We talked about Rick Scott last night and Kari Lake before that. But there are clearly Republicans around the country realizing they’d just gotten off on the wrong foot with abortion. It turns out they can totally be good friends. 15 weeks? 24 weeks? Why not 80 weeks? Some of them are thinking real big. Anyway, I’m curious to hear about the stories that aren’t making national headlines. I know there are more. Can you send me yours from your neck of the woods? Same email address as always: talk (at) talkingpointsmemo dot com, as seen on Jeopardy ™.
Trump Faces A Mini-Trial For Contempt Within The Larger Hush-Money Trial
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:
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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The Great Abortion Skedaddle of 2024 Continues
Just a few days after Kari Lake of Arizona went from supporting an absolute ban on abortion to holding a series of teach-ins on the work of Andrea Dworkin (I kid, but only barely) we have Rick Scott announcing his own epic flipflop as Republicans across the country run away from their records as hardcore abortion restrictionists.
Continue reading “The Great Abortion Skedaddle of 2024 Continues”Rick Scott Makes It Pretty Obvious Republicans Are Anxious About Florida, Too
Just two weeks after the Florida Supreme Court upheld a 15-week abortion ban and cleared the way for a six-week one to take effect, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) is publicly attempting to soften his stance on abortion.
Continue reading “Rick Scott Makes It Pretty Obvious Republicans Are Anxious About Florida, Too”Trump’s First Day Ends In Another Attempt To Get Out Of It
NEW YORK — After the morning arguments, we landed at what will likely be the meat of the coming days and, possibly, weeks: jury selection.
Continue reading “Trump’s First Day Ends In Another Attempt To Get Out Of It”Getting Into the Details of What Happened Over the Weekend
As you can see here and here, I did a few posts over the weekend trying to make sense of just what was happening in the skies over Israel. As I noted, I initially thought the fusillade was essentially performative. The Iranians fired off a mix of drones and missiles they knew would be shot down, so they can make a big show of striking back while being confident that the damage would be limited enough to avoid the risk of further escalation. But as more information came in, that seemed less credible.
Continue reading “Getting Into the Details of What Happened Over the Weekend”Trump Becomes Just Another New York Criminal Defendant During First Day In Court
NEW YORK—As Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan debuts on Monday, let me share with you how we at TPM are thinking we’ll be covering this.
Continue reading “Trump Becomes Just Another New York Criminal Defendant During First Day In Court”MAGA Election Denialism Still Has A Firm Grip On Red California County
Election administrators in a deep red Northern California county have been facing off with an ongoing election denial stronghold in the county that local officials and election experts worry will only intensify ahead of the 2024 election.
Continue reading “MAGA Election Denialism Still Has A Firm Grip On Red California County”Update From The Courthouse …
As I mentioned in today’s Morning Memo, TPM’s Josh Kovensky arrived at the courthouse in Manhattan at 6 a.m. ET to stand in the press line. Two and a half hours later, he was denied access because the press room had filled up.
Good news! Through patience and persistence, Kovensky kept waiting even though there wasn’t really a press line any more and somehow it worked. He is now inside the courthouse and will be able to report on jury selection for us.
The Sheer Absurdity At The Heart Of Trump’s Historic First Criminal Trial
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
For Real?
Sometimes it pays to take a step back and soak in the sheer absurdity of Trump and the current moment. It remains true that he and his movement are a threat to the Republic and the constitutional order while at the same time being a comical combination of goofy, ridiculous, preposterous, and transparently absurd.
Just look at the alleged pretext for the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme. The “pussy grabbing” Access Hollywood video had just come out in the waning days of the 2016 campaign, creating a crisis that he thought his campaign might not survive if his dalliance with a porn star was made public, too. Let that soak in.
I know that you know what happened next. But have you taken time lately to marvel at the ham-handedness of it all?
Trump’s solution, with the help of the tabloid National Enquirer, was a scheme to pay Daniels for her silence. He actually wrote her checks. Checks! The scheme continued after Trump won the election – while he was in the White House.
For those of us who have endured Republican moralizing for our entire lives, the hush money scheme rips away all the pretensions. Right-wing Christians who have convinced themselves they are a minority under siege in their own country turned for their salvation to a man who is a product of pro wrestling, reality TV, and the mainstreaming of pornography. God bless ’em.
The three big themes of TPM’s trial coverage will be (i) the historic first of a former president on criminal trial; (ii) accountability at long last for Trump himself; (iii) his ongoing corrosive attacks on the rule of law and the justice system.
But the through line here is the absurdism of American politics in the era of Trump.
