Morning Report — Trump tests legal shields in political combat

Former President Trump’s lawyers will argue to the Supreme Court this week that he can do just about anything he desires and be immune from prosecution, based on the perks of the high office he held and lost.

On Tuesday, Trump and his representatives suggested he has a right while on trial to counter his critics and foes on social media and to the press.

Trump is facing 34 charges in a Manhattan courtroom in a case billed by prosecutors as a criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, in part by partnering with the National Enquirer to pay for and then lock up potentially salacious information that might harm Trump’s standing among voters. The former president denies wrongdoing.

Former tabloid publisher David Pecker, a subpoenaed witness and avowed friend of Trump’s, took the stand for a second day Tuesday to describe helping the 2016 campaign, The Hill’s Niall Stanage reports. An article and photograph at the time about presidential rival Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), his father and assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was entirely invented by The National Enquirer at the behest of Trump’s team, Pecker testified.

Meanwhile, Trump wants to respond to “a barrage of political attacks,” attorney Todd Blanche told Judge Juan Merchan while defending his client earlier Tuesday against prosecutors’ complaints that he knowingly violated a gag order at least 10 times and should be fined for each instance. The judge’s decision is pending.

The Hill: Prosecutors want Trump held in contempt. What does that mean?

Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court of absolute immunity is unlikely to hold up, some legal scholars predict. But it’s bought the presidential candidate some time, and that could be key ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

To press ahead with trial preparations, federal prosecutors want a quick decision from the high court, which is expected to rule on the immunity question in late June. It could take three months once the court acts before a federal trial begins. No president or former president has faced criminal prosecution, and Trump is juggling indictments in four jurisdictions while contesting them all.

When the Supreme Court agreed on Feb. 28 to hear the case to be argued today, the justices summed up the issue before them as “whether and if so to what extent does a former President enjoy presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office.”

The former president says he never sought to subvert the 2020 election, but instead seeks to protect the election system, a strategy of recasting a negative with virtuous intent (The New York Times). Trump’s actions will be fact-checked by witnesses and other evidence while he’s a defendant. He says he’s considering taking the stand during the “hush money” trial.

“I tell the truth,” he said early this month.

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👉 The administration will argue to the Supreme Court today that a federal emergency care law supersedes state bans on abortion in nearly all cases. The Justice Department says hospitals are required under federal law to provide abortions if necessary to stabilize the health of an emergency room patient, regardless of state abortion bans. It’s the second time in as many months that challenges focused on federal law about termination of pregnancies will be heard (The Hill).

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LEADING THE DAY

CONGRESS

The Senate on Tuesday passed a $95 billion emergency foreign aid package, ending months of bitter fighting over $61 billion for the war in Ukraine that had deeply divided the Republican Party. The measure passed by a vote of 79 to 18 and now goes to President Biden for his signature, which is expected today.

The package also includes $15 billion in military aid for Israel and $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza and other war-torn areas, which became another flashpoint among conservative Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who worked for months to get Ukraine aid passed, hailed the vote as a landmark moment (The Hill).

“Today, the Senate sits for a test on behalf of the entire nation. It’s a test of American resolve, our readiness, and our willingness to lead. And the stakes of failure are abundantly clear,” McConnell said Tuesday ahead of the vote. “Failure to help Ukraine stand against Russian aggression now means inviting escalation against our closest treaty allies and trading partners.”

The Hill: These 10 senators helped advance Ukraine aid after voting against it.

SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE TAKING Trump’s policy directives with more than a few grains of salt, signaling they view what he says about issues as mainly for dramatic effect on the campaign trail. Despite Trump’s opposition to the reauthorization of a wireless surveillance program, and the foreign aid package that includes money for Ukraine, both are set to become law.

It’s not as if Republicans are ignoring Trump, writes The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, who notes more House Republicans voted against money for Ukraine than for it. But the 0-2 record on Congress’s big policy bills shows GOP leaders who differ with Trump on policy, notably McConnell, can still wield influence. And Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), while aligned with Trump, has not been afraid to put measures on the House floor that the former president disagrees with.

