Evelyn Reynolds

In 2000, midway through his 24 years as a US senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, who has died aged 82 following complications from a fall, was chosen as Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election, becoming America’s first, and still only, major-party Jewish vice-presidential candidate. That moment was a peak in a career that arced from the liberal left of the Democratic party to the embrace of Republicans.He identified as a bipartisan centrist, liberal domestically and conservative on foreign policy. The Republican Jewish Coalition chairman Norm Coleman said Lieberman “put principle over politics”, but many of his early Democratic supporters found his later move rightward anathema.Lieberman was the epitome of Connecticut’s unique politics. The small state was finely balanced between the two main parties in his youth, but the presence of John Bailey as state party “boss” and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) gave it undue influence, which declined even as the state grew steadily more liberal.View image in fullscreenBorn in Stamford, Joe was the son of children of Jewish immigrants. His father, Henry, owned a liquor store, and his mother, Marcia (nee Manger), was a homemaker. From Stamford high school, in 1960 Joe went to Yale University, which then maintained a Jewish quota. He became editor of the Yale Daily News, and eventually was “tapped” by Yale’s top secret society, Skull and Bones. Instead, he joined the “open” Elihu Club.In 1963, influenced by Yale’s chaplain, William Sloane Coffin, he led a student contingent to Mississippi, working first-hand to register black voters in the still segregated south. He also interned for Connecticut’s liberal Jewish senator, Abraham Ribicoff. There, he met another intern, Betty Haas; they married in 1965, by which time he had graduated with a degree in politics and economics and entered Yale Law School.Lieberman wrote his undergraduate thesis on John Bailey, and, after interning for him at the DNC, turned that thesis into a book, The Power Broker (1966). He described Bailey as “a competent centrist who views political issues as a technician, not an ideologue” – a template for his own political approach.With the Vietnam war dividing the country, Lieberman eventually supported Robert Kennedy after he entered the presidential race, following Lyndon Johnson’s withdrawal in the face of a strong showing by the anti-war Democrat Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire primary. But after Kennedy’s assassination, and Hubert Humphrey’s loss to Richard Nixon, Lieberman joined McCarthy’s Connecticut campaign chief, Joe Duffey, to form the caucus of Connecticut Democrats.In 1970 Duffey failed to enter the US Senate when the Democratic vote was split, but Lieberman was elected to the state Senate, and swiftly moved back toward the party’s mainstream, serving 10 years and becoming majority leader.He ran for Congress in 1980, but the Republican Larry DeNardis branded him a “tax and spend” liberal, and rode Ronald Reagan’s coat tails to an upset win. Lieberman would never again be outflanked from the right.When he and Betty divorced in 1981, he cited the demands of political life and his becoming “more religiously observant” as the causes. Soon afterwards, he met Hadassah Freilich, born in Prague to two Holocaust survivors, and also recently divorced. They married within a year. She worked on health and pharmaceutical issues for Lehman Brothers, Pfizer, and lobby groups including Hill & Knowlton.View image in fullscreenIn 1983, Lieberman was elected Connecticut’s attorney general. Five years later, he won Lowell Weicker’s Senate seat in a major upset. Weicker was a liberal Republican, and Lieberman’s campaign benefited from the endorsement of the conservative journalist William F Buckley (another former Yale Daily News editor) and his even further-right brother, New York Senator James Buckley.Re-elected in 1994 with a record 67% of the vote, Lieberman soon was chairing the “moderate” Democratic Leadership Council, where he took a very public stance against the immorality of President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. In 2000, Gore chose him as running mate, partly to distance himself from Clinton, and partly because Lieberman might be able to pull the Jewish vote in the key state of Florida. This Lieberman did, but when the US supreme court shut down Florida’s recount of heavily contested ballots, they gave the state and the election to George W Bush. Despite some criticism back home about running simultaneously for his Senate seat and the vice-presidency, which Johnson had done, Lieberman won re-election easily.After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Lieberman called for the creation of a Department of Homeland Security; he served on the Senate’s committee and chaired it when Democrats held the majority. In 2004, he ran in the early presidential primaries, but stopped his candidacy after a series of disappointing results.By 2006, opposition to Bush’s war was such that, despite receiving the Senate nomination from the party, he lost a primary forced by the anti-war candidate Ned Lamont – an echo of Duffey and Lieberman 36 years previously. But Lieberman ran instead as an independent, and took 70% of the Republican vote (their official candidate registered less then 10%) to win re-election handily. However, many of his Democratic colleagues had failed to back him against the party’s own candidate.By now, his closest allies in the Senate were Republicans John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. When McCain got the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, he wanted Lieberman as his vice-president, but was persuaded that “conservatives would be pissed as hell” by such bipartisanship; he chose Sarah Palin to mollify them. Nevertheless, Lieberman endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and spoke at the Republican convention.After the election, the Democrats held 59 Senate seats, plus Lieberman’s 60th, which would allow them to overcome Republican vetoes. In return, the Democrats let him keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee. His was the vote that passed Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act, but the price of his support was ditching the “public option”, creating a government agency to provide health insurance. He was criticised heavily because of his own support from the insurance industry – still strong in Connecticut – and his wife’s career in private medicine. As an “observant Jew”, Lieberman would still attend the Senate on the Sabbath, though he would walk, not take transport. He was a strong supporter of Israel, receiving the Defender of Israel award in 2009 from Christians United For Israel.In 2012 he retired from the US Senate. He remained neutral in the presidential race between Obama and Mitt Romney, though he endorsed both Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in their campaigns against Donald Trump. Lieberman moved to New York and joined Kasowitz, Benson, Torres and Friedman, a law firm whose clients included Trump, and the rightwing American Enterprise Institute. In May 2017, after Trump fired James Comey as head of the FBI, Lieberman appeared to be Trump’s pick as a replacement, but when Trump dithered, Lieberman withdrew his name from consideration.Lieberman was a founder of the No Labels party, dedicated to finding a bipartisan alternative to either Biden or Trump in the 2024 presidential election. A week before his death, he penned a piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he criticised Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who alleged the “political survival” of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “taken precedence over the interests of Israel”. He called it “meaningless, gratuitous and offensive”, saying it would harm “Israel’s credibility among its allies and enemies alike”.He is survived by Hadassah; their daughter, Hana; his son, Matthew, and daughter, Rebecca, from his first marriage; and his stepson, Ethan, from his second. More

