Morning Report: Trump notches legal win; first trial starts next month

The first criminal trial of a former president is now pinned to a calendar ahead of Election Day. After various delays, jury selection will begin April 15 in former President Trump’s hush money trial, a judge ruled Monday in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).

While speaking from the courthouse steps, Trump repeated his unfounded assertions aimed at appealing to his supporters that he’s a victim of “election interference” backed by “Biden and his thugs.”

Fact check: No federal, state or other judge has agreed with Trump’s claims that he cannot or should not be tried for alleged crimes ahead of an election. The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month in an appeal brought by the presumptive GOP nominee as to whether presidents, current or former, are immune from prosecution for any acts or decisions made while in office.

The Hill’s Niall Stanage in The Memo describes Trump’s legal wins and losses. Here are a handful of takeaways.

Separately, Trump received a favorable break as a civil fraud bond was slashed by 68 percent Monday by a New York appeals court to $175 million while he appeals — if he posts the money within 10 days. Trump said he would comply. The original bond judgment was $454 million, which Trump’s lawyers told the court their client had difficulty raising. Without naming him, Trump on Monday called Justice Arthur Engoron, who set the higher bond, “corrupt.” If Trump loses his appeal, he might still have to pay a higher penalty with interest.

In all, Monday’s order was a significant victory for the former president as he contests the state’s charges that he committed fraud to benefit his real estate empire. The bond reduction came just before New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) was expected to initiate efforts to collect the judgment by seizing some Trump assets.

Next month’s criminal trial, barring snags or delays, is expected to explore 34 counts accusing Trump of falsifying business records related to reimbursements made to his former fixer, Michael Cohen, for hush money payments. Those payments were delivered before the 2016 presidential election to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair (CNN).

The Wall Street Journal: Here’s how Trump’s courtroom calendar collides with his campaign calendar.

In a related development, Trump’s SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) begins market trading today. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. rose Monday in trading following investors vote to approve a deal to take Trump’s Truth Social platform public under a new ticker, DJT. Trump on paper is now on Bloomberg’s 500 wealthiest list after the Truth Social merger. Under the deal’s current terms, he will not be allowed to sell shares in the company for at least six months.

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LEADING THE DAY

POLITICS 

A firestorm erupted Sunday and Monday in the wake of NBC News’s hiring of former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor. The network is paying her a reported $300,000 for on-air insights about Trump during an election year.

What’s the beef? McDaniel is on record supporting Trump despite his disinformation and role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, making her commentary radioactive in the eyes of prominent NBC and MSNBC political journalists and hosts.  Former NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd excoriated the network Sunday for the hiring, while on Monday morning the hosts of MSNBC’s popular “Morning Joe” program said they would not have McDaniel on as a paid contributor. MSNBC prime time host Rachel Maddow said she hopes NBC News would “reverse their decision” to hire McDaniel.

“If you care what I think about this, the fact that McDaniel is on the payroll at NBC News, to me that is inexplicable,” Maddow said on her show Monday. “You wouldn’t hire a wise guy … a made man, like a mobster, to work in a DA’s office. You wouldn’t hire a pickpocket to work as a TA screener. And so, I find the decision to put her on the payroll inexplicable.”

A source at NBC told The Hill on Monday that there was unanimous support among leadership at the network for McDaniel’s hiring, and that the network reiterated to staffers that individual shows at the network have editorial control to book whichever contributors or guests they feel are most relevant to the news of the day. Inside NBC’s headquarters in New York, some rank-and-file employees began discussing how to further pressure network leadership over McDaniel’s contract, The New York Times reports.

Senate Republicans are warning Trump that abortion restrictions should be left to the states. The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports they said his tentative public backing of a 15-week national abortion ban would be a political blunder if GOP candidates are welded to that position while seeking distance from the issue. Republican lawmakers have argued for years that states should have the authority to set parameters on abortion and hailed the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022 for handing that power to the states. 

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ZOOM IN

STATE WATCH

📲 Too young for social media?: In Florida, former Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday to ban youngsters under age 14 in his state from having social media accounts. The legislation also requires 14- and 15-year-olds to obtain parental approval to hold accounts on social media platforms that employ algorithms and have “certain addictive features.” Critics say they will contest the law in court on First Amendment grounds.

🌘 A city in darkness: Buffalo, N.Y., residents expect 1 million visitors for the April 8 total solar eclipse, which will last 3 minutes. They cannot wait (The New York Times).

💵 Jobs and wages: California restaurants are cutting jobs ahead of a mandated April increase to $20 an hour as the minimum wage for fast food restaurant workers (The Wall Street Journal). 

💧 Climate: Democratic governors are unveiling state-based climate plans as part of a competition for grants supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (Politico). … Rising temperatures and available water supplies could push millions of Americans northward (The Atlantic).

🔎 Big settlement, big fees: Here’s how a group of politically connected private lawyers teamed up to go after insurers for inflating the costs of patients’ medications and reached one of the largest Medicaid settlements in history. It was a lucrative effort begun in 2018 when it produced contingency fees of at least $108 million to date for the lawyers hired by the states (The New York Times).

💉 Health: Measles cases in the U.S. this year exceed the reported number in all of 2023. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want adults and children to get vaccinated against the highly contagious virus and offer information HERE. Other nations are also grappling with outbreaks (USA Today).

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ELSEWHERE

INTERNATIONAL

CEASE-FIRE RESOLUTION: Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are on a collision course. The United Nations Security Council on Monday passed its first resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza after the U.S. abstained from the vote. The resolution calls for an immediate cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the immediate release of all hostages. The vote took place just two days after Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution from the U.S. that tied a cease-fire to the release of hostages (The Hill).

In response, Netanyahu on Monday canceled a senior delegation to Washington, and his office called the U.S. abstention “a clear retreat from the consistent position of the United States at the Security Council since the beginning of the war.” The suspension of a meeting with the Israeli delegation chilled efforts by the U.S., which is concerned about a deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to persuade Netanyahu to consider alternatives to a ground invasion of Rafah, the last relatively safe haven for Palestinian civilians.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the administration is “disappointed” Israeli officials will not make the trip, although Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is in Washington and is still expected to meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (The Hill and Politico).

KREMLIN: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to attribute some blame for the Moscow terror attack carried out by ISIS-K last week to Ukraine is spurring fears he may use the tragedy to ramp up the war against Kyiv, The Hill’s Brad Dress reports. Four suspects were arrested in connection to the Friday attack, in which more than 130 were killed when multiple gunmen opened fire into a crowd at the suburban Moscow Crocus City Hall and set fire to the music venue. ISIS-K, the Afghanistan branch of the Islamist terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. French and U.S. intelligence has also supported that conclusion. But in an address on Saturday, Putin said the attackers were fleeing toward Ukraine, where they had a “window” to escape. 

The terrorists in Moscow were part of a branch of the Islamic State connected to foiled attempts in recent months to attack France, President Emmanuel Macron said Monday. Over the weekend, he increased his country’s terror alert warning level (Reuters).

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THE CLOSER

And finally … 🐰 The Easter Bunny will make an appearance over the weekend, bearing chocolate and candy. While we’re partial to Cadbury Mini Eggs over here at Morning Report, DoorDash analyzed the most popular Easter candies across the states.

Chocolate eggs ranked supreme in 47 states, with Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Creme Eggs taking the most popular spots. New Hampshire’s candy of choice is jelly beans, and Mental Floss has traced the bean-shaped candy’s unexpected appearance in Easter baskets.

Getting sticker shock while shopping for chocolate eggs and bunnies? You’re not alone. Higher cocoa prices mean consumers are paying more for favorite sweets. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

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