WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will go before voters Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s presidential primaries, a prelude to the November general election, when the commonwealth is expected to once again play a critical role in the race for the White House. Further down the ballot, voters will also select nominees in competitive primaries for Congress, the state legislature and three statewide offices.

Biden clinched the Democratic nomination and Trump clinched the Republican nomination on March 12, and neither faces serious opposition on the primary ballot. Nonetheless, both presumptive nominees have campaigned in Pennsylvania in recent days with their focus more on the November election and each other than on Tuesday’s vote.

Biden just completed a three-day campaign swing that began Tuesday in his hometown of Scranton and concluded Thursday in Philadelphia in an event with members of the Kennedy family. Days earlier, Trump held a rally in Lehigh County, his third visit to the state this year.

Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes, was one of three critical swing states along with Michigan and Wisconsin that went narrowly for Trump in 2016 after almost 30 years of voting for Democratic presidential candidates. Biden won back all three states four years later with a margin in Pennsylvania of about 80,000 votes out of more than 6.9 million votes cast, and the states remain key electoral prizes this November.

Democrats in the Keystone State also will decide competitive contests for state attorney general, treasurer and auditor general. For attorney general, five candidates are running for the nomination for the position once held by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. They are Philadelphia attorney Keir Bradford-Grey, former auditor general and state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, former prosecutor and Bucks County solicitor Joe Khan, Philadelphia state Rep. Jared Solomon and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.

The Republican primary for attorney general pits York County District Attorney Dave Sunday against state Rep. Craig Williams.

In the race to control the closely divided Congress, first-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Summer Lee faces a primary challenge in the 12th District from Bhavini Patel, a member of the Edgewood Borough Council in Allegheny County. The two have sparred over their positions on the Israel-Hamas war. Lee has accused Israel of “war crimes” in Gaza and was an early proponent of a cease-fire. She was also supportive of a campaign to vote “uncommitted” in Democratic presidential primaries to send a message to Biden over the war.

In the 10th Congressional District, six Democrats are competing for the nomination to face Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, who played an active role in the effort to keep Trump in office after his loss to Biden in the 2020 election. A federal court recently ordered Perry to hand over hundreds of his texts and emails to FBI agents investigating the effort. His cellphone was seized in 2022 as part of the probe.

In the 1st Congressional District, Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick faces a primary challenge from Mark Houck, an anti-abortion activist. In the 7th District, three Republicans are vying to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in the fall.

Pennsylvania is also home to a competitive U.S. Senate contest, but Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and Republican David McCormick are both running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday:

The Pennsylvania presidential and state primaries will be held on Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

The Associated Press will provide coverage for the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries, as well as 48 additional races down the ballot. Biden and Dean Phillips will appear on the Democratic presidential ballot, while Trump and Nikki Haley will appear on the Republican ballot. Voters in both primaries are also given the option to write in a candidate. The AP will also provide coverage for contested primaries for attorney general, auditor, treasurer, U.S. House, state Senate and state House.

Pennsylvania has a closed primary system, which means that only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary.

Pennsylvania’s 159 pledged Democratic delegates are allocated according to the national party’s standard rules. Thirty-five at-large delegates are allocated in proportion to the statewide vote, as are 19 PLEO delegates, or “party leaders and elected officials.” The state’s 17 congressional districts have a combined 105 delegates at stake, which are allocated in proportion to the vote results in each district. Candidates must receive at least 15% of the statewide vote to qualify for any statewide delegates, and 15% of the vote in a congressional district to qualify for delegates in that district.

Pennsylvania has 67 Republican delegates. The winner of the statewide vote will receive all 16 at-large delegates. The state’s 17 congressional districts each have an additional three delegates, for a total of 51 district-level delegates, but they are not awarded to candidates based on the primary vote. Instead, people running to be a convention delegate appear on the ballot and are elected directly by voters. They are elected as unbound delegates, meaning they are not obligated to vote for any particular candidate at the convention. The AP will not report vote totals for delegate candidates.

In the presidential race, Biden and Trump are the favorites in their primaries as neither candidate faces a credible challenge. The first indications that they are winning statewide on a level consistent with the overwhelming margins seen in most other contests held this year may be sufficient to determine the statewide winners.

