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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest – August 31, 2023

By August 31, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Mark Meadows’ high-stakes testimony in the Georgia case

  • CNN: The testimony from Trump’s White House chief of staff could change everything: “Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows rolled the dice on Monday with his opening move in the sprawling Fulton County election subversion trial: he took the stand himself. For roughly three-and-a-half hours Monday, Meadows testified about his job at the White House and the chaotic post-2020 election period when then-President Donald Trump (and current Meadows co-defendant) sought to overturn the election result to stay in power. Donald Trump exits his private plane after arriving in Atlanta on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, where he was expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County Jail later in the evening. Meadows sought to convince a judge that, as Trump’s right-hand man at the White House, his various attempts to block his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden were part of his official government duties.”
  • Washington Post: Meadows’s defense gets at a key question: Where’s the line in trying to retain power?: “In January 2020, nearly a year before supporters of Donald Trump swarmed the Capitol in an effort to help him retain power, attorneys working on his behalf stood on the floor of the Senate to do the same thing.Trump was on trial — not on criminal charges but after having been impeached by the House for his efforts to pressure Ukraine into aiding his reelection bid. The Senate was asked whether that impeachment warranted Trump’s removal from office. His attorneys argued that it did not. The contours of the allegations will seem familiar to those tracking the current political conversation. Trump wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce an investigation into Joe Biden’s push for the firing of the country’s prosecutor general. To that end, as established in the impeachment probe, he and his allies withheld aid to Ukraine and prevented Zelensky from visiting the White House. The idea was that Ukraine could damage Biden, the person Trump correctly assumed would be his 2020 opponent.”
  • Daily Beast: How Mark Meadows’ Testimony May Have Just Helped Prosecutors: “For years now, Mark Meadows has avoided answering questions about his involvement in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election—which is why his decision to suddenly testify in Atlanta federal court on Monday was such a surprise. Trump’s one-time right-hand man is trying to wrestle the Fulton County District Attorney’s case out of relatively liberal local courts and place the case before a federal judge. But the way he did it raised serious questions—both for himself and for Trump. So far, Meadows’ MAGA loyalty has paid off. He successfully ignored the House Jan. 6 Committee’s congressional subpoena without getting prosecuted by the feds. And his name is nