Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
John Bolton was indictedJohn Bolton, the former Trump adviser who became an outspoken critic of the president, was indicted today on charges of mishandling classified information. The indictment, which you can read in full here, accused Bolton of using an email account to send “diary” notes about his day-to-day activities as President Trump’s national security adviser in 2018 and 2019. Many of those notes included “national defense information,” including details classified as top secret, the indictment said. Bolton is the latest in a series of Trump’s political enemies that have become prosecutorial targets, though the investigation into him gained momentum during the Biden administration. In other Trump administration news:
Head of U.S. military’s Southern Command is resigningAdm. Alvin Holsey, who commanded all military operations in Central and South America as the head of the U.S. Southern Command, is stepping down after less than a year on the job, according to three U.S. officials. Holsey, who has overseen the Pentagon’s escalating attacks against boats in the Caribbean Sea, has not yet given a reason for his departure. But one U.S. official said that he had raised concerns about attacking the boats, which the Trump administration said were smuggling drugs. Other Pentagon officials said there were policy tensions between Holsey and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In related news, U.S. military helicopters and B-52 bombers flew near Venezuela in a show of aerial threats.
Trump is planning to meet with PutinTrump said today that he and President Vladimir Putin of Russia had agreed during a phone call to meet in Budapest soon to discuss ways to end Russia’s three-year invasion of Ukraine. Trump described the more than two-hour call between the two leaders as “very productive.” He said that top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would sit down with their Russian counterparts next week ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Hungary. Trump also said he would talk about the path to a cease-fire tomorrow during a White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader. Zelensky is widely expected to ask the U.S. for Tomahawk missiles, which would give Ukraine the ability to strike deep inside Russia. Earlier this week, Trump suggested he was open to the possibility. But the Kremlin said today that Putin warned on the call against the move. In related news, Russia is arming its drones with North Korean cluster munitions, according to a weapons research group.
The missing enforcers of the Assad regimeDuring President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal, two-decade reign in Syria, high-ranking officials helped fund his dictatorship and carry out atrocities against civilians. When the regime collapsed last year, most of those officials hid or fled — some on a middle-of-the-night flight — without leaving much of a trace. My colleagues on our Visual Investigations team set out to identify al-Assad’s top enforcers, uncover evidence of their alleged crimes and find out where they might be now. They chased down fragments of information and visited the lavish homes of regime officials. Here’s what they found and how they did it. More top news
Ben Stiller put his reckoning on the big screenBen Stiller started filming his parents’ apartment in 2020 after the death of his father, Jerry Stiller. He wasn’t sure why, but eventually he realized that he wanted to honor his parents’ pioneering comedy work with a documentary. The resulting film, which opens in theaters tomorrow, is also part family history, part therapy. In the movie, Stiller describes growing up backstage, with sometimes absentee parents. It’s about the tension between living an ambitious artistic life and being part of a family. In one scene, his son tells him that he didn’t feel fatherhood was Stiller’s top priority. “As a filmmaker I was like, OK, this is a good moment for the movie,” Stiller said. “As a person I was like: That sucks.” Another great new documentary: The five-part “Mr. Scorsese” is a captivating profile of the famed director.
The biggest star on pastry’s biggest stageIn just five years, Cedric Grolet has transformed from a little-known chef specializing in making haute patisserie for the world’s .0001 percent into the head of a dessert empire. Online, he already has far more followers than big names like Martha Stewart and Ina Garten. In real life, his celebrity is growing, too: Crowds swarmed his new chocolate shop in Paris, which translates the world of high-end pastries for the masses.
Dinner table topics
Cook: Try this burnt ends recipe from a famous Kansas City barbecue spot. Read: The author Isabel Cañas recommended seven historical horror novels. Watch: Ethan Hawke plays the lyricist Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon.” Plan: We put together an itinerary for a short trip to Majorca, Spain. Exercise: Here is a beginner’s guide to indoor cycling. Build: Wirecutter found the best screws you’ve probably never used. Hunt: Which New York City home would you buy with a budget of $700,000? |
