What Happened Was...
A lightning fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for April 8th-14th, 2024.
Finally, Trump on Trial
On Monday, for the first time in American history, a former president will be tried in a criminal court of law. Donald Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to prevent news of an alleged extramarital affair from becoming public. The 34 charges are supported by 11 invoices, 11 checks and 12 Trump Organization ledger entries that all allegedly characterized reimbursements from Trump to his former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen as monthly payments for ongoing legal services in 2017 and 2018.
Prosecutors allege that these payments were actually reimbursements for $130,000 Cohen paid to the adult film star on behalf of Trump in 2016. The reimbursements totaled $420,000, prosecutors said, allowing Cohen to recoup tax losses and walk away with a bonus. Cohen, who in 2018 entered a guilty plea in a related federal case, is the key witness against Trump. You can review the other key witnesses due to testify against Trump here.
Jury selection will begin in Manhattan on Monday, April 15, 2024. In accordance with New York law, video cameras will not be allowed in Judge Juan Merchan’s Courtroom. You can review Merchan’s previous orders, including a gag order against Trump regarding speaking publicly about the case and/or any members of the trial including family of the judge, court staff, and attorneys involved.
To follow the proceedings live, you can check my Twitter feed here, where I will be synthesizing the information that is coming out of the courtroom from various reporters and live tweeters and providing legal context. If you would like a play-by-play of events as they unfold, I recommend following accounts like Adam Klasfield, Anna Bower and Lisa Rubin.
Gun Violence This Week
There were six separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where five people were killed and 35 were injured. My Sunday recap covers this, as well as the week's most critical news. Here at SHERO, we document all mass shooting incidents for the week every Sunday, so please take a moment to review them and remember to keep up the fight for sensible gun reform.
Sunday, April 7, 2024: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Sunday, April 7, 2024: Washington, DC
Sunday, April 7, 2024: San Antonio, Texas
Wednesday, April 10, 2024: Washington, DC
Thursday, April 11, 2024: Orlando, Florida
Saturday, April 13, 2024: Chicago, Illinois
New data shows USPS delivery has drastically slowed this year to the point that officials are warning voters about turning in November ballots on time. Given all of this, why can't Louis DeJoy be fired as Postmaster General?
My latest explains it all here:
The company that put up the $175 million bond for Donald Trump "doesn’t actually promise it will pay the money if he loses his $464 million bank fraud case on appeal" but instead "says Trump will pay, negating the whole point of an insurance company guarantee."
According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Monday, the New York criminal charges against Donald Trump for allegedly covering up hush-money payments to a porn star are serious in the eyes of a firm majority (64%) of voters.
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