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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — August 10, 2023

By August 10, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Legal intrigue continues around grand jury’s charges against Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results

  • New York Times: Previously Secret Memo Laid Out Strategy for Trump to Overturn Biden’s Win: A lawyer allied with President Donald J. Trump first laid out a plot to use false slates of electors to subvert the 2020 election in a previously unknown internal campaign memo that prosecutors are portraying as a crucial link in how the Trump team’s efforts evolved into a criminal conspiracy. The existence of the Dec. 6, 2020, memo came to light in last week’s indictment of Mr. Trump, though its details remained unclear. But a copy obtained by The New York Times shows for the first time that the lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, acknowledged from the start that he was proposing “a bold, controversial strategy” that the Supreme Court “likely” would reject in the end. But even if the plan did not ultimately pass legal muster at the highest level, Mr. Chesebro argued that it would achieve two goals. It would focus attention on claims of voter fraud and “buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.”
  • Independent: DC judge rejects Trump team’s delay attempt and schedules protective order hearing: Washington, DC Federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan chose to ignore the latest delay attempt by Donald Trump’s legal team when scheduling a hearing regarding a protective order to prevent the former president from sharing certain details set to be revealed in the discovery process. This comes after Mr Trump’s lawyers appeared to ignore the judge’s orders in their latest filing in the case related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and the Trump defence team submitted their suggestions for when a hearing may be held on prosecutors’ proposed “protective order” to restrict what the former president can share about the case.
  • New York Times: Special Counsel Obtained Search Warrant for Trump’s Twitter Account: Prosecutors working for Jack Smith, the special counsel who has twice brought indictments against former President Donald J. Trump, obtained a search warrant early this year for Mr. Trump’s long-dormant Twitter account as part of their inquiry into his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, according to court papers unsealed on Wednesday. The warrant, which was signed by a federal judge in Washington in January after Elon Musk took over Twitter, which is now called X, adds a new dimension to the scope of the special counsel’s efforts to investigate the former president. The court papers, which emerged from an appeal by Twitter challenging the judge’s decision to issue the warrant, did not reveal what prosecutors were looking for in Mr. Trump’s Twitter account, which the tech company shut down just days after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
  • New York Magazine: Jamie Raskin on Why It Doesn’t Matter What Trump Believed: Congressman Jamie Raskin became a familiar face on TV as the lead prosecutor for Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, and then as a member of the House Select January 6 Committee. In both settings, the Maryland Democrat, who was a longtime law professor at American University before entering politics, laid out a detailed and damning assessment of the former president’s actions, delivering impassioned closing arguments that invoked both the American ideal and his own personal tragedy. Since then, Raskin has remained one of the most outspoken lawmakers on January 6. In the wake of Jack Smith’s new indictment of Trump — which built on the work of the committee — I spoke with Raskin about why he thinks Trump’s case is so weak and what Republicans in the House feel about the latest developments.
  • New York Times: Former N.Y.P.D. Commissioner Bernard Kerik Interviewed by Jan. 6 Prosecutors: Prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith are pressing forward with their investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, asking at least one witness this week about fund-raising efforts by Mr. Trump’s political action committee. The witness, Bernard B. Kerik, sat for a voluntary interview on Monday with prosecutors in what is known as a proffer session. A former New York City police commissioner, Mr. Kerik was instrumental in helping Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York and one of Mr. Trump’s chief lawyers after the election, investigate claims of fraud in the vote results.

Georgia’s investigation into Trump’s election interference expected to go to grand jury next week, amid Trump’s attacks on prosecutor

