The Full Belmonte, 4/4/2023
Donald Trump to surrender to history-making criminal charges
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, ERIC TUCKER and WILL WEISSERT
Former president Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower in New York on Monday, April 3, 2023. Trump is expected to be booked and arraigned on Tuesday on charges arising from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
“NEW YORK (AP) — An extraordinary moment in U.S. history is scheduled to unfold in a Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday: Former President Donald Trump, who faces multiple election-related investigations, will surrender to face criminal charges stemming from 2016 hush money payments.
The booking and arraignment are likely to be relatively brief — though hardly routine — as Trump is fingerprinted, learns the charges against him and pleads, as expected, not guilty.
Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, will become the first former president to face criminal charges. The nation’s 45th commander in chief will be escorted from Trump Tower to the courthouse by the Secret Service and may have his mug shot taken.
New York police are braced for protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White Housein 2024….” Read more at AP News
Trump's bigger legal danger
Former President Trump enters Trump Tower in Manhattan yesterday. Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters
“Democrats, Trump insiders and legal experts all agree:
The investigation into former President Trump's handling of classified documents poses a far more dangerous threat to his freedom than the indictment in New York, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.
Why it matters: A year from now, Trump may look back with envy at the sordid hush-money case that brought him to this afternoon's historic arraignment — the first for a former president, but potentially not the last.
The intensifying classified documents probe, led by special counsel Jack Smith, has uncovered significant new evidence that Trump may have obstructed justice as the government attempted to retrieve top-secret records from Mar-a-Lago, The Washington Post reports.
Trump's valet testified that the former president ordered him to move boxes — an account corroborated by surveillance footage.
Between the lines: Unlike the Manhattan district attorney's prosecution, which focuses on a payment from 2016 and has triggered disputes over jurisdiction, the potential crimes Smith is investigating are recent and unambiguous.
Proving intent is a key challenge in prosecuting obstruction. But investigators have evidence — including texts and emails from Trump's former personal assistant — that Trump ignored requests from multiple advisers to return the documents for over a year.
Media and members of the public gather outside Trump Tower awaiting Trump's arrival yesterday. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who has called the Manhattan DA's case ‘pathetically weak,’ sounded the alarm Sunday over the legitimate danger Trump is facing in the classified documents probe.
‘I think the document case is the most serious case,’ Barr told "Fox News Sunday." ‘I don't think they went after those documents to get Trump. I think they actually wanted the documents back.’
The big picture: A parade of key witnesses has already been hauled in front of the grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago case, including Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran.
A federal judge found that Trump likely used Corcoran in furtherance of a crime, triggering a rare exception to attorney-client privilege that could provide investigators with critical insight.
Several Secret Service agents connected to Trump are expected to testify before the grand jury this week, Fox News reports.
The bottom line: Trump has benefitted from the Manhattan indictment being the first to drop, given that most Americans see it as at least somewhat political. But the former president's legal luck could run out if he's forced to head to D.C. or Georgia.” [Axios]
The most important election of 2023
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
“Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will determine if the state’s Supreme Court keeps its 4-to-3 conservative majority or flips to liberal control.” [Vox / Ben Jacobs]
“The race is officially nonpartisan, but Democrats have spent at least $20 million to support Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz; Republicans have spent over $17 million to boost former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly in the most expensive judicial contest ever.” [Vox] [Washington Post / Patrick Marley]
“A Protasiewicz victory could lead the court to revisit the 1849 law that’s banned abortion in most cases in Wisconsin since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.” [Vox] [Guardian / Alice Herman and Sam Levine]
“It could also prompt challenges to Wisconsin’s legislative maps, which heavily favor Republicans. New maps would give Democrats a shot at winning more seats in the statehouse and the US House of Representatives.” [Vox] [Newsweek / Darragh Roche]
“Tuesday’s race will also determine which party controls the court in the key swing state during the 2024 presidential election. Wisconsin came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.” [Vox] [Associated Press / Scott Bauer]
NASA named its crew for the first human moon mission since 1972.
