It’s the perfect time of the year to celebrate our independents.

By that, we mean independent presses — the small publishers powered by literary true believers, committed to putting out curated works that challenge the mainstream, and that are too often ignored by big-box retailers and corporate e-commerce sites. The books they publish might not make it to the bestseller lists or celebrity book clubs, but they’re every bit as worthy as their Big Five publisher counterparts.

SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

And whether you’re into twisty mysteries, edge-of-your-seat thrillers, or informative nonfiction, there are plenty of small-press authors offering up unique reimaginings of all your favorite genres — or carving out entirely new forms that blur the lines of literary categories.

If you’re looking for a book for the beach (or the air-conditioned place of your choice), here are 33 indie-press titles you might not have heard of, but are more than worthy of your attention.

Whether you’re into fiction, nonfiction or poetry, you’re bound to find something you like here.

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

“The Seers” by Sulaiman Addonia (Coffee House Press)

Addonia’s sexy and stylistically bold novel follows Eritrean refugee Hannah’s first weeks in London as she navigates life in the U.K.’s asylum system. It’s one of the latest offerings from the Minnesota-based publisher, which has been spreading the word about indie literature for 53 years.

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Rarest Fruit” by Gaëlle Bélem, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Europa Editions)

This publisher of international literature is celebrating its 20th year, and among this year’s offerings is this novel from Réunionese author Bélem, about the real-life botanist Edmond Albius, who revolutionized the vanilla industry in the 19th century. Bélem was longlisted for the  International Booker Prize for her novel “There’s a Monster Behind the Door.” 

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Pawn” by Paco Cerdà, translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn (Deep Vellum)

This Dallas-based press has been publishing international books for 12 years. Among its latest releases is this novel from Spanish author Cerdà — his first book to be translated into English — about the famous 1962 chess match between Spanish grandmaster Arturo Pomar and American teenage prodigy Bobby Fischer.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Anam” by André Dao (Kaya Press)

USC-based Kaya Press, which publishes works by Asian and Pacific Islander diasporic writers, is one of the most dependably original presses in the country. Among its more exciting recent releases is this novel, about a Cambridge University academic who is haunted by the story of his soft-spoken grandfather, who for 10 years was a prisoner of conscience in Vietnam.

Publication Date: out now

—

“COVID Vortex Anxiety Opera Kitty Kaleidoscope Disco” by Karen Finley (City Lights Publishers)

Poet and performance artist Finley, who caused a stir in the early 1990s as one of the “NEA Four,” returns with a suite of poems that she originally performed at live appearances in New York. The book, published by the venerable San Francisco press, takes a look at the changes people made during the COVID-19 lockdowns and offers a cautiously hopeful view of humanity going forward.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Porthole” by Joanna Howard (McSweeney’s Books)

San Francisco publisher McSweeney’s, founded by Dave Eggers in 1998, has fun with its books, and it shows — they treat each volume like its own artwork. That’s the case with Howard’s new novel about Helena Désir, an art-house film director who is possibly to blame for an on-set death, and who goes to a luxury retreat after suffering exhaustion.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Foreign Fruit: A Personal History of the Orange” by Katie Goh (Tin House)

Irish author Goh set out to write a history of oranges, but along the way, she realized that her search for the citrus fruit bore similarities to her search for her own family history. It’s a wildly inventive book, which is typical for the Portland, Oregon, press that has been publishing innovative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for 20 years.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Jumping Through Hoops” by Betsy Golden Kellem (The Feminist Press)

Golden Kellem knows circuses — she won a regional Emmy Award for “Showman’s Shorts,” a video series about P.T. Barnum. In her book, she takes a look at women and gender-nonconforming circus performers in the 19th century. It comes courtesy of the Feminist Press, the 55-year-old publisher of books that “spark much-needed dialogue and move the feminist conversation forward.”

Publication Date: out now

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

—

“Marisolandia” by Michelle Cruz Gonzales (WTAW Press)

This Santa Rosa-based publisher, born out of a literary reading series, has been putting out compelling books since 2017. One of their latest is this novel of speculative fiction by Oakland-based punk rocker Gonzales. In it, Marisol, a woman in the new Republic of California, is being pressured to marry a White man to help create a homogenous race, but she instead decides to spend time with a goatherd and the members of his punk rock band.  

