memeorandum: Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell Arrested On Suspicion Of Burglary (Steve Karnowski/Associated Press)

9:25 PM ET, April 22, 2024

Top Items:

Live Updates: Jurors in Trump Criminal Case Told That He Lied ‘Over and Over and Over’ — Donald J. Trump is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign. A lawyer for Mr. Trump insisted that the former president “did not commit any crimes.”

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Unpacking the alleged crime that made Trump's alleged crime a felony — Attorneys offered opening arguments in the criminal trial of Donald Trump on Monday in Manhattan, beginning the process of presenting to the jury the state's case against the former president.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, Just Security, Progress Pond, New York Times and Forbes

Chauncey DeVega / Salon:

“The alternate reality Trump lives in is crumbling” with first criminal trial: ex-federal prosecutor — “I think that Donald Trump is probably trying to get himself thrown into prison” — With a jury now impaneled, Donald Trump's hush-money trial can finally begin in earnest.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Magazine, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, Washington Times and PoliticusUSA

David Axelrod / The Atlantic:
What Donald Trump Fears Most

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:
Live updates Opening statements expected in Trump hush money trial

Discussion: Business Insider, CBS News, USA Today, WHDH-TV, Forbes, Washington Times, DC News Now, The Hill, Semafor, Alternet.org, NPR and Fox News

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:
Trump's Trial Is the Reality Show He Never Wanted

Discussion: Salon, Digby's Hullabaloo, Axios and New York Post

Minouche Shafik / president.columbia.edu:

Statement from Columbia University President Minouche Shafik — Dear Members of the Columbia Community, — I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus. Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm.

CNN:

Tensions are so high at Columbia ahead of Passover that all classes will be virtual today — Officials at Columbia University, facing surging tensions on campus that raised safety concerns, have announced all classes will be virtual on Monday as Passover begins.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Politico, The Hill, Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, NBC News, New York Daily News, Fox News, acecomments.mu.nu, USA Today, Boston Herald, New York Times, UPI, IJR, Axios and The Moderate Voice

Yale Daily News:

LIVE: Pro-Palestine protesters disperse from blocking intersection, move to Cross Campus — An organizer is speaking over a megaphone to the pro-divestment protesters on Cross Campus, whose numbers have grown to around 200. The organizer pointed to the cardboard model missile with “BOOKS NOT BOMBS” painted on its surface.

Elaina Plott Calabro / The Atlantic:

The Accidental Speaker — This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. — You could be forgiven for thinking it was Mike Johnson's idea to host the House Republicans' annual policy retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia …

Discussion: Must Read Alaska, RedState, Media Matters for America, Business Insider, CNN and The Guardian

Washington Post:

House Republican infighting getting worse after foreign aid vote — One GOP lawmaker said he serves with “some real scumbags,” while others fought over Speaker Mike Johnson's strategy for bringing up the aid package — The House came together Saturday to pass a sweeping $95 billion foreign aid package …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, The Texas Tribune, Washington Times, The Daily Beast, USA Today, HuffPost, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Raw Story, Politico and Breitbart

Punchbowl News:

The winner of this Congress? Joe Biden — House Republicans came into the 118th Congress with big plans. They were going to cut taxes and spending, impeach President Joe Biden and members of his Cabinet and use their leverage to force Democrats to accept stringent new border security and immigration policies.

Discussion: Breitbart, American Greatness, The Federalist, Daily Kos and Los Angeles Times

Politico:
Johnson weighs earmarks tweaks

Discussion: HuffPost, Breitbart, The Hill and CBS News

Naomi Hartono / NASA Blogs:

NASA's Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth — For the first time since November, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems. The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again.

Discussion: Orange County Register and UPI

Walter Shapiro / New Republic:

The GOP's Worst Fears About the End of Roe v. Wade Have Come True — Nearly two years after the leak of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion overturning Roe v Wade, abortion refuses to step out of the spotlight on center stage in American politics.

Discussion: HuffPost and The Hill

Mariana Alfaro / Washington Post:
Newsom proposes law to help Arizonans get abortions in California

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit, NPR, Washington Times, BizPac Review, MSNBC, The Hill, Axios, Politico, Washington Examiner, Sacramento Bee, New York Times and al.com

Politico:

Next Ukraine package to be larger than normal, include armored vehicles — The Senate could approved more than $60 billion for Kyiv as soon as Tuesday. — The Biden administration is preparing a larger-than-normal package of military aid for Ukraine that will include armored vehicles …

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Breaking Defense, The Daily Caller, Daily Caller News Foundation, PJ Media and Business Insider

Marist Poll:

