Author: CNN

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CNN
 — 

First it was the cruise that never ends. Now, passengers are concerned that it might be the cruise that never begins.

Life at Sea cruises is due to launch its three-year, round-the-world cruise next month, setting sail from Istanbul on November 1. But with just weeks to go, the company has not yet secured a ship for the voyage.

While Life at Sea insists that the cruise will be going ahead on schedule, some future residents are concerned their plans are not yet ship-shape.

One, who has already paid over $100,000 to the company, told CNN that the situation is “a joke.”

They fear the cruise may end up canceled, and wish to remain anonymous because “I’ve not wanted to tell anyone – I’m embarrassed, I’m ashamed that I fell for it.

“I should have listened to my gut.”

Miray Cruises, which owns Life at Sea, had been due to complete the sale on its ship for the three-year cruise, slated to be called the MV Lara, at the end of September.

But one week on, the boat is still not theirs.

A spokesperson for Miray told CNN that the sale was not “finalized” while the team was in Germany to pick up the ship, so the Miray crew left the boat.

“It would have been impractical for the seller to continue accommodating the crew onboard without the finalized transaction, so the team voluntarily disembarked while they sorted out the details. The LASC team will be flying back early next week,” the spokesperson said.

Although Miray had never confirmed the name of the ship it was planning to buy, it’s widely believed to be the AIDAAura, belonging to AIDA Cruises, a German-centric subsidiary of Carnival.

The company was due to “say goodbye” to the ship in September after 20 years and more than 800 voyages, according to AIDA’s website.

The ship – which was godmothered by supermodel Heidi Klum for AIDA – has four restaurants, two lounges, five bars and clubs, and two pools.

AIDA Cruises did not respond to requests for comment on whether the sale had gone through.

The path to freedom on the high seas has not gone smoothly for Life at Sea Cruises.

The brand was launched in March when its offer of a three-year cruise around the world, visiting 135 countries, made headlines for its relative affordability.

Introductory prices started at around $30,000 per person per year, but included all accommodation, food and – crucially for Americans – medical expenses. Totted up against rent and rising prices in a global cost-of-living crisis, it seemed an attractive proposition.

Three months later, the project hit the skids when roughly half the launch team quit to work on their own round-the-world cruise project. The schism is now at the heart of a lawsuit brought by Miray.

While some putative passengers canceled because of the chaos, others stayed on with Miray promising that the cruise would go ahead as scheduled – and that it would be buying a bigger ship for it.

In September, the company announced it would extend the cruise indefinitely, allowing passengers to stay onboard for life if they so wished.

Kendra Holmes, CEO of Miray, told CNN by email categorically that the sailing is “not delayed,” despite the ship sale not having been completed.

In July, Holmes had said that Life at Sea would take possession of the new ship in late September, where it would undergo work in dry dock for two weeks, with the rest of the works being completed en route to Istanbul.

Now, with the sale pushed back, she says that “we expect to get the transfer of ownership [of the ship] next week.”

To make the original sail date, they will focus on refurbishing cabins that have already been booked, she said.

But it looks like residents may have to deal with noise onboard, as she added that, “The remaining cabins will be refurbished afterward.”

About half the cabins have been sold, she said, adding: “As a team with decades of experience with the intricacies of the cruising world, we have always had contingency time built into any schedule. Closings take time and sometimes there are delayed. This situation is not uncommon especially when there are many moving parts and multiple parties involved.”

‘Homeless and jobless’

With less than a month to go, some passengers are getting anxious at the lack of communications from the company.

CNN has spoken to several “residents” – as passengers will be known – who are concerned at how the cruise is progressing. All wished to remain anonymous.

All say that the company has not responded to queries for a month – and has even ignored requests to cancel trips.

Holmes told CNN that “we shared an update with our residents a few days ago and have been posting and interacting online regularly.” But some residents disagree.