A Colorado Republican panel made the surprising decision on Thursday night to choose a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be congressman Ken Buck’s likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Lauren Boebert’s bid for another term in Congress.Lopez will now run as the Republican candidate in the 25 June special election after Buck’s resignation at the same time GOP primary candidates are vying to be the congressman’s successor.The stakes, however, were far higher than keeping Buck’s seat in the US House warmed by a Republican.Of the nine competitors who jostled for the special election nomination, seven also are running in the primary race against Boebert. The far-right representative jumped into the race after a near loss in the seat she now holds.While Lopez is likely to win in the dark red district, he will be a placeholder and plans to step down after the general election winner is sworn into office in January. For two of Boebert’s primary opponents who came in second and third, the special election candidacy would have been a boon.They would have run in two different elections for the same seat, garnering more attention, media coverage and fundraising opportunities. That would have boosted their odds in the primary race where they are otherwise eclipsed by Boebert’s near household name and hefty campaign chest.That tension was palpable throughout the six-hour meeting with six votes on Thursday, which winnowed the field in the special election for Buck’s seat to two options, Lopez and former state senator Jerry Sonnenberg, one of Boebert’s stiffest primary competitors.View image in fullscreenThroughout the evening, there were accusations Buck had intended to kneecap Boebert’s campaign by stepping down early and giving one of her opponents a potential leg up. Boebert pushed the claim, saying in a previous statement: “The establishment concocted a swampy backroom deal to try to rig an election.”Buck denied that was his intention.Boebert sent a letter to delegates before the meeting encouraging them to choose a placeholder, so as not to “influence the regular primary election in a way that would taint the entire process and give this candidate an unfair leg up”.That riled her primary opponents, including the former state senator Ted Harvey.On stage, Harvey lashed back at those who had voted for Lopez after landing the third-most votes.“They didn’t do it to support the candidate Greg Lopez, they did it to support their own candidates who weren’t here tonight. That’s not just putting us at risk, but it’s putting our nation at risk,” Harvey said.Harvey then asked his supporters to throw their weight behind Sonnenberg, one of Harvey’s primary opponents. Sonnenberg barely lost to Lopez in the final vote and seemed to shrug off the loss.“This is not a game for the weak. I understand completely, they made a decision,” he said, gesturing toward the mingling crowd.Lopez is a former mayor of Parker, Colorado, who ran two unsuccessful bids for governor and said he would “do the best job that I can and represent this state to the best of my ability”.This helps keep the field clear for Boebert, who has built a far-right name with a ferocious political style and remains a known, if divisive, quantity among conservatives nationwide.While Boebert has made headlines with scandals, including a tape of her groping and vaping with a date in a Denver theater, she also has garnered endorsements from Donald Trump and a key supporter of the former president, the House speaker, Mike Johnson.Those votes of confidence will probably go far for Boebert in the new district, an expansive sweep of Colorado’s plains where voters overwhelmingly supported Trump in 2020 and her opponents are lesser-known, local Republicans.Boebert moved east to join the race in this district at the end of last year, after she nearly lost her previous, Republican-leaning seat to a Democratic candidate in 2022.The option to district-hop was opened to Boebert after Buck announced last year he would not run for re-election, citing his party’s handling of Trump.Buck abruptly left Congress on 22 March, pointing to the “bickering and nonsense” he said now pervades the US Capitol. More

Senate Democrats including majority leader Chuck Schumer have today called for the federal courts’ policymaking body to stand firm against conservative attacks on its new rule intended to curb the practice of “judge shopping”.The term is a reference to the practice of litigants suing over government policies in certain jurisdictions where federal judges may be sympathetic to their cause. An example of this may be seen in the lawsuit by a conservative group attempting to remove the abortion medication mifepristone from pharmacies, which was first filed before a Donald Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas who previously worked for a rightwing Christian law firm.Earlier this month, the Judicial Conference of the United States announced a new policy that “addresses all civil actions that seek to bar or mandate state or federal actions, ‘whether by declaratory judgment and/or any form of injunctive relief.’ In such cases, judges would be assigned through a district-wide random selection process.”The policy drew attacks from Republicans including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who described it as “half-baked”.In a letter sent today to the Judicial Conference’s secretary, Schumer and eight other Democratic senators specifically singled out the mifepristone case, and wrote:
This judge-shopping tactic is more pernicious than it might appear. Even though there are only a few courts subject to this issue, single district judges can issue rulings that thwart congressional statutes and stymie agency actions on a nationwide basis. That means certain plaintiffs are motivated to file their cases in divisions where they know the judge hearing the case is aligned with their goals.
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The anti-democratic practice of judge shopping erodes the rule of law and the public’s trust in the judiciary. Your new policy rebalances our court system and will help to restore Americans’ confidence in judicial rulings. We encourage you to defend it as courts across the country implement it.
Senate Democrats feuded with their Republican counterparts over the practice of “judge shopping”, which critics say a conservative group used to get their challenge to abortion medication mifepristone before the supreme court – though the justices sounded skeptical. In a letter sent today to the body overseeing federal courts, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer and eight colleagues urged them to stand firm against Republican attacks on a new policy to cut down on the practice. But there is one thing the top lawmakers in Congress agree on: Russia’s imperative to free jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested one year ago today. Joe Biden joined the calls for his release, while the Journal made a renewed push to raise public awareness of his plight.Here’s what else happened:
Biden raised big bucks at a fundraiser in New York City last night, but faced familiar disruptions from pro-Palestine protesters.