“Who are they? A diverse group of astronauts that includes the first woman, African American and Canadian to fly on a moon mission, NASA announced yesterday.
The mission: The crew is set to fly around the moon next year. The voyage will test the new Orion spacecraft ahead of a planned lunar landing in 2025.” [Washington Post]
Spy balloon
“The Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the US earlier this year was able to capture imagery and collect some signals intelligence from US military sites, a source tells CNN. The balloon was able to transmit information back to Beijing in real time, the source said, and the US government still does not know for sure whether the Chinese government could wipe the balloon's data as it received it. That raises questions about whether there is intelligence the balloon was able to gather that the US still doesn't know about. Still, the intelligence community has not been overly concerned about the information the balloon was able to gather, the person said. The FBI is still examining the balloon, but so far officials have been able to glean additional information about how the device worked, including the algorithms used for the balloon's software and how it is powered and designed.” [CNN]
US military says senior IS commander killed in Syria
By BASSEM MROUE
This is a locator map for Syria with its capital, Damascus. (AP Photo)
“BEIRUT (AP) — A drone strike carried out by the American-led coalition in northwestern Syria has killed a senior member of the Islamic State group who was in charge of planning attacks in Europe, the United States military said Tuesday.
The man killed Monday in the strike was identified by a U.S. military statement as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al-Jabouri. The military statement added that his death ‘will temporarily disrupt the organization’s ability to plot external attacks.’
Monday’s strike was the latest by the U.S. military to kill a top official with the extremist group that once controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria, where it declared a ‘caliphate.’ From the areas they once controlled, the extremists planned deadly attacks in Europe that killed scores of people. In recent years, such attacks have decreased because the Islamic State group lost the last sliver of land it controlled in March 2019….” Read more at AP News
Former aide to ex-Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan dies after manhunt, lawyer says
By SARAH BRUMFIELD and LEA SKENE
FILE - Roy McGrath, chief executive officer of the Maryland Environmental Service, speaks during a news conference at the State House in Annapolis, Md., on April 15, 2020. Federal authorities offered rewards of up to $20,000 Tuesday, March 28, 2023, as their search continues for former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s ex-chief of staff who failed to appear for trial on corruption charges two weeks ago. (Pamela Wood/The Baltimore Sun via AP, File)
“BALTIMORE (AP) — A former Maryland political aide wanted on corruption charges died Monday after he was wounded while being confronted by law enforcement agents, his lawyer said, following a manhunt that was launched when the man failed to appear for trial.
Attorney Joseph Murtha said the FBI confirmed Roy McGrath’s death to him. He added that it was not immediately clear if McGrath’s wound was self-inflicted or came during an exchange of gunfire with agents.
The FBI had said earlier that McGrath, once a top aide to a former Maryland governor, had been hospitalized following an agent-involved shooting, but declined to elaborate.
William Brennan, an attorney for McGrath’s wife, Laura Bruner, also confirmed the death and said she was ‘absolutely distraught.’
According to an email earlier from FBI Supervisory Special Agent Shayne Buchwald in Maryland, McGrath was wounded during ‘an agent-involved shooting’ around 6:30 p.m. in a commercial area on the southwestern outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee. Buchwald said McGrath was taken to a hospital….
McGrath, 53, served as chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. He was declared a wanted fugitive after his disappearance, and the FBI has said he was considered an international flight risk.
In a statement, Hogan said he and his wife, Yumi, “are deeply saddened by this tragic situation. We are praying for Mr. McGrath’s family and loved ones.”
Murtha called the death ‘a tragic ending to the past three weeks of uncertainty’ and said his client always maintained his innocence.
After McGrath failed to appear at Baltimore’s federal courthouse on March 13, Murtha said he believed McGrath, who had moved to Naples, Florida, was planning to fly to Maryland the night before. Instead of beginning jury selection, a judge issued an arrest warrant and dismissed prospective jurors.
