Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Trump as criminal defendant

Donald Trump is the only president in America’s 247-year history to have been impeached twice. On Tuesday, he came the only former president to be prosecuted. The Republican surrendered to New York state authorities in lower Manhattan and was arrested and arraigned on a 34-count felony indictment. The grand jury’s charges are tied to the alleged falsification of business records covering payoffs made to suppress negative information about Trump in the runup to the 2016 presidential election. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, center, enters a courtroom in New York City Tuesday for the arraignment of Donald Trump. Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Trump pleaded not guilty, and could face trial as early as January. The 76-year-old didn’t speak to the scores of journalists gathered outside his Fifth Avenue building or the courthouse, and predictions of massive demonstrations on his behalf fell flat. And the New York prosecution may end up being the least of Trump’s worries: While his 2024 campaign has used the case to rally support, he faces the possibility of more serious charges in Washington and Atlanta. Georgia authorities and a Justice Department Special Counsel are probing his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the deadly 2021 attack on the US Capitol and his handling of highly classified documents. But for now at least, Trump is another criminal defendant in New York City’s courts. In a press conference after the arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sought to place the case in context. While describing the alleged payoffs as a so-called catch-and-kill scheme, the purpose, Bragg said, was to “coverup crimes related to the 2016 election.” —Margaret Sutherlin and David E. Rovella

Finland became the 31st member of NATO, completing a tumultuous process of accession sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The addition of Finland is a blow to Moscow, as it is the exact opposite result Vladimir Putin had sought by starting the war. Nordic neighbor Sweden has also rushed to join NATO, but its ratification is being blocked by Turkey and Hungary, two countries that have been friendly with the Kremlin and unwilling to openly criticize Putin. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to China, where they’ll try to convince Chinese leader Xi Jinping to change his accommodating stance toward Russia.

Finland Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, left, receives a formal invitation to join NATO from Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on April 4. Photographer: Johanna Geron/Pool Reuters/AP Photo

Sultan Al Jaber was selected to lead COP28—the world’s most important climate summit. He also runs the United Arab Emirates’ oil and gas behemoth Adnoc, which is one of the biggest polluters of the planet. 

Wisconsin voters headed to the polls Tuesday in the most expensive race for a state Supreme Court seat in US history. The election could decide the future of Republican-drawn legislative maps and have an outsized effect on the 2024 presidential election. It has also given Democrats a chance to workshop ways to keep abortion rights front and center following the ending of federal abortion rights by the Supreme Court.

A selloff in banks led the stock market lower Tuesday, ending a four-day rally. US job openings dropped in February to the lowest since May 2021, suggesting a cooling in labor demand, potentially helping the Fed’s inflation fight. Here’s your markets wrap. 

There are signs of an economic slowdown percolating in Southern California. The region known as a warehouse destination—it’s home to large Amazon and Walmart facilities—was just last year hiring workers faster than California and the rest of the US. Now, the gush of cargo has dwindled to almost three-year lows and jobs are harder to come by.

Latin America and the Caribbean will expand just 1.4% through December as the region’s economies suffer from high interest rates and falling commodity prices, the World Bank said. The region will lag behind all others globally. 

Legacy automakers like Volkswagen and BMW have been sounding optimistic lately about vehicle sales in China following the end of its restrictive “Covid zero” approach to the pandemic. But a new analysis suggests they’re fast losing steam to Chinese automakers. International carmakers’ overall share of the China market this year is expected to fall well below 50%. In the US, GM overtook Ford as the no. 2 seller of electric vehicles. 

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

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• J&J may file a new bankruptcy case to deal with 40,000 cancer lawsuits.
• What can cities do about the most dangerous drivers?
• Warner Bros. is nearing a deal for a new TV series based on Harry Potter.
• Concerns voiced about a Manchester United bidder.
• Manhattan’s wealthy homebuyers are being lured back by price cuts.

American workers, fearing the stock market’s swings, are keeping larger chunks of their retirement savings in cash. Indeed, millennial workers have a third of their retirement funds in cash, more than any other asset class, according to a new retirement survey.  

Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

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