April 3, 2023

Afternoon Update:

Contributor Jeanne is unhappy with CNN & MSNBC fawning all over Trump: "Four cameras reporting on his every move -- 'we should see him soon' and they might as well be sitting on his felonlap patting his felon cheek." Maybe you think Jeanne is exaggerating. She is not. I just tuned into CNN, and they had three anchors staked out in a booth on the street in front of Trump Tower. Meanwhile, flip over to MSNBC and there's a little picture-in-picture of the airport where Trump's plane is supposed to land: "Soon: Trump to Land in NYC," the title said. Appropriately enough, both channels followed with an O.J.-style low-speed chase -- as videographers traveling in helicopters taped Trump's entourage at the moved from La Guardia to Fifth Avenue. Is this a great country or what?

Marie: More bad news on the Trump front: from what I've heard on the teevee, the court will not release Trump's mugshot. And now Andrew McCabe tells CNN that officials will fingerprint Trump electronically, so Trump won't even get his tiny hands dirty.

Another MAGA Attorney. Erica Orden of Politico: "... Donald Trump has hired a top white-collar criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, Todd Blanche, as his lead counsel to handle the Manhattan district attorneys criminal indictment of the former president. Blanche, until recently a partner at law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, said in an email obtained by Politico that he was resigning from the firm...." MB: Todd, get a giant retainer up-front and remember, MAGA stands for Make Attorneys Get Attorneys. This may not end well for you.

You be the judge: who wins this back-and-forth? ~~~

“Wow.” 60 Minutes uses their prestigious platform to showcase Marjorie Taylor Greene. Then Lesley Stahl seems surprised when Greene calls President Biden and Democrats “pedophiles”. pic.twitter.com/mG4Wevmr9Z

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) April 3, 2023

Florida. Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics: "Gov. Ron DeSantis has quietly signed permitless carry legislation. The measure eliminates a requirement for Floridians to obtain a license to carry a concealed gun. The Legislature reports the bill (HB 543) was signed at 8:15 a.m. Monday morning. Fox News first reported the bill had become law, but the article contained no statement from DeSantis. The Governor also did not post any social media announcing his signature. Photograph were provided to Fox News by the National Rifle Association, an organization that had representatives at a small signing in DeSantis' office.... Hard-line Second Amendment activists have criticized the bill for falling short of open carry. Many, in fact, had encouraged DeSantis to reject the legislation." ~~~

~~~ The Emperor Strikes Back. Brooks Barnes of the New York Times: "Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Monday requested 'a thorough review and investigation' into an effort by the Walt Disney Company to limit state oversight of development at Disney World. The request came in a letter to Melinda Miguel, Florida's chief inspector general. Last week, Mr. DeSantis and his allies realized that Disney had pushed through a development agreement in early February that would allow the company to sidestep a new oversight board whose members were appointed by Mr. DeSantis."

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Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department and FBI investigators have amassed fresh evidence pointing to possible obstruction by ... Donald Trump in the investigation into top-secret documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home, according to people familiar with the matter. The additional evidence comes as investigators have used emails and text messages from a former Trump aide to help understand key moments last year.... Federal investigators have gathered new and significant evidence that after the subpoena was delivered, Trump looked through the contents of some of the boxes of documents in his home, apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession, the people familiar with the investigation said. Investigators now suspect, based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documentary evidence, that boxes including classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena was served, and that Trump personally examined at least some of those boxes...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "CNN has confirmed that investigators have emails and text messages from Molly Michael, an assistant to the former president who left her job last year. Those texts and notes, which investigators have had for several months, detail what Trump was doing and who he was meeting with, which could be significant for understanding his whereabouts in relation to the documents."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Rather than hide from the indignity of turning himself into authorities this week, Mr. Trump obligingly sent out a schedule as if for a campaign tour, letting everyone know he would fly on Monday from Florida to New York, then on Tuesday surrender for mug shots, fingerprinting and arraignment. In case that were not enough to draw the eye, he plans to then fly back to Florida to make a prime-time evening statement at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by the cameras and microphones he covets." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Baker suggests that Trump thinks the indictment is a lark, nothing more than a great opportunity to separate his base from their money. But I doubt it. Rather, from the outside peeking in, it looks to me as if Trump is furious and out of control. Who thinks it's a good idea, for instance, to lash out and repeatedly say a Black D.A. is an "animal" controlled by a Jewish international financier? He is insulting two minority groups who are bound to be the "peers" sitting on his jury (unless he gets the change of venue to Staten Island he reportedly may request).

Ha Ha. Trump's Legal "Team" in Disarray. Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "According to a new Rolling Stone report, some of Donald Trump's lawyers have raised concerns about Joe Tacopina, the attorney co-leading the former president's defense in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office case. In the lead-up to the indictment..., Tacopina made a spate of sometimes contentious media appearances to discuss the case.... Rolling Stone reported that Trump's other current lawyers had privately described Tacopina as 'dumb' and a 'loudmouth.' Trump's attorneys and advisers have warned the former president to be wary of Tacopina and that he can't trust his loyalty, the sources said. Another source familiar with the matter called him 'such a frickin' idiot' Rolling Stone reported." ~~~

~~~ Azi Paybarah, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina said Sunday he doesn't believe the judge who oversaw Trump's indictment is biased, contradicting days of Trump's attacks in which he declared that the judge 'HATES ME.'"

Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) defended calling Democrats 'pedophiles' in a new interview with CBS's '60 Minutes' Sunday, eliciting eye-rolls from correspondent Lesley Stahl." ~~~

     ~~~Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Heather of Crooks & Liars: Even before it airs, "... 60 Minutes is already being ripped apart for doing what appears to be a fluff piece on MAGA Republican nutjob Marjorie Taylor Greene."

Presidential Race 2024. Alisa Wiersema of ABC News: "Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson made his 2024 White House bid official on Sunday in an exclusive sit-down interview with ABC 'This Week' co-anchor Jonathan Karl." Hutchinson told Karl the indicted, twice-impeached, defeated ex-president* should drop out of the presidential primary race. (Also linked yesterday.)

Way Beyond the Beltway

Finland. Steven Erlanger & Johanna Lemola of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Sanna Marin and her Social Democratic Party lost a tight election in Finland on Sunday to a center-right party that focused on economic concerns. The National Coalition Party, led by Petteri Orpo, 53, captured the most votes in the parliamentary election, followed by the right-wing Finns Party and the Social Democrats. But no party is near a majority in the 200-seat body, and Mr. Orpo is going to have a complicated task pulling together a governing coalition. With almost 100 percent of the vote counted, late Sunday night, Mr. Orpo's party had 48 seats with 20.8 percent of the vote, just ahead of the populist Finns, led by Riikka Purra, with 46 seats and 20.0 percent. Though Ms. Marin has been the closest Finland has to a political rock star, her center-left Social Democrats came in third, with 43 seats and 19.9 percent of the vote.... Given the tightness of the race, forming a new coalition government is expected to take many weeks of negotiations among the parties...." (Also linked yesterday.) The Guardian's story is here.

Ukraine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Monday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here. The Guardian's live updates for Monday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live briefing for Monday is here: "The number of people injured in an explosion at a St. Petersburg cafe has risen to 32, according to Russian state media. The blast killed Vladlen Tatarsky, a prominent Kremlin-aligned military blogger.... Russian authorities said they were investigating Tatarsky's death as a murder.... Russian authorities on Monday detained a woman they accused of being involved in the deadly cafe blast.... Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed his counterpart in Moscow to immediately release Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist detained in Russia last week. In a rare call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Blinken also appealed for the release of Paul Whelan, an American who the United States says was wrongfully convicted on espionage charges."

Vatican. Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times (March 30): "The Vatican formally repudiated on Thursday the 'Doctrine of Discovery,' a legal concept based on 15th-century papal documents that European colonial powers used to legitimize the seizure and exploitation of Indigenous lands in Africa and the Americas, among other places. The decision comes after decades of demands from Indigenous people to rescind the doctrine, which was used for centuries to 'expropriate Indigenous lands and facilitate their transfer to colonizing or dominating nations,' according to one United Nations forum.... Some opponents of the doctrine had a chance to deliver their message to Pope Francis during his visit to Canada, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his office said." MB: My guess is that the Pope himself has indigenous ancestors.

April 2, 2023

Late Morning/Evening Update:

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "Justice Department and FBI investigators have amassed fresh evidence pointing to possible obstruction by ... Donald Trump in the investigation into top-secret documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home, according to people familiar with the matter. The additional evidence comes as investigators have used emails and text messages from a former Trump aide to help understand key moments last year.... The Trump investigation team has spent much of its time focusing on events that happened after Trump's advisers received a subpoena in May demanding the return of all documents with classified markings...." MB: IOW, there's some written evidence suggesting Trump told staff to hide the docs and lie about it. It's the equivalent of the chocolate-smeared kid saying, "No, Mom, I don't know what happened to the chocolate cake."

