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It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.
THE CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP, EXPLAINED
By Kyle Midura, @KyleMidura
Politics Producer
By Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
Historic. Unprecedented.
These have been the two main words to describe the indictment of Donald Trump, the first former U.S. president to be criminally charged.
He was formally charged Tuesday inside a Manhattan courthouse with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, accused of orchestrating hush-money payments to individuals who said they had damaging information about his alleged sexual encounters in the runup to the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s time inside the building lasted about two hours. Trump was booked, fingerprinted and appeared before a judge — all standard practice. There were also special accommodations: He was also not handcuffed. There was no mug shot. (Although this didn’t stop the Trump campaign from using a fake one to sell a T-shirt.)
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
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Photo by Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty Images
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Before he exited the courthouse, Judge Juan Merchan issued a warning to Trump, telling the former president to refrain from rhetoric that could foment unrest. Trump, who has often used social media to attack critics, was posting to his platform Truth Social hours before his trip to the courthouse today.
Here’s a breakdown of the charges Trump faces, as well as what happens next.
What are the charges?
Judge Juan Merchan unsealed the indictment — People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump, Indictment No. 71543-23 — and read the charges to Trump. In all, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
Falsifying business records in New York generally carries a misdemeanor charge. The charges in the indictment unsealed today were entered as low-level felonies, which legal experts have said can be done if a prosecutor believes they were committed to hide other criminal activity . Each count carries a maximum of four years in prison.
- In his statement of facts on the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Trump and other participants in the “unlawful scheme” also violated election laws.
- In a separate statement after the arraignment, Bragg said, “Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct.”
A reminder: There are at least three other ongoing investigations that could bring additional charges. Federal investigators are still looking into the former president’s handling of classified documents, as well as his role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Republicans, even some of Trump’s 2024 rivals, are rallying
Before charges were unsealed Tuesday, several prominent Republicans, including a handful of rivals for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, defended the former president.
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Fla., a self-described Christian nationalist who has downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6 insurrection, appeared at a pro-Trump rally in New York City. So did the scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y.
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Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters
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- Former Vice President Mike Pence, a likely 2024 challenger who’s been plenty critical of his former boss, didn’t wait to see any of the purported evidence before calling the indictment “outrageous” and a “political prosecution.”
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another would-be 2024 challenger, labeled the indictment “un-American” as soon as news of the indictment emerged.
- One exception: Former. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who made his 2024 presidential bid official over the weekend. He previously said Trump should drop out of the race if he was indicted. Following news of the pending arraignment, he called it “a dark day for America,” noting the grand jury found credible facts to support the charges.
But why would Trump’s presumed competition jump to his defense?
The simple answer: Elements of the case fit within Trump and the GOP’s pre-existing framing of a political and legal system out to persecute him. Think “Deep State” or “witch hunt,” a Trump refrain during the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian election interference, and then, his own impeachment proceedings. Other factors also include:
- Trump launched an immediate pressure campaign after the news of an indictment broke March 30, working the phones and shoring up support among Republican allies in Congress.
- In contrast, leading Democrats — many of whom would have preferred charges come first in other pending federal investigations or the state-level investigation in Georgia — have been relatively muted in their response.
What does current polling say about Trump now?
A couple flash polls were conducted in the days after Trump was indicted.
A CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, found that:
- 60 percent of Americans support the indictment.
- About three quarters of the public — 76 percent — believe politics played a role in the decision to indict the former president. That includes more than half — 52 percent — saying it played a major role.
- Only 10 percent reported seeing Trump as blameless.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday reached a different result: 45 percent said Trump should be charged; 32 percent said he should not.
Even before news of the indictment broke, the investigations seemed to do little to shake Trump’s support among Republicans. The latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, conducted last month, found three-quarters of Republicans wanted Trump to run for office again and a similar number thought the investigations held no weight.
What does this mean for the larger Republican 2024 field?
- Several Republican strategists have told the NewsHour the indictment and its press coverage offer a short-term boost for Trump.
- But, with 10 months still to go before the first primary contest in Iowa, it’s unclear whether the bump will be sustainable.
- The news of the indictment has been a fundraising boon for Trump’s reelection bid. His 2024 campaign raised $7 million in the days after the indictment, a top aide said. No other details were provided.
- The Trump campaign sent out at least a dozen fundraising requests since Monday. One fundraising request was titled, “My last email before arrest.” In another fundraising ask, Trump mentioned the “Deep State” in the first line.
What happens next?
Court procedures can drag out, and it may be several months before the case heads to trial, meaning a resolution could come in the heart of a 2024’s primary or general election campaign.
- Trump is next due in court in December. However, his lawyers are asking that Trump be excused from the in-person proceedings, citing security concerns.
- In past civil proceedings, Trump and his attorneys have employed a strategy of attack and delay, which could further slow the legal process.
