Romney on Trump’s Hush Money

[Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)]

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who is retiring from the Senate after the November elections, has weighed in on the hush money Donald J. Trump paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The payment is at center of criminal case alleging Trump sought to influence the 2016 presidential election. The ex-president denies he had an affair with Daniels, but Romney said this (per The Independent): "I think everyone has made their own assessment of President Trump's character. And as far as I know you don't pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you."

•••

What’s your take on the House passing supplemental spending on Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan? Should House Democrats support Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), or should he lose out to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) threat to issue a motion to vacate?

What’s your opinion of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) warning that Russian propaganda has “infected a good chunk” of the GOP base?

Email your comments on these and other newsy issues to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you lean right or left in the comments section, so we make sure to post your thoughts in the appropriate column.

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Poll: Biden Catches Trump

President Biden and ex-President Trump are in a statistical dead-heat for the November 5 election, according to the latest poll by The New York Times and Siena College, reported Sunday.

Trump leads Biden 46% to 45% in this latest poll, a statistical tie. In the NYT/Siena College poll from February, Trump held a 48% to 43% lead. Biden now has the support of 89% of traditional Democratic voters, up from 83% in February, while Trump’s share of his traditional GOP supporters is at 94%, down from 97% in February.

Will Trump’s hush money trial in New York cut into that support further? Our pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, does not think so (see The Gray Area), though we certainly will be flooded with poll updates from various organizations when the verdict comes down, probably this summer.

For Democrats; Have you changed your mind about supporting Biden? For Republicans; Will the outcome of Alvin Bragg's case against Trump change your mind about supporting the ex-president November 5? Please give Macaulay's column on Trump, Biden and the polls and leave your Comments in the column appropriate to your political leanings. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate whether you are liberal or conservative in the subject line.

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…meanwhile…

UPDATE: Seven men and five women have been chosen for the jury in Donald J. Trump's criminal trial over allegedly fraudulent business records in the payment of hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

FRIDAY 4/19/24

Israel Hits Iran – Israeli defense forces struck Iran with missiles early Friday, possibly near its nuclear research center in Isfahan, multiple news sources report. An Iranian brigadier general reported “loud booms” east of Isfahan, according to Iran’s news agency, says NPR. So far, no signs of casualties or damage.

U.S. officials received a “last minute” warning on the strike but wasn’t involved, the Italian foreign minister reported from Capri, Italy, where Secretary of State Antony Blinken is attending the G7 summit, The Times of Israel reports. At the G7, Blinken only confirmed reports of the attack and reaffirmed U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.

Regional war? … The Biden administration has preached restraint to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Iran’s apparently unsuccessful drone attack on Israel last weekend, which injured a seven-year-old girl and resulted in no fatalities. But a minority of analysts have said that Iran’s attacks on Israel were actually quite successful in penetrating Israeli airspace and that Israel’s apparent retaliation was exactly what it wants – to escalate the war in Gaza to a regional conflict.

--TL

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THURSDAY 4/18/24

Countdown to Saturday – With Democrats having his back, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will bring three bills to the House floor Saturday, featuring $60.8 billion in long-awaited aid for Ukraine’s war effort, plus a separate border security bill.

Ukraine supporter Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) last month announced he would resign from the House with his last day to be Friday, but now says he will stay on to Saturday to support the supplemental, CQ Roll Call reports, citing Gallagher’s aides.

The Senate has recess scheduled for next week, but Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has suggested it will be cancelled so the upper chamber can quickly pass the supplemental on to President Biden.

“The House must pass the package this week and the Senate should quickly follow,” Biden said.

Democrats will help with the necessary procedural votes to assure the supplemental package passes. They also are expected to provide enough votes to defeat a motion to dismiss threatened by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).

In addition to the Ukraine package, Johnson’s supplemental, which totals $95.3 billion, includes:

•$26.4 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

•$8.16 billion for Indo-Pacific region security, including $4 billion to Taiwan and other regional allies, and $3.3 billion for a domestic submarine industrial base.

•A fourth bill would set up a support fund for Ukraine directed by the president and partner countries to allow use of frozen Russian assets to help rebuild the country.

The Ukraine aid bill also includes $9.5 billion in economic aid to be handled as a loan.

A separate bill on border security contains most of HR 2, which passed the House in 2023 with strong Democratic opposition. Except that the new bill does not include the provision mandating use of the E-Verify system for employers to confirm workers’ immigration status and eligibility to work in the United States.

Johnson will move the bills separately through House procedures, then “stitch” them together as one for the handoff to the Senate, according to Roll Call.

•••

Three-Hour Impeachment Trial – Holding to his promise/warning that the Senate impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas would not take very long, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced two procedural points of order and – voila – it was done, three hours after impeachment jurors were sworn in (per CQ Roll Call). The votes went Schumer’s way, 51-48-1 and 51-49. Republicans’ procedural motions to try and put a stop to Schumer’s stop-action were rejected by the Democratic majority.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/17/24

Mayorkas On Trial – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faces a Senate impeachment trial beginning Wednesday for allegedly mishandling the U.S.-Mexican “border crisis.” The Senate’s Democratic majority will attempt to quickly dismiss the impeachment case, though some Republicans, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney want to have a “debate” about the border issue, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Ukraine Aid Rising? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) appears ready to introduce a long-needed aid package to Ukraine, The Hill reports, despite the anti-Ukraine minority in the House having grown to two. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has joined pro-Putin Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in threatening Johnson with a motion to vacate over the aid, though Johnson can pretty much rely on many of the House Democrats’ 214 votes to overcome House Freedom Forum votes that would back a motion by MTG.

This all comes after a Russian missile attack overnight Wednesday on Chernihiv killed at least 15 and injured more than 60, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Like Israel … President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to Ukrainian television to say he was “pleased” Israel got help from allies in last weekend’s Iranian attack by drone and urged his country’s allies to show Ukraine the same sort of support (per NPR’s Morning Edition).

Russian losses… A report by the BBC estimates Russia has lost more than 50,000 soldiers in its invasion of Ukraine.

•••

SCOTUS Appears Split – The Supreme Court appears split over former Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-area police officer Joseph Fischer’s argument he should not have been charged with obstructing an official proceeding when he joined a mob attacking the U.S. Capitol in the January 6^th riot, according to SCOTUSblog’s Amy Howe, in an assessment backed by other news outlets.

