Introduction
Former President Trump made history yesterday as the first former U.S. president to be charged with a crime. Angie is here with the full story. Plus…
These four astronauts are about to embark on a history-making mission.
Those stories and more today on… Notice News Daily.
Trump Arraigned
Hello and happy Wednesday from Brooklyn. I’m Jonathan at Notice HQ. Today’s top story: Former President Donald Trump has been arrested and charged with crimes relating to a hush-money scandal.
Our Washington correspondent Angie has the story.
That’s former President Donald Trump, making his appearance at a New York City court to face criminal charges.
He’s the first former president in U.S. history to be charged with a crime.
Trump was charged on dozens of counts, including felonies, for falsifying business records. He’s pleaded not guilty.
The former president wasn’t handcuffed, but he was fingerprinted.
Felony crimes, like those that Trump is facing, are more serious than misdemeanor crimes, and if Trump is convicted, he faces a maximum four-year prison sentence.
The criminal case against Trump stems from an extramarital affair Trump is said to have had with a woman in 2006.
In the run up to the 2016 election, Trump’s former lawyer paid the woman $130,000 to keep her story from getting out.
That lawyer, Michael Cohen, went to jail for breaking campaign finance laws over these payments, but maintains Trump was the one who made him pay the woman.
While this marks the first time ever that a U.S president has faced criminal charges, prosecuting former leaders is actually a common practice in other democracies.
Countries like France and South Korea have tried several ex-leaders over corruption…
And Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing an ongoing criminal trial over bribery and fraud.
Republicans have called the prosecution of Trump politically motivated.
Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence has called this case a “political prosecution,” and other supporters of the former president maintain this indictment is a witch hunt that’s all about getting revenge.
But this may just be the first criminal investigation into Trump that results in charges.
He’s also under investigation for trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results…
Having classified documents at his Florida home and then failing to turn them back over the government…
And for his role in the January 6th insurrection.
Trump is expected to continue fighting all of his charges, and all of these cases, as he continues his third run for president.
Headlines
Here’s what else is making news right now…
Finland, Russia’s neighbor, has just officially joined NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance that’s led by the United States. It’s something Russia worked to prevent, but is largely seen as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
If you think Hawaii would be a great place to live, well know there’s data backing that up. The state was recently ranked the best state to live a healthy life with a high life expectancy of 80.7 years and…
This library book was returned to a library in Canada after it was checked out… on October 4th, 1986. The patron said the book was with him for 36 years and 28 moves, but he still never got around to reading it.
Meet the Astronauts Going Back to the Moon
It’s been over 50 years since humans landed on the moon, but soon, we’re going back.
On Monday, NASA announced the names of four astronauts who will join the crew of Artemis 2.
While they don’t plan to land on the moon, Artemis 2 – in what’s called a lunar flyby – will circle it. It could be the furthest any human has traveled in history.
If Artemis 2 is successful, NASA will move forward with Artemis 3.
On that mission, NASA has vowed they will put the first woman and first person of color on the moon’s surface.
The four astronauts selected for Artemis 2 are Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, and Jeremy Hansen.
Koch, who holds the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman, will serve as a mission specialist,
Sound: “and then, if everything looks good, we’re heading to the moon”
Victor Glover will pilot the Artemis 2,
Sound: “pushing ourselves to explore is core to who we are, that’s a part of being a human.”
Hansen, who will also serve as a mission specialist, will be the first Canadian to ever travel to deep space
Sound: “I changed my treehouse to a rocket ship, I had dials, I had gauges, I’d been inspired by space exploration from an early age.”
And Wiseman will serve as commander of the mission.
Sound: “There’s three words we keep saying in this Artemis program, we are going and we want everyone to say it, on 3, we are going.”
The announcement comes at a time when global interest in space seems to be rapidly increasing as nearly a dozen countries as well as several private companies have space missions planned.
If all goes to plan, Artemis II will launch in November 2024.
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.
I’ll be back tomorrow with more from us, Notice News.