McGrath was indicted in 2021 on accusations he fraudulently secured a $233,648 severance payment, equal to one year of salary as the head of Maryland Environmental Service, by falsely telling the agency’s board the governor had approved it. He was also accused of fraud and embezzlement connected to roughly $170,000 in expenses. McGrath pleaded not guilty.
McGrath resigned just 11 weeks into the job as Hogan’s chief of staff in 2020 after the payments became public.
If convicted of the federal charges, he would have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years for each of four counts of wire fraud, plus a maximum of 10 years for each of two counts of embezzling funds from an organization receiving more than $10,000 in federal benefits.” Read more at AP News
Finland
“Finland is set to join NATO as its 31st member today, more than doubling the US-led military alliance's border with Russia. Finland's accession comes days after Turkey's parliament voted to ratify the country's membership, clearing the final hurdle for it to join NATO and putting an end to months of delays. The Nordic country's acceptance into the alliance presents a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to undermine NATO, and before invading Ukraine, demanded the bloc refrain from further expansion. On Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it will be historic when the alliance raises the Finnish flag for the first time at its headquarters today, adding ‘It will be a good day for Finland's security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole.’” [CNN]
TikTok
“Australia has joined other Western countries in banning the use of TikTok on government devices as the Chinese-owned video app comes under increasing pressure over claims it presents a security concern. The decision puts Australia in line with its allies in the US, Britain and Canada, which have already announced similar restrictions, while New Zealand's parliament ordered the app be removed from all devices with access to the legislature. Days ago, NATO also officially banned staffers from downloading the app onto their NATO-provided devices. TikTok's CEO Shou Chew has said the company is moving its data into the US to be stored on American soil but Western governments remain skeptical. This comes as half of Americans support a US government ban on TikTok, while 22% oppose the idea and more than a quarter are unsure, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last week.” [CNN]
“Saudi Arabia is charting a course that puts economic and security interests first, even if that is at odds with the West.
Sunday’s decision to slash crude output as part of the OPEC+ oil producers’ group in coordination with Russia came as a surprise to markets, rankled Washington and puts $100 a barrel on the horizon as a global economic downturn looms.
At home, Saudi commentators assert that Riyadh’s course has been the right one all along. It comes after a similar move last fall despite US pleas to pump more crude.
Saudi officials say that decision eventually stabilized oil prices, proving it wasn’t political. The overall message from an emboldened kingdom to the West is: We told you so.
That’s still a challenge to US President Joe Biden, who initially shunned Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and called the kingdom a pariah over the 2018 murder by Saudi agents of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden reversed that policy last year in a bid to secure an easing of oil prices, to no avail.
Now, with the crude price slumping to a 15-month low in late March, the crown prince’s latest production cut also reflects economic realities for the kingdom.
The de facto ruler has multi-billion-dollar plans to overhaul Saudi Arabia, and that’s another driving factor behind his latest foreign policy moves.
He’s been reaching out to former foe Iran to ease regional strife and protect his growth plans, even sidelining the US in favor of its No. 1 rival China to do so. He’s also moving toward embracing Syria’s pariah leader along with other Arab states, despite US and European sanctions.
That said, the Saudis, who rely on the US for security, are still unwilling to pursue a complete breach with Washington.
But Riyadh’s latest oil gambit underscores Saudi Arabia’s growing geopolitical influence as a fossil fuel superpower. Its leadership knows it must seize the moment while that clout lasts.” — Sylvia Westall [Bloomberg]
Crown Prince Mohammed welcomes Biden at the Alsalam Royal Palace in Jeddah on July 15, 2022. Source: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
By Ishaan Tharoor
with Sammy Westfall
Trump’s saga is part of a wider global ‘age of impunity’
A tattoo of former president Donald Trump is seen on the arm of a supporter as Trump speaks at a campaign rally March 25 in Waco, Tex. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“The narrative is already set. No revelation that may emerge after former president Donald Trump’s arraignment Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse is likely to mollify the angry partisans outraged by the sheer fact of his indictment. Indeed, a potentially flimsy case — built on a somewhat untested legal theory linking campaign finance violations to Trump’s alleged hush-money payment to an adult-film actress — may only stir greater rage on the American right.