Donald Trump also has plans to rake in money, with an event scheduled for next week in Florida.
The Biden administration has reportedly approved another shipment of weapons to Israel despite growing protests over the death toll in Gaza.
A proposal to free jailed Americans, Gershkovich included, and Alexei Navalny fell apart after the Russian dissident’s death last month, the Journal reports.
Trump and eight co-defendants reportedly appealed a judge’s ruling allowing Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the Georgia election subversion case.
This year’s presidential election is set to be like no other, because one of the two major candidates is facing criminal charges in two states and at the federal level.But whether any of Donald Trump’s cases will be resolved before election day remains a major unanswered question. One of the indictments got its trial date set this week, but the rest are mired in pre-trial motions. Have a look at our explainer for an idea of where things stand:Donald Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case have appealed a judge’s ruling allowing Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the case, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:Earlier this month, the group argued that Willis should be removed from the case because she had a conflict of interest in hiring as a special counsel Nathan Wade, who she had had a romantic relationship with.Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis could stay as prosecutor, but only if Wade quit, which he did. However, McAfee also allowed Trump and the others to appeal his ruling, which they have now done.Needless to say, the appeal could further delay the trial of one of the four criminal indictments Trump is facing, potentially leaving it to be settled after the November presidential election. Here’s more on that:The Biden administration’s decision to supply Israel with more weapons comes as the state department said famine conditions “quite possibly” are present in parts of northern Gaza. Here’s more about that, from the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont:Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.The US comments add to a growing and powerful consensus that Israel’s military offensive in the Palestinian coastal territory has triggered a famine.The number of trucks distributing aid in south and central Gaza had nearly reached 200 a day, an increase on a month ago, but more were needed, the state department official said.“You need to address the full nutrition needs of the population of Gaza of all ages. That means more than just that minimal survival level feeding,” the official said, adding that malnutrition, and infant and young-child mortality was a significant, growing problem.“It has to be addressed by additional assistance coming and the right kind of assistance coming in,” he said.Joe Biden signed off on another transfer to Israel of military jets and bombs, including 2,000-pound munitions linked to devastating strikes in Gaza, despite growing concerns among Democrats of the civilian toll in the country’s campaign against Hamas, the Washington Post reports.The Biden administration has repeatedly sent arms to Israel following Hamas’s 7 October attack, and continues to press Congress to approve legislation authorizing $14bn in military aid. The support has sparked a backlash towards the president from protesters concerned over the death toll in Gaza, where 32,000 people have died following Israel’s invasion.Here’s more on the weapons transfer, from the Post:
The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The 2,000 pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.
The development underscores that while rifts have emerged between the United States and Israel over the war’s conduct, the Biden administration views weapons transfers as off-limits when considering how to influence the actions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We have continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself,” said a White House official. “Conditioning aid has not been our policy.”
Some Democrats, including allies of President Biden, say the U.S. government has a responsibility to withhold weapons in the absence of an Israeli commitment to limit civilian casualties during a planned operation in Rafah, a final Hamas stronghold, and ease restrictions on humanitarian aid into the enclave, which is on the brink of famine.
“The Biden administration needs to use their leverage effectively and, in my view, they should receive these basic commitments before greenlighting more bombs for Gaza,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in an interview. “We need to back up what we say with what we do.”
The Israeli government declined to comment on the authorizations.
Georgia state legislators have changed laws that will make it easier to challenge a voter’s registration. The Guardian’s George Chidi reports:Georgia legislators changed state election laws in the midnight hours of Friday, widening the criteria to challenge a voter’s registration, removing bar codes from printed ballots and increasing the documentation local elections officials must produce to certify elections.The proposals will take effect 1 July, assuming the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, signs the legislation into law.Voting rights groups expressed their highest concern about how Senate Bill 189 potentially expands challenges to voter registrations. Conservative advocates have been issuing large-scale systematic challenges to voters – dozens or hundreds at a time in some districts, like Atlanta’s Fulton and DeKalb counties. Each challenge under existing law has to be considered on its individual merits under current law, which can exhaust the resources of local election officials, voting rights advocates argue.For the full story, click here:Joe Biden said on Friday that he will visit Baltimore next week, Reuters reports.Biden’s expected visit follows the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this week after the Singaporean-flagged cargo ship Dali crashed into it.Six men, who were filling potholes on the bridge, are presumed dead. The bodies of two of the men who were trapped in their vehicle were recovered from the Patapsco River on Wednesday.The authorities identified the men as Alejandro Hernández Fuentes, a 35-year-old originally from Mexico who was living in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and was living in Dundalk, Maryland.Democratic National Committee rapid response director Alex Floyd issued the following statement on Friday in response to Michael Whatley’s appointment as the new chair of the Republican National Committee:
Donald Trump hand picked Michael Whatley to take over the RNC because he parroted Trump’s baseless lies about the 2020 election, and Whatley is returning the favor by making election denialism a key litmus test to join the GOP.
Putting an election denying extremist like Whatley in charge of the RNC makes it clear that the future of our democracy is on the ballot in this election – and the American people will once again reject Trump and his MAGA allies this November.
Senate Democrats are feuding with their Republican counterparts over the practice of “judge shopping”, which critics say a conservative group used to get their challenge to abortion medication mifepristone before the supreme court, which nonetheless sounded skeptical. In a letter sent today to the body overseeing federal courts, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer and eight colleagues urged them to stand firm against Republican attacks on a new policy to cut down on the practice. But there is one thing the top lawmakers in Congress agree on: Russia’s imperative to free jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested one year ago today. Joe Biden joined the call for his release, while the Journal made a renewed push to raise public awareness of his plight.Here’s what else has happened today:
Biden raised big bucks at a fundraiser in New York City last night, but faced familiar disruptions from pro-Palestine protesters.
