Elon’s Debt Bomb, Trump’s Trinity Test, CNN During Wartime

Happy Friday and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon compendium of Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Teddy Schleifer’s inside-the-courtroom account of Caroline Ellison’s bombshell testimony against her former colleague and on-and-off again paramour, Sam Bankman-Fried. Is S.B.F. cooked?

Plus, below the fold: Jonathan Handel digs into how the SAG-studios negotiations imploded, and what comes next. Tara Palmeri chronicles the inside story of Donald Trump’s dangerously efficient campaign. Lauren Sherman details why player haters in Paris were all chatting about Saks’ Richard Baker. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Dylan Byers dissect how cable networks are addressing the Israel-Hamas war, before Bill Cohan and Ben Landy discuss how Elon’s broken social media platform is making the conflict worse.

TEDDY SCHLEIFER

In the trial of S.B.F., the defense set out to blame Caroline Ellison, Sam’s former colleague-turned-paramour-turned-cooperating witness. Was this cross-examination really the best he could do?

JONATHAN HANDEL

The WGA, after a nearly five month strike, got essentially everything the quieter Directors Guild got, plus more. Now, as talks between SAG-AFTRA and the studios hit a major speed bump, the actors want what the writers got—and more. Will it work?

TARA PALMERI

Political rivals and media critics have been caught off guard by the unexpected professionalism and discipline of the 2024 Trump campaign, led by the triumvirate of Wiles, Miller, and LaCivita. They’ve cut costs and stripped organizational layers with a singular purpose: supporting the principal, no matter what. So, will it last?

LAUREN SHERMAN

The player haters in Paris were out for Saks. Is this because the fashion crowd is frowning on Richard Baker’s Neiman Marcus M&A fantasy? Or because there is trouble? Or are people in this business just bored and mean? (I’m not talking about you, though.)