Tag: News

• Microsoft unveiled its new AI-powered Copilot+ PCs at a press event.
• Copilot+ PCs offer up to 20 times more AI power and 22 hours of battery life, according to Microsoft.
• Pre-orders start today at $999, with availability from June 18 from brands like Microsoft Surface, Dell, and HP.

Microsoft's AI-powered PCs are here.

Microsoft just unveiled a new line of Windows PCs designed for AI at a press event Monday.

The new line, called Copilot+ PCs, is the fastest and most intelligent Windows model of a PC built yet, according to Microsoft.

"We have completely reimagined the entirety of the PC — from silicon to the operating system, the application layer to the cloud — with AI at the center, marking the most significant change to the Windows platform in decades," the company said in its announcement.

Microsoft is launching Surface Copilot+ PCs, with the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, but it's also working with its hardware partners, who will also be launching their own Copilot + computers.

There's also some cool-sounding AI features, including some powered by the on-device AI chips.

The most notable is "Recall," which Microsoft says is basically like if your PC had "photographic memory" and could remember everything you looked at on your PC, helping you quickly recall where you stored something.

"You can scroll across time to find the content you need in your timeline across any application, website, document, or more," Microsoft said. "Interact intuitively using snapshots with screenray to help you take the next step using suggested actions based on object recognition. And get back to where you were, whether to a specific email in Outlook or the right chat in Teams."

Microsoft says the PCs are up to 20 times more powerful for AI and also offer improved battery life, with up to 22 hours on a single charge. The new chip architecture combines CPU, GPU and high-performance Neural Processing Units for efficient AI processing.

Pre-orders for the new PCs start today, with prices starting at $999. In addition to Microsoft's Surface PCs, the new Copilot+ computers will be available from six PC brands starting June 18, including Dell, HP, and Lenovo.

• V-22 Ospreys are back in the skies after a crash killed eight airmen last year in Japan.
• But the controversial tiltrotor aircraft is limited to operating within 30 minutes of an airfield.
• The Navy continues to rely on its aging C-2 Greyhound fleet until the Osprey's full return.

Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy V-22 Ospreys were all given the green light to fly again in early March and have been slowly taking to the skies following a tragic crash that killed eight airmen late last year in Japan.

But months after the grounding was lifted, there are still restrictions in place that significantly limit the aircraft's ability to operate, Military.com has learned.

The services are barred from flying the controversial tiltrotor aircraft more than 30 minutes away from a suitable airfield to divert to in case anything goes wrong. That has caused some of the services, such as the Navy, to continue relying on other aircraft to accomplish tasks that the Osprey would have taken on.

Cmdr. Beth Teach, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, confirmed to Military.com on Thursday that the restriction was handed down by the V-22 Joint Program Office, part of Naval Air Systems Command, and is a requirement that all the services are following.

It was not immediately clear what would constitute a suitable landing zone for the tiltrotor aircraft which, by design, is meant to land quickly like a helicopter in austere conditions.

The Joint Program Office declined to comment to Military.com regarding the restriction.

A spokesperson for the Marine Corps could not provide details on the restriction but said efforts are underway to return the aircraft to full operations. 

"Operational security associated with our forward-deployed Marines and sailors limits our ability to provide details regarding any potential platform restrictions," Capt. Pedro Caballero, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps, told Military.com when asked whether the restrictions applied to its roughly 350 Ospreys, the vast majority of the military's fleet.

"The Marine Corps, after a thorough review of all available engineering data and with revisions to the flight manual in place, is now enacting a deliberate plan to return all 17 MV-22 squadrons to full capability," Caballero said. "The Marine Corps' three-phased approach begins with a focus on regaining basic flight currency, rebuilding units' instructor cadres, and achieving proficiency in core and basic skill training for pilots and aircrew."

Lt. Col. Rebecca Heyse, a spokesperson for Air Force Special Operations Command, told Military.com that the service is following the Joint Program Office's guidance for their return to flight plans but didn't provide additional details about current flight restrictions.

