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• Donald Trump is back speaking to reporters in the hallway outside his New York City fraud trial.
• He raged against the judge and insulted the state’s attorney general.
• Here’s why pretty much everything he said Thursday morning was wrong.

Donald Trump is back, in person, at his $250 million civil fraud trial in New York, where state Attorney General Letitia James hopes a judge will fine him at least $250 million for what a judge has already found were a decade’s worth of bogus financial statements.

As usual when he visits the trial, Trump made a couple of speeches. And as usual, almost everything he said, beyond “Thank you very much, everybody,” does not stand up to even the most basic fact-checking.

Here is Business Insider’s point-by-point look at what he told reporters outside the trial on Thursday morning.

The case is a ‘witch hunt’

“Thank you very much everybody. We appreciate you being here. This is a witch hunt the likes of which probably nobody has ever seen.

“We’ve put on a case that is absolutely 100 percent – There’s not a judge in the country that wouldn’t have given us a total victory but there’s not a judge in the country that would have even taken this case. This is a witch hunt and it’s a very corrupt trial.”

Trump’s cries of “bias” and “witch hunt” stretch back to the start of James’ four-year pursuit of the former president. At one point, his lawyers compiled an 11-page spreadsheet of her anti-Trump statements. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, the judge in the ongoing trial, has repeatedly slapped down Trump’s claims that James, a Democrat, is out to get the leader of the Republican Party. At one point he said the evidence against Trump could fill the courtroom.

We already “won” in the appellate courts

“We won this case. We won this case at the appellate division. Most of it. It covers about 90% of the case. We won this case at the appellate division. And this judge refuses to acknowledge the appellate division.

“He said very specifically, ‘We’re going forward.’ Because there’s something wrong here” [Trump motions to his head and spins his finger].

The June 27, 2023, appellate decision that Trump referred to actually denied Trump’s motion to dismiss, in its entirety, the attorney general’s massive lawsuit, which is the trial’s underlying case.

The only win for Trump’s side was that the appellate judges removed all alleged frauds committed prior to 2014 and, in some instances, prior to 2016, saying they were too old under the state’s statute of limitations.

Really, though, I “won”

“We won this case — remember this. Just put it in your heads — this case was won at the appellate division and the judge refuses to do what the appellate division demands he do. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this.

“When you win at the appellate division, that’s your high court. The judge has to be bound by what their decision is. But we won at the appellate division.”

Again, according to New York’s Appellate Division, First Department, no.

OK, I won about “90%’”

“Part of that victory was Ivanka not having to put herself through this. And they ruled that. But the bigger part of it was about 90% — because of statute of limitations — about 90% of the case disappears. So remember this: we won the case at the appellate division, the high court, and this judge refuses to acknowledge that victory or that demand. And that’s very serious.

“So we’re going in now, we have an expert witness, one of the great experts in the country and I hope you’ll all be able to listen to him. But it’ll just be another day.”

There is no 90% win for Trump’s side. The January appellate decision actually left the entirety of the state’s fraud claims in place with the sole exception of removing Ivanka Trump as a defendant, in a nod to her having left the Trump Organization after the 2016 election, to work for her father’s administration.

Timothy A Clary/Getty Images

The banks “love us” and there are “no victims”

“If you look at the case, we did nothing wrong, there were no victims, the bank loves us, the bank testified they love us. We did absolutely nothing wrong. We never even defaulted, we never had a default letter sent to us. The bank said we were a perfect customer. The bank didn’t even know why they were here.”

It is true that Trump never defaulted on the loans in question, and that he never missed a payment or even paid late, according to testimony by the state’s own witness.

But the attorney general and Engoron have said that this is beside the point because you can’t lie to banks in financial documents, period.

And there are still victims, the state alleges.

In relying on Trump’s exaggerations, Deutsche Bank lost out on $168 million in interest payments between 2014 and 2023, they allege.

“Trump’s crimes are not victimless,” James told reporters a year ago. “When the well-connected and powerful break the law to get more money than they are entitled to, it reduces resources available to working people, small businesses, and taxpayers.”

Letitia James lets people get murdered “all over the streets”

“And yet your people are being murdered outside — all over the streets, they’re being murdered. There’s violent crime — and yet this attorney general — who’s crazed. She’s a lunatic.”

