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Trump indictment and swing state loss: The GOP's rough Tuesday

First Read is your briefing from “Meet the Press” and the NBC Political Unit on the day’s most important political stories and why they matter.
Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023.
Donald Trump makes his way inside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023.Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images

If it’s WEDNESDAY … Liberals take control of Wisconsin Supreme Court with Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s victory …. Progressive Brandon Johnson wins Chicago’s mayoral race … White House announces Biden will travel to U.K. and Ireland April 11-14 … Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., announces re-election bid … Trump seethes at FBI and DOJ after indictment … and Speaker Kevin McCarthy is set to meet with Taiwanese president. 

But FIRST … For Republicans looking ahead to 2024, Tuesday was not a good day. 

The conservative candidate lost the Wisconsin Supreme Court race handily in a state known for razor-thin margins, as abortion continues to challenge Republicans. And the current frontrunner for the GOP nomination went to court to face 34 felony charges.  

One thing is clear  — former President Donald Trump’s legal woes and his presidential campaign have become fused together. That’s the message Trump himself sent during his address Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago.

“They can’t beat us at the ballot box, so they try to beat us through the law,” Trump said. 

Follow live updates on the aftermath of Trump’s arrest

Relitigating his lies about the 2020 election, criticizing President Joe Biden for the Afghanistan withdrawal and the economy, questioning the merits of his impeachment — Trump delivered a modified stump speech, spending almost as much time railing on the other investigations he faces as the one that led to his arraignment on Tuesday. 

Prosecutors are pushing for a January trial in the New York case, and it’s hard to imagine any other cases moving faster if he’s indicted again. That makes it almost guaranteed Trump’s legal jeopardy will loom over him at least until voters begin casting their ballots for the GOP nomination, if not longer. 

That’s no surprise — Trump’s legal woes have been hanging over his campaign from the moment he announced his bid back in November, perhaps even driving his decision to jump into the 2024 race so early. 

The pro-Trump movement has long been more about personality than ideology, so for Trump and his most-loyal followers, both fights are about his own personal fate. In 2016, Trump’s message was that he was a savior capable of rescuing his supporters from their problems. But now, so much of Trump’s message is intertwined in his own personal problems, too. 

The question remains: How long will Republicans stand by him through these personal battles? 

And how many look at what happened on Tuesday — their party’s leader under indictment and their party yet again on the losing side of a battle over abortion rights — and say: It’s time for a different strategy?

Headline of the day

Data Download: The number of the day is … 34

That’s the number of felony counts of falsifying business records that Trump pleaded not guilty to on Tuesday. The charges amounted to felonies, rather than misdemeanors, because prosecutors alleged that Trump acted “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime,” but they did not specify the other crime, per NBC News’ Dareh Gregorian. 

The indictment also included a “statement of facts,” which detailed hush money payments to two women who claimed to have affairs with Trump — adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal — as well as a doorman who claimed he had knowledge of a child Trump fathered. 

You can read the full indictment on nbcnews.com

*** Other numbers to know

$2.6 billion: The value of the latest military aid package the U.S. plans to send to Ukraine. 

3: The number of charges for which a Jan. 6 rioter was found guilty on Tuesday.

$75 million: The amount Elliott Brody, a former GOP fundraiser, testified that he could have received when he was illegally lobbying for a foreign government, instead receiving around $9 million.

3: The number of Democratic lawmakers in Tennessee that Republicans are trying to expel from the state legislature after they led chants from the House floor in support of gun control during a public protest on Tuesday.

$15.9 million: The value of a fine the U.K is imposing on TikTok for violating data protection rules intended to protect children under age 13, the New York Times reports.

47: The number of concerning items and groups of items found at the home of the shooter who killed six at a Nashville school last month.

55: The number of years since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., a date observed by many U.S. lawmakers this week, The Hill reports.

$8.9 billion: The amount Johnson & Johnson has offered to pay to settle claims that its baby powder caused cancer. 

Eyes on 2024: A big night for progressives

Liberals won two big prizes on Tuesday night — taking control of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years with Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s victory over former Justice Dan Kelly, and securing the mayorship in Chicago thanks to Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson’s victory over the more moderate former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas. 

NBC News’ Decision Desk projected both winners Tuesday night. Protasiewicz leads Kelly 55.5% to 44.5% with almost 97% of the expected results in, and Johnson leads Vallas 51% to 49% with almost 94% of the expected vote in as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

Johnson was significantly outspent on the airwaves and faced criticism from Vallas and his allies over his past alignment with calls to “defund the police,” which his opponent seized on amid concerns about crime in the city. But the progressive overcame that, touting his call to invest in neighborhoods and schools across the city and criticizing what he framed as “false choices,” per NBC News’ Natasha Korecki.  

“Let’s take this bold progressive movement around these United States of America. Chicago, we can show the country, we can show the world what’s possible when we stand on our values,” he said

But the Wisconsin court race may have been the biggest prize for its outsized implications in the swing state, with the court expected to hear pivotal cases on abortion rights and gerrymandering, among others. 

While technically nonpartisan, Protasiewicz embraced her position as the more liberal candidate in the race, trumpeting her support for abortion rights and backed by a slew of prominent Democrats and groups, criticizing her opponent for links to the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. 

“They’ve chosen to reject partisan extremism in this state,” she said during her victory speech, NBC News’ Adam Edelman and Shaq Brewster report. 

Kelly, meanwhile, brought the race to a bitter end, calling his opponent a “serial liar.”

“I wish Wisconsin the best of luck. I think it’s going to need it,” he said.

In other campaign news …

Arraignment ally: Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, R-Miss., endorsed Trump as he was traveling to New York City for his arraignment, saying in a statement that the indictment was a “political stunt.” 

On the road again: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., will be returning to early presidential primary states next week, with events planned in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as he weighs a run for the White House, per a new press release. 

Can’t wait to get back on the road again: Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is heading to battleground Wisconsin next month for a fundraiser, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Morrisey’s move: West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey launched a run for governor on Tuesday, joining a crowded field of Republicans vying to replace term-limited GOP Gov. Jim Justice. 

Anti-Justice league: Justice, meanwhile, is considering running for Senate. But he could face stiff opposition if he runs, with the conservative Club for Growth (which has been known to spend heavily in GOP primaries) announcing Tuesday it is endorsing GOP Rep. Alex Mooney’s Senate bid.

She’s running: Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., announced Wednesday that she is officially running for re-election, per a press release. 

A big switch: Axios Raleigh reports that a key North Carolina lawmaker is expected to switch parties at a Wednesday morning announcement, a move that would give Republicans a veto-proof majority. 

Slot machine: Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin raised $3 million in the first three months of the year as she runs for Senate in Michigan, per Punchbowl News. Fundraising reports are due to the Federal Election Commission on April 15. 

 ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world

China has warned Speaker Kevin McCarthy against meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen this week.

The Food and Drug Administration plans to offer certain vulnerable groups of Americans a second updated coronavirus booster shot, the New York Times reports.