Trump has exited the Manhattan courtroom where his hush money trial is being held, exhaling and with a stern expression. It marks the end of the trial’s fourth day of witness testimony. So far, prosecutors have called three witnesses. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker spent about 10 hours on the stand over the course of four days. Then Trump’s longtime executive assistant Rhona Graff answered questions for about 30 minutes. The current witness, Cohen’s former banker Gary Farro, was on the stand for a little under an hour Friday. He will return when the trial resumes Tuesday, with Monday being a long-scheduled day off.

Rooting for Donald Trump to fail has rarely been this profitable. Just ask a hardy band of mostly amateur investors who have collectively made tens of millions over the past month by betting that the stock price of his social media business – Truth Social – will keep dropping despite wild swings that appear to mirror the candidate’s latest polls, court trials and outbursts on Truth Social itself. Several of these investors interviewed by The Associated Press say their bearish gambles using “put” options are driven less by their personal feelings about the former president than by their enduring faith in the woeful underlying financials of the company.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says an Israeli drone strike on a car in the eastern part of the country has killed two people. The strike came after Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group carried out an attack along the border that killed an Israeli civilian. Meanwhile, Egypt has sent a high-level delegation to Israel in the hope of reaching a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza. Officials say it warned that a possible new Israeli offensive focused on Rafah could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability. Rafah is in southern Gaza on the border with Egypt.

A federal appeals court says singer R. Kelly was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison on child sex convictions in Chicago. Jurors in 2022 convicted the Grammy Award-winning R&B singer on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex. Kelly's attorney called the decision disappointing and says they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review Friday's decision by the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Kelly is also serving a 30-year sentence imposed in New York for federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions. He has separately appealed that sentence.