A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

In Private, NYT Is Outraged By NYT

Yesterday’s NYT apologia for Melania Trump was laugh-out-loud funny, by which I mean so, so bad. Reminiscent of its much-mocked coverage of Javanka during Trump I, the piece had all the usual hallmarks of NYT toadyism.

Let’s start with the passive-voice headline: “Melania Trump Avoids the Courtroom, but Is Said to Share Her Husband’s Anger”

“Said to” is one of the great journalistic sophistries. It does so much apparent work with so little actual effort.

What is this awkward headline construction meant to convey? That despite all her heartache over the Stormy Daniels affair, Melania, too, is outraged (OUTRAGED!) over Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s wrongful criminal prosecution of her husband.

How does the NYT know this? So glad you asked!

Melania hasn’t said anything publicly about her supposed outrage. She hasn’t attended legal proceedings with Trump. She hasn’t been by his side at the trial.

But wait! She’s has purportedly spoken “in private” about her feelings.

It’s the classic dipsy-do of the Javanka coverage: Why take any risk of speaking publicly when you can launder it through the NYT. We are never so courageous as we are in our private musings.

But how is the NYT privy to Melania’s private thoughts and comments?

The sourcing: “according to several people familiar with her thinking.” Yes! Bravo! It’s self serving on top of self serving, with two degrees of separation to play it safe.

Why are these “people familiar” granted anonymity? Because they can’t speak publicly “out of fear of jeopardizing a personal relationship with the Trumps.” Perfect! These brave truth-tellers are risking so much – by which I mean, so little – to get their essential truths out into the public sphere.

Here’s the nugget of “reporting” around which the entire article is built:

But Mrs. Trump, the former first lady, shares his view that the trial itself is unfair, according to several people familiar with her thinking.

In private, she has called the proceedings “a disgrace” tantamount to election interference, according to a person with direct knowledge of her comments who could not speak publicly out of fear of jeopardizing a personal relationship with the Trumps.

The rest of the piece is a filament of speculation, pop psychology, knowing winks about cliched relationship tropes, and lazy stereotypes about wives and mothers – all in service of trying to wring a drop of compassion from readers for the private turmoil that comes with being married to DJT.

News coverage of first ladies, former first ladies, and first ladies to-be-again is still caught in a time warp of 1950s domesticity and style section preciousness. The NYT isn’t alone in falling into this coverage trap. But it has taken the form to new lows – and appallingly used it as a coverage template for the most nepotic administration in American history. Yesterday’s Melania piece suggests that despite everything, the NYT is going to haul this worn-out coverage into Trump II.

Well done all around, by which I mean wtf.

We’re Well On Our Way To Seating A Trump Jury

What initially seemed like a jury selection process in the hush-money trial that could drag on for as long as weeks shifted quickly into productive mode yesterday afternoon. By the end of the day, seven of the 18 jurors (12 jurors + 6 alternates) had been selected, and the judge was telling them to plan on being back Monday for opening statements.

The trial stands in recess today. That gives the judge Thursday and Friday to complete jury selection. Monday opening statements could still get pushed back if things go slower than expected the rest of this week, but only by a day or so. In short, the trial remains on track despite some early misgivings.

Be sure to read Josh Kovensky’s dispatch from the courthouse yesterday.

Contempt Hearing Set For Next Wednesday

The trial judge issued his show cause order, setting a hearing for next Wednesday on whether Trump violated the terms of the gag order against him and should be sanctioned for it, as prosecutors are arguing.

The order itself contains a big, bold-faced warning to Trump at the top:

WARNING: YOUR FAILURE TO APPEAR IN COURT MAY RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT

The judge isn’t messing around.

Mixed Signals From SCOTUS On Major Jan. 6 Case

The Supreme Court took up Tuesday the issue of whether the government properly used a 2002 statute to prosecute hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters and to charge Donald Trump himself. Reaction to the oral argument was decidedly mixed.