Donald Trump also has plans to rake in money with an event scheduled for next week in Florida.
A proposal to free jailed Americans, Gershkovich included, and Alexei Navalny fell apart after the Russian dissident’s death last month, the Journal reports.
The Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, is not happy with Democrats or the Judicial Conference for the attempt to limit “judge shopping”.McConnell has been transformative when it comes to the federal courts. As Senate leader in 2016, he famously blocked Barack Obama from filling a supreme court vacancy, giving Donald Trump the opportunity to appoint three justices – all of whom have generally signed on to conservative decisions, including the overturning of Roe v Wade.The Judicial Conference’s new rule does not specifically deal with the supreme court, but rather the path that lawsuits take to get there. But in a floor speech earlier this month, before the Senate departed for its ongoing recess, McConnell criticized Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer for supporting the new policy.“Democrats are salivating at the possibility of shutting down access to justice in the venues favored by conservatives,” he said. McConnell went on:
If Republicans see a federal judiciary that is using its procedural independence to wade into political disputes, any incentive we may have to defend that procedural independence will vanish, as well.
This was an unforced error by the Judicial Conference. I hope they will reconsider. And I hope district courts throughout the country will instead weigh what is best for their jurisdictions, not half-baked “guidance” that just does Washington Democrats’ bidding.
While Democrats are upset over how a conservative group used “judge shopping” to pursue a lawsuit against abortion medication mifepristone, the Guardian’s Carter Sherman reports that most supreme court justices did not appear ready to decide the case in their favor during arguments earlier this week:The supreme court on Tuesday seemed skeptical of arguments made by anti-abortion doctors asking it to roll back the availability of mifepristone, a drug typically used in US medication abortion. The arguments were part of the first major abortion case to reach the justices since a 6-3 majority ruled in 2022 to overturn Roe v Wade and end the national right to abortion.The rightwing groups that brought the case argued that the justices should roll back measures taken since 2016 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand the drug’s availability. A decision in the anti-abortion doctors’ favor would apply nationwide, including in states that protect abortion access, and would probably make the drug more difficult to acquire.Medication abortion now accounts for almost two-thirds of abortions performed in the US.Much of Tuesday’s arguments focused on whether the anti-abortion doctors who sued the FDA, a coalition known as the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, have standing, or the right to bring the case in the first place. The doctors claim they will suffer harm if they have to treat women who experience complications from mifepristone, an argument the Biden administration, which appealed the case to the court, has rejected as too speculative.Senate Democrats including majority leader Chuck Schumer have today called for the federal courts’ policymaking body to stand firm against conservative attacks on its new rule intended to curb the practice of “judge shopping”.The term is a reference to the practice of litigants suing over government policies in certain jurisdictions where federal judges may be sympathetic to their cause. An example of this may be seen in the lawsuit by a conservative group attempting to remove the abortion medication mifepristone from pharmacies, which was first filed before a Donald Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas who previously worked for a rightwing Christian law firm.Earlier this month, the Judicial Conference of the United States announced a new policy that “addresses all civil actions that seek to bar or mandate state or federal actions, ‘whether by declaratory judgment and/or any form of injunctive relief.’ In such cases, judges would be assigned through a district-wide random selection process.”The policy drew attacks from Republicans including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who described it as “half-baked”.In a letter sent today to the Judicial Conference’s secretary, Schumer and eight other Democratic senators specifically singled out the mifepristone case, and wrote:
This judge-shopping tactic is more pernicious than it might appear. Even though there are only a few courts subject to this issue, single district judges can issue rulings that thwart congressional statutes and stymie agency actions on a nationwide basis. That means certain plaintiffs are motivated to file their cases in divisions where they know the judge hearing the case is aligned with their goals.
…
The anti-democratic practice of judge shopping erodes the rule of law and the public’s trust in the judiciary. Your new policy rebalances our court system and will help to restore Americans’ confidence in judicial rulings. We encourage you to defend it as courts across the country implement it.
Joe Biden may have had a big night of fundraising in New York yesterday, but Donald Trump is looking to outdo him next week, the Guardian’s Joanna Walters and Martin Pengelly report:Joe Biden and Donald Trump are in a new phase of a heavyweight fundraising smackdown as the US president raised a record $25m at a glitzy event with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on Thursday night, while Trump’s Republican campaign claimed it would outdo Biden next week with a $33m event in Florida, according to reports.Biden and his Democratic predecessor headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Clinton at the Radio City Music Hall event, hosted by Mindy Kaling and featuring Lizzo, Queen Latifah and Stephen Colbert.Obama and Biden flew to the city on Air Force One together in a show of unity and Democratic campaign heft as the 2024 election enters an important phase between the main primary season and the summer nominating conventions, which are expected to anoint Biden and Trump as their parties’ candidates.The glittering Democratic fundraiser was punctuated by protests not just outside but also inside the auditorium, as attendees rose at several different moments to shout over the discussion, referencing Biden’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza.“Shame on you, Joe Biden,” one yelled, according to Reuters. More

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released an ad targeting Republicans who supported Nikki Haley in her losing primary against Donald Trump.“If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” the president’s campaign ad says. “Save America. Join us.”The ad shows clips of Trump disparaging Haley, the former South Carolina governor who was ambassador to the United Nations when Trump was president but fought on the longest of his opponents for the Republican nomination this year.Insults quoted include “birdbrain”, “Rino” (Republican in name only), “she’s gone crazy”, “a very angry person”, “not presidential timber” and “she’s gone haywire”.“I don’t need votes” from Haley’s supporters, Trump is shown to say, adding: “I have all the votes we need.”Michael Tyler, communications director for Biden’s campaign, said: “Donald Trump has made it crystal clear he doesn’t want support from voters who cast their ballot for Nikki Haley so let us be equally clear: there is a home for everyone on this campaign who knows Donald Trump cannot be back in the White House.