In Fischer v. United States the ex-cop’s attorneys argue that Sec. 1512 (c) (2) applies only to evidence tampering of a congressional inquiry or investigation.

But U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elizabeth Prelogar argued “a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the peaceful transition of power. Many of the rioters obstructed Congress’ work in that official proceeding.”

If the conservative SCOTUS majority, including three Trump appointees, prevails, five other counts against Fischer would remain, though he would need to be re-sentenced or possibly have those five counts dropped.

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/16/24

UPDATE: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Tuesday morning filed a motion seeking to hold Donald J. Trump in contempt for allegedly violating Judge Juan Merchan's partial gag order, Axios reports. Bragg pointed to posts by the former president on his Truth Social account in which he attacks likely witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

•••

Notes from Court – The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported Monday that Donald J. Trump snoozed for a bit in the Lower Manhattan courtroom where prosecutors, defense attorneys and Justice Juan Merchan vetted potential jurors in the former president’s “hush money” criminal case. Haberman told Kaitlan Collins on CNN’s The Source that Trump later gave her a hard stare, which she figures was a reaction to her nap report.

Meanwhile: “Dozens” of potential jurors said they could not be impartial about Trump and were dismissed Monday, according to The Washington Post.

•••

SCOTUS Hears Jan 6^th Case Tuesday – The Supreme Court Tuesday hears a case that will affect defendants charged with obstructing or attempting to obstruct Congress’ January 6^,, 2021 counting of Electoral College ballots for Joe Biden’s election victory. The case involves Joseph W. Fischer, police officer for a township near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whose case is “in limbo” after a federal judge ruled the obstruction statute at center of the case against 353 of the January 6^th defendants was meant to apply to the destruction of documents and records and not riots held to prevent the counting of ballots, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

A federal appeals court reversed the judge’s decision, which led Fischer to appeal to the Supreme Court, NPR’s Nina Totenberg reports. The case will have implications for special counsel Jack Smith’s election obstruction case against ex-President Trump.

•••

Pick a Bill – With Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to vacate dangling over his head, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has split into three a single $95.3-million supplemental package the Senate passed last year, CQ Roll Call reports.

Yep, aid for Ukraine, the part of the bill unabashedly pro-Putin MTG wants to die, is split from aid to Israel which is split from aid to Taiwan in Johnson’s proposal. There’s also a fourth presumably bi-partisan bill that would include banning TikTok from the U.S. unless its Chinese owners sell, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

About those bi-partisans: Johnson knows, however, he would get enough votes from Democrats and Republicans to defeat MTG’s motion to vacate.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 4/15/24

The Trial of the Year begins Monday with jury selection in New York State Supreme Court where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged ex-President Trump with 34 felony charges connected with falsifying records to cover up $130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. (Trump denies he had an affair with Daniels.)

Two of Bragg’s top prosecutors quit the case two years ago last month, criticizing the DA because they thought he was going to fumble the hard work of his predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., who began his investigation before the end of Trump’s term. Vance’s investigations effectively was split between New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James’ civil case against the Trumps and their organization and Bragg’s case. James is still waiting for Trump to come up with the $454 million judgment against the family’s organization.

The strongest criminal case against Trump, the one over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, has effectively been gummed up by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon and will not likely come to trial before November 5. Same with special prosecutor Jack Smith’s January 6^th/election obstruction case and Georgia’s election racketeering case, which would still be considered perhaps the strongest, with “I just want 11,780 votes” on a phone recording, if not for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ alleged indiscretions with one of the prosecutors her office hired.

As our pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay, argues in “Trump’s Edge” (see The Gray Area) the ex-president will strengthen his political base even if he is found guilty in the hush money case. But he will be in court six- to eight-weeks, four days a week until the trial ends, reports NPR’s Morning Edition. That gives him weekends to shuttle between Mar-a-Lago and various campaign rallies.

He will face testimony by his former fixer-turned-informant Michael Cohen, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker and Daniels herself. And last Friday he revealed he will testify himself and tell “the truth. … and the truth is, they have no case,” he told the press. “They have no case.”

If you are looking for a potential end to Donald J. Trump’s political career, this appears to be the only case you have.

--Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

News Outlets Call for Debates

Eleven broadcast news outlets plus the newspaper USA Today have issued a joint statement urging “the presumptive presidential nominees to publicly commit to participating in general election debates before November’s election.”

You can read the full statement here.

In addition to USA Today, the undersigned are ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News Media, NBC Universal News Group, NewsNation, Noticias Univision (Univision Network News), NPR and PBS News Hour.

Though not asked, we are all for it. In fact, The Hustings launched in late-September 2020 with these posts covering the first Biden-Trump debates, with commentary from our contributing pundits on the right and left.

•••

This column welcomes your comments on Donald J. Trump's "Hush Money" case in New York beginning with jury selection Monday. Whether you're a MAGA-head or a Never-Trumper, if you lean right, this is your column. Leave a Comment in the accompanying section in this column or email editors@thehustings.news and be sure to indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Also be sure to read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay's latest column, "The Trump Edge" in The Gray Area.

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What’s Left or Right

The Hustings welcomes your civil comments, whether left or right, liberal or conservative, progressive or pro-MAGA on our center column news/news aggregate and our commentary on the left and the right.

Latest issues – Should Congress pass a long-awaited $60 billion aid package to Ukraine as the White House considers withholding aid to Israel over its execution of the war in Gaza?

Is there – should there be -- anything to the brazenly political impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas?

Should Israel hold new elections that would likely see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lose power?

Are you for or against President Biden’s latest student debt relief plan?

Read details on these in the center column. Use the trackbar to the column’s right to move down the page.

Use the Comments section in this column or the one on the right, as appropriate to your leanings, to air your opinions. Or email editors@thehustings.news with your opinions and let us know in the subject line whether you are liberal or conservative (so we may post your comments in the appropriate column).

_____

…meanwhile…

Don't hold your breath for Federal Reserve interest rate relief. Inflation rose 0.4% in March for a higher-than-expected annual Consumer Price Index of 3.5% to push prices in the opposite direction from the 2% rate the Fed wants. Shelter and gas accounted for more than half the increase. Energy was up 1.1% and food was up 0.1%.

