Weekly News Roundup - 4/19/24
Mike Johnson's moment of truth (and Ukraine's); Iran v Israel heats up; RFK Jr's siblings say no thanks
Welcome to the 15th weekly news roundup of 2024. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here. If you notice stories or issues you’d like to see mentioned in these roundups, let me know. In 2024, the Border Stalkers Substack is featuring one news update a week, and one book a month, with weekly posts on each book. The book of the month schedule is here.
I was off most of this week with kids on spring break. So this is actually the perfect week for one of these roundups. These weekly dispatches are designed for people whose lives are really busy, who sometimes don’t have time to do more than glance at the headlines.
These roundups give you a sense of the shape of the past week, so you feel less disoriented. Without this map, it can feel like we do not know where we have been over the past several days, or where we may be going.
Big Stories This Week
Israel and Iran both moved uncomfortably close to a full blown war.
Israel carried out an attack Thursday night inside Iran, in retaliation for missile attacks Iran launched attacks on Israel last weekend, raising the risk of a wider war in the region. However, initial reports on Israel's air strike Thursday night indicated that it was a drone attack that did not cause damage and might not be perceived as an escalation. The U.S. and other countries spent the week trying to deescalate the situation. Top officials from Britain and Germany visited to urge restraint. The silver lining of the Iran attack is that it did very little damage. Israel's "multi-layered" missile defense system, with some help from the U.S., Britain and other allies, shot down 99% of Iran's roughly 300 missiles and drones. The moment highlighted the importance of U.S. support for Israel, after several weeks in which President Biden has voiced increasingly sharp criticism of how many Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli aggression. But tensions remained high throughout the week, as Israel vowed to retaliate and Iran promised a "massive" response if Israel launched even the "tiniest invasion."
The first criminal trial of former President Trump began in New York.
It is the case where Trump is accused of falsifying business records after he allegedly used campaign contributions to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an affair, during the 2016 election. It may end up being the only trial Trump faces before the election, and the public is largely skeptical of the case. Yet, polls have also shown a majority of Americans would consider Trump unfit for the presidency if he's convicted. Attorneys for both sides had trouble finding jurors who said they could be impartial. (Some reporters complained that the trial is not televised, which seems, to me, a gross misreading of how TV cameras distort and corrupt the way a trial is supposed to work). It took the court three days to find a full jury, and alternate selection continued into a fourth day, as they grappled with concerns about juror safety and impartiality.
House Speaker Mike Johnson takes on the hard right on Ukraine
Fresh off his vote of confidence from Trump last Friday evening, Johnson defied threats from a handful of hardline House Republicans that they will seek to oust him from his leadership post if he allows the House to vote on sending aid to Ukraine.
The bill has always been likely to pass if a vote is allowed, but isolationist members of the House such as Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia have prevented the legislature from working its will. Johnson has dithered for months now on this, but this week he showed resolve to get aid to Ukraine before it's too late. A vote is expected in the House Saturday.
It's worth reading (you can watch it here) the entirety of Johnson's answer Wednesday when asked by a reporter: "Why are you willing to risk losing your job over this Ukraine funding?"
Johnson said that "providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important ... I really do believe the intel and the briefings that we've gotten, that I believe Xi and Vladimir Putin and Iran really are an axis of evil. I think they're in coordination on this. I think that Vladimir Putin would continue to march through Europe if he were allowed. I think he might go to the Balkans next. I think he might have a showdown with Poland or one of our NATO allies."
Two details are worth noting here. One is that Trump dined with Polish President Andrzej Duda this week, and you'll notice that Johnson mentions Poland in those comments. The second is that Politico reports that President Biden "and his top intelligence officials spent months educating Johnson about the catastrophic risks of failure in Ukraine — and that the warnings reached blinking-red-siren level in recent days."
Here's more from Johnson's statement:
"To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys. My son is going to begin in the Naval Academy this fall. This is a live fire exercise for me as it is so many American families. This is not a game. It's not a joke. Can't play politics on this. We have to do the right thing. I'm going to allow an opportunity for every single member of the house to vote their conscience and their will on this. And I think that's the way this institution is supposed to work and I'm willing to take personal risk for that because we have to do the right thing and history will judge."
The series of bills sending aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed its first major hurdle on Thursday night, when all four Democrats on the House Rules Committee joined five Republicans on the panel to bypass three Republican hardliners to approve the rules package for these aid bills. That same rule, a procedural requirement for any legislation, will be voted on again in the full House Friday, where Johnson will again need Democrats to join in supporting it. And then the legislation itself will be voted on Saturday. Again, Democratic support will be needed.
Once Ukraine aid is passed, if it passes, Johnson is likely to face an effort to oust him from Greene and others who are angry he is relying on Democrats to pass these bills. And Democrats will have to decide if they will help Johnson remain speaker. It's a profound transformation of a former backbencher Republican who has been forced to grapple with the burden of leadership.
