A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News. Delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Leading the week
After Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer Michael Cohen finishes giving evidence in Trump’s hush money trial on Monday (May 20), the former president’s legal team will have its chance to make the case for acquittal. In its opening statement, Trump’s team provided the broad outline of its case: that the money paid to Cohen was for his legal services, that Trump wasn’t personally involved in producing Trump Organization business records, and that Stormy Daniels’ NDA agreement was more about preventing her claim of a sexual encounter reaching his wife than it was about hiding it from voters.
While Trump has suggested he would testify in his own defense, in court his lawyer has made no such commitment, perhaps unsurprisingly given the legal risks it would expose Trump to. As proceedings wrapped up yesterday, Judge Juan Merchan told the parties to be ready to make their closing arguments on Tuesday (May 21), after which the case will be in the hands of the jury.
Back from his surprise visit this week to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appear before four Congressional panels in DC next week, starting on Tuesday (May 21) with the Senate foreign relations and appropriations committees, followed by their House counterparts on Wednesday (May 22). While he’s likely to address a wide range of global issues from the conflict in Ukraine to relations with China to the crises in Sudan and Georgia, the conflict in Gaza is likely to dominate coverage of his appearances. The administration’s recent decision to put a weapons shipment on hold amid signs Israel is planning to push ahead with operations in Rafah is likely to be raised repeatedly during the hearings after it prompted outrage from House Republicans, who yesterday passed legislation to try and force the pause to be lifted.
State primaries take place on Tuesday (May 21) in Georgia, Oregon, Idaho and Kentucky. In Georgia, there’s interest in the Democratic primaries for the 13th and redrawn 6th Congressional Districts, as well as primaries for Fulton County DA Fani Willis and Superior Court Judge who is presiding over the Trump case. In Oregon, races to watch include the Democratic primary in the GOP-held 5th Congressional District and the Republican primary in the Democratic 6th, given both races are expected to be highly competitive come November.
In Idaho, 2nd District GOP Rep. Michael Simpson is the only incumbent to face a contested primary, while in Kentucky most interest is focused on the state house races. Tuesday also sees a special election to fill Kevin McCarthy’s old seat in California, where Bakersfield Assemblyman Vince Fong and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, both Republicans, are the two remaining candidates competing to represent the 20th Congressional District.
Looking abroad
The world reacted with shock and horror to the shooting of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday while he was greeting members of the public in the small town of Handlova, and the fallout from the incident is likely to continue generating headlines. President Zuzana Caputova, who opposes Fico, held talks with her successor and Fico ally Peter Pellegrini yesterday, and the pair will jointly host a meeting with leaders of all parliamentary parties on Tuesday (May 21) in an effort to promote unity and calm.
Tensions have been running particularly high ahead of European elections in June, as Fico’s government moved ahead with plans to pass a Georgia-style foreign agents law and proposals to give the government greater powers over the RTVS public broadcaster. The Slovak parliament, which had been debating the RTVS bill when Fico was shot, may resume its sitting as early as Tuesday.
Julian Assange’s UK legal saga could be coming to an end on Monday (May 20) as the High Court is due to rule on his final attempt to appeal his extradition to the US to face charges that he helped former US soldier Chelsea Manning steal classified files in 2009 and 2010. The WikiLeaks founder was arrested in 2019 after spending seven years holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy to avoid extradition, first to Sweden where he faced sexual assault complaints which were later dropped. He has been held in Belmarsh Prison since his arrest, where his wife says his health has deteriorated to the point where he ‘will die’ if sent to prison in the US.
A decision on whether to grant the final appeal was delayed in March after the court requested assurances from the US government on several grounds, including that it won’t seek the death penalty if Assange is extradited. A ruling against the appeal would mean Assange could be on his way to the US, barring a last-minute intervention from the European Court of Human Rights. President Joe Biden said earlier this year that he is considering pardoning Assange, remarks that were welcomed by Australian prime minister and AUKUS ally Anthony Albanese, who has repeatedly called for charges to be dropped.