UPDATE: The House voted 273-147 Friday to pass Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for two years. Donald J. Trump had pushed MAGA House Republicans to stall the bill because he alleges it was used to spy on him during his 2016 presidential campaign, though FISA was enacted to collect intelligence on foreigners abroad. Nevertheless, 126 Democrats voted against the reauthorization, while 86 Republicans voted "nay," according to CQ Roll Call.

FISA Rising – The House appears ready to finally pass FISA reauthorization for two years in its fourth try expected Friday, Punchbowl News reports. Key to this is Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago Friday where he and GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump promise a “major announcement,” according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Russia Keeps Hitting Harder – Desperately in need of soldiers, Ukraine has lowered its age of inscription from 27 to 25 as Russia hikes up its offensive. On Thursday night, Russia destroyed Kyiv’s Oblast Trypillia thermal power plant, cutting 100% of the capital’s energy supply, The Kyiv Independent reports. Lithuania is now providing Ukraine with generators and anti-drone systems, the report says.

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a long-term security agreement with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics at a security conference in Riga.

•••

No Enforcement – Arizona Attorney Gen. Kris Meyers (D) says she will not enforce the state’s revived 1864 abortion ban, written when “women couldn’t vote and the civil war was still raging.” Arizona’s supreme court recently upheld the abortion law. A November ballot initiative calls on voters to “enshrine” abortion rights.

“The Republicans have no idea what is coming at them in November,” Meyers told NPR’s Morning Edition. “The people of Arizona, as they should, will make it clear that they don’t want to be subjected to an 1864 abortion ban.”

--TL

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THURSDAY 4/11/24

Biden and Kishida and Bongbong – Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. joins Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Thursday at the White House for a trilateral summit with President Biden. The three are to hash out what Semafor calls Beijing’s “alleged” expansionism in the South China Sea and will discuss better cooperation between the three countries’ coast guards.

The Philippines under Marcos II (son of despots Ferdinand Sr. and Imelda) is pushing back on China’s quest to rule the region, reports NPR’s Morning Edition.

•••

Johnson and Trump at Mar-a-Lago – There are 41 Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, less than one-fifth of the party’s one-vote majority in the people’s chamber. One of those Freedom Caucus members is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has sent Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) packing to Mar-a-Lago Thursday, Kevin McCarthy-style to try and get former President Trump’s blessing (literally, we suspect) to bring a $60 billion standalone Ukraine aid bill to the House floor, per Punchbowl News.

Credit or blame MTG, who has been dangling over Johnson a threatened motion to vacate as speaker in order to let Ukraine continue to lose ground in its defense against Russia, which in turn would allow Donald J. Trump to come in and “broker a deal” that would turn land Russia already has captured in Ukraine over to Vladimir Putin.

There’s also this matter of the Freedom Caucus’ blocking renewal Wednesday of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Section 702, which Trump claims without evidence was used against him in the 2016 presidential election, according to The Wall Street Journal.

•••

Bolton’s Write-In Revealed – Former national security advisor for the Trump administration John Bolton used to be a regular on Fox News. But in the years since he left the Trump White House in a huff, he could be more frequently be found on CNN. There, he has often said he wrote in a presidential candidate on his 2020 ballot, rather than vote for Donald J. Trump or Joe Biden, and will do so again in 2024, but he has never before revealed his choice for president. On CNN’s The Source Wednesday night, he finally revealed to host Kaitlan Collins his write-in for 2020 and 2024. The answer? Dick Cheney.

--TL

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WEDNESDAY 4/10/24

UPDATE ON CPI -- Kai Ryssdal on APR's Marketplace begs to differ with news outlets that call Wednesday's Consumer Price Index of 3.5% "unexpected," referring to an interview he had last week with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who warned of a "bumpy road" to the 2% target CPI. When will the CPI come down to 2%? "We don't know," Powell told Ryssdal. "We will lower (interest) rates when inflation comes down to 2%."

•••

Whistling Past the Elections – Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets President Biden Wednesday evening for what Semafor calls a “pomp-filled” visit to announce stronger military cooperation and joint space exploration. While that latter would seem to have more of a future than the longstanding U.S.-Russia space deal, Wednesday’s friendly gathering falls in the shadow of our elections November 5 and Japan’s leadership contest in September.

There’s a fundraising scandal and economic slowdown for Kishida back home in Japan. And whatever sort of military hookup Biden and Kishida might cook up Wednesday would not have much of a future in an isolationist second Trump administration.

•••

Arizona’s Abortion Ban – The Arizona Supreme Court says an abortion ban from 1864 by the first territorial legislature is legal, giving Democrats an election-year bonanza in the swing state. The law imposed 46 years before Arizona became a state allows for no exceptions in the case of rape or incest, and abortion providers can be sentenced for two to five years in prison, though Planned Parenthood says it will perform abortions for the two weeks until the new-old law takes effect, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Organizers of a November initiative to make abortion a “fundamental right” in Arizona say they already have blown past the minimum needed to get the initiative on the ballot with more than half a million signatures so far, according to the NPR report.

Meanwhile … MAGA politician Kari Lake, who was adamantly anti-abortion in 2022 when she lost Arizona’s gubernatorial election to Democrat Katie Hobbs has moderated on the issue, like Donald J. Trump, in 2024 in her race against Ruben Gallego for independent Kyrsten Sinema’s U.S. Senate seat. The Arizona Freedom Caucus, which is as conservative as it sounds, has condemned Sinema for her flip-flop, Newsweek reports.

Florida ban: Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, other key conservatives and the Republican Party of Florida are asking voters to oppose a November ballot initiative that would repeal the state's strict abortion laws, Politico reports, calling the measure "extreme." States' rights indeed.

--TL

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TUESDAY 4/9/24

Have You Seen the Movie Trading Places? – Before a fundraiser at billionaire financier John Paulson’s Palm Beach, Florida mansion that his campaign and the Republican National Committee say raised “more than $50 million” Donald J. Trump spoke before “The most successful people in the whole country” and apparently recalled an “episode” in his presidential term in which he called Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries,” The New York Times reports. No mention of MAGA faithful in red hats and t-shirts.

