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Trump Echoes January 6 In Calling For Protests, As He Anticipates Arrest
- New York Times: Trump Claims His Arrest Is Imminent and Calls for Protests, Echoing Jan. 6: With a Manhattan grand jury indictment likely but its timing unclear, Donald J. Trump sought to rally supporters to his side, declaring that he would be arrested on Tuesday and calling for protests. Mr. Trump made the declaration on his site, Truth Social, at 7:26 a.m. on Saturday in a post that ended with, “THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK. PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” Two hours later, a spokesman issued a statement saying that Mr. Trump had not written his post with direct knowledge of the timing of any arrest, adding, “President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the weaponization of our injustice system.”
- CNN: Why a Trump indictment would have huge political and national implications: America’s political and legal institutions are bracing for their next extreme test posed by former President Donald Trump. Trump’s prediction on Saturday that he could be arrested this week – and his attempt to ignite a preemptive backlash – made what had been the theoretical prospect of an ex-president and 2024 candidate being criminally charged appear much more real. And it signaled America is headed for an even more politically divisive ordeal that will test his influence over the GOP. The property developer, ex-reality TV star and former commander in chief faces multiple investigations after seeking to overturn the 2020 election and over his handling of classified documents after leaving office. But his most immediate exposure may be in a case over an alleged hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
- Washington Post: McCarthy tells Trump supporters not to protest if ex-president is indicted: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said supporters of Donald Trump should not protest if the former president is indicted — after Trump called on people to rally against what he claimed would be his imminent arrest in a Manhattan investigation. In an all-caps message on his social media platform, he called on followers to “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” “I don’t think people should protest this, no,” McCarthy said during a news conference Sunday. “And I think President Trump, if you talk to him, he doesn’t believe that, either.”
- Reuters: Far-right activists wary of ‘trap’ after Trump calls for protests: Former President Donald Trump’s call to supporters to protest what he said was his imminent arrest provoked conspiracy-fueled debate on far-right social media platforms on Monday, with some supporters fearing an elaborate government trap to arrest them. Critics worried his comments could provoke a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat. Security analysts who monitor far-right chatter on social media, said initially the impulse of Trump’s followers was to heed his call and hit the streets. But by Monday, the tone had shifted, according to the analysts and messages on several social media platforms examined by Reuters.
While Tucker Carlson and the GOP made claims to the contrary, the Capitol Police were never permitted to review new January 6 footage
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ABC: Despite Tucker Carlson’s claim, Capitol Police say they didn’t review Jan. 6 footage aired by Fox News: A new court filing claims that most of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6 surveillance footage aired last week by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which he used to downplay the seriousness of the attack, was aired without the approval of the U.S. Capitol Police — despite Carlson’s claims to the contrary. Capitol Police general counsel Thomas DiBiase said in a sworn affidavit filed in D.C. federal court Friday that despite DiBiase’s requests to a senior Republican staffer that he review every clip from the USCP’s internal system that would be made public, he was shown and approved “only one clip” that Carlson ultimately aired on his show last Monday and Tuesday. “Since that clip was substantially similar to a clip used in [former President Donald Trump’s second] Impeachment Trial and was publicly available, I approved the use of the clip,” DiBiase said. “The other approximately 40 clips, which were not from the Sensitive List [of cameras deemed the most sensitive], were never shown to me nor anyone else from the Capitol Police.”
- Politico: House GOP ignored Capitol Police requests to review public Jan. 6 footage, lawyer says: House Republicans ignored the Capitol Police’s repeated requests to review and approve all Jan. 6 security footage they planned to release publicly, the force’s top lawyer asserted in a sworn affidavit filed Friday. Only one of the more than 40 riot clips that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson aired earlier this month using access granted by the House GOP got previewed and approved beforehand, according to Capitol Police general counsel Thomas DiBiase. The rest, DiBiase said, “were never shown to me nor anyone else from the Capitol Police.” In a six-page declaration filed as part of a Jan. 6 criminal case, DiBiase described the timeline by which Republicans obtained access to the 41,000 hours of footage captured by Capitol security cameras on Jan. 6. The filing itself is an uncomfortable moment for the Capitol Police — which, as a result of the case, has been forced to describe private interactions with members and staffers in open court.
In The States
FLORIDA: Florida officials hit with federal suit over signature rule for prospective voters
- New York Times: Florida Faces Federal Lawsuit Over Signature Rules for New Voters: A national get-out-the-vote group and the N.A.A.C.P. on Thursday challenged a Florida law that bars the use of digital signatures on voter registration forms, bringing a federal lawsuit against the state similar to ones pending in Texas and Georgia. The legal action targets what is known as Florida’s “wet signature” requirement, which mandates that anyone registering to vote who is not listed in the state’s driver’s license database sign their application with a pen. Florida has about 2.3 million people who are of voting age but do not have driver’s licenses, according to Vote.org, part of a group of plaintiffs in the lawsuit that also includes the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. The plaintiffs contend that the rule creates a particular hardship for people of color, older residents and those with lower incomes who might not readily have access to a printer — and that it puts the onus on them to return applications to the state.
KANSAS: Court of Appeals calls voting a fundamental right, reverses lower court on lawsuit challenging restraint on voting rights
- Associated Press: Kansas appeals court reinstates lawsuit over voting law: The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday reinstated a lawsuit that challenged provisions of a voting law enacted in 2021 that opponents argue is unconstitutional and limits voting rights. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Loud Light, the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. They challenged provisions of a law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that limit how many advance mail ballots individuals can collect and require election officials to match the signatures on an advance ballot to a person’s voter registration record. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said Friday he would appeal the ruling. Supporters of the law argued that restricting individuals from collecting and returning more than 10 advanced ballots per election would reduce “ballot harvesting” and limit voter fraud. Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the measure, but lawmakers overrode her veto.