That restriction was publicly identified in a House draft text of the national defense authorization bill released this week. The bill details limitations and woes with the Navy's variant, the CMV-22, and how it's forcing the sea service to continue to rely more heavily on its aging C-2A Greyhound fleet, lawmakers wrote.

"The committee understands that current CMV-22 operations are limited to flights and missions that stay within 30 minutes of a suitable divert airfield," according to the House Armed Services Committee document. "This prohibits the use of the CMV-22 for carrier onboard support of deployed aircraft carriers once they have left their homeport."

The Navy used the Greyhound, which has been in service for 60 years and is slated to be retired by 2026, to fill the gaps when the Ospreys were grounded, but even though the Osprey is flying again, it appears the service is still relying on the planes.

That raised concerns for lawmakers who asked the Navy to provide House Armed Services with a report by February 1, 2025, on how the service will adjust once the C-2A is no longer available.

"With no other option available, the committee supports this interim solution but recognizes it is not a viable long-term solution beyond 2026," the draft bill said.

News about the Navy's restrictions and that it affected all variants of the Osprey was first reported by Aviation Week.

All of the services have been cautiously returning to the skies following a November 29 Air Force special operations Osprey crash off the coast of Japan that killed all eight service members on board — the deadliest CV-22 crash in the service's history — and led to a monthslong, military-wide grounding of the aircraft.

Military.com reported earlier this month that the Air Force had begun conducting flight checks for its Osprey variant, the CV-22. The Marine Corps and the Navy began flying some of their aircraft in March, the same month the Joint Program Office gave the OK to resume operations.

The Osprey Joint Program Office provided few details on what mechanical failure led to the deadly crash and how it planned to fix it.

"We have high confidence that we understand what component failed, and how it failed," Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, the manager of the V-22 program, told reporters in March. "I think what we are still working on is the 'why.'"

Meanwhile, the Osprey is looking at a makeover that officials hope will keep the aircraft flying until at least 2055 — and beyond.

The Joint Program Office, which oversees the V-22's development and operations, is looking to replace aging components in the aircraft's cockpit, as well as test solutions for a mechanical issue that has led to more than a dozen mishaps in its operational lifespan.

"There's a ton of life left in this platform, and there's a ton of mission left in this platform," Taylor said last month at the Modern Day Marine Expo in Washington, DC.

The mechanical issue the program office hopes to address involves a notorious clutch problem, called a "hard clutch engagement," which contributed to a crash in 2022 that killed five Marines. It is also known to have been involved in at least 15 other V-22 incidents since 2010.

Taylor mentioned that the program office oversaw the disassembly of clutches within the aircraft, including V-22s with 2,000 hours of flight and those with less than a hundred, which "helped us better understand this environment inside of this clutch assembly," he said.

He added that a new prototype for one of the likely culprits causing this issue — the input quill assembly — will be tested within the next month. That prototype includes 15 design changes, he said.

"When you purchase aircraft over about a 30-year span, you end up with some configuration challenges," Taylor said. "And that's what we're still kind of working through."

While operations are limited, Taylor said that Ospreys are abundant in the air — and have been for more than two months.

"I haven't done this math problem, but it's pretty safe to say that 24 hours a day, there's a V-22 flying somewhere on the planet … doing our nation's business," he said.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is talking about retirement.
• At an investor day Q&A, Dimon joked he was planning to step down within five years.
• Dimon said the plan to find a successor is "well on the way."

Jamie Dimon may be retiring sooner than we thought.

At an investor day Q&A on Monday, the JPMorgan CEO broke from his usual joke that he'll retire in five years.

When asked about his succession plan, Dimon seemed to acknowledge that he's thinking of stepping down when he joked that the timetable is "not five years anymore."

The bank boss also said the plan to name his successor is "well on its way" and floated staying on as chairman after he steps down.

"We're moving people around," Dimon, 68, said during the Q&A.

Wall Street has speculated for years about who will take over for Dimon when he eventually leaves JPMorgan.