  • New York Times: Georgia’s Trump case looms: The fourth criminal case against Donald Trump is likely to intensify next week, when Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., is expected to take her election interference case to a grand jury. Willis has focused her investigation on the weeks after Trump lost the 2020 election, looking into calls that Trump made to pressure local officials, a plan by Trump allies to create a slate of bogus electors and the harassment of local election workers. One big question is how broad the indictments will be, according to our colleague Richard Fausset, who is based in Atlanta. The federal Jan. 6 case, whose indictments were announced last week, was a “very narrowly focused indictment,” Richard told us. “In Georgia, there is the possibility that this will be a multi-defendant indictment that would take in a wide rage of actors who would be accused of violating numerous state crimes in their effort to overturn the election.”
  • ABC: DA probing efforts to overturn Georgia election results likely to present case to grand jury next week: Sources: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who has been leading an investigation into efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, is likely to go before the grand jury next week to present her case, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
  • CNN: Atlanta-area prosecutor expected to seek more than a dozen indictments in Trump case:  Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments when she presents her case regarding efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia before a grand jury next week, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Willis, a Democrat, has been eyeing conspiracy and racketeering charges, which would allow her to bring a case against multiple defendants. Her wide-ranging criminal probe focuses on efforts to pressure election officials, the plot to put forward fake electors and a voting systems breach in rural Coffee County, Georgia.
  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Harassment of Fulton poll workers could be subject of Trump indictments: The police body cam footage shows a red sedan stopped on the side of a Cobb County road six weeks after the 2020 election, its sport coat-clad driver sitting with his hand draped out the window. After identifying himself and noting his position as a pastor, the driver acknowledged that he had knocked on the door of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County poll worker. “I’m working with some folks who are trying to help Ruby out” and are seeking to share “some truth of what’s going on,” Stephen Cliffgard Lee told the officer who was recording the conversation. “I’m not here to hurt her,” Lee added. “I’m not here to cause any problems or anything like that … but it would be nice if I could talk to her.” By the day of Lee’s visit on Dec. 15, 2020, Freeman had for weeks been bombarded with violent and racist threats after she and her daughter were singled out by Rudy Giuliani, then President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, for allegedly committing election fraud while counting ballots at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. The problem was, the allegations weren’t true. 
  • Newsweek: Donald Trump Would ‘Have to Do Five Years’ in Prison if Convicted of RICO: Donald Trump would serve a minimum jail term of five years if found guilty under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election interference investigation, a legal expert has said. Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN’s legal analyst, was discussing how the former president and many of his allies may soon face criminal charges as part of Willis’ expansive 2020 election interference probe.There has long been speculation that Willis will use the state’s RICO charges in her case, a statute commonly used in organized crime cases that allows prosecutors to charge multiple people with separate offenses while working towards a common goal.
  • MSNBC: Ahead of possible indictment, Trump tries to smear another prosecutor: Donald Trump has invested an enormous amount of time and energy trying to smear special counsel Jack Smith, with the former president going so far as to argue that he wants to see Smith “in jail.” But we’re occasionally reminded that the special counsel isn’t the only prosecutor the Republican is desperate to tear down. Yesterday, for example, Trump spoke in New Hampshire — the remarks were ostensibly about veterans benefits — and turned his attention to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. “I probably have another [indictment],” he told his audience. “They say there’s a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta. She’s a racist. And they say, I guess, they say that she was after a certain gang, and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang, or a gang member. And this is the person that wants to indict me.”There’s literally no evidence to suggest Willis is racist, and it’s curious how the former president only seems to apply the label to Black prosecutors who suspect him of crimes. There’s also literally no evidence to suggest Willis had an affair with a gang member, and the Republican’s campaign has made no effort to substantiate the claim.

In The States

OHIO: Voters in Ohio reject change to state’s constitution

  • Washington Post: Ohio voters reject higher bar for altering constitution, a win for abortion rights supporters: Ohio voters rejected a measure Tuesday that would have made it more difficult to amend the state constitution ahead of a November vote to ensure access to abortion. For more than a century, Ohioans have been able to amend the state constitution with a simple majority. The failed measure would have changed that threshold to 60 percent. With about 88 percent of votes counted Tuesday night, 56.5 percent voted against the proposal, while 43.5 percent supported it. The Associated Press projected the measure would fail. Republican state lawmakers decided to try to make it tougher to amend the constitution as reproductive rights advocates gathered signatures of support this spring for a November measure that would guarantee access to abortion. Because of those stakes, Tuesday’s election became a proxy fight over abortion, which is expected to again be a defining issue in the 2024 election.

WISCONSIN: Wisconsin’s legislative maps challenged for a second time in new lawsuit in the state Supreme Court

  • Wisconsin State Journal: Second lawsuit challenges Wisconsin GOP’s legislative maps: The “extreme partisan gerrymanders” under Republican-drawn legislative maps violate the state Constitution by diluting and debasing Wisconsinites’ ability to vote, a group of liberal voters and redistricting advocates argue in a new lawsuit. The lawsuit is the second filed directly with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and requests new legislative maps ahead of the 2024 election. The first lawsuit was filed a day after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn into office, giving liberals a 4-3 majority on the state’s highest court. The latest lawsuit was filed Friday by voters who support Democratic candidates and several members of the Citizen Mathematicians and Scientists, a group of professors and research scientists who submitted proposed legislative boundaries leading up to the state Supreme Court’s 2022 decision adopting the GOP maps.
  • Spectrum News 1: As Democrats seek to overturn a ban on ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin, Republicans take legal action to stop it from happening: The Republican National Committee (RNC), Republican Party of Wisconsin (RPW), and RITE PAC have teamed up to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a national Democratic law firm last month, which seeks to let voters in the Badger State return their ballots to absentee drop boxes again. The motion to intervene filed Tuesday also responds to parts of the lawsuit that sought to invalidate Wisconsin’s absentee ballot witness requirement and the ballot curing deadline for election day. Last year, in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Wisconsin Supreme Court banned ballot drop boxes except in election offices and ruled that no one other than the voter can return a ballot in person. The ruling, which came in the wake of the 2020 election when concerns were raised about election integrity, was handed down by a conservative-leaning majority. Since then, the ideological balance of the state’s high court has now shifted in favor of liberals after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn into office last week.

