Welcome to the online version of From the policy deskevening bulletin that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill from the NBC News Politics team.
On today’s episode of “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker explores whether abortion could be a defining issue for Democrats, not just a win. Plus, five things you need to know ahead of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial.
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Abortion is a winning issue for Democrats. But will it be decisive?
By Kristen Welker
What is striking about the abortion debate since the Dobbs decision is that it has become a 60%-40% issue in today’s 50%-50% political world.
More than 60% of voters disapproved of the US Supreme Court overturning Roe-Wade. June 2023 national NBC News poll.
In states like Kansas and Kentucky to Michigan and Ohio, majorities voted to protect abortion rights.
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And even in the Arizona battleground—whose high court ruled that a almost a ban on abortion According to an NBC News exit poll, 62% of voters in the 2022 midterm elections say they believe abortion should always or most of the time be legal.
So abortion looks like a winning issue for President Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024.
But will it be decisive? That remains to be seen.
Just look at Arizona in the 2022 midterms. Despite overwhelming support for abortion rights, Democrat Katie Hobbs narrowly defeated Republican Kari Lake in the state’s gubernatorial race, 50.3% to 49.6%.
Indeed, 30% of Lake voters said they believed abortion should be legal, while 20% disapproved of overturning Roe.
A recent NBC News focus group is also instructive. In this Pennsylvania Women’s Focus Group Of the 15 respondents who voted for Trump and said they support abortion rights, all but two said they would vote for Trump.
“I think people should have the right to choose what they want to do with their bodies. But, I mean, it’s not the No. 1 factor in who I’m going to vote for either way,” said Stacey M., 50, of Philadelphia.
There is no doubt that abortion is a motivating issue for Democrats. And support for abortion rights is popular among the general electorate.
But is this the issue that wins the straight Democratic-Republican, Biden-Trump contest?
We won’t know the answer to that until November.
5 things you need to know about Trump’s first criminal trial
By Dareh Gregorian and Adam Reiss
Donald Trump will become the first former president to face criminal charges next week, an unprecedented event that will cast a huge shadow over the 2024 campaign.
Jury selection begins Monday in New York, and the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.
Whether you’ve followed every twist or turn of the case or you’re just tuning in, there’s a lot to keep in mind. Here’s what you need to know and what to expect.
What is Trump accused of? Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump 34 numbers first-degree falsifying business records, a lower-level misdemeanor. If convicted, Trump faces a maximum of 4 years in prison.
How long is jury selection expected to take? A week or two. Beginning Monday, prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys will try to narrow a pool of potentially hundreds of people to 12 jurors and six jurors, all of whom will remain anonymous. Each judge will answer 42 questions designed to determine whether or not the former president is unbiased.
To reach a verdict, all 12 jurors must agree on whether Trump is guilty of a particular charge.
What does the prosecution claim? At the heart of the case are allegations of various sex scandals that prosecutors say they tried to suppress with the help of Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and senior executives responsible for the National Enquirer. In the final days of the election, Cohen paid one of the women, adult movie star Stormi Daniels, $130,000 to keep quiet about allegations that she had sex with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied this charge.
After his election, Trump reimbursed Cohen through a series of trust checks processed through the Trump Organization and labeled as payments for “legal services rendered” — a claim the DA said was false.
What is Trump’s defense? While Trump has acknowledged paying Cohen, he said he doesn’t know the details of what Cohen did. His lawyers will likely take aim at Cohen on the witness stand by painting him as a liar who hates the former president and whose testimony should not be believed.
Will Trump have to be in court every day? Because the case is a felony, Trump is required to be in court every day to participate in his defense. Trump has suggested he may spend nights after the campaign, which will run from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., every day of the week except Wednesday.
🗞️ The best stories of the day
- 🏁 Across the finish line: The House of Representatives voted to renew a powerful surveillance program on Friday, two days after a group of conservative privacy hawks. rebelled He opposed the Republican leadership and blocked the legislation on the ground. More →
- 🌵 Arizona abortion end: GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake called Arizona lawmakers to urge them to completely overturn the 1864 abortion ban that the state Supreme Court upheld this week. More →
- ✅ Next: Colorado organizers say they have collected enough signatures to approve an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution for the November ballot. More →
- 💰 Progressive game ball: He has never donated to a committee to help his Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives win races, the New York Times reports. More →
- 💸 Deal or no deal? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene previously bought shares in Trump’s media company. But he won’t say what he did with them. More →
- 🎒 Get rid of more student debt: The White House announced the next phase of $7.4 billion in student loan cancellations. More →
- 📅 Calendar complications? Republican secretaries of state in Alabama and Ohio are telling Democrats that their late nominating convention could cost them ballots in Biden’s home states. But in the past, these problems were easily solved. More →
For now, that’s it from The Politics Desk. If you have feedback – like it or not – send us an email politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
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