Jennifer Piepszak and Marianne Lake, two key longtime executives, have been rumored to be next in line at the investment bank. But Troy Rohrbaugh, who was named co-CEO of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank with Piepszak, has recently emerged as a dark horse candidate to take the CEO job.

JPMorgan COO Daniel Pinto has long been the emergency backup CEO in case Dimon needed to leave on short notice.

Dimon said his succession — and even when he leaves the job — is up to JPMorgan's board.

"I have the energy I have always had," he said at the investor day event.

Dimon didn't share more about the succession plan.

The CEO's comments echo last year's investor day event, where Dimon said he can be "intense" with his managing style and noted: "I think when I don't have that intensity, I should leave."

• Donald Trump may win the 2024 presidential election, sending him back to the White House.
• His second administration could be far more radical than the first one.
• That includes efforts to gut the federal bureaucracy and reduce constraints on Trump's power.

In January 2025, Donald Trump may be sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States.

Despite his ongoing legal troubles, plenty of national polling shows the former president being either tied or leading President Joe Biden,

A second term for Biden could mean either more of the same or a flurry of new progressive policies, if Democrats gain control of both chambers of Congress.

Another Trump term, on the other hand, would likely entail a radical reversal from not just the previous four years, but even from Trump's first term in office.

That becomes clear after examining the former president's campaign proposals, reading his April interview with TIME, reviewing reporting from The New York Times, and perusing proposals made by the conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025.

Some of these proposals may depend on Republicans gaining control of both the House and Senate, a likely possibility — though not guaranteed — if Trump wins the presidency.

While not exhaustive, here's just some of what to expect in a second Trump administration.

Radically reshaping the federal bureaucracy

Perhaps the most unorthodox — and to some, frightening — aspects of Trump's planning for a second term involve restructuring the executive branch in a manner that would drastically increase presidential power.

That includes exercising more direct control over the hundreds of thousands of civilian servants who populate federal agencies — many of whom are apolitical, and often remain in their jobs across presidential administrations.

Trump has pledged to bring back "Schedule F," a classification for civil servants that was created — but never used — in October 2020. Biden later rescinded it after taking office. That classification was designed to skirt the typical job protections afforded to career civil servants.

Trump's plans also include bringing independent agencies — such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission — under direct presidential control, a departure from decades of precedent. That could also include the Federal Reserve, the country's central banking system, though that's less clear.

Lastly, he has pledged to bring back "impoundment," in which the executive branch refuses to spend money provided by Congress. That's been illegal since 1974, but Trump is pledging to challenge it.

One of the hallmarks of Trump's first term was that he was significantly constrained, both by his advisors and aspects of the federal bureaucracy. Taken together, these proposals show how that could change.

A murky stance on abortion

In April, Trump declared that he believed abortion should be decided at the state level, seemingly rejecting the idea of enacting nationwide restrictions on the procedure.

"The states are going to say. It's irrelevant whether I'm comfortable or not," Trump told TIME. "It's totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions."

But that doesn't fully address the complexity of the issue — and it's unclear how far other Republicans may go.

In an April interview with TIME, Trump refused to say whether he would veto abortion restrictions passed by a Republican-controlled Congress, insisting there "will never be that chance because it won't happen."

He has also refused to state his position on whether mifepristone — a medication that enabled an estimated 63% of abortions in the US in 2023 — should remain legal.

Some of his allies have called for the enforcement of a 19th-century law called the Comstock Act that could be used to outlaw the mailing of the pill, a move that would affect women in a variety of states.

The potential of mass deportations and ending some birthright citizenship

Trump is expected to take a far more harsh approach toward illegal immigration and border security if elected — including pledging to carry out a massive deportation operation that could include the use of the National Guard.

That could include new detention camps, according to Stephen Miller, the architect of much of Trump's immigration policy.

Miller told The New York Times that a second Trump administration would build "vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers" on "open land in Texas near the border."

Trump has also pledged to end so-called "birthright citizenship" for the children of people who entered the country illegally and are not citizens. But it could be tricky.

The US Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship via the 14th Amendment, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Trump has pledged to sign an executive order making clear that those children are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States — a move likely to be challenged in court.

