| | | | | | | Presented By Walmart | | | | Axios AM | | By Mike Allen · Apr 02, 2023 | | 🌴 Good Sunday morning. It's Palm Sunday. Erica Pandey is at the weekend controls. Give her a follow: @erica_pandey. - Smart Brevity™ count: 1,432 words ... 5½ minutes. Thanks to Donica Phifer for the edit.
| | | | | | 💰 1 big thing: Hush money 2 | | Former President Trump is driven from his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., yesterday. Photo: Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen provided Manhattan prosecutors with documentation about a Trump hush-money payment to a second woman who claims to have had an affair with him, Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, told CNN this morning. - Why it matters: That suggests the case by District Attorney Alvin Bragg could be broader than the Stormy Daniels payment.
Davis told Axios' Mike Allen that — while he can't discuss conversations with the D.A.'s office — he infers "100%" that Karen McDougal, the second woman and a former Playboy model, is part of Bragg's case. - It could be as part of the charges or the narrative, perhaps showing a pattern of behavior, Davis said.
Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union" that he hopes Trump's surrender on Tuesday will be as "painless and classy" as possible. - But Tacopina told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" that Trump is "gearing up for a battle … He's a tough guy."
🥊 Previewing arguments we can expect to hear more of, Tacopina said on ABC: "Had Donald Trump not been Donald Trump and it was John Smith, this case never would have been brought." - Despite not knowing the charges, the lawyer added: "This case is not even legally sufficient. Factually, it's a joke."
- Separating himself from Trump's online attacks on the judge in the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, Tacopina said: "I don't believe the judge is biased. I mean, the president has his own opinion."
💰 By the numbers: Trump raised more than $5 million since news of his indictment broke late Thursday — over $4 million in the first 24 hours and over $1 million in the second 24 hours, a Trump official told Axios. - In announcing the initial $4 million haul, Trump's campaign noted that over 25% of the donations came from first-time donors.
- "This is someone who has run twice for president of the United States," Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser, said. "There's a whole new group of Trump supporters who are angered by what they see as this political persecution."
🔮 What's next: Trump's campaign announced this morning that he'll "deliver remarks" back at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. ET. |     | | | | | | 2. 🗳️ Manchin leaves door open on '24 run | | Sen. Joe Manchin, the centrist Democrat from West Virginia, dodged repeated questions from Shannon Bream on "Fox News Sunday" on whether he might run for president in 2024 as a third-party candidate. - "I'm gonna put you down as not ruling it out," Bream finally said.
Screenshot: Fox News Sunday The big picture: Manchin has said he'll decide whether he is seeking re-election in the Senate by the end of the year. - He also declined to say whether he would endorse President Biden, saying on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he's waiting to see "who all of the players are."
🐘 A new candidate joins the race: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) tells Jonathan Karl on ABC's "This Week": "I have made a decision. ... I'm going to run for president," with a formal announcement later this month in Bentonville. Watch the video. | | | | | | | | 3. 🇨🇳 Lawmakers head to Silicon Valley to talk China |  | | | Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios | | | | A bipartisan group of lawmakers is planning a three-day trip to Hollywood and Silicon Valley this week to meet with CEOs and top executives at Disney, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and more, sources tell Axios' Sophia Cai and Sara Fischer. - Why it matters: Big Tech companies and Hollywood giants are increasingly caught in escalating tensions between the U.S. and China over intellectual property and trade issues.
👀 The delegation will be led by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of the newly formed House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He will be joined by about 10 other lawmakers from both parties who serve on the committee. - The agenda includes meetings with Disney CEO Bob Iger, Microsoft President Brad Smith, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who returned last week from his first trip to China since the pandemic.
🖼️ The big picture: China blocked most of Disney's major theatrical exports during the pandemic, but has since begun to let more films back in. Cook last month touted Apple's strong relationship with China at a business conference organized by the Chinese government. | | | | | | | | A message from Walmart | | An entire Easter meal and basket for less than $100 | | |  | | | | 65% of Walmart customers expect inflation will have an impact on their Easter celebration. To ensure their customers can focus on celebrating, Walmart is offering a curated Easter meal and Easter basket at last year's price. Learn how Walmart is helping customers save money and live better. | | | | | | 4. 📷 1,000 words: V.P. Harris in Zambia | | Photo: Angela Nandeka/AP Focusing on climate change, Vice President Kamala Harris stands amid peppers at an innovative farm outside Lusaka, Zambia, yesterday on the last leg of a seven-day Africa swing that included Ghana and Tanzania. - A front-page Washington Post story says the trip put a "rare emotional emphasis on her identity ... sometimes in searing and deeply personal ways."
| | | | | | | | 5. 📊 Latino Catholics eclipse white evangelicals in Southwest |  Data: The American Values Atlas. Chart: Axios Visuals Hispanic Catholics last year accounted for the largest percentage of people who identify with a religion in the American Southwest. - They surpassed the share of white evangelicals in some of the country's most populous states — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, Axios' Russell Contreras reports from a new survey.