With other investigations ongoing, Trump faces the possibility of more than one criminal indictment this year. To many Americans, that’s a reflection of his unique record of behavior and approach to governance, as well as a sign that the U.S. system is capable of ensuring that no one is above the law. Though historic in the United States, there are many precedents of former leaders being held to account for abuse of power and corruption in other established democracies.
But to Trump’s sympathizers, both in the United States and elsewhere, the unprecedented indictment of a former U.S. president marks nothing short of a ‘witch hunt’ — an event that may presage political violence and a further unraveling of democratic norms. ‘The position implied here is that the price of social peace is absolute impunity for Trump,’ wrote Washington Post columnists Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman, referring to Republican hard-liners. ‘The insistence that Trump must be kept above the law — no matter his wrongdoing — courses through all these GOP responses.’
From abroad, support for Trump has come from familiar corners. On Monday morning, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban tweeted an image of him clasping the former president’s hand outside the White House — two illiberal nationalists, comrades-in-arms — with a message: ‘Keep on fighting, Mr. President! We are with you.’
Orban is much admired by the American right precisely because he has bent his small nation’s political system in his favor, cowing the judiciary, co-opting the independent press and weakening civil society. Orban’s government has faced E.U. censure for its undermining of the rule of law, but in his view, that’s what it takes in a battle with entrenched liberal opponents. ‘In order to win, it is not enough to know what you’re fighting for,’ Orban told an adoring right-wing crowd in Texas last August. ‘You should also know how you should fight: My answer is play by your own rules.’
In many parts of the world, the desire of political leadership to play by their own rules is carrying the day. President Biden and some of his counterparts in the West like to frame the overriding challenge facing global politics as a clash between democracy and autocracy on the world stage, but there may be a sharper way to understand that contest: ‘The great danger is not just that democracy is under attack, but that the rule of law and systems of accountability are being eroded in all areas of life,’ wrote David Miliband, a former British politician and president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.
To that end, Miliband and his staff, in conjunction with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Eurasia Group consultancy, published in February an index that charted how these systems of accountability are struggling. Their Atlas of Impunity ranked 163 nations around the world based on data that tracked what they defined as the five dimensions of impunity — unaccountable governance, abuse of human rights, conflict, economic exploitation and environmental degradation.
The top and bottom of the rankings provide a familiar sight: Finland and its Nordic neighbors score lowest in terms of their aggregate impunity rating, while conflict-ravaged Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and Myanmar sit highest. Russia, whose rolling invasion of Ukraine and catalogue of war crimes constitute one of the most flagrant examples of impunity on the world stage, ranks poorly, as does China.
The United States is tellingly in the middle of the pack, closer to countries such as Argentina and South Africa than Group of Seven peers Germany and Japan. That’s in part due to what Miliband described as ‘middling scores on discrimination, inequality, and democratic access,’ combined with its legacy as a major global arms exporter.
Implicit within this analysis is the imprint of Trump. His polarizing political movement, flouting of democratic norms and harnessing of an ultranationalist brand of politics that seems bent on restricting voting rights, among other agendas that critics dub anti-democratic, have all raised the stakes in U.S. politics. His checkered business career, let alone the controversies surrounding his time in office, reveal him to be a figure who has long benefited from a certain culture of impunity among U.S. elites.
The case of Trump, moreover, shows where Biden’s ‘democracy vs. autocracy’ worldview may come short. By most indexes, the United States has a healthier democracy than many other countries, but its divisions and political ferment tell a different story. ‘Though liberal democracy certainly is important to impute the necessary characteristics for accountability, it still isn’t enough. Societal cohesion across ethnic, racial, religious and class lines is also important,’ said Ivo Daalder, president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. ‘And while prosperity matters, making sure the gains are distributed widely and equitably is even more so.’
One of the most interesting conclusions of their analysis is that none of the great powers — be it the United States or China or regional giants like India and Brazil — comes out looking that great.
