News Digest: Woodcock Whistle; Air Filters for Art Spaces; Sotomayor vs Alito; Trump's Right Hand Person

Trump (R) (Bragg/Merchan): “Trump could avoid trial this year on 2020 election charges. Is the hush money case a worthy proxy?” [Orlando Sentinel]

“Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota Law School professor and former associate White House counsel during the George W. Bush administration, said he believed the facts of the case met the evidence needed to determine whether a felony had been committed that violated campaign law, but added, ‘The election interference part, I have a little bit of trouble on this.’ Richard Hasen, a UCLA law school professor, said the New York case does not compare to the election-related charges Trump faces. ‘We can draw a fairly bright line between attempting to change vote totals to flip a presidential election and failing to disclose embarrassing information on a government form,’ he wrote in a recent Los Angeles Times column. In an email, Hasen said New York prosecutors were calling the case election interference ‘because that boosts what may be the only case heard before the election.’ Some said prosecutors’ decision to characterize the New York case as election interference seemed to be a strategy designed to raise its visibility.

Trump (R): “The Most Feared and Least Known Political Operative in America” [Politico]

Susie Wiles (whose father was, amazingly, football great and and alcoholic Pat Summerall). “Wiles is not just one of Trump’s senior advisers. She’s his most important adviser. She’s his de facto campaign manager. She has been in essence his chief of staff for the last more than three years. She’s one of the reasons Trump is the GOP’s presumptive nominee and Ron DeSantis is not.”

Biden (D): “Scoop: Biden changes walking routine to Marine One” [Axios]

“President Biden has introduced a change to his White House departure and return routine. Instead of walking across the South Lawn to and from Marine One by himself, he’s now often surrounded by aides. With aides walking between Biden and journalists’ camera position outside the White House, the visual effect is to draw less attention to the 81-year-old’s halting and stiff gait. Some Biden advisers have told Axios they’re concerned that videos of Biden walking and shuffling alone — especially across the grass — have highlighted his age. Weeks ago the president told aides that he’d prefer a less formal approach, a White House official told Axios. He suggested that they walk with him. White House staffers and reporters alike noticed the sudden change in Biden’s walk routine beginning in mid-April, after more than three years in which he’d typically walked solo. Senior aides such as deputy chiefs of staff Bruce Reed and Annie Tomasini and close adviser Mike Donilon are among those who’ve walked with the president across the lawn to and from the helicopter.Since the change, some advisers think the images of Biden’s walks to and from the helicopter are better, and they expect him to continue to have