They said that since September 8, when the team issued a spa menu, nothing was heard until October 2, when Holmes addressed residents’ concerns that the ship sale hadn’t gone through, confirming that “the closing has been delayed. We do not have an estimated time frame yet on when it will occur, but we do have extra time built into our schedule to ensure an on-time launch.” They say there has been no official communication since then.

“I know they’re really busy but they should have some courtesy and at least answer questions,” said one resident.

“We don’t know anything about shore excursions, we don’t know anything about luggage. They don’t even have the form that we’re supposed to fill out so they can get prepared with [medical] prescriptions for everybody. There’s nothing.”

With the clock ticking, not everyone is convinced that the ship will depart Istanbul on November 1.

“I’m in limbo – I have no idea what’s happening from one day to the next,” said one.

“If it goes ahead, it’ll be an amazing opportunity that’ll never happen again at the price we paid. I wasn’t willing to lose that opportunity.

“They’ve never been great at communications but I’ve had a feeling for the past month that things were happening in the background that we weren’t aware of.

“Running cruise ships is their business, so I expect them to know what they’re doing. To walk into what should have been the closing on a ship and not be prepared… They’ve bent over backwards, but we have no idea what’s going on financially.

“The price [of the cruise] is half what other world cruises charge. It’s a mess.”

Some of the residents CNN have spoken with say they will be homeless if the cruise doesn’t go ahead. People sold their houses, cars and possessions in order to commit.

One passenger has arranged to sell their business at the end of the month.

“I’m completely homeless and jobless come November 1,” they said.

“I have to wait till the 12th [of October, when Miray has suggested they will complete the sale] but in my head I’m working up a plan B, and getting a backup place where I might be able to stay for a short period.”

Some passengers took advantage of a deal to save money by paying upfront for the cruise. Many have plowed tens of thousands of dollars into the project already.

“I shouldn’t have let my passion for this trip cloud my normally good judgment,” said one passenger.

In a message to residents seen by CNN, Miray has said that anyone wanting to cancel at this stage will be refunded only 10% of what they’ve put into the scheme.

Although Holmes didn’t confirm a specific date for the ship to change hands with CNN, residents say that they have heard informally that Miray will take possession on October 12.

And although Holmes insists they will make the November 1 launch, the passengers CNN has spoken with are doubtful.

“I fully expect the cruise to be delayed – even if they take possession on that date,” said one.

“It was supposed to go into dry dock and get renovated. I don’t think it would be good for them to skip that and show up with a nasty 20-year-old Carnival cruise ship that we’re supposed to live in for three years.”

One passenger CNN spoke to has chosen to embark at a later point – and says it’s because they expected confusion at the start.

“I wanted to give them a few weeks to work out the bugs before they picked me up – I’m glad I won’t have to put up with them possibly renovating during the transatlantic sailing,” they said.

Holmes told CNN, “People aren’t concerned. We don’t feel that anyone is unnerved. We’ve been responsive to all resident questions and have been getting a lot of positive messages from them.”

All the residents hope that despite their fears, the cruise does go ahead.

“People have left their homes, sent their possessions to the warehouse, some booked vacations on the way to Istanbul and are already in transit,” said one.

“If it happens on November 1, I’ll be shocked. I just really, really hope they don’t cancel.”

CNN
 — 

The judge presiding over the Georgia election subversion case rejected an attempt by pro-Donald Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro to dismiss his indictment, according to a court filing on Friday.

He was hired to work on former President Donald Trump campaign’s efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election that Joe Biden won and worked to put forward fake slates of pro-Trump electors in Georgia and other states.

Chesebro had been seeking to dismiss his indictment on grounds that Nathan Wade, one of the lead prosecutors for the Fulton County DA on the case, was not properly authorized as a public officer in Georgia.

In his written ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote the “motion fails to establish that this code section is even relevant to Special ADA Wade” or establish how his actions “resulted in prejudice.”

During a hearing on Thursday, McAfee also signaled he was on track to deny a separate motion to dismiss from co-defendant Sidney Powell, appearing to pave the way for their trial to proceed as planned on October 23. They both pleaded not guilty.