For other statewide primaries, the key jurisdictions to watch are the vote-rich counties of Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Lancaster and Chester.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

In Pennsylvania, races with a vote margin of 0.5 percentage points or less are subject to an automatic recount. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

As of April 15, there were more than 8.7 million registered voters in Pennsylvania, about 45% Democrats and 40% Republicans.

In the 2022 midterm primaries, turnout was about 15% of registered voters in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. About 42% of votes in the Democratic primary that year were cast before Election Day, compared with about 11% in the Republican primary.

As of Thursday, a total of 413,952 ballots had been cast before Election Day, about 73% from Democrats and about 26% from Republicans.

In the 2022 midterm primaries, the AP first reported results at 8:04 p.m. ET, or four minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 2:45 a.m. ET with about 91% of total votes counted.

As of Tuesday, there will be 83 days until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, 118 days until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and 196 until the November general election.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – At Donald Trump’s criminal trial, there is no dispute about a central underlying fact: the month before the 2016 presidential election, his personal lawyer and fixer paid a porn star for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. 

Legal experts say the outcome of the first-ever trial of a former U.S. president hinges on Trump’s intent. 

Can prosecutors prove that he knew that fixer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels was meant to sway the election and that Trump fudged records to cover it up? 

Or can the defense persuade jurors the payment was a personal expense meant to spare Trump and his family embarrassment? 

Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The 12-member jury was selected on Thursday. Opening statements could take place on Monday if prosecutors and defense lawyers finish choosing six alternate jurors on Friday.

Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office say Trump falsely recorded his 2017 reimbursement of Cohen as legal expenses in his New York-based real estate company’s books to cover up the hush money payment, which they call an illegal campaign contribution.

Falsifying a business record is a misdemeanor in New York. To get a jury to convict him on felony charges, prosecutors must prove that Trump knew Cohen’s payment just before the 2016 election was illegal and that the former president was trying to conceal it. 

“The timing of it makes the inference pretty clear, but they have to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a New York Law School professor and former Manhattan assistant district attorney. 

Trump’s lawyers and a spokesperson for Bragg did not respond to requests for comment on their trial strategies.

Trump’s lawyers have said in court papers that his 2017 payments to Cohen were, in fact, monthly legal retainers. They also said accounts of extramarital affairs could have harmed the reputations of Trump and his family regardless of his candidacy, meaning the Daniels payment was not a campaign contribution.

“I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday outside the courtroom. “That’s exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that?”

He has said the case, like the three other indictments he faces, amounts to interference in the 2024 election and was brought to thwart his campaign for president. 

‘CATCH AND KILL’

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign finance laws by paying Daniels, which he testified Trump directed him to do. 

Trump has branded Cohen a serial liar, and his lawyers have argued Cohen is falsely implicating his former boss to promote his podcasts and books. 

Cohen has admitted lying to Congress in 2017 about a Moscow real estate project, though he says he did so to protect Trump when he was still working for him. 

While testifying at a recent civil trial against Trump, Cohen said he lied in 2018 by pleading guilty to tax fraud – a crime he now says he did not commit. 

“Michael Cohen’s credibility has been shot quite a bit, and the defense will have a good opportunity to attack his testimony,” said Tanisha Palvia, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a lawyer at Moore & Van Allen.

To counteract the defense narrative that the Daniels payoff was purely personal, prosecutors are expected to portray it as part of a broader “catch and kill” scheme to bury negative stories about Trump before the election.

Prosecutors say that included a $150,000 hush money payment Cohen arranged from tabloid publisher American Media Inc to another woman who said she had an affair with Trump, Playboy model Karen McDougal, which Trump also denies. They could seek to corroborate Cohen’s testimony with other witnesses, such as former AMI chief executive David Pecker.

“You try to deprive the defense of any other alternate, innocent explanation,” said James Roberts, counsel at Schlam, Stone & Dolan and a former prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Trump has suggested he may testify in the case. 

Taking the stand in his own defense is risky as it opens him up to cross-examination by prosecutors. But Adam Kaufmann, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, said it may be Trump’s best bet at convincing jurors the payment was personal.

