From Porn Star to Star Witness

Darling Meteor readers,

Mother’s Day weekend will soon be upon us, and whether you are a mom, have a mom, have lost a mom, or anything along the spectrum—my wish is that you find at least one moment of peace and a reason to smile this weekend.

In today’s newsletter, we size up the impact of Stormy Daniels’ eight-hour testimony, bask in women’s basketball, and, as always, share a weekend reading list.

With love,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

The eye of the storm: The list of charges Donald Trump hopes will vanish as he attempts to retake the White House runs long. But this week, all eyes have been focused on the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records he faces in New York City, accrued while trying to cover up stories that could have ruined his 2016 run. Allegedly, allegedly.

What makes this case unique is first and foremost this: It may very well be the only criminal case against Trump to reach a verdict before the election.

But it is also unique because of the testimony of Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress and producer, who says that Trump offered her $130,000 to keep quiet about a sexual encounter they had in 2006. Despite Trump’s lawyer’s best attempts to discredit Daniels (“you made all this up, right?” one asked her), the trial isn’t about whether or not she had sex with the former president. The question is simply whether or not he paid her to keep quiet about it and then disguised that financial record as a “legal expense” paid out to his former fixer, Michael Cohen (who is also set to testify for the prosecution). Doing so would amount to falsifying business records—a crime in the state of New York.

STORMY DANIELS EXITING A MANHATTAN COURTHOUSE AFTER CONCLUDING HER TESTIMONY. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

If, when all is said and done, a jury finds Trump guilty, he could face prison time. But to be clear, a conviction wouldn’t actually prevent him from continuing to run for president. Technically, convicted felons can run for office—which is odd, since in most states they lose the right to vote. Even being imprisoned might not be enough to keep him from being legally elected; experts are split on that since, as one scholar put it to the Times, “I don’t think that the framers ever thought we were going to be in this situation.”

But should this be the one case that brings down Teflon Don—who’s been twice impeached and is somehow still the Republican frontrunner—it will be in no small part thanks to Daniels’ willingness to tell her story, even to her own detriment.

There’s something poetic about the fact that our hopes to see a shred of justice hang on how credible 12 jurors find a porn star—the kind of person “upstanding” citizens often ignore during the day but pay great attention to at night with the volume turned down. If Daniels delivers the most desired prison sentence in history, she will be a hero. Which will be quite a change of pace from the derision she’s been met with and could, in a perfect world, create a path for her fellow workers in the porn and sex industries to be treated like human beings in their workplace.

AND:

• A new study has found that anti-abortion laws have increased the rate of domestic violence-related homicides across the country. The kinds of laws cited in the study, known as TRAP laws, most often used to close down abortion clinics, eliminate the few resources available to pregnant people in violent relationships.

• New York is set to become the first major U.S. city to consider climate impact when it comes to making budget decisions. The state’s deputy mayor of operations told Bloomberg, “Every dollar has to do double duty now—it has to not only do its purpose in terms of building out infrastructure or providing energy, but it also has to lower emissions, cool, absorb water…And that is the only way that New York City will survive.” Not as cool as a carbon-sucking machine, but we’ll take it.

• Say goodbye to the Boy Scouts of America. No, they’re not canceled. They’re changing their name to make it clear that girls are also welcome to learn wilderness skills. Say hello to Scouting America. (The Girl Scouts will continue to exist as their own separate cookie-pedaling mafia.)

• So much basketball news, I don’t even know what to do with myself! Let’s go one at a time: 1) The WNBA has FINALLY agreed to allow charter flights for teams, and Lindsey Gibbs explains what that means for the league. 2) This weekend, ESPN+  debuts its limited docu-series, Full Court Press, about the 2024 Women’s NCAA Tournament, highlighting the journeys of Caitlin Clark, Kamilla Cardoso, and Kiki Rice. 3) Speaking of those rising stars, the WNBA regular season starts May 14, and Clark’s debut game will air nationally on ESPN2. Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso have their first regular season games the following day, which you can catch on the WNBA app if you’re not in Chicago or Dallas.

THE INDIANA FEVER DURING THEIR PRESEASON GAME AGAINST THE WINGS. WHICH WAS SOLD OUT. (VIA GETTY IMAGES)

WEEKEND READING 📚

On our Ozempified world: What is the real value of the body positivity movement? The Meteor’s own Samhita Mukhopadhyay investigates, brilliantly. (The Cut)

On #MeToo: Harvey Weinstein’s overturned conviction could shape the future of sexual assault trials, and perhaps not for the better. (The Marshall Project)

On what makes a murderer: Sarah Stillman’s riveting 2023 story about a charge known as “felony murder” won a Pulitzer Prize this week. (The New Yorker)

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