memeorandum: Bragg fights GOP effort to force his testimony on Trump probe (Rebecca Beitsch/The Hill)

12:21 PM ET, March 23, 2023

Top Items:

Laura Italiano / Insider:

Trump grand jury will not hear ‘hush-money’ case for the rest of this week: source — Trump's Manhattan ‘hush-money’ grand jury will not consider the case this week. — The grand jury has not heard evidence in the case since Monday, when a surprise witness testified.

Discussion: The Hill, HuffPost, NBC New York, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, UPI, Mediaite, New York Daily News and PBS NewsHour

Fox News:

NY grand jury not expected to consider Trump case Thursday, source says … A Manhattan grand jury will not hear testimony, deliberate or vote on the hush-money case against former President Donald Trump Thursday, a source has confirmed to Fox News. — Since the grand jury does not sit on Fridays …

Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:

March 22, 2023 — This week, news has been focused on the former president's possible indictment for paying $130,000 in hush money to adult film performer Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their 2006 affair before the 2016 election. The information currently being thrown about has been shaped …

Rebecca Beitsch / The Hill:
Bragg fights GOP effort to force his testimony on Trump probe

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Associated Press, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, NBC News, New York Post, Alternet.org, The Post Millennial, PoliticusUSA, Lawfare and Raw Story

Roger Sollenberger / The Daily Beast:
How to Pay Off a Porn Star (If You Really Must)

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Examiner, The Wrap, NPR, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, Political Wire, New York Post, New Republic, Summit News and Fox News

Andrew Solender / Axios:
House GOP widens Manhattan DA probe with outreach to ex-prosecutors

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Washington Times, National Review, New York Daily News, Breitbart, Just Security, Fox News, The Daily Beast, The Hill, Associated Press, Mediaite, The Post Millennial, CBS News and KAMR

New York Times:

DeSantis Calls Putin a ‘War Criminal,’ Clarifying Earlier Comment on Ukraine — The Florida governor and presumed G.O.P. presidential candidate previously described the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a “territorial dispute” and did not mention the Russian president.

Discussion: Morning Shots, Resolute Square, No More Mister Nice Blog, Outside the Beltway, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Fox News, Just The News, The Federalist and The Hill

Piers Morgan / New York Post:

DeSantis brands Putin ‘a war criminal’ who should be ‘held accountable’ for Ukraine invasion — Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis has branded Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” and demanded he be “held accountable” for his barbaric invasion of Ukraine. Taking a tougher tone from his statement …

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, Breitbart, The Last Refuge, Washington Post, Florida's Voice, The Guardian, Democrats, Joe.My.God., Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Post Millennial, Insider, Fox News, NBC News, Florida Politics, TheBlaze and The Atlantic

New York Times: The DeSantis Foreign Policy: Hard Power, but With a High Bar

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
DeSantis-aligned PAC staffs up, brings on Ted Cruz's campaign manager

Discussion: NBC News, Fox News, Washington Post, Wide World of News, Washington Examiner, Associated Press and Mediaite

Associated Press:

Biden approval dips near lowest point: AP-NORC poll — Approval of President Joe Biden has dipped slightly since a month ago, nearing the lowest point of his presidency as his administration tries to project a sense of stability while confronting a pair of bank failures and inflation that remains stubbornly high.

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, The Hill, The Root, Daily Mail, USA Today, The Daily Caller, AP-NORC, Breitbart, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Just The News, Associated Press and Political Wire

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Man at Center of Jan. 6 Conspiracy Theory Demands Retraction From Fox — A lawyer for Ray Epps has demanded that the Fox host Tucker Carlson publicly apologize for “false and defamatory statements” that Mr. Epps served as a federal agent during the Capitol attack.

