The Full Belmonte, 4/5/2023
Trump's primary collision
Screenshot: Trump's indictment
“Former President Trump's court drama will run right into primary season:
Trump's next Manhattan court date is Dec. 4, and prosecutors asked the judge to set a trial in January — the month before the Iowa caucuses.
Charges in two other probes targeting Trump — an election-interference investigation in Georgia, and the federal investigation of his handling of classified documents — are possible as early as summer, if prosecutors want to complete the trials before the 2024 election.
Why it matters: Trump could be facing a criminal trial — maybe more than one — just as the presidential campaign heats up, Axios' Sam Baker writes.
State of play: Yesterday's indictment is strengthening Trump so far in the Republican primary — so much so that some rivals may wind up gun-shy about entering.
But the months of legal drama could further discredit him with general-election swing voters.
Between the lines: The lengthy schedule laid out yesterday by Judge Juan Merchan raises the possibility that the New York trial might not even be the first one Trump faces.
The Justice Department's probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents — potentially the most serious legal threat he’s facing — appears to be gathering steam and turning up new evidence.
The Justice Department also is investigating Trump's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Fulton County, Ga., prosecutors are weighing whether to file charges after a grand jury investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's election results in 2020.
Axios' Erin Doherty snapped this photo of dozens of supporters lining the bridge to Palm Beach, Fla., at 8:10 p.m., shortly before Trump began speaking at Mar-a-Lago. Photo: Erin Doherty/Axios
Any combination of charges, motions, hearings and trials in those cases would keep Trump preoccupied — and fuel accusations that any prosecutions of him heading into an election year were motivated by politics.
Trump's supporters have expressed confidence that he’ll be able to paint himself as the victim of an overzealous prosecutor in the New York case, and turn criminal charges into a net political positive.
But multiple trials, in multiple jurisdictions and for multiple alleged crimes, would make that a harder sell — even before accounting for the risk of a potential guilty verdict.
The networks gave Trump's motorcade the O.J. white Bronco treatment yesterday for the drive from Trump Tower to the courthouse in Lower Manhattan. Screenshot: ABC News
Get the latest ... Read the indictment and Statement of Facts.” [Axios]
Trump's "never Trump" shield
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg displayed this chart at a news conference yesterday afternoon after Trump left the courthouse. Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, as big a Trump critic as there is in the Republican Party, issued a statement saying the former president is ‘unfit for office’ — but that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ‘has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda’:
‘The prosecutor's overreach sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing political opponents and damages the public’s faith in our justice system.’
Why it matters: Bragg's legal theory is complex and hasn't been fully explained — giving Trump cover from some of his biggest critics, who lambasted the case as shaky and wide open to defense challenges.
An even harsher critic than Romney — former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, now a CNN analyst, who was fired by Trump hours before retirement — said the indictment ‘landed like a dud ... an unimpressive document.’
"Commentators across the spectrum are saying: 'Boy, there's really not much in here. Raises all kinds of questions about the legal theory behind this case. They're gonna have a tough time, facing motions to dismiss,'" McCabe said.
Today's N.Y. Post cover
William Barr — Trump's former attorney general, who has called election-fraud claims by his former boss ‘all bull---" — said on Fox News before the indictment was unsealed that it appears to be "a pathetically weak case.’
Pay attention to this: Wisconsin flips court
Janet Protasiewicz celebrates last night in Milwaukee. Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
“Wisconsin, an increasingly red state in recent years, is on track to lose conservative abortion and redistricting wins.
Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz was elected to Wisconsin's Supreme Court last night, giving the key swing state's highest court a liberal majority that could potentially expand abortion rights there, Axios' Oriana González reports.
Sign of the times: She ran as an overtly political figure, boasting about abortion views — a big break from the traditional sole emphasis on the law.
What's happening: The seven-member Wisconsin Supreme Court has had a conservative majority since 2008.
It's poised to decide in the next few years the constitutionality of a 19th century abortion ban that was cited to restrict access to the procedure in the state after the fall of Roe v. Wade.
By the numbers: The contest, with over $40 million in spending, was the most expensive judicial election in American history.” [Axios]
Progressive upset in Chicago
Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson celebrates last night. Photo: Paul Beaty/AP
“Brandon Johnson, a progressive, upset moderate Paul Vallas last night to win Chicago's mayoral election, which focused heavily on crime and education, Axios' Justin Kaufmann and Monica Eng write from the Windy City.
