OMG: George Santos gets BRUTAL welcome on his first day of Congress

Lara Trump downplayed the criminal charges against her father-in-law Donald Trump as a mere "bookkeeping error."

The Republican National Committee co-chair appeared Wednesday on Sean Hannity's Fox News program, where she suggested Manhattan prosecutors were engaged in election interference for trying the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up alleged hush money payments to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels, reported HuffPost.

"Everyone can see what this is about," Lara Trump said. "They have, and are forcing, Donald Trump to sit in a courtroom — this is a former president of the United States, the current nominee for the Republican side of the aisle for president — for weeks on end. For what, Sean? They claim a bookkeeping error — really?"

“This is insane," she added. "We can all see exactly what this is all about and what the goal of this is. Of course, it’s to keep Donald Trump from the campaign trail."

Prosecutors allege in their indictment that Trump directed his then-attorney Michael Cohen, who has already served nearly three years in prison after pleading guilty in the scheme, to pay Daniels off in the weeks before the 2016 election to ensure her silence about an extramarital affair.

ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how Trump is using existential fear to win the election

Trump then allegedly falsified business records by reimbursing Cohen in a series of transactions described as payment for legal services.

Trump has denied all the allegations.

The ex-president's campaign circulated talking points ahead of the trial, which started Monday, directing surrogates to describe the case as a "a full-frontal assault on American Democracy and the Constitution" and a "witch hunt," and recommending that supporters do not refer to the case as a "hush money case," but to instead describe it as "entries in the company’s records."

Watch the video below or at this link.

With help from Shawn Ness

New from New York

Happening now:

• The fight over good cause evictions.
• Adams visits NAN.
• A push to close the Medicaid gap.
• A law to protect horses is taking effect. 

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 10

UNLIKELY FRIENDS: Negotiations over a state budget are struggling to get to the finish line as lawmakers, tenant activists, real estate interests and labor continue to hash out a blockbuster housing deal.

If anything’s holding up the budget, it’s housing, so it’s not often you see tenants and landlords in agreement — at least with one part of the potential package.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and leaders of both Houses agree the state needs more housing supply and some sort of measure that would increase protections for tenants.

Hochul has pushed for the revival of the 421-a tax break for developers. She has also indicated a willingness to accept some form of a “good cause” eviction proposal, which would effectively limit landlords’ ability to raise rents on tenants or discriminatorily evict renters.

But a recent proposal by the governor, as reported by POLITICO on Tuesday, would exempt landlords of pricier apartments from abiding by those “good cause” protections. Hochul has floated carving out studio apartments of around $3,500 per month or more and three-bedroom apartments rented at roughly $6,000 per month.

This is where some landlords and tenants share the same concern.

"The luxury exemption is a carve out for REBNY,” Cea Weaver, the coordinator for Housing Justice for All, a tenant advocacy group, said about the powerful real-estate group. “It's just another example of the governor basically pushing a policy that serves corporate real estate needs.”

Housing Justice for All has some unlikely friends on this point. Groups representing small property owners and landlords of more modestly-priced buildings are also against the carve outs — saying they create an uneven playing field.

“They think by excluding (luxury units) that that makes it acceptable, but what that means is good cause eviction will not be a burden for high-end luxury housing, but is going to be a burden for anybody that offers moderate or workforce housing,” said Ann Korchak, board president of Small Property Owners of New York.

The group and the Community Housing Improvement Program, an organization which represents small to medium-sized landlords, both strongly oppose the good cause piece. But in a world where good cause becomes law, the groups would join Weaver’s call to eliminate carve outs for luxury units.

Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, agrees: “I 100 percent think the current proposal only benefits ultra luxury, big, big billionaire developers,” he said. “They're proposing carve outs in good cause that specifically help these large luxury units.”

Martin said this organization has been more focused on changing rent stabilization laws. But if luxury units get carve outs, he said the group could try to press for a measure that would exempt majority rent-stabilized buildings from good cause.

State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, chair of the housing committee, said he hadn’t heard that some landlord groups were also opposed to the carve outs.

“All tenants deserve protections that permit them to continue to live in their home to not be pushed out for no reason,” he said. “If CHIP or small property owners or anybody else are arguing for a more expansive version of good cause than some other representatives of property owners, I certainly would welcome” that, he said. — Jason Beeferman

DORM DAYS: Robert Rodriguez is taking over the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, Hochul announced today.

He takes over the new job on May 8 and will replace Reuben McDaniel, who departed the authority last fall.

Rodriguez, the state secretary of state, will become the acting president and chief executive officer of the authority, which provides public financing and construction authority for health and education infrastructure.