All Systems Go
Juan Merchan, the trial judge in the New York hush-money case, batted down on Friday Donald Trump’s final attempt to delay today’s start of the trial, and he did so with flourish:
Defendant appears to take the position that his situation and this case are unique and that the pre-trial publicity will never subside. However, this view does not align with reality. In just the past 12 months, Defendant has very publicly been involved in a multitude of criminal and civil cases across several states in both federal and state jurisdictions. In this County alone, Defendant has had two civil trials, one in State Court and the other in Federal Court. In those two matters, he was personally responsible for generating much, if not most, of the surrounding publicity with his public statements, which were often made just a few steps outside the courtroom where the proceedings were being conducted, and with his unrelenting media posts attacking those he perceived to be responsible for his plight. The situation Defendant finds himself in now is not new to him and at least in part, of his own doing.
Buckle up!
TPM’s Coverage Of The Trump Trial
TPM’s Josh Kovensky got in line at the courthouse in Manhattan at 6 a.m. ET, and it turns out that wasn’t early enough. He was just denied entry because there’s no more space for reporters. Dozens of other reporters were similarly turned away.
Only a limited number of reporters are going to be allowed into the courtroom itself during jury selection. The rest of the media horde will be able to monitor it from another room in the building, though that room is now apparently full. Access should ease once the trial proper begins and more reporters are allowed into the courtroom, freeing up more space in the media room. At least that is our hope.
Trump’s New Play For Delay In The MAL Case
Seeking to play his hush money trial off against the Mar-a-Lago documents case, Trump is seeking new delays in the Florida case even though U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set deadlines in the case with the New York case already in mind.
A Great Read
No one has covered the Christian Right in America any more intensely and relentlessly than Sarah Posner, who I am proud to say has a new piece up at TPM: In Era of Trump, Christian Nationalism Has Many Faces
Iran’s Attack On Israel By The Numbers
The Iranian attack matrix looked like this, according to U.S. officials:
- approx 170 explosive drones
- approx 120 ballistic missiles
- approx 30 cruise missiles
- launched from four countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen
The allied defense of Israel included:
- warplanes from Israel, the United States, Britain, France and Jordan
- two U.S. guided-missile destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean
- a U.S. Patriot missile defense battery inside Iraq
- destroying a Houthi ballistic missile on its launchpad in Yemen
- Joint cooperation among Sunni Arab and Western governments
Note: This is a compendium of reports based almost entirely on U.S. and Israeli government accounts. The historic pattern has been for these kinds of official early accounts to be quite rosy, not very nuanced, and largely unverified (and often unverifiable). So add your own degree of skepticism.
15 Years For Rocha
Ex-U.S. ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha was sentenced to 15 years in prison for working as a Cuba covert agent.
2024 Ephemera
- AZ-Sen: How Kari Lake has “shifted” her abortion stance.
- PA-Sen: Donald Trump endorsed former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick, who is running unopposed in the April 23 GOP primary. McCormick lost in the 2022 Senate GOP primary after Trump gave his endorsement to Dr. Oz, angry that McCormick wouldn’t call the 2020 election stolen.
- NYT/Siena poll: Donald Trump leads Joe Biden, 47%-46% nationwide among likely voters, a narrowing in favor of Biden from late February, where the same polling outfit showed Trump with a 48%-43% lead.
Craven Is As Craven Does
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has been a favorite of TV news bookers for a while now, a somewhat less crazy Republican who provides “balance” without being a loon. But this is what a “reasonable” elected Republican looks like in 2024:
The full thread, with video clips, is accessible here.
Quote Of The Day
I know good and well it’s in Trump’s hands, and he’s got plans. I have no doubt it’s going to explode sometime.
Jerry Dean McLain, 71, the owner of a tree removal service in Oklahoma who put almost his entire nest egg into Trump Truth Social stock and has watched the share price plummet since its IPO last month.
Kansas Governor Vetoes Anti-Trans Bill
Gov. Laura Kelly (D-KS) vetoed a bill banning gender affirming care that was passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of the GOP-controlled legislature. A veto override attempt is expected in late April.
It ‘Shook Me’
My former colleague Christina Bellantoni reflects on the new movie Civil War.
Robert MacNeil, 1931-2024
The co-founder and longtime co-anchor of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS died at the age of 93. The Newshour offered its own remembrance.
The Flooding Will Come ‘No Matter What’
A disproportionate number of stories about the climate change, sea level rise, and extreme weather events are set in my native Louisiana. And so it is with this new piece from Abrahm Lustgarten:
Global migration experts say that what is happening in Louisiana is a textbook case of how climate-driven migration begins: First, people resist their new reality. Second, they make modest, incremental adjustments to where they live. Slidell, after all, is still within commuting distance of friends and jobs in St. Bernard Parish to the south. Third, they climb the ladder toward a safer place, rest on a rung for a while, and then continue on, only to be replaced by others worse off than they are, climbing up behind them.
Worth your time.
Barbenheimer Will Never Die. Ever.
Barbie’s Ryan Gosling and Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt co-star in The Fall Guy, which began shooting months before they ended up at the center of the summer of 2023’s movie mania:
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