“And when I said, you know, ‘Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries, I’m trying to be nice. Nice countries, you know, like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?’” Here, NYT reported “chuckles” from the crowd.

Meanwhile, on abortion… Trump targeted one of his most loyal Senate allies, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over the senator’s questioning of the former president’s moderated, political stance on abortion that individual states should decide on abortion access (per The Hill).

--TL

__________________________________________

Welcome Back, Congress

ECLIPSE MONDAY 4/8/24

Blue Moon Over the Hill – The Senate is in session Monday and the House is in session Tuesday, though Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is already on Capitol Hill to work out a deal to potentially save Ukraine after it has slipped into defense-only mode as it runs out of weapons and ammunition. The White House has been “quietly backchanneling” with Johnson, Politico reported late last week in explaining why the Biden administration has not publicly criticized the House speaker over lack of more military aid to Ukraine. The White House and Johnson have “maintained contact” during Congress’ two-week spring recess just ended, Biden administration officials told Politico.

Of course, that means Democratic House members will support Johnson and fend off Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) threat of a motion to vacate if he works with the party on the other side of the aisle. While all House Democrats voted to remove former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership last year, most will likely back Johnson this year, which should be sufficient to defeat the MAGA wing of the House GOP caucus on MTG’s potential motion.

Mayorkas impeachment: Meanwhile, the House impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly failing to keep the southern border with Mexico safe and secure advances to the Senate this week, where it will die a sure death, NPR’s Morning Edition reports.

•••

‘Some Troops’ Withdrawn from Gaza – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn some Israeli troops from the southern Gaza, BBC reports, following last week’s phone discussion between Netanyahu and President Biden. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that some Israelis believe Netanyahu is refusing to reach a ceasefire in Gaza in order to extend his time in office.

Squeezed by both sides: But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Guir reacted to reports of negotiations with Hamas warning that “if Netanyahu decides to end the war without an expansive assault on Rafah, he won’t have the mandate to serve as prime minister,” according to Haaretz. Rafah is the only remaining large city in Southern Gaza that has served as a refuge for Palestinians.

New development: Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid at the State Department at 11 a.m. Monday, Haaretz reports. It will not be open to the press.

•••

Trump Punts on Abortion -- Ex-President Trump has delivered the U.S. Supreme Court justices necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade, so it’s up for states to decide what to do on abortion, he said on his Truth Social media outlet Monday morning (according to various outlets). His statement has been long-awaited, with supporters generally interested in a national ban on abortion if he wins the November election, and Democrats having made political hay over the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

“You must follow your heart, or in many cases, your religion or faith” on the abortion issue, he said.

•••

Biden’s Push for Student Debt Relief – President Biden travels to Madison, Wisconsin Monday where he will promote yet another new program to cancel college student loan debt. The new program, which could launch this fall just in time for the presidential election, would cancel student debt for financial hardship cases, for those who have carried the debt for 20 years or more, and for those who built the debt on “low-value” college programs, and have not yet applied for relief under his other programs, American Public Media’s Marketplace reports.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____

Election Poll Trilogy

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has been thinking about recent polls showing, mostly, a dead-heat between President Biden and ex-President Trump for the November 5 election. If anyone has the edge in these polls, it’s Trump.

Scroll down this page with the far right trackbar to read “The Trump Edge” by Macaulay.

Click on The Gray Area above to read “Does Character Count?” and “Build Back [Biden] Better,” both by Macaulay.

Stephen Macaulay always has been a never-Trump conservative pundit. But The Hustings welcomes comments for this, the right column, from pro-MAGA, former-MAGA and never-MAGA conservatives. Please be sure to keep it civil, and not personal and be sure to adhere to the facts.

The Editorial We applies these standards to left and right alike.

If you lean right, please use the Comment section in this column. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please note your political leanings in the subject line.

_____

Read This

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay assesses President Biden’s and ex-President Trump’s numbers, as well as those of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein and Cornel West in the latest Quinnipiac poll in the right column.

Read Macaulay’s analysis of Gallup’s latest polls of the presidential race in The Gray Area, where he has two columns: “Does Character Count?” and “Build Back [Biden] Better.”

Your comments on these columns are most welcome.

Wa also would like your comments on these latest news items:

•The Israeli Defense Force strike on the World Central Kitchen, killing seven humanitarian aid workers. Should the U.S. impose sanctions? Should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu step down or call for new elections?

•What are your thoughts about the fight between Special Council Jack Smith and Judge Aileen Cannon over ex-President Trump’s argument he could hold classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and refuse to turn them over to the Library of Congress?

Go to the Comment section of the left or the right column, as appropriate to your political leanings or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

The economy added 303,000 jobs in March, another somewhat disconcertingly strong number that may prompt the Federal Reserve to avoid cutting the interest rate soon. The unemployment rate ticked down very slightly to 3.8%, from 3.9% in February. Noted gains were in health care, government and construction. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

UPDATE – Strikes on a World Central Kitchen convoy killing seven humanitarian aid workers were “carried out in serious violation” of Israeli Defense Force procedures, the Israeli government said, citing “grave mistakes stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification,” The Washington Post reports. The Israeli government describes the “mistaken identification” as its military allegedly believing the WCK convoy was instead Hamas, though the WCK continues to emphasize that it coordinated the convoy’s route with Israeli military officials.

Two Israeli military officers have been sacked and two more were disciplined, according to NPR.

•••

Reversal of Fortune – U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday rejected ex-President Trump’s move to throw out Mar-a-Lagogate, his confidential records case, over his argument that he considered more than 300 classified document “personal,” The Hill reports. Jack Smith, special counsel in the case, asked Cannon to promptly reject Trump’s argument that he was allowed to keep the records as “personal property” under the Presidential Records Act.

Cannon’s ruling removes a Trump blockade tactic to try and push the starting trial date past November 5.

But the road ahead isn’t clear for Smith’s case. Cannon did not rule out the ability of Trump’s attorney team to raise the issue during the trial and place the prosecution in a sticky double-jeopardy position.

