Driving the Day
"Confession, it is said, is good for the soul. It should also be good politics."
In a scathing editorial, the @sltrib Editorial Board urges @SenMikeLee to confess his role the plot to overturn the election. https://t.co/ylK41bGoN3
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) April 20, 2022
Must Read Stories
Guilty pleas from Trump allies redefine the federal election interference case
- New York Times: From Bush v. Gore to ‘Stop the Steal’: Kenneth Chesebro’s Long, Strange Trip: “In January 2001, Kenneth Chesebro was a mild-mannered Harvard lawyer toiling for Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount battle. Two decades later, on Jan. 6, 2021, he joined the mob outside the Capitol, reborn as a MAGA-hatted kingpin. On Friday, Mr. Chesebro’s journey took another turn, when he pleaded guilty in a criminal racketeering indictment in Fulton County, Ga., and agreed to testify against former President Donald J. Trump and other co-defendants, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and several other top Trump aides. Mr. Chesebro, 62, a workaholic who brought platinum credentials to Mr. Trump’s shambolic legal team, is the third defendant to plead guilty for his role in what prosecutors say was a criminal conspiracy to create fraudulent slates of pro-Trump electors in six states, including Georgia, that Joseph R. Biden Jr. had won.”
- Washington Post: What could Sidney Powell testify to now that she’s pleaded guilty?: “A former lawyer for Donald Trump could soon be providing evidence against him — and not for the first time. As much as any of her predecessors, Sidney Powell’s testimony looms very large. Powell pleaded guilty Thursday on the eve of the first major trial involving Trump’s alleged criminal actions, in Fulton County, Ga. Trump personally won’t face trial yet, but the trial involving Powell and fellow Trump-aligned lawyer Kenneth Chesebro was poised to be the first early test of the indictments against him. (Jury selection in Chesebro’s trial is still set to begin Friday.) Powell pleaded to six misdemeanor counts of interfering in officials’ performance of their election duties and will serve six years of probation. But perhaps most significantly, her plea deal requires her to testify truthfully at the trials of her co-defendants — including, presumably and most notably, Trump.”
- The Hill: Georgia plea deals spell danger for Trump, co-defendants: “Former President Trump’s co-defendants in Georgia have begun splintering, with two lawyers key to Trump’s efforts to overturn the election agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) late this week secured plea deals from Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, the highest-profile defendants to flip so far in the sprawling racketeering case. Both agreed to testify truthfully against their co-defendants, including Trump. Legal experts said they weren’t surprised by the deals, arguing they would increase the legal jeopardy facing other defendants and raise the pressure for them to also consider taking plea deals. ‘The real import of this plea is the signal it sends to the other defendants,’ said Chris Mattei, a former federal prosecutor. ‘Number one, that your time is running out for you to cooperate, because as cooperators come in and plead guilty, the prosecution continues to build its case and may not have a need to cooperate with other individuals,’ he continued.”
- CNN: After Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia case, Trump claims she was ‘never’ his attorney, despite their past ties: “Former President Donald Trump claimed Sidney Powell was ‘never’ his attorney in a social media post Sunday, three days after she pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case. Despite Trump’s claims, Powell was briefly an official member of Trump’s legal team in 2020, and Trump stayed in contact with her on election-related matters even after she was ousted from his campaign.’Sidney Powell was one of millions and millions of people who thought, and in ever increasing numbers still think, correctly, that the 2020 Presidential Election was RIGGED & STOLLEN, AND OUR COUNTRY IS BEING ABSOLUTELY DESTROYED BECAUSE OF IT!!! MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social.”
- New York Times: Chesebro’s Plea Deal Could Undermine a Possible Trump Defense in Two Cases: “On Friday, Mr. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to file false documents in Georgia and agreed to cooperate with the local prosecutors who have charged Mr. Trump and 17 others in a sprawling racketeering indictment accusing them of tampering with the election in the state. Word of his cooperation deal came one day after Sidney Powell, another lawyer who sought to help Mr. Trump remain in power, reached a similar arrangement with the authorities. Last month, an Atlanta bail bondsman with a minor role in the alleged conspiracy also agreed to plead guilty. ‘The three folks who’ve pled guilty so far have all apparently avoided jail time and I think that’s an unmistakable signal to other defendants deciding whether or not they want to plead guilty and cooperate,’ said Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and senior F.B.I. official.”
Trump tries to freeze gag order in federal election case
- New York Times: Trump Seeks Freeze of Gag Order in Election Case During Appeal: “Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump on Friday asked the judge overseeing his federal election interference case to temporarily put on hold the gag order she imposed on him in Washington this week, until an appeals court can decide whether it was warranted. The request for the stay by John F. Lauro, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, was a double-barreled effort to both free the former president from restrictions on his public remarks about the case and to push back the proceedings for as long as possible. Delay has been a strategy pursued by Mr. Trump in both the election interference prosecution and the other federal case he is confronting — one in which he stands accused of illegally retaining dozens of classified documents after he left office and then obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them.”