Why it matters: The win signals another leftward shift in the city's politics, where a progressive political movement has been gaining strength among voters in recent years.
Zoom in: The result reflects the power of the Chicago Teachers Union, whose early support for Johnson catapulted the former teacher and union organizer from an unknown candidate to mayor-elect.
Johnson, a Cook County Board commissioner, won backing from other powerful unions and national progressive politicians, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
He'll replace Mayor Lori Lightfoot, another Democrat who was elected as a progressive, but lost in the first round.
The other side: Vallas, the February frontrunner backed by establishment Democrats and even some Republicans, ran a campaign focused on using police to combat the city's high violent crime rate.” [Axios]
Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen announces 2024 reelection bid
No Republican challengers have yet announced plans to take on Rosen.
Rosen’s reelection announcement was anticipated. | John Locher/AP Photo
“Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen announced Wednesday that she will seek reelection in the Nevada Senate race ahead of a challenging 2024 Senate map.
‘Nevada is always a battleground, and this Senate race will be one of the toughest in the country,’ Rosen said in a video announcement. ‘What happens in Nevada in 2024 could once again decide control of the Senate.’
Twenty Democrats and three independents are up for reelection in 2024.
Rosen’s reelection announcement was anticipated as the Nevada senator said before the midterms that she was ‘all in’ and was ‘definitely running.’ Rosen ousted a GOP incumbent in 2018 and prior to that was a former synagogue president.
In the announcement video, Rosen highlighted issues such as ‘lowering costs for the middle class, defending abortion rights, tackling the climate crisis and protecting Social Security and Medicare.’
‘I’ve worked with both parties to solve problems and always focused on making a difference in people’s lives,’ Rosen said in the video.
No Republican challengers have yet announced plans to take on Rosen.” [POLITICO]
“Rep. Tricia Cotham cited her treatment by fellow Democrats as her motivation for defecting, saying they ‘made it very clear they do not want me.’ Her decision would allow Republicans to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on key issues like abortion.” [Washington Post]
Stacey Abrams to join Howard University in role focused on race, politics
The activist, author and former gubernatorial candidate will take an endowed chair at the HBCU
“Stacey Abrams, the former two-time candidate for Georgia governor, voting rights activist and author, is joining the faculty of Howard University, the historically Black college in the nation’s capital announced Wednesday.
Abrams will be the inaugural Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics. She expects to start the multiyear appointment in September and will travel some to D.C. but remain based in Georgia.
‘We are entering an inflection point in American politics where the conversation of race and Black politics will be a central facet,’ Abrams said, ‘and having the chance to help guide part of the conversation for young people who are studying at Howard University is an exceptional opportunity.’
Howard President Wayne A.I. Frederick said the appointment speaks to Walters’s legacy around the topics of Black politics and the role politics plays in African American life. ‘Stacey Abrams epitomizes that in our contemporary experience, in our society.’
‘The work she has been doing on voter registration and voting irregularities, especially in Georgia but across the country, speaks to a lot of what Ronald Walters embodied. This appointment is extremely important for our students,’ he said, adding that he hopes it will help them create solutions to those problems.
Walters, a leading scholar of politics and race who was a professor at Howard for 25 years, organized one of the country’s first lunch-counter sit-ins in Kansas in 1958 and decades later advised Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaigns. ‘His focus on African American leadership has shaped so much of how we have seen leaders engage over the last 30 years,’ Abrams said.
Abrams’s new role is the latest in a string of high-profile hires for Howard in recent years. In 2021, Ta-Nehisi Coates, the writer whose work has earned him a MacArthur ‘genius grant’ and a National Book Award and led to a congressional hearing on reparations for slavery, joined the faculty, along with Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. The award-winning actress and director Phylicia Rashad was named dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts.
‘We’re going to be the answer to societal issues,’ Frederick said. ‘We’re going to hire public intellectuals who will bring the type of discourse’ to campus that will inform and inspire students to solve problems.
Howard students have activism embedded in their DNA, he said. ‘We want to make sure they are good advocates, they understand the issues, that they’re going to be in positions to help make the laws, help to change the laws, but that they are educated in what needs to be changed and why and how to change it. We want them fully equipped to be politically active.’