•••

Hankey’s Credit Rating? – It turns out that California subpar car loan billionaire Don Hankey’s Knight Specialty Insurance Company might not be qualified to advance a $175 million bond to Donald J. Trump so he can pay his civil fine in that New York real estate fraud case. Attorney General Letitia James made a court filing Thursday “seeking to clarify” whether Knight is financially capable of fulfilling his obligation to pay the $175 mil if Trump defaults, according to The New York Times, which helpfully points out that the bond is a legal document and not an actual transfer of money.

James wants to clarify whether Knight is financially capable of actually putting up $175 million in cash if Trump were to default – not that the former president would try such a thing. The court ruling finding for the state and against Trump initially gave the ex-president to Monday, March 25 to pay a $454 million fine, but a New York appellate court discounted that to $175 million until Trump’s appeals might be exhausted.

•••

Corn Unhusked – The Republican-controlled Nebraska state legislature rejected by 36-8 vote a procedural motion that would lead to changing its Electoral College system to a winner-take-all result according to Newsweek. Donald J. Trump and Republican Gov. Jim Pillen had both endorsed LB 764, which would automatically give Nebraska’s five Electoral College votes to the winner of the overall state vote.

In 2020, four of the state’s five Electoral College votes went to Trump, while the single Electoral College vote from Nebraska’s 2^nd congressional district encompassing Omaha and Council Bluffs, went to Joe Biden. It is known as the congressional-district method of awarding Electoral College votes.

Remember, it’s not about red states v. blue states. It’s about red suburbs/exurbs v. blue cities.

The Democratic Party of course had objected to LB 764 claiming it was Trump’s attempt to pre-fix the election, even though 48 other states treat Electoral College votes as winner-take-all. Like Nebraska, Maine also employs the congressional-district method.

•••

No No Labels – The centrist group No Labels’ plans to run a third-party presidential candidate and spoil mostly President Biden’s re-election bid is no more, NPR reports. The group formed in 2010 had attempted to recruit Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for a run, as well as former Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, after she dropped out of the GOP race, Morning Edition reports. Last year never-Trumper and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also was teased as a potential candidate.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Trump Edge

By Stephen Macaulay

In the most-recent Quinnipiac Poll the results between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — 48% to 45% -- are, according to the organization, within the margin of error and consequently too close to call.

But there are other factors that could come into play that would be still closer but not definitive.

Like the third-party candidates.

In this case it would be like this:

•Trump: 39%

•Biden: 38%

•Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: 13%

•Jill Stein: 4%

•Cornel West: 3%

It’s a shame that Pat Paulsen has been dead since 1997 because he could run again, too, and arguably one of his campaign slogans would have made him more competitive and likely reduce the Trump percentage:

“Just a common, ordinary, simple savior of America’s destiny.”

Almost sounds like proto-MAGA.

But there is something else that could work to Trump’s benefit:

Conviction in the New York falsifying business records case (a.k.a., the “hush money” case).

That’s right. Being guilty as charged.

If convicted, the general mix of voters surveyed is mixed. That is, Quinnipiac found that 29% would be less likely to vote for Trump, 55% said it would make no difference, and 12% say that they would be more likely to vote for him.

But the numbers for the Trump partisans, the full-on faithful, is where he could really cash in on being convicted:

•10% less likely

•62% neutral

•26% more likely

That’s right: a quarter of those Trump-inclined would be more supportive of a convicted criminal than they otherwise would be.

In the overall scenario, there is a 38% upside (i.e., the neutral and the more likely minus the less likely).

In the Trump voter scenario, that jumps to 78%.

Instead of trying to delay and otherwise obstruct the trial Trump ought to be working toward getting convicted.

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Left

Scroll down with the trackbar on the far-right to read these left-column news items and commentary:

•President Biden raises $25 million in Radio City Music Hall event starring ex-presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, plus Stephen Colbert, Mindy Kaling and hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors.

•Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), indicted on federal charges related to an international bribery scheme, says he is leaving the Democratic Party to run for re-election in November as an independent.

•Contributing Pundit Ken Zino comments on President Biden’s March 7 State of the Union address in “Biden’s Call to Arms.”

TIP> Use the trackbar in the left column to read the entire item or commentary.

Your civil comments are much welcome. Use the COMMENT section of this column, or the one on the right if you lean conservative. Or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you lean left or right.

_____

…meanwhile…

WCK relief lead Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, from Australia, was one of seven humanitarian aid workers killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Monday. (PHOTO CREDIT: World Central Kitchen/wck.org)

NATO 75^TH 4/4/24

Biden to Netanyahu: Cease Fire -- Following the deadly Israeli Defense Force air strike on a World Central Kitchen caravan in Gaza Monday, President Biden in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for an immediate ceasefire in its war on Hamas. Biden "made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers," according to the White House readout of the call. "He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel's immediate action on these steps."

•••

WCK and Israel – President Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak by phone Thursday the first time since Israeli Defense Force air strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers in Gaza, The Guardian reports. Biden is said to be "furious" over the strike.

WCK chief and founder, chef José Andres accused the IDF of targeting the organization’s caravan, NPR Reports. “Israel has a right to defend its people, but defending your people is not killing everybody else,” he said. Andres wrote this op-ed on his colleagues' deaths for The New York Times.

Biden calls the Israel-Hamas war “one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed.” (The Washington Post)

•••

NATO Celebrates 75 – The 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrates its 75^th anniversary Thursday at its Brussels headquarters. It holds a summit in Washington, D.C., July 9-11.

Here are the top-12 contributors to NATO by percentage of GDP, according to worldpopulationreview.com:

1.) Poland – 3.9%.

2.) U.S. – 3.49%.

3.) Greece – 3.1%.

4.) Estonia – 2.73%.

5.) Lithuania – 2.54%.

6.) Finland – 2.45%.

7.) Romania – 2.44%.

8.) Hungary – 2.43%.

9.) Latvia – 2.27%.

10.) U.K. – 2.07%.

11.) Slovakia – 2.03%.

12.) France – 1.9%.

NATO’s minimum contribution requirement is 2.0%.

•••

Biden Leads, Very Slightly, in Penn – President Biden leads ex-President Trump 42% to 40% in the Franklin & Marshall College poll of registered voters in the swing-state of Pennsylvania, when third-party candidates are considered, though the president leads Trump 48% to 38% in a one-on-one race. Though statistically a tie for the November election, other findings from this April poll reflect a slight preference – or, let’s call it less dissatisfaction – for Biden.

