At a hearing today in Washington, the judge overseeing the federal prosecution of Donald Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election said that the trial would start on March 4.
The trial date, which the former president and his lawyers had sought to delay, is likely to conflict with Trump’s busy primary calendar — and the three other cases being prosecuted against him. Prosecutors in Georgia have also proposed beginning his trial on March 4, one day before Super Tuesday, when 15 states are scheduled to hold Republican primaries or caucuses. The Manhattan case is also scheduled for later that month. But Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed any concerns about conflicts for the Washington trial.
“Mr. Trump, like any defendant, will have to make the trial date work regardless of his schedule,” she said, adding that “there is a societal interest to a speedy trial.”
The former president’s allies are still seeking to slow down the court proceedings by calling for the Georgia case to be moved to federal court. Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, testified today that he favored such a move because he believed that his actions around the 2020 election fell within the scope of his government job.
Florida prepares for ‘a dangerous major hurricane’
Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to become a hurricane tonight and then continue to rapidly intensify tomorrow as it travels north over the Gulf of Mexico and heads toward Florida’s western coast. Forecasters say it will likely hit Florida as a Category 3 storm Wednesday morning, with winds of 120 miles per hour and a potentially life-threatening storm surge.
Three coastal counties in the Tampa region issued an evacuation order for some residents today, and Gov. Ron DeSantis said more would be likely as the storm neared. Tampa International Airport announced that it would close just after midnight tonight.
Jacksonville mourns the loss of three lives after shooting
In just 11 minutes over the weekend, a white gunman targeting Black people killed two shoppers and an employee at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Fla. — a rampage that the authorities are investigating as a hate crime. The shooting, on the day the nation commemorated the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, shook a city still grappling with its long history of racism.
“We have three people who are dead because they are Black,” State Senator Tracie Davis said. “Shopping. In our community. Gunned down. Because they were Black.”
The dual crises — the shooting and the potentially devastating hurricane — offer the most serious tests of DeSantis’s leadership since he began running for president.
Spanish prosecutors investigate soccer chief over forced kiss
Officials at Spain’s National Court announced today that they had opened an investigation into whether Luis Rubiales, the president of the country’s soccer federation, could be charged with committing an act of sexual aggression. Earlier this month, he grabbed and kissed Jennifer Hermoso, one of the Spanish team’s star players, on the lips after they won the Women’s World Cup.
The move — spurred in part by a rare public reckoning with sexism in a country with deep traditions of machismo — came after the entire team signed a statement saying they would not take the field to play for Spain “if the current managers continue.”
More top news
The U.S. Open begins
For the last major tennis tournament of the year, the world’s best players will gather over the next two weeks in Queens for the 2023 U.S. Open. The sport’s biggest rising star, Carlos Alcaraz, and the most dominant women’s player, Iga Swiatek, will try to defend their singles titles. But they have plenty of competition.
On the men’s side, the biggest name is Novak Djokovic, who is looking to cement his status as the greatest player of the modern era. Many American eyes will be on Frances Tiafoe, the world No. 10, who told us in an interview that he was ready to win it all. On the women’s side, the fan favorite Ons Jabeur is looking to prove that her extraordinary talent is worthy of a major title.
To stream the best true crime, look abroad
My colleague Maya Salam knows as well as any true crime obsessive: The genre’s America-centric stories can feel annoyingly repetitive. Her advice is to escape the endless loop by looking outside the country, where the perpetrators and the justice systems operate in societies with different customs and expectations.
Maya offers four international true crime recommendations, including “Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case,” a Netflix documentary about a 21-year-old British woman who was living and working in Tokyo when she disappeared. Unlike many true crime stories, there is closure to the case; and the outcome is shocking.
Putting cheaters to the test
There’s a 23-year-old New Jersey woman who has made as much as $500 a week sending flirty texts to men. Her clients were girlfriends looking to test their significant others’ loyalty by seeing how they would respond to messages such as “heyyy cutie.” Roughly half of the men fail.
The schemes, organized through a company called Loyalty-Test, may be predicated on misrepresentation. But the testers say they offer clarity in a dating ecosystem full of unpredictability.
Have an honest evening.
Matthew Cullen
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