Abrams, who is 49, has experience as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, Spelman College in Atlanta, and said she has an ‘extraordinarily strong’ relationship with the HBCU and its former president, Johnnetta Cole, a mentor to her. She also has strong ties to the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a master’s degree in public affairs, and Yale University, where she went to law school.
But Howard is located in a powerful hub of influence in many fields, she said. ‘Washington, D.C. is an essential part of how we protect democracy, how we think about social policy, how we challenge norms,’ Abrams said. ‘And Howard University is a crucible for how we can engage all of those pieces. And so when they approached me, I was excited.’
Abrams will be using the endowed chair for a variety of things, Frederick said, ‘everything from teaching students to holding workshops and symposia … and also collaborate with other faculty members as we conduct research about these critical issues as well.’
The creation of the endowed chair was first announced in 2020 when Ronald Walters’s wife, Patricia Turner Walters, gave the university the couple’s collection of African American art valued at more than $2.5 million. The artwork is now on display at the Howard University Gallery of Art. Ronald Walters died in 2010.
In an interview this week, Abrams did not rule out running for office again but said that was not her focus at the moment.
Abrams became nationally known for energizing reluctant voters and building support for Democratic candidates with intensive efforts aimed at both rural and urban areas. Some presidential candidates sought out her expertise in voter mobilization in recent years, and she was considered a likely vice-presidential candidate for Joe Biden.
In 2018, Abrams lost by less than 2 percent of the vote when she sought to become the country’s first Black female governor. In November, Abrams lost her rematch to the incumbent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. She had previously served as Democratic leader of the Georgia General Assembly.
Abrams said she has carved out a career that has included public policy, political leadership, social justice, activism, organizing and listening, as well as work in business, in entertainment and for the environment.
She has practiced tax law for a large firm, co-founded several businesses, served as deputy city attorney for the city of Atlanta, launched several nonprofit groups and written more than a dozen books.
She said she works in the for-profit, nonprofit and public sectors, often simultaneously, because they are inextricably linked.
She plans to bring a practical approach to politics and policy to the classroom. ‘People don’t care about your politics,’ she said. ‘They care about their lives.’” [Washington Post]
Abortion
“Florida's state Senate this week passed a six-week abortion ban, igniting protests at the state capitol that resulted in several arrests. The bill, which still needs to pass the state's Republican-led House, comes one year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week ban into law. The new legislation is drawing some attention to the conservative credentials of DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, but has been met with outrage by state Democrats, two of whom were arrested during the protests. The legislation underscores the ongoing efforts across the country to restrict access to abortion following the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Other Republican-led states have also pursued six-week abortion bans that have been met with legal challenges.” [CNN]
“Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says his state has stockpiled three years' worth of abortion pills in what he calls "an insurance policy" in case a judge orders them off the market. The University of Washington has an additional 10,000 doses, or about enough for a fourth year. The federal judge is expected to rule any day on a case looking at the FDA's approval of Mifepristone, which is used in combination with another drug to induce some first-trimester abortions.” [NPR]
Nicola Sturgeon's husband Peter Murrell arrested in SNP finance probe
Image caption,
“Mr Murrell has been married to Nicola Sturgeon since 2010
The husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has been arrested in connection with an investigation into Scottish National Party finances.
Peter Murrell, 58, is being questioned after being taken into police custody on Wednesday morning.
Police Scotland said officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses as part of the investigation.
Mr Murrell resigned as the party's chief executive last month, a post he had held since 1999.
He has been married to Ms Sturgeon since 2010.” [BBC]
Camilla will be queen
Photo: Buckingham Palace via AP
Above is the invitation for the coronation of King Charles III on May 6.
“For the first time, his wife is officially identified as Queen Camilla. Until now, she has been described as queen consort.
Why it matters: The new title reflects the remarkable transformation of a woman once derided as a homewrecker because of her role in the breakdown of Charles' marriage to the late Princess Diana, AP reports.
Camilla is given equal billing on the ornate, medieval-style invitations, which will be sent to 2,000+ guests.
President Biden won't attend. He talked with King Charles yesterday and said First Lady Jill Biden will represent the U.S.
Biden said he wants to meet with the king in the U.K. at a future date.” [Axios]
Tesla loses market
Data: S&P Global. Chart: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals
“Electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 7% of new vehicle registrations in the U.S. in January, up from 4.1% in January 2022 — another sign that the EV transition is gaining momentum.
