3 MAY 2024 · Thursday was Day 10 of former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in Manhattan. Before testimony resumed, Justice Juan Merchan held a second hearing on new allegations that Trump violated his gag order. Later, Keith Davidson, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, walked the jury through the deal he brokered between Trump and the adult film star in exchange for her silence. Hugo Lowell, political investigations reporter for The Guardian, shares the latest details from inside the courthouse. And in headlines: Hamas officials said they would meet with negotiators in Egypt to continue talks for a ceasefire in Gaza, President Biden condemned the violence breaking out on college campuses across the country, and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law that bans and criminalizes the sale of lab-grown meat in the state.Show Notes: - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

2 MAY 2024 · New York police officers arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters who’d occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University on Tuesday night while pro-Israeli counterprotestors attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of House lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of passing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, a bill that critics say could create an overboard definition of what counts as anti-semitic speech on college campuses and other educational institutions. Todd Zwillich, a longtime Washington reporter and friend of the show, explains how the bill is part of a cynical ploy on the part of Republicans to divide Democrats.And in headlines: Arizona lawmakers voted to reverse the state's Civil War-era abortion ban, the Federal Reserve moved to keep interest rates flat, and the U.S. could have more than 100 million doses of bird flu vaccines available for people within four months if the disease jumps to humans. Show Notes: - Joey Scott – https://muckrack.com/joey-scott-1 - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

1 MAY 2024 · The Department of Justice took a significant step on Tuesday to downgrade federal restrictions on marijuana. The DOJ submitted a formal recommendation to the White House to reclassify it as a Schedule III drug. It’s a monumental shift in federal drug policy because, for more than 50 years, the U.S. government has considered marijuana to be among the most dangerous drugs, on par with heroin and LSD. Krishna Andavolu, the host and executive producer of the Vice TV show Weediquette, explains what reclassification could mean for businesses, medicine, and criminal justice.And in headlines: The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial fined the former president $9,000 for violating a gag order, police arrested students that had occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus, and a key federal task force issued new recommendations for women and breast cancer screenings.Show Notes: - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

30 APR 2024 · New York holds a special election today to fill a seat vacated by Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins. The Democrat in the race, state Sen. Tim Kennedy, is expected to win. If he does, it would leave Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s majority as slim as possible: a single vote. Todd Zwillich, a longtime Washington journalist and friend of the show, explains how it will make Johnson’s job even more complicated.And in headlines: Columbia University began suspending students at the Gaza solidarity encampment, a federal appeals court ruled that certain state insurance plans must provide coverage for gender-affirming care, and the Supreme Court refused to hear billionaire and Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk’s bid to challenge the SEC’s restrictions on what he can post on social media. Show Notes: What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

29 APR 2024 · President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to discuss developments in the latest round of cease-fire talks. The White House says Biden also “reiterated his clear position” against Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge since the start of the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed back to the Middle East on Sunday ahead of meetings with Arab leaders this week. And in headlines: Pro-Palestine protesters and counter-protesters supporting Israel clashed on UCLA’s campus Sunday morning, Biden roasted former President Donald Trump at Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner, and Republican vice presidential hopeful and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem writes about killing a puppy in her upcoming memoir. Show Notes: - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

27 APR 2024 · Employees of a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted to form the FIRST autoworkers union in the Southern US. It’s no small feat in a part of the country that has been notoriously anti-union. How has the South managed to scare away organized labor since the Civil War? Are labor unions finally finding a foothold there now? And why have unions been in decline across the whole US in recent years? Max and Erin dive into the politics, racism and foreign influence behind it all to uncover why it’s taken so long for collective bargaining to catch on down south.  SOURCES https://theconversation.com/uaw-wins-big-at-volkswagen-in-tennessee-its-first-victory-at-a-foreign-owned-factory-in-the-american-south-228319https://apnews.com/article/general-motors-strike-united-auto-workers-uaw-f16005a7b20a6f1772947957854d1017https://medium.com/timeline/operation-dixie-was-a-quixotic-attempt-to-unionize-the-south-61fdd7dd0810https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/12/15/racial-divides-have-been-holding-american-workers-back-for-more-than-a-century/https://www.economist.com/united-states/2018/10/20/manufacturing-jobs-are-defying-expectationshttps://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/6876098.pdf#:~:text=ing%20Workers%20and%20the%20Ladies%20Garment%20Workers%2C,6%2C000%20members%20in%20Texas%2C%20Tennessee%2C%20Georgia%2C%20andhttps://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/18/archives/long-island-opinion-textile-union-fight-to-organize-stevens-plants.htmlhttps://www.mpbonline.org/blogs/news/the-uaw-wants-to-recruit-southern-auto-workers-heres-why-that-failed-in-the-past/https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2024/04/24/manufacturing-companies-are-bringing-work-back-to-the-u-s-from-asia/71931591007/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/01/nissan-mississippi-union-votehttps://flagpole.com/news/cobbloviate/2017/11/22/how-the-south-became-anti-union/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0276562408000346