“Lunatic” is one of Trump’s most frequent James insults, including during the trial’s third week, when he claimed “people” have recorded her “ranting and raving like a lunatic.”  Other favorite insults for James include “racist” and, strangely, “Peek-a-boo.”

As for letting people get murdered, overall crime, and especially violent crime, is actually down in New York City, according to NYPD statistics. Looking at the first half of 2023, shootings are down 24.7 percent over the first half of 2022, the NYPD said July.

The judge “ruled against me” before the case even started

“The attorney general sits here because she knows that she has a judge that no matter all the evidence that judge is going to rule in her favor. He ruled against me before the case even started. The case hadn’t started, he knew nothing, and he ruled against me.”

Trump is referring to Engoron’s pre-trial ruling, from late September, which was based on the record of more than two years of pretrial litigation that he personally presided over.

The ruling found Trump inflated his worth to banks and insurers by at least $2 billion a year in each of a decade’s worth of annual financial statements.   

The judge said Mar-a-Lago estate was only worth $18 million

“The other thing is this: He valued Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, because that was needed for her case, at a value of $18 million, when in fact it’s worth anywhere from 50 to 100 times that amount. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”

“But just remember what I said at the beginning: We won at the appellate division and this judge refuses to honor that victory or that decision or that demand.”

This has been one of Trump’s most frequently repeated misstatements concerning the judge and the fraud trial. In fact, the judge never valued Mar-a-Lago at $18 million. The judge has, though, referred to prior assessments of the property by Palm Beach officials that ranged from $18 million to $27.6 million between 2011 and 2021. 

The AG’s office says that Trump lied to banks by claiming Mar-a-Lago is worth anywhere from $347 million to as much as $739 million in a decade of personal net-worth statements. On Tuesday, a Trump expert testified that Mar-a-Lago is worth more than $1 billion – and he invited the AG and judge to visit in person and see for themselves.

• This year on TikTok gave us grim Grimace shake reactions, the Wes Anderson film aesthetic, Keith Lee’s restaurant reviews, and more.
• Together, the most popular clips on the social media app amassed billions of views this year.
• Here’s a look at the top 10 TikToks of 2023 in the US, according to the company itself.

It was the year of “girl dinner,” obsessions with the Roman empire, and learning what on earth a beige flag is — at least according to TikTok.

The social media company released a list Wednesday highlighting the biggest trends and clips on its platform in 2023.

Viral TikTok phenomena this year included sharing “canon events” and “things that altered my brain chemistry,” as well as the satirical ’90s Euro dance-esque “Planet of the Bass,” and a whole lot of girl-inspired trends.

Individual clips that became hits on TikTok, sometimes with less clear ties to such large trends, also racked up cumulative billions of views.

Here’s a look at the 10 most popular TikToks of the year in the US, according to the company:

10. A ceramicist’s compilation of pottery fails and bloopers accrued over a month.

9. A wholesome motivational message from an animated friend.

   8. One woman pranking her husband with a funny, if inventive, method to avoid tearing up when cutting onions.

      7. A talkative French bulldog puppy that refuses to sleep.

      6. An ASMR-style clip of cooking fried chicken.

         5. A man’s musical performance in a parking garage.

            4. Selena Gomez’s makeup routine before an early morning flight.

               3. A five-second clip of a huge kitten.

                  2. One man’s DIY Iron Man on his ceiling.

                     1. One woman’s makeup tutorial.

• A man living in his mother’s Airbnb home secretly filmed a guest naked and then tried to blackmail her, prosecutors allege.
• Kevin Strutz of Ceres, California, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to over 3 years in prison. 
• Prosecutors say Strutz admitted to hiding a cell phone camera in a basket on the bathroom counter. 

The son of an Airbnb host was sentenced to prison in connection to allegations that he secretly filmed a guest in the shower and tried to blackmail her into sending him an explicit video.

Kevin Strutz, a 51-year-old man from Ceres, California, pleaded guilty to two counts of cyberstalking earlier this year, according to the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California.

Prosecutors alleged that in 2020, Strutz began cyberstalking a young woman after she rented out a room in Strutz’s mother’s Ceres home through Airbnb. Strutz and his mother were also living in the home at the time, the complaint says.

