The Full Belmonte, 4/22/2024
Trump opening arguments
Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios
“For the first time in history, prosecutors — beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET today in Manhattan — will present a criminal case against a former American president to a jury.
After opening arguments, David Pecker — the former National Enquirer publisher who bought stories about Donald Trump in order to bury them ("catch and kill") — is expected to be the first prosecution witness.
The trial could keep Trump occupied four days a week for the next five weeks or more.
Liz Cheney, former vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, writes in a New York Times op-ed today that the Supreme Court should rule swiftly on Trump's immunity claim so the Jan. 6 case can be tried before the election:
‘I know how Mr. Trump's delay tactics work. ... If Mr. Trump's tactics prevent his Jan. 6 trial from proceeding in the ordinary course, he will also have succeeded in concealing critical evidence from the American people.’” [Axios]
The Supreme Court will weigh bans on unhoused people sleeping outdoors.
“What to know: Justices will hear arguments today about whether governments can enforce laws against people sleeping outside when they have nowhere else to go.
The bigger picture: This is the most significant case to come before the court in decades on homelessness, which is reaching record levels. A decision is expected in late June.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Foreign aid
© The Associated Press / Efrem Lukatsky | The House’s foreign aid bills, which include $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, are welcomed by Kyiv as troops exhaust ammunition and weapons to fight Russian forces.
“The House passed a $95 billion package over the weekend providing foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region. Some moderate Republicans commended Speaker Mike Johnson after he joined with Democrats to advance the measure to Saturday's vote, while others in the conservative flank voiced strong opposition. Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday said Speaker Johnson ‘betrayed’ Republican voters and threatened to call a vote for his ouster if he doesn't resign. The legislation — which passed with the support of 210 Democrats and 101 Republicans — now heads to the Senate, which is expected to give final approval this week.” [CNN]
The House approved an anti-TikTok measure
“Under a new measure passed by the House over the weekend, TikTok's parent company ByteDance has up to a year to divest before the prohibition begins.
President Joe Biden has already expressed support for the effort, which House Speaker Mike Johnson attached to a larger foreign aid package that includes three bills that separately provide billions for Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific region.
•The TikTok measure will be hard for the Senate to ignore given that it is attached to a crucial foreign aid package.
•More on the aid package: The House approved a set of long-awaited foreign aid bills, along with a fourth bill that includes various GOP-backed foreign policy priorities.
•The speaker on the chopping block? Johnson’s position may be in peril after angering hardline Republicans over his championing of the multi-billion dollar package.” [USA Today]
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., at the U.S. Capitol on April 20, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Nathan Howard, Getty Images
What do Biden's new Title IX rules mean?
“The Biden administration released a new set of rules overhauling the Trump administration's Title IX rules – which gave more rights to alleged perpetrators of sexual assault and harassment. The new rules expand the definition of sexual assault and harassment. That means schools could investigate more cases of discrimination, abuse or harassment filed by people on school campuses under the scope of the law. The update that will impact American public schools in the fall also stipulates further protections for LGBTQ+ students as well as parenting and pregnant students.” Read more at USA Today
College protest crackdown
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“Colleges are cracking down on pro-Palestinian protests that administrators say are getting increasingly disruptive, Axios' April Rubin writes.
Why it matters: It's a stark pivot from just a few years ago, when colleges bolstered diversity, equity and inclusion programs and course offerings in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.
Zoom in: Tensions at Columbia bubbled over after university president Minouche Shafik last week called in the NYPD to disband a pro-Palestinian encampment at the center of campus.
The University of Michigan said it will draft a new policy on punishable disruptive behavior following a pro-Palestinian protest at its convocation.
The University of Southern California canceled its valedictorian's commencement speech, citing safety concerns that the student called a ‘campaign of racist hatred.’
Stanford banned overnight camping in February to end an encampment populated by dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli tents, citing student safety, extreme weather and rodents.
Today's N.Y. Post cover
In response to pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia over the weekend, President Biden said as part of a Passover statement yesterday: ‘Even in recent days, we've seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews.’
‘This blatant Antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.’
The new toughness extends to the workplace. Today's Wall Street Journal front page: ‘Bosses are losing patience with staff eager to be the conscience of their companies.’
‘The moves are a correction to the last several years, when corporate leaders often brooked dissent and encouraged staff to voice their personal convictions.’ (Gift link)
Go deeper: Pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia are drawing backlash from members of Congress and the White House.” [Axios]
Trump's shadow diplomacy
Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Ateve Parsons via Getty Images
“Former President Trump's meetings with foreign heads of state have begun ruffling feathers in the diplomatic community — and the Biden administration, Axios' Sophia Cai writes.
One recent meeting — between Trump and Javier Milei, Argentina's right-wing president — seems to have particularly irritated Biden's team.
Why it matters: Trump turned Milei's hug into what amounted to a viral campaign ad, and he has hosted other foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower.
The reaction showed the complex politics as Trump, the presumed GOP nominee, eagerly tries to show international leaders he's back.