The April poll found 17% said they are “better off” financially than a year ago, up from 15% in February and 11% in October. Biden’s approval ratings in the commonwealth are at just 35%, though more voters believe Biden has better judgment and is more “trustworthy” than Trump, while 40% said Trump would better-handle the nation’s economy. Both are “too old” to be president, 40% of voters said.

On the other hand: Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler has sponsored HR 7845, a bill to rename Dulles International Airport in suburban Washington (Virginia), “Donald J. Trump International Airport.” Reschenthaler has six Republican co-sponsors in the House.

“Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges,” responds Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), (per Slate). “If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

__________________________________________

[WEDNESDAY 4/3/24]

The Russia House? – It’s easy to think of last month’s merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and shell company Digital World Acquisition Corporation as a hail-Mary to raise the cash the ex-president needed to pay a $454 million civil judgment to New York State last month. Of course, Donald J. Trump’s share of the new corporation’s market cap wouldn’t be available to him on time, and anyway, an appellate court threw him a lifeline, allowing Trump to pay the reduced fine of $175 million as his attorneys appeal the judgment.

But the deal to merge Trump Media with the shell company had been lingering since 2021, when the media company’s Truth Social went live and promptly began to lose millions of dollars -- 58 of them just last year.

According to an exclusive story published by The Guardian Wednesday, something called the ES Family Trust has been providing Trump Media with emergency loans. Existence of ES Family Trust was first reported by both The Guardian and The Washington Post, but only the former says it has “learned from leaked documents” that Russian-American businessman Anton Postolnikov has been using the trust like a shell company.

Person of Interest

Postolnikov has been a “person of interest,” according to the report, in a years-long FBI and Department of Homeland Security investigation.

The trust has an account with Paxum bank, based on the island of Dominica, which counts Postolnikov as a part-owner, according to The Guardian’s report. But Paxum does not have a license to do business in the U.S. – thus the need for the ES Family Trust connection to Trump Media.

The news report says Postolnikov is nephew of Aleksandr Smirnov, ally of Vladimir Putin.

An attorney for Paxum Bank warned The Guardian of legal action “for reporting the contents of the leaked documents.” After the story was initially published a statement from a Trump Media attorney called it a “false narrative that (Trump Media) has these fake connections to Russia. It is a hoax.”

There’s much more to the story, which you can read here.

--TL

___________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 4/3/24

Biden, Trump in Statistical Tie – President Biden and ex-President Trump are in a statistical tie for the November election, with Biden narrowly ahead, according to an NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll outlined on Morning Edition Wednesday. Biden’s approval rating of 43% is his highest in three years, though his disapproval rating is at 53%.

Significantly, the poll also finds that most Americans, including Republicans, Democrats and independents, find criminalizing abortion "wrong."

Biden’s statistical tie and slight lead over Trump is slightly better news than numbers from the Gallup poll that Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay analyzes in “Build Back [Biden] Better” in The Gray Area. You can read that here.

However: Trump leads Biden in six of the seven most competitive states according to a Wall Street Journal poll, citing “dissatisfaction with the national economy and deep doubts about Biden’s capabilities and job performance.” The poll of main battleground states show the ex-president leading the president by anywhere from two percentage points to eight percentage points.

•••

Israeli Strike on WCD Convoy – President Biden is “outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday,” reads a White House statement released on X-Twitter.

“They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.”

Israel “deeply regrets” the hit on the World Central Kitchen, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, and the Israeli Defense Force called its attack a “grave mistake” that was the result of a “misidentification,” The Washington Post reports.

The tide has been turning against the Israeli government – not the Israeli or Jewish people – since Hamas terrorists – not the majority of Palestinians -- killed 1,200 and kidnapped 240 on October 7 (per The Times of Israel). The Israeli government under its hard-right leader, Netanyahu, is capable of war crimes.

Your thoughts … as always, are welcome. Go to the left or right column, depending on your political leanings, and leave a comment, or email editors@thehustings.news.

--TL

__________________________________________

TUESDAY 4/2/24

Seven Food Relief Workers Killed in Gaza – The Israeli military has taken responsibility for a strike that killed seven workers for celebrity chef Jose Andres’ aid group, World Central Kitchen, Monday as their convoy was leaving a warehouse (per The Washington Post).

“Unfortunately, there was a tragic incident in which our forces unintentionally hit innocent people in Gaza Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

WCK CEO Erin Gore described the incident as a “targeted attack,” and the organization says it is suspending its food relief efforts in Gaza. The seven killed in the Israeli attack include a U.S.-Canadian dual citizen, at least one Palestinian, as well as workers from Australia, Poland and the United Kingdom, per WaPo.

•••

April 2 Primaries – Presidential primaries are Tuesday for Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In addition, there is a non-presidential primary in Wisconsin and runoff elections in Arkansas and Mississippi (per the AP).

--TL

__________________________________________

MONDAY 4/1/24

Is Military Aid to Ukraine on the Way? – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA, above) said Sunday night touted a package that could forward military aid to Ukraine, after the House returns to Capitol Hill Tuesday, April 9. The three-plank bill would use the Repo Act, a “loan concept” and release of U.S. natural gas exports, Johnson told the eponymous host of Fox News’ Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy Easter evening. There has been much uncertainty over the legality of the Repo Act, which could forward more than $300 billion to Ukraine from seized Russian assets.

“If we could us the seized assets of Russian oligarchs to allow the Ukrainians to fight them, that’s pure poetry,” Johnson said.

Even GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump supports providing aid to Ukraine as a loan, he said, and releasing natural gas exports that he said the Biden White House has prohibited would “help unfund” Vladimir Putin’s war effort.

Democratic support: Johnson will have to count on pretty much all House Democrats to pass aid for Ukraine and then again if Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) carries through her threat to file a motion to vacate. The House currently consists of 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats, with four seats vacant. That leaves Johnson with a one-vote Republican margin.

•••

Tide Turns for Netanyahu – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rocked international politics last month when, as the highest-ranking Jewish leader ever in the U.S., he called for immediate elections in Israel to replace its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu over his hardline response to the October 7 Hamas attacks. Now Israeli citizens are calling for the same, as hundreds of protesters have taken to Tel Aviv’s streets over the weekend, according to The Washington Post. They demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas’ attack took an estimated 1,139 Israeli and foreign nationals’ lives last October.