Rodriguez was previously appointed New York secretary of state by Hochul and served in the state Assembly for 11 years in East Harlem.

In another move, Sean Mahar, the current executive deputy commissioner at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, is stepping into the commissioner role on an interim basis, Hochul’s office said.— Nick Reisman and Marie French

NAN, NY: “Many of our elected officials are here in the first row,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, kicking off his National Action Network Convention in Midtown Manhattan today. “Many of you that want to be elected to something, in the second.”

Assembly hopeful Jordan Wright, seated in the second row, got knowing looks, but folks in the first row were wannabes too. State Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos and Borough presidents Mark Levine and Donovan Richards posed for a photo together, and they’re all in the potential-future-mayoral-candidates discussion.

Sharpton has long been considered an influential leader that ambitious politicians need to court. So Adams seemed to lord his close relationship with the reverend over the electeds.

“All of you in this room who are elected into office right now, you had to pass through NAN to get there,” Adams said in a speech from the stage.

“And if you passed through NAN to get there, you need to respect the actions of Reverend Sharpton, and you need to respect the actions of who was one of the first board members, and his name was Eric Adams. I approve of this message.”

Adams got a standing ovation as he stood on the stage alongside Sharpton and Hochul. — Jeff Coltin

MEDICAID MOOLAH: A trio of congressional representatives urged Hochul today to use the state’s cash reserves and monthly cash balances to raise Medicaid reimbursement rates for hospitals, echoing a policy proposal that is being pushed by the Greater New York Hospital Association and the health care union 1199SEIU but was denounced by fiscal watchdogs.

In a letter to the governor, Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman, Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velázquez decried “shocking disparities” in health care access and outcomes among Brooklyn residents — particularly low-income people of color who disproportionately rely on Medicaid for health insurance coverage — due to a widening gap between the state’s Medicaid rates and hospitals’ expenses.

The Greater New York Hospital Association claims that Medicaid pays hospitals, on average, 30 percent less for services than the cost to deliver them — a gap of about $6.8 billion. But GNYHA officials have repeatedly rebuffed POLITICO’s requests for the figures underpinning their calculations.

While Medicaid costs do exceed revenue at many New York hospitals, the shortfall varies greatly depending on the facility, according to a POLITICO analysis of 2021 data compiled by the Empire Center. NYC Health + Hospitals facilities and rural New York hospitals see the largest gaps, percentage-wise, with Medicaid paying as much as 90 percent less than the cost of care, the analysis shows.

The gaps are much narrower at hospitals in wealthy health systems. That’s because they typically see many more patients than the small community hospitals that suffer the brunt of the reimbursement-rate gap. Higher Medicaid payments would mean hundreds of millions of dollars more in revenue.

For that reason, budget watchdogs are urging state lawmakers to instead make more targeted investments for health care institutions that face urgent funding needs and dire budget deficits. — Maya Kaufman

ASSEMBLY BEGINS QUASHING GOP BILLS: Albany’s drawn-out budget season is now overlapping with another portion of the legislative calendar: the annual blocking of Republican measures in the Assembly.

GOP-sponsored bills of statewide significance have long been kept from receiving votes on the full floor. But Republicans can force committees to vote on a handful of bills each year in a window that ends on May 7, now only five regularly-scheduled session days away.

Democrats have begun the process of voting down these measures.

Nearly all of a lengthy Codes Committee meeting late Tuesday was filled with Republicans arguing for measures to overhaul bail reform, increase penalties for fentanyl charges and expand the list of hate crimes while Democrats beat them back.

“We’ve already amended the bail law a few times,” Chair Jeff Dinowitz, a Bronx Democrat, said when rejecting a proposal to amend it again.

None of the measures has a chance of passing the Democratic-dominated Legislature, but the debate provides Republicans with a rare opportunity to get the majority on the record on certain issues and attack them for their votes.

“Albany Democrats won’t even look in the direction of legislation that makes people safer, puts guardrails on the migrant crisis or supports the men and women of law enforcement,” Minority Leader Will Barclay said after the bills were voted down. — Bill Mahoney

ANIMAL RIGHTS LAW: A law takes effect Thursday that will prohibit the slaughter of horses for human and animal consumption in New York, which will be among the most stringent horse anti-slaughter laws in the nation, supporters and lawmakers said.

The law, signed by Hochul, comes after years of protests by animal-rights groups about abuse of horses at racetracks and the need for stronger penalties for the pipeline of transporting horses for the intent of slaughter through New York to Canada, in particular. In some cases, horses are shipped to other states and then to Mexico.

