Tuesday, April 23, 2024

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1/ Trump will likely be found in contempt of court for violating his gag order in the election interference case involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors argued that Trump violated the limited gag order at least 10 times, and asked Judge Juan Merchan to hold Trump in contempt of court, fine Trump $10,000, and force Trump to delete his social media posts. “His disobedience of the order is willful, it’s intentional,” prosecutors said. “He knows what he’s not allowed to do and he does it anyway.” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, meanwhile, claimed that Trump was just defending himself online when he posted about witnesses in the case, including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels. Merchan, however, characterized the position as “silly” and warned Blanche that he was “losing all credibility with the court” with his argument that Trump was being “careful” about the gag order. While Merchan did not immediately rule on whether Trump had violated the order, minutes after the hearing Trump posted on his personal social media platform that Merchan “should recuse himself” because he’s taking away his “right to free speech” and claiming that he was “not allowed to defend myself.” (Bloomberg / Axiosy / NBC News / ABC News)

2/ Testimony resumed in Trump’s election interference case involving falsified business records trial, with tabloid publisher David Pecker taking the stand for a second day to detail the “catch-and-kill” scheme to bury negative stories about Trump during the 2016 election. Pecker said he acted as the campaign’s “eyes and ears,” notifying Michael Cohen about possible scandals, including “about women selling stories,” and agreeing to “run or publish positive stories about Mr. Trump and I would publish negative stories about his opponents.” Pecker also testified that alerting Trump about damaging information had a mutual benefit for the Enquirer and the campaign. (CNN / Bloomberg / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)

3/ The FTC banned employers from using noncompete contracts that prevent workers from switching jobs within their industry. It’s the first time in more than 50 years that the FTC has issued an economy-wide regulation to how companies compete. “Robbing people of their economic liberty also robs them of all sorts of other freedoms,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. The FTC estimates that banning noncompetes could create jobs for 30 million Americans and raise wages by at least $400 bill...

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Monday, April 22, 2024

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1/ On the fifth day of Trump’s election interference case involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment during the 2016 campaign, the prosecution and defense both delivered opening statements. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo framed that case as “a planned, long-running conspiracy” – orchestrated by Trump – “to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” and that Trump then “covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again.” Trump’s lawyer cast his actions – falsifying 34 business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to a porn star in the days before the 2016 election – as run-of-the-mill, saying: “There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election; it’s called democracy.” Prosecutors called their first witness: David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher. In his initial testimony, Pecker described the tabloid’s use of “checkbook journalism” to pay for stories — a practice in the tabloid industry of suppressing a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it. The first “catch-and-kill” deal, Pecker said, was a $30,000 payment to a Trump Tower doorman, who said he had heard Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. The second payment – made three months before the 2016 election – was made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 for her story about an affair she had with Trump while he was married. And in the final deal – made one month before the election – Pecker and the Enquirer’s editor helped Michael Cohen negotiate a $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who also said she had sex with Trump. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Axios)

2/ The House passed the $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Each portion of the package, which was split into separate bills, received bipartisan support. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as Tuesday and send it to Biden’s desk. The House also passed a fourth measure full of bipartisan priorities, including forcing TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company or face a ban in the U.S., seizing Russian assets to resell to Ukraine, and imposing new sanctions on Russia, China, and Iran. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Axios)

The head of intelligence for Israel’s military resigned over his “leadership responsibility” for the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the highest-ranking leader to resign over the assault. (CNN / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Thursday, April 18, 2024