“To really give it legs, Trump would need to put it in front of the jury and testify,” said Kaufmann, a partner at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Daniel Wallis)

By Luc Cohen, Jack Queen and Andy Sullivan

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawyers in Donald Trump’s criminal trial are expected on Friday to wrap up the painstaking process of selecting a jury that will for the first time in U.S. history determine whether a former president is guilty of breaking the law.

With the 12-member jury already chosen, prosecutors and defense lawyers need to select six alternates for the trial, which is expected to run through May. Opening statements could start on Monday.

Two jurors have already been removed from the case. On Thursday, Justice Juan Merchan dismissed one juror who said she felt intimidated after friends and relatives figured out she had been chosen for the trial. Another was dismissed after prosecutors questioned whether he had been truthful about prior run-ins with the law.

Jury selection is often a contentious process, as lawyers on either side jockey to assemble a panel they hope will be most sympathetic to their interests.

But it has proven especially challenging in this case, which involves a controversial former president who is accused of covering up a hush-money payment to a porn star shortly before he was elected in 2016. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

It is one of four criminal cases Trump faces but the only one certain to go to trial ahead of the Nov. 5 election, when the Republican politician aims to again take on Democratic President Joe Biden. A conviction would not bar him from office.

Roughly half of the more than 200 potential jurors who were screened said they would not be able to impartially assess Trump’s guilt or innocence. All were drawn from Manhattan, a heavily Democratic city that was once Trump’s hometown.

Trump has said all four criminal cases are an effort by Biden allies to undercut his campaign. His criticism of witnesses, prosecutors, the judge and their relatives in this case and others has also sparked concerns about harassment, prompting Merchan to impose a partial gag order.

Trump has tested the limits of that gag order, posting on Wednesday that undercover liberal activists had been lying to get on the jury. Prosecutors have asked Merchan to penalize him.

Merchan has taken steps to shield jurors from harassment, saying they will remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. On Thursday, he said he would prohibit news outlets from reporting on aspects of potential jurors’ employment.

In this case, Trump is accused of covering up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says they had a decade earlier.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and denies any such encounter with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in his other three criminal cases as well. Two accuse him of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, while another accuses him of mishandling classified information after he left office.

(Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)

By Alexandra Ulmer and Jason Lange

(Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is using his hush money trial to squeeze his loyal army of small donors and personally lobby major backers as he scrambles to reduce a major fundraising disadvantage with Democratic President Joe Biden.

His campaign has been firing off daily, dramatically worded fundraising appeals to small donors – who rallied to support him when he was first charged in the case last year – since the trial in New York began with jury selection on Monday.

“I could be locked up for life,” one email read this week. “I should be campaigning across America and fighting for our country. But instead, I’m stuck in Biden’s corrupt court AGAIN,” read another, although Trump is being tried in New York state court by the Manhattan district attorney and not by the Biden administration.

He faces up to four years in prison if convicted, although many of those who have been convicted of that crime in the past have faced punishments like probation and fines.

There are early warning signs that Trump’s small-donor base may be flagging, suggesting Trump may have to rely more heavily on major donors ahead of the Nov. 5 rematch against Biden.

The biggest fundraising group collecting money for his campaign – known as the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee – reported on Monday that it raised $33.6 million in the first quarter from donors who gave $200 or less.

That was about $17 million less than the amount raised from small donors at the same point in the 2020 election cycle by Trump’s main fundraising group at the time, the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, according to a Reuters review of disclosures filed to the Federal Election Commission.

Small donors have historically been crucial funders of Trump’s presidential campaigns, and last year they helped Trump raise $13 million in donations in the week after his indictment in the New York case.

But, after initial fundraising spikes off the back of early court appearances last year, donations have slowed as charges accumulated in more cases.

A degree of “Trump fatigue” appears to have set in after nine years of the former real estate tycoon blasting out near-daily overtures for cash, said Zachary Albert, a politics professor at Brandeis University who has studied small donors.

“He’s been fairly unscrupulous in his appeals,” said Albert. “The norm is to treat these small donors as cash cows that you squeeze as much as you can, as often as you can.”

Still, Albert expects an uptick in donations during the trial as the campaign seeks to capitalize on supporters’ sentiment that Trump is being unfairly tried.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for details on its fundraising strategy. It is due on Saturday to report on its finances through March.

Trump’s campaign reported raising $10.9 million February, well below the $21.3 million that Biden’s reported raising.