“Joe Biden is building a broad and diverse coalition of voters who want more freedoms not less, who want to protect our democracy, and who want to live in a country that is safe from the chaos, division, and violence that another Donald Trump presidency would bring.”The Biden campaign said it planned to spend more than $1m to air the ad on digital platforms in battleground states, “targeting Nikki Haley voters in predominantly suburban zip codes where she performed well against Trump”.The Biden campaign this week saw encouraging results in many states likely to decide the election, gains that led Simon Rosenberg, an influential Democratic operative, to say the “Biden bump is real”.Biden has also vastly out-raised Trump, including through a high-profile fundraiser in New York City on Thursday, at which the president appeared with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, his most recent Democratic predecessors in the Oval Office.Unnamed Biden officials told the Washington Post senior figures including Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul and campaign co-chair, had spoken to “people in Haley’s orbit”.The question of outreach to anti-Trump Republicans is a perennial one. The new Biden ad landed on the same day as a Politico column in which the influential Washington reporter Jonathan Martin chastised as “political malpractice” a failure to reach out to influential anti-Trump Republicans.Figures cited as ripe for wooing included Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who has ended his flirtation with a third-party run; the former president George W Bush; the former House speaker and vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan; and Mike Pence, Trump’s vice-president whose run for the nomination failed but who sensationally said he would not endorse Trump this year.Another anti-Trump Republican, the Utah senator and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, told Martin: “Biden has not asked for my support. I’m pretty critical of his mess at the border – that should have cooled his jets!”Haley dropped out of the Republican primary after Super Tuesday, 5 March, having won only the minor prizes of Washington DC and Vermont.In her concession speech, she said: “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him and I hope he does that.”Haley’s brother, Mitti Randhawa, recently said Trump had not answered his sister’s “plea”, adding: “Shame on you. You will need them.”Haley has not endorsed Trump and has said she no longer feels bound by a pledge to support the Republican nominee. Her supporters remain a prized commodity. Polling shows them roughly equally split when it comes to choosing Trump or Biden.Haley has won a little more than 21% of votes in the Republican primary so far, with a high point in losing contests of more than 43% in New Hampshire. She fared less well where Democrats and independents could not vote but still highlighted Trump’s vulnerability in his own party.Legally, the former president faces unprecedented jeopardy, including 88 criminal charges and multimillion-dollar penalties in civil suits. Political donations have been funneled into paying legal bills now topping $100m.Politically, Trump must repel Democratic efforts to attract independents and moderates, particularly women opposed to Republican attacks on reproductive rights.After Haley dropped out, Biden said: “Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign.”That campaign now hopes enough of Haley’s supporters will follow Michael Burgess, a South Carolina teacher who recently told the Associated Press: “I will reluctantly vote Biden.“We can survive bad policy, but we cannot survive the destruction of the constitution at the hands of a morally bankrupt dictator lover in Trump who, supported by his congressional Maga minions, would do just that.” More

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are entering a new phase of a heavyweight election fundraising smackdown after the US president raised a record $26m at a glitzy event with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, while Trump’s Republican campaign tried to steal Biden’s thunder by claiming it would outdo him next week with a $33m event.Biden and his Democratic predecessor headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Clinton at the Radio City Music Hall event in New York, hosted by Mindy Kaling and featuring Lizzo and Queen Latifah, while the TV satirist Stephen Colbert interviewed the three men on stage in front of an audience that paid up to $500,000 for a ticket.Obama and Biden flew from Washington to New York on Air Force One together on Thursday in a show of unity and Democratic campaign heft as the 2024 election enters an important phase between the main primary season and the summer nominating conventions, which are expected to anoint Biden and Trump as their parties’ candidates for the November vote.The glittering Democratic fundraiser was punctuated by protests inside the sold-out auditorium, as attendees rose at several different moments to shout over the discussion, referencing Biden’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza.“Shame on you, Joe Biden,” one yelled, according to Reuters.Obama said Biden had “moral clarity” on the Israel issue and was willing to listen to all sides in this debate and find common ground.When a protester inside the theater interrupted Obama, the former president said: “You can’t just talk and not listen … That’s what the other side does.”The protests drew a pledge from Biden to keep working to stop civilian deaths, particularly of children. But he added, “Israel’s existence is at stake.” Hundreds more protested outside in the drizzling rain, many demanding a ceasefire and waving Palestinian flags.On the money raised during the event, which had been estimated at $25m and then came in at a record-breaking $26m for a single campaign event, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul turned Biden campaign co-chair, said: “This historic raise is a show of strong enthusiasm for President Biden and Vice-President [Kamala] Harris and a testament to the unprecedented fundraising machine we’ve built.”But on Friday, it was reported that Trump believes he can out raise the Biden event with a billionaires’ power party at his Mar-a-Lago residence and resort club in Palm Beach, south Florida, on 6 April, where tickets will run from $250,000 to more than $800,000, the Financial Times first reported and Politico later detailed.The Trump campaign’s goal is at least $33m, with featured super-rich American business leaders such as the casino and hotel developer Steve Wynn, the hedge funder John Paulson and Robert Bigelow, a property and aerospace billionaire with an offbeat obsession with the paranormal and UFOs.Trump has been struggling for money and owes hundreds of millions in fines in civil cases he has lost, on top of sky-high legal bills, for which he is paying with funds from donors. Biden’s campaign had $71m in available cash at the end of last month, more than twice as much as Trump, with the Democratic National Committee also swilling with more than double what is in the Republican National Committee’s coffers, the Hill reported.On Thursday, a Trump campaign adviser said the candidate would not be able to match Biden’s totals, blaming the disparity on the Democrat’s “billionaire” supporters and painting a picture of a Trump campaign as being fueled by grassroots, working-class supporters. However, the Trump campaign is suffering from both large and small donor fatigue, CNBC has reported.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAt a wake on Thursday for a police officer shot dead on duty in New York, Trump called for a focus on “law and order” even though he stands to be the first former US president to be a defendant in a criminal trial and is facing a total of 88 charges across four cases, relating to campaign finance impropriety, election interference and hiding classified documents after leaving office.At the Democratic fundraiser, the presidents toggled between humor and campaign talk. Biden lit into Trump, recalling how he pleaded with the then occupant of the White House on 6 January 2021, to “call these people off” when his supporters invaded the US Capitol in an insurrection to try, in vain, to stop the certification of Biden’s victory over him in the 2020 election.“He sat there in the dining room off the Oval Office for several hours and watched [the attack on TV], didn’t do a damn thing,” Biden said.He pointed out how Trump was proud to have tilted the supreme court so that it ruled to take away the national right to abortion, with the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, while Democrats defend reproductive choice, with the vice-president, Kamala Harris, taking a lead on the issue on the campaign trail.Biden also challenged Trump to golf, but only if his rival carried his own bag.Biden, Obama and Clinton ended the night donning Biden’s trademark aviator-style sunglasses.The Associated Press contributed reporting More

Donald Trump is embroiled in a balancing act between several criminal and civil trials, which could cost him millions of dollars and potentially even put him behind bars. On top of that, there’s the small issue of a presidential campaign. So the question is: can he afford to do it all?
