A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Campus Protest Watch
The latest developments:
- UCLA: Police dismantle pro-Palestinian camp and makes numerous arrests.
- Dartmouth: 90 protesters arrested at a pro-Gaza encampment on campus
- Yale: Four people were arrested at pro-Palestinian protests.
- UW-Madison: 34 people were arrested when police dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment.
- Fordham: 15 people were arrested when police cleared out the campus’ pro-Palestinian encampment.
- Stony Brook: 29 people were arrested early this morning after a pro-Palestinian protest.
- UT-Dallas: 21 people were arrested after police broke up the pro-Palestinian encampment
‘I Have Never Seen Anything So Terrifying’
What happened last night at UCLA was similar to the efforts to arrest protesters on other campuses, but it was different from what happened at UCLA two nights ago, when police eventually intervened to separate protesters and aggressive counter-protesters who seemed eager to provoke a clash. Before law enforcement acted, UCLA professor David N. Myers inserted himself between the two sides and writes about his experience here.
A Sense Of Proportion
Stone Cold Assassin
What Delay Over Trump’s Immunity Might Look Like
While we wait for the Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in the Jan. 6 case against him, NBC News’ Lisa Rubin found a potentially useful parallel case that shows how long it could take to resolve the immunity issue if it gets sent back down to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to sort out what is official v. personal.
The Specter Of Political Violence
- CNN: Trump doesn’t rule out political violence if he loses
- Brian Beutler: Donald Trump Sees The Threat Of Violence As A Skeleton Key To Unchecked Power
- TPM’s Khaya Himmelman: Majority Of Election Officials Face Threats, And Significant Number Fear Assault, Survey Finds
Trump Trial Resumes Today
The first order of business today is a hearing on additional alleged violations by Donald Trump of the gag order against him. These alleged violations occurred before the trial judge ruled Tuesday that Trump was in violation of the gag order for a separate batch of out-of-court statements, so it’s unclear how the judge will handle these add-on statements.
The hearing isn’t expected to last long before the trial testimony of Stormy Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson resumes.
The big suspense in the trial right now centers on when Michael Cohen will testify. Stay tuned for reporting from the courthouse from TPM’s Josh Kovensky.
Talk To The Hand
A judge rejected a bid by former Trump campaign attorney and Jan. 6 figure John Eastman to delay her ruling suspending his law license.
The Antisemitism Comes So Easily
On the occasion of the House passing a new bill to combat antisemitism, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) took the opportunity to trot out a well-worn antisemitic trope to justify their opposition to the bill.
Pass The Damn Popcorn
A defamation lawsuit by Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman is offering a glimpse of the internal operations of the notorious Gateway Pundit website.
The Hunter Biden Laptop Saga Continues …
A former Secret Service agent is suing the New York Post and The Daily Mail for defamation, claiming they published stories based on fabricated texts from Hunter Biden’s laptop that falsely tied him to Biden.
Abortion Watch
- Arizona: Enough Republicans bolted for the state Senate to vote to repeal the state’s newly revived Civil War-era abortion ban. The repeal measure had already passed the state House, but won’t go into effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends.
- Florida: The state’s new six-week abortion ban went into effect Wednesday.
- Louisiana: Lawmakers are trying to quietly criminalize possession of the most commonly used abortion pills, Rolling Stone reports.
Party Of Lincoln?
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"Americans need to watch what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.’’
— Ari Fleischer, noted 1st Amendment advocate
Meanwhile the latest from Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs!
RFK Jr. challenges Biden to drop out, insisting he has better shot of defeating Trump
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/01/robert-f-kennedy-jr-spoiler-pledge-biden-trump-00155600
Kaitlan should’ve hammered Vance on his “inconsistency” (read: bog standard GOP hypocrisy) between the campus protesters and the J6 insurrectionists, but as a member of the Zombie Fourth Estate I guess it’s too much to ask…
Not very flattering. I love candids.