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Closest Thing to a Normal Life” by Michael Méndez Guevara (Arte Público Press)

Arte Público, the country’s largest publisher of Latino literature, was the first press to put out Sandra Cisneros’ seminal “The House on Mango Street.” It recently released this debut young-adult novel about 17-year-old Ethan-Matthew Cruz Canton, an aspiring journalist living in San Antonio with his grandparents after his parents are killed in a terrorist attack.

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Theory & Practice of Rivers” by Jim Harrison (Copper Canyon Press)

Originally published in 1986, this modern classic poetry collection/memoir was inspired by the death of the late Harrison’s 16-year-old niece. It has been reissued, with an introduction by Rebecca Solnit, by the Washington state-based Copper Canyon Press, which has been a stalwart in the poetry publishing world since 1972.

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands” by Josh Jackson (Heyday Books)

Los Angeles author Jackson is the founder of the Forgotten Lands Project, which uses art and storytelling to “spotlight the nation’s least protected and most misunderstood places. His book introduces readers to the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands in the Golden State. It’s published by Berkeley-based Heyday, which has been putting out California-themed books since 1974.

—

“The Island” by Antigone Kefala (Transit Books)

Kefala, who died in 2022, was one of Australia’s most fascinating authors, but her work never broke through in America. The 10-year-old Berkeley-based Transit hopes to change that with this reissue of her 2022 novel about Melina, a student in Australia who longs to know more about her early childhood in Europe.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Sleep Phase” by Mohamed Kheir, translated by Robin Moger (Two Lines Press)

A program of the Center for the Art of Translation, this San Francisco-based press is committed to putting out translations of international books, both old and new. Among its recent publications is Kheir’s Kafkaesque novel about an Egyptian man released from prison after serving a seven-year sentence who tries to get his old job as a translator back.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Is Peace Possible?” by Kathleen Lonsdale (Marginalian Editions)

One of the first three books to be published by Marginalian Editions — a collaboration between writer Maria Popova and McNally Jackson Books owner Sarah McNally — is this reissue of Quaker scientist Lonsdale’s 1957 book that argues that scientists can, and should, help bring about peace instead of war.

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Summer House” by Masashi Matsuie, translated by Margaret Mitsutani (Other Press)

New York-based Other Press has built a solid reputation for publishing excellent, and often surprising, works of fiction and nonfiction. It recently released this debut novel from Japanese author Matsuie, about a small group of architects working on designing the National Library of Modern Literature. The book won the prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature.

Publication Date: out now

—

“The Golden Book of Words” by Bernadette Mayer (New Directions Publishing)

New York-based New Directions is one of the oldest indie presses in the nation — it was founded in 1936 by a Harvard University sophomore. One of its latest, and most exciting, releases is this reissue of an early poetry collection by Mayer, the legendary poet and artist who died in 2022.

Publication Date: out now

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

—

“Angel Eye” by Madeleine Nakamura (Red Hen Press)

Now in its 31st year, Pasadena-based Red Hen Press is one of Southern California’s most esteemed independent publishers. Among its recent releases is Nakamura’s fantasy novel about a professor on the hunt for a healer who is murdering hospital patients. The novel is the sequel to Nakamura’s well-received “Cursebreakers.”

Publication Date: out now

—

“Not Long Ago Persons Found” by J. Richard Osborn (Bellevue Literary Press)

The debut novel from Oakland-based author Osborn tells the story of a biological anthropologist trying to figure out how a young boy died with pollen in his lungs that came from a faraway river valley. The book is published by New York-based Bellevue Literary Press, which publishes literature “at the intersection of the arts and sciences.”

Publication Date: out now

—

“World Without End: Essays on Apocalypse and After” by Martha Park (Hub City Press)

This is the 30th year for Hub City, the South Carolina-based press that publishes “extraordinary new and unsung writers from the American South.” It recently released this essay collection from Tennessee author Park, which tackles themes including religion, motherhood, and the climate crisis.

