A testy and defiant Donald Trump showed up to court yesterday in Manhattan, for the first day of his civil fraud trial. The former president called the suit, brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, a “witch hunt,” though it could cost him control of his sprawling real estate empire.

Laphonza Butler will be the new junior U.S. Senator from California, after she was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to replace the late Dianne Feinstein. Marisa Lagos, political correspondent at NPR member station KQED in San Francisco, joins us to discuss Butler’s career.

And in headlines: the scientists who laid the groundwork for the COVID vaccines won a Nobel Prize, the U.S. Supreme Court officially started its new term, and Mariah Carey has declared an early start to this year’s holiday festivities with a new tour.

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