Hey there. I'm Paola Ortiz with the 5 Things you need to know for Thursday, May 2nd.

In the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. The jury had the chance to hear audio submitted by the defense, including some recordings that were referenced in court today. Meanwhile, a new witness has taken the stand Douglas Daus, a records custodian for the Manhattan District Attorney's office. But why someone who is already a part of the DA's office? Former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams explains.

Why would the DA's office call someone from the DA's office? There's a few reasons. So, number one, he may be just admitting evidence, also authenticating some of the evidence they have. When you're when you're dealing with things like he's talking about how he analyzed Michael Cohen's cell phone and so on, you actually have to establish that this is Michael Cohen's cell phone, that we know who reviewed it, who took a look at it, and so on. It's sort of called authenticating it. And I think the last thing is chain of custody. That's pretty much establishing that this thing that we've talked about. Each of the steps it's taken and that no one's had a chance to tamper with it.

'Campuses across the country and the world continue to express their disapproval of Israel's war in Gaza, in some cases leading to the arrests of hundreds, while in the U.S., some pro-Palestinian student encampments are being dismantled. In Europe, students are also taking a stand. In the U.K., pro-Palestinian encampments have been set up in some higher education institutions, like Newcastle University and Warwick University, and at University College London. Students have gathered to protest against the school's ties with Israeli academic institutions and the university's research partnerships with arms companies. Meanwhile, in Paris.

The first student began a hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian victims, but above all to protest against the way in which Science Po has continually repressed students wishing to support Palestine.

A student tells media that another student has begun a hunger strike at the city's pole campus, and said they will continue the strike until the university meets their demands.

A former dive boat captain, could be sentenced to up to ten years in prison after 34 people were killed in a fire that broke out on his boat in 2019. Jerry Nehl Boylan was found guilty last year of one federal felony count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer. Boylan was initially charged with manslaughter, but that was dismissed in 2022. Prosecutors say Boylan was the first to abandon ship after fire erupted when his boat was anchored about 25 miles off the coast of California. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board at the time said it was the deadliest maritime accident in nearly 70 years.

Federal regulators are alleging that the longtime CEO of a leading American oil producer attempted to collude with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to inflate prices. Scott Sheffield is the founder of Pioneer Natural Resources and retired as CEO last year. He is accused of discussing pricing, production and oil market dynamics with officials at OPEC. That's the oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia. In OPEC nations, oil production is decided by coordinating among the major players. U.S. oil production is supposed to be decided by the free market. The Federal Trade Commission recently approved the sale of pioneer to ExxonMobil, under the condition that Sheffield can sit on Exxon's board or serve as an adviser. Sheffield and Pioneer have signaled they won't push back, though the company defended its former CEO in a statement.

Coming up, the IRS will crack down on the rich.

Welcome back.

'The Internal Revenue Service has announced plans to increase audits of the wealthiest Americans by 50%. That's taxpayers earning more than $10 million. The IRS audited 11% of this population in 2019, and plans to audit 16.5% in 2026. The IRS also plans to triple the audit rates of large corporations over the seven year period. Years of underfunding have left the agency without enough staff. But the IRS hopes to use an influx of money from the Inflation Reduction Act to change that. The To-Do list also includes improving IRS technology and digitizing its 1 billion pieces of paper.

That's all for us today but we'll be back tomorrow. I'm Paola Ortiz, I'll talk to you soon.