DONOR CALLS, BIG FUNDRAISERS

Given Biden’s financial advantage and Trump’s spiraling legal costs, Trump is increasingly focused on landing big checks.

The Republican candidate is ratcheting up donor events, placing calls to benefactors on the fence and tapping a money-raising operation that has merged with the Republican National Committee, according to three people briefed on the activity.

“The donors I’ve needed him to talk to, he’s been exceedingly effective in terms of getting large checks and support from them,” said one Trump fundraiser, who asked to remain anonymous to share private conversations.

In the last two weeks, Trump has held fundraisers in Georgia and Florida. The campaign aims to raise at least $5 million from each event, although it has settled for less, one of the sources said.

An April 6 fundraiser at hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Palm Beach home, which Trump’s campaign said raised more than $50 million, attracted heavy-hitter co-hosts including hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter and conservative activist Rebekah, investor Scott Bessent, and casino mogul Phil Ruffin.

Some longtime Republican donors remain reticent to back Trump, however, often citing what they see as his erratic personality or the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters as their main stumbling points.

Several told Reuters they are holding back out of concerns about their donations going to Trump’s mushrooming legal fees.

A fundraising group run by Trump has spent more than $55 million on legal bills since the start of 2023. So far, the political contributions paying Trump’s legal bills have largely come from small donors.

Another Republican donor said he was comfortable backing Trump again but first wanted to understand what strategy the RNC had to win in battleground states.

One fundraiser said Trump’s legal problems, which include four criminal cases, had had the opposite effect on some donors, prompting some to reach for their checkbooks.

“These trials are the catalyst of phone calls,” said George Glass, a retired businessman who was Trump’s ambassador to Portugal.

In a sign of how the trial is affecting Trump’s fundraising outreach, Trump this week called in from New York to Florida to speak during a meeting of the Rockbridge Network, a low-profile but influential group of conservative donors, according to a source.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Jason Lange; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson looks set to push forward this weekend on a $95 billion aid bill for Kyiv, Israel and other allies, despite a firestorm of protest from hardline Republicans that could lead to an attempt to oust him.

The aid legislation is the latest in a series of must-pass bipartisan measures that Johnson has helped shepherd through Congress, including two massive spending bills and a controversial reauthorization of federal surveillance programs.

His performance, six months after the 52-year-old Louisiana Republican acquired the speaker’s gavel, has won him accolades from centrist Republicans who worry that party infighting could erode U.S. status on the world stage.

Johnson was elected speaker after a small band of hardline Republicans ousted his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, a move that brought the House of Representatives to a halt for weeks.

“He’s shown tremendous courage,” Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick told Reuters. “He’s not allowing the noise to get to him.”

The House is expected to vote as early as Saturday on the aid legislation that provides $61 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

Republicans hold a narrow House 218-213 majority, a margin so scant that Republican Representative Mike Gallagher is postponing his mid-session retirement, originally set for Friday, so he can be present to vote for the bill.

Johnson has routinely relied on Democratic votes to pass legislation since becoming speaker, and he is expected to do so again on Saturday.

Republican Representative Max Miller, an early critic of Johnson’s speakership, now credits him for quickly adopting the national perspective necessary for the top Republican in Congress.

“He’s now seen the light, when it comes to representing not just your district in Louisiana but the entire country,” the Ohio Republican said.

“He got a crash course on what the majority of Americans really feel.”

‘COURAGEOUS,’ SAYS PELOSI

Johnson’s performance has even led to positive reviews from some senior Democrats.

Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who led her party in the chamber for two decades — described him as “courageous” for defying hardline opposition to pass legislation that averted two government shutdowns, safeguarded U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, and would now support Ukraine in its struggle against Russian invasion.

The speaker got vital support last week from former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, who said it was “unfortunate” that members would seek Johnson’s ouster “because right now we have much bigger problems.”

Many House Republicans fear that ouster would mean unnecessary chaos months before the Nov. 5 election that will determine control of the White House, the Senate and the House.

But despite Trump’s support, Johnson faces a growing ouster threat from hardline Republicans, including members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, who oppose aid to Ukraine, favor border restrictions and deep spending cuts and want to curb the federal government’s surveillance powers to protect U.S. citizens.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who filed a motion to vacate Johnson’s seat as speaker, won a co-sponsor this week in fellow hardliner Representative Thomas Massie. And more hardliners seem poised to join in.

