Former found his way back into headlines Monday, despite global attention on the Middle East, dysfunction in Congress, today’s off-year elections and shaky efforts to sell his economic policies to voters. Trump made history Monday as an ex-president and civil defendant who railed and rambled about political witch hunts during trial testimony about liability for false valuations of Trump Organization assets. . The former president avoided direct answers in a New York courtroom, offered conflicting explanations and political bromides that . Trump appeared eager to defy courtroom decorum of his campaign to win another White House term. ” Trump interjected, referring to Judge Arthur Engoron. Trump lawyer complained to the media that Engoron demanded short answers from the former president because the judge is biased. Yet, the judge ruled in September that Trump’s financial statements contained fraud. That left for trial whether Trump and the other defendants should pay the $250 million in penalties that New York Attorney General is seeking, and whether to ban the former president from New York state real estate business as punishment for civil fraud. As the Republican Party’s front-runner for the nomination next year, Trump also faces 91 criminal indictments and additional trials stretching into 2024. Leading in polls but unpopular among a majority of registered voters, Trump stokes supporters and donors with personal grievances about his foes while disputing any wrongdoing. He plans to hold a rally Wednesday in Florida while skipping the third televised Republican primary debate the same night in Miami. : Arkansas Republican Gov. , formerly a White House press secretary for Trump, will endorse his presidential primary bid during his Florida rally on Wednesday. are counted tonight across the country, The Hill’s campaign team, partnering with Decision Desk HQ, will post results from gubernatorial, mayoral and state legislative ballots. The results are widely expected to offer clues about the mood of the electorate heading into the presidential primaries early next year. Meanwhile, Biden’s Democratic allies are wringing their hands about dismal poll numbers for the incumbent, which are tied to the economy, his age at nearly 81 and views of his foreign and immigration policies, among others. , former White House and campaign adviser to Biden and former , on Monday that Biden should do some soul-searching ASAP about whether he should because of his age and Trump’s chances of victory. a nine-bill spending package that will cost more than $1 trillion to make up for lost time in the appropriations process as the Nov. 17 government funding deadline inches closer. The so-called maxibus will be close in scale to an omnibus spending package, — something that Republicans pledged they would try to avoid. The huge spending bill, however, is seen as a necessity by some Republicans While the maxibus has no chance of passing the House, Senate leadership’s current strategy is to get the bills through the chamber to enhance senators’ negotiating leverage with Speaker (R-La.). But Senate conservatives, who want Johnson to take the lead on spending, will oppose this effort — and House conservatives will criticize it as well. House Republicans say their slim majority will spend the coming week trying to pass full-year spending bills that have no chance of clearing the Democratic-majority Senate, even as jitters about the deadline spread among their own members ( ). Are lawmakers — and particularly a small but powerful band of hard-line House Republicans — still capable of compromise? said House Rules Committee Chair (R-Okla.). The Senate GOP conference will hold a special meeting for members this afternoon as they search for a resolution to Sen. (R-Ala.) military holds, which now affect more than 370 military promotions. A Senate Democrat-led solution is expected to hit the floor this week, , but Republicans are growing increasingly desperate to find a solution, with some taking their complaints public to the Senate floor last week and declining to rule out supporting a standing resolution that would allow the chamber to greenlight the promotions in bloc through the end of next year. : Two senators from Maine asked the U.S. Army inspector general on Monday to provide a full accounting of interactions with a reservist before he killed 18 people and injured 13 others in the deadliest shooting in the state’s history. on the Second Amendment today when it hears arguments on a challenge to a federal law that criminalizes gun possession for people under domestic violence restraining orders, . But the justices’ decision on the matter stands to impact an array of pending gun law challenges in lower courts, legal experts say. A broadly written opinion could even reach as far as impacting criminal case. Arguments in the dispute are the first the court will hear since its conservative majority imposed a new test for assessing whether a firearms restriction passes constitutional muster, which has sparked confusion and frustration among the nation’s federal judges as they navigate new challenges to long-standing laws ( ). Gun safety and domestic violence prevention organizations plan this morning to demonstrate outside the high court during the oral argument in to urge justices to help “disarm domestic violence.” to disqualify Trump from the 2024 ballot in every state is led by a lawyer who said there’s a “very good chance” a top court in Minnesota, Colorado or Michigan will rule on the issue before the end of the year. It tees up an urgent review by the Supreme Court. Judges in Colorado and Minnesota last week heard arguments in cases brought by groups of voters alleging an often-overlooked part of the Constitution — Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — bars Trump from their state ballots. said , chairman and senior legal adviser of Free Speech for People, a legal advocacy group behind some of the constitutional challenges to Trump’s candidacy ( ). : The nonstop sparring match between Justice and liberal Biden attorney at the Supreme Court. Israel will need to oversee the security of the Gaza Strip “for an indefinite period” once the war with Hamas is over, Prime Minister said for the first time during that aired on Monday. he said. Netanyahu says he is open to “ ” in Gaza to let hostages out and aid in. The comments come after Biden again discussed with Netanyahu on Monday the possibility of “tactical pauses” in Israel’s assault against Hamas. The U.S. and other Israeli allies want breaks in the fighting to speed more humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, free hostages and help Americans and other foreign nationals exit Gaza across the border into Egypt ( ). The Israeli army on Monday severed northern Gaza from the rest of the territory and pounded it with airstrikes, preparing for expected ground battles with Hamas militants in Gaza’s largest city and an even bloodier phase of the war ( ). 🧊 A Maryland-based explorer is training to complete the “ by trekking on skis across the shifting sea ice to the top of the planet. Fewer than 70 people on Earth have scaled the world’s highest seven mountain peaks and reached the North and South poles, which is known as the grand slam. , a and a senior vice president with a life sciences company, aspires to be one. The last leg in his adventure goal, a ski expedition to the North Pole, has been canceled three years in a row. He plans to try again in April. Audy, a motivational speaker in his early 40s with a family, has a , newsletter and plenty of photos. He calls his intense training and extreme explorations a lifestyle. he told , which reports that humans can indeed sweat below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Alexis Simendinger ( ) and Kristina Karisch ( ). ( and ) and
