The Hill's Morning Report — Russia Furor Grips Washington

Criminal defense attorney and former contestant on "The Apprentice" Stacy Schneider details her interpretation of former President Donald Trump's behavior in the courtroom during his ongoing hush money criminal trial.

The second week of testimony in Donald Trump's first criminal trial is officially over and it ended with a HUGE witness on the stand: Hope Hicks! No ruling on the 2nd gag order hearing, so we still await that. But the judge did open with a doozy of a comment directly in response to a lie that Trump told the media last night about his gag order: BREAKING: Judge corrects Trump for lying outside court yesterdayTrump said gag order prevented him from testifyingJudge: you have an absolute right to testify at trial or not & gag order has nothing to do with itMerchan is not tolerating Trump's disinfo campaign! — Norm Eisen (#TryingTrump out now!) (@NormEisen) May 3, 2024 Boom.

Why, oh why, does this keep happening to entities associated with Donald Trump? It's truly one of life's mysteries that criminals keeping associating themselves with Trump. BF Borgers are suspended from practicing as accountants, and received $14 million in fines. And it wasn't just done for Trump Media. In total, over 1500 SEC filings were found to be fraudulent.

Unemployment has been low for over two years now. President Joe Biden has created a whopping 15.3 million jobs. In contrast, Trump left office in disgrace with a negative job number. Negative. Trump was asked at the courthouse what he would do to create jobs; then he went off topic to talk about the border, among other things, none of which are job-related. "What's my plan for jobs, you say?" Trump asked.

“Gov. Phil Murphy will call a July special primary election and a September special general election to fill the seat of the late Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ), meaning that the residents of the solidly Democratic 10th congressional district will not have to wait until November to regain representation in the House,” the New Jersey Globe reports. “Murphy’s writ of special election, which will be issued later today, orders as fast of a schedule as New Jersey election law allows: a special primary election on Tuesday, July 16 and a special general election on Wednesday, September 18, with the new member presumably taking office sometime shortly thereafter.”

Andra Watkins discussed her Substack newsletter, "How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life," on Rick Wilson's podcast on April 22. The growing threat of the Republican Party's ties to Christian Nationalism and Project 2025 is terrifying. Watkins helps more people understand the threat we are facing. Rick Wilson urged everyone to read "How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life," because the "implications for the country are darker than you may imagine." Watkins is a New York Times bestselling author who spent her "formative years in a Moral Majority-era Christian Nationalist church and school in rural South Carolina." According to Watkins, she has a "deep understanding of how Christian Nationalists think to their Christo-fascist manifesto, Project 2025." The NY Times author writes, "Mainstream media outlets miss Project 2025’s Biblical language and imagery.