Protesters also demand negotiations for Hamas’ release of more than 100 hostages the terrorist group continues to hold.

“In order to win, we need new leadership,” one Israeli protester told NPR. Netanyahu’s response is that elections now “could paralyze Israel for months.”

In Gaza, meanwhile, residents describe “total destruction” around al-Shifa hospital after Israeli troops “destroyed all sense of life there,” according to the AP, quoting a local resident. Israel’s military continues to restrict emergency food supplies from entering Gaza as Palestinians there suffer ever growing cases of starvation.

•••

Putin Loses One – A group of anti-Kremlin Russians posted a photo of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on a hacked prison contractor’s website, CNN reports, citing interviews with hackers and its own data. The hacked-in picture appeared with the caption, “Long Live Alexei Navalny!” The opposition leader was killed in a Russian prison February 16. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “won” re-election, again, in March.

•••

Egg Roll – After the White House issued a declaration last Friday that March 31, Easter Sunday, was “Transgender Day of Visibility,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called it “outrageous and abhorrent” on social media and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said, “There is no length Biden and the Democrats won’t go to mock your faith, according to a timeline by Forbesmagazine.

Then Trump campaign spokewoman Karoline Leavitt issued a statement saying it was “appalling and insulting” that Biden “formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility.’”

The GOP reaction led the White House to reply that President Biden has made the same proclamation every year of his administration, on March 31, the annual date of the international celebration, which does not change from year-to-year. The date of Easter Sunday does change, year-to-year.

The annual White House Easter egg roll was scheduled for Monday.

•••

Up on The Hill – The spring/Easter/Passover break for Congress continues through the week of April 1. The Senate returns on Monday, April 8, and the House returns Tuesday, April 9.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

What’s Right

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay can't stop thinking about the latest Gallup polls measuring President Biden's numbers against ex-President Trump's numbers.

Read "Does Character Count?", Macaulay's commentary on the Gallup Poll results, in The Gray Area.

Then scroll down and read Macaulay's "Build Back [Biden] Better," also in The Gray Area.

_____________________________________

Scroll down with the trackbar on the far-right to read these left-column news items and commentary:

•Former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was hired, then quickly fired, as a paid contributing commentator to NBC News.

•Former Vice President Mike Pence says he will not vote for Donald J. Trump this November.

•Conservative pundits comment on President Biden’s March 7 State of the Union address; RJ Caster’s “SOTU Meets Low Expectations” and Stephen Macaulay’s “Beautiful Bloviation.”

TIP> Use the trackbar in the left column to read the entire item or commentary.

Your civil comments are much welcome. Use the COMMENT section of this column, or the one on the left if you lean liberal. Or email editors@thehustings.news and indicate in the subject line whether you right or left.

_____

Biden Raises $25m

Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Biden for a fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan Thursday night for an event that raised $25 million for the current president's re-election campaign. Mindy Kaling was host and Late Show host Stephen Colbert was interviewer, and the event was interrupted "many times" by protestors calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, NPR's Morning Edition reports.

Donald J. Trump also was in town, for the wake of a New York City police officer killed in the line of duty. A fundraiser for this former president is scheduled for next week in Palm Beach, Florida, where the Republican National Committee expect to raise $33 million for his presidential campaign.

•••

Shanahan In-- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate as an independent candidate for his challenge to President Biden and ex-President Trump is not Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers nor former Republican Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, but is Nicole Shanahan, a longtime contributor to Democratic candidates and a Santa Clara University law school grad who co-founded patent platform ClearAccessIP, according to People magazine.

Shanahan helped produce and finance RFK Jr.'s controversial $7 million Super Bowl LVIII retro commercial that used a 1960 campaign footage for the candidate's uncle, John F. Kennedy. RFK Jr.'s relatives are appalled and dismayed by his candidacy, which touts anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories.

Shanahan married Google co-founder Sergei Brin in 2018, sold ClearAccessIP in 2020 and separated Brin in 2021.

Brin filed for divorce in June 2022 after a Wall Street Journal story alleged that Shanahan had an affair with Elon Musk, described as a close friend of the Google co-founder.

"I wanted a partner who ... possesses the gift of curiosity; an open, inquiring mind; and the confidence to change even her strongest opinions in the face of conflicting evidence. I found all those qualities in a woman who grew up right here in Oakland (California). The daughter of immigrants who overcame every daunting obstacle and went on to achieve the highest levels of the American dream."

•••

Your Comments, Please

Scroll down using the scrollbar on the far-right to read Ken Zino on “Biden’s Call to Arms.” You can also read Ken’s detailed account of President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address in The Gray Area.

We welcome your comments as we continue to promote this site as an echo chamber-free space for healthy debate of political news and issues between the left and right.

Recent center-column news/news aggregate up for debate includes (but is not limited to):

• The Federal Reserve keeps interest rates steady but signals future cuts as the Consumer Price Index inches up to 3.2%.

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calls for Israel to hold new elections and possibly oust its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he continues aggressive attacks on Gaza in order to eliminate Hamas.

• Congress passes the remainder of the Fiscal Year 2024 federal budget, just six months before the 2025 budget is due.

• Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, visits Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

-30-

Join the conversation: Leave a comment on this page, if you lean left, or in the right-column page if that’s how you lean. Or email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line whether you lean left or right – no matter whether you consider yourself “moderate” or pro-MAGA or pro-gressive.

_____

One Year In Moscow Jail for Reporter Doing His Job

[March 29 marks one year since Evan Gershkovich, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and detained on allegations of espionage. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny the charges.]

PASSOVER/EASTER 2024

Twenty-Five for SBF -- FTX cryptocurrency exchange king Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday for stealing billions of dollars from customers (per The New York Times). The sentence was about half of the 40 to 50 years sought by federal prosecutors, but also far longer than the six-and-a-half years his defense attorneys sought. But it could have been worse: The fraud, conspiracy and money laundering charges for which SBF, 32, was found guilty carry a maximum penalty of 110 years.

SBF apologized before being sentenced, but Judge Lewis Kaplan, handing down the sentence in Federal District Court in Manhattan said; "He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal."

