A judge in Manhattan rejected Donald Trump’s bid to throw out criminal charges against him that stem from a hush-money payment to a porn star in 2016, clearing the way for the first prosecution of a former American president in the nation’s history.
The judge, Juan Merchan, scheduled the trial to begin on March 25, ensuring that Trump will face at least one jury before Election Day.
The New York case is generally viewed as the least significant of the four criminal cases against the former president, but it still presents a formidable threat. Trump is facing 34 felony charges and, if convicted, a sentence of up to four years in prison. It is also a state case, meaning Trump could not pardon himself even if he is elected in November.
The trial was originally scheduled to come after Trump’s federal election interference trial in Washington, which is now stalled. The federal trial could take place in the late spring or early summer, or not at all, depending on the Supreme Court, which will soon have to decide whether Trump has executive immunity.
In the Georgia case against Trump, a hearing was held today in which a key witness testified that the top prosecutors were in a romantic relationship earlier than they had said. The timing is crucial to the defense’s argument that Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney leading the prosecution, should be disqualified, which would probably derail the case against Trump. Willis took the stand and delivered a fiery rebuttal.
The D.O.J. defended the special counsel report
The White House clashed with the Justice Department last week ahead of the release of a special counsel report that depicted Biden as an “elderly man” with “diminished faculties.” In previously undisclosed letters obtained by The Times, Biden’s lawyers said the characterization “openly, obviously and blatantly violate department policy and practice.”
The next day, as the department was preparing to make the report public, Bradley Weinsheimer — the department’s top nonpolitical appointee — wrote back rejecting the lawyers’ criticism. He insisted that the comments in the report fell “well within the department’s standards for public release.”
Israeli forces raided a hospital in southern Gaza
Israel sent troops into Nasser Medical Complex, southern Gaza’s largest hospital, in what it said was a search for Hamas fighters and the bodies of hostages. The incursion raised alarm over the fate of hundreds of patients and medical workers there, as well as over the displaced Palestinians who have sought shelter at the hospital.
Here’s the latest.
The raid came two days after Israel’s military ordered displaced people to evacuate the hospital, one of the last functioning in the enclave. Doctors Without Borders said that shelling had left “an undetermined number of people killed” and called on Israel to halt the operation.
A Columbia surgeon repeatedly published flawed studies
In 2021, an academic journal quietly withdrew a cancer study by Sam Yoon, the chief of a cancer surgery division at Columbia University’s medical center, after finding that it had violated ethical guidelines. But it was not an isolated case: A British sleuth flagged 26 articles dating back to 2008 by Yoon and a more junior researcher, for containing suspect data.
The articles are now being investigated. But Yoon’s case highlights a broader issue in the scientific publishing industry, where a deep pool of unreliable research has gone unaddressed for years.
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On the verge of basketball history
Tonight, Iowa guard Caitlin Clark will very likely become the highest-scoring player ever to compete in N.C.A.A. women’s basketball. She needs just eight points in this evening’s contest against Michigan to surpass the 3,527-point record. That shouldn’t be too difficult: Clark has scored at least eight points in every single game she has played in her college career.
If Clark maintains her 32-point scoring average, she could also pass the 3,667-point N.C.A.A.’s men’s scoring record, held by Pete Maravich, by the end of the regular season.
What happened to chocolate chip ice cream?
In ice-cream shops and frozen-food aisles across the country, it’s easy to find flavors like cookies and cream and chocolate chip cookie dough. Some even carry chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips. But vanilla chocolate chip ice cream, once a staple of the frozen dairy world and one of the top sellers of all time, has become harder to find.
The flavor has fallen out of favor, and has lost ground to flavors with more stuff. It is no longer among the nation’s top 10 best sellers, and manufacturers say it is now a seasonal variety — meaning they only make it for the summer.
Have a sweet evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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