This week Jonathan Freedland speaks to Erica Orden, of Politico, to discuss the highs and lows Trump experienced this week, and whether or not he can raise the money to save himself from bankruptcy

How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know More

Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president’s re-election campaign.Such a haul, which Politico called an “NYC money bomb”, will widen Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in fundraising for the November election.Amid improving polling for Biden, the two presidential campaigns recently posted February fundraising figures. Federal filings showed Biden nearly $40m up in cash raised, leading the president’s campaign to taunt their rival as “Broke Don”.On Thursday, a Trump campaign adviser said the candidate won’t be able to match Biden’s totals, blaming the disparity on the Democrat’s “billionaire” supporters and painting a picture of a Trump campaign as being fueled by grassroots, working-class supporters.Obama hitched a ride from Washington to New York aboard Air Force One with Biden. They waved as they descended the plane’s steps at John F Kennedy International airport and got into the motorcade for the ride into midtown Manhattan.The marquee at Radio City Music Hall in midtown Manhattan was lit up and read: “An Evening with Joe Biden Barack Obama Bill Clinton”. NYPD officers lined surrounding streets as part of a heavy security presence for the event.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was up first to warm up the sold-out crowd of about 5,000 supporters. Entertainers, too, had their time on stage. Lizzo belted out her hit About Damn Time and emcee Mindy Kaling joked that it was nice to be in a room with “so many rich people”, adding that she loved that they were supporting a president who “openly” promises to “raise your taxes”.The hours-long fundraiser had different tiers of access depending on a donor’s generosity. The centerpiece was an onstage conversation with the three presidents, moderated by late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert. Other celebrities included Queen Latifah, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele. Tickets sold for as low as $225.The fundraiser was punctuated by protests inside the auditorium, as attendees rose at several different moments to shout over the discussion, referencing Biden’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza.“Shame on you, Joe Biden” one yelled, according to Reuters.Obama said Biden has “moral clarity” on the Israel issue and is willing to listen to all sides in this debate and find common ground.When a protester inside the theater interrupted Obama, the former president snapped back: “You can’t just talk and not listen …That’s what the other side does”On the money raised during the event, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul turned Biden campaign co-chair, said: “This historic raise is a show of strong enthusiasm for President Biden and vice-president [Kamala] Harris and a testament to the unprecedented fundraising machine we’ve built.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“Unlike our opponent, every dollar we’re raising is going to reach the voters who will decide this election – communicating the president’s historic record, his vision for the future and laying plain the stakes of this election. The numbers don’t lie: today’s event is a massive show of force and a true reflection of the momentum to re-elect the Biden-Harris ticket.”Katzenberg’s reference to fundraising meant to “reach the voters” was a barb aimed at Trump. The Republican’s unprecedented legal jeopardy – he faces 88 criminal charges and multimillion-dollar civil penalties – has contributed to controversy over whether campaign donations should be used to pay his legal bills.Trump has appealed to supporters for help. His political operation has been shown to be paying lawyers’ bills. Amid Trump’s takeover of the Republican National Committee, achieved by installing his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair, attempts have been made to stop it contributing to his legal costs.Trump has been widely criticised for failing to mount many campaign events. On Thursday, seeking to boost his hardline law-and-order message, he will attend a wake for a New York police officer killed in the line of duty.Announcing its event with Obama and Clinton, the Biden campaign sought to emphasise the contrast between the president’s strong fundraising and Trump’s struggles.“In contrast to Trump’s cash-strapped campaign,” a statement said, “tonight alone Team Biden-Harris will raise $5m more than the Trump campaign raised in all of February; nearly double what the Trump campaign raised in all of January; more than what the Trump campaign raised in December and January combined; more than double what the RNC has cash on hand – and more than the RNC has raised all year; nearly 60% of what the Trump campaign has cash on hand.” More

Donald Trump’s legal team was in Atlanta to argue that the charges brought by Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis against the former president should be dismissed on first amendment grounds. Other defendants have tried unsuccessfully to make that argument, but Judge Scott McAfee wrapped up the hearing without giving any indication of how he may rule – or, perhaps more importantly, when Trump’s trial will actually start. Speaking of trials, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson sent the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer a letter demanding he get started on homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s impeachment trial as soon as the GOP transmits the charges on 10 April. Schumer’s office said the Senate leader plans to do so, but reports indicate that Democrats are considering voting to dismiss the impeachment articles.Here’s what else happened:
James Comer, one of the House Republican leaders of the attempt to impeach Joe Biden, invited the president to testify before his committee. Don’t expect him to show up.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with Johnson about Ukraine aid, though no breakthrough on authorizing more funds was announced.
Progressive groups have written an open letter asking that Trump receive “a prompt and fair trial” in the New York hush-money case.