Lessons learned?: Er, no. Cryptocurrency values have skyrocketed in recent weeks. The political connection is that many proponents see cryptocurrency as a libertarian alternative to government currencies.

•••

Ban NBC News? -- The Republican National Committee may ban NBC News from the GOP convention in Milwaukee this summer over its decision to drop former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, Politico reports. "We are taking a hard look at what this means for NBC's participation at the convention," RNC and Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez said. Several prominent NBC News and MSNBC personalities objected to news last week that NBC had hired McDaniel as a paid pundit after Trump's party replaced her with Michael Whatley and Lara Trump.

•••

Joseph Lieberman – The moderate’s moderate who became the first Jewish candidate on a major-party presidential ticket, Joseph I. Lieberman, died Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 82. The cause was complications of a fall, according to a statement released by his family (per The New York Times).

Lieberman served the U.S. Senate for Connecticut from 1989 to 2013 and was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 presidential election, coming within a few hundred Florida ballot chads from becoming vice president. Lieberman had served his first three Senate terms as a Democrat but lost his party’s primary in 2006 and went on to win the general election as an independent.

In 2008, Lieberman endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (IL) for the presidential election and was vetted as a potential running mate for McCain. Pushed by Republican leaders, McCain instead chose Sarah Palin, the hard-right governor of Alaska and harbinger for the Tea Party movement on Capitol Hill two years later. Lieberman endorsed no one in the 2012 presidential race and he did not run for a fifth Senate term, instead retiring in 2013, but he supported Democrats Hilary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

•••

How to Apply for an RNC Job -- Imagine you're a recent college grad with a poli sci major, or even a grizzled veteran of political campaigns and you're looking for a new job. Say you're a Reagan Republican, or if you're one of those freshly minted college grads, maybe a Bush or Romney or McCain Republican.

Apply to the Republican National Committee -- a potential plumb in a presidential election year. You had better lie if you want the job.

That's the word from "people familiar" with RNC interviews following Donald J. Trump's ordered purge of Ronna McDaniel (who can't keep a new job herself -- see right column) with North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley and daughter-in-law Lara Trump, have told The Washington Post.

"Those seeking employment" by the RNC "have been asked in job interviews if they believe the 2020 election was stolen," the sources said, "making the false claim a litmus test, of sorts, for hiring."

RNC spokesperson Danielle Alvarez would not deny the WaPo report, according to a follow-up by The Guardian. "We want experienced staff with meaningful views on how elections are won and lost and real experience-based opinions about what happens in the trenches.

Be sure to update your CV.

•••

Mifepristone Appears Safe -- A majority of Supreme Court justices appeared ready to throw out a challenge to the FDA's expansion of the availability of mifepristone, a drug used in medicated abortions. Justices, including Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett challenged individual doctors and doctors' groups have "standing" in the case during about 90 minutes of oral arguments Tuesday, Amy Howe writes in SCOTUSblog. Elizabeth Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general, argued that doctors must show they face "imminent harm" before their lawsuit could go forward. Beside potentially limiting access to mifepristone -- which the FDA expanded from 2016 to 2021 -- a finding for the plaintiffs would potentially limit the authority of such federal agencies as the FDA.

•••

Abortion Drug on Trial – The Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday in a case in which a group of doctors opposed to abortion are challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approval more than 25 years ago of mifepristone, a drug used in medicated abortions, per SCOTUSblog. As NPR’s Nina Totenburg put it in Morning Edition, “You might call this ‘daughter of Dobbs.’”

The case’s outcome could determine women’s access to the abortion drug, even in states in which abortion is still legal after SCOTUS’ decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago.

•••

Netanyahu Cancels – The Biden administration made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week it would abstain, rather than vote for, a United Nations’ resolution passed Monday that calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. A single vote by the U.S. would have automatically vetoed the resolution.

But Netanyahu immediately cancelled a high-level delegation’s trip to Washington the White House had specifically requested in a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu last week, according to The Washington Post.

The Biden administration wants Israel to call off a planned military operation in Rafah, a high-density city whose citizens already are reported to be suffering severe starvation.

The cancelled visit is “surprising and unfortunate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

--TL

____________________________________________

Big Day for DJT

MONDAY 3/25/24

UPDATE: Trump Wins One, Loses One -- On Monday, a five-judge appellate court gave Donald J. Trump 10 days to post $175 million in lieu of a $454 million bond heretofore due today while he appeals his civil fine in the New York state real estate fraud case, The New York Times reports. But Judge Juan Merchan refused to grant Trump a delay in his case involving hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. That trial is scheduled to begin April 15. Still.

In Court – Donald J. Trump was to appear in a Manhattan courtroom Monday to try and put up yet another delay in yet another of his trials. This is the one in which Trump allegedly tried to cover up a sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels just prior to his 2016 Electoral College victory over Hilary Clinton with money funneled to her via his former fixer/personal attorney Michael Cohen. The Monday hearing is to finalize a trial date of April 15, The New York Times reports.

In Westchester County – The former president’s grace period to pay a $454 million fine for his New York state civil judgment in a fraud case over the valuation of Donald J. Trump’s properties ended Monday after his attorneys said posting a bond for that amount is “virtually impossible.” Attorney Gen. Letitia James has laid the groundwork for seizing assets, beginning with one of Trump’s properties in Westchester County, according to The Wall Street Journal. James also could go after Trump’s accounts at financial institutions, says the report.

•••

Putin Propaganda – The Kremlin has continued to try and shift blame for a terrorist attack on a concert venue last Friday that has left at least 137 dead and 180 injured to Ukraine, despite ISIS-K – the Islamic State in Khorasan – having claimed responsibility. Kyiv has adamantly denied any connection. Photos are circulating of the four suspects arrested displaying signs they have been tortured. According to the NYT, ISIS-K is active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, with sights set “on Europe and beyond.”

•••

Russian Hits on Ukraine -- With U.S. Congress continuing to put off renewed military aid to Ukraine in deference to the MAGA minorities in both chambers, Russian military dropped ballistic missiles on the Security Service (SBU), Ukraine’s main intelligence and security agency, the Kyiv Post reports. Overnight drone attacks hit two power substations in Ukraine’s southern region.

Empty Hill: The Senate is out until Monday, April 8, and the House doesn’t return until the next day, April 9.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news