Politics

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports: As Mr. Trump sat in a courtroom in Manhattan on Tuesday during the first criminal trial of a former president in U.S. history, some staunchly Republican voters told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that they could not vote for their party’s standard-bearer. “I’m a pretty strong Republican, but it’s hard to support Mr. Trump,” said Terry Bimle, 68, …

Reuters reports: An Australian senator said on Wednesday that police feared Elon Musk’s decision to ignore a regulator order and leave footage on his social media platform X of a Sydney bishop being stabbed might encourage people to join terrorist groups. An Australian court has upheld a regulator order for the billionaire to take down posts containing footage of the …

SCOTUSblog reports: Less than a month after the justices heard oral arguments in a case seeking to roll back access to one of the drugs used in medication abortions, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in another case involving abortion. At issue in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States is whether emergency rooms in …

“I think she is uninformed, she is a total waste of time, and I’m embarrassed to have actually lived geographically in her district at one time before she was there. She is a horrible leader. She is dragging our brand down. She, not the Democrats, are the biggest risk to us getting back to a majority.” – GOP Sen. Thom …

The Verge reports: A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok — or else face a US ban of the platform — is all but certain to become law after the Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure. It now heads to President Joe Biden, who already committed to signing the TikTok legislation. Once signed …

Mediaite reports: “I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character,” Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN’s Manu Raju outside the Capitol on Tuesday. “And so far as I know, you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.” Though Romney is a longtime Trump critic, the comment was a sharp missive from the typically buttoned-up …

The Hill reports: Former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson is joining Scripps News as a political analyst, the news organization announced Monday. Hutchison, a former Arkansas governor who ran in the Republican primary for president this cycle, is set to appear regularly on Mondays on the news outlet’s politics and campaign-oriented evening show, “The Race.” Another presidential candidate who’s …

The Arizona Mirror reports: A slew of Republican bills, including those that would have allowed discrimination against transgender people and would have given public school teachers a green light to post the Ten Commandments in their classrooms, were vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. Hobbs, who has made it clear that she’ll use her veto power on any bills that don’t …

Bloomberg News reports: Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro praised Elon Musk as a free-speech advocate, in his latest effort to build opposition to the country’s Supreme Court as his legal troubles mount. Bolsonaro and his supporters painted the court as overzealous and anti-democratic at a rally in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday as they railed against Judge Alexandre de Moraes, …

NBC News reports: The latest national NBC News poll shows the third-party vote — and especially independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — cutting deeper into former President Donald Trump’s support than President Joe Biden’s, though the movement the other candidates create is within the poll’s margin of error. Trump leads Biden by 2 percentage points in a head-to-head …

Mike Pence writes in a New York Times op-ed: It was so disheartening for me to see former President Trump’s recent retreat from the pro-life cause. Like so many other advocates for life, I was deeply disappointed when Mr. Trump stated that he considered abortion to be a state-only issue and would not sign a bill prohibiting late-term abortions after …

Florida Politics reports: Sen. Rick Scott is practicing perseverance in sending again the articles of impeachment to Alejandro Mayorkas, the United States’ Director of Homeland Security, after the Democratic-controlled Senate dismissed the House charges without a trial, and after Mayorkas admitted he didn’t even read the papers. “Under oath, you testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental …

The Mississippi Free Press reports: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared April 2024 as Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi, keeping alive a 31-year-old tradition that began in 1993. Beauvoir, the Biloxi museum and historic home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, announced the proclamation in a Facebook post on Friday. Beauvoir is owned and operated by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a …

The Washington Post reports: The House has passed aid for Israel 366-58, wrapping up its work on the four-bill foreign aid package. Some House members had jogged out of the chamber, hooting and hollering in support of the Ukraine bill. Democats left yelling ‘yay,’ after the Ukraine package passed, prompting staffers to run after them to bring them back into …

The Insider reports: The House advanced legislation on Saturday that could lead to a TikTok ban in the United States. The bill forces TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to secure American ownership in about a year or face a domestic ban. Earlier versions of the legislation gave ByteDance just six months to find a new owner. To fast-track the bipartisan legislation, …

Florida Politics reports: K-12 students are one step closer to getting some lessons from designated “patriotic” groups after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on allowing certain groups access to K-12 campuses. Rep. Wyman Duggan’s bill (HB 1317) allows representatives of so-called “patriotic organizations” time to meet with students and distribute recruitment materials, with schools providing designated time for these groups …

NBC News reports: The House voted 316-94 to tee up votes on four separate bills that include aid to Ukraine and Israel, a good sign for the prospects of Congress approving U.S. funding for the two countries after months of delay and partisan fighting. Speaker Mike Johnson, facing intense opposition from right-wing members, received crucial help from Democrats to move …

ABC News reports: The House Ethics Committee is investigating whether or not Rep. Matt Gaetz used illicit drugs as a member of Congress, multiple sources familiar with the committee’s work told ABC News. Committee investigators have inquired about whether Gaetz was under the influence of drugs at parties in Florida after becoming a member of Congress in 2017, according to …

The New York Times reports: The Israeli military struck Iran early on Friday, according to two Israeli and three Iranian officials, in what appeared to be Israel’s first military response to Iran’s attack last weekend but one whose scope, at least initially, appeared to be limited. The Iranian officials said that a strike had hit a military air base near …

The Kansas City Star reports: U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, a Republican who represents Kansas’ 2nd District, announced Thursday he won’t seek reelection, creating another open race in a furious partisan fight for control of the House. LaTurner, 36, was first elected to the House in 2020. In a statement, LaTurner said it was time to “pursue other opportunities and have …