One respected observer who I follow closely said, “5 justices seem implacably opposed to DOJ view” while another equally respected reporter said, “The conservatives … didn’t sound reflexively hostile to the government’s position.”

Which is it? TPM’s Kate Riga tries to iron it all out.

About That Trump Bond …

Ahead of a court hearing next week, the insurance company that provided Donald Trump with an appeal bond in the multi-hundred million dollar civil fraud case in New York has submitted a new filing explaining and justifying the terms of its undertaking.

One America News Settles Smartmatic Defamation Case

Voting tech company Smartmatic has settled its big defamation claim against right-wing One America News over its 2020 Big Lie coverage. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Smartmatic still has defamation claims outstanding against Fox News and other Trump world figures.

Yikes! Blame The Wife?

In a newly unsealed court filing, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) previewed one possible defense in his upcoming corruption trial: His co-defendant wife withheld information from him or otherwise led him to believe nothing unlawful was afoot.

Not So Funny Now

Watching hard-right members of Congress swat around the last three GOP speakers of the House and now do the same thing to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) yields some pleasurable schadenfreude and offers a smidge of justice. But it is painful to see desperately needed U.S. aid to Ukraine caught up in the clownish internal turmoil of the House GOP.

Johnson’s tentative plan to try to get Ukraine aid through the House as early as this week quickly ran into rough waters yesterday, with another far-right member of his caucus joining with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in threatening to depose him as speaker if he pushes Ukraine aid through.

Johnson vowed to stay on as speaker, but when you’re having to publicly say you won’t resign …

For Your Radar …

Arizona legislators may take another stab as soon as today at repealing the state’s Civil War-era abortion ban. Repealing the ban will require Democrats getting help from enough Republican legislators, some of whom foiled a similar repeal attempt last week.

What A Public Service

If you take Donald Trump’s bizarro remarks over the weekend about the battle of Gettysburg and set them to a Ken Burns-style score with a mashup of vintage slapstick film clips, you arrive at this masterpiece:

The only sensible thing to do with Trump's "Gettysburg, Wow" speech in Pennsylvania was to make a one-minute documentary film of it. These are all his real words. I added some "bing bongs" at the start. "Never fight uphill, me boys! Never fight uphill." #FunWithPhotoshop pic.twitter.com/xFQffyCa37

— Randall Stephens (@Randall_Stps) April 16, 2024

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A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

Come For Jury Selection, Stay For Contempt Proceedings

Before jury selection even began in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president, prosecutors sought to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court for violating the gag order imposed on him in the hush-money case.

On social media in the days before trial, Trump continued to attack witnesses in the case, including key witness Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer.

Prosecutors want Trump sanctioned $3,000 for the violation and warned that further violations could send him to jail for the duration of the trial.

The trial judge said he would enter a show cause order as to why Trump should not be held in contempt and set arguments on the matter for April 23. The contempt proceeding will happen in parallel with the trial.

The range of sanctions for contempt is pretty broad, and I would expect a graduated scale of increasing punishments for each violation, rather than hauling Trump off to jail right away. I know. But that’s how it typically works.

Our Man On The Scene

The logistics of being the sole trial reporter for a small news outlet like TPM are hairy. Josh Kovensky has been up at 5 a.m. ET that last two days and in line at the courthouse by 6 a.m. In each instance he got in, but only barely, due to limited seating while jury selection is underway.

As long as he gets in, we’ll be bringing you his coverage:

• Trump Becomes Just Another New York Criminal Defendant During First Day In Court
• Trump’s First Day Ends In Another Attempt To Get Out Of It

This Could Take A While

Between taking Wednesdays off, the upcoming Passover holiday, and other schedule constraints, April may be taken up by jury selection, and prosecutors may not begin their case in chief until May. It’s hard to predict, but that gives you some sense of the pacing of the trial.

A Quick Dip Into The Trivial

Did Trump fall asleep in court? So reported Maggie Haberman.