Publication Date: out now

—

“She Walks in Beauty” by Dawn Powell (Belt Publishing)

Ohio-born author Powell, who died in 1965, was underappreciated in her time. Belt Publishing, which puts out titles by authors from the Rust Belt, wants readers to rediscover her work, including this 1928 novel about two Ohio sisters who live in their grandmother’s boarding house in the months before World War I breaks out.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Mafalda: Book One” by Quino, translated by Frank Wynne (Archipelago Books)

More than 60 years after cartoonist Quino’s satirical comic strip launched, Mafalda — a 6-year-old girl with a preternatural concern for the future of humanity — remains one of Argentina’s most beloved fictional characters. For the first time, U.S. readers can enjoy the legendary comic, courtesy of the Brooklyn-based press that publishes translated world literature.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Soft as Bones” by Chyana Marie Sage (House of Anansi Press)

Cree, Métis, and Salish journalist Sage made history as the first Indigenous person to graduate from Columbia University’s creative nonfiction MFA program. Her memoir tells the story of her childhood growing up with her father, a crack dealer who abused her older sister. It’s one of the newer releases from House of Anansi, the Canadian indie press that once employed Margaret Atwood as an editor.

Publication Date: out now

—

“Hot Girls With Balls” by Benedict Nguyễn (Catapult Books)

This indie press has only been publishing books for 10 years, but it has racked up more than its share of critically acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction. This summer sees the release of dancer Nguyễn’s provocatively titled satirical novel about Six and Green, two volleyball players on rival teams who publicize their romance on the Internet.

Publication Date: July 1

—

“Watch Out for Falling Iguanas” by Edwidge Danticat, illustrated by Rachel Moss (Akashic Books)

Kids deserve quality indie lit too, and it’s hard to find a more acclaimed writer than Danticat, who delivers a charming tale about a young Miami girl who encounters a titular reptile decamping from its tree home. It’s published by Akashic, the Brooklyn-based publisher with a pronounced punk rock bent.

Publication Date: July 1

—

These are among the 33 new books coming this summer from independent publishers in 2025. (Courtesy of the publishers)

“The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing” by Michael Castleman (Unnamed Press)

If you’re a true bibliophile (you know who you are), it’s going to be hard to resist a book about books. That’s what San Francisco-based author Castleman delivers here: a history of the book publishing industry, from Gutenberg to today. The book’s publisher, Unnamed Press, has been an LA mainstay since 2014.

Publication Date: July 2

—

“Curandera” by Irenosen Okojie (Soft Skull Press)

Founded in 1992 by a New York student working at a Kinko’s, Soft Skull has evolved into one of the nation’s premier presses of books outside the mainstream. That’s certainly the case with Nigerian British author Okojie’s strikingly original novel, a fantasy/horror book set both in contemporary London and 17th-century Cape Verde.

Publication Date: July 8 

—

“Paradiso” by Dante Alighieri, translated by Mary Jo Bang (Graywolf Press)

Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press has been putting out excellent works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for 51 years. One of its standout titles this year is this new translation of Dante’s 14th-century classic; Bang previously received critical acclaim for her translations of Dante’s “Inferno” and “Paradiso.” 

Publication Date: July 8

—

“Wedding of the Foxes” by Katherine Larson (Milkweed Editions)

Ecologist and poet Larson’s latest is a collection of lyric essays about everything from sandhill cranes to Godzilla. It’s a fitting offering from Minneapolis-based Milkwood Editions, which, as its butterfly-themed name suggests, “seeks to be a site of metamorphosis in the literary ecosystem.”

Publication Date: July 15

—

“Absence” by Issa Quincy (Two Dollar Radio)

The punkish family-run Ohio press Two Dollar Radio is your favorite publisher’s favorite publisher. It’s known for daring, beautifully produced books in a variety of genres, and one of its latest is this novel that follows a series of characters in Thailand, Great Britain and Cyprus. 

Publication Date: July 15

—

“The Tilting House” by Ivonne Lamazares (Counterpoint Press)

Miami author Lamazares’ novel tells the story of two estranged sisters who reunite in Cuba in the 1990s and try to make sense of their troubled family. It’s one of several exciting titles coming this year from Counterpoint, which is just as known for literary excellence as its sister presses, Catapult and Soft Skull.

Publication Date: July 22

—

“Mississippi Blue 42” by Eli Cranor (Soho Press)

This New York-based press is approaching 40 years of publishing high-quality books in a variety of genres. If you’re a football fan who can’t bear to wait two months until the start of the season, this novel — the first in a planned series, by a real-life former football quarterback and coach, and about an FBI agent investigating a college program — should hit the spot.

