Introduction
Former president Donald Trump has been indicted by a grand jury in New York City.
I’ll tell you why this is historic, and what happens next. Plus…
What’s so different about this meatball – and would you try it?
Those stories and more today on… Notice News Daily.
Trump Criminally Charged
Happy Monday everybody, I’m Angie here at Notice D-C. Our top story today:
Former president Donald J. Trump has been criminally charged for crimes relating to an alleged hush-money payment made right before the 2016 election.
It’s the first time ever in American history that a former president has been charged with a crime.
Prosecutors say Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen gave money to a woman to cover up an affair almost ten years earlier with Trump, and Trump then paid Cohen back.
That’s not necessarily a crime, but covering it up might be – and because Trump was running for president – it could also be an illegal campaign contribution.
But – we don’t know the exact crimes that president Trump has been charged with yet.
This week, president Trump is expected to go to New York City for his arraignment.
It’s there that Trump will appear before a judge to be officially presented with the charges against him – and enter a plea – either guilty or not guilty.
Neama Rahmani is a former federal prosecutor:
“Trump will be given the opportunity to appear in court. He’s not going to be arrested. Now he will be booked, which means he’ll be fingerprinted. He’ll have his mug shot taken. [Flash] His attorneys, of course, will plead not guilty for him. I don’t expect there to be any pretrial resolution in this case. And we’re going to see the most politically charged trial in American history.”
President Trump has maintained his innocence, saying he’s the victim of a blackmail plot.
Republicans have called the charges politically motivated – and Trump – who is actively running for president again – has vowed to fight the charges and keep campaigning.
It’s unclear exactly how this will all play out – and this isn’t the only legal trouble the former president is facing.
He’s also under investigation for his role in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol…
His efforts to pressure elected officials in Georgia after the 20-20 election…
And taking and subsequently failing to turn over classified documents after he left office.
The only thing that’s clear is that we are in an unparalleled and unprecedented moment in American history.
Headlines
Here’s what else is making news right now…
Gun control protesters swarmed Tennessee’s capitol late last week demanding new action on gun violence. The protests follow last week’s school shooting there that left 3 children and 3 adults dead.
Pope Francis was released from the hospital over the weekend and led Palm Sunday services at the Vatican. The leader of the world’s one billion plus Catholics had been hospitalized for a respiratory infection. And…
This lucky lady from North Carolina is now $9,000 richer after buying this – an antique Cartier handbag at an online estate sale… For just one dollar. Quite the profit.
Mammoth Meatballs?
Four thousand years ago, the wooly mammoth went extinct.
But last week, scientists at a science museum in the Netherlands unveiled this: a massive meatball made from the D-N-A of the long-gone, massive creatures.
SOT: “We inserted the gene from the mammoth into these sheep cells and then over-expressed that gene really, really highly. So all that means is that we could detect the amount of traditional sheep myoglobin inside the cells and we could detect over 100 times more mammoth myoglobin in those cells themselves, so quite a significant portion of what you can see here in front of you today comes from mammoth.”
No, the goal here isn’t to bring back the wooly mammoth, Jurassic World style…
It’s to draw attention to what can be done with cultivated meat.
Cultivated meat, also called cultured or cell-based meat, is grown from animal cells – meaning livestock doesn’t need to be killed in the process.
Supporters say it’s good for animals—and the environment.
SOT: “The mammoth has traditionally been a symbol of loss. Mammoths we know now were wiped out because of climate change and we wanted to draw attention to a different future, something more exciting, something where we can eat our way out of extinction.”
Don’t expect to be eating a mammoth meatball any time soon though…
The company says it still must go through rigorous testing before it’s ready to eat.
Reporters in the room said it smelled like cooked crocodile meat.
Hard pass.
Conclusion
That’s it for today – but let’s see how closely you were paying attention. Go take the Notice News quiz on our website noticenews.com.
Jonathan be back tomorrow with more from us, Notice News.