Retribution against political opponents

Trump has pledged to appoint a special prosecutor to go after the Biden family, arguing that it's only fair given that he has faced criminal charges across a variety of jurisdictions for his "hush money" payments, his mishandling of classified documents, and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

It's part of a broader effort by Trump and his allies to curtail the independence of the Department of Justice, the nation's top law enforcement agency. Since the Nixon era, there have been strong norms around keeping the department at arm's length from the president, but some argue that shouldn't be the case — and that the present-day norms are a facade anyway.

Pardoning January 6 rioters

Trump has also promised to issue pardons for those who've faced federal convictions in connection to the January 6 assault on the US Capitol.

He has described jailed or imprisoned rioters as "hostages" and "political prisoners," and his campaign rallies have at times begun with a version of the national anthem sung by January 6 defendants.

In a recent interview with TIME, he said that he would not pardon those who were "evil and bad," but claimed that many of the rioters were "ushered in" by Capitol Police.

Tariffs on all imported goods

If re-elected, the former president has proposed many protectionist policies, including universal 10% tariffs on all imported goods.

"I call it a ring around the country," Trump told TIME.

Experts have warned that such a policy would simply increase consumer costs while doing little to boost domestic manufacturing and jobs.

He has also pledged to work with Congress to pass a bill enacting "reciprocal" tariffs on goods from other countries: For example, if China were to enact a 100% tariff on products from the US, the US would enact a 100% tariffs on Chinese-made goods in return.

Less willingness to protect allies abroad

Trump's positioning on the present-day wars has been somewhat murky — he's not as opposed to Ukraine aid as much of his party, and he's been far more willing to criticize Israel's war in Gaza.

"I think that Israel has done one thing very badly: public relations," Trump told TIME, blaming Israel in part for the lack of progress on a two-state solution.

But if there's been one consistent throughline of the former president's foreign policy thinking, it's a suspicion of long-standing arrangements designed to underpin the global world order.

Perhaps the most significant change Trump wants to see is a "reevaluation" of the purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance between the US and Europe that dates back to the Cold War. Trump has long argued that the US is spending too much to defend the continent.

Trump has also argued that much of the existing foreign policy establishment in Washington, DC needs to be overhauled, deriding officials at the State Department and Pentagon as "warmongers" and members of the "deep state."

Tax policy

As president, Trump and the Republican-led Congress passed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a significant overhaul of the tax code that included cuts to individual and estate taxes and a significant lowering of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Much of those cuts, aside from the corporate tax cut, are set to expire in 2025. According to Bloomberg, Trump wants to extend those cuts in a second term.

More vaguely, Trump has also proposed taxing private university endowments to fund a new federally-operated university called the "American Academy."

Social Security and Medicare

It remains unclear whether Trump would seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare in a second term — he's historically said a variety of contradictory things on the matter.

In March, Trump said in a CNBC interview that there's "a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting," seemingly suggesting that he would pursue cuts to entitlement programs. His campaign later backtracked on those remarks, saying he simply wanted to "get rid of waste and fraud."

Democrats have been eager to highlight the possibility of Republican-led cuts to the programs, which primarily benefit older Americans, while Republicans have often insisted that they are not interested in making changes to those programs.

During the final year of Trump's presidency, his White House released a budget for Fiscal Year 2021 that included some cuts to Social Security benefits, though the document never became law.

• Google is shifting to AI-generated answers for search queries to keep users on its site.
• This shift raises concerns about the reliability of AI answers and the impact on web traffic.
• The move risks disrupting Google's ad revenue model and the broader internet ecosystem.

Google is the internet's gatekeeper. You ask it a question, and it sends you to a site on the internet that can answer that question for you.

Except that's not really the case anymore. Google frequently tries to answer your question itself, on Google-owned real estate, so you have no need to go anywhere else. And now the company is super-sizing that effort with AI-generated answers that are going to be the standard reply for all search in the near future.

One problem with that plan is that generative AI engines just make things up. The other, more existential problem for both Google and the internet: If Google is answering all of your queries on its own site, why would you go anywhere else?