Publication Date: Aug. 5

—

“The Dancing Face” by Mike Phillips (Melville House Books)

New York-based Melville House, founded in 2001, has long been known for its eclecticism and its intelligence. One of this summer’s books from the press is this thriller about a Black university professor who decides to liberate a priceless African sculpture from a museum in London. 

Publication Date: Aug. 12

Related Articles

Q&A: Pulitzer Prize winner Robin Givhan chronicles Virgil Abloh’s rise to fashion fame

Literary calendar for week of June 22

Literary pick for week of June 22: Honoring independent publishers

Readers and writers: Wide-ranging choices to challenge readers — or just fall into a romance

How Tupac Shakur became an icon of political resistance and rebellion

Newspaper readers, generally speaking, seek the truth.

This week’s dose comes courtesy of my decision to take two days off, which in the life of a newspaper columnist comes with a caveat: front-load the things you have to do before you leave or spend some fleet-footed time in The Great Hamster Wheel of Catch-Up on the flipside.

The Very Best Banana Pudding — EVER? ‘Yes!’ say my colleagues.

I split the diff between Columns A and B … and in my haste landed on something that timed out nicely: National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 26). A from-scratch chocolate pudding, I surmised, would be pretty easy to whip up — and likely widely appreciated.

For there is almost no acceptable reason for not liking chocolate pudding.

It’s smooth and creamy and cool and chocolaty. It’s great out of those little lunchbox cups. (Remember the cans? The filter of my Gen X memory bank has me convinced it tasted better than today’s plastic containers.) It’s great out of the Kozy Shack tub. It’s great plain or with whipped cream or swirled into cake batter where it imparts its lusciousness into the final product.

My very first batch of actual, from-scratch chocolate pudding. Perhaps not quite as easy as the boxed mix. But honestly? Not a lot harder and exceptionally luscious. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Chocolate pudding is glorious. And, indeed, I found it simple to execute.

My friend, Tony, called as I was making this chocolate pudding recipe from The Pioneer Woman, who credited its inclusion of egg yolks as a thickener (along with the more commonly employed cornstarch) with bringing ” … a little bit of that French custard feel to the pudding.”

“I’m making chocolate pudding,” I told him. “First time.”

“You never made chocolate pudding before?!” he asked.

Fudgy brownies are my preference to “cakier” ones and wonderfully easy to dice for these single-serve trifles. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

The reaction seemed outsized. I don’t know Tony to be a particularly avid cook.

“I mean, I’ve made it from the box.”

“Wait. There’s another way to make it?”

That comment made more sense.

You could accent this chocolate trifle any number of ways, including those that exclude toffee bars and include something that increases its nutritional properties, if marginally. Chopped nuts, for example. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

And as I whisked, I wondered if there weren’t more people out there who simply considered Jell-O and My*T*Fine “homemade,” as well. They’re not. Nor were the Duncan Hines salted caramel brownies I “made” to include in what became a “what to do with your from-scratch chocolate pudding once you’ve made it” column.

I chose the pudding recipe because it was a simple one in a week when I had no time to spare. But the Type A in me couldn’t sit with just the chocolate pudding recipe, and so this semihomemade Death By Chocolate trifle recipe. The original of which is ENTIRELY semihomemade. I had a laugh about that.

The author, Allrecipes contributor LaNita, says that this trifle is “a true favorite. Every time we have a church supper, I have to make this!”

I don’t doubt it.

Most people are just thrilled you show up with food. They don’t care if the pudding or brownies are from a box. The box stuff tastes good. This is why some folks don’t realize there’s another way to make pudding! There’s some more truth for you, along with the fact that they’ll also appreciate the extra work (and seriously, it’s not much) that goes into whipping up this truly silky pudding — for real from scratch.

Trifling with the holiday: Do it right with a patriotic delight

Trifles themselves are wonderfully easy summer desserts and ridiculously flexible. This one is hellaciously chocolaty, but you could offset that by omitting the brownies in favor of cheesecake, pound cake, coconut cake, shortbread cookies or just about anything else. Instead of toffee bars, toasted nuts would make for a wonderfully crunchy texture (and an actual smidge of nutrition). You could also use this for divine inspiration and make a trifle with vanilla pudding. Or butterscotch. Or banana.

I made a more traditional Fourth of July version a few years back that would be ideal for any upcoming BBQ plans you might have.