- Washington Post: What to know about the gag order a D.C. judge placed on Donald Trump: “A gag order would prohibit Trump from talking about the case at all. A limited gag order means Trump cannot make certain types of public statements about parts of the case. In this instance, Chutkan said that Trump must stop disparaging prosecutors, witnesses and court personnel involved in his upcoming D.C. trial on charges of conspiring to obstruct the results of the 2020 election, which is scheduled to begin in March.”
- The Guardian: ‘He’s like a mob boss’: legal experts alarmed by Trump’s attacks on judges: “As Donald Trump faces 91 criminal charges including 17 for his multifaceted drive to overturn his 2020 election loss, and a high-stakes civil trial, he has launched a spate of ad hominem attacks on two judges overseeing trials, posing physical risks for the judiciary and weakening the US judicial system, say former judges and legal experts. Rising concerns about Trump’s attacks on judges and prosecutors were underscored this month when a federal judge in Washington DC and a state judge in New York issued tailored gag orders to curb Trump’s public tirades. Trump in court in Manhattan this week. He addressed the media assembled in the courtroom hallway several times each day. ‘Trump’s attacks on judges poison the civil atmosphere and make physical attacks … more likely,’ said the retired Massachusetts judge and Harvard Law School lecturer Nancy Gertner. ‘Trump is challenging the very role of judges.’”
- Washington Post: Some notable gag orders, and what happened when they were violated: “Former president Donald Trump faces two partial gag orders barring him from making certain types of public statements related to his upcoming D.C. trial on federal charges of seeking to block President Biden’s 2020 election victory, and to a New York civil fraud case about inflating property valuations.On Friday he was ordered to pay $5,000 for violating the New York order by failing to remove a social media post about a court clerk from his website. That same day, he asked for the D.C. gag order to be put on hold while he appeals, and the judge said she would pause it temporarily. Here are some other examples from notable cases where gag orders were violated — by defendants or others involved in the cases.”
In The States
LOUISIANA: U.S. Supreme Court won’t intervene in Louisiana electoral map fight
- Louisiana Illuminator: Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana redistricting case creates uncertainty: “The U.S. Supreme Court this week created an uncertain outlook for Louisiana’s congressional races next year, deciding to let a lawsuit against the state’s new district maps run its course. Justices declined to intervene on an unusual ruling from a federal appeals court last month that paused the drawing of new district boundaries to give Louisiana’s Black voters more equitable representation in Congress. Thursday’s ruling keeps the lawsuit under review in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. A group of Black voters sued Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin and other state officials to stop the maps the Republican-dominated Louisiana Legislature approved last year. NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney Jared Evans, who is representing the plaintiffs, told the Illuminator the Supreme Court ruling is not a big deal. He plans to proceed with a lower court hearing on Feb. 5, 2024, to have new maps drawn.”
- Associated Press: The Supreme Court refuses to speed the drawing of a new congressional map in Louisiana: “The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an emergency appeal from Black voters in Louisiana to speed the process of drawing new congressional districts in the state. The justices declined to overrule a federal appeals court, which last month blocked a district judge’s plan to hold hearings for a new map with a second majority-Black congressional district for use in the 2024 elections. The appeals court said U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick was moving too fast and must give the state more time to consider a new map. Civil rights groups had hoped a new map for Louisiana would follow quickly after the Supreme Court rebuffed attempts by Alabama officials to avoid creating a second district where Black voters make up a substantial portion of the electorate.”
FLORIDA: Voting groups urge court to uphold ruling that Gov. DeSantis’ redistricting plan is unconstitutional
- Tallahassee Democrat: Voting-rights groups support ruling that DeSantis-backed redistricting is unconstitutional: “Readying for arguments next week in the high-stakes case, voting-rights groups have asked an appeals court to uphold a ruling that a congressional redistricting plan backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the Florida Constitution. Attorneys for the groups and other plaintiffs filed an 86-page brief at the 1st District Court of Appeal in the case, which centers on an overhaul of a North Florida district that in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson. Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh in September ruled that the overhaul of Congressional District 5 violated a 2010 state constitutional amendment that barred drawing districts that would ‘diminish’ the ability of minorities to ‘elect representatives of their choice.’ That quickly led to an appeal by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, the House and the Senate, as they try to maintain a redistricting plan that DeSantis and lawmakers approved in 2022.”
VIRGINIA: NAACP sues Virginia governor for failing to turn over public records of its actions on felon voting rights
- NBC Washington: Virginia NAACP sues Youngkin for records behind denials of felons’ voting rights: “The Virginia NAACP filed a lawsuit Friday alleging Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration failed to turn over public records to explain how it decides whether to restore the voting rights of convicted felons who have completed their sentences. Youngkin has come under scrutiny since his administration confirmed earlier this year that it has shifted away from a restoration of rights system used by three of his predecessors that was partly automatic. In July, the NAACP called on the administration to establish clear and publicly available criteria, saying the current system is secretive and could discriminate against people of color. ‘This governor has chosen to take Virginia back over 100 years ago to a racist history where felony disenfranchisement was used explicitly to disenfranchise Black Virginians,’ said Ryan Snow, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is representing the NAACP in this case.”
