Driving the Day
As we await expected GA and federal criminal indictments for 2020 election overthrow efforts, important to keep in mind the public facts we know to date.https://t.co/W4mk04GyB3
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) August 1, 2023
Must Read Stories
New charges and a third defendant reinforce allegations of obstruction in Trump documents case
- New York Times: New Trump Charges Highlight Long-Running Questions About Obstruction: When Robert S. Mueller III, the first special counsel to investigate Donald J. Trump, concluded his investigation into the ties between Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, his report raised questions about whether Mr. Trump had obstructed his inquiry. Justice Department officials and legal experts were divided about whether there was enough evidence to show Mr. Trump broke the law, and his attorney general — chosen in part because he was skeptical of the investigation — cleared him of wrongdoing. Four years after Mr. Mueller’s report was released, Jack Smith, the second special counsel to investigate Mr. Trump, added new charges on Thursday to an indictment over his handling of classified documents, setting out evidence of a particularly blatant act of obstruction.
- PBS: Read Trump’s new charges in the classified documents case: New charges — and a new defendant — added to the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump underscore how the Mar-a-Lago investigation is still very much ongoing, even as the focus has been on an expected indictment in a separate case related to the 2020 election. In an updated indictment handed down Thursday, prosecutors allege that Trump asked a staffer to delete camera footage at his Florida estate in an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into his possession of classified documents.
- Washington Post: How the superseding indictment and third defendant impact Trump documents case: The superseding indictment filed against Donald Trump in the classified documents investigation this week — and the addition of a third defendant — expand the scope of the crimes the former president is accused of committing and could bolster the case against him, according to legal experts. Federal prosecutors filed three new charges against Trump in his alleged keeping and hiding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, essentially replacing the initial indictment in the case with a new one that reveals more evidence and brings the total federal charges against the former president to 40.
- New York Times: Trump Employee Released on Bond After Court Appearance in Documents Case: Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, appeared in court for the first time on Monday to face charges of conspiring with Mr. Trump to obstruct the government’s monthslong efforts to retrieve highly sensitive national security documents from the former president after he left office. Mr. De Oliveira did not enter a plea at his brief hearing in Federal District Court in Miami. The chief magistrate judge, Edwin G. Torres, released him on a $100,000 personal surety bond, and he was ordered to remain in the Southern District of Florida and to not have contact with any of the witnesses in the case.
- Washington Post: The incredibly damaging timeline of the alleged Mar-a-Lago coverup: When former president Donald Trump was first indicted by a federal grand jury in June, the world got its first peek at the strength of the evidence compiled by special counsel Jack Smith. It was, by all accounts, remarkable, detailing a number of alleged actions by Trump and his aide Walt Nauta that articulated an effort to both retain documents the government had demanded Trump turn over and to keep the government from knowing that’s what was happening. Even by the time that the indictment dropped, though, this effort was pretty obvious. It was known, for example, that an attorney for Trump had attested in early June 2022 that she was turning over all of the material subpoenaed by the government the previous month, including anything marked as classified (whether it was still classified or not). The search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 turned up more than 100 documents that were covered by that subpoena, but not turned over.
“We’re ready to go”: Trump faces another potential indictment in Georgia
- Washington Post: Atlanta braces for possible indictments in 2020 election investigation: For more than two years, people here and across the country have watched and waited for clues that the high-profile Georgia investigation into whether former president Donald Trump and his allies broke the law in their attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state was winding to an end. That speculation hit fever pitch in recent days with the installation of orange security barriers near the main entrance of the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta. It was the most visible sign yet of the looming charging decision in a case that has ensnared not only Trump but several high-profile Republicans who could either face charges or stand witness in a potential trial unlike anything seen before in this Southern metropolis.
- Politico: Georgia judge skewers Trump’s bid to derail potential charges: A state judge in Georgia has rejected Donald Trump’s bid to derail his potential prosecution for attempting to subvert the 2020 election results. In a nine-page ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said it’s simply too soon for Trump or his allies to seek to prohibit Georgia prosecutors from continuing to investigate him — in large part because he hasn’t been indicted yet. “[W]hile being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation,” wrote McBurney, who spent a year overseeing District Attorney Fani Willis’ special grand jury investigation of Trump’s election-related actions.
- AP: Trump could be indicted soon in Georgia. Here’s a look at that investigation: A Georgia prosecutor is expected to seek a grand jury indictment in the coming weeks in her investigation into efforts by Donald Trump and his Republican allies to overturn the then-president’s 2020 election loss. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began investigating more than two years ago, shortly after a recording was released of a January 2021 phone call Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state. Here are six investigative threads Willis and her team have explored.
