This week in politics: Donald Trump arrested; the ‘Tennessee three’; Majorie Taylor Greene for Senate?
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For the first time in history Americans witnessed a former president be placed under arrest.
Donald Trump surrendering to law enforcement is likely to be a ‘where were you when’ moment for the country that raises multiple legal and political questions going into the 2024 presidential campaign.
The nearly three-dozen felony counts outlined by New York prosecutors against Trump this week will be the center of U.S. politics for months.
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But the former president and his allies plan to fight back in various ways from the courtroom and campaign trail to the halls of Congress, where House Republicans are issuing a subpoena for a former Manhattan prosecutor.
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Hundreds of miles south, the fallout of a mass shooting in Tennessee that killed six people and ignited massive protests this month resulted in two Democratic legislators being kicked out of office.
Meanwhile, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is climbing the House ranks, but could she be moving to the other side of the Capitol as Georgia’s next senator?
The country also continues to grapple with the fall of Roe v. Wade at the state level.
In Wisconsin, voters elected a liberal-minded Supreme Court justice who leaned into her pro-choice views while Idaho adopted a first of kind “abortion trafficking” law that is being heralded by anti-abortion activists.
And first lady Jill Biden probably didn’t expect to step into a muddy cultural debate after attending a basketball game, but she did for suggesting the winner and the loser in the NCAA women’s championship be invited to the White House.
What happened this week in politics?
Trump arraignment, arrest rocks U.S.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump will test the durability of the U.S. legal justice system as much as its political customs.
During the arraignment the judge, who along with Bragg has faced death threats, warned Trump to mind his tongue. He said the former president should, “refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence and civil unrest.”
The crux of this case rests on $130,000 in hush money payments that Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Prosecutors also outlined a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman “who claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock.”
Politics: House panel subpoenas former New York prosecutor in Trump felony case
More: Donald Trump expected to unleash wave of legal challenges after Tuesday arraignment in New York
But even Trump’s critics, such as Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, have expressed skepticism in whether Bragg has presented enough new information to warrant such heavy charges.
Tennessee GOP expels 2 Democrats
The Tennessee’s legislature caught President Joe Biden and the nation’s attention Thursday as Republicans kicked out two of three Democratic members accused of “disorderly behavior” during protests demanding gun reform.
After hours of contentious debate between lawmakers, the Tennessee House booted state Reps. Justin Jones, of Nashville, and Justin Pearson, of Memphis, who are both Black, for breaking decorum rules.
But the Volunteer State’s GOP supermajority spared state Rep. Gloria Johnson, of Knoxville, who is white. She survived expulsion by one vote.
Republicans were furious at the trio because they led a raucous protest from the House floor with a bullhorn on March 30.
Thousands had flocked to the state Capitol demanding gun restrictions in response to the mass shooting at Covenant School in Nashville that killed six people, including three children.
Politics: Tennessee Capitol protest explainer. Here’s what did and did not happen
More: Who are the ‘Tennessee three?’ What to know about the House Democrats targeted for expulsion by Republicans
“Rather than debating the merits of the issue,” Biden said in a statement, “these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.”
MTG for Senate?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has become a powerful voice in today’s Congress.
But Trump wanted her to look higher at a recent rally when he recommended the Georgia congresswoman run for U.S. Senate in 2026. “I will fight like hell for you, I tell you,” he said.
Greene was flattered at the suggestion, and Democrats like the idea too.
More: Marjorie Taylor Greene compares Trump to Jesus before his arrest and arraignment in New York
“We’ll defeat her,” David Bergstein, a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson, told USA TODAY.
LSU’s Angel Reese rejects Jill Biden
The first lady had an idea after watching Louisiana State defeat Iowa for the NCAA women’s championship.
“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” Jill Biden said. “I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”
Normally the championship winners are invited to the White House, but never the losers.
That didn’t sit well with LSU star Angel Reese, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, who said first lady was reacting to her taunting Iowa star Caitlin Clark toward the end of the game. Clark herself had used the same taunting gesture during the NCAA tournament.
Reese said Biden wouldn’t have made the suggestion—which a White House spokesperson walked back this week—if Iowa had won.
“(Iowa) can have that spotlight; we’ll go to the Obamas,” Reese added. “We’ll see Michelle. We’ll see Barack.”
The LSU athletic department has said the team will accept the invite, however.
Idaho, Wisconsin spotlight ongoing abortion battle
Idaho and Wisconsin are separated by more than roughly 1,200 physical miles as they took drastically different approaches to abortion this week.
Voters in Wisconsin elected Milwaukee Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court, which likely takes it in more liberal direction ahead of a case that seeks to knock down pre-Civil War law that criminalizes abortion even in cases of rape or incest.
Elections: Wisconsin Supreme Court election. What liberal win means for abortion, legislative maps and 2024
But anti-abortion activists have a reason to cheer also as Idaho installed what many conservatives herald as a first of its kind law that creates an “ abortion trafficking” restriction.
Under the new law adults are barred from getting a minor an abortion pill and cannot help transport them across state lines for an abortion without parent or guardian’s consent.
The penalty includes two to five years in prison and being sued by the minor’s parent or guardian.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This week in politics: Donald Trump arrested; the ‘Tennessee three’; Majorie Taylor Greene for Senate?