Happy Monday. It’s Tax Day, and if this is the first you’re hearing of it, well, Godspeed—and we know what your evening plans look like. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• Iran launched its first-ever direct attack against Israel late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, firing 350 missiles and armed drones in the direction of Israeli territory. The Israeli military—with support from the U.S. military and those of Jordan, the United Kingdom, and France—shot down 99 percent of the incoming projectiles before they reached their targets, according to Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. Only one serious injury was reported, from falling shrapnel after the interception of an Iranian missile. Following the attack, President Joe Biden reportedly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the U.S. would not support an Israeli counterattack against Iran. Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled on Sunday the chamber would vote on aid to Israel in the coming days—though it was unclear whether the vote would be on the funding that already passed the Senate and includes aid to Ukraine or a separate package that the upper chamber would also have to pass. Prior to Tehran’s attack on Israel on Saturday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, taking the crew of the Portuguese-flagged ship hostage. 
• The chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, warned on Saturday that the war’s eastern front has “deteriorated significantly in recent days,” owing to increased offensive activity by Russian forces. After months of sustained Russian missile attacks targeting Ukrainian cities and electricity infrastructure, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday his country would send the country an additional Patriot missile system and ammunition as U.S. aid remains stalled in Congress. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog that he intends to restart the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest. Several drones hit the currently powered-down site—on a front line in southeastern Ukraine—as recently as last week.    
• New York Judge Juan Merchan—who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial—on Friday rejected one of Trump’s final efforts to delay the proceedings set to begin later today. Trump and his team asked for the trial to be pushed “indefinitely” on the grounds that the media attention surrounding it would make it impossible for Trump to receive a fair trial. Merchan, however, held that Trump intentionally generates much of the media attention. “The situation Defendant finds himself in now is not new to him and at least in part, of his own doing,” the judge wrote. 
• The House voted 273 to 147 on Friday to pass a bill reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Authority (FISA) for two years instead of the originally proposed five-year renewal. Both parties’ conferences were split on the measure, with 88 Republicans and 59 Democrats voting against it. An amendment to the bill that would have required the government to obtain a warrant before searching Americans’ data swept up in foreign surveillance failed to pass after receiving 212 votes in favor and 212 against. The ultimate passage comes after an effort to open debate on the reauthorization failed on Wednesday after Trump voiced his opposition to the measure. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday promised to introduce an “election integrity” bill while visiting Trump at Mar-a-Lago that, among other provisions, would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote.
• Trump endorsed Dave McCormick on Saturday in his race to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in Pennsylvania. McCormick is running unopposed for the Republican nomination, but two years ago, when McCormick was facing off against TV doctor Mehmet Oz, Trump labeled McCormick “the candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment.” McCormick—for whom former President George W. Bush recently hosted a fundraiser in Dallas, Texas—has endorsed Trump for president. 
• In the latest New York Times/Siena College national poll released Saturday, President Biden had narrowed Trump’s lead compared to the last such survey, bringing the two candidates to a virtual tie at 46 percent to 45 percent. The survey, which was in the field from April 7 to April 11, suggests Biden’s uptick may come from traditional Democratic voters “coming home,” with the president winning a larger share of that group than he did in the same poll a month ago. 

A Telegraphed Iranian Attack

TEL AVIV, Israel—A Saturday evening alive with protests calling for the safe return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza fell abruptly silent here in Israel’s second-largest city as disturbing news began to trickle in. Iran, the Israeli military later confirmed around 11 p.m., had begun its long-awaited—and first-ever–direct attack on the state of Israel. 

By early Sunday, the Islamic Republic had launched some 170 explosive drones, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles westward toward Israel. Israel’s air force, together with an international coalition, intercepted a large percentage of the projectiles before they ever crossed into Israeli airspace. Nearly all of those that did reach the country were intercepted by its layered air defense system before hitting their targets, with the exception of a small number of ballistic missiles, which struck the Nevatim Airbase and caused minor damage. Shrapnel from an intercepted missile fell on a Bedouin village in the Negev Desert, severely injuring a 7-year-old girl.