Biden called New York City mayor Eric Adams to offer condolences on the death of police officer Jonathan Diller. Trump attended his wake.
The Republican National Committee wants to know whether new hires think the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
James Comer, the Republican House oversight committee chair and one of the leaders of the campaign to impeach Joe Biden, has invited the president to testify at a hearing about his family’s business dealings.Don’t expect the president to take him up on the offer. When Comer announced last week that he planned to send the invitation, a White House spokesman kept their response succinct: “LOL”.Indeed, the Republican attempt to bring charges against Biden for alleged corruption appears to be in trouble, in part because they haven’t actually proven their allegations, and also because some in their party don’t support the effort. Comer has reportedly signaled to potential donors that he may settle for making a criminal referral to the justice department, rather than continuing to push for the president’s impeachment.In a lengthy letter to Biden, Comer proposed that he appear on 16 April:
As the foregoing demonstrates, the Committee has compiled evidence -bank records, contemporaneous electronic communications, and witness testimony – showing your awareness, acquiescence, and participation in self-enrichment schemes of your family members.
As Chairman of the Committee, in addition to requesting that you answer the questions posed in this letter, I invite you to participate in a public hearing at which you will be afforded the opportunity to explain, under oath, your involvement with your family’s sources of income and the means it has used to generate it. As you are aware, presidents before you have provided testimony to congressional committees, including President Ford’s testimony before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974.
Then there’s the matter of the Senate. Democrats control it by a margin of just one seat, and their best path to maintaining their majority after next year is by getting Joe Biden and two of their senators representing red states re-elected. One of those two is Jon Tester of Montana, where the Guardian’s Kira Lerner reports the state’s highest court today struck down voting restrictions passed by its Republican government:In a significant win for voting rights, the Montana supreme court on Wednesday struck down four voting restrictions passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2021.In a 125-page opinion, the state’s highest court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the four laws, passed in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, violate the state constitution. The laws had ended same-day voter registration, removed student ID cards as a permissible form of voter ID, prohibited third parties from returning ballots and barred the distribution of mail-in ballots to voters who would turn 18 by election day.After a nine-day trial, the lower court found that the laws would make it harder for some state residents to register to vote and cast a ballot.A spokesperson for the Republican secretary of state, Christi Jacobsen, who appealed the lower court decision in an attempt to get the laws reinstated, said that she was “devastated” by the supreme court decision.“Her commitment to election integrity will not waver by this narrow adoption of judicial activism that is certain to fall on the wrong side of history,” the spokesperson, Richie Melby, wrote in a statement. “State and county election officials have been punched in the gut.”Mike Johnson’s time as House speaker may not last long – the Republican majority is small, and Democrats have the opportunity to flip the chamber back to their control in November. But there are lots of variables that will affect whether they are able to do that, including which congressional maps are used in which states. Today in South Carolina, the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports that Republicans scored a win in an important redistricting case:A federal court will allow South Carolina Republicans to use their congressional map for the 2024 election, it said on Thursday, despite an earlier finding that the same plan discriminates against Black voters. The decision is a big win for Republicans, who were aided by the US supreme court’s slow action on the case.In January 2023, a three-judge panel struck down the state’s first congressional district, which is currently represented by Nancy Mace, a Republican. The judges said legislative Republicans had impermissibly used race when they redrew it after the 2020 census. As part of an effort to make it more solidly Republican, lawmakers removed 30,000 Black voters from the district into a neighboring one. Republicans argued that they moved the voters to achieve partisan ends, which is legal. The district was extremely competitive in 2020, but Mace easily won the redrawn version in 2022.The ruling is a significant boon to House Republicans, who are trying to keep a razor-thin majority in Congress’s lower chamber this year.In a post on X, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with Republican House speaker Mike Johnson, who has refused to say whether he will allow a vote on another round of military aid for the country.Zelenskiy said he updated Johnson about the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, and continued: “In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital. We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor.”Here’s more:Democrats around the US have enjoyed startling electoral successes through campaigning on Republican threats to women’s reproductive rights, just this week even taking a state seat in deep red Alabama.Marilyn Lands won that race after, in the words of our report, making “Alabama’s abortion ban and access to contraception and in vitro fertilization (IVF) central to her campaign, speaking openly about her own previous abortion experience in a TV ad that featured her saying that it was ‘shameful that today women have fewer freedoms than I had two decades ago’”.Today, Lucas Kunce, a Missouri Democrat hoping for an upset win over Josh Hawley, a prominent far-right presence in the US Senate, follows suit with a new campaign ad.In the short ad, headlines (including one from the Guardian) about Hawley’s refusal to back legislation protecting IVF and support for an anti-IVF judge appear on screen as Jessica, described as “a Missouri mother”, says:
After years of trying and disappointment and struggle and health scares, I just had this beautiful baby and I held her and I just like knew I was meant to be her mom. Now there are efforts to ban IVF and Josh Hawley got them started. Josh Hawley has proven that he won’t protect ATF and he would let politicians make me a criminal. I want Josh Hawley to look me in the eye and tell me that I can’t have the child that I deserve.