People who make a living putting things on the internet have been freaking out about this future for some time. But there's a risk for Google, too: If people aren't putting things on the internet, what will Google use to create answers?

The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel wonders about all of this and doesn't have an answer (Charlie does know how to get you to click on a story, though — call your story "The Toilet Theory of the Internet"). I don't think Google knows, either, which is partly why the company's answers to questions people are asking about all of this — including from CEO Sundar Pichai — are both vague and hard to take at face value.

One question I haven't seen addressed in most of these stories: Doesn't Google have to keep sending people to websites? Because selling sponsored links to websites is the economic engine that makes the $2 trillion company run. So this is all going to be messy — for Google, for web publishers, and the rest of us.

• Microsoft is expected to unveil updates on Copilot, Azure, and its Surface lineup this week.
• Analysts say Microsoft's AI and cloud innovations are underestimated by the stock market.
• Wedbush analysts projected that Microsoft's AI tools could generate $25-$30 billion in revenue by 2025.

It's about to be a big week for Microsoft.

Microsoft is in the spotlight as it follows major announcements from OpenAI and Google last week and prepares to unveil its latest AI innovations at Build, the company's annual developer conference.

The tech giant is also holding an exclusive event for journalists on Monday detailing its vision for hardware, which will likely feature its new Surface lineup along with some software updates.

The next day is the main event, Microsoft's Build keynote, where it's expected to announce updates to its AI assistant Copilot and cloud computing platform Azure, along with other Windows features.

Wedbush analysts said in a Monday note that they believe Microsoft's AI and cloud advancements have been underestimated by the stock market — but Microsoft tools like Copilot will be a major source of revenue growth that could generate between $25 and $30 billion for Microsoft by its fiscal year 2025.

According to Dan Ives, Wedbush's managing director and senior equity analyst, Microsoft's big week is expected to be all about three things — here's what's expected to be front and center.

Copilot and other AI features in Windows

Wedbush analysts expect Microsoft to roll out more Copilot and AI features into its consumer and enterprise product stack.

Wedbush said in its analyst note that it expects more AI integration with Microsoft apps like Excel, Teams, and Word, which will increase subscriptions and strengthen Microsoft's consumer base.

Over 70% of Microsoft's installed base "will ultimately be on this AI-driven functionality" in the next three years, the analyst said, which will be a big change for the company.

Ives said putting AI features into Windows will give developers the foundation to build AI use cases through Windows and, ultimately, Azure.

Showcasing AI framework in Azure

Ives said in some ways, the most important aspect of the developer conference is going to be showing off the AI framework in Azure.

In its analyst note, Wedbush estimated that Microsoft's customers still have plenty of room to increase their spending with the company. For every $100 they spend on Azure, there is an estimated $35-$40 in potential additional AI spending, they wrote.

"Cloud is where the battleground is between Google, Oracle, Amazon," Ives said. "Microsoft is showing developers to look no further than between us and OpenAI."

Surface Updates

Wedbush analysts anticipate new laptops along with Windows updates this week.

The new hardware expected to be announced on Monday, the day before Build kicks off, could include the Surface Pro 10 and the Surface Laptop 6, The Verge reports. Both would run on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processors as the company transitions to Arm, The Verge said.

New processors would come as Microsoft and other PC companies have been under pressure to ramp up their processing chips since Apple transitioned to creating its own. Recent reports also indicate that Apple is working on revamping its entire Mac lineup with a series of new M4 processors that aim to put AI at their center.

But Microsoft's Surface updates may kick off the trend. Ives said the new AI Surface updates will start a new PC-driven cycle that's "AI-led, from Dell to Microsoft, and ultimately to Apple as well."

Expect it to be a 'showstopper'

Microsoft has big shoes to fill following OpenAI's spring update and Google's I/O conference last week. Both companies announced human-like updates to their AI products, showcasing their AI agent's ability to respond to prompts with voice and act as a tutor.

Google also announced a revamped search engine integrated with AI, which competes with Microsft's AI-powered Bing.