Why it matters: EVs aren't just for early adopters anymore, transportation correspondent Joann Muller writes in Axios What's Next.
As the overall EV pie grows, Tesla's market share continues to shrink:
Since January 2022, Tesla's share of the EV market fell from 72% to 54% — and it will likely slide below 50% in the next month or two, says Tom Libby, associate director of industry analysis at S&P Global Mobility.
What's happening: With broader selection and some signs of moderating prices, mainstream car buyers are increasingly turning their EV curiosity into purchases.
At the end of 2022, 47 electric models were for sale in the U.S., up from 33 the prior year.
Between the lines: Axios has been tracking the historic shift away from gasoline using vehicle registration data from S&P Global Mobility.
EVs made up 5.6% of all new U.S. car registrations in 2022.
That's up from 3.1% in 2021 and 1.8% in 2020 — but still way behind China and Europe.
Reality check: Less than 1% of the 279 million cars and light trucks on American roads are electric.
Even in California, the country's leading EV market, they represent just 2.6% of all registered automobiles.” [Axios]
Walmart's automation projection
An order picker scans a lime at the Walmart Supercenter in North Bergen, N.J., in February. Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
“Walmart — the nation's largest retailer and private employer — announced that by the end of FY 2026, 65% of stores will be serviced by automation as part of a ‘greater use of data, more intelligent software and automation.’
Why it matters: The result will be more ‘roles that require less physical labor but have a higher rate of pay,’ Walmart said yesterday as an investor event opened in Tampa.
CEO Doug McMillon said Walmart will ‘improve our operating margin through productivity advancements.’
Walmart said it ‘anticipates increased throughput per person, due to the automation while maintaining or even increasing its number of associates as new roles are created.’
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that McMillon plans to remain CEO for at least three more years.” [Axios]
SUV recall
“Volkswagen is recalling 143,000 of its Atlas SUVs due to a ‘sporadic’ issue detected in some passenger-side airbags that can switch the sensor off under certain conditions. Until the issue can be corrected, VW is advising owners to avoid letting people ride in the passenger seat. While it's still unclear what's causing the problem, VW investigators were able to determine that it was happening in Atlases built during two specific time periods. The vehicles being recalled are all model year 2018 through 2021 Atlas and model year 2020 Atlas Cross Sport SUVs. The company said it is unaware of any injuries that might have resulted from the problem, but is notifying vehicle owners via mail as a safety precaution.” [CNN]
“High School Musical 2” in the “Got Milk?” campaign.Jason Merritt/FilmMagic, via Getty Images
The Not Milk generation
“You may remember the ads from the ’90s and 2000s: celebrities such as David Beckham and Britney Spears sporting white mustaches above the words ‘Got Milk?’ For many young people today, the answer to that question is: no.
‘Nobody drinks regular milk on purpose nowadays,’ Masani Bailey, 30, told The Times.
The dairy industry has started a new campaign to win over Gen Z, employing Olympic athletes and video game celebrities to hype the benefits of dairy. ‘We have to reclaim milk’s mojo,’ one industry executive said.” [New York Times]
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
“A defense: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark said that the L.S.U. star Angel Reese should not be criticized for how she celebrated in front of her during Sunday’s title game.
A new team: The National Women’s Soccer League announced an expansion franchise in the Bay Area, spearheaded by former women’s soccer stars, including Brandi Chastain.” [New York Times]
‘Lives Lived: Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou trained to be a concert pianist before becoming a nun. Years later, her recordings gained fans worldwide. She died at 99.’ [New York Times]
Catan board game creator, Klaus Teuber, dies at 70
By The Associated Press
FILE - Klaus Teuber, a dental technician from Darmstadt, presents his game "The Settlers of Catan", Friday, Sept. 29, 1995, in Frankfurt, Germany. Teuber, creator of the hugely popular Catan board game in which players compete to build settlements on a fictional island, passed away on April 1, 2023 after a short and serious illness, according to a family statement. He was 70. (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer, File)
“Klaus Teuber, creator of the hugely popular Catan board game in which players compete to build settlements on a fictional island, has died after a brief illness, according to a family statement. He was 70.
The board game, originally called The Settlers of Catan when introduced in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, has sold tens of millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languages. It has spawned dozens of spinoffs and new editions, including electronic versions, not to mention products related to the game….” Read more at AP News