The woman, a traveling occupational therapist who isn’t named in the court filings, had been staying at the home for about a month when she discovered an unnerving message addressed to her.

She found the message — which talked about how “sexy” she was — on a cell phone in the shared bathroom, according to the criminal complaint.

She contacted Airbnb and immediately found another place to stay.

After she left, she got sexually explicit messages on Facebook from two accounts linked to Strutz, who she says she barely interacted with at the home, according to the complaint. The woman called local police and again told Airbnb what happened.

At the time, Airbnb said in a statement that it was working with the FBI over the allegations.

“We have no tolerance for the reported behavior and worked quickly to support the survivor once she brought it to our attention, including banning the associated host accounts from our platform at the time,” the company told CBS News.

The graphic messages continued for several months until Strutz sent her a nude image of herself from when she showered in the Airbnb bathroom, prosecutors allege. He threatened to send the photo to all of her contacts unless she sent a video of herself masturbating, Strutz admitted in his plea agreement.

She then blocked both of Strutz’s accounts and followed up again with the police, prosecutors said in the complaint, adding that she never responded to Strutz’s messages.

Strutz admitted he filmed the guest using a cell phone he had hidden in a basket on the bathroom counter, prosecutors allege in the complaint.

Strutz’s conviction on two counts of stalking also related to a 2018 incident in which he left 15 handwritten letters on a separate victim’s car — in addition to phone calls and Facebook messages from five different accounts — that included threats trying to coerce her into having sex with him, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California.

Last week, Strutz was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, along with three years of supervised release and a small fine.

Prior to the conviction, Strutz already had a lengthy rap sheet including stalking, burglary, robbery, and assault with a deadly weapon, among others, prosecutors said in the criminal complaint.

• Donald Trump pushed back against claims made by Liz Cheney about his well-being after Jan. 6, 2021.
• In a Truth Social post, Trump rejected any notion that he wasn’t eating after leaving the White House.
• Trump in the post said he was “angry” and was actually “eating too much” at the time.

Former President Donald Trump on Monday said he had been “eating too much” and wasn’t depressed in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, refuting claims made by former Rep. Liz Cheney about his well-being at the time.

In an early-morning post on Truth Social, Trump blasted the ex-Wyoming congresswoman as “crazy” and pushed back against comments made in her forthcoming book, “Oath and Honor,” where she alleged that then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had traveled to Mar-a-Lago to see the former president because his staffers were concerned that he wasn’t eating.

“I was not depressed, I WAS ANGRY, and it was not that I was not eating, it was that I was eating too much,” he wrote. “But that’s not why Keven McCarthy was there. He was at Mar-a-Lago to get my support, and to bring the Republican Party together – Only good intentions.”

Trump then proceeded to blast Cheney over her 2022 GOP primary loss to now-Rep. Harriet Hageman, before accusing her of working with others on the House January 6 panel to “delete and destroy the evidence and findings of the committee.”

Cheney in her book wrote that she questioned why McCarthy, who at the time was angling to flip the House in 2022 and assume the speakership, had made the decision to travel to South Florida to see Trump.

“Mar-a-Lago? What the hell, Kevin?” Cheney asked McCarthy at the time.

“They’re really worried,” McCarthy told Cheney, who at the time was the chair of the House Republican Conference. “Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him.”

“Yeah, he’s really depressed,” McCarthy added, according to the book.

Cheney, who once consulted with the Trump White House on legislative matters as a member of GOP leadership, is now one of the most vocal conservative critics of the former president’s 2024 campaign.

During a Monday interview on NBC’s “Today,” Cheney said that if the election choices are between President Joe Biden and Trump, then it’ll be a vote on the preservation of democracy in the country.

Cheney’s forthcoming book will be released on Tuesday.

• A US warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack in the Red Sea on Sunday.
• Yemen’s Houthi rebel military claimed credit for the attack, though didn’t mention a US ship.
• The Houthis have said they would attack ships aligned with Israel until the Gaza conflict ends.

An American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea, the Pentagon said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels later claimed attacks on two ships they described as being linked to Israel, but did not acknowledge targeting a US Navy vessel.

The attack potentially marked a significant escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon told The Associated Press.

The Carney is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It remained unclear what damage, if any, the vessels sustained in the attacks.