But according to Ives, Microsoft will be a "showstopper." Due to OpenAI's collaboration with Microsoft, Ives said the conference will build on OpenAI's announcements from last week.

Business Insider will be liveblogging Microsoft's big opening keynote on Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET, so check back with us then to follow along.

• A lawyer for a heiress used her "like a human ATM," prosecutors allege. 
• The heiress Gretchen Valade's grandfather founded the workwear brand Carhartt.
• Her attorney, David Sutherland, is accused of stealing millions from her trusts before her death.

Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade's longtime lawyer is facing trial over accusations that he embezzled millions of dollars from the philanthropist in her final years of life.

The Michigan criminal trial of David Sutherland, an attorney who managed two trusts for Valade, began in Wayne County Criminal Court last week.

During opening remarks on Thursday, an assistant attorney general accused Sutherland of using Valade of using her "like a human ATM," the Detroit Free Press reported.

Valade, a philanthropist and businesswoman whose grandfather started the Carhartt workwear company in 1889, died in December 2022 at the age of 97.

She was known in Michigan as the "Angel of Jazz" for her work saving the Detroit Jazz Festival, according to Michigan Public.

Sutherland was charged just weeks after Valade's death in 2023 with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, two counts of embezzling more than $100,000, and one count of embezzling more than $100,000 from a vulnerable adult, according to the Michigan attorney general's office.

The felony counties each carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

Sutherland has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Attorneys for Sutherland did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The Michigan attorney general's office alleges that Sutherland issued himself a series of loans without Valade's permission from her 1982 revocable trust and her 2009 irrevocable trust, both of which he managed.

"Trust. That's what this case is really about. Trust and betrayal," Scott Teter, division chief of the financial crimes division for the Attorney General's Office, said during opening remarks last week, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Teter told the jury that despite already billing Valade $19,000 a month for his services, Sutherland also secretly wrote himself two promissory notes for $5 million each from Valade's trusts, leaving "no note, no I.O.U., no nothin,'" the Detroit Free Press reported.

Teter also accused Sutherland of using the stolen money to pay for two of his failing businesses, a Florida pizza franchise and a Michigan oil company, according to the outlet.

"Mr. Sutherland abused his authority as an attorney and trusted advisor to steal millions from a long-time client and must be held accountable," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in 2023 press release.

• Apple's new Pencil Pro shows the tech giant really thought of everything in its latest launch.
• A viral TikTok highlighted a subtle detail in the stylus that is "so Apple."
• The Pencil Pro launched May 7 alongside the new M4 iPad.

The new Apple Pencil Pro comes with a subtle yet surprising new feature.

The pencil stylus was launched on May 7 at the "Let Loose" event alongside the new M4 iPad Pro and iPad Air. Apple showed off the capabilities of the new Pencil Pro, but a recent TikTok revealed another feature that highlights the tech giant's attention to detail.

A designer who goes by Oliur online posted a video demonstrating how the Pencil Pro casts an artificial shadow over an iPad depending on which tool is selected, mimicking the shadow of a real pen a user would choose.

In the viral video, the creator chose a fountain pen to write with, and a shadow of the pen could be seen on the iPad screen as he held the stylus closer to the new OLED display.

"This is so ridiculous and so over the top, but just so Apple as well," Oliur said.

It's unclear if the detail is only present in graphic-design software Procreate, where artists can press the barrel of the Pencil Pro to prompt shortcuts to a range of tools, such as brushes, a marker, and more.

The new stylus starts at $129 and comes with "Find My" compatibility.

Apple didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Michael Cohen testified that he would financially benefit if Donald Trump is acquitted.
• It gives him more to talk about on his podcasts and in a future book.
• Cohen isn't shutting up any time soon — he said he might run for US Congress.

Michael Cohen wants to see Donald Trump behind bars.

But if the former president is acquitted in his ongoing hush-money trial, it'd probably be better for Cohen financially, he testified Monday morning.

Asked by Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche whether a conviction would benefit Cohen financially, he said the opposite was true.

"The answer is 'no,'" Cohen said.

