By Noah Brasseur
Welcome back to another News Corner. It has been a pretty eventful week!
First up: Trump’s arrest Tuesday, but for real this time.
So he didn’t get the exact date right, but former president Donald Trump was arrested on Tuesday. No handcuffs, as he chose to turn himself in to authorities. He has become the first president in American history to face criminal charges.
Not the first president to be arrested, however; that honor belongs to Ulysses S. Grant for a traffic violation.
Trump is facing 34 charges, all felony counts of falsifying business records. Each charge is one alleged instance of a violation of law. Prosecutors will have to prove in court that Trump was intentionally altering the numbers to hide payments to Stormy Daniels, a porn star whom he possibly had an affair with.
The former president returned to his residence in Florida and held a speech, where he said he was the target of a political prosecution.
“They can’t beat us at the ballot box,” Trump said. “So they try to beat us through the law.”
He also spoke out against the other pending legal matters that have been plaguing him, saying investigators looking into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia should drop the case.
Additionally, he decried the Department of Justice’s investigation into his handling of missing documents, which had led to a raid at Mar-A-Lago, one of Trump’s properties, in 2022.
Hey, speaking of stormy…
There has been some pretty intense weather these past few days. A massive storm system, stretching from Maine to Texas, has been sweeping the nation.
Tornado watches were issued across the nation, particularly in parts of the Midwest, and meteorologists warned of strong winds and hail alongside powerful thunderstorms.
This is particularly bad news, as some of the areas at risk had already been subject to another powerful storm just days earlier; one that possibly spawned dozens of tornadoes and killed at least 33 people in the process. Several dozen more were reported injured.
Another storm so soon after the first could severely hinder recovery and rebuilding attempts.
Biden declared several areas a federal disaster, allowing for resources to be sent to various states to facilitate a quicker recovery process.
Biden had made a similar announcement only a few days prior, when he issued federal help to Mississippi. The state experienced a tornado that killed at least 25 people.
At the finish line of the article is Finland!
On April 4, Finland became the latest nation to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, better known as NATO.
The country had traditionally been fairly neutral in world affairs. It is the reason the word Finlandization exists, after all, which usually means for a smaller country to not bother challenging the foreign policy of a more powerful neighbor.
However, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Finland quickly moved to join the military alliance. They, along with neighboring Sweden, applied to join not long after.
Finland’s addition more than doubles the land border the organization shares with Russia. The Kremlin has said it will increase its military presence along the border in response.
Sweden, however, has yet to join. In order for a country to become a full-fledged member, every partner in the alliance must approve their application. Hungary and Turkey have both refused.
Sweden has, in the past, criticized Turkey for human rights abuses. Turkey, in turn, says Sweden harbors terrorists. Additionally, a protest in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, had one member burning a Quran in public. Turkey, being a heavily Muslim nation, took issue with that.
Hungary refuses to ratify because Sweden has similarly leveled criticism towards them in the past.
Sweden does have at least one member in their corner, however. Finland’s first act as a member of NATO was to approve Sweden’s application.