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Katie Robertson / New York Times:
Fox Argues Top Executives Weren't Involved in Voter Fraud Broadcasts

Discussion: The Guardian, Reuters, CBS News, The Wrap, MyNorthwest.com, The Hill, Bloomberg, Washington Post and The Daily Beast, more at Mediagazer »

Raffaele Huang / Wall Street Journal:

China Says It Opposes a Forced Sale of TikTok — Biden administration has demanded that video app divest itself from its Beijing-based parent or face nationwide ban — SINGAPORE—China said it would strongly oppose any forced sale of TikTok, responding for the first time to a Biden administration demand …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Axios, New York Times, Variety, TechCrunch, Financial Times, New York Post, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg and Political Wire, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:

CEO testifies before Congress, as China says it will oppose a forced sale — TikTok got its first major congressional boost on... Chew has said repeatedly that TikTok's source code... TikTok removes clip threatening violence against panel after lawmaker rebuke

Politico:

Court rejects Trump's urgent bid to keep lawyer's records from special counsel — The ruling effectively permits the Justice Department to circumvent Trump's attorney-client privilege after a lower-court judge found that the documents likely contain evidence of a crime.

Discussion: CBS News, New York Times, UPI, ABC News, CNN, Raw Story, Washington Post, New York Post, Washington Press, Alternet.org, CNBC, Talking Points Memo, BizPac Review, Los Angeles Times, Joe.My.God. and Wall Street Journal

emptywheel:
REMEMBER: DOJ MAY STILL SUSPECT TRUMP IS HOARDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS REMEMBER: DOJ MAY STILL SUSPECT TRUMP IS HOARDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

Discussion: WKRG-TV, Raw Story, Fox News and The Daily Caller

Washington Post:

Most trans adults say transitioning made them more satisfied with their lives — The Washington Post and KFF surveyed one of the largest randomized samples of U.S. transgender adults to date about their childhoods, feelings and lives — Transgender Americans experience stigma …

Discussion: Newsbusters, KFF and Pharyngula

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Sinema Trashes Dems: ‘Old Dudes Eating Jell-O’ — The Arizona senator courts GOP donors by ridiculing her former Democratic colleagues. Ever since Sen. Kyrsten Sinema became an independent in December, her Democratic colleagues have been restrained about the shift, careful not to alienate …

Discussion: Insider, New Republic, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Mediaite, RedState, Alternet.org, Crooks and Liars, Joe.My.God. and IJR

Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:

A nightmare for women in Idaho could be coming to all of us soon — There's news from Idaho, and it's not good. The only hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho, is terminating the provision of labor and delivery services. Sandpoint is the largest city in Bonner County, with just shy of 9,000 people.

Discussion: NBC News, ABC News, Breitbart and Common Dreams

Sommer Brugal / Miami Herald:

Mental health curriculum is the latest target in Miami-Dade schools — Invoking Florida's new parents' rights law, the Miami-Dade School Board is embarking on a review of how students learn about managing their emotions, collaborating with others and developing their identities …

Hayes Brown / MSNBC:
Florida's crackdown on LGBTQ issues in schools is getting worse

Discussion: Los Angeles Times and WHTM-TV

Mary Ellen Klas / Miami Herald:

Where is DeSantis traveling on state business? Legislature wants to make it a secret — Citing an increase in public records requests for the governor's travel schedule, Florida legislators are advancing a bill that would shield from the public any information about how and where Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials go.

Discussion: Florida Politics, National Review and Fox News

Jeannie Suk Gersen / New Yorker:

The Secret Joke at the Heart of the Harvard Affirmative-Action Case — A federal official wrote a parody of Harvard's attitude toward Asian Americans and shared it with the dean of admissions. Why did a judge try to hide that from the public? — Last fall, some mysterious new activity appeared on the Supreme Court's docket.