Fulton County prosecutors have indicted Chesebro on seven criminal charges, including a violation of the Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, Conspiracy to commit forgery, Conspiracy to commit false statements and writing, and Conspiracy to commit false documents.

Chesebro’s Atlanta-based lawyers describe him as election attorney who specializes in constitutional issues and dispute the claims he’s the architect.

CNN
 — 

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for speaker of the House Friday.

In a post on Truth Social shortly after midnight, Trump said Jordan “will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

Trump’s intervention into the race came after he expressed openness to temporarily serving in the role himself and, per a source familiar with discussions, considered a visit to Capitol Hill to speak with Republicans in the coming days as they weigh a new speaker.

The former president is not expected to go to Capitol Hill, a source close to Trump said Thursday night. The Messenger first reported the internal discussions on a potential trip.

Republicans are slated to hear from speaker candidates at a forum next Tuesday, setting up the next possible House-wide speaker vote on Wednesday, October 11. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Jordan have announced their candidacies, and others could still enter the race, but it remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to McCarthy.

In the meantime, the vacancy leaves the House essentially paralyzed.

Trump has been approached in recent days by GOP lawmakers who have floated the idea of him serving as speaker, even on a temporary basis, one source familiar with the conversations said, and has been “intrigued” by the idea.

“They have asked me if I would take it for a short period of time for the party, until they come to a conclusion – I’m not doing it because I want to – I will do it if necessary, should they not be able to make their decision,” Trump told Fox News Digital. Trump told Fox he was focused on his presidential campaign but that he would be open to serving for a “30-, 60-, or 90-day period.”

Trump has told those with him this week that while he is “flattered” and “honored” that people have raised his name, he is not seriously entertaining the idea, according to two people who have spoken with him about Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

Trump is “entirely focused” on running for president, the two sources said, characterizing his public posturing on the narrative that he could be elected speaker as Trump relishing the attention.

“A lot of people have been calling me about speaker. All I can say is we’ll do whatever is best for the country and the Republican Party,” Trump told reporters outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan on Wednesday during a break from his civil fraud trial.

Republican Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia had publicly said they would support Trump for the role.

If he did run, Trump would need to earn the majority of the votes of lawmakers present and voting, which could prove difficult for a former president who is polarizing even among members of the GOP conference. Rep. Mike Lawler, a GOP freshman from a swing district in New York, told CNN earlier Thursday that he doesn’t see a role for Trump in the speaker’s race.

Asked by CNN’s Jim Sciutto whether he wanted the former president to come to the Capitol, Lawler said, “I think the choice for speaker will be someone who is currently a member of Congress and I think these discussions should be among the members.”

And even if Trump were to be elected, it’s unclear whether he could get around House Republican conference rules that state any member who is indicted on felony charges that carry a prison sentence of two or more years is required to step down from leadership. Those rules are self-enforced and could be changed – but only after a speaker is elected.

This headline and story have been updated with additional information.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.

CNN
 — 

The Elon-Musk owned social media platform, X, confidently claims that it harnesses industry-leading brand safety tools to ensure a positive experience for advertisers on the platform — but a quick glance at where advertisements for prominent brands actually appear tells an entirely different story.

Over the last 24 hours, a Reliable Sources review found advertisements for a cohort of major companies and organizations have appeared directly on the verified profile account of VDARE, an openly racist, white supremacist outlet that publishes some of the most vile content on the internet.

Those companies and organizations include Amazon, Samsung, the Denver Broncos, Cox Communications, STARZ, The Wall Street Journal, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, the University of Missouri, New York Waterway, Axios, Puck, Ad Age, Morning Brew, and the Asian Development Bank.

The fact that X permits a publication like VDARE to operate a verified account on the platform — giving it access to monetization and boosting its visibility to users — is in itself seriously concerning (Facebook and YouTube, for instance, have banned the outlet from their platforms). But that it apparently also believes it is appropriate to monetize the outlet’s vicious hate speech says volumes not only about the company’s ethics, but its supposed commitment to brand safety.