Biden Edges Trump in Two-Way Presidential Contest; Opens Up Lead Among Definite Voters — Despite a still close contest between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, Trump's support among white voters and independents has splintered. Biden is doing better …

Discussion: Washington Times, Washington Post, Digby's Hullabaloo, nationalinterest.org, Raw Story and NBC News

Hanna Trudo / The Hill:

Abortion-rights group launches ad in Michigan, Wisconsin warning about RFK Jr. — An abortion-rights group is attacking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as extreme and unfit to serve over abortion rights, as the health issue takes focus in the presidential election. — Reproductive Freedom …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Democrats, Washington Post and The Michigan Daily

Angela Dewan / CNN:

The world dumps 2,000 truckloads of plastic into the ocean each day. Here's where a lot of it ends up — Photographs and video by Edu Ponces/RUIDO Photo — The western coast of Java in Indonesia is popular with surfers for its world-famous breaks. There's a majestic underwater world to explore, too.

Discussion: The Hill and New Jersey Online

Steve Karnowski / Associated Press:

Minnesota State Senator Nicole Mitchell Arrested On Suspicion Of Burglary — Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell, 49, of Woodbury, is being held in the Becker County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary. — Video — A state senator and former broadcast meteorologist was arrested …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Minnesota Reformer, New York Post, One America News Network and Twin Cities

Liz Cheney / New York Times:

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 …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Guardian, New Jersey Online, Plain Dealer, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Bloomberg, Raw Story, WHDH-TV and HuffPost

Norman L. Eisen / Just Security:

Why Trump Will Likely be Held in Contempt and What Then — Trial in The People of the State of New York vs. Donald J. Trump, the first-ever criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president, began on Monday, April 15. Although the trial is still in its early stages, Trump has already run …

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Washington Examiner, MeidasTouch and Raw Story

US EPA:

Solar for All — Under the $7 billion Solar for All program, the 60 selected applicants will create new or expand existing low-income solar programs, which will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy.

Discussion: Washington State Standard, South Dakota Searchlight, Nebraska Examiner, Associated Press, Houston Public Media, Copper Courier, BizPac Review, The Daily Caller and IJR

Kirby Wilson / Tampa Bay Times:

DeSantis has one of the highest governor disapproval ratings, poll finds — However, DeSantis is popular overall, and beloved by Republicans. — Gov. Ron DeSantis has one of the highest disapproval ratings among governors in the country, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult …

Discussion: Twitchy

Patrick Svitek / Washington Post:

Trump continues his reversal on TikTok, accusing Biden of wanting to ban it — Trump worked to force a sale of TikTok when he was in the White House. On Monday he called Biden ‘responsible for banning TikTok.’ — Former president Donald Trump is digging in against a potential ban …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, RedState, New Republic, HuffPost, NPR, Bloomberg, New York Post, Variety, Rolling Stone, Techdirt, Ars Technica, The Hill, Business Insider, Forbes, The Register and 6abc, more at Techmeme »

New York Post:

Ilhan Omar's daughter, Isra Hirsi, says she's homeless, cries poverty after suspension from $90K-per-year college over anti-Israel protests — The privileged daughter of Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar amazingly claims she's homeless and can't get food after being kicked out of her prestigious $90 …

Discussion: The Hill, dailytarheel.com, RedState, American Greatness, PJ Media, Breitbart, One America News Network, Exposing the role …, BizPac Review, Mediaite, DC News Now, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Twitchy, HotAir, Townhall, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Beast

Emma Misiaszek / WSTM:

President Joe Biden to visit Syracuse following $6.1 billion Micron grant news — SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It's official: President Joe Biden will be visiting Syracuse this Thursday following the news that Micron will receive a $6.1 billion grant under the CHIPS & Science Act.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and The Daily Caller

Brandi Buchman / Law & Crime:

Unite the Right tiki torch man pleads guilty to assaulting cops on Jan. 6 — A man convicted of burning a tiki torch while chanting white supremacist slogans at the Unite the Right rally in 2017 has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and has admitted to assaulting two police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Discussion: NBC News

Hugh Jackson / Nevada Current:

Trump, RNC promise ‘aggressive’ election interference in battleground states — Workers at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters counting early ballots in 2020. The process was live-streamed online. (Screengrab via YouTube) — Policy, politics and progressive commentary

Discussion: BizPac Review and Associated Press

Marc Elias / Democracy Docket:

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.

Ana Ceballos / Miami Herald:

Some migrants flown by DeSantis to Martha's Vineyard qualify for victim visas, feds say — Some of the 49 migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard by the state of Florida are now able to legally work in the United States and have temporary protections from deportation — because they are considered victims …

Discussion: Tampa Bay Times, Mediaite, Breitbart, Orlando Sentinel and Sacramento Bee