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Proud Boys attorneys: Informant had contact with defense team, defendants — It's the latest wrench in the seditious conspiracy trial, which has stretched into its fourth month and is the most significant to emerge from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. — Attorneys for five Proud Boys …

Discussion: RedState, Political Wire and BizPac Review

Associated Press:
Federal prosecutors reveal Proud Boys witness was informant

Discussion: Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Matt Taibbi Can't Comprehend That There Are Reasons To Study Propaganda Information Flows, So He Insists It Must Be Nefarious — from the not-how-any-of-this-works dept — Over the last few months, Elon Musk's handpicked journalists have continued revealing less and less with each new edition of the …

Robert Reich:

What connects Trump's likely arrest with the bank bailouts? — Answer: the anti-democracy movement — What connects the two biggest stories now dominating the news — Donald Trump's likely arrest and the Fed's bailouts of shaky banks? — Start with multi-billionaire Peter Thiel, and follow the money.

Discussion: Washington Post

Jay Cohen / Associated Press:

AP source: Blackhawks will not wear Pride-themed jerseys — The Chicago Blackhawks will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sunday's Pride Night game against Vancouver because of security concerns involving a Russian law that expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBTQ rights in the country.

Discussion: Associated Press, Joe.My.God., Althouse, New York Post, Deadline and Fox News

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

New Hampshire Gov. Sununu tells Biden, Democrats to ‘pound sand,’ state not moving 2024 primary — A defiant New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he will not allow a change in his state's first-in-the-nation presidential primary, telling Democrats and President Joe Biden to “pound sand.”

Discussion: The Boston Globe and PJ Media

Katharine Gemmell / Bloomberg:

Nigerian Senator Found Guilty of Organ Harvesting Plot in UK — A Nigerian politician and his wife were found guilty by a London jury of plotting to bring a Lagos street trader to the UK in order to harvest one of his organs for their sick daughter. — Ike Ekweremadu, a senior Nigerian senator …

Discussion: BBC, CBS News, The Guardian, Metro.co.uk, The Sun and Semafor

Sakshi Venkatraman / NBC News:

California could become the 1st state to ban caste discrimination — A bill introduced Wednesday in the California Senate could be a historic win in the fight against caste discrimination in the U.S. If it is signed into law, it would make the state the first to explicitly name caste as a protected category.

Discussion: Sacramento Bee, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times

Stephen Alpher / CoinDesk:

Jack Dorsey's Block Tumbles 17% After Short-Seller Hindenburg's Report — The company accuses Block of “wildly” overstating user counts while understating customer acquisition costs. — Fintech payments company Block (SQ) is down 17% after being the subject of the latest attack from notable short-seller Hindenburg Research.

Discussion: Hindenburg Research, Forbes, Financial Times and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

CNN:

Israel passes law shielding Netanyahu from being removed amid protests over judicial changes — The Israeli parliament on Thursday passed a law that would limit the ways a sitting prime minister can be declared unfit for office as part of a package of bills the government is pushing through in its controversial judicial overhaul.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Haaretz, Associated Press and middleeastmonitor.com

Quinn Slobodian / The Guardian:

The Ciskei experiment: a libertarian fantasy in apartheid South Africa — In the 1980s, South African libertarians set up a deregulated zone that they sold to the world as 'Africa's Switzerland'. It was a sham, but with its clusters of sweatshops, it was very modern - and in some ways it anticipated the world we live in today

Politico:

Jeff Zients discovers the thanklessness of the White House chief of staff gig — It's early and the job is thankless. But Biden's new chief of staff and his leadership style have drawn some detractors. — The grumbling has already begun over Joe Biden's new chief of staff.

Rich Lowry / Politico:

The Trump RINO Test Is Ridiculous — He's the real Republican In Name Only. You might have heard that Ron DeSantis is a RINO. Of course, the former congressman and Florida governor hasn't departed from Republican orthodoxy in any significant way during his career (and, in fact …

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, New York Post and The Floridian

Aimee Picchi / CBS News:

Subscriptions can be hell to cancel. Now, the FTC wants a new “click to cancel” rule. — Subscriptions can be tough to cancel, with some companies putting consumers on lengthy holds or subjecting them to sales pitches to try to change their minds. It's such a pain point that subscriptions …