12:30 Report — Ukraine aid becomes reality

It’s Wednesday. Former President Trump’s criminal trial is on recess, and Congress is out today — but the news keeps coming. Here’s what’s in today’s edition: 

• The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on whether hospitals are obligated to provide abortions to save the life of an emergency room patient under federal law, despite state abortion bans. 
• President Biden signed the foreign aid supplemental this morning after months of congressional stalemate, paving the way for more Ukraine and Israel aid. 
• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will head to Columbia University this afternoon to speak about antisemitism on college campuses amid rising tensions. 

I’m Lauren Sforza, filling in for Cate, with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send tips, commentary, feedback and cookie recipes to [email protected]. Did someone forward this newsletter to you? Sign up here.  

President Biden signed the $95 billion emergency foreign aid package this morning after the Senate approved the funding late last night following a months-long stalemate. He said in remarks during the signing that the shipment to Ukraine will begin “in the next few hours.” 

“It’s a good day for America, it’s a good day for Europe, and it’s a good day for world peace,” Biden said during a press conference. “It’s going to make America safer, it’s going to make the world safer, and it continues America’s leadership in the world, and everyone knows it.” (The Hill) 

The aid comes at a crucial time for embattled Ukraine, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more help is needed from Western allies to clinch a victory in the war against Russia. The aid package will help defend Ukraine’s cities and defensive positions on the front lines as their weapon stockpile dwindles. 

The Hill’s Brad Dress explains how Ukraine hopes to capitalize on the U.S. aid.

What’s Ukraine’s reaction? Zelensky thanked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for coming together on the aid package, which he described as “critical.”

Read more from The Hill’s Tara Suter here. 

Nine Republicans and one Democrat in the Senate voted Tuesday to advance a package that includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, after opposing the legislation in a vote earlier this year. 

The nine Republicans who shifted their stance: 

• Katie Britt (Ala.) 
• Tom Cotton (Ark.) 
• Deb Fischer (Neb.) 
• Lindsey Graham (S.C.) 
• Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.) 
• James Lankford (Okla.) 
• Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) 
• Pete Ricketts (Neb.) 
• Tim Scott (S.C.) 

The sole Democrat was Sen. Peter Welch (Vt.) 

Read more from The Hill’s Al Weaver. 

Additional aid for Ukraine has been tied up for months in Congress due to some Republican holdouts over whether the U.S. should approve more funding for the country.  

It ultimately passed the upper chamber in a 79-18 vote despite strong criticism from some conservatives, including Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). 

McConnell was praised from both sides of the aisle for standing up to GOP opposition to funding on Ukraine and being able to bring it across the finish line. After the package was passed, he took aim at his Republican colleagues who voted against the package, saying that a failure to back Ukraine would only encourage “unchecked terrorist violence.”  

Related: Ahead of yesterday’s vote, McConnell blasted conservative pundit Tucker Carlson for demonizing the idea of sending aid to Ukraine, suggesting that the opposition began with him.  

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports on McConnell’s comments here.  

Despite former President Trump’s vocal opposition to approving more aid to Ukraine, only a handful of Republican senators voted against the aid Tuesday night.  

The Hill’s Alex Bolton breaks down how GOP lawmakers are taking the former president’s policy orders with a grain of salt. Read more here.  

But, not everyone is feeling hunky dory.: House Republicans were more likely to voice opposition to Ukraine aid. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) faced criticism from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) after the Georgia Republican vowed to bring a motion to vacate against Johnson and criticized the passage of Ukraine funding.  

She’s also drawn scrutiny from Rep. Mark Molinaro (R-N.Y.) and former Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who has dubbed her “Moscow Marjorie” over her aversion to Ukraine aid.

Read more on Tillis’s comments from The Hill. 

Trump again railed against his ex-fixer Michael Cohen — an expected witness in the hush money trial — despite the gag order issued against him. In an interview with 6ABC Philadelphia, Trump says that Cohen is “convicted liar, and he’s got no credibility whatsoever.” 

The Hill’s Nick Robertson has Trump’s latest comments covered. 