🔭 Zoom out: Hispanic Catholics' rise comes despite an overall drop in religious affiliation among all Americans, and a growing number of Latinos who convert to evangelical faiths, according to earlier research. - Hispanic Catholics have eclipsed white mainline Protestants in California, New Mexico and Texas. The share of mainline Protestants in Arizona is about the same as Hispanic Catholics — 13% vs. 12%.
State of play: Despite their growth, Hispanics — especially Catholics — are underrepresented in positions of power. - Few Hispanic Catholics have been elected to the U.S. Senate. Five now serve there — the most in U.S. history.
- The nation has just one Hispanic Catholic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. Arizona and California have had only one Hispanic Catholic governor each. Texas has had none.
Share this story ... Get Axios Latino. | | | | | | | | 6. 🌪️ Extreme spring for huge swath of America | | Storm-related deaths spread across at least seven states in the South and Midwest — Tennessee ... Arkansas ... Illinois ... Indiana ... Alabama ... Mississippi ... and Delaware. Wisconsin also was hit. (ABC News) - At least 26 people were killed, including at least nine in one Tennessee county, four in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, three in Sullivan, Indiana, and four in Illinois, AP reports.
Power outages spiked to 1 million customers, but now are under 400,000. Photo: Adrian Sainz/AP Above: Ashley Macmillan in front of a massive tree that fell in front of her mother's house in Wynne, Ark. Photo: Cheney Orr/Reuters Residents of Wynne, Ark. — a community of about 8,000 people, 50 miles west of Memphis — woke yesterday to find the high school's roof shredded and its windows blown out. | | | | | | | | 7. 🏀 Final 2 | | After an electric night in Houston that included just the fifth buzzer-beater in Final Four history — and the first in which the team was trailing before the shot — the NCAA basketball championship games are set. - 📺 No. 4 UConn will battle No. 5 San Diego State for the national title at 9:20 p.m. ET tomorrow on CBS.
- On the women's side, the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes will play No. 3 LSU today at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Photo: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images Above: Lamont Butler of the San Diego State Aztecs celebrates his game-winning basket against the Florida Atlantic Owls. Photo: David J. Phillip/AP Above: Florida Atlantic guard Johnell Davis after losing to San Diego State. Photo: Gregory Shamus/AP Above: UConn's Jordan Hawkins goes for a basket against Miami. - Hawkins, the Huskies' leading postseason scorer, was dealing with a nasty bout of food poisoning in the days leading up to the game and didn't even practice with the team on Friday, SB Nation reports. But he still started last night and finished with 13 points.
| | | | | | | | 8. 🥔 Cheaper Easter eggs |  | | | Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios | | | | With egg prices still high, the potato industry is looking to scramble up Easter traditions with a budget-friendly alternative — Easter potatoes, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes. 📈 By the numbers: Potato producers are taking advantage of the fact that the price of eggs was up 55.4% in February compared to a year earlier. The idea of painting or dyeing spuds this Easter started circulating in January as memes about high egg prices flooded the internet: - "Dyeing Easter eggs is so 2022. In 2023, we paint Easter potatoes!"
The memes inspired a farmers' marketing group, Potatoes USA, to provide tips on painting — and to push the hashtag #easterpotatoes + @PotatoGoodness for Facebook and Instagram. | | | | | | | | A message from Walmart | | Walmart offers customers an Easter meal at last year's price | | |  | | | | Food costs are on the rise, especially for Easter essentials like eggs. Walmart has worked hard to offset the higher cost of eggs by lowering the cost of other Easter essentials. The retailer is offering an entire Easter meal at the same price as last year. Learn how Walmart is keeping prices low. | | | | 📬 Thanks for sharing your weekend with us. Please invite your friends to join. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it. | | | |
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