Kunce said: “Jessica and her family matter. Josh Hawley has built his career on a control-obsessed crusade to outlaw reproductive healthcare. It’s now a threat to IVF and to women in Missouri. We can’t risk giving Hawley’s crusade another six years in the US Senate.“This race is going to be about freedom. In Missouri, we’re tired of Big Brother elites like Josh Hawley telling us how to live and criminalising our freedoms.”Hawley’s wife, Erin Hawley, is a prominent lawyer in reproductive rights cases who this week argued before the supreme court that mifepristone, an abortion pill, should be banned.Here’s more on that case, from Melissa Segura and well worth a lunchtime read:Officials at the US Department of Defense are having preliminary “conversations” about how to stabilize Gaza with a peacekeeping force when, at some point, the current conflict between the Israeli government and Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Palestinian territory, comes to an end, Politico reports.The US news outlet is reporting that Pentagon chiefs are talking about options, including the possibility that the Pentagon would help fund either “a multinational force or a Palestinian peacekeeping team”.The report points out that no options include US troops serving on the ground in the Gaza area, citing two Pentagon and other Biden administration officials, who won’t be named by Politico because of the highly-sensitive nature of the discussions.The outlets suggests any US funding “would go toward the needs of the security force and complement assistance from other countries”.Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that the International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, where significant sections of the population are facing imminent starvation, in a significant legal rebuke to Israel’s claim it is not blocking aid deliveries.Illinois Democrat Sean Casten’s not holding back about the right-wing majority House impeaching homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and impatiently expecting a trial in the Senate.“Reminder that MTG [Marjorie Taylor Green], Clay Higgins and Andy Biggs are all named impeachment managers. If you want to make the @HouseGOP look like the clown show it is on national television, this is how you do it,” the congressman posted on X/Twitter.Arizona Republican Andy Biggs had also posted, saying Mayorkas was “derelict in his duty” to secure the US-Mexico border.The House and Senate are on a two week recess at the moment.Reuters adds that: Federal officials including presidents, who are impeached by the House are subject to a trial in the Senate to determine whether they should be removed from office.Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer’s office issued a statement saying that senators will be sworn in as trial jurors the day after the articles are delivered. However, the Democratic-led chamber is highly unlikely to vote to remove Mayorkas from office.Some more details and reactions coming through on Republican House speaker Mike Johnson’s demand that the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, schedule the trial of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “expeditiously” after his impeachment last month. The speaker will transmit the articles of impeachment on April 10.Louisiana Republican congressman Clay Higgins getting very “we the people”…And, from the White House:Donald Trump’s legal team was in Atlanta to argue that the charges brought by Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis against the former president should be dismissed on first amendment grounds. Other defendants have tried unsuccessfully to make that argument, but Judge Scott McAfee wrapped up the hearing without giving any indication of how he may rule – or, perhaps more importantly, when Trump’s trial will actually start. Speaking of trials, Republican House speaker Mike Johnson sent the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer a letter demanding he get started on homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s impeachment trial as soon as the GOP transmits the charges on 10 April. Schumer’s office said the Senate leader plans to do so, but reports indicate that Democrats are considering voting to dismiss the impeachment articles.Here’s what else is going on:
Progressive groups have written an open letter asking that Trump receive “a prompt and fair trial” in the New York hush money case.
Joe Biden called New York City mayor Eric Adams to offer condolences on the death of police officer Jonathan Diller. Trump plans to attend his wake.
The Republican National Committee wants to know if new hires think the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer responded to Mike Johnson’s letter by saying they’d get the ball rolling on the impeachment trial as soon as House Republicans send the charges over.“As we have said previously, after the House impeachment managers present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, senators will be sworn in as jurors in the trial the next day. Senate President Pro Tempore Patty Murray will preside,” Schumer’s office said in a statement.There’s plenty they are not saying, including whether they’ll actually go through with holding the trial, or quickly vote on a motion to dismiss the charges, as Democrats are reportedly considering doing.The Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has demanded the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer schedule the trial of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “expeditiously” after his impeachment last month.“As Speaker and impeachment managers of the US House of Representatives, we write to inform you that we will present to you upon the Senate’s return, on April 10, 2024, the duly passed articles of impeachment regarding Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. We urge you to schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously,” Johnson and the 11 Republican impeachment managers wrote in a letter sent today to Schumer.They continued:
We call upon you to fulfill your constitutional obligation to hold this trial. The American people demand a secure border, an end to this crisis, and accountability for those responsible. To table articles of impeachment without ever hearing a single argument or reviewing a piece of evidence would be a violation of our constitutional order and an affront to the American people whom we all serve.
House Republicans alleged Mayorkas has mismanaged security on the border with Mexico, but Senate Democrats have shown no interest in removing him from office. They are reportedly considering dismissing the charges without holding a trial, and Schumer has said the allegations were ginned up at the behest of Donald Trump:
This sham impeachment effort is another embarrassment for House Republicans. The one and only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump.
House Republicans failed to produce any evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has committed any crime.
House Republicans failed to show he has violated the Constitution.
House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense.
This is a new low for House Republicans.
Congress is currently out of Washington DC, with the Senate and House set to resume on 8 and 9 April, respectively.A coalition of progressive groups has released an open letter calling for Donald Trump to receive “a prompt and fair trial” in New York, where he faces charges related to making hush money payments prior to the 2016 election.Earlier this week, the judge overseeing that case set 15 April as its start date, making it the first of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial. The other three cases remain mired in pre-trial motions and appeals, and it is unclear if verdicts will be reached in any prior to the November presidential election.“The facts alleged in the indictment recount much more than a sordid soap opera and corporate malfeasance; they also describe conduct that should matter to anyone who cares about democracy, voter information, and meaningful voter choice,” reads the letter, which was signed by 17 groups organized into the Not Above the Law coalition, including Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, MoveOn and Indivisible.In New York, Trump stands accused of channeling funds from his business to adult actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal in exchange for their silence on extra-martial affairs ahead of the 2016 election. He allegedly described the payments as legal costs, which New York prosecutors say broke the law.The groups say this amounted to an “instance of election interference” that “might also be understood as an early sign of Trump’s antipathy for voters, which surfaced again in behavior culminating in the January 6th violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”They continue:
If the rule of law is to remain meaningful, no one — not even a former president — should be allowed to be above the law, and all the Trump criminal trials must play out. The first of these trials is important. We, the undersigned organizations, stand united in our desire for a prompt and fair trial that goes wherever the facts and the law lead. The undersigned organizations also express our hopes that as the Manhattan trial unfolds, the full context for the charges is made clear and understandable to the American public. Our nation deserves nothing less. More