Pudding is a universal good. No matter where it comes from.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

How to Make Chocolate Pudding

Recipe courtesy The Pioneer Woman (thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a85701/how-to-make-chocolate-pudding)

Ingredients

2 large egg yolks2 tablespoons cornstarch2 cups whole milk, divided1/2 cup sugar1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1/4 teaspoon salt2 teaspoons chocolate extract (or vanilla extract)

*I used vanilla

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks for about 60 seconds until light yellow and increased in volume, then whisk in the cornstarch and about 1/4 cup of the milk. Once smooth and incorporated, set aside.2. Place the sugar, cocoa, salt and remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to a scald over medium-high heat, which is when the liquid is about 180-190º F. This is before the mixture comes to a boil, and in this stage you will see little bubbles start forming on the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and, while whisking constantly, dribble the hot cocoa into the egg cornstarch mixture very gradually. We are tempering, so we don’t scramble the eggs. Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the pudding comes to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking for a couple of minutes until the pudding is thickened.3. Remove the pudding from the heat and stir in the chocolate or vanilla extract. Pour the pudding into a bowl and press plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding so a skin doesn’t form. Refrigerate for an hour or two until chilled. Serve and enjoy!

The key to a beautiful trifle is a little space, which allows each layer and texture to be seen in the glass. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Death by Chocolate Trifle

Recipe courtesy Allrecipes (allrecipes.com/recipe/8308/death-by-chocolate-iii)

Ingredients

Brownies

1 (16.3 ounce) package brownie mix (such as Betty Crocker)2 large eggs1/2 cup vegetable oil2 tablespoons water

Other

3 (1.4 ounces) bars of chocolate-covered English toffee1 (16-ounce) package frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

1. Follow box instructions for both brownies and chocolate pudding (if using scratch-made pudding, use provided recipe). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.2. To assemble, crumble or chunk-chop brownies in the bottom of one large or four small trifle bowls. Spoon pudding over top. Layer on whipped topping then sprinkle crushed toffee bars over the top. Repeat layers in same order, ending with whipped topping.3. Refrigerate until ready to serve, adding the final layer of chopped toffee bar before doing so.

Related Articles

Don’t let the season go by without making strawberry shortcake

Put chickpeas at the center of the plate with citrus and honey

Gretchen’s table: Pickles star in a creamy, crunchy potato salad with a Nashville kick

Recipe: Sausage and broccoli rabe sub riffs on Philly classic

Humble fish stew showcases the underappreciated cuisine of Spain’s Balearic islands

By JOEY CAPPELETTI and MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are set to meet with top national security officials Thursday as some lawmakers question President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites and whether those strikes were ultimately successful.

The classified briefing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump were to order another strike on Iran.

Democrats, and some Republicans, have said the White House overstepped its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress. They also want to know more about the intelligence that Trump relied on when he authorized the attacks.

“Senators deserve full transparency, and the administration has a legal obligation to inform Congress precisely about what is happening,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who said Tuesday that it was “outrageous” that the Senate and House briefings were postponed. A similar briefing for House members was pushed to Friday.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are expected to brief the senators. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who was scheduled to be at the Tuesday briefing, is not expected to attend.

A preliminary U.S. intelligence report found that Iran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months, contradicting statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to two people familiar with the report. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.

On Wednesday, Gabbard and Ratcliffe sent out statements backing Trump’s claims that the facilities were “completely and fully obliterated.” Gabbard posted on social media that “new intelligence confirms what @POTUS has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed.”

She said that if the Iranians choose to rebuild the three facilities, it would “likely take years to do.”

Ratcliffe said in a statement from the CIA that Iran’s nuclear program has been “severely damaged.” He cited new intelligence “from a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”

Most Republicans have defended Trump and hailed the tentative ceasefire he brokered in the Israel-Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., went as far as to question the constitutionality of the War Powers Act, which is intended to give Congress a say in military action.

“The bottom line is the commander in chief is the president, the military reports to the president, and the person empowered to act on the nation’s behalf is the president,” Johnson told reporters.

Related Articles

Supreme Court has 6 cases to decide, including birthright citizenship

Families and businesses are concerned about the effect of tariffs on youth sports

States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules

Key Medicaid provision in Trump’s big tax cut and spending bill is found to violate Senate rules

US pulls funding from global vaccines group, saying it has ‘ignored the science’

But some Republicans, including some of Trump’s staunchest supporters, are uncomfortable with the strikes and the potential for U.S. involvement in an extended Middle East conflict.