X must be well aware that it is pairing advertisements with racist content, given that the NFL made noise about this very problem last week. The league expressed concern its ads were being displayed on accounts featuring racist material, including VDARE’s, following a report from the progressive watchdog Media Matters, which brought the issue to attention.

And yet, X has taken little if any discernible action to remedy the problem. Instead, it has continued to place advertisements for some of the world’s most recognizable companies directly on the account of one of the most notorious white supremacist outlets on the web.

All the while, Linda Yaccarino, the former NBCUniversal advertising boss turned X executive, has claimed publicly and privately that X has taken incredible measures to ensure advertisers don’t find their brands adjacent to hate speech on the website. But those claims don’t seem to hold much water, given the ugly reality of what is transpiring on X.

In a Thursday night statement, X effectively acknowledged it has more work to do to make the platform safe for brands.

“X cares about the health and safety of the platform for all its users, advertisers and publishers, and we’re accelerating products so our content partners can be removed from some in-app placements like profile and search,” a company spokesperson told CNN.

The statement from X — rare these days — was likely a sign of how things are going behind the scenes. Some of the brands whose advertisements appeared on VDARE’s account expressed strong displeasure on Thursday when they became aware of the situation.

“Racist hate speech is completely antithetical to everything the STARZ brand stands for and we have suspended all advertising on X immediately and indefinitely,” a STARZ spokesperson told me Thursday evening.

A spokesperson for the New York Waterway told me that it found the news “disturbing” and that the company had “no knowledge” of the matter and would “definitely be contacting” X about it. The representative added that New York Waterway “wants nothing to do with hate speech, and we do not want our ads near any organization or entity that promotes it.”

Jon Kelly, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Puck, said that it was “obviously appalling and completely antithetical” to the company’s values to advertise on VDARE’s profile. Kelly said the outlet has since “enacted various measures to hopefully ensure this was the first and last time that this happens.”

The University of Missouri said it does not “condone organizations that promote intolerance.” Cox Communications said it was investigating the matter. And a spokesperson for the NFL pointed to its previous statement expressing concern that its advertisements were appearing on the accounts belonging to racists.

Spokespeople for The Wall Street Journal, Axios, Morning Brew, Ad Age, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, and the Asian Development Bank either declined or did not respond to requests for comment.

That said, it is, frankly, astonishing that big companies continue to believe that the current iteration of X is a friendly corner of the web to advertise their carefully manicured brands on, when they should know full well by now that it is a chaotic platform, rife with content moderation problems.

As Lou Paskalis, a seasoned advertising executive, said on Thursday, “Having ads run against racist and antisemitic content is the proverbial third rail for major advertisers who have enterprise-wide initiates to support diversity, to support inclusion, that are not only important to their brands but their employees and shareholders.”

“A single incident of this, screen shot and circulated, undoes years of hard work,” Paskalis added. “And no amount of advertising benefit would ever displace the potential risk of one incident where your ad shows up next to unsavory content.”

This years’s Peace Prize sends a likely unwelcome message to the authorities in Iran, which has for decades been dictating to women how they should dress.

The Islamic regime made the hjiab compulsory in 1979, after toppling the Pahlavi dynasty. It also created the notorious  morality police, tasked with ensuring that the rules are followed.

Several anti-hijab movements have emerged in Iran over the years, often leading to crackdowns by the regime, with massive waves of arrest and persecution.

Following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September of last year, many took to the streets protesting the mandatory hijab law and other issues.

The movement was violently quashed, however, and the regime responded months later with a new hijab bill that, if passed, would enshrine unprecedentedly harsh punitive measures into law.

The 70-article draft law, which was published on Iranian media just weeks before the one-year anniversary of the protests, set out a range of proposals, including much longer prison terms for women who refuse to wear the veil, stiff new penalties for celebrities and businesses who flout the rules, and the use of artificial intelligence to identify women in breach of the dress code.