Finland. Steven Erlanger & Johanna Lemola of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Sanna Marin and her Social Democratic Party lost a tight election in Finland on Sunday to a center-right party that focused on economic concerns. The National Coalition Party, led by Petteri Orpo, 53, captured the most votes in the parliamentary election, followed by the right-wing Finns Party and the Social Democrats. But no party is near a majority in the 200-seat body, and Mr. Orpo is going to have a complicated task pulling together a governing coalition. With almost 100 percent of the vote counted, late Sunday night, Mr. Orpo's party had 48 seats with 20.8 percent of the vote, just ahead of the populist Finns, led by Riikka Purra, with 46 seats and 20.0 percent. Though Ms. Marin has been the closest Finland has to a political rock star, her center-left Social Democrats came in third, with 43 seats and 19.9 percent of the vote.... Given the tightness of the race, forming a new coalition government is expected to take many weeks of negotiations among the parties...."

     ~~~ Marie: I needed an explanation for the exchange between Jost & Che. Here it is, via Deadline. ~~~

~~~ RAS brings us this "Daily Show" PSA "for the heartbroken." Touching: ~~~

~~~ Happily, the Indicted One is in high spirits despite the circumstances: ~~~

Presidential Race 2024. Alisa Wiersema of ABC News: "Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson made his 2024 White House bid official on Sunday in an exclusive sit-down interview with ABC 'This Week' co-anchor Jonathan Karl." Hutchinson told Karl the indicted, twice-impeached, defeated ex-president* should drop out of the presidential primary race.

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Mr. Biden Regrets. Caroline Frost of Deadline: "British press reports this weekend that Joe Biden will not be attending the [coronation] ceremony on May 6 in London, citing previous commitments. No US president in history has attended the Coronation of the British monarch. However, the Telegraph reports that Biden plans to send a representative for the occasion, either his wife Jill Biden or vice president Kamala Harris."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "... this week, on two consecutive days..., [Donald Trump] and the highest-rated cable news channel [Fox 'News'] were delivered a dose of reality by the American legal system.... In a court of law, the magnetism that Mr. Trump and Fox News have over their audiences may lose some of its power."

As Others See Us. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Whether foreign leaders view the potential return of Donald J. Trump to the White House with hope or horror, the prospect of a Trump restoration is so deeply ingrained overseas that leaders in several countries have hedged their bets in diplomacy, security and even where they invest their fortunes. There were few signs that Mr. Trump's indictment last week on criminal charges in New York has changed those calculations. Foreign leaders have watched him bounce back from so many disasters, according to diplomats and foreign policy experts, that they now regard his political resilience with something approaching fatalism. This is especially true in Europe, whose leaders spent four years enduring Mr. Trump's hectoring on a host of issues, including military spending and climate change.... [Even if Trump is not re-elected,] many worry that he will be replaced by any number of Trump-like alternatives, of whom the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is the most prominent example."

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Ashley Capoot of CNBC: "Starbucks fired Alexis Rizzo, the employee responsible for igniting the Starbucks Workers United union campaign, just days after the company's former CEO Howard Schultz testified on Capitol Hill about the coffee chain's alleged union-busting, CNBC confirmed. Rizzo worked as a shift supervisor at Starbucks for 7 years and served as a union leader at the Genesee St. store in Buffalo, New York, which was one of the first two stores in the country to win its union campaign.... She said [store managers] told her [they fired her] because she had been late on four occasions -- two of which were instances where she had been one minute late. Rizzo suspects she was let go as a result of Wednesday's Senate hearing, she said.... 'I don't think it's a coincidence that two days after Howard Schultz had his ego bruised the way that he did that he started lashing out at Buffalo' Rizzo said. She added that two other employees were also fired Friday.... During the hearing, [Sen. Bernie] Sanders [I-Vt.] said that Starbucks has engaged in the 'most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Texas. Aala Elassar, et al., of CNN: "A federal judge in Texas ruled that at least 12 books removed from public libraries by Llano County officials, many because of their LGBTQ and racial content, must be placed back onto shelves within 24 hours, according to an order filed Thursday. Seven residents sued county officials in April 2022, claiming their First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when books deemed inappropriate by some people in the community and Republican lawmakers were removed from public libraries or access was restricted. The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio claimed county officials removed books from the shelves of the three-branch public library system 'because they disagree with the ideas within them' and terminated access to thousands of digital books because they could not ban two specific titles.... The library system also is required to reflect these books as available in their catalog and cannot remove any books for any reason while the case is ongoing, US District Judge Robert Pitman said in his order. 'Although libraries are afforded great discretion for their selection and acquisition decisions, the First Amendment prohibits the removal of books from libraries based on either viewpoint or content discrimination,' Pitman said." MB: Pitman is an Obama appointee.

