigate security threats by identifying suspicious patterns in traffic and unusual attempts to enter the network. Because AI can process an enormous amount of data about malicious threats, it can help isolate them before they spread further. Additionally, it can triage malware and other threats, making sense of complex attack-path data and automating threat responses.

Edge-protection tools powered by AI can be a "first layer of defense" that can deal with mass data, David Aviv, the chief technology officer at Radware, said.

"Competitors that didn't adopt those machine-learning technologies have gotten left behind," said Steve Wilson, the chief product officer at Exabeam, a network security company.

5G to strengthen AI

5G can also boost the capabilities of AI applications themselves. With 5G, AI can do more computation and sensor analysis on the edge, meaning the computation is closer to the data source.

"The combination of AI and 5G will make it inevitable that we will be using machines for tasks that are currently performed by humans," said Ev Kontsevoy, the cofounder and CEO of Teleport, an identity access and management software company.

It's becoming increasingly important for companies to apply AI to their cybersecurity practices because humans won't be able to keep up, Rohit Ghai, the CEO of RSA, said.

"Any 5G network is very very dynamic," Ghai said. "It's changing all the time. Human approaches to securing that are not able to keep up with the dynamic nature of the network."

Now that mobile and Internet of Things devices have become more ubiquitous, they're using even more data, which generative AI can help filter and secure.

"We're going to be required to collect an order of magnitude more data from more devices and provide really quick analysis on that," Wilson said.