A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Good Luck With That One!
It hadn’t fully occurred to me until opening statements yesterday that Donald Trump was going to stick with his claim that he never had sex with Stormy Daniels or, by extension, Karen McDougal.
As the first real day of trial unfolded yesterday, it became apparent that Trump wasn’t merely going to argue that this was a bullshit application of the business records law and that nothing he did amounted to criminal conduct. Rather, he was going to continue with the maximum denial: No sex, no affairs, no hanky-panky period.
That sets up the challenge of having to overcome the expected testimony of Daniels about the sex, in addition to all the testimony from Michael Cohen, David Pecker and others about how this transaction worked, what it was for, who was involved, etc.
If you’re a juror listening to all this, you almost have to believe that there was a massive setup of Trump, a wide-ranging conspiracy against him, in order to rule in his favor. That’s a high bar to clear.
‘What Have We Done?’
A resonant moment in court yesterday:
TPM Coverage Alert
Josh Kovensky will be liveblogging the proceedings again today. Great stuff! Check it out.
First Order Of Business Today: Gag Order
Judge Juan Merchan is expected to take up Trump’s 10 alleged gag order violations in a hearing at 9:30 a.m. ET, before trial resumes later this morning. This can go in a lot of different directions, so I’m not to make any predictions. I would keep your expectations very low that Trump is going to be hauled off to jail this morning.
Things to know:
- Just Security: Why Trump Will Likely be Held in Contempt and What Then
- Trump is fundraising off of it, of course.
- Trump went after Michael Cohen again yesterday in the courthouse.
- To what I am sure was the dismay of prosecutors, star witness Michael Cohen himself went after Trump on X/Twitter in a juvenile way.
More From Day 1 Of The Trial
- The Atlantic: Trump’s Misogyny Is on Trial in New York
- Philip Bump: Unpacking the alleged crime that made Trump’s alleged crime a felony
- Harry Litman: How Trump’s trial will go well beyond the charges to paint a damning portrait of him
How’s The Trial Going For Trump?
The Fox News propaganda machine is so reliably pro-Trump that it can actually serve as a decent barometer of how things are going for him. When the Fox News defenders debase themselves with especially over-the-top, ridiculous, and far-fetched lines of attack, it’s a pretty good sign Trump is in the shit:
The man running to be president again finds it torturous to sit in a room for a grueling eight hours a day and a whopping four days a week. Brutal.
‘Plasmic Echo’: Eye-Opening New Deets In Unsealed MAL Docs
On order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, hundreds of pages of investigative records in the Mar-a-Lago case were unsealed yesterday (with heavy redactions). Among the highlights:
- The FBI code name for the Mar-a-Lago investigations: Plasmic Echo
- A senior Trump aide who had access to Trump in the White House and post-presidency cooperated with investigators.
- Trump valet and co-defendant Walt Nauta was allegedly told he’d receive a pardon in 2024. (Editor’s note: If Trump does win, he won’t take office until 2025 …)
These were records that Special Counsel Jack Smith had fought to keep sealed.
Trump Prosecution Miscellany
- NYT: The Circus Trump Wanted Outside His Trial Hasn’t Arrived
- Aaron Blake: Trump’s transparent attempt to play the victim on ‘election interference’
- NYT: Could Trump Go to Prison? If He Does, the Secret Service Goes, Too
Quote Of The Day
January 6th was no less than an intent and an effort to replace by force who our country had voted for. The mob was there because it hadn’t achieved what it wanted to at the ballot box.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of Washington, D.C., in sentencing a Jan. 6 rioter
Trump Appeal Bond Gets All Sorted Out
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Trump worked out an agreement on the fly yesterday to tighten up his appeal bond, and the judge in the case approved it. That should put this whole matter to rest for the pendency of Trump’s appeal of the mammoth $454 million judgment against him in the civil fraud case.
2024 Ephemera
- AP: In Tampa, Biden will assail Florida’s six-week abortion ban
- TPM’s Nicole Lafond: Abortion Group, Dems Warn Swing State Voters That RFK Is Just As Dangerous As Trump On Abortion
Abortion Watch
- WSJ: In oral arguments Wednesday, the Supreme Court will turn to emergency abortions as the Dobbs fallout continues.
- Arizona Republic: California bill to offer Arizona abortion providers licenses in state
- WSJ: New U.S. Rule Bans Release of Health Records in Investigations of Women Who Get Legal Abortions
‘Where Are They Supposed To Sleep?’
TPM’s Kate Riga: Liberal Justices Come Out Swinging In Uphill Battle Over Criminalizing Homelessness
Israel-Gaza Fallout
NYT: Scenes of Protests Spread at Elite Campuses
Dark Brandon On The Loose
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With his decision to move Ukraine aid to a vote, Speaker Johnson has joined that most rarefied club, ‘The League of Unlikely Heroes’. The club is populated by conservative men (gender reference intentional) who routinely do things that enrage liberals and Dems, but who suddenly: for reasons known only to themselves, take great political and personal risks to do the right thing. 2 other figures in recent history I would add to the club are John McCain (For saving Obamacare even though he personally loathed President Obama) and Mike Pence for saving American democracy (Even though he had shown slavish devotion to Donald Trump).
Now Biden has made too much damn solar WaPo of course
Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. (msn.com)
In sunny California, solar panels are everywhere. They sit in dry, desert landscapes in the Central Valley and are scattered over rooftops in Los Angeles’s urban center. By last count, the state had nearly 47 gigawatts of solar power installed — enough to power 13.9 million homes and provide over a quarter of the Golden State’s electricity.
But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are “curtailed” — essentially, thrown away.
Damn right