Judge Juan Merchan is expected to decide whether Trump violated the gag order issued against him. Prosecutors say Trump violated the order barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family 10 times. 

Ex-Trump Attorney Tim Parlatore weighs in: Parlatore told CNN that Trump’s latest rant against Cohen is a “direct violation” of the gag order. Read more on his comments from The Hill.  

Trump called on multiple judges to be removed ahead of the gag order decision in his hush money case. 

He demanded in a lengthy Truth Social post that Merchan be removed from the case and have an appellate court take over. The former president also ripped into Judge Arthur Engoran, who is overseeing Trump’s separate civil fraud lawsuit in New York, and Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who ruled Trump defamed author E. Jean Carroll and ordered him to pay her $88.3 million.

The Hill’s Filip Timotija detailed Trump’s latest rant here. 

The Biden administration will make its case to protect abortion rights at the Supreme Court today, arguing that a federal law requires certain hospitals to provide emergency abortions to patients who need them.

What’s at stake: The high court will hear arguments on whether a federal law passed 37 years ago requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide abortions to stabilize an emergency room patient’s health, no matter what the state’s abortion laws are. 

The Hill’s Nate Weixel breaks down the arguments here. 

While former President Trump is stuck in a New York City courtroom tomorrow, some of his attorneys will be arguing before the Supreme Court that he has presidential immunity from criminal prosecution in his federal electrion subversion case. 

Why won’t Trump be there?: A New York judge ruled last week that the former president cannot attend the oral arguments in his immunity case, because he is required by law to be present at his criminal hush money trial in Manhattan. 

Trump has repeatedly claimed he has immunity from special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case — which is currently on hold while the Supreme Court hears the former president’s challenge. 

The Associated Press details what we should look out for in the oral arguments here.  

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be delivering remarks at Columbia University Wednesday amid rising tensions on the college campus that have garnered national attention.  

The campus has been inundated with hundreds of Pro-Palestinian protesters for days, prompting classes to be move partially online and school officials requesting the help from the New York Police Department. The White House and lawmakers have widely condemned the protests as the university president faces calls to resign.  

Read more on what comments to expect from Johnson from The Hill’s Nick Robertson. 

Ahead of his visit, Johnson called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign during a radio interview with Fox News’s Hugh Hewitt. 

“This President Shafik has shown to be a very weak, inept leader. They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students? They are expected to run for their lives and stay home from class?” Johnson said. “It’s maddening.”

Read more from The Hill’s Lexi Lonas. 

• ‘Columbia Faces a Day That Lays Out Its Troubles’: New York Times 
• ‘Columbia University becomes a congressional pilgrimage’: Axios 
• ‘Biden camp not sweating political fallout from latest round of campus protests’: Politico 
• ‘Why students are protesting at Columbia, other colleges over Israel-Gaza war’: Washington Post 

🌭 Celebrate: Today is National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day! 

🐴 Hold your horses!: A group of military horses tore through central London Wednesday morning, injuring four and leaving behind a trail of damaged cars as shocked pedestrians looked on. The Associated Press has the details and the video, here. 

📺 Late night takes shots at hush money trial: Late night hosts took aim at Trump’s hush money trial last night and the gag order issued against him. Read up on what the hosts had to say via The New York Times. 

The House and Senate are out. President Biden is in Washington. Vice President Harris is in New York City and Washington.  (all times Eastern)

• This morning: Oral arguments began in SCOTUS abortion case 

• 12:30 p.m.: Biden will deliver political remarks at North America’s Building Trade Union National Legislative Conference. 💻 Livestream 

• 12:30 p.m. Jill Biden will speak about gender equity in health care at the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride. 💻 Livestream 

• 2 p.m.: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters. 💻 Livestream 

• 3 p.m.: Harris will record an interview in New York City for “The Drew Barrymore Show,” to air Monday. 

• 3:45 p.m.: Speaker Mike Johnson will speak at Columbia University. 

Because you made it this far, check out this baby goat jumping at its own reflection.