Trump Forces DoorDash Driver to Give Iran Press Conference

Trump's $10 billion lawsuit over Epstein's birthday card has been thrown out, several Senate races have shifted in favor of Democrats, and judges ruling on energy cases are taking money from big oil

Good evening. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

A grandmother delivering McDonald’s for DoorDash was roped into a White House press conference. A federal judge threw out Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over Epstein’s birthday letter. Several Senate races in swing states have shifted in favor of Democrats. And a new investigation found that a dozen Louisiana judges have been presiding over major oil cases while personally invested in the companies they were judging.

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Let’s dive in.

Trump Tried to Pull a DoorDash Grandma Into a Culture War. She Didn’t Fall For It.

The president of the United States met his match on Monday, and she was wearing a DoorDash shirt.

Trump staged a photo op Monday in which a DoorDash worker named Sharon Simmons, introduced by a shirt that said “DoorDash Grandma,” delivered McDonald’s to the Oval Office to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his administration’s no-tax-on-tips policy.

It was, in the president’s own words, a spontaneous moment. “This doesn’t look staged, does it?” he asked, while standing in front of the assembled press corps he had assembled to watch.

Simmons is a grandmother of ten from Arkansas who has completed more than 14,000 deliveries since she started dashing in 2022. She came prepared with a message about economic policy. The president came prepared with a question about gender and athletics.

While blasting the Democratic Party, Trump pivoted to Simmons and asked, “Do you think that men should play in women’s sports?” She replied, “I really don’t have an opinion on that.” Trump interrupted: “You do!” She held firm: “No, I’m here about no tax on tips.”

Trump said he arranged the delivery after learning Simmons had picked up an extra $11,000 under the No Tax on Tips policy. When he asked if she had voted for him, she replied, “Uh, maybe.”

Four Senate Races Just Shifted in Favor of Democrats

The map for November just got a little less comfortable for the party in power.

The Cook Political Report adjusted the ratings Monday for four Senate battles in favor of Democrats, as Trump’s leadership has resulted in what it called an “increasingly sour national environment for Republicans.”

In Georgia, the crop of conservative primary candidates has struggled to distinguish themselves in a crowded field, with no clear front-runner and no endorsement from the president. Meanwhile, incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff has maintained a considerable fundraising edge over his opponents.

The North Carolina Senate race has also shifted toward a Democratic outcome, where former Governor Roy Cooper is facing off against RNC Chairman Michael Whatley for Thom Tillis’s vacated seat.

Trump has put Republicans in a tough spot. Gas prices and inflation are up, while employment and consumer sentiment are down. Democrats still need to net four seats to flip the chamber.

But four ratings moving in one direction, on one day, is not nothing. It is instead the kind of thing that makes Senate campaign staffers refresh FiveThirtyEight at 2 a.m.

Trump’s $10 Billion Epstein Lawsuit Just Got Thrown Out of Court

A federal judge Monday tossed a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against the Wall Street Journal over a story describing a “bawdy” birthday letter bearing the president’s name that was reportedly given to Jeffrey Epstein.

U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles ruled that Trump failed to plausibly allege the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper acted with “actual malice” when it reported the story. In fact, the judge noted the complaint itself actually demonstrated that the paper tried to be fair, as it catalogued all the ways the Journal had reached out to Trump for comment before publishing.

Including evidence of your opponent’s due diligence in your own lawsuit is a special kind of legal strategy.

The letter the Journal described contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, with a signature that appeared to mimic pubic hair. It concluded: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump has denied writing it. The Journal has stood by its reporting. Congress subpoenaed Epstein’s estate and the letter turned up anyway.

Trump has until April 27 to file an amended complaint. His legal team announced they would do so, describing the dismissed case as a “powerhouse lawsuit.” The word powerhouse does not traditionally describe things that just got thrown out of court.

Louisiana’s Oil Cases Were Being Decided by Judges Who Owned Oil Stocks

It turns out the best way to win an environmental lawsuit in Louisiana is to be the company the judge is invested in.

A dozen federal judges have presided over some of the most consequential environmental lawsuits in Louisiana’s history despite having investments in or business connections to the companies being sued, according to an investigation by Floodlight, WWNO/WRKF, and Type Investigations.

Their ties took various forms: holding stock or corporate bonds while presiding over the cases, having previously worked as attorneys for the oil companies, receiving large sums of money from investments in those companies prior to hearing cases, leasing mineral rights to defendants, or having a spouse who was a partner at a law firm defending the oil companies.

One judge, Carl Barbier of the U.S. Eastern District Court of Louisiana, held over $100,000 of corporate bonds in five oil companies while presiding over four separate cases in which one or more of those companies was a defendant.

Another judge, Nannette Jolivette Brown of the same court, and her husband traded tens of thousands of dollars of Exxon and Chevron stock while she presided over a case in which both companies were being sued.

Almost none of the judges technically broke the ethical rules governing the judiciary. The rules, in other words, permitted this. An area the size of Delaware has disappeared into the Gulf. The judges who could have done something about it were cashing dividend checks.

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