If Trump walks free, Cohen may be able to make more money from his podcast and a potential third book.

"It's better if he's not, for me, because it gives me more to talk about in the future," Cohen said.

Blanche completed his third day of cross-examining Cohen Monday, seeking to depict him to jurors as a liar and scoundrel out for vengeance against Trump.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office accused Trump of falsifying 34 business documents in order to reimburse Cohen for hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump's lawyers have said that Cohen went rogue when making the hush-money payments and that Trump wasn't involved in the scheme.

Cohen, a former personal lawyer to Trump and Trump Organization executive, has had his own share of legal trouble.

He pleaded guilty in 2018 to breaking campaign finance laws with the hush-money payment, as well as to an array of tax crimes and lying to Congress about Trump's business dealings.

In the years since Cohen has turned into a wrathful Trump critic. He served a stint in prison, has written two books — "Disloyal" and "Revenge" — and hosts two podcasts about his decadelong journey in Trump's orbit.

Blanche, in his cross-examination, suggested that Cohen's media output gives him a financial interest in the outcome of the criminal trial.

Cohen has testified that he's made about $4.4 million since September 2020, from book sales, his podcasts, and sales of podcast-affiliated merchandise.

Cohen lost his law license as a result of his guilty pleas and testified he had sold multiple properties he owned. Nearly all of his income comes from book sales and podcast deals, with additional funds coming from a lease on one remaining investment property he owns, and an additional negligible sum from TikTok, he testified.

He has also shopped around a reality show about his life called "The Fixer," he said on the witness stand Monday. No studio has picked it up yet, he said.

Cohen said, regardless of how the trial turns out, he would be talking about the case. He said he is considering writing a third book and running for US Congress.

"Whether Mr. Trump is ultimately determined innocent or guilty is not going to affect whether I speak about it or not," Cohen said.

• Trump has yet to chose a VP candidate, but several names are in the mix.
• A new poll shows that Rep. Elise Stefanik would have the most negative impact on the ticket.
• Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott would have the most positive effect, according to the poll.

Donald Trump still has yet to choose someone to be his running mate.

One element that the former president and presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee will have to consider, among other factors, is the impact that each of the vice presidential contenders will have on the ticket overall.

If a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released on Monday is to be believed, there are several options that could give Trump a significant boost — and others that would be a significant drag.

Among the contenders polled, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York — who, as House GOP conference chair, is the highest-ranking woman in Washington — would be the biggest drag on the ticket.

24% of all voters say they would be less likely to support a Trump ticket with her on it, while just 13% said they would be more likely to do so.

It's bad even within her own party: 22% of GOP respondents said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if Stefanik was on the ticket, while just 12% said they would be more likely to do so.

Those results put her below North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a lesser-known contender, as well as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who's recently made headlines for killing her own dog and dubiously claiming to have met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

The poll, conducted between May 15 and 16 among 1,660 registered voters, does not explain why Stefanik ranks so low.

While she was among the first House Republicans to endorse Trump's 2024 campaign, it's possible that GOP voters are still aware of her past as a moderate, Trump-skeptic lawmaker.

The poll also found that Stefanik remains relatively unknown to the average voter — 20% have a favorable impression of her, 22% have an unfavorable impression, and 56% either have no opinion, or haven't heard of her.

Meanwhile, the poll showed that the biggest boons for the Trump ticket would be Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — both of whom challenged Trump for the nomination this year — as well as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

In each case, the majority of voters — ranging between 54% and 64% — indicated that Trump's VP choice wouldn't affect their decision at all.

Here's how each VP contender polled among all voters:

• Sen. Tim Scott — 25% more likely, 19% less likely;
• Vivek Ramaswamy — 23% more likely, 13% less likely;
• Sen. Marco Rubio — 22% more likely, 22% less likely;
• Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — 19% more likely, 20% less likely;
• Gov. Kristi Noem — 16% more likely, 23% less likely;
• Gov. Doug Burgum — 15% more likely, 21% less likely;
• Rep. Elise Stefanik — 13% more likely, 24% less likely.