Experts said the bill was a warning to Iranians that the regime would not back down from its stance on the hijab despite the mass demonstrations that rocked the country last year.

Days after the protest anniversary, Iran’s parliament last month passed a draconian new hijab legislation, which authorities said would be enacted for a three-year trial period once the Guardian Council, which oversees legislative matters in the Islamic Republic, approves it.

Parts of the bill are ambiguous, but some clauses sanction punishments of up to 10 years, and fines between 180 million rials ($4,260) and 360 million rials ($8,520).

The punishments are a sharp split from today’s measures. Under the current Islamic penal code, those in breach of the dress code face between 10 days to two months in prison, or a fine between 50,000 to 500,000 Iranian rials, what is today between $1.18 to $11.82.

It is “a clear response to the protests from September of last fall,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House think-tank in London, told CNN in August before the bill was introduced in parliament, adding that the establishment was attempting to “reassert authority over veiling and the requirements expected of women.”

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.

New York
CNN
 — 

October is known to be a spooky month and stocks don’t have a good track record of getting spared.

Black Tuesday, the 1929 market plunge that led to the Great Depression, 1987’s Black Monday and the beginnings of the 2008 financial crisis all took place in October, as my colleague Nicole Goodkind pointed out.

And just five days into the month, it’s already shaping up to be pretty chilling. Proceed with caution before looking at your 401(k). You’ve been warned.

The good news

Thursday was a pretty boring day for stocks with the S&P 500, the Dow and Nasdaq all closing down by under 0.2%.

The bad news

Stocks are going through a bit of a rough patch. Over the past five trading days, the Dow has shed more than 760 points, or 2%. This week’s declines have pushed the index back into negative territory for the year.

What’s driving the action:

Bonds have been casting some pretty nasty spells over stocks lately.

Stocks often struggle when government bond yields are elevated, since it means investors can get high returns on less risky assets. And boy are bond yields elevated.

The last time yields on 10-year US Treasury notes (a type of bond), were this high was right before the Great Recession… Spoooooky.

A brief intermission…

If the word yield is scary to you, allow me to briefly explain.

Essentially, Treasury notes are IOUs to the government. And in exchange for loaning the government money, you get paid a bit of interest. The interest you earn is the yield.

But here’s the kicker: As the price of bonds go up when lots of people buy them, yields go down. By contrast, when the price of bonds go down because lots of people are selling them, yields go up.

When official interest rates rise so do investors’ expectations for returns on bonds, known as yields. This creates an incentive for investors to sell the bonds they currently hold and buy newly issued ones that offer higher interest payments.

Back to the program

Investors have come to believe that the Federal Reserve will keep rates higher for longer than they had anticipated when the central bank began this whole schtick last March.

At the same time, the government keeps needing more money to finance its spending. That’s prompting it to issue more bonds, pushing prices down.

CNN
 — 

A grand jury decided not to indict anyone on criminal charges related to the New Orleans Hard Rock Hotel construction collapse in 2019 that left three people dead and 30 others injured, prosecutors said Thursday.

The investigation into the fatal collapse began in 2021, and the case was presented to the grand jury over several months to determine whether criminal charges could be filed in the case, according to a statement from the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office. On Thursday, District Attorney Jason Williams said the jury did not come across enough evidence to meet the threshold for a criminal case.

“Unfortunately, criminal negligence carries a much higher burden than civil negligence, and upon deliberating, the jurors decided there simply wasn’t enough certainty to proceed,” Williams said in the statement.

Crews were working on building a new 350-room Hard Rock Hotel, just steps away from the city’s historic French Quarter, when the building partially collapsed on October 12, 2019.

More than 100 construction workers were at the site when the structure partially crumbled, according to one of the construction companies. Video footage from the horrific scene showed workers emerging from a giant cloud of dust after the upper floors collapsed and debris filled the street.

The collapse was followed by days of search and rescue for victims in massive piles of debris, where some were trapped.