Wisconsin. Sam Levine of the Guardian: "More than $37m has already been spent in an election that will this month determine control of Wisconsin's supreme court, easily making it the most expensive judicial contest in US history.... The race has national implications -- it will probably ultimately determine the legality of abortion in the state as well as play a key role in setting voting rules for the 2024 election in one of America's most competitive states." ~~~

     ~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) "and his party ... lock[ed] in G.O.P. rule [in Wisconsin], enacting shockingly lopsided electoral maps and assuring continuing Republican control of the State Legislature, as well as dominance of Wisconsin's national congressional delegation. Nothing since, not even the election of a Democratic governor, has been able to loosen Republicans' gerrymandered grip on the state. That grip has been used to restrict voting rights, pass an anti-union right-to-work law, cut funding to education, dismantle environmental protections and make Wisconsin one of the hardest states in the country in which to cast a ballot. Democrats, on the other hand, are powerless to pass laws of their own. In 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled, 4 to 3, that the state must adopt new, even more gerrymandered maps passed by the legislature.... A contentious State Supreme Court election on Tuesday could finally put a crack in [Republican hegemony].... The Wisconsin Supreme Court election, pitting the mild-mannered, liberal-leaning family court judge Janet Protasiewicz against the Trumpist former State Supreme Court justice Daniel Kelly, is by far the most important political contest of the year.

Way Beyond

Israel. Shira Rubin of the Washington Post: "Israelis opposed to their far-right government flooded the streets in protest Saturday, turning out in force for the first major demonstration since Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's prime minister, announced a pause to legislation that would overhaul the judiciary earlier this week. Protesters showed up at more than 100 locations, according to the organizers, including in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where they hoisted Israeli and American flags. The U.S. flags were a nod to President Biden's public opposition to the proposed legislation, which, if passed, could give the government a greater say in judicial appointments, including to the Supreme Court and those presiding over Netanyahu's corruption trial. The Supreme Court in Israel provides the sole check on legislative and executive power."

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Sunday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia has assumed the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, part of a routine annual cycle that was denounced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.... Russia's turn as head of the Security Council shows the 'complete bankruptcy of such institutions,' Zelensky said Saturday in his evening address.... The Biden administration and news organizations around the world called on Moscow to release American journalist Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was detained in Russia on charges of espionage. The White House and the Journal have sharply denied the allegations." ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Sunday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

April 1, 2023

What's New with the Indicted, Twice-impeached, Defeated Ex-president* & His Gang

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "After a brief hiatus, The Trump Show is back.... Thursday ended in a cliffhanger -- the exact criminal charges against Mr. Trump remain unknown -- and new episodes are already on the horizon: Mr. Trump is potentially facing several more indictments.... Cable news viewership dropped after Mr. Trump left office. The news of his criminal charges turned that right around."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Trump indictment matter are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"No Comment." Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "President Biden has nothing to say about the indictment of ... Donald J. Trump.... In fact..., he said nothing in four different ways: Would the indictment divide the country? 'I have no comment on that.' Was he worried about protests? 'No. I'm not going to talk about the Trump indictment.' What did the indictment say about the rule of law? 'I have no comment at all.' Are the charges politically motivated? 'I have no comment on Trump.' The strategy behind his 'no comment' response is twofold: Mr. Biden and his advisers want to avoid a situation in which Mr. Trump tries to bait him into a reaction.... But most of all, White House officials say, Mr. Biden believes that presidents should not comment on pending legal matters. (Not commenting on legal investigations, of course, was a common practice for presidents until Mr. Trump took office.)"

