SCOTUS Rejects Trump Appeal – With no noted dissent, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump’s second request for a review of writer E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million judgment against him after a federal jury in New York found he had sexually abused and defamed her, The New York Times reports. SCOTUS gave no reason for its refusal to hear Trump’s request, which is not unusual.
Still pending is the president’s request for SCOTUS to overturn a much larger 2024 jury award of $83.3 million for defaming Carroll in 2024 after she accused Trump of a decades-old rape.
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Past Expiration Date – Remember the 60-day ceasefire the US negotiated with Iran to give time to reach a peace deal, open the Strait of Hormuz and guarantee Iran would never build a nuclear weapon? You’re excused if you slept right through the early Monday expiration.
White House Son-in-Law Jared Kushner marked the occasion by negotiating with Hamas over the Trump Board of Peace’s 15-step roadmap to end the fighting with Israel in Gaza. Kushner was to present the deal for approval to Israel Monday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considered a hard sell, what with his latest re-election bid coming in 10 weeks, before our midterms.
Trump says he may endorse a candidate in Israel’s election, though he considers intervening inappropriate.
“I think it’s most appropriate for me to stay out of Israel’s elections,” Trump said, according to Haaretz. “But I may endorse somebody.”
It wasn’t long ago that Trump appealed to Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu from charges of bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust. Now Trump’s endorsement will not necessarily go to his erstwhile close ally.
Meanwhile, Trump threatens to bomb Middle East ally … Trump “confirmed” backchannel negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent nuclear arms development, with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in an interview Monday morning with Fox News’ Trey Yingst. But the president said of the US ally that has been negotiating directly with Iran these last 60 days, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”
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Meanwhile, at the Pump – AAA’s national average for unleaded regular Monday is $4.0636 per gallon, 1.4 cents lower than last Friday and up $1.2616. Diesel is $5.4454 per gallon, up 1.89 cents over Friday and +$1.7249 versus late February.
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Blanche Explains His Devotion to Trump – Former personal attorney to Donald J. Trump and newly confirmed (51-50 in the Senate) Attorney Gen. Todd Blanche would not commit to acting independently of the White House, he told NBC News’ Kristen Walker on Meet the Press Sunday.
Blanch explained: “There’s a big difference between saying we will always do our job and prosecute any case and act independently of the White House. No, I’m not going to pledge that and no, no attorney general should ever pledge that and if I were to pledge I’m going to be independent of the White House, what that means is if President Trump says, ‘I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country,’ which is what he said, what you’re saying to me is I’m going to say, ‘No sir, I’m not going to do it.”
Notice Blanche singled out “violent” criminals and not the white-collar ones. The AG said he would act with integrity and without fear or favor, “and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing and what every Department of Justice should do.” –Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa