Extra Time: Supreme Court hearing Trump's immunity claim

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Extra Time: Supreme Court hearing Trump's immunity claim
In this edition of Eyewitness News Extra Time, we begin with the Supreme Court's deciding whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- In this edition of Eyewitness News Extra Time, we begin with the Supreme Court's major decision on Trump's immunity claim.

The justices have agreed to take up former President Trump's sweeping claim of immunity, which will not only impact future federal criminal cases but also the presidential election.

The Trump strategy has been to try to delay the criminal cases against him, and the Supreme Court decision Wednesday could cause quite a delay.

A three member appeals court already unanimously ruled against the former president, and his only hope to overturn that ruling was the Supreme Court, which will now open arguments on April 22.

Here are the other headlines from Wednesday's show:

Mitch McConnell stepping down

Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history, announced Wednesday that he will step down from the role after this fall's elections.

McConnell turned 82 last week, but gave no specific reason for the timing of his decision.

ABC News' Em Nguyen joins Extra Time live from Washington D.C.

Sham safety school

A Manhattan grand jury has indicted six people at a company that trains construction workers on safety, or at least it's supposed to train them.

Prosecutors say the company gave bogus safety certificates - about 20,000 of them - to untrained construction workers in some of the most dangerous jobs in New York City.

One of those workers died in a fall from a building, according to prosecutors.

Eyewitness News reporter Janice Yu has the story.

The first Freedom Rider

The name Elizabeth Jennings may not ring a bell, but her contributions have certainly laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement.

In July 1854, Elizabeth Jennings, a 27-year-old Black schoolteacher boarded a Third Avenue Railroad Company house-car in Lower Manhattan.

Soon after boarding, Jennings was ordered to get off and told wait for a car that served African American passengers.

Jennings ignored the conductor's orders and resisted his attempts to remove her.

Eventually she was forced off, and later took her case to court - and won.

Her lawyer in the case, also happened to be none other than Chester A. Arthur, who would go on to become the 21st President of the United States.

Jennings' story is detailed in the book "America's First Freedom Rider" by historian Jerry Mikorenda, who joins Extra Time to share more the trailblazer.

You can watch 'Eyewitness News Extra Time' live Monday-Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7NY.com or our ABC7NY app on Roku, FireTV, Apple TV and Android TV.

----------

* Get Eyewitness News Delivered

* Follow us on YouTube

* More local news

* Send us a news tip

* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts

Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News

Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.