James McKinley & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump is expected ... to answer charges before a state judge on Tuesday.... Mr. Trump intends to travel to New York on Monday and stay the night at Trump Tower, people familiar with his preparations said. He has no plans to hold a news conference or address the public while he is in New York, the people said.... Late on Friday afternoon, Mr. Trump burst out on Truth Social..., writing in all capital letters that Democrats were 'INDICTING A TOTALLY INNOCENT MAN IN AN ACT OF OBSTRUCTION AND BLATANT ELECTION INTERFERENCE.' He concluded that it was all happening 'WHILE OUR COUNTRY IS GOING TO HELL!'... The case, which could drag on for months and whose outcome is far from clear, is likely to test the country's institutions and the rule of law." ~~~

~~~ Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "An advance team of Secret Service agents -- mostly comprised of New York field office agents -- conducted a site tour of the courthouse on Friday to map [Donald] Trump's path in and out of the building, according to a law enforcement official involved in the planning.... The official ... said that 'dozens and dozens of agents' will be required to secure the former president's travel between Mar-a-Lago ... and New York.... The former president will be fingerprinted, photographed and brought to the courtroom of Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upon surrendering before the proceeding, where he is expected to enter a not-guilty plea. If the charges have not already been made public, they will be unsealed by the time of the arraignment."

How Not to Influence a Judge. Perry Stein & Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "... New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan ... oversaw the grand jury that indicted [Donald] Trump this week and will preside over the criminal proceedings that follow. Merchan, 60, who has sat on the New York bench since 2009, also presided over the jury trial last year of Trump's namesake real estate company, which resulted in a conviction in December, and the prosecution of the company's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. On Friday, the first former president ever charged with a crime lashed out at Merchan on social media, declaring that the judge 'HATES ME.' Merchan 'is the same person who "railroaded" my 75 year old former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, to take a "plea" deal,' Trump wrote. The former president continued: 'He strong armed Allen, which a judge is not allowed to do, & treated my companies, which didn't "plead," VICIOUSLY. APPEALING.'... On Tuesday, Trump is expected to appear before Merchan for an arraignment hearing...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Erica Orden of Politico (March 30): "The Manhattan district attorney's office asked for Donald Trump to surrender on Friday following a grand jury's vote to indict the former president. But lawyers for Trump rebuffed the request saying that the Secret Service, which provides security detail for the former president, needed more time to prepare." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why, whoever would have guessed that Trump's lawyers lied to the D.A.??? ~~~

     ~~~ Julia Ainsley of NBC News, in a tweet: "Secret Service officials tell @NBCNews that Trump's detail is not to blame for him reporting to NYC for arrest Tuesday rather than tomorrow. 'Preposterous' one said.

Jonah Bromwich & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "A day after filing charges against Donald J. Trump, the Manhattan district attorney’s office wrote a letter criticizing three influential congressional Republicans [-- Jim Jordan, James Comer and Bryal Steil --] for their efforts to interfere in the investigation into the former president. The letter was addressed to three committee chairmen who had demanded that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, provide them with communications, documents and testimony related to the inquiry into Mr. Trump.... Concluding her letter, [the D.A.'s general counsel Leslie] Dubeck urged the congressional Republicans to withdraw their demand for information about the investigation 'and let the criminal justice process proceed without unlawful political interference.' But she said that the office was willing to meet with the chairmen or their staffs, and asked for a list of questions for Mr. Bragg and a description of the types of documents they were requesting.... [Meanwhile,] In a statement, [Mr. Trump] called Mr. Bragg a 'disgrace' and said 'this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,' who ... has had nothing to do with the district attorney's investigation and has not commented on the indictment." The Hill has a story here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ The full letter, via Common Dreams, is here. Marie: Dubeck eviscerates Trump's elves. Here's a particularly sharp cut: "... based on your reportedly close collaboration with Mr. Trump in attacking this Office and the grand jury process, it appears you are acting more like criminal defense counsel trying to gather evidence for a client than a legislative body seeking to achieve a legitimate legislative objective." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Marie: Here's a story about the indictment of the Arrested Developer which I missed. ~~~

     ~~~ Ryan Schwach of the Queens Daily Eagle (March 30): "A Queens man was indicted Thursday for allegedly making hush money payments to a porn star shortly before he was elected president of the United States in 2016. Although the exact charges against former president and Queens native Donald Trump are still unknown, Trump will be the first former president to ever face criminal charges...."

Scott Wong of NBC News: "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga..., said Friday she will travel to New York next week to protest the former president's indictment and urged other supporters to join her. 'I'm going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!' Greene tweeted to her 663,000 followers. The Tuesday protests would come on the same day Trump's attorneys have said the former president and 2024 Republican presidential front-runner is expected to be arraigned in court.... Less than two weeks ago..., she said on Twitter that Trump supporters 'don't need to protest about the Communists Democrat's planning to arrest Pres Trump and the political weaponization of our government and election interference.'"

David Gilbert & Mack Lamoureux of Vice: "Minutes after ... Donald Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York, his supporters flooded social media and extremist message boards with violent and racist threats against the officials prosecuting Trump, as well as bloody civil war.... 'None of this will stop unless there is blood in the streets' ..., one member of the rabidly pro-Trump message board The Donald wrote on Thursday night.... On platforms like The Donald..., commenters openly called for violence that was largely racist in nature.... There were also many users calling for civil war on the platform. 'Yeah. I'm down with just getting 1776 round 2 over with. The build up is infuriating,' one user wrote.... Some users laid out more detailed plans, discussing militias and boycotts and tax avoidance, while another simply wrote: War.'" ~~~