FLORIDA: Governor Ron DeSantis suspends second elected Florida prosecutor

  • Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis suspends Central Florida prosecutor, points to her ‘political agenda’: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell, a Black Democrat and elected prosecutor for Orange and Osceola counties, contending she failed to pursue appropriate charges in serious cases. DeSantis took a rare step away from his struggling presidential campaign Wednesday to return to Florida’s Capitol to announce Worrell’s suspension, flanked by Attorney General Ashley Moody and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass. “Prosecutors have a duty to faithfully enforce the law,” DeSantis said. “One’s political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty.” Andrew Bain, an Orange County judge, was named by DeSantis to serve as state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit in Worrell’s absence. Bain also is Black.
  • Local10: After appeals court loss, plaintiffs take Miami redistricting battle to Supreme Court: After being dealt a legal blow Friday in their efforts to keep a “racially gerrymandered” electoral map from being used in this November’s Miami city commission election, plaintiffs suing the city are taking their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court. District Judge K. Michael Moore had thrown out the commission’s original and modified maps, which he said were unconstitutionally drawn along racial lines and split neighborhoods, ordering the city instead use a map drawn by the plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. But a 2-1 decision Friday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the city of Miami’s motion for a stay on that ruling, meaning the city’s second proposed map will be in effect come November. Now the ACLU is asking the Supreme Court to review the case and vacate the stay, preventing the city’s map from being used in November.

What Experts Are Saying

Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “We know now that in the insurrection case, we’re headed toward a hearing this Friday on the government’s proposed protective order. Protective orders are pretty routine—defendants agree that they and anyone they share discovery materials with will keep them from being disclosed to the public. This protects witnesses and the integrity of the upcoming trial. It’s bizarre to see such vehement objections to a protective order that is inevitably going to be put in place in a form close to what the government has suggested—this is a standard protective order used by Trump-appointed Judge Carl Nichols in the District of Columbia. It’s almost as if Trump’s lawyers were trying to unnecessarily delay the proceedings, using an insignificant matter to force the court to expend more time before pretrial preparation can get underway. Actually, that’s exactly what’s going on. Trump’s strategy is delay.” Civil Discourse

VIDEO: Norm Eisen, former impeachment counsel to the House Judiciary Committee: “Don’t forget that Judge Tanya Chutkan was trained as a public defender[.] She’s attuned to the positions of both sides & will decide the issues in the 1/6 case fairly, incl. @ Friday’s protective order hearing” Tweet 

Barb McQuade, former US attorney: “Cannon took issue with this and questioned why a grand jury heard evidence in D.C. after Trump had already been indicted by a grand jury in Florida, demanding an explanation from Smith by Aug. 22. ‘Based on her order, it appears that Cannon is crossing into the government’s lane,’ former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, told Salon. ‘Under the constitutional separation of powers structure, the executive branch has sole authority to investigate and charge criminal offenses. There is no reason the special counsel cannot investigate related charges in other districts.’ McQuade gave the example of a witness lying to the FBI in D.C., which would mean that the case would properly be charged in D.C. In this case, the special counsel is “not required or even permitted” to share grand jury information from DC with a judge in Florida. ‘It may be awkward, but the special counsel may need to politely tell Judge Cannon to butt out,’ she added.” Salon  

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

New York Times: Trump Tells Supporters His Criminal Indictments Are About ‘You’

Roll Call: The trials and tribulations of Trump’s Capitol Hill enablers

CNN: Ex-federal judge and prominent conservative: ‘There is no Republican Party’

Trump Investigations 

NBC: Trump co-defendant’s struggle to find lawyers seen as ‘delay tactic’ by Florida lawyers

Hill: Trump’s criminal trials prompt GOP political doomsday alarms

AP: Trump vows to keep talking about criminal cases despite prosecutors pushing for protective order

January 6 And The 2020 Election

Washington Post: Jesse Watters has a ludicrous defense of the 2020 fake-elector scheme

NBC 6 South Florida: Keys man accused of spraying irritant in officers’ faces during Jan. 6 riot

Opinion

Washington Post: No, fellow Republicans, the Justice Department is not biased against us

Hill: Is the Supreme Court really above the law, Justice Alito?

In the States

Mississippi Free Press: Frequent Polling Place Changes During Elections Put Mississippi’s Democracy At Risk

Bolts: Tennessee Puts Voting Rights at the Whims of State Officials

WUNC: ‘Lose the courts, lose the war’: The battle over voting in North Carolina