Hey there from CNN, I'm Krista Bowe with The Five Things You Need To Know for Tuesday, November 12th. A decision on whether Donald Trump's New York-Hush Money conviction should be tossed out has been delayed for a week. Earlier this year, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election. The judge overseen the cases considering whether it should be dismissed based on the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling, or whether to go ahead with sentencing the president-elect.
CNN's Paula Reed has more on why that decision has been pushed back. Sources tell me that prosecutors and defense attorneys have been discussing this over the past few days, and they mutually agree to delay this deadline so that Trump's lawyers will have additional time to make new arguments based on the fact that their client is now the president-elect. Sources tell me that they will argue that as President-elect Trump is entitled to constitutional protection from state actors, that would include state judges, a sentencing in this case. Now they have tried, successfully twice now, to get this sentencing delayed, but here they want it completely canceled based on his status as president-elect.
Congress is back on Capitol Hill today for the first time since Donald Trump's victory. There's a government shutdown looming, but one of the first orders of business for Republicans in the Senate is choosing via secret ballot, who the next majority leader will be. Some key conservative lawmakers have made clear who they want to take Mitch McConnell's post, and that's Florida Senator Rick Scott, partly because of his perceived closeness to the president-elect. But party leaders Senator John Thune and John Cornyn are in the running, too, and all three candidates seem supportive of Trump's request to fast-track his administration appointments.
For the House, CNN hasn't projected which party will officially take control come January yet, with 14 races remaining, Republicans only need three more seats to clinch it. And House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to keep the gavel for now if they win. He celebrated the party's victories this morning. We expect that the majority will be larger than last time.
We still have a number of races outstanding, but we're very optimistic about those, and we are looking forward to governing in unified government beginning in January. President Joe Biden is trying to do what he can to Trump-proof his policies before he leaves office. The EPA just finalized one of the Biden administration's only outstanding climate rules, which could be trickier for Trump to roll back. CNN's Ellen Elson explains.
Yeah, Krista, so that new rule aims to crack down on leaks of methane, a potent planet-warming gas with an outsized impact on the climate. This rule was mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act, which could make it more difficult for the second Trump administration to dismantle it, compared to other key climate rules. It also comes as Trump named his pick to head the EPA on Monday, former New York Congressman Lee Seldin. One of Zeldin's first tasks will likely be starting the process to overturn several of the Biden EPA's biggest rules on climate, including emissions from power plants, vehicles, and the oil and gas industry.
Dangerous wildfires have been burning on both the east and the west coasts of the U.S. Firefighters in New York and New Jersey are working to contain a deadly blaze spurred by an ongoing historic drought. In an update last night, the New Jersey Fire Service said that Jennings Creek Fire has scorched about 3,500 acres, and is 20% contained. Meanwhile, fierce winds in Southern California could fan the destructive fire in Ventura County, which, as of Sunday, has burned over 20,000 acres.
Officials say so far six people have been injured and almost 200 structures have been destroyed. People appear to be stockpiling contraceptives, until you buy next. Online sales of emergency contraceptives have skyrocketed in the U.S. We asked CNN's Jacqueline Howard for the details.
Yeah, Kristok, I spoke with the heads of two telehealth companies. One of those companies, Winx Health, said that sales of their morning after pill were up 966% as of Friday, compared with the three days before the election results were announced. The other company, Wisp, both types of emergency contraception that they sell online went up about 1,000% in just one day after the election. And it appears consumers are stockpiling these medications out of concern around what the forthcoming Trump administration may do when it comes to restrictions around accessing reproductive healthcare.