“Although it is now illegal to participate in the slaughter of any type of horse, it is imperative that law enforcement agencies apply the prohibition on buying, selling, and transporting horses that will be killed for their meat,” Assemblymember Deborah Glick, a Manhattan Democrat and a bill sponsor, said in a statement. — Shawn Ness

ABORTION CASE: Nuns and dioceses, churches and other faith-based organizations all sued New York over its mandate that religious institutions cover abortions under their employee insurance plans. Now, they will appear before the state’s highest court next week to make their case.

The coalition said it will argue before the state Court of Appeals that the mandate violates their First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

They blame an increase in pressure on the Department of Financial Services to implement the change from abortion-rights activists. A decision is expected later this year. — Shawn Ness 

— New York is eyeing a crackdown on illicit weed shops. But will it work? (POLITICO Pro)

— Allen Weisselberg, a former executive for Donald Trump, has received five months jail time for lying in Trump’s New York civil fraud case. (POLITICO)

— A record 45,000 people went to Niagara Falls state park to watch Monday’s eclipse. (Buffalo News)

— The search is on for the next state DEC commissioner. (POLITICO Pro)

— Campaign records show Alison Esposito did not pay anyone that was working on her campaign to unset Rep. Pat Ryan for three months. (Times Union)

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was confronted by CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday morning about how exactly he plans to fend off the motion to remove him from power being planned by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her allies, and whether he has looked for any votes from Democrats to save him in the midst of a critically narrow House majority.

Johnson had few answers to any of these questions.

"I'm wondering, have you talked to Democrats at all about if that happens and if some of these Republicans voted to remove you as speaker — and it's this is not a hypothetical, it looks like this actually might happen — will Democrats vote to keep you as speaker?" asked Tapper.

ALSO READ: Who will Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hurt more in Election 2024? History has an answer4

"I've not asked any Democrats to get involved in that," said Johnson. "I believe the House will do its will." He added, "We live in a very divided time and very divisive policy ticks and the age of social media, 24-hour news cycle, where everybody can express their opinions every moment of the day about things that are disgruntled about, it makes a lot of challenges. But we're going to get through this. Listen, we are the greatest nation in the history of the world, okay? We are going to show that we're going to keep the train on the tracks and not get derailed and get involved in all this at such a dangerous time on the world stage. And look ... I don't walk around thinking about the motion to vacate. It's a procedural matter here that I think has been abused in recent times. Maybe at some point we change that. But right now, I gotta do my job and so do all my colleagues and I'm confident in the end of the day, in spite of all the drama and all the palace intrigue, I think we're going to get that done."

"Well, whoever — I mean, if they bring the motion to vacate forward, there aren't enough Republicans, there aren't 218 or whatever Republicans," said Tapper. "Somebody's going to need Democrats ... if you win and keep your job, if there is a motion to vacate, it will be with Democratic support, or these people who are who rebelled against Kevin McCarthy and thought voting with Democrats was the worst thing in the world will also use Democratic votes."

"Jake, I don't know what's gonna happen," said Johnson. "I'm not focused on that. I'm focused on doing my job. Look, when you do the right thing, you let the chips fall where they may. I mean, that's that's how that's my life philosophy ... we tried to get the best possible outcome for the American people, to move the ball forward for the American people. And I've got to stay focused on that every day and not, not all the drama that's that's my answer."

Watch the video below or click here.

Jake Tapper confronts Mike Johnson about vacate motion www.youtube.com

With help from Shawn Ness

New from New York

Happening now:

• A cyberattack roiled the state Capitol amid budget negotiations.
• Republicans responded to the latest budget deals and its opaqueness.
• City Hall is facing questions over a new, prominent hire.
• A deal for a two-year extension of mayoral control is under new scrutiny.

DAYS THE BUDGET IS LATE: 17

HACK A BUDGET: Hackers are holding the bill drafting commission ransom. Gov. Kathy Hochul says bills will be written by pre-Y2K computers. And the budget is 17 days late.

Count this as a new one to hold up a budget. And it was all the talk in the Capitol halls.

Will it significantly delay the budget? Is the threat serious to the state’s systems?

“There’s never a dull moment in Albany,” Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger said as she walked to a closed door Democratic conference.

The state’s commission charged with drafting budget language was hit with a cyber attack in the “wee hours of the morning,” Hochul said.

The attackers appear to be demanding money to regain access to the system, but no dollar amount was specified. It’s believed the attack hit the commission’s email system hardest.