26 APR 2024 · The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s presidential immunity case. Trump’s lawyer tried to assert that there’s almost no situation under which a sitting president can face criminal charges, not even ordering a military coup or sharing nuclear secrets. It is a landmark case with big implications for both this year’s election as well as some of the other criminal cases Trump faces. Leah Litman, co-host of Crooked’s “Strict Scrutiny,” says Trump’s team is trying to normalize conduct that is inconsistent with democracy and the rule of law.And in headlines: Pro-Palestinian protests spread to more college campuses, Manhattan’s DA vowed to retry Harvey Weinstein after the producer’s New York rape conviction was overturned, and Apple forecasted a bleak outlook for its Vision Pro headsets.Show Notes: - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

25 APR 2024 · The Supreme Court hears arguments today in a landmark case that could determine whether former President Donald Trump can be tried for his role in the January 6th insurrection. The case concerns whether presidents have “immunity” from prosecution for their conduct while in office. The court has never had to consider this issue until now, and it also has big implications for the 2024 election. Jay Willis, editor-in-chief of the progressive legal site Balls and Strikes, explains what’s at stake. On Wednesday, the court also heard its second abortion case of the term. It’s over whether an Idaho law that bans nearly all abortions can supersede a federal law that guarantees patients emergency care at hospitals. At least some of the court’s conservative justices expressed skepticism about the Idaho law. And in headlines: President Biden signs a $95 billion foreign aid package into law, Biden also signed a bill that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it off within the next year, and the United Nations called for an investigation into two mass graves in Gaza. Show Notes: - Pod Save The World – https://crooked.com/podcast/gaza-protests-roil-college-campuses/ - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday    

24 APR 2024 · Police arrested hundreds of college students in the last week amid intensifying campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war. While demonstrations have been ongoing at some universities since the start of the war, they reached new levels after Columbia University’s president called in the New York Police Department to clear an encampment on campus shortly after testifying in front of Congress. We talk to two student journalists about what’s happening on their campuses: Esha Karam, a junior at Columbia University and managing editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator, and Aarya Mukherjee, a freshman news reporter at University of California, Berkeley’s The Daily Californian.And in headlines: Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker detailed the tabloid’s ‘catch and kill’ strategy during former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial, the Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that could decide whether states have to provide emergency abortion care to pregnant patients, and Pennsylvania Congresswoman Summer Lee edged out a more moderate challenger in the state’s Democratic primary.Show Notes: - Columbia Daily Spectator – http://www.columbiaspectator.com/ - The Daily Californian – http://www.dailycal.org/ - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday

23 APR 2024 · The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and attorneys for Donald Trump gave their opening statements on Monday in the former president’s criminal hush-money trial. Prosecutors also called their first witness to the stand: former ‘National Enquirer’ publisher David Pecker. Washington Post federal courts and law enforcement reporter Shayna Jacobs was in the courtroom and details what happened.Pennsylvania holds its primary election today, and there’s plenty to watch for as returns come in. Pro-Palestinian organizers want Democrats to write in ‘uncommitted’ instead of voting for President Joe Biden. First-term Democratic Congresswoman Summer Lee is also looking to fend off a more moderate challenger and hold onto her seat.And in headlines: The Supreme Court appeared divided in a case over whether cities can criminalize homelessness, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security are reportedly looking into granting protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, and a new report says Israel hasn’t offered any proof to back up claims that a significant number of workers with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency are tied to terrorist organizations. Show Notes: - The Washington Post:"Prosecutor: A tabloid pact led to Trump faking business records" - https://tinyurl.com/bz68rrbp - What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast - Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ - For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://crooked.com/whataday