The British military earlier said there had been a suspected drone attack and explosions in the Red Sea, without elaborating.

The Pentagon did not identify where it believed the fire came from. However, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attacks, saying the first vessel was hit by a missile and the second by a drone while in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. He said the ships ignored warnings from Houthi officials prior to the attack.

Saree did not mention any US warship being involved in the attack.

“The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea (and Gulf of Aden) until the Israeli aggression against our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip stops,” Saree said. “The Yemeni armed forces renew their warning to all Israeli ships or those associated with Israelis that they will become a legitimate target if they violate what is stated in this statement.”

Saree identified the first vessel attacked as the Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Unity Explorer, which is owned by a British firm that includes Dan David Ungar, who lives in Israel, as one of its officers. The second was a Panamanian-flagged container ship called Number 9, which is linked to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement. Managers for the two vessels could not be immediately reached for comment.

Israeli media identified Ungar as the son of Israeli shipping billionaire Abraham “Rami” Ungar.

The Houthis have been launching a series of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, as well as launching drones and missiles targeting Israel amid the war.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the attack began about 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and had gone on for as much as five hours. Another U.S. official who similarly spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason said the Carney had intercepted at least one drone during the attack.

Global shipping had increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce briefly halted fighting and Hamas exchanged hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. However, the collapse of the truce and the resumption of punishing Israeli airstrikes and its ground offensive there had raised the risk of the seaborne attacks resuming.

Earlier in November, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship also linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. The rebels still hold the vessel near the port city of Hodeida. Missiles also landed near another U.S. warship last week after it assisted a vessel linked to Israel that had briefly been seized by gunmen.

However, the Houthis had not directly targeted the Americans for some time, further raising the stakes in the growing maritime conflict. In 2016, the U.S. launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that destroyed three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory to retaliate for missiles being fired at U.S. Navy ships at the time.

• The US, Australia, and the UK will use AI to counter China’s growing military assertiveness in the Pacific.
• The move is part of the Aukus Pillar II alliance between the countries.
• The US has reported a spike in aggressive behavior by China.

The US, UK, and Australia have unveiled new plans to trial the use of AI to track Chinese submarines in the Pacific.

Speaking on Friday at a joint meeting in Mountain View, California, defense leaders from each country announced two new plans under Aukus Pillar II, a trilateral security arrangement set up in 2021 that aims to “help sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”

One of the new efforts announced was the use of advanced AI on patrol aircraft — including the US’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which is equipped for anti-submarine warfare — to process information from underwater detection devices used by each country.

Data processed by AI will enable the three countries to track Chinese submarines with more speed and accuracy.

“These joint advances will allow for timely high-volume data exploitation, improving our anti-submarine warfare capabilities,” they said in a joint statement.

MLADEN ANTONOV / Getty

AI algorithms and machine learning will also be used to “enhance force protection, precision targeting, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.”

In addition to AI, the three countries said they were collaborating in other technological areas such as quantum technologies, electronic warfare, and hypersonic weapons.

Speaking at the press conference, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said that China’s rising aggression had increased the need for collaboration.

Just weeks ago a team of Australian naval divers were injured by a Chinese warship’s sonar weapon, despite making their presence known to the vessel’s crew.

“This is unsafe and unprofessional conduct,” Marles said about the incident, per The Guardian. “The safety and wellbeing of our [Australian Defence Force] personnel continues to be our utmost priority.

“Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner,” he added.

The Pentagon’s recent China Military Power Report noted a significant concern “of an operational incident or miscalculation spiraling into crisis or conflict.” 

• US consumers are responding in diverging ways to an uncertain economic outlook.
• While some are “doom spending” — mindlessly spending money — others are looking for ways to save.
• The economy needs these “doom savers,” even though they could cause headaches for some businesses.

There’s a lot to be anxious about.

In response to uncertainty, some people turn to “doomscrolling,” or mindlessly swiping through a bottomless social media feed. <ore than a quarter of Americans say they’re turning to the financial equivalent — doom spending — to quell their concerns.

If the antidote to “doomscrolling” is putting down the phone, then the opposite of “doom spending” might well be putting down the credit card in favor of “doom saving.” Many consumers are doing just that.