Earlier today, one legislative office received an email written in a Cyrillic language purporting to be from the commission with a draft bill document.

“It's a bit of Murphy's Law, where you think everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong and then this happens,” Buffalo state Sen. Sean Ryan said. “Hopefully it’s a temporary glitch.”

In the meantime, Hochul said the Legislature will have to use a “more antiquated system” from 1994 to write budget bills.

That 1994 system was what the Legislature used for most of the time it’s been online. It was replaced by a system that was created after Democrats assumed the majority in the state Senate in 2019.

The old system “was very antiquated,” said a person familiar with the Legislature’s technological infrastructure. “For something that important, you shouldn’t use 30 year-old technology.”

For now, the return to the old system seems to be working. The state’s Legislative tracking service was updated throughout the day to include new amendments to bills.

Cyberattacks have become a growing hazard for governments. In New York alone, attacks on critical online infrastructure rose by 53 percent between 2016 and 2022, a report by the state Comptroller’s Office found.

New York last dealt with a widespread cyberattack in January 2020 when multiple state agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, were targeted.

With the state budget already 17 days late, lawmakers are hoping the attack will not cause further delay in passing a spending plan.

But that’s not the least of the Legislature’s worries: “The bigger problem is we haven’t finished negotiating the budget,” said Senate Deputy Leader Mike Gianaris. — Jason Beeferman, Bill Mahoney and Nick Reisman

FOUR PEOPLE IN A HALLWAY: For the Democrats, budget negotiations are frequently three people in a room. But for Republicans, it’s a handful of lawmakers in a hallway talking to reporters.

Earlier today, GOP leaders took to the Capitol hallway to address the troubles around the looming budget deal — particularly the lack of openness in the process, which they are not a part of.

“Transparency is the number one [priority]. Instead of having three people in a room, I would use public hearings,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay told reporters outside the LCA room earlier today. “I would use actual committee structure with Democrats and the majority, but include the minority … instead of having three people in a room.”

Members of the minority conference are typically not included in any of the budget negotiations and are usually unaware of what is in the budget until they have a physical copy in front of them.

“We need transparency. Our constituents want to know what’s in the budget before we vote on any budget bills,” Assemblymember Ed Ra, a Long Island Republican, said. — Shawn Ness

RANDY ROADBLOCKS: The mayor’s bid to hire former Giuliani aide-turned high-profile attorney Randy Mastro as City Hall corporation counsel is already running into pushback at the City Council.

A tweak to the city’s charter, authorized by voters in a 2019 ballot initiative, gives lawmakers authority over who the mayor hires for the role.

And some members are taking issue with Mastro’s legal history: He worked for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, petro-conglomerate Chevron and the Upper West Side neighborhood group that tried to get homeless New Yorkers booted from the Lucerne Hotel during the pandemic.

“New Yorkers did not elect the most progressive, diverse Democratic supermajority in Council history to rubber stamp a return to the Giuliani era,” progressive Council Member Tiffany Cabán, a lawyer, told POLITICO in a statement.

“Our city’s top lawyer should be a principled champion of justice, not a far-right-wing pal of sleazy crooks like Rudy Giuliani, Chris Christie, and billionaire real estate magnates. No way in hell I vote to confirm Randy Mastro.” — Jeff Coltin and Joe Anuta

EDUCATION PANEL DRAMA: Members of an oversight panel key to mayoral control of schools blasted city plans to place plainclothes security staff onstage at meetings.

The move is about ensuring members’ safety from other panel representatives and “unruly” audience members during “heat discussions” or areas of disagreement, Department of Education security director Mark Rampersant said in a virtual March 26 briefing obtained by POLITICO.

He also said they are sworn peace officers with the power to arrest “if there’s any physical contact by anyone.”

“They’re going to give you directions, such as get up and clear the stage, because we should not have to endure such … threatening behavior or concerning behavior,” Rampersant said, adding they will increase the number of school safety agents in the audience.

The decision is raising eyebrows among non-mayoral appointees.

Adams appoints 13 of the governing body’s 23 members.

“It feels very autocratic, and it feels like a strong-arm tactic to silence the public and those of us who are instruments of the public,” Jessamyn Lee, a Brooklyn parent representative, said.

At a March meeting, Tom Sheppard, a Bronx parent-elected member, questioned chair Gregory Faulkner’s decision to adjourn without letting members give final remarks. (Faulkner, a mayoral appointee, said it was late, and within his discretion).

Sheppard got up, and he — along with some of the audience — chanted, “End mayoral control.” After mayoral appointee Anita Garcia yelled and asked him to stop, he gave her the middle finger, according to Faulkner.

