As the first criminal trial for a former U.S. president got under way in New York, Donald Trump looked on as prosecution and defense teams presented their opening statements to the jury.
The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, a felony in New York if done to cover up another crime.
The prosecution argued hush money payments made by former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels were to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump. And were made at the former president's direction with the intention of influencing the 2016 election.
The defense countered it was not illegal to affect the outcome of an election and that Cohen had handled the specifics of the hush money payments.
Topics include: - Why the prosecution is arguing election fraud - The role Michael Cohen's credibility as a witness will play - What to look out for as the trial continues
Lower courts ruled it's "cruel and unusual" to fine or jail people on public land if no shelter is available. An Oregon city says that's hamstrung efforts to keep public spaces safe and open to all.
The prosecution is arguing that Donald Trump wanted to keep information out of the public fearing that it would turn off voters in 2016. The defense argues Trump did nothing illegal.
The federal government is investing billions to bolster school safety and mental health resources to combat gun violence. But some sense a disconnect between those programs and what students need.
For this episode of Trump's Trials, NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro speaks with NPR political reporter Ximena Bustillo and University of Baltimore law professor Kim Wehle.
The first week of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial is in the books and a jury has now been seated.
Each potential juror had to answer dozens of questions and prove they could remain fair and impartial when weighing the fate of the former president, who watched the selection process from his seat in the courtroom.
Now seated, the jury will hear opening arguments in the trial beginning on Monday.
Topics include: - What we know and can safely say about the jurors selected - Safety concerns and security measures for jurors' protection - Predictions for each side's case in Monday's opening arguments
Back in 1999 when Donald Trump was flirting with a presidential run, he was pro-abortion rights. In an interview on Meet the Press with NBC's Tim Russert, the New York real estate developer said he didn't like abortion, but he wouldn't ban it.
Fast forward almost two decades, and Trump was running for the republican presidential nomination, and he had a very different stance on abortion, even suggesting in an MSNBC town hall meeting that women should be punished for seeking abortions.
Trump ultimately won the presidency with the support of white Evangelical voters, many of whom wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned. Six years after he won, the Supreme Court justices Trump appointed helped deliver exactly that.
Now as Trump mounts another run for the White House, abortion rights are on the ballot and winning. And Trump has once again evolved his stance on abortion. Is it a political calculation?
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The Maine Legislature approved gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people.
The U.S. Supreme Court has made it easier for workers to bring employment discrimination suits over job transfers. The decision was unanimous, but the reasoning was not.
The case tests the statute used to prosecute hundreds of defendants charged with invading the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral ballots for president in 2020.
The 24-year-old had pleaded guilty to four felony counts related to the firebombing of a Southern California Planned Parenthood clinic in 2022. The clinic was closed and no one was injured.