Biden administration officials privately questioned whether some of Trump's meetings were appropriate.
President Biden has jumped at the chance to accuse Trump of aligning with strongmen and dictators.
Trump recently hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a Putin ally, at Mar-a-Lago.
Between his court appearances in Manhattan last week, Trump had dinner with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower.
Trump spoke recently with Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the N.Y. Times reported.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky invited Trump to visit — but Trump said ‘it would not be appropriate for him to go to Ukraine right now because there's only one commander-in-chief. But foreign leaders stopping by to say 'hi' is another thing entirely. That's about respect.’” [Axios]
Security moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a World Health Organization team arrived on Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous
“The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has gone dark in China. The Chinese government froze meaningful efforts to trace the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak, according to an Associated Press investigation. AP drew on thousands of pages of undisclosed emails and documents, leaked recordings and dozens of interviews that showed the freeze began far earlier than previously known. Read more.
Why this matters:
Secrecy clouds the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. Even the date when Chinese authorities first started searching for the virus’ origins is unclear.
Early on, Chinese scientists were silenced and politicians took control. Crucial initial efforts were hindered by bureaucrats in Wuhan trying to avoid blame; the central government, which silenced Chinese scientists and subjected visiting U.N. officials to stage-managed tours; and the World Health Organization itself, which may have compromised early opportunities to gather critical information, according to internal materials obtained by AP.
By the time WHO led a third visit to Wuhan in January 2021, the origins hunt had become highly politicized. Despite a lack of direct access, the WHO team concluded that a lab leak was ‘extremely unlikely.’ So it came as an infuriating surprise to Chinese officials when, months later, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu said that it was ‘premature’ to rule out the lab leak theory, saying such lab accidents were ‘common,’ and pressed China to be more transparent.” [AP News]
Israeli military intelligence chief resigns over his role in failing to prevent Oct. 7 attack
“The head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate resigned on Monday over the failures surrounding Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 attack, the military said, becoming the first senior figure to step down over his role in the deadliest assault in Israel’s history. Read more.
Why this matters:
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva’s resignation could set the stage for more fallout from Israel’s top security brass over Hamas’ attack, which killed 1,200 people, resulted in roughly 250 hostages being taken into Gaza and set off the devastating war in Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
While Haliva and others have accepted blame for failing to stop the attack, others have stopped short, most notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu has said he will answer tough questions about his role but has not outright acknowledged direct responsibility for allowing the attack to unfold. He has also not indicated that he will step down.” [AP News]
“Europe is heating up twice as quickly as the global average, and that heat is killing large numbers of people in the summer months, according to a new report by European climate experts. The number of heat-related deaths on the continent has increased by at least 30% in the last two decades, the analysis by Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the United Nations estimates. But there's also good news in the new report: Europe is increasingly turning to solar and wind for its electricity, and those sources of energy are increasingly reliable. Read about the factors driving Europe's rapid warming and what governments are doing about it.” [NPR]
“President Vladimir Putin has an image as a lucky leader in Russia, a reputation seemingly confirmed as the West’s faltering support for Ukraine handed his troops the advantage on the battlefield.
Now his gamble that a splintering of US and European Union backing for Kyiv will deliver victory for Russia looks less of a safe bet.
The Kremlin was counting on opposition from Republican backers of former President Donald Trump to continue to hold up almost $61 billion in aid to Ukraine that the US House finally approved after six months of delay.
WATCH: Michael Heath reports on the passage of the aid bill on Bloomberg Television. Source: Bloomberg
That follows the EU facing down a threatened veto by Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban to approve €50 billion ($53 billion) in support in February. The bloc’s foreign ministers will discuss Ukraine again today, including the need for more air defenses.
Measures to use frozen Russian assets to benefit Ukraine are gathering pace, including a proposal to magnify the impact of assistance by issuing some $50 bilion in bonds backed by the profits the assets generate.
To be sure, Ukrainian forces are up against it. Exhausted troops are struggling with dwindling munitions to hold back the Russian army after Kyiv’s vaunted counteroffensive failed last year.
Yet despite a big advantage in troops and weapons this year, and its escalating campaign of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine, Russia has made only marginal progress on the ground.
Even as Ukraine warns of the risk of a Russian breakthrough, it’s managed to hold the line so far. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the US package now gives his troops a chance to regain the initiative.
Ukraine’s allies wobbled but eventually stepped up to the challenge. Russia’s army will face a rearmed Ukraine in the coming months, having failed to defeat a weakened force.