The three workers killed were 36-year-old Quinnyon Wimberly, 49-year-old Anthony Floyd Magrette and 63-year-old Jose Ponce Arreola, officials said. Recovery teams were unable to reach the remains of Arreola and Wimberly for months due to the instability of the collapsed structure.

The DA’s office expressed frustration at the grand jury’s decision, saying it was “a disheartening day.”

“Our entire team at OPDA (Orleans Parish District Attorney) is frustrated with this outcome. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families as they continue their emotional healing journey,” the office said in the statement.

The DA’s office claims Occupational Safety and Health Administration specialists did not cooperate “to further” their efforts in presenting the case to the grand jury.

“While OSHA’s specialists assessed the situation from an administrative enforcement angle, they didn’t cooperate to further our efforts in presenting this case to the grand jury,” the statement read. “They hindered our progress by withholding a crucial report for our review.”

The DA said it seemed OSHA, a federal agency that investigates workplace violations among other work-related issues, prioritized civil negotiations over criminal investigations.

“Their refusal to disclose all evidence and reports at their disposal severely hampered our presentation,” Williams said.

CNN has reached out to OSHA for comment.

CNN
 — 

The number of people killed when a drone laden with explosives hit a military a military college graduation ceremony in the western Syrian city of Homs rose to 89 early Friday, with nearly 300 others wounded.

Five children and 31 women were among the dead, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. In an earlier statement, the defense ministry on Thursday blamed “terrorist organizations supported by well-known international parties.” Among those with critical injuries were families invited to the ceremony as well as graduating students, it said.

The Syrian armed forces said the attack was “unprecedented,” and vowed to respond “with full force and determination, warning that those who planned and executed the attack “will pay dearly.”

The ancient city of Homs, once known as the capital of the Syrian revolution, was the site of intense battles between regime forces and opposition fighters seeking to unseat President Bashar Al Assad in 2012. The city fell to the regime in 2014, when rebels left it after a two-year siege.

The Syrian president now controls most of the country, with the exception of a northern strip held by various rebel factions, including Kurdish groups.

Located in the agricultural heartland of Syria, the western city had long been a transport and commercial hub of vital strategic importance. The road through Homs connects the capital, Damascus, in the south, to Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, in the north.

On Thursday, civil defense group the White Helmets, comprised of nearly 3,000 volunteers working to save lives in Syria, said the Syrian regime forces launched “systematic” attacks on civilians in northwestern Syria, killing at least 12 people and injuring 49.

Among the 49 injured civilians were 12 children and 11 women, according to the group.

Syria has been carrying out airstrikes routinely in the area against what the regime calls terrorists.

Heavy artillery shells and rocket launchers were unleashed upon more than 15 cities, towns, and villages across Idlib and the Aleppo countryside in northwest Syria. Notably, markets, schools, public facilities, and humanitarian workers were targeted in these attacks, the White Helmets said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the group reported airstrikes targeting a school in Sarmeen city in the eastern countryside of Idlib, resulting in the death of one child and injuries to six civilians, including three girls – with one being an infant – and two women.

Northwest Syria has witnessed its third consecutive day of deadly bombardment, the group said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, at least 11 people were killed on the other side of the country Thursday by Turkish airstrikes targeting Kurdish-controlled areas of northeastern Syria, according to a statement by Kurdish security forces in the region.

“The Turkish state launched on Thursday a series of attacks on our regions with more than 15 drones penetrating the airspace of northeastern Syria, and again targeted many positions, infrastructure, service facilities, and gas and oil stations, resulting in death and injuries. Its aggression also affected areas populated by civilians,” said Asayish, the Kurdish internal security force.

Turkey’s military has launched a series of airstrikes against Kurdish targets in Syria and Iraq following a deadly bombing in the Turkish capital on Sunday. The attack in Ankara was claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has carried out a decades-long insurgency against the government and is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union.

In a separate incident, a US fighter jet shot down an armed Turkish drone in Syria that was operating near US military personnel and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), officials familiar with the incident told CNN Thursday.