Even if Greene does not attempt to oust Johnson soon, she predicted he would not hold onto his leadership role in the long run.

“The reality for Mike Johnson is that he’s not going to be speaker. But it’s just a matter of when that’s going to happen,” Greene said on Wednesday.

Hardline frustrations surged on Thursday after word spread that House Republican leaders were considering a plan to raise the threshold for bringing an ouster motion from a single lawmaker to a majority of the party. Johnson later vowed not to make such a move.

For their part, some Democrats have indicated they could consider providing votes to defend Johnson’s leadership if he succeeds in moving Ukraine aid.

“I certainly don’t want to do anything personally that would in any way aid and abet Marjorie Taylor Greene’s destructive path,” said Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle.

Johnson himself has dismissed the ouster threat, saying he would never be able to do his job if he operated out of fear for his own political future.

“History judges us for what we do,” Johnson told reporters this week. “I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. I really do.”

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner is not running for reelection this year in his GOP-leaning eastern Kansas district so that he can spend more time with his four young children, he announced Thursday.

LaTurner is among nearly two dozen Republicans in the U.S. House who are not running again or seeking another office.

“The unrepeatable season of life we are in, where our kids are still young and at home, is something I want to be more present for,” LaTurner said.

LaTurner’s announcement leaves Republicans with no declared candidates in a district he likely would have had little trouble winning again. While the district includes Democratic strongholds in the state capital of Topeka and northern Kansas City, they’re offset by rural areas that heavily favored former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

LaTurner, 36, has put on hold what seemed a promising long-term political career, saying also that he wouldn’t seek any office in 2026. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is term-limited and Republicans had mentioned LaTurner as a possible candidate for the job that year.

He worked for U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins when he won a state Senate seat in 2012 at age 24, and he became Kansas’ youngest-ever state treasurer at 29 when then-GOP Gov. Sam Brownback appointed him to fill a vacancy.

LaTurner’s statement mentioned “the current dysfunction on Capitol Hill,” with the narrow Republican majority in the House and a threat from the hard-right to topple Speaker Mike Johnson, but he also said he’s optimistic about the nation’s future. Instead, he said, serving in Congress has taken a toll on him, his wife, Suzanne, and their children.

“I am hopeful that in another season of life, with new experiences and perspectives, I can contribute in some small way and advocate for the issues I care most about,” his statement Thursday said.

While Republicans have represented the 2nd District in 27 of the past 30 years, Democrats have waged aggressive campaigns since Jenkins decided not to seek reelection in 2018. One Democrat, former teacher Eli Woody IV, has filed to run in November.

In the 2020 primary, LaTurner handily defeated Republican Steve Watkins and won the November election by almost 15 percentage points. In 2022, LaTurner won his general election race by a slightly wider margin.

In June 2022, the congressman beefed up security at his home and Topeka office out of concern for his family’s safety after a man left a threatening voicemail after hours that said, “I will kill you.”

The man, Chase Neill, is now serving a sentence of nearly four years in prison after being convicted in federal court of one count of threating a U.S. official. LaTurner testified at the trial, and Neill, representing himself, cross-examined him personally.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania school district has canceled an upcoming appearance by actor and children’s book author Maulik Pancholy after district leaders cited concerns about what they described as his activism and “lifestyle.”

Pancholy, who is gay, was scheduled to speak against bullying during a May 22 assembly at Mountain View Middle School in Cumberland County. However, the district’s school board voted unanimously Monday night to cancel his talk after some members voiced concerns and others noted the district’s policy about not hosting overtly political events, news outlets reported. The policy was enacted after the district was criticized for hosting a rally by Donald Trump during his 2016 campaign for president.

Pancholy, 48, is an award-winning actor, including for his roles on the television shows “30 Rock” and “Weeds,” and as the voice of Baljeet in the Disney animated series, “Phineas & Ferb.” He also has written children’s books and in 2014 was named by then-President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, where he co-founded a campaign to combat AAPI bullying.

Pancholy’s appearance was scheduled by the school’s leadership team, which each year selects an author to present a “unique educational experience for students,” according to the district.

