April 4 top stories
It is April 4. Here are today’s top stories.
Trump pleads not guilty to falsifying business records
This afternoon, former president Donald Trump walked into the Manhattan Criminal Court to surrender himself after he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
News cameras followed Trump’s motorcade and movements in constant, live coverage. Trump posted on social media that the experience is surreal and that he can’t believe this is happening in America.
Trump was filmed walking through a hallway outside of a courtroom and photographed sitting inside a courtroom. A judge allowed photographs in the courtroom but did not allow filming. There was a heavy police and Secret Service presence.
The indictment against Trump was unsealed. A grand jury charged Trump with 34 counts of “falsifying business records in the first degree,” which is a felony.
The charges are related to a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump. The payment happened before the 2016 election.
The indictment said Trump did his acts of criminal fraud when he paid invoices from Michael Cohen, who was his personal attorney at the time. If you remember, Cohen pleaded guilty to making unlawful campaign contributions because the payments he made to Stormy Daniels were considered election-related. They weren’t reported as required by election laws.
The indictment sheet against Trump said he intended to defraud and intended to commit another crime to cover it up by putting false entries in the business records of the Trump Organization when he made reimbursements to Cohen.
Prosecutors and DA Alvin Bragg said Trump covered up those payments by making them look like they were for other purposes on his tax records. Bragg said this case is typical of white-collar criminal cases in Manhattan.
Prosecutors brought up other payments that were made to silence negative stories about Trump. They mentioned that there was a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Trump being the father of a child with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Prosecutors said there was a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal to silence her about an alleged affair she had with Trump.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all of his counts. He left the courtroom and went back to his motorcade to his plane. At the time I’m signing this news, Trump is flying to Florida. He said he would give remarks to the media tonight, so I’ll provide a recap of that in tomorrow’s news. Trump’s attorneys said Trump is mad about the whole situation but that he is determined to fight the allegations in court and on his 2024 presidential campaign trail.
The next hearing in the case will be on December 4, 2023. Prosecutors want a trial to happen in January 2024.
LSU wins NCAA championship, Jill Biden slammed
On Sunday, Louisiana State University (LSU) won the NCAA women’s basketball championship, defeating the University of Iowa 102-85. It was the most-viewed NCAA women’s basketball game on record with almost 10 million viewers.
There was trash talk on the court from LSU’s star player Angel Reese that was directed towards Iowa’s star player Caitlin Clark. Towards the end of the game, Reese mimicked Clark’s “you can’t see me” gesture that Clark used in a previous game and then pointed to her ring finger to signify that she’s the champion. Some fans felt that it was disrespectful. Reese spoke out by saying people said nothing when others did the same thing and pointed out that she’s doing it for girls that look like her and for those who are being “unapologetically you.”
First Lady Jill Biden added fuel to the fire by saying she wanted both LSU and Iowa to come to the White House for a traditional visit from a sports team champion.
Reese tweeted that this was “A JOKE.” Many others agreed with Reese, criticizing Jill Biden for the idea, arguing that the White House invite has always been only for the champions and not the 2nd place team and that it is disrespectful to LSU. Today a spokesperson for Jill Biden said they are only inviting LSU.
There is excitement for the next NCAA tournament because Reese and Clark are expected to return. Clark set an NCAA tournament record with 191 points, the most for men’s and women’s history.
In separate but related news, the University of Connecticut won the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Monday night, defeating San Diego State University 76-59. One interesting fact is that LSU’s Reese is the cousin of one of UConn’s star players, Jordan Hawkins.
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Child found dead in mouth of gator
In tragic news from St. Petersburg, Florida, police said they found the body of a 2-year-old boy in the mouth of an alligator last week.
Police said they arrested the boy’s father, Thomas Mosley, and charged him with killing the boy’s mother and killing his son by throwing him in a lake.
Police said the boy’s mother, Pashun Jeffrey, was found dead in her apartment on Thursday afternoon with multiple stab wounds. Investigators found evidence that connected the crime to Mosley.
When police realized that their son was missing, they started a search. The next day, they found the alligator with the boy’s body in its mouth. A cop fired a bullet at the alligator, making it release the body. The alligator was euthanized. The boy’s body was identified as the son's. His name was Taylen.
Police said his father, Mosley, killed him by throwing him into the lake, causing him to sustain mortal injuries. It seems like the alligator bit him afterward.
Mosley is facing two counts of first-degree murder.
Finland officially becomes NATO member
Today Finland became an official member of the NATO military alliance. It is the 31st country to join NATO. Finland has been neutral for many years but decided to apply to join NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland has an 832-mile border with Russia.
NATO’s treaty says that any attack on one of its members is considered an attack on all, so it is a significant development in the European region, especially with Finland and Russia sharing a border.
Sweden applied to join NATO at about the same time as Finland but they are still waiting for approval.
Pro-war Russian blogger killed in bombing
On Sunday, a Russian blogger who was well-known for his support of Russia’s war on Ukraine was killed in a bomb blast in St. Petersburg, Russia. His name was Vladen Tatarsky. He had hundreds of thousands of followers on Telegram and he used to fight on the frontline of the war.
The explosion happened in a cafe where he was planning to give a speech. Some news reports said a bomb was concealed inside a statue that was given to Tatarsky at the cafe. The explosion injured 30 people. Russian law enforcement arrested a woman named Darya Trepova and accused her of orchestrating the bombing.
Russia said it is a terrorist act and some authorities pointed to Ukraine as having some role in the bombing. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said he’s not focused on what’s going on in Russia.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://apnews.com/article/march-madness-ncaa-lsu-iowa-c6c6447487dbac4ec753cc3950552104
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/us/florida-alligator-toddler-taylen-mosley-lake-father/index.htmle