Data from retailers and from the US government indicate a cohort of increasingly cautious consumers is growing, even as many continue to spend “like drunken sailors,” in the words of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

And while the Intuit report that coined the “doom spending” neologism noted that a troubling 22% of Americans have no savings at all. Millennials and Gen Z survey respondents, in particular, report they are blowing cash (or promising to pay later) for stuff that makes them feel a little better, for now at least.

Still, roughly half of Americans have at least $2,000 in the bank.

That’s admittedly not great, but several signs point to a more mindful approach to money taking hold in some households.

For starters, US economic data released Thursday show a slight increase in personal savings, which has been in decline in recent months. The rate is still very low, and it will take a few more months to see a real trend.

Meanwhile, retailers like Walmart and Target said in November that consumer spending was continuing to crack under the pressure of high interest rates, persistent inflation, and other factors like October’s resumption of student loan repayments.

“This year, we’ve seen more and more consumers delaying their spending until the last moment,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said. “Guests who previously bought sweatshirts or denim in August or September are deciding to wait until the weather turns cold before making a purchase.”

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon even indicated that the recovery of supply and softening of consumer demand could lead to price reductions on the grocery aisle.

Both retailers, as well as several others, also noted that shoppers are trying to stretch their dollars further and are increasingly selective about the deals they’re willing to spend on.

Spending on discounts and deals is, of course, not saving — it’s still spending — but the mindset of “doom saving” is about responding to uncertainty by trying to conserve a finite resource.

Looking at Black Friday last week, shoppers responded strongly to deep discounts from retailers.

Most consumers are sick of high prices, according to a recent Morning Consult survey, but more than a third of respondents said they’d be okay with a recession if that’s what it took to get inflation to come down.

Interestingly, even though these more cautious consumers could squeeze some companies’ sales growth, the economy as a whole could seriously use a dose of their frugality.

In other words, “doom spending,” like its older siblings “revenge spending” and “stimulus spending,” is a key driver of the continuing inflation that has yet to be successfully reined in.

Spending less and saving more —doom saving, so to speak — might not be as entertaining as hedonistic consumption, but it should help curb the price increases that still pose a real risk to the economy.

• Chick-fil-A, one of the most successful fast food chains in the US, is entering showbiz. 
• The chain is hiring an “entertainment producer,” according to a job posting on its website. 
• The new entertainment app, PLAY, will feature scripted and non-scripted programming.

Chick-fil-A is going Hollywood.

The Atlanta-based fast-food chain, owned by the wealthy Cathy family, is set to launch a family-focused entertainment app called PLAY, according to a job posting for an “entertainment producer” listed on the chain’s website.

Programming on the app includes scripted audio, podcasts, and video series.

“This original programming is intended for Chick-fil-A’s soon-to-be launched PLAY entertainment app and may include scripted podcasts and audio adventures, original animation, reality and game shows, and other live-action scripted or non-scripted programming,” the job posting states, adding that the preferred candidate should have six years or more experience in show running or writing for a kids/family series.

The entertainment producer is expected to work with content creators who produce podcasts, live-action scripted video entertainment, animation, game shows, reality, or other non-scripted shows, according to the job duties of the position.

The PLAY app is geared toward entertaining families and children.

The content must match the “vision, heartbeat, and positioning of the Chick-fil-A brand,” according to the job posting.

“The Chick-fil-A brand has a very specific and nuanced approach, and content will need to be carefully and thoughtfully brought to life in such a way that audiences both internal and external can quickly say, ‘That feels like Chick-fil-A.’”

Chick-fil-A is known for its conservative beliefs. The brand is closed on Sundays so workers can spend time with family. As described on its website, part of its purpose is “to glorify God.” In the past, the company donated to anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. But in 2019, the chain stopped contributing to these types of organizations after facing public backlash.

Chick-fil-A didn’t respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

PLAY content would not be the chain’s first venture into showbiz. Chick-fil-A recently released the latest installment of its original animated short series, called “Stories of Evergreen Hills,” which the company describes as “a fantastical animated universe where kindness is more than a mere friendly gesture. It’s the central purpose of the world and the mission of its heroes.”

It’s unclear when the app will launch or if it will be integrated with Chick-fil-A’s 11-year-old mobile app, whose loyalty arm has 50 million members. That’s more than Chipotle’s 36 million members.