Week in Review
Friday, April 12
Donald Trump says House Speaker Mike Johnson is doing a "very good job" and that he does not want House Republicans to oust the Louisiana Republican from his leadership post. "I stand with the speaker," Trump says during a joint appearance with Johnson at his estate in Florida.
Israeli settlers rampage through Palestinian towns in the West Bank, seeking revenge for the killing of an Israeli teen. One Palestinian is killed and 25 people are wounded.
Saturday, April 13
Iran launches more than 300 missiles and drones in an attack on Israel, in response to an Israeli strike in Syria two weeks prior that killed two top Iranian generals.
Sunday, April 14
Golfer Scott Scheffler wins The Masters, one of the four major U.S. tournaments, his second win at the Augusta, Ga. event in three years.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, says he will try to hold votes in the coming days on aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel.
An Australian man described by police as suffering from mental illness kills six people at a mall in Sydney in a stabbing spree, injuring another 12 before he is shot and killed by a security officer.
Monday, April 15
Jury selection begins in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president in American history, as Donald Trump arrives in a Manhattan courtroom facing charges
A revolt from a handful of House Republicans against House Speaker Mike Johnson looks more likely as Johnson's intent to bring a Ukraine aid bill to the floor for a vote becomes more certain. Johnson unveils a plan to separate the aid packages to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
President Biden hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the White House in a scheduled visit.
Tuesday, April 16
Interest rate cuts are "likely" to take "longer than expected" to arrive, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says.
A majority of Supreme Court justices appear skeptical during oral arguments that Jan. 6 rioters can be charged under a federal obstruction law. A ruling striking down these charges would also impact some of the cases against former President Trump.
The U.S. readies fresh sanctions against Iran after its attack on Israel.
NPR suspends reporter Ira Berlin, after the business correspondent published a widely discussed essay the previous week accusing the public radio station of a lack of "viewpoint diversity" that increasingly leans further to the left.
A congressional report alleges that China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. by subsidizing the manufacturing of materials used in making the drug.
Wednesday, April 17
President Biden tells steelworkers in Pittsburgh that he is considering tripling tariffs on aluminum and steel from China.
A drone and missile attack on Northern Israel by Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, injures 14 Israeli soldiers, six of them badly.
Polish President Andrzej Duda meets with Donald Trump in New York, where they discuss Poland's concerns about Russian aggression in the region.
A day after his suspension from NPR, reporter Ira Berlin resigns.
The Senate dismisses articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with all Democrats voting to dismiss and all Republicans voting against doing so.
News reports emerge that legislation to ban Tik Tok in the U.S. will be added to the Ukraine and Israel aid bills heading for a vote in the House Saturday, greatly increasing the chance it becomes law quickly.
Thursday, April 18
Israel attacks a military base inside Iran, but Iranian officials say it was a drone attack that "did not cause any damage."
Six of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s siblings endorse President Biden for reelection, along with several other members of the extended Kennedy clan, at a campaign event in Philadelphia. Kennedy Jr. is the third of 11 children born to Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy, and two of his siblings are deceased. Robert F. Kennedy was the nation's attorney general was his brother John F. Kennedy was president.
Two of the seven jurors selected Monday and Tuesday in Trump's New York trial are dismissed, over concerns about the ability of jurors to remain anonymous and physically safe, and over impartiality. But by the end of the day, the court has settled on a full jury of 12 jurors, and turns to finding a sufficient number of alternate jurors on Friday.
Police arrest more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of Columbia University who had set up a number of tents, one day after the school's president was grilled by members of Congress about the school's handling of protests and debate over the war in Gaza.
Dickey Betts, co-founder of The Allman Brothers, dies at age 80 after a year long battle with cancer.
Friday, April 19
National elections begin in India. They will take 44 days to complete. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to win his third term. (The AP published a profile of Modi and his roots in what it calls a "paramilitary, right-wing group").
Interesting Reads
How Johnson and Biden locked arms on Ukraine, by Adam Cancryn and Jennifer Haberkorn for Politico
Civil War Hits House GOP by Justin Green for Axios
Prosecutions of Fake Electors for Trump Gain Ground in Swing States, by Danny Hakim for The New York Times
How Gen Z Made the Crossword Their Own by Adrienne Raphel for The New York Times
I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust, by Uri Berliner for The Free Press
Miscalculation Led to Escalation in Clash Between Israel and Iran, by By Ronen Bergman, Farnaz Fassihi, Eric Schmitt, Adam Entous and Richard Pérez-Peña for the New York Times (gift link)
Why Musk Folded in Brazil, by Juan David Rojas for Compact
Lessons From Striking Out on my Own by @katieharbath for Anchor Change
Why it’s hard to muster even a ‘meh’ over Trump’s New York criminal trial, by Rick Hasen for The Los Angeles Times
From a Tiny Island in Maine, He Serves Up Fresh Media Gossip, by Steven Kurutz for The New York Times
Hard Numbers, Hard Spot for GOP on Abortion, by Chris Stirewalt for The Dispatch
The Worst Part of a Wall Street Career May Be Coming to an End, by Rob Copeland for The New York Times (gift link)
Love these summaries!