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1/ On the third day of Trump’s election interference case involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment late in the 2016 campaign, two of the seven jurors already seated in the case were removed. One expressed concerns after being identified publicly based on details reported by the media. After being dismissed, Judge Juan Merchan blamed journalists for being too accurate in their reporting, and ordered the press to not report on certain details about prospective jurors going forward. The second juror was dismissed over concerns that he may not have been truthful about whether he’d ever been accused or convicted of a crime. Prosecutors said they found an article featuring a person with the same name who was arrested in Westchester in the 1990s for tearing down political ads. The juror reportedly “expressed annoyance about how much information was out there about him in the public.” Seven new jurors were seated hours later, bringing the total number to 12 jurors. The next six jurors selected will serve as alternates. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office re-upped its request for Merchan to hold Trump in contempt of court for violating his gag order seven more times since Monday, calling the behavior “ridiculous.” Merchan said he would take up the matter next week. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / NBC News / Axios)

2/ House Republicans privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to change the chamber’s rules and raise the threshold required to trigger the procedure to oust the speaker. Doing so would allow Johnson to pass the $95 billion foreign aid package and still keep his job over the opposition from the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives. Johnson, however, opted against the rule change, saying lowering the threshold for introducing a motion to vacate has “harmed this office and our House majority.” House Democrats have signaled they’ll provide the votes to overcome a planned blockade by conservatives and pass the long-stalled aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. However, if Republicans add political amendments or measures that weaken the bill, Democrats won’t provide the votes. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene embarrassed herself and wasted everyone’s time by repeatedly proposing absurd and juvenile amendments to the foreign aid package, including “space laser technology on the southern border,” requiring lawmakers voting for Ukraine aid ...

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

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1/ Speaker Mike Johnson defied threats from his Republican colleagues to oust him and scheduled a vote on individual bills to fund Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Johnson plans to have the House vote on three individual foreign aid bills, a fourth bill sanctioning Russia, China, and Iran, and a fifth bill addressing border security measures. The package largely mirrors the Senate-passed $95 billion aid package, with the exception for the border security provisions. Johnson, however, will almost certainly need Democratic votes to get the package to the floor, as well as to save his job if he faces a motion to vacate. Biden endorsed the plan and urged Congress to work quickly. The House is expected to vote Saturday evening. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NPR / Axios / CNBC)

2/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “do everything necessary to defend itself.” Over the weekend, Iran launched more than 300 attack drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. The U.S., U.K., and Germany have pressed Israel to not further escalate tensions with Iran and to instead be satisfied with its successful air defense that intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, however, said it’s “clear the Israelis are making a decision to act — we hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.” The U.S. and the E.U are also planning new sanctions on Iran meant to “degrade Iran’s military capacity.” Nevertheless, Netanyahu said Israel “will make our own decisions” about how to respond to Iran’s retaliatory strikes. Iran, meanwhile, warned that even the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)

3/ For the second time in two weeks, Arizona House Republicans blocked an attempt to rep...

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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

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1/ The House will vote on three individual bills to fund Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. A fourth bill would wrap several Republican foreign policy proposals into one, including the seizure of Russian assets, and a House-approved bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. In total, the legislative package roughly resembles the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, doesn’t necessarily have the votes to bring the bills to the House floor and the House Freedom Caucus has threatened to oust him from the speakership if he moved forward with funding for Ukraine. Notably absent from the bills are any measures to address border security, which Republicans have demanded for months as a condition of approving aid to foreign countries. Further, it’s unclear if Johnson has the Senate’s support, given the chamber already passed bipartisan foreign aid legislation back in February, which has been sitting in the House ever since. (CNBC / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR)

2/ A second Republican agreed to co-sponsor an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from his job, less than 24 hours after Johnson outlined a plan to send aid to Ukraine and Israel. Rep. Thomas Massie, joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to end Johnson’s speakership, stood up during a closed-door Republican conference meeting and told Johnson to resign, saying “you’re not going to be the speaker much longer.” Johnson, meanwhile, dismissed the effort to remove him as speaker as “absurd,” saying: “I am not resigning.” Without Democratic support, Republicans would need a simple majority to oust their second speaker in six months. One Republican called the situation “a clusterfuck,” and another said: “We are screwed.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / The Hill / Axios / Wall Street Journal)

3/ House Republicans sent articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. In February, House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas, citing his alleged failure to enforce border laws, reduce migrant crossings, and secure the southern border. Their first attempt to impeach Mayorkas failed when four Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the impeachment, but they were successful on their second try by a single vote. House Republicans have demanded a full trial, while the Democratic-controlled Senate i...