The backbone of the SDF is the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey says is a wing of the PKK.

The US assessed the armed drone as a potential threat, and issued more than a dozen warnings before shooting it down, the officials said, adding that several drones made repeated approaches toward US troop positions.

It is unclear how the warnings were issued. There were no reports of US casualties, an official said.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said that the drone didn’t belong to the Turkish armed forces, Reuters reported. CNN has reached out to the Turkish government for comment.

CNN
 — 

Donald Trump dropped his lawsuit against his former attorney Michael Cohen four days before the former president was set to be deposed as part of the case, according to a court filing.

In a one-page court filing Thursday, Trump’s attorney wrote, “Plaintiff, President Donald J. Trump, by and through undersigned counsel, hereby gives notice that pursuant to Rule 41(1)(A)(i) he is voluntarily dismissing this action without prejudice.”

CNN has reached out to Trump for comment.

Trump sued Cohen in April for $500 million alleging his former fixer breached his professional obligations as his confidant and attorney through the publication of his books as well as podcasts and media appearances. The lawsuit came days after Trump was indicted on New York state charges relating to a hush money payment Cohen facilitated. Cohen testified before the grand jury in the case.

Trump was scheduled to be deposed this week but asked the judge to postpone his deposition to allow him to attend his separate high-stakes civil fraud trial unfolding in New York. The judge allowed a brief delay and ordered Trump to be deposed on Monday in New York.

The judge overseeing the lawsuit denied Trump’s efforts to limit the scope of the deposition, and Trump’s criminal defense lawyer in the hush-money payment case was expected to sit in on the deposition to potentially advise Trump not to answer certain questions that could expose him to liability.

Cohen is expected to testify later this month as a witness for the New York attorney general’s office in the civil fraud trial in New York.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said it opened its investigation after Cohen testified before Congress in 2019 alleging that Trump inflated the value of his properties to get better interest rates on loans and insurance.

The judge overseeing the case found Trump, his eldest sons, the Trump Organization and several executives liable for fraud and canceled the business certificates of some entities in a summary judgment. The case is now in its first week of trial as the state seeks to hold the individuals accountable and prove damages and other claims.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN
 — 

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday that it was not an “external” attack that crashed the plane carrying Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin in August, but hand grenades within the aircraft.

Speaking at the Valdai Forum in Sochi, Putin said the “chairman of the investigative committee just reported a few days ago that the fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the victims. There was no external influence on the plane, it is an established fact.”

Prigozhin, who led a failed uprising against the Kremlin, was among the 10 people on board the private plane which crashed in a field northwest of Moscow in August while en route to St. Petersburg. All on board, including Prigozhin and his top aides, were killed.

The Russian leader, whose government has denied involvement in the crash, did not detail how grenades might have exploded on the plane, but said that he thought investigators should have performed drug or alcohol tests on the bodies of the victims.

“I repeat, in my opinion such an examination should have been carried out but it wasn’t,” he said, also saying that “10 billion in cash and 5 kilos of cocaine” had previously been found by Russian security forces in Wagner’s office in St Petersburg.

Putin said the chairman of the investigation committee said it was ok to “share this information publicly” as it was “an established fact.”

The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny against Russia’s military leadership, which posed the biggest challenge to Putin’s rule in decades.

In June, Prigozhin and his Wagner troops seized key military sites and marched toward Moscow, where the Kremlin had deployed heavily armed troops to the streets. But before they could face off, a deal was struck that ended the rebellion and sent Prigozhin and his fighters to neighboring Belarus.

Following the deadly crash, Russian officials said they were considering various scenarios surrounding the incident, including the possibility of a “deliberate atrocity,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in late August.

US and western intelligence officials, however, told CNN at the time that they believed the crash was deliberate. US President Joe Biden even suggested that Putin may have been involved. “I don’t know for a fact what happened, but I’m not surprised,” he said in late August.

Peskov has denied claims that the Kremlin might have been involved in the plane’s demise, calling such speculation an “absolute lie.”