“I think the speaker needs to review the Constitution,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. “And I think there’s a lot of evidence that our Founding Fathers did not want presidents to unilaterally go to war.”

Paul would not say whether he would vote for the resolution by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would require congressional approval for specific military action in Iran. A simple majority in the Senate is needed to pass the resolution and Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage.

“I will have Republican votes, plural,” Kaine said. “But whether it’s two or 10, I don’t know.”

Kaine authored a similar resolution in 2020 aimed at limiting Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran. At the time, eight Republicans joined Democrats in approving the resolution.

“I think I have a chance to get some votes from people who are glad that President Trump did this over the weekend, but they’re saying, ‘Ok, but now if we’re really going to go to war, it should only have to go through the Congress,’” Kaine told The Associated Press before the briefing.

While Trump did not seek approval, he sent congressional leaders a short letter Monday serving as his official notice of the strikes, which occurred Saturday between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT, or roughly 2:10 a.m. on Sunday in Iran.

The letter said the strike was taken “to advance vital United States national interests, and in collective self-defense of our ally, Israel, by eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.”

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs thought his “fame, wealth and power” put him above the law as he led a criminal enterprise for two decades, using “power, violence and fear” to carry out brutal crimes, a prosecutor told a jury at the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial during closing arguments Thursday.

“Over the last several weeks, you’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik began. “He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes he committed with members of his enterprise.”

She said charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy were supported by proof that over two decades, Combs kidnapped one of his employees, committed arson by trying to blow up a car, engaged in forced labor, bribed a security officer and carried out the “brutal crimes at the heart of this case.”

Combs “again and again forced, threatened and manipulated” former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and an ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” into “having sex with escorts for his own entertainment,” Slavik said, speaking from a lectern positioned between jurors and the tables where prosecutors and defense lawyers sat.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”

Slavik said Combs “counted on silence and shame” to enable and prolong his abuse. He used a “small army” of employees — an inner circle that included personal assistants and bodyguards — to harm women and cover it up, she said.

The theory of racketeering law is that “when someone commits crime as part of a group, they’re more powerful and dangerous,” Slavik said. “The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses — the enterprise.”

Combs and his inner circle “committed hundreds of racketeering acts,” she said.

As Slavik spoke, jurors saw photos of key figures in Combs’ orbit, as well as excerpts from related testimony in the trial transcript and slides to categorize evidence.

One slide listed crimes prosecutors allege as part of the racketeering conspiracy, including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering. Another slide listed drugs such as cocaine, meth, ketamine, Oxycodone and MDMA, that Combs’ aides said they procured for him, or that federal agents said they found last year in raids of Combs’ homes.

Combs sat with his head down, his chair pushed back a few feet from the defense table, as Slavik spoke. He was wearing a light-colored sweater over a white button-down shirt and khakis.

Since his arrest at a Manhattan hotel last September, prosecutors have said Combs coerced and abused women for years as he used his “power and prestige” as a music star to enlist a network of associates and employees to help him while he silenced victims through blackmail and violence.

They’ve said the Bad Boy Records founder induced female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak-Offs.”

Defense lawyers have argued that Combs was involved in domestic violence but committed no federal crimes.

Related Articles

Majority of US adults support religious chaplains in public schools, a new poll shows

Pentagon leaders double down on the destruction from US attacks on Iran

Today in History: June 26, US Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage

Judge dismisses authors’ copyright lawsuit against Meta over AI training

US blocks money transfers by 3 Mexico-based financial institutions accused of aiding cartels

They built their case for acquittal through lengthy cross-examinations of most of the government’s 34 witnesses. Some witnesses testified only in response to subpoenas and made it clear to the jury that they didn’t want to be there.

Combs’ lawyers contend there was no racketeering conspiracy because none of his employees agreed to be part of any conspiracy.

But in her closing, Slavik said employees repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for Combs, such as delivering him drugs; accompanying him to kidnap his personal assistant, Capricorn Clark; and locking his girlfriend in a hotel room after he stomped on her face.

Before Slavik began her closing, Judge Arun Subramanian told the jury they would hear a closing argument from a defense lawyer on Friday and a rebuttal by a prosecutor before he instructs them on the law and allows them to begin deliberating as early as late afternoon.