The entertainment producer will manage writers, actors, casting directors, artists, and showrunners. The salary range was not listed.

Are you a Chick-fil-A insider with insight to share? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at nluna@insider.com or via Signal encrypted at 714-875-6218.

• Apple has released a list of the 10 most popular podcasts of 2023. 
• True crime and podcasts by news organizations were some of the top listener picks.
• Apple also included lists of the most followed and most shared podcasts. 

Choosing a new podcast to start can be a daunting task, with thousands of options to consider. If you need some background noise while you finish up some housework, why not try a fan favorite?

Apple shared a roundup on Tuesday of the most popular podcasts of 2023. These numbers came from data from Apple listeners in over 100 countries.

Apple included lists of the top 10 free and subscriber channels, most shared shows and episodes, top new shows, and most followed shows. But today, we will be focusing on the top 10 podcasts overall, according to Apple.

10. Stuff You Should Know

Denise Truscello

“Stuff You Should Know” will, according to Apple Podcasts, teach you everything you need to know about science, history, religion, crime, and more. The podcast has been running since 2008 and has 2,000 episodes.

The SYSK podcast is hosted by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant. Clark also made a podcast called “The End of The World with Josh Clark.” Byrant worked in both film and as a professional writer before joining SYSK.

9. Hidden Brain

Apple Podcasts

“Hidden Brain” is a podcast by NPR that describes itself as exploring “unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world,” according to its website. It analyzes intangible concepts like gratitude, death, pain, and grief.

The podcast is hosted by Shankar Vedantam, a journalist and author who previously worked for The Washington Post before joining NPR.

8. Huberman Lab

Chance Yeh

Huberman Lab is hosted by neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. It is the top health and fitness-related podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, according to the podcast’s website.

Huberman Lab explores different health-related topics like fitness, mental health, sleep, and supplements. The podcast has featured countless health experts and recently featured Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.

Even though the podcast only made eighth place on this list, it was in first place on Apple Podcasts’s list of most-followed shows. It was also Apple’s fourth most shared podcast.

7. Up First

Drew Angerer

“Up First” is a daily podcast produced by NPR. The podcast is a 10-minute summary of some of the top news stories of the day.

Released every morning, 6 a.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. on weekends, the podcast is meant to help listeners start their day off on a more informed note.

6. Morbid

Morbid podcast/Wondery

One of the genres to top this year’s list was true crime, and “Morbid” is no exception. “Morbid”, which is part of the podcast publishing platform Wondery, focuses on true crime, history, and horror.

“Morbid” is hosted by sister duo Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley, according to the podcast’s webpage. Urquhart is an autopsy technician with a background in criminal justice, psychology, and biology who also wrote the thriller novel “The Butcher and The Wren.” Kelley works as a hairdresser and lives in Boston.

5. This American Life

Astrid Stawiarz

“This American Life” is a public radio podcast hosted by Ira Glass that focuses on mixing journalism with entertainment, according to the podcast’s website. The podcast, which puts out a new episode every Sunday, gets over 4 million weekly listeners.

The show is a collaborative production with WBEZ Chicago that’s sent out to stations by Public Radio Exchange — PRX. Glass began his career in reporting in 1978, when he began interning with NPR, before working on “This American Life” in 2006, according to Britannica.

4. SmartLess

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images (left), Manny Carabel/Getty Images (center), Amy Sussman/Getty Images (right)

“SmartLess” is a weekly podcast hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. “SmartLess” focuses on using comedy and shared experiences to connect people from “all walks of life,” according to the podcast’s website.

In every episode, one of the hosts also invites a surprise guest for the other two hosts onto the show. The podcast began in July 2020, and the three actors have been longterm friends.

The podcast has hosted a long list of well-known guests including Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, and Adam Sandler.

3. Dateline NBC

NurPhoto

“Dateline NBC” is a long-running series that focuses on crime, mysteries, documentaries, and in-depth reporting. According to Nielsen Media Research reported by NBC, “Dateline” was the most-watched news magazine during the third quarter of 2023, with over 66 million viewers.

“Dateline NBC” may be best known for its TV series, but the podcast adaptation is apparently also a hit with fans, coming in third place on Apple’s top 10 list.

