Live updates Opening statements expected in Trump hush money trial  —  NEW YORK — Opening statements are expected Monday morning in Donald Trump's trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Columbia University faces full-blown crisis as rabbi calls for Jewish students to ‘return home’  —  Columbia University is facing a full-blown crisis heading into Passover as a rabbi linked to the Ivy League school urged Jewish students to stay home and tense confrontations on campus sparked condemnation …

The Supreme Court Should Rule Swiftly on Trump's Immunity Claim  —  On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Donald Trump's arguments that he is immune from prosecution for his efforts to steal the 2020 presidential election.  It is likely that all — or nearly all …

Republicans Are Suing for the Right To Harass Election Workers  —  You might think that even in today's highly polarized election environment there would be a bipartisan consensus to protect election workers from intimidation and harassment.  If you thought so, you would be wrong.

Biden Earth Day Event Will Try to Reach Young Voters, a Crucial Bloc  —  At a national park in Virginia on Monday, the president will point to investments in clean energy and appear with future members of his American Climate Corps.  —  President Biden will travel to a national park in Virginia on Monday …

Papua New Guinea leader takes offense after Biden implies an uncle was eaten by cannibals  —  MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by …

House Republicans blame Greene and Freedom Caucus for lack of border wins … - GOP leadership brought up border security provisions alongside their foreign aid package — but the package was blocked by Republicans from reaching the House floor under normal rules.

How Trump has become angrier and more isolated on Truth Social  —  For years, Donald Trump was among Twitter's loudest and most inescapable voices: a brash, bomb-throwing businessman turned president who could capture the global news cycle with a single tweet.

Supreme Court to decide if Biden administration can regulate ‘ghost guns’  —  The latest gun rights dispute concerns the Biden administration's effort to regulate gun-making kits the same way as commercially available firearms.  —  WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed …

Playbook: The Biden polling bump persists  —  With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine  —  DRIVING THE DAY  —  TOP-ED — Former VP MIKE PENCE in the NYT: “Donald Trump Has Betrayed the Pro-Life Movement”  —  NEW POLL — Encouraging signs for President JOE BIDEN in a new NBC News poll:

No Strange New Respect For Mike Johnson  —  At least not until he explains why he sacrificed thousands of lives, swaths of territory, and perhaps the future of Ukraine for nothing.  —  ∙ Paid  —  A weekend of important news has quickly overshadowed something striking that led up to it …

Newsom proposes law to help Arizonans get abortions in California  —  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Sunday he would introduce legislation that would help Arizonans get abortions in his state, a move that comes after the Arizona Supreme Court this month ruled that a near-total abortion ban …

Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76  —  Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America's longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76.

Trump's a Fraud When It Comes to Law and Order and ‘Backing the Blue’  —  FAKE JUSTICE  —  He pardoned crony crooks against DOJ's recommendations, and he's promised to let Jan. 6 insurrectionists—who brutally attacked cops—off the hook. … Donald Trump likes to project himself …

Russian Who Bankrolled Trump's Truth Social Set Up Dodgy Sex Pill Sites  —  HARD TO SWALLOW  —  Russian banker—who reportedly has family links to the Kremlin—was key backer of Donald Trump's Truth Social.  But that wasn't his only controversial project.

RFK Jr. rarely mentions abortion — and sends mixed signals when he does  —  For many Americans, November's presidential election is about one issue: abortion.  President Biden hopes that a pro-abortion rights message will carry him to reelection, and Donald Trump regularly brags about his role …

Some Trump chats with foreign leaders annoy Biden's team … - Biden administration officials privately have questioned whether some of Trump's meetings were appropriate, even as President Biden has jumped at the chance to accuse Trump of aligning with far-righters, strongmen and dictators.