Donald Trump pleads not guilty to criminal charges in New York

Hello from London. It was a day of extraordinary drama in New York on Tuesday when Donald Trump became the?first former US president to answer criminal charges: he pleaded not guilty to covering up “hush money” payments ahead of the 2016 election. Our reporters were outside the Manhattan courtroom and describe?the theatrics as Trump supporters faced off against opponents — and the former president’s subdued but defiant appearance inside.

The case against Trump was widely referred to as the “zombie case” before it was resurrected by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. Many legal experts cast doubt on?Bragg’s ability to make the case stick, as?US legal correspondent Joe Miller reports.

Whether Bragg’s move will make legal history or enhance Trump’s chances of winning the Republican nomination will play out in legal wrangling over the next months. Here, in a thought-provoking column, US national editor Edward Luce explores another aspect of the drama:?how the media’s wall-to-wall coverage could play out?for Trump and the Republicans.

My choices this week

1.?Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has become the?first foreign journalist detained in Russia?since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. This cowardly act is Moscow’s latest attempt to control the narrative of a failed war, writes the FT’s editorial board.?Gershkovich must be released with haste.?(Free to read)

2.?In the face of Chinese threats to annex Taiwan, the country’s president Tsai Ing-wen has been in the US rallying support, just as her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, has been touring China, albeit with a very different agenda.?Correspondent Kathrin Hille reports on Taiwan’s deepening political divide.

3.?In?a column reflecting on his trip to Kyiv?last week, chief foreign affairs commentator Gideon Rachman considers how war — and eventual peace — might shift the identity and international status of Ukraine.

4.?“All of Syria is now Asma’s.” Asma al-Assad, Syria’s enigmatic first lady and self-styled ‘Mother of the Nation’ has become a central funnel of economic power in Syria. Middle East correspondent Raya Jalabi charts?the rising influence of Mrs Assad?in this remarkable read.?(Free to read)

5.?How does GPT-4 stack up against Bard? FT experts pitted the generative AI systems against each other by asking them to pick stocks, tell jokes and imagine the Xi-Putin summit. Find out which system came out on top.

6.?Almost one in four US millennials say their lives are materially worse than their parents’ were. However, in his Data Points column, John Burn-Murdoch finds that?millennials are not as badly-off as they think. So, are they wrong to complain?

Thanks for reading,

Roula

PS?If you download our iPhone and iPad app?FT Edit, you can read more of my picks. After that, you can access eight of the FT's best articles every weekday for just ￡0.99 a month.?Sign up here.

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