Did that make Trump mad at Maggie? You bet it did.

Does any of this matter? Not really.

But it was a good windup for Chris Hayes to knock a softball out of the park:

Hayes: I mean, I feel like if you call your opponent sleepy Joe, you have one job. pic.twitter.com/4DMDDlxfFT

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 15, 2024

Cry Harder

The wailing from Donald Trump and his team after Day 1 of the trial mostly involved performative outrage that Donald Trump is being treated like a criminal defendant, which manifested itself in the form of extreme umbrage that Trump must be present in court.

The high dudgeon was reminiscent of every other white collar trial in the last few decades, when affluent (usually white) defendants first encounter the criminal justice system and are outraged, OUTRAGED, that people are treated like this. Yep, every damn day in every courthouse in America.

SCOTUS Takes Up Major Jan. 6 Case Today

Oral arguments are scheduled this morning before the Supreme Court in Fischer v. United States. The NYT’s Adam Liptak describes the stakes:

The question the justices will consider is whether a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted in the wake of the collapse of the energy giant Enron, covers the conduct of a former police officer, Joseph W. Fischer, who participated in the Capitol assault, on Jan. 6, 2021.

The law figures in two of the federal charges against Mr. Trump in his election subversion case, and more than 350 people who stormed the Capitol have been prosecuted under it. If the Supreme Court sides with Mr. Fischer and says the statute does not cover what he is accused of having done, Mr. Trump is almost certain to contend that it does not apply to his conduct, either.

Don’t Let Russian Election Interference Go Down The Memory Hole

David Corn tries to rescue us from the limits of memory and the onslaught of historical revisionism:

Russia attacked in 2016. It tried again in 2020. Isn’t it evident Putin—who is one for two—will take another stab at this in 2024? Especially now that much more is at stake. This election will likely determine whether the United States continues supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal and illegal invasion. With Trump and other Republicans opposing such assistance, how could Putin not try once more to give him a secret boost?

Worth your time.

Now Every Losing GOP Candidate Blames ‘Election Fraud’

TPM’s Khaya Himmelman on the metastasis of wild, conspiracy-fueled “election fraud” claims being raised by losing GOP candidates all the way down to dogcatcher. Okay, maybe not dogcatcher. Yet.

Quote Of The Day

“I’m fairly concerned and it’s definitely a gut check moment for people who have been pro-life for a very long time.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, on elected Republicans freaking out over the political landscape in a post-Dobbs world.

2024 Ephemera

• FL-Sen: Sen. Rick Scott (R), without a hint of irony, tells voters to forget about his support last year for a six-week abortion ban because now he’s completely onboard with a 15-week ban.
• Abortion will be on the ballot in about a dozen states in November.
• President Biden kicks off three days of campaign events in Pennsylvania.

The Latest In Lecterngate!

AP:

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders ‘ office potentially violated state laws on purchasing, state property and government records when it purchased a $19,000 lectern for the Republican governor that’s prompted nationwide attention, an audit requested by lawmakers said Monday.

Legislative auditors referred the findings in the long-awaited audit of the lectern to local prosecutors and the attorney general, and lawmakers planned to hold a hearing Tuesday on the report. The report cited several potential legal violations, including paying for the lectern before it was delivered and the handling of records regarding the purchase.

Potential Movement On The Hill For Ukraine Aid

It seems like a long shot and it might cost Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) his speakership, but he finally plans to bring Ukraine aid to a vote as early as the end of this week.

His tactic, such as it is, consists of bringing aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan up in three separate bills along with a fourth bill full of Republican goodies. Then the whole thing will in theory be sent to the Senate as one bill for it to pass.

The idea seems to be that the bill full of goodies will placate the hard right in his conference, which is opposed to Ukraine aid and threatening to remove him as speaker if he pushes it through. But it’s already showing signs of not placating them.

‘What’s Wrong With Me? Why Can’t I Feel?’

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