Sheppard declined to comment on his language, but said his actions were twisted to make him appear threatening. “All I want is for people to have a voice,” he said.

Representatives also condemned a proposed code of conduct penned by Faulkner that has been tabled from tonight’s meeting to May.

DOE spokesperson Nathaniel Styer said members of the public, elected leaders and 16 panel members requested a code of conduct “to encourage decorum and respect” and additional security due to recent incidents, including a representative “directing obscene gestures and language at another member.” — Madina Touré

CREATIVE ARTS THERAPY: Two lawmakers are hoping to include creative arts therapy on the state’s Medicaid providers list to ensure the services are covered under commercial health insurance.

There are two bills that Assemblymember Harry Bronson and state Sen. Samra Brouk, chair of the Senate Committee on Mental Health, are focusing on.

One would ensure reimbursement for creative arts services by commercial insurance carriers. The other would require direct reimbursement to creative arts therapists under Medicaid.

“So why is this important? It's important because of access. If you can't pay for your care, then you don't have access to that care. It's also about access because in many of our communities, we have a desert of mental health professionals,” Bronson, a Rochester-area Democrat, said.

Brouk said that for a long while, many advocates had to convince lawmakers that there was a mental health crisis.

“The problem is with everyone on every floor of this Capitol that agrees with us that we are in a mental health crisis, that we are in a mental health care workforce shortage. We still don't have the courage to do the simple things that we know need to get done to be able to meet this moment,” Brouk, another Rochester lawmaker, said. — Shawn Ness

NEW YORK’S HISTORY: Hochul announced today the inclusion of 11 projects from Buffalo to New York City to the New York State Historic Preservation Awards.

The projects include a revitalization of a Newburgh neighborhood, a Buffalo candy shop’s restoration and a scholarship for the city’s Puerto Rican casitas.

“Historic preservation projects take an immense amount of time, resources and dedication,” Hochul said in a statement. “From Buffalo to New York City, the 11 projects we’re honoring this year all symbolize critical parts of our storied history in New York State.”

The preservation awards were created in 1980 by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to commend local historical landmarks. — Shawn Ness

A POTENTIAL DOWNSTATE DEAL: Hochul and lawmakers are close on a deal to save SUNY’s Downstate Medical Center that would include a $300 million transformation fund coupled with $100 million in operating aid to cover its annual deficit, POLITICO reports.

The deal is expected to include a 16-member commission, appointed by state and local leaders, that would establish long-term plans for the hospital, according to state lawmakers. The money would stave off any closure or changes to the facility until June 30, 2025, said Brooklyn Assemblymember Brian Cunningham.

It’s a major win for United University Professions who joined forces with state Sen. Zellnor Myrie at the forefront of the fight against plans laid out by SUNY earlier in the year to relocate most of its services. Kowal said he is pleased with the deal that’s been reported and is hopeful the final agreement will include the commission.

“We welcome what appears to be a process for real planning that will result in an even better hospital with inpatient care and even better training for the next generation of health care professionals at the medical school,” Kowal told POLITICO. — Katelyn Cordero 

MORE ON MAYORAL CONTROL: A deal has yet to be struck on whether the state budget will include an extension to mayoral control, and some lawmakers are upset about the issue being brought back into the budget process — rather than deliberated on by the Legislature after the budget is passed.

Assembly Education Chair Michael Benedetto said he is supportive of an extension for mayoral control, but believes the issue shouldn’t have been part of budget negotiations.

“We should continue [mayoral control] and stop playing games with the mayor and the school system in the City of New York,” Benedetto told POLITICO. “However, it’s the job of the Legislature to debate and enact mayoral control the way we see fit and not for the governor to put into the budget.”

During a radio appearance on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show, Hochul said they are close to striking a deal between the Legislature, the mayor’s office, education advocates and labor unions regarding an extension that would include accountability on the state’s class size mandate.

“I feel confident that it’ll meet the needs, and make sure that the law we passed two years ago that deals with class sizes … is being adhered to,” Hochul said. “And the mayor knows that. We are structuring a very complex deal here, but I think ultimately — is everybody happy? Never — but compromise is important, and I think we will get to a very good place.” — Katelyn Cordero

— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would end the Alejandro Mayorkas impeachment trial as soon as it begins. (State of Politics)

— State officials are encouraging more local communities to apply for a grant program designed to revitalize downtown areas. (Buffalo News)

— The man behind the wheel during the fatal stop of an NYPD officer said he had no idea his passenger would shoot an officer. (Newsday)