~~~ Ben Collins of NBC News: "While there is little evidence of ... planning for real-world unrest just yet, extremism researchers are keeping a close eye on the varied calls for everything from targeted attacks on the district attorney who brought the case to a new civil war.... Animated by claims about liberal megadonor George Soros' ties to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, some users have consistently called for violence and assassination attempts. Soros has never met nor talked to Bragg, according to a report from CNBC, but Bragg did receive donation money, along with other progressive-leaning district attorneys, through the super PAC Color of Change after Soros donated $1 million to it.... [But] Advance Democracy's report said they 'had not identified any definitive plans by users to engage in violence or any large-scale organizing activities.' However, users on the pro-Trump forum [Patriots.com] encouraged those who did not want to 'form organized militias' to 'take on lone wolf mentalities,' 'weaponize suicidal people' and 'make the jurors public knowledge.'" ~~~

~~~ AND Then There's Aunt Pittypat. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Friday bizarrely suggested that ... Donald Trump could avoid prosecution in New York by attacking police officers and committing acts of vandalism.... '"On the way to the DA's office on Tuesday, Trump should smash some windows, rob a few shops and punch a cop. He would be released IMMEDIATELY!' Graham's tweet as an apparent dig at the wrongly held belief that Black Lives Matter protesters who rioted in the summer of 2020 were never prosecuted for committing crimes." ~~~

     ~~~ BUT. To Know Trump Is to Despise Him. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Appearing on CNN, [New York Times reporter Maggie] Haberman said that several former Trump Organization employees were 'cheering' on the fact that their one-time boss has now been indicted.... '... there is a long trail of people who feel burned, in one way or another, by Donald Trump,' she said. 'We certainly saw that in the White House. This was a pattern that existed for decades in the Trump Organization. And the number of people I heard from yesterday who worked for his company who were really happy, one person texted with the words, "Wonderful news."'"

The Zombie That Ate Donald Trump

     ~~~ Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: "One year ago this week, the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into Donald J. Trump appeared to be dead in the water. The two leaders of the investigation had recently resigned after the new district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, decided not to charge Mr. Trump at that point.... [But Mr. Bragg's investigators went] back to square one, poring over the reams of evidence that had already been collected by his predecessor. For a time, their efforts were haphazard as they examined a wide range of Mr. Trump's business practices, including whether he had lied about his net worth, which was the focus of the investigation when Mr. Bragg had declined to seek an indictment. But by July, Mr. Bragg had decided to assign several additional prosecutors to pursue one particular strand that struck him as promising: a hush-money payment made on Mr. Trump's behalf to a porn star during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. On Thursday, Mr. Trump was indicted on that strand." The report continues, describing how the focus of the investigation changed, as did the make-up of the lead investigators. ~~~

     ~~~ Glenn Thrush & others at the New York Times try to explain why the Justice Department has not brought charges against Trump in regard to the hush-money payments inasmuch as the Department charged Trump fixer Michael Cohen for his part in the hush-money scheme. The reporters conclude that, under AG Merrick Garland, "The decision not to indict appeared to be rooted in lingering concerns about Mr. Cohen's credibility and cooperation as a government witness." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oddly, Thrush, et al., never mention Bill Barr's earlier intervention. As Steve Benen of MSNBC (and others) recently reported, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York initiated the hush-money case. It was they who charged Cohen, who pleaded guilty and went to jail. "... according to [a book by SDNY's Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Geoffrey] Berman..., then-Attorney General Bill Barr not only intervened in the case, he tried to kill the ongoing investigation and even suggested that Cohen's conviction should be reversed.... [The investigation ended "because Trump's attorney general told them to stop." Now Trump finally has been indicted on what some attorneys in the Manhattan office call a "zombie case"; it has died three times, killed first by Bill Barr, then by Merrick Garland, then by Alvin Bragg.

** Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: "... it is a mistake to treat this indictment ... as tangential to Trump's other misdeeds.... The conduct at issue in this case is directly tied to the 2016 election and the question of whether Trump cheated to win it.... It's part of a pattern of anti-democratic behavior.... In addition to hearing about the payoff to the porn film star Stormy Daniels, the grand jury in New York heard extensive questioning about the payoff to a Playboy model, Karen McDougal. Both women were going to tell their stories before the 2016 election. Unlawful means were used to silence them.... It's impossible to know what impact these stories would have had if the electorate had been allowed to hear them.... Nevertheless, it should matter whether Trump broke the law in the service of securing his minority victory. Especially given all the evidence that he continued to defy the law in order to hold on to it."

Greg Sargent & Paul Waldman of the Washington Post: "Because the indictment of a former president is unprecedented in U.S. history, it has become a media cliche to assert that the prosecution of Donald Trump will 'test our democracy.'... But this gets the story wrong.... If anything is posing a test, it's largely the Republican response to it.... Many are taking the position that any charges against Trump ... should be seen as presumptively illegitimate no matter the counts against Trump or the facts that underlie them.... Even worse, some elite right-wing media figures are hinting at violence.... The position implied here is that the price of social peace is absolute impunity for Trump.... This appalling civic conduct is itself a major story.... It's perfectly plausible that the charges against Trump prove damning, the process is handled with integrity and Trump is found guilty -- and a large swath of voters cannot accept that as a legitimate reckoning, precisely because one of our major political parties refused to acknowledge it as such. If so, that would constitute a truly glaring failure of our 'test.'"