Justice Alito sparks controversy by disputing Congressional authority over Supreme Court ethics
- Washington Post: Alito says Congress has no authority to police Supreme Court ethics: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said in an interview published Friday that Congress has no authority to impose an ethics policy on the Supreme Court, and he hinted that other justices share his view. In a piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal opinions section, Alito noted that he and other justices voluntarily comply with disclosure statutes, but he said mandating an ethics code would be beyond Congress’s powers. “I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” Alito said. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.”
- CNN: Democratic senator calls Samuel Alito ‘stunningly wrong’ on Supreme Court ethics controversy: Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut on Sunday called Justice Samuel Alito “stunningly wrong” in his contention that Congress should stay out of the Supreme Court’s business and stop trying to impose ethics rules. “It is just wrong on the facts to say that Congress doesn’t have anything to do with the rules guiding the Supreme Court. In fact, from the very beginning, Congress has set those rules,” Murphy told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”
In The States
WISCONSIN: Judge dismisses GOP lawmaker’s lawsuit targeting military ballots
- Associated Press: Wisconsin judge dismisses lawsuit over military voting lists: A Wisconsin judge has dismissed a GOP state lawmaker’s lawsuit over military voting records, saying Friday that the challenge should have been brought against a local elections official, not the statewide elections commission. Rep. Janel Brandtjen, the former head of the Assembly elections committee who has promoted election conspiracy theories, and a local veterans group sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission in November in an attempt to stop military absentee ballots from being counted in the 2022 midterm. The lawsuit came in response to the actions of a top Milwaukee elections official who falsely requested military absentee ballots and sent them to Brandtjen’s home. Kimberly Zapata, the former deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, claimed she was trying to expose a vulnerability in the voting process. She now faces charges of election fraud and misconduct in office.
ALABAMA: Plaintiffs in voting rights case urge judges to toss Alabama’s new congressional map
- CNN: Plaintiffs in high-profile redistricting case urge judges to toss out Alabama’s controversial congressional map: Civil rights groups representing plaintiffs in a high-profile congressional redistricting case are urging a federal court in Alabama to reject a controversial new map crafted by the Republican-dominated legislature, saying it perpetuates a violation of the nation’s landmark voting rights law. In a late-night court filing Friday, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund and multiple attorneys asked a three-judge panel to direct an official to devise a new map that complies with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs in the case said legislators who drew and approved the maps didn’t comply with a court mandate to create a second congressional district where Black voters have an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.
- WSFA: Deadline passes to challenge new Alabama congressional map: Friday is the deadline for official challenges to be filed against the state’s new congressional map. The court-ordered congressional map Gov. Kay Ivey gave final approval to failed to create a second majority-Black congressional district, which the plaintiffs had requested in their lawsuit. The plaintiffs say they plan to formally challenge the newly approved map, but no court documents are available yet. Named plaintiff in the case Evan Milligan says the congressional map is worse than the state’s original congressional map. “What we got back was a map that dilutes what we already have. So it says not only are we not doing something additional, we’re gonna weaken the opportunity district that we already have. That’s very concerning,” said Milligan.
FLORIDA: Federal judge sides with voting groups in drawing new Miami election map
- Miami Herald: Judge rejects Miami voting map, adopts new boundaries that pose a problem for Carollo: A federal judge has ruled that the city of Miami must use this voting map for the November 2023 elections. This order, issued July 30, is the latest turn in a lawsuit challenging the city’s 2022 redistricting process. American Civil Liberties Union A federal judge has ordered the city of Miami to adopt a new voting map that is expected to shake up city politics ahead of the November elections. The new map removes one commissioner’s home out of his district and allows a candidate in another part of the city to step back into the race after a previous city map had drawn him out earlier this summer. On Sunday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore ordered the city to implement a voting map that shifts the boundaries of Miami’s five commission districts, including changes that impact who will vote — and who can run — in three races to elect commissioners in districts 1, 2 and 4 in November. District 1 Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, District 2 Commissioner Sabina Covo and District 4 Commissioner Manolo Reyes are running for reelection. In the new map, Commissioner Joe Carollo’s Coconut Grove home is outside of his district and in Covo’s district. It’s unclear how soon Carollo would be required to move into his current District 3 to comply with city laws that require commissioners to live inside the district they represent.