TEXAS: Texas releases its second audit of elections in Harris County
- Texas Tribune: Texas reviewed Harris County’s 2022 election. Here’s what state officials found.: “A preliminary report from the Texas Secretary of State’s office found the Harris County’s 2022 election administration had ‘multiple failures’ that could have prevented some voters from casting a ballot, but the report stopped short of suggesting the outcome of any race was affected. The first draft of the audit, which was released Thursday afternoon, days before early voting for constitutional amendments is set to start across the state, reaffirmed the county failed to supply its voting centers with enough paper ballots. It also found its voter registration system listed 9,000 more voters than were recorded with the state and that 3,600 mail ballots were sent to voters that were not reported to the state. The county — the nation’s third most populous — also failed to adequately train election workers, the audit stated. ‘Harris County clearly had multiple failures conducting the election and violated election law for estimating needed ballot paper. Mistakes like these led to a poorly executed election which left many Harris County residents frustrated and may have prevented them from voting,’ Secretary of State Jane Nelson said in a statement.”
- Houston Chronicle: Harris County 2022 election audit finds some discrepancies: “The state released preliminary audit findings about Harris County’s November 2022 election Thursday in a lengthy report that identified incomplete paperwork and discrepancies in record keeping but did not reveal evidence of widespread voter fraud. State and local Republicans have closely scrutinized the election for nearly a year, largely because of a ballot paper shortage that they claim prevented thousands of Harris County residents from voting. The mishap — in which around 20 of 782 polls ran out of ballot paper on Election Day — spawned legislation, 22 lawsuits and an ongoing state criminal investigation. When the first lawsuit went to trial in August, no voters testified that they were unable to cast a ballot because of the paper shortage. Additionally, four of the lawsuits have been dropped or dismissed.”
What Experts Are Saying
Norm Eisen and Joshua Kolb for Salon: “[Trump’s] defense stood on the factual proposition that he had actually won the 2020 election, and that he therefore had a legal right to press his vice president to use these “alternate” and false electoral certificates to refuse to recognize Joseph R. Biden as the winner of the election in the January 6 meeting of Congress. With the plea of Powell on Thursday, the first leg has wobbled under Trump, and with Chesebro’s plea on Friday, Trump can no longer rest on the second.”
Joyce Vance, about the punishments handed out to defendants, on X (Twitter): “Keep your eyes on the prize here. The goal is to hold folks accountable & to keep flipping lower level defendants against ones who are higher up the food chain to reach the most culpable.”
Devon Hasano for Democracy Docket: “Lawsuits alleging disproportionate impacts on young voters due to restrictive voting laws are backed up by substantial evidence. A legal challenge to Ohio’s omnibus voter suppression law enacted in January of this year — which imposed stricter photo ID requirements and eliminated numerous forms of previously accepted ID — lays out the drastic effect.Young voters in the state are far less likely to possess any of the acceptable forms of ID, as described in the lawsuit… While students are less likely to have a driver’s license, it is also especially difficult for them to visit a department of motor vehicles office to obtain a state identification card. As a result of not having a driver’s license or having an out of state license, young voters are “at increased risk of being disenfranchised,” the Ohio complaint asserts.”
Jennifer Rubin, about Chesebro’s plea, on X (Twitter): “If the judge had gone forward to rule that Chesebro could not argue mistake of law or call an expert witness, there would have been little for Chesebro to do at trial.With no defense left, Chesebro took the plea offer.”
Andrew Weissmann on X (Twitter): “People are wrongly assuming that Powell and Chesebro are now fully cooperating. That still very much remains to be seen. And there is reason to think they are not as they don’t seem to have a global deal including federal liability.”
Headlines
Extremism
NBC: Pro-Hamas extremists and neo-Nazis flood social media with calls for violence
Rolling Stone: MAGA Influencers Tearing Each Other Apart Over Israel-Hamas War
Trump investigations
Washington Post: Trump co-defendant Nauta can keep lawyer despite potential conflict
The Guardian: Trump fake elector scheme: where do seven states’ investigations stand?
Washington Post: Jan. 6 charge faced by Trump upheld on appeal for second time
The Hill: Trump, Cohen stand to come face-to-face at New York fraud trial
Washington Post: Special counsel urges judge to deny Trump’s Jan. 6 claim of immunity
January 6 and the 2020 Elections
NBC: Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley sentenced to prison on Jan. 6 charges
Politico: Chief prosecutor of Jan. 6 rioters describes ‘pervasive’ threats to his office
NBC: In its chaotic Jan. 6 probe, the FBI wrongly questioned a Biden staffer about Capitol pipe bombs
Opinion
Washington Post: Why Chesebro cut a deal and what it means for Trump
New York Times: If Trump Trial Isn’t Broadcast Live, a Plea to Record It for Posterity
In the States
Tennessee Lookout: Tennessee Attorney General moves to shut down suit by NAACP over restoration of voting rights
Ohio Capital Journal: Countering Ohio redistricting challenge, commission members discredit anti-gerrymandering arguments
WSPA: SC lawmakers mull possible changes to local election laws
