memeorandum: Protecting Nature Is More Important Than ‘Quickly’ Building Renewables, Most Americans Say (Robinson Meyer/Heatmap News)

1:25 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 …

Discussion: Vox, HuffPost, Insider, NBC News, Wall Street Journal, Law & Crime, The Wrap, Washington Post, Summit News, New Republic, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story, Fox News, Just The News, New York Post and BuzzFeed News

New York Times:
Prosecutor in Trump Hush-Money Case Fires Back at House Republicans

Discussion: USA Today and Talking Points Memo

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Washington Examiner, The Guardian, al.com, New York Post, Washington Times, National Review, Sean Hannity, Just Security, Fox News, Associated Press, Breitbart, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Post Millennial and CBS News

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

Jim Geraghty / National Review:
The DeSantis Make-Up Call

Discussion: Democrats, Miami Herald and The American Conservative

Politico: Jeff Zients discovers the thanklessness of the White House chief of staff gig

Piers Morgan / New York Post:
DeSantis brands Putin ‘a war criminal’ who should be ‘held accountable’ for Ukraine invasion

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

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

emptywheel:

REMEMBER: DOJ MAY STILL SUSPECT TRUMP IS HOARDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS — When I wrote up initial reports of Christina Bobb's first interview with investigators in the stolen documents case, I noted, Bobb's testimony will clarify for DOJ, I guess, about how broadly they need to get Beryl Howell to scope the crime-fraud exception.

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

NBC News:

Trump, Pence lawyers go before judge in dispute with DOJ over testimony — A hearing was held in a Washington, D.C. federal court Thursday to consider arguments about whether former Vice President Mike Pence must testify before a federal grand jury about his dealings with then-President Donald Trump around Jan. 6.

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Washington Post, Alternet.org, PoliticusUSA and NBC 6 South Florida

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.

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: Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

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

Matt Gertz / Media Matters for America:
Trump to return to Fox as they rekindle their mutually beneficial relationship

Discussion: The Hill

Rich Lowry / Politico:
The Trump RINO Test Is Ridiculous

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

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: HotAir, National Review, Fox News, New York Post, The Hill, The Root, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, AP-NORC, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Forbes, Breitbart, Just The News and Political Wire

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: The Daily Beast, Insider, Fox News, New York Post, New Republic, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, RedState, Alternet.org, Washington Examiner, Joe.My.God., Crooks and Liars and IJR

Associated Press:

Federal prosecutors reveal Proud Boys witness was informant — Federal prosecutors disclosed Wednesday that a witness expected to testify for the defense at the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates was secretly acting as a government informant …

Discussion: Associated Press, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Proud Boys attorneys: Informant had contact with defense team, defendants

Discussion: RedState, Political Wire and BizPac Review

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, Associated Press 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: Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, National Review, Florida Politics and Fox News

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 …

Will Wade / Bloomberg:

Hanwha Plans $147 Million Factory to Expand US Solar Capacity — Hanwha Solutions Corp. plans to spend $147 million on a plant in Georgia that supplies material for panels, drawing cheers from President Joe Biden who credits his climate law for jumpstarting efforts to build a solar supply chain in the US.

Discussion: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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

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

Sean Hannity:

IRON MIKE WEIGHS IN! Tyson Doesn't Think Trump Should Go to Jail, Says Bragg Has an Agenda — In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, legendary boxing champ Mike Tyson defended former President Donald Trump and threw a few blows at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. — From Breitbart News:

Discussion: The Western Journal and The Gateway Pundit

Rob Crilly / Daily Mail:

Trump has raised $1.5 million in MAGA donations since he warned he would be arrested: Campaign reveals cash windfall as he attacks Ron DeSantis for chatting with ‘ratings challenged’ Piers Morgan — The Trump campaign raised $1.5 million after he warned of arrest

Discussion: Insider, RedState, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, Sputnik News, Washington Times, Fox News and The Hill

Robinson Meyer / Heatmap News:

Protecting Nature Is More Important Than ‘Quickly’ Building Renewables, Most Americans Say — Nearly 80% of U.S. adults believe conservation is more important than a speedy renewable energy rollout, our poll finds. That spells trouble for Biden's climate agenda.

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

Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:

Far-right extremist Riley Williams sentenced to 3 years in prison for storming Capitol on Jan. 6 — WASHINGTON — A far-right extremist who was “obsessed” with white nationalist Nick Fuentes was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol and directing a mob toward …

Discussion: Law & Crime and WHTM-TV

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: Haaretz, Bloomberg, Associated Press and middleeastmonitor.com

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

Annie Grayer / CNN:

Manhattan DA's office slams House GOP inquiry, says it was motivated by Trump creating ‘false expectation’ of imminent arrest — The Manhattan district attorney's office investigating former President Donald Trump's role in an alleged hush money payment scheme slammed House Republicans …

Discussion: The Guardian