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Monday, April 15, 2024

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1/ Jury selection in Trump’s criminal hush money trial began, marking the first criminal prosecution of an American president. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to conceal hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison. The task of selecting 12 jurors and six alternates could take up to two weeks. More than half of the first 96 prospective jurors were dismissed after saying they can’t be fair or impartial, and the court adjourned for the day with no jurors chosen. Trump, meanwhile, appeared to nod off several times, sitting motionless in his seat at the defense table, his back slightly arched, his head drooping onto his chest, and his mouth going slack. Trump will be required to attend the trial each day, which will take place four days a week and could last eight weeks. This is the first of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to go to trial. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Axios)

2/ Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching new strikes on Iran. Over the weekend, Iran launched a barrage of over 300 drones and missiles on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of two Iranian generals at the country’s embassy in Syria. Israeli air defense, supplemented by U.S. planes and warships, intercepted 99% of the incoming Iranian munitions. “You got a win. Take the win,” Biden told Netanyahu, warning him that the U.S. would not support or participate in any offensive counter-strike against Iran. In private, Biden has reportedly said he fears that Netanyahu is trying to drag the U.S. into a wider regional conflict. Nevertheless, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant claimed that Israel had no choice but to respond to the attack, vowing to “exact a price.” Israel’s war Cabinet met for several hours and one official said Israel’s response to the Iranian attack may be “imminent,” but “will be coordinated with the Americans.” Iran, meanwhile, claimed its attack on Israel was “legitimate” and “responsible,” and that Tehran is not seeking to raise tension but will take “proportionate action” to defend itself. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Thursday, April 11, 2024

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1/ Biden is reportedly considering an executive order to limit the number of asylum-seekers who can cross the southern border. After the bipartisan Senate bill collapsed earlier this year, the Biden administration is studying whether Biden has the use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president the ability to block entry of certain immigrants if it would be “detrimental” to U.S. national interests. “We’re examining whether or not I have that power,” Biden said. “There’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that, work through that right now.” (Axios / Bloomberg)

2/ The Biden administration finalized a rule to close the “gun show loophole,” requiring people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on customers. The new rule is estimated to impact more than 20,000 people engaged in unlicensed firearms sales. (Bloomberg / CNN)

3/ Biden will expand the boundaries of two national monuments in California: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Biden set a goal of conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. He has designated five new national monuments this term. (Washington Post)

4/ The top U.S. humanitarian aid official said famine is occurring in northern Gaza. Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, cited an assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which stated that the “latest evidence confirms that Famine is imminent in the northern governorates of the Gaza Strip and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” Power said the USAID “believe that assessment is credible.” The IPC classifies food shortages as a famine when at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, when at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and when at least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die each day from starvation or disease linked to malnutrition. Power said the rate of malnutrition among children in northern Gaza prior to Oct. 7 was “almost zero” but it now stands at one in three. (New York Times / CNN / Axios)

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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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1/ The EPA finalized the first-ever national limits on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a group of human-made chemicals that are considered especially harmful because they don’t degrade, can accumulate in the body and the environment, and pose a health risk to people at even the smallest detectable levels of exposure. The new rule is expected to reduce drinking water exposure to these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, for about 100 million people and prevent thousands of related illnesses and deaths. This is the first time the EPA has set a drinking water standard for a new contaminant since 1996. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / The Verge / Politico / Bloomberg)