‘Perhaps it should not be a surprise that the most powerful countries suffer from impunity given that the impunity we see in the world is a product of unchecked power,’ noted the Atlas of Impunity’s main report. ‘But it should give pause to U.S. observers who believe in the positive role their country can play in upholding rules-based systems that the country performs so much worse than it ‘should’ given its peer group. These findings also highlight the danger of a world dominated by any other major power, such as China, which has also failed to create internal systems of accountability.’” [Washington Post]
China seethes as US chip controls threaten tech ambitions
By JOE McDONALD
FILE - Visitors wearing masks look at the ARM-structure server processor Yitian 710, developed by Alibaba's in-house semiconductor unit T-Head, at the Apsara Conference, an annual cloud service technology forum hosted by Alibaba Group, in Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang province on Oct. 19, 2021. Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China's leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries. (Chinatopix via AP, File)
“BEIJING (AP) — Furious at U.S. efforts that cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips, China’s leaders appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries.
President Xi Jinping’s government sees the chips that are used in everything from phones to kitchen appliances to fighter jets as crucial assets in its strategic rivalry with Washington and efforts to gain wealth and global influence. Chips are the center of a ‘technology war,’ a Chinese scientist wrote in an official journal in February.
China has its own chip foundries, but they supply only low-end processors used in autos and appliances. The U.S. government, starting under then-President Donald Trump, is cutting off access to a growing array of tools to make chips for computer servers, AI and other advanced applications. Japan and the Netherlands have joined in limiting access to technology they say might be used to make weapons….” Read more at AP News
Train derailment near The Hague kills 1, injures several
By PETER DEJONG and MIKE CORDER
At least one person died and some 30 passengers were injured in the early hours when a train partially derailed, in Voorschoten, near The Hague, Tuesday April 4, 2023, sending at least one carriage into a field next to the tracks. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
“VOORSCHOTEN, Netherlands (AP) — A passenger train slammed into a construction crane and derailed near The Hague in the early hours of Tuesday, morning sending two carriages into a field next to the tracks. One person died and 19 were hospitalized, Dutch emergency services said.
Police opened an investigation to establish if any crime was committed. Another independent probe was opened into the cause of the crash.
Television images showed people using temporary bridges and ladders to cross a narrow drainage canal running alongside the rails to reach the stricken train in the darkness. Many windows in the train carriages were broken. It was not clear if that happened during the accident or as passengers attempted to escape.
Two of the bright yellow and blue train carriages came to rest perpendicular to the tracks across the small canal and partially in a field. What appeared to be the front of the train was badly damaged. Other parts of the train were partially derailed….” Read more at AP News
UConn wins March Madness with 76-59 smothering of SDSU
By EDDIE PELLS
Connecticut guard Tristen Newton celebrates after their win against San Diego State during the men's national championship college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Houston. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
“HOUSTON (AP) — After six games and 240 minutes of pure dominance that ran through March, then part of April, it finally became clear there was only one thing that could stop the UConn Huskies.
The final buzzer.
The team from Storrs, Connecticut, topped off one of the most impressive March Madness runs in history Monday night, clamping down early, then breaking things open late to bring home its fifth national title with a 76-59 victory over San Diego State.
‘We knew we were the best team in the tournament going in, and we just had to play to our level,’ said Dan Hurley, who joined Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie as the third coach to lead UConn to a title.
UConn’s lanky star forward, Adama Sanogo, won Most Outstanding Player honors, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the final. Tristen Newton also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 boards.
The Huskies (31-8) became the fifth team since the bracket expanded in 1985 to win all six NCAA Tournament games by double-digits on the way to a championship. They won those six games by an average of an even 20 points, only a fraction less than what North Carolina did in sweeping to the title in 2009….” Read more at AP News
“Lives Lived: As a young man, Raghavan Iyer didn’t know how to cook a simple potato curry. He went on to teach America’s heartland how to prepare Indian cuisine. Iyer died at 61.” [New York Times]