The Speaker today plans to visit New York’s Columbia University, site of campus pro-Palestinian demonstrations he has called “un-American” (The Hill). Tensions overnight grew at Columbia as a deadline came and went for protesters to dismantle their encampments. West Coast campus protests about the war in Gaza have included arrests and attracted police in riot gear, The Associated Press reports this morning.

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ZOOM IN

POLITICS

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is emerging as a key surrogate for Biden’s reelection campaign as it targets young people and progressives, pushing his climate agenda as a win for that critical voting bloc. But The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports Ocasio-Cortez’s surrogacy comes with parameters. She has said she supports Biden’s reelection bid and will stand by him during a climate event, but she has also put pressure on him as an outspoken critic of the administration’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas. Still, the progressive lawmaker’s support could be critical for Biden, who faces an uphill battle in winning over young voters and getting them to the polls.

“AOC has immense and sustained visibility with young voters and progressives of all ages,” said former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “She can play a very impactful role in helping to unite them to stop Donald Trump. She can remind them about Biden’s success in funding climate initiatives, reducing student debt, and more.”

THE BATTLE BETWEEN Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and the GOP’s right flank is heating up, writes The Hill’s Mychael Schnell, with hardline conservatives throwing their support behind his primary opponent after the moderate Republican called two of them “scumbags” on national television.

Gonzales kicked the hornet’s nest over the weekend when, during an interview on CNN, he went after Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Bob Good (R-Va.) in an expletive-laced tirade — “it’s my absolute honor to be in Congress, but I serve with some real scumbags” — before launching personal attacks on his two conservative colleagues. Gaetz and Good — flanked by other hard-liners — shot right back at Gonzales, criticizing his voting record, slamming him as a “Republican in name only” and throwing their support behind his primary opponent, Brandon Herrera, a social media influencer and self-proclaimed Second Amendment activist who has worked to plant himself to the right of Gonzales.

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ELSEWHERE

INTERNATIONAL

ISRAELI STRIKES INTENSIFIED across Gaza on Tuesday, bringing some of the heaviest shelling in weeks as the army ordered fresh evacuations in the north of the strip, warning civilians they were in a “dangerous combat zone.” The renewed shelling and bombing of northern Gaza comes almost four months after the Israeli army announced it was drawing down its troops there, saying Hamas no longer controlled those areas (Reuters).

The Biden administration on Tuesday said Israel has taken “significant steps” to improve the flow of aid to Gaza over the last three weeks but stressed more work needs to be done (Axios). Meanwhile, Israel has procured tens of thousands of tents for Palestinian civilians it intends to evacuate from Rafah in southern Gaza in the coming weeks ahead a promised assault on the city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas (Reuters).

SOLDIERS ON THE FRONT LINES in Ukraine say the final approval of the U.S.’s aid package will serve as a big morale boost as Russia looks to step up its attacks on the country. For months, Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines have spoken of being badly outgunned by Russian forces, and President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said the ratio was 10-to-1 in Russia’s favor.

While American officials will not say so openly, a source told CNN that much of the military aid is already pre-positioned in storage facilities in Germany and Poland, speeding up deliveries into Ukraine. Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said last week that the Department of Defense was “poised to respond quickly,” once any order was given.

“As you know, we have a very robust logistics network that enables us to move materiel very quickly,” he said. “As we’ve done in the past, we can move within days.”

The congressional aid package will provide Ukraine with much-needed relief to stabilize the front lines, The Hill’s Brad Dress reports, but Kyiv still faces an uphill battle this year to achieve critical war aims. Among the first weapons to be sent are likely artillery and air defenses, a critical piece of Kyiv’s defense that has dwindled with the delay of more aid. But more ambitious goals, such as retaking more territory in a renewed counteroffensive, may not happen this year, analysts say.

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THE CLOSER

And finally … 🫂 Despite political division, global conflict and a near-constant news cycle, Americans are more compassionate, not less, according to updated research.

Empathy had been plummeting over decades, according to a landmark study of college students released in 2011 by researcher Sara Konrath. A few months ago, Konrath and her colleagues published an update, finding that empathy among young Americans is rebounding to levels indistinguishable from the highs seen in 1970s research.

It’s not entirely clear what caused the rebound, but recently, researchers chronicled a “pandemic of kindness,” as charity donations and volunteering increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is empathy and do you have it? Take a quiz HERE.