OHIO: Ohio becomes sixth state to leave voting integrity group, ERIC
- NPR: Ohio becomes latest Republican state to leave a key voting data partnership: Ohio on Friday announced it was the latest Republican-led state to pull out of a key election partnership that has become the focal point of conspiracies on the far-right. The Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose — a Republican who is widely considered to be eyeing a run for U.S. Senate in 2024 — sent a letter to the executive director of the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, announcing the decision soon after the bipartisan compact’s member states held a meeting Friday. “ERIC has chosen repeatedly to ignore demands to embrace reforms that would bolster confidence in its performance, encourage growth in its membership, and ensure not only its present stability but also its durability,” LaRose wrote. “Rather, you have chosen to double-down on poor strategic decisions, which have only resulted in the transformation of a previously bipartisan organization to one that appears to favor only the interests of one political party.”
GEORGIA: Georgia Secretary of State pledges support for ERIC, as several Republican-lead states leave the group
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia commits to voter accuracy group as other states withdraw: Georgia is staying in a multistate organization that helps keep voter registration lists accurate, even as other Republican-led states pull out amid misinformation and conspiracy theories. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reaffirmed his commitment to the Electronic Registration Information Center, a 28-state collaboration that shares information about voters after they move or die. Then their registrations can later be canceled in the state they moved from. “Being a member of ERIC has allowed us to be recognized as having the cleanest voter rolls in the country,” Raffensperger said last week. “For example, if someone moves from here to North Carolina, they’ll let us know that they registered, and then we can begin to objectively take them off the voter rolls.”
What Experts Are Saying
Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “[Donald Trump] will have to follow ‘normal procedures’ just like anyone else who is charged with a crime…That doesn’t mean Trump won’t continue to be Trump. But he would do well to remember that everything he does publicly can be used as evidence. Like the echo of his call to arms on January 6 that he put out on social media [on Saturday]. The attack on a prosecutor is worthy of a mobster, not a former president. Trump continues to be everything Congressman Adam Schiff admonished Senators he was during impeachment-someone who would damage our national security again if not reined in, someone who truth and what’s right doesn’t matter to. But even Trump can’t avoid the normal events that occur when a person is charged by a grand jury. In fact, it may end up being a positive that there will be a federal law enforcement agent at his side in the form of his Secret Service detail. The rule of law is coming for Trump.” Civil Discourse
Tom Joscelyn, Select Committee on January 6 senior professional staff member, Norman L. Eisen, special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment proceedings and trial of Trump, and Fred Wertheimer, founder and president of Democracy 21: “Twenty (20) January 6th inmates were held in D.C. as of Mar. 13, 2023, according to the Washington, D.C. Department of Corrections’ official list, which Just Security has obtained. [In the piece], we present an analysis showing that all of them have been charged with committing serious criminal offenses on Jan. 6, 2021. Seventeen (17) of the twenty inmates are accused of assaulting law enforcement officers during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The remaining three inmates, which include a Proud Boys member and an Oath Keepers member, have all been charged with committing other serious crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, and one of them has already been convicted.” Just Security: Profiles of the January 6th Inmates in the D.C. Jail
Laurence H. Tribe, professor of constitutional law emeritus at Harvard Law School, Dennis Aftergut, former federal prosecutor:“[Trump attorneys Evan] Corcoran and [John] Eastman were far from the only lawyers to fall under Trump’s spell. The New York court suspendingRudy Giuliani’s law license comes to mind, as does the Colorado bar censuring his protege, Jenna Ellis, this month when she admitted her misrepresentations in service of the former president’s lie that his election was stolen… villains of authoritarianism like Orban and Trump have figured out that you don’t need to get rid of all the lawyers: it’s enough to corrupt a few.” Justia (Verdict): Trump’s Pathway to Autocracy
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
Salon: MAGA replaces Reaganism
Politico: The Federalist Society Isn’t Quite Sure About Democracy Anymore
Newsweek: Steve Bannon Predicts What Will Happen If Trump’s Indicted
Trump Investigations
AP News: Officials are preparing security in case of Trump indictment
Fox 5 Atlanta: Reports: Fulton County grand jury probe heard unreleased Trump call recording
CNN: Georgia prosecutors considering racketeering and conspiracy charges in probe of effort to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, source says
New York Times: Trump’s Georgia Lawyers Seek to Quash Special Grand Jury Report
Forbes: Dozens Of Mar-A-Lago Staffers Subpoenaed In Trump Special Counsel Investigation, Report Says
January 6 And The 2020 Election
ABC: Oath Keepers associates found guilty of conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol attack
CNN: Texas veteran who entered Senate chamber in military gear on January 6 sentenced to two years in prison
Washington Post: The Jan. 6 investigation is the biggest in U.S. history. It’s only half done
New York Times: Prosecution Completes Testimony in Proud Boys Jan. 6 Sedition Trial
Wall Street Journal: America’s Political Divide Over Jan. 6 Reaches Into FBI
The Hill: Pence says he’ll respect court’s decision on Jan. 6 testimony
Opinion
The Hill: Grievance politics, rather than problem solving, now at the heart of Republican Party
Washington Post: The GOP’s attacks on D.C. home rule are just getting started
New York Times: Before His Death, I Asked the Manhattan D.A. What His Greatest Fear Was. He Answered: ‘Trump.’
In the States
Wisconsin Examiner: Bill removes ineligible voters from state database; clerks say it makes election security harder
Axios: Texas bills would ban schools from serving as polling sites