- Also on the horizon: The district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, continues to investigate Trump’s actions after his 2020 election loss, including his plea to Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” 11,780 votes in order to overcome President Joe Biden’s November 2020 win in the state.
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has accused DA Bragg of weaponizing "our sacred system of justice" and said House Republicans would investigate the district attorney’s actions.
Trump is also expected to speak later tonight from Mar-a-Lago, following his arraignment.
For more of our coverage on Trump’s arraignment, follow the live developments here.
White House producer Tess Conciatori contributed to this week’s newsletter. |
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More on politics from our coverage:
- Watch: The legal and political fallout of Trump’s indictment.
- One Big Question: What are Trump supporters saying? Republican strategist Sarah Longwell recently held a focus group with people who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 elections. She breaks down what she heard.
- A Closer Look: President Joe Biden’s complex relationship with oil and gas, despite campaign promises.
- Perspectives: This Sunday will mark 20 years since American troops captured Baghdad to depose Saddam Hussein. Former Iraq President Barham Salih reflects on the U.S. invasion, which led to no discovery of weapons of mass destruction and a fragile democracy.
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A HIGH-STAKES ELECTION IN WISCONSIN
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Watch the segment in the player above.
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By Sam Lane, @lanesam
General Assignment Producer
By Frank Carlson, @frankncarlson
Senior Coordinating Producer
A crucial election is happening in Wisconsin today.
It’s not a race for Congress, governor or the presidency. It’s for the state Supreme Court, in what’s become the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history.
As part of Judy Woodruff’s ongoing series “America at a Crossroads,” the PBS NewsHour spoke with several voters in Wisconsin about the state’s sharp political divides, ahead of Tuesday’s state Supreme Court election.
John McKinney, a 37-year-old Green Bay resident, is a lifelong Republican, but he said that when Donald Trump became president, the party left him — and its values — behind.
“They're too focused on power, seats, taking over, you know, controlling the various levers of government,” he said of the Grand Old Party. “And they don't really care about, you know, kind of the foundations of what their ideology is.” |
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Photo by Denis Levkovich/PBS NewsHour
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On Tuesday, his deeply divided home state will vote to elect what could be the tie-breaking justice on an evenly split Supreme Court, in a supposedly nonpartisan election that’s drawn heavy party involvement, record spending, and two candidates who have telegraphed how they might rule on issues like abortion, gerrymandering, and electoral challenges.
McKinney has been following the race but has decided he can’t vote for either candidate.
“I'm absolutely disgusted by it,” he told Woodruff. “Supreme Court justices I look at as kind of the last line of defense. Lawmakers make laws. Judges make sure that those laws are legal. They abide by our Constitution. And in this race, it's you know, it's a circus.”
Please email [email protected], if you have thoughts about America's deep divisions. We won’t be able to answer every message, but we promise to acknowledge as many as we can. |
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PERFORMERS ON HOW TENNESSEE’S DRAG BAN WOULD AFFECT THEM
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Watch the video in the player above.
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By Matt Rasnic, @Matt_Rasnic
Associate Producer/Editor, Social Media
By Rachel Liesendahl, @rliesendahl
Digital Production Assistant
Tennessee was set to become the first state in the U.S. to ban public drag performances and any performance where minors are present on Saturday. But an 11th hour injunction by a federal judge has temporarily stopped the bill from taking effect while he considers First Amendment challenges to the law.
The NewsHour spoke with drag performers across the state to understand the potential impacts of this new law on them and their communities.
Bella DuBalle, a drag performer in Memphis, said this type of legislation will harm LGBTQ+ youth throughout the state who will lose opportunities to see representation of their community.
“If one person in these kids’ life affirms them, that risk for suicide goes down. So for me, I have to fight for those kids because I grew up queer in Tennessee and I barely survived it,” she said.
Performer Replika Queen in Knoxville said the supporters who are using the protection of children as a defense of the ban are hypocritical.
“I would really kind of look deeper into where actual predators lie because it’s not in the drag community,” she said. “It is in churches, in schools and day cares. It’s places where your kids have more access to adults than just a drag queen who’s performing a Disney number at a brunch.”
#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Kyle Midura, @KyleMidura
Politics Producer
Under all the banner headlines in Tuesday’s coverage of the major news event is the repeated fact that President Donald Trump is the first former U.S. president ever to face criminal charges. (He is not, however, the only president to face legal troubles during or after their time in the Oval Office.)
Another fact to consider amid this news: Trump could still be elected president, even if he’s convicted of these or other charges.
One lawmaker has won reelection to Congress from prison. He was serving a four-month sentence for "acting in opposition to the president."
Our question: Who was that member of Congress?
Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.
Last week, we asked: Who became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Africa?
The answer: It was indeed a Roosevelt, but not Teddy. Franklin D. Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during a 1943 trip to Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss military strategies amid the World War II conflict.
Congratulations to our winners: Deborah Potter and David Jarczewski!
Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week. |
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