The unprecedented attack followed weeks of warnings by U.S. and Israeli officials, who had assessed that …

As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 885-word story on Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend is available in the members-only version of TMD.

So It Begins

When former President Donald Trump was hit with his first of four criminal indictments last March, he joined former President Ulysses S. Grant as the only other president to have officially run afoul of the law. In 1872, Grant was arrested while in office for speeding through Washington, D.C., in a horse-drawn carriage. After his arrest, Grant posted $20 in collateral—which he forfeited after not showing up for his court date—and that was that. 

But this morning at 9:30 a.m., Trump will venture out on his own as the only current or former U.S. president to stand trial. And instead of just $20 in lost collateral, he faces felony charges that could carry prison time.

Trump’s criminal trial over alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stephanie Clifford—also known as Stormy Daniels—ahead of the 2016 election campaign begins today. The case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, includes 34 felony counts that focus on allegedly falsified business records related to the $130,000 that now-former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels. Trump’s associates reportedly made the payments to buy her silence—during a presidential campaign—about a sexual encounter she had with Trump years earlier. 

Cohen claims that the Trump Organization reimbursed him for the Daniels money in a series of payments but that the organization falsely recorded the reimbursements as a legal retainer. Bragg will argue that the alleged falsifying of business records—a misdemeanor offense—was designed to hide a campaign finance crime, parlaying the charges into felonies. While there are those who believe Bragg is on solid footing, a number of legal analysts argue this bank shot makes Bragg’s case the weakest of the four criminal indictments against Trump. As Sarah explained last March …

As a non-paying reader, you are receiving a truncated version of The Morning Dispatch. Our full 1,275-word story previewing Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York is available in the members-only version of TMD.

Worth Your Time

• For the Atlantic, Eliot A. Cohen asks: “Why has Iran begun to act more blatantly, less cautiously, and at greater ranges than ever before?” His answer: “One answer may be the seemingly irrevocable march of that country to the possession of nuclear weapons, a march that was briefly slowed by the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 (which was followed by a pause in the Iranian program) and the ill-fated and time-limited Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated in 2015, abandoned by the Trump administration and unsuccessfully attempted to be revived by the Biden administration. Iran now plays an important role in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Iranian drones fly every night at Ukrainian cities, revealing and stressing Ukrainian air defenses to pave the way for Russian cruise and ballistic missiles. Iran has reportedly helped with the construction of Russian factories to manufacture the drones, presumably in exchange for Russian assistance on other fronts. It is this bigger geopolitical shift that makes the Iranian attack on Israel so significant. The major players in the Russia–China–Iran–North Korea coalition are increasingly willing to use open violence (against Ukraine, Israel, and the Philippines), and to threaten much worse, including the use of nuclear weapons. They are united by a growing belief that their moment is coming, when a divided and indecisive West, richer but flabbier, will not fight.”

Presented Without Comment

Politico EU: Downing Street Was ‘Infested With Fleas,’ [Former U.K. Prime Minister] Liz Truss Says in New Memoir

Also Presented Without Comment

New York Times: [GOP New Hampshire Gov. Chris] Sununu Says Trump ‘Contributed’ to Insurrection, but Still Has His Support 

Toeing the Company Line

• In the newsletters: The Dispatch Politics crew checked in on Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers’ evolving abortion position in Michigan, Jonah argued the meaning of art is in the eye of the beholder, Nick suggested that vibes may ultimately decide the 2024 election, and Chris looked at some numbers (🔒) surrounding the abortion policy debate.  
• On the podcasts: Jonah ruminated on Top Chef and Barack Obama’s messianic reputation on The Remnant, and Jamie is joined on The Dispatch Podcast today by New York Times opinion columnist Carlos Lozada to discuss how to read political memoirs. 
• On the site over the weekend: Stephanie H. Murray reviewed Jonathan Haidt’s new book, The Anxious Generation, and Sean Keeley argued that Netflix’s 3 Body Problem is a “dud” but can still teach us something.
• On the site today: Reilly Stephens dives into the recent back-and-forth over so-called “squatters’ rights.”