What Experts Are Saying
Ryan Goodman, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Reiss Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law, and Andrew Weissmann, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security and at the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at NYU School of Law: “When former President Donald Trump said he had received a target letter in the federal January 6th case, media reports revealed a “surprise” statute in the Justice Department’s target letter. That statute, 18 U.S.C. section 241, should not have been a surprise: it is a powerful and oft-used tool by prosecutors… Spanning over a hundred years, the Department of Justice has used the 241 statute with great success to prosecute conspiracies to prevent the proper counting of ballots in federal elections. Such schemes are within the heartland of Section 241 prosecutions. And equally important, the Supreme Court has a long history of upholding, over and over again, the statute’s application to such conduct.” Just Security
Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College, and Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, re: Trump’s failed defamation lawsuit against CNN: “In the end, [Judge Raag] Singhal offered a much needed and vigorous defense of the press that stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s characterization of it as “the enemy of the people.” Trump learned once again that his legal dogs won’t hunt in courts of law, and he will just have to learn live in a country where CNN and other media outlets can go on calling his election hoax what it is, a Big Lie.” Salon
Tess Bridgeman, previously served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President, Associate Counsel to the President, and Deputy Legal Adviser to the National Security Council (NSC), and Ryan Goodman, NYU law professor: “We identify two types of national security concerns posed by the alleged conduct in the new set of [Mar-a-Lago] charges…The attempted destruction of the video recordings was not just a coverup of the underlying crime of having unlawfully retained national defense information. Properly understood, it was also a means to continue that underlying conduct. Put another way, the attempt to delete the footage would not simply have served to hide past wrongdoing. It also could have prevented the FBI and other federal authorities from knowing that Trump continued to hold onto dozens of more highly classified materials – e.g., the boxes of materials that were never returned to the storage room, including the materials recovered during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022…As the government explained in court filings, the U.S. Intelligence Community conducted a damage assessment and risk mitigation following the intelligence breach posed by Trump’s retaining classified documents at Mar-a-Lago (and transporting some of the material to and from Bedminster). One of the most challenging parts of that damage assessment is determining who might have had access to the materials, for how long, and under what conditions (i.e., whether visitors were left alone in the room with cell phones or other recording devices). Those facts are crucial to assessing the extent to which U.S. intelligence programs, human sources, and technical collection streams may have been compromised.” Just Security
Norman Eisen, served as counsel to House Democrats in the first Trump impeachment and as White House ethics czar: “Two parts of the original [Mar-a-Lago] indictment – which alleged Trump violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice – have been strengthened in the updated version. On the Espionage Act charges for retaining national defense materials, prosecutors have added an additional count based upon an Iran attack plan document that Trump allegedly shared with a book writing team at his Bedminster estate in July 2021. Adding a charge focused specifically on this document allows prosecutors to center the case on this telling example of his alleged wrongdoing, making it more concrete and understandable. After all, there’s a big difference between Trump allegedly storing documents in a bathroom or a ballroom and boastfully showing one off to people who do not have the proper security clearances. And prosecutors now have a much stronger legal basis to play the audio tape of Trump talking to the group about the document – and to show the jury Trump’s Fox News appearance falsely denying that he had any such document. With Trump unlikely to testify at trial because of the self-incrimination risk, those two tapes will let the prosecutors shape how the jury sees him – as one who is willing to disregard our national security rules and then lie about doing so.” CNN Op-Ed
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
NPR: GOP support for Trump softens as the former president’s legal troubles mount
New York Times: Trump Threatens Republicans Who Don’t Help Him Exact Vengeance
Trump Investigations
Washington Post: The right’s current thing: claiming Trump probes are a distraction
Washington Post: The latest on Donald Trump’s indictments and other key investigations
January 6 And The 2020 Election
Bloomberg: Trump Immune From Suit for Election Comments Made in Office
Washington Post: Man who stole badge, radio from D.C. officer Fanone on Jan. 6 sentenced
NPR: Over 1,100 rioters have been charged for Jan. 6. Many name Trump in their statements
Hill: Bennie Thompson says Jan. 6 hearings helped ‘pressure’ DOJ to bring case
Opinion
New York Times: What Jack Smith Knows
Hill: Panic at Mar-a-Lago: How the new obstruction charges may produce even more witnesses against Trump
USA Today: Clarence Thomas joked about his friend Harlan Crow a year ago. Now, no one is laughing
Hill: What you need to know about the prosecution of Donald Trump
In the States
The Guardian: ‘Ripe for political violence’: US election officials are quitting at an alarming rate
Georgia Public Broadcasting: A Mississippi law limits who can help mail-in voters. A federal court struck it down
Tucson.com: Gov. Katie Hobbs’ panel recommends changes to Arizona election laws