Jeremy Peters & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Fox News suffered a significant setback on Friday in its defense against a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit that claims it lied about voter fraud in the 2020 election. A judge in Delaware Superior Court said the case, brought by Dominion Voting Systems, was strong enough to conclude that Fox hosts and guests had repeatedly made false claims about Dominion machines and their supposed role in a fictitious plot to steal the election from ... Donald J. Trump. 'The evidence developed in this civil proceeding,' Judge Eric M. Davis wrote, demonstrates that it 'is CRYSTAL clear that none of the statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.' Judge Davis said the case would proceed to trial, for a jury to weigh whether Fox spread false claims about Dominion while knowing that they were untrue, and to determine any damages. The trial is expected to begin April 17.... He rejected much of the heart of Fox's defense: that the First Amendment protected the statements made on its air alleging that the election had somehow been stolen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) Politico's story, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime: "In a 'rare' ruling, Dominion Voting Systems scored blockbuster victories against Fox News on multiple issues.... The remarkable, 130-page ruling from Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric M. Davis found that there was no need for a jury to establish that the broadcasts at issue were false.... [Davis wrote,] '... The evidence developed in this civil proceeding demonstrates that is CRYSTAL clear that none of the Statements relating to Dominion about the 2020 election are true.' (emphasis in original)... He also removed multiple other defenses from Fox's arsenal, except for actual malice."

Trump Supporter Convicted. Colin Moynihan of the New York Times: "According to federal prosecutors, [during the 2016 presidential campaign] one man, Douglass Mackey, crossed a line from political speech to criminal conduct when he posted images to Twitter that resembled campaign ads for [Hillary] Clinton and falsely stated that people could vote simply by texting 'Hillary' to a certain phone number. On Friday, after just over four days of deliberation, a jury in Brooklyn found Mr. Mackey guilty of conspiring to deprive others of their right to vote. He is scheduled to be sentenced in August and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) The Justice Department's press release is here.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: "It's no surprise that House Republicans leaped to Donald Trump's defense after news of his indictment broke late Thursday. What was striking, though, was how many elected GOP officials now sound like Trump.... They aped Trump ... in their vulgarity..., in demanding vengeance... and in stoking paranoia among the unstable[.]" Milbank also had fun mocking Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on instigating the "Great Public Pee Pee Debate of 2023." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Frederic Frommer of the Washington Post: "Four days before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his final Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral, highlighting the country's widespread poverty and the urgent need to address it. Then he stepped outside the cathedral and delivered a stark warning: If social unrest continued, it would lead to a right-wing or fascist takeover of the United States.... King's prediction of popular unrest and right-wing backlash would echo a half-century later, when the United States had its largest nationwide demonstrations for racial equality in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 -- followed by a right-wing mob storming the U.S. Capitol the next year in an attempt to overturn the presidential election."

What's New with Normal People

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden vowed on Friday that the federal government would help Mississippi recover and rebuild from devastation caused by a deadly tornado that ripped through rural parts of the state last week. The storm left at least 26 people dead and injured dozens in Rolling Fork, a town of about 2,000, and across a wide swath of the Mississippi Delta, leaving the struggling region grasping for help to respond on behalf of those affected. 'This is tough stuff,' Mr. Biden said after arriving in his motorcade, which drove past home after home that had been reduced to piles of lumber and twisted metal.... Mr. Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, met privately with families affected by the storms at South Delta Elementary School, which had parts of its roof ripped off and trees toppled."

Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Biden administration told a Texas federal court Friday that it plans to appeal an order by a judge that invalidates the Affordable Care Act's promise of free preventive health services to every American with private health insurance. The one-paragraph filing by the Justice Department says the defendants in the case, including Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, intend to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, a conservative circuit based in New Orleans. The notice came a day after U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor issued an order that immediately invalidates nationwide the ACA's guarantee of preventive services -- including cancer screening and medicines to prevent HIV or heart disease. O'Connor is the judge who, in 2018, ruled the entire ACA unconstitutional in a case that reached the Supreme Court, which preserved the law for the third time in a decade."

Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department filed a major civil suit Friday against Norfolk Southern Railway after one of its trains carrying toxic chemicals derailed near the Ohio town of East Palestine on Feb. 3 and burst into flames.... The Justice Department is asking for penalties of $64,618 a day for every violation of the Clean Water Act as well as civil penalties of $55,808 a day or $2,232 per barrel of oil or hazardous substance. Costs could mount as each part of the train crash could invoke separate penalties."

Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, announced on Friday that he had checked out of Walter Reed Military Medical Center six weeks after having admitted himself to be treated for clinical depression, using the occasion to urge those suffering from mental health challenges to seek help. Mr. Fetterman is set to return to the Senate on April 17, after a two-week holiday recess, according to his spokesman, who said that the senator planned to spend the time until then in Pennsylvania with his family and constituents. His office said that Dr. David Williamson, the neuropsychiatry chief and medical director at Walter Reed, had determined that Mr. Fetterman's depression was now in remission." NPR's report is here.

Guardian & Agencies: "The bodies of eight people believed to have died trying to cross from Canada into the United States have been found in the past two days, authorities said on Friday, including two children. Six people, described as members of two families of Romanian and Indian descent, were found on Thursday in a marshy area of the St Lawrence River, which forms part of the Canada-US border. And on Friday, the bodies of two more migrants were found.... Shawn Dulude, the Mohawk police chief, said authorities were still looking for a man, identified as Casey Oakes, 30, who was last seen on Wednesday operating a boat that was found next to the bodies."

Beyond the Beltway

Minnesota. Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: "The city of Minneapolis agreed on Friday to make sweeping changes in policing, including a pledge to rein in the use of force and discontinue the practice of using the smell of marijuana as a pretext to search people. The promised changes are part of a legal settlement between the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which found in a report last year that the Minneapolis Police Department had routinely engaged in racially discriminatory practices and failed to punish officers for misconduct. State and city officials called Friday's agreement a milestone in the quest to change the culture of the police force that sparked a national reckoning over systemic racism in law enforcement after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in 2020."

Minnesota. Matt Sepic of Minnesota Public Radio: "A federal jury on Friday found Anton 'Tony' Lazzaro, a one-time Minnesota Republican political operative and top donor, guilty on all counts of sex trafficking five girls, ages 15 and 16.... Lazzaro faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years." MB: Might there be some connection between Republicans' obsession with legislating against everything remotely sexual and the unusual number of Republicans found guilty of sex-related crimes?

Ohio. Joe Vardon of the Athletic, republished in the New York Times: LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter and his foundation are reviving downtown Akron, his hometown. He just opened a Starbucks like no other, where baristas are receiving comprehensive job-training for the hospitality industry. He has also opened a public school, provided college scholarships for students and built housing for their families.

Tennessee. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the implementation of a Tennessee law aimed at restricting public drag performances, hours before it was set to go into effect.A Memphis theater company that frequently stages drag performances, Friends of George's, challenged the law this week, arguing that the ambiguity of the law violated the theater's constitutional rights.... The murkiness of the language [of the law], paired with a concerted effort among conservative lawmakers across the country to limit the rights of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, had raised concerns about the implications for drag performers and transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Judge Thomas L. Parker agreed to delay the law's implementation for at least 14 days, acknowledging that the company's concerns about upcoming performances -- whether to impose an age restriction or risk legal scrutiny -- were not 'trifling issues for a theater company -- certainly not in the free, civil society we hold our country to be.'" MB: Parker is a Trump appointee. CNN's report is here.

Way Beyond

Ukraine, et al. The Washington Post's live briefing of developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine is here: "Russia took up the presidency of the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, a rotating role that it will hold for one month. Moscow last held the position in February 2022 -- the month it invaded Ukraine.... Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia's presidency 'a stark reminder that something is wrong with the way international security architecture is functioning.' Pressure is mounting on Moscow to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen who was detained in Russia this week on espionage charges. The Journal denied the charges and said the 'minimum' it expects of the Biden administration is to expel Russia's ambassador and Russian journalists working in the United States. [President] Biden called on Russia to 'let him go,' but told reporters expelling diplomats is 'not the plan right now.'... Finland will formally join NATO "in the coming days," the alliance's head Jens Stoltenberg said, finalizing what he described as 'the fastest ratification process in NATO's modern history.'... Stoltenberg said he hopes Sweden can join 'as soon as possible.'

:The International Monetary Fund approved a $15.6 billion economic program for Ukraine, allowing around $2.7 billion to be immediately disbursed to Kyiv, the organization announced Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement that the four-year program 'will support economic growth, strengthen good governance and anti-corruption efforts, and set the foundation for longer-term reconstruction.'" ~~~

~~~ The Guardian's live updates of developments Saturday are here. The Guardian's summary report is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Tornadoes in Arkansas injured at least 30 people. One person was killed and at least 28 others were hospitalized after a roof collapsed at a theater in Illinois." Across the Midwest and South, the storms killed at least seven people." ~~~

     ~~~ New Lede: "Communities in at least six states on Saturday began assessing destruction left by a powerful storm system on Friday that spawned ferocious tornadoes, killing at least 21 people and causing a roof at a packed venue in Illinois to collapse -- the second such deadly outbreak of severe weather in the region in a week." An AP report is here.