Putin’s luck is about to get tested again.” — Anthony Halpin [Bloomberg]
Ukrainian soldiers near the frontline in the Donetsk region. Photographer: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images
“Israeli airstrikes overnight killed 24 Palestinians in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. The attacks targeted two houses in Rafah, and most of the casualties were women and children, it said. The Israeli military said the head of its intelligence division quit over the failure to prevent the Oct. 7 invasion by Hamas that sparked the offensive in Gaza.” [Bloomberg]
Rescue workers search for survivors yesterday in Rafah. Photographer: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
“China is responding to the drumbeat of American actions on trade with relative restraint. President Joe Biden has been ratcheting up criticism on the campaign trail, blasting Beijing as ‘xenophobic’ and vowing to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum exports. The election season rhetoric was expected, but there is another reason for moderation: The latest US measures have minimal immediate impact.” [Bloomberg]
“UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will seek approval of legislation on his flagship migration policy today before he embarks on a European tour to defend his record on defense. The Rwanda vote in Parliament is a key test of his premiership after he pledged to stop boats carrying migrants from crossing the English channel, and part of his effort to regain momentum 10 days from a crucial set of local elections.” [Bloomberg]
“South Africa’s strategy of playing all sides when it comes to foreign policy as it seeks to position itself as a leading voice of the Global South seems to be working — so far. And yet, as Mike Cohen writes, its increasingly close ties with China, refusal to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and anti-Israel stance have raised concern in the US and the EU.” [Bloomberg]
“Voters in Ecuador handed a partial victory to President Daniel Noboa in yesterday’s referendum by approving a raft of security measures including extradition for drug traffickers, while rejecting investor-friendly economic reforms. The ballot was the first hard test of Noboa’s popularity since he took office in November and shows strong support for his anti-gang policies, which are key for his hopes of winning reelection next year.” [Bloomberg]
“Australia is gearing up for a fight with Elon Musk and American social media giants over allegations they failed to move fast enough to police graphic content and misinformation during two violent attacks in Sydney over the past 10 days.” [Bloomberg]
“A military base in Syria belonging to a US-led coalition combating militants in the area came under rocket fire late yesterday, the government-affiliated Iraqi Security Media Cell said in a statement.” [Bloomberg]
“Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged to boost security ties with Cambodia during a visit amid regional concerns over the extended presence of China’s warships at a naval base on the Gulf of Thailand.” [Bloomberg]
“German authorities arrested two men and a woman suspected of working for China’s ministry of state security to acquire details of ship-engine technology and buy a special laser without export authorization.” [Bloomberg]
At a polling station in Manipur, India. Reuters
“Armed men attacked voting booths in northeastern India. The election authorities directed officials to redo voting at several polling stations.” [New York Times]
“Spain became the latest European country to end a visa program that offered residency to wealthy foreigners who buy real estate.” [New York Times]
Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp are pushing a new AI chatbot.
“What to know: Meta is adding Meta AI to its apps, it announced last week. You may have seen its logo — a thin ring that’s mostly blue — in the past few days.
What can it do? It’s mainly a conversational chat window where you can ask questions and generate AI images. Find tips on how to use it here.”
Read this story at Washington Post
Trillions of cicadas are about emerge in the Midwest and the South.
“What’s happening? Two different broods of these extremely loud bugs are set to crawl out of the ground together for the first time since 1803. See where they’ll appear on this map.
This is unusual: Scientists hope to learn from the rare double-whammy. Some are examining a parasitic fungus that attacks cicadas, turning them into ‘flying saltshakers of death.’”
Read this story at Washington Post
SPORTS
Peres Jepchirchir Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Running: Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won the London Marathon in a women’s only record time of 2:16:16. Alexander Mutiso Munyao, also from Kenya, won the men’s race.” [New York Times]
“N.B.A.: The Los Angeles Clippers, despite missing Kawhi Leonard, beat the Dallas Mavericks.” [New York Times]
“Golf: Nelly Korda won the Chevron Championship to earn a fifth win in her last five starts, which ties a record.” [New York Times]
Terry Anderson, AP reporter abducted in Lebanon and held captive for years, has died at 76
“NEW YORK (AP) — Terry Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages after he was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, has died at 76.
Anderson, who chronicled his abduction and torturous imprisonment by Islamic militants in his best-selling 1993 memoir “Den of Lions,” died on Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said his daughter, Sulome Anderson.
Anderson died of complications from recent heart surgery, his daughter said.
‘Terry was deeply committed to on-the-ground eyewitness reporting and demonstrated great bravery and resolve, both in his journalism and during his years held hostage. We are so appreciative of the sacrifices he and his family made as the result of his work,’ said Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor of the AP.” [AP News]
Tunde Onakoya plays a chess game in Times Square, New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
“Chess champion chases global record by playing 60 hours straight
Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya, 29, played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City’s Times Square in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon. He had set out to play the royal game for 58 hours but continued until he reached 60 hours at about 12:40 a.m. Saturday, The Guinness World Record organization has yet to publicly comment about Onakoya’s attempt. It sometimes takes weeks for the organization to confirm any new record.” [AP News]
Photo of the day: Passover begins
“The eight-day celebration of Passover, or Pesach, starts before sundown this Monday. The holiday known as a ‘festival of freedom’ is observed with seders among families, friends and communities, as well as other sacred traditions.” Read more at USA Today
Orthodox Jewish men prepare matza, a traditional unleavened bread eaten during the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover, in Kfar Chabad, Israel, April 18, 2024.
Hannah McKay, REUTERS