While discussing the appearance at Monday night’s meeting, school board members said they did not know what Pancholy’s talk would be about, but one member said he didn’t “want to run the risk” of what it might entail.

“If you research this individual, he labels himself as an activist,” Bud Shaffner said, according to Pennlive. “He is proud of his lifestyle, and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students, at any age.”

The board’s vote sparked criticism from several parents, students and community members who called the decision “homophobic.” Some have started online petitions urging that Pancholy’s appearance be reinstated.

In a statement posted on social media, Pancholy said that as a middle school student he never saw himself represented in stories, and that books featuring South Asian-American or LGBTQ+ characters “didn’t exist.” When he started writing his own novels years later, he was still hard-pressed to find those stories, he said.

“It’s why I wrote my books in the first place,” Pancholy wrote. “Because representation matters.”

Pancholy said his school visits are meant “to let all young people know that they’re seen. To let them know that they matter.” When he talks about his characters feeling “different,” he said he is always surprised by how many children of various identities and backgrounds want to share how they feel different too.

“That’s the power of books. They build empathy,” Pancholy wrote. “I wonder why a school board is so afraid of that?”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump lost a bid Thursday to pause a string of lawsuits accusing him of inciting the U.S. Capitol attack, while the former president fights his 2020 election interference criminal case in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied defense lawyers’ request to put the civil cases seeking to hold Trump responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on hold while the criminal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden plays out.

It’s the latest legal setback for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, whose trial in a separate criminal case related to hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign began this week with jury selection in New York.

The lawsuits brought by Democratic lawmakers and police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 seek civil damages for harm they say they suffered during the attack, which aimed to stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.

Trump has claimed he can’t be sued over the riot that left dozens of police officers injured, arguing that his words during a rally before the storming of the Capitol addressed “matters of public concern” and fell within the scope of absolute presidential immunity.

Washington’s federal appeals court ruled in December that the lawsuits can move forward, rejecting Trump’s sweeping claims that presidential immunity shields him from liability. The court, however, said Trump can continue to fight, as the cases proceed, to try to prove that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president.

In court papers filed last month, Trump’s lawyers told the judge that “basic fairness to criminal defendants” warrants pausing the civil cases until after the 2020 election criminal case is resolved. They argued that allowing the lawsuits to proceed could force Trump to “prematurely telegraph” his defense strategies in the criminal case.

Mehta, who was appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, said the public has an interest in the prompt resolution of the civil lawsuits in addition to the criminal case. And the judge said “appropriate safeguards” can be put in place to allow for the lawsuits to advance without infringing on Trump’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next week on Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution in the election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The ruling will determine whether Trump will have to stand trial in the case accusing him of a sprawling conspiracy to stay in power after Americans voted him out of office.

By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress moved closer on Thursday to ending a months-long stalemate and voting on legislation to provide billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, despite bitter debate over the measure ahead of a weekend vote.

Members of the Republican-led House of Representatives Rules Committee spent hours debating the package of four bills: three providing the security aid and a fourth with measures including sanctions, a threat to ban the social media app TikTok and the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine.

More than two months after the Democratic-led Senate approved a $95 billion package of security assistance for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. partners in the Indo-Pacific, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday unveiled House bills providing the assistance.

Largely similar to the Senate measure, the House bills provide $61 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific.

Johnson said the chamber would vote as soon as Saturday, despite fierce objections from the right wing of his conference. That resistance likely means the bills will need Democratic support to pass, as Republicans control only a slim 218-to-213 majority.

The hardline House Freedom Caucus came out against the security package on Thursday. And one Republican Rules committee member, hardline Representative Ralph Norman, said he would be a “no,” suggesting that Ukraine aid be used as “leverage” to win tougher controls on immigration policy opposed by Democrats.

‘EYE-OPENING’

But other lawmakers predicted the bills would become law.

The Senate passed its security assistance package in February with strong 70% bipartisan support, from both Democrats and Republicans, after rejecting a bipartisan border security bill.

Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after testifying in the hearing that he believed the measures would pass.

He said the need for aid to Ukraine is dire, and that he felt Johnson had been influenced by classified briefings on the situation there from CIA Director William Burns and others. “When you get into that space and you see what is the real picture, it’s eye-opening,” McCaul said.