2/ Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to shield the names of potential witnesses in Trump’s criminal classified documents case. Special counsel Jack Smith has been arguing since January that witnesses would likely face threats and harassment if their identities were revealed publicly. Among the people Smith was seeking to protect were FBI agents, Secret Service agents, “career civil servants and former close advisers” to Trump, including one who was so concerned about potential threats from “Trump world” that he refused to permit investigators to record an interview with him. Cannon, however, refused to categorically block witness statements from being disclosed, saying there was no basis for such a “sweeping” and “blanket” restriction on their inclusion in pretrial motions. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Associated Press)

3/ Hours after Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old law banning nearly all abortions, Republicans in the state attempted to distance themselves from the ruling. Kari Lake, an Arizona Republican running for the U.S. Senate, denounced the ruling, saying it was “out of step with Arizonans” and called on state lawmakers to “come up” with a “solution that Arizonans can support.” Lake, a Trump ally and a 2020 election denier, however, had voiced support for the law in 2022, calling it a “great law” and an example for other states. Despite having supported abortion restrictions in the past two Arizona Republicans in the ...

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Tuesday, April 9, 2024

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1/ Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old near-total ban on abortion. The court ruled that a 1864 territorial law, which went into effect 48 years before Arizona became a state, supersedes the state’s 2022 15-week ban. Under the 19th-century law, abortion is outlawed from the moment of conception, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. It makes no exceptions for rape or incest, and doctors who administer an abortion face a mandatory prison sentence of two to five years. The court delayed implementation of the ban for at least two weeks to allow for additional legal arguments. The Biden campaign responded to the ruling, saying “this is what leaving it to the states looks like” – a reference to Trump’s suggestion that abortion restrictions should be a states’ rights issue. In a statement, Biden called the ban “cruel” and “a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom” and vowed to “continue to fight to protect reproductive rights.” In March 2022, the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature enacted a 15-week trigger ban, which went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Arizona’s near-total abortion ban is one of the strictest in the nation, similar to laws in Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi. (NBC News / Arizona Republic / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)

2/ Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s claim that he’s immune from prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. “The Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability for official acts,” Smith said. “The president’s constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them.” The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 25, and a decision is expected by July. Trump faces four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruction. (ABC News / New York Times / Axios / Politico / CNN)

3/ The EPA issued new rules to force more than 200 chemical plants across the U.S. to reduce their cancer-linked t...

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Monday, April 8, 2024

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1/ Biden announced a new student loan forgiveness plan that would cancel student debt for more than 30 million borrowers. Under the new plan, the administration would cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower’s accrued, unpaid interest regardless of their income. About 4 million student loan borrowers could see their debt fully canceled under the proposal, and an additional 10 million more borrowers could get $5,000 or more in relief. If the full plan is implemented, the Biden administration estimates it will “fully eliminate” accrued interest on 23 million borrowers’ unpaid balances. “This relief can be life-changing,” Biden said. “Folks, I will never stop to deliver student debt relief on hardworking Americans, and it’s only in the interest of America that we do it. And again, it’s for the good of our economy that’s growing stronger and stronger — and it is. By freeing millions of Americans from this crushing debt […] it means they can finally get on with their lives, instead of their lives being put on hold.” Since taking office, Biden has canceled $146 billion in student loans debt for 4 million public servants, defrauded students, disabled borrowers, and others already entitled to forgiveness under existing programs. About 43 million Americans have some form of student loan debt. (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)

2/ The Biden administration awarded a $6.6 billion grant to the world’s leading maker of advanced semiconductor chips to help it build three factories in Arizona. The funding, under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, will support Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s more than $65 billion investment in three fabrication plants in Phoenix. TSMC is also eligible for around $5 billion in loans under the CHIPS Act. “For the first time ever, we will be making, at scale, the most advanced semiconductor chips on the planet here in the United States,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. Biden added: “America invented these chips, but over time, we went from producing nearly 40% of the world’s capacity to close to 10%, and none of the most advanced chips. (That exposes) us to significant economic and national security vulnerabilities.” The three fabs are expected to create about 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction jobs. (NBC News / Politico / CNN /

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