2. The Daily

Gary Hershorn

Podcasts hosted by news organizations dominated this year’s list, so it’s no surprise that “The Daily,” a podcast by The New York Times, took second place.

“The Daily,” is a 20-minute podcast that goes out every day Monday-Friday. It’s hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise. The podcast gives listeners an overview of the day’s top story.

1. Crime Junkie

NBC

“Crime Junkie” is a podcast focused on covering true crime cases and was Apple’s most popular podcast in 2023. The Crime Junkie team has also donated $643,000 to family members of victims and to several nonprofit organizations, according to the podcast’s website.

The podcast began in 2017. It’s hosted by Ashley Flowers, who founded the podcast production company Audiochuck, along with Brit Prawat, who used to work for a private investigator.

• Diem Nguyen recently bought a home near San Francisco without using a real-estate broker.
• She is in the minority: More than 85% of American homebuyers this year used an agent.
• Buying without a realtor might save you a little cash, but it can be risky for inexperienced buyers.

In October, Diem Nguyen bought a home in the San Francisco Bay Area for $1.6 million — without a realtor.

The 36-year-old tech worker used Aalto, a home-buying and selling website that looks at first glance like Zillow or Redfin. House hunters can browse on-the-market and off-market homes in certain parts of California, see market data, and even submit offers.

The best part: Buyers get up to 1.5% of the purchase price as cash back — for Nguyen, $24,000 — to cover their closing costs, buy down their interest rate, or increase their offer price, according to Aalto’s website.

Because Nguyen had bought a home in the same area in 2021, as well as other investment properties in the Midwest, she and her partner decided they didn’t need the additional hand-holding a broker provides.

“We didn’t need a lot of guidance with bidding or the discovery process this time,” Nguyen told Business Insider.

But Nguyen is in the minority. About 88% of homebuyers this year used a real-estate agent, Zillow found. Most buyers use a realtor because it’s relatively risk-free. First, there’s no cost to them: Sellers tend to pay 4% to 6% of the purchase price to their broker, who splits the commission with the buyer’s agent. Second, new or inexperienced buyers may benefit from the guidance a veteran realtor can offer, from referrals to mortgage lenders to help discerning whether an asking price is outrageously high or suspiciously low.

If nothing else, working with an expert can quell the anxiety that comes along with buying a home.

But now a slate of class-action lawsuits against the country’s biggest professional organization for real-estate agents and several brokerages — accusing them of conspiring to keep home prices, and their own commissions, high — might alter how, and how much, agents are paid. The suits could also result in more buyers and sellers opting to forgo a broker for their transactions.

Here’s the story of one person who did it, and a summary of the pros, cons, and risks.

Have you bought a home without a real-estate agent? Email reporter Jordan Pandy at jpandy@businessinsider.com with your story.

Buying a home without a realtor has pros and cons

Nguyen said she felt confident navigating Northern California’s housing market because she had done it once before.

“We’re very comfortable with the Bay Area,” she said. “We have friends who own houses in the Bay, too, so we know roughly what to expect.”

The cash back Aalto offered was another incentive for Nguyen to forge ahead without a broker. (Aalto does have a team of real-estate agents working behind the scenes, but they are salaried rather than paid by commission. Aalto makes money by charging sellers a fee of 1% of the purchase price of their home.)

Buyers passing up a realtor sometimes do so because they believe they’ll pay less for the home, according to a blog post from lender Rocket Mortgage. The sellers, they believe, will save money on the commissions they’d otherwise pay to the agents, and either come down during negotiations over the price of the home or pass that savings onto buyers in other ways.

But as real-estate and personal-finance experts Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin wrote in the Washington Post in 2020, buyers working without a broker may overpay, buy the wrong home, glean incorrect information when relying solely on Googling, or skip an inspection.

Real-estate agents do more than just find a home on Zillow, Glink and Tamkin said in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune: They can help answer questions about the market and paint a fuller picture of the property you plan to buy.

For Nguyen, choosing to buy without broker representation ended well for her, but it might not for everyone. She prefers newer homes, which tend to come with fewer maintenance issues and costs.

“If I am really into a unique older home, I might look for a good traditional agent who would be able to give us way more advice,” Nguyen said. “I think it depends on the buyer.”