During the hearing, McCaul said Ukraine was at the risk of collapse without timely U.S. assistance, saying, “I would give them two weeks to a month before the Russians would take over Ukraine.”

House Democrats discussed the security bills at a conference meeting on Thursday morning, but party leaders said they would wait to see more, including what limits on debate and amendments are set by the Rules committee, before making an official statement.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday and told him he hoped the Senate would act as soon as this weekend to help Ukraine.

“You are not only defending your country valiantly, you’re defending the West, and our values and our freedom. And we’re going to do everything we can, hopefully as soon as this weekend when the House sends us the bill, to get it done here in the Senate. It’s very, very important to us,” Schumer said at a photo opportunity with reporters.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Makini Brice; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

By Luc Cohen, Tom Hals

(Reuters) -After Donald Trump lost a last-ditch bid to delay the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president, he lashed out at the New York judge overseeing the case: Justice Juan Merchan.

“Judge Juan Merchan is totally compromised,” Trump wrote on March 28 on his Truth Social platform. “If the Biased and Conflicted Judge is allowed to stay on this Sham “Case,” it will be another sad example of our Country becoming a Banana Republic.”

Despite Trump’s vitriol and efforts to get Merchan off the case, the judge has approached the proceedings with both concern for Trump’s rights as a defendant and presidential candidate, and firmness in the face of what he views as troubling behavior and personal attacks on his family by the former U.S. president.

The veteran judge, who began his career as an assistant district attorney in the same office that is now prosecuting Trump, has already overseen a criminal trial of Trump’s family real estate company and is presiding over onetime Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal case.

At this trial, Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier. 

Trump, the Republican candidate for the presidency in the Nov. 5 election, has pleaded not guilty and denies any such encounter. 

Merchan has emphasized he does not want the trial to get in the way of Trump’s ability to campaign or to publicly criticize the case.

But he has held firm on enforcing rules in his courtroom, such as when he said during jury selection on Tuesday that Trump had been uttering something and gesturing in the direction of a prospective juror while she was being questioned just 12 feet (3.7 meters) away from him.

“I won’t tolerate that,” Merchan said after the prospective juror left the room, raising his voice. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.”

The juror was not chosen.

In late March, Merchan granted a request from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office for a gag order restricting Trump’s public statements about witnesses, court staff and individual prosecutors. The judge said some of Trump’s statements had been threatening or inflammatory.

The judge later expanded the order to cover his relatives and those of Bragg, whose office brought the charges, after Trump disparaged the judge’s daughter online.

Trump’s lawyers have argued Merchan should be removed from the case because of his daughter’s work for a political consulting firm with Democratic clients.Merchan has denied those requests twice. 

FROM QUEENS TO THE COURTROOM 

The hush money case is the first of four criminal indictments Trump faces to reach trial. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the other cases as well, which are tied to efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his handling of government documents. 

The history-making trial is a far cry from Merchan’s prior stints on the state’s Court of Claims, which hears cases against the state and its agencies, and family court in the Bronx. 

The judge was born in Colombia and moved to the United States at age 6, growing up in New York City’s borough of Queens – where Trump also spent much of his youth. Merchan graduated from Baruch College in New York City and Hofstra University School of Law on Long Island. 

He has been a Manhattan criminal court judge since 2009. Over the last three years, he has overseen several politically charged cases involving Trump and his allies.

Merchan in 2022 presided over a criminal trial of the Trump Organization. The real estate company was convicted by a jury of tax fraud. Merchan later sentenced the company to pay $1.6 million in fines.  

He is also overseeing Steve Bannon’s case, which is currently scheduled for trial in May. The former Trump campaign and White House adviser has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges related to a nonprofit that raised funds for building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump’s trial was initially slated to start on March 25, but Merchan delayed it by three weeks when defense lawyers raised concerns about the late production of potential evidence. After finding Trump’s arguments meritless, the judge has shown little patience for perceived postponement efforts.

In an April 3 order denying Trump’s bid to exclude some evidence, Merchan wrote, “The fact that the Defendant waited until a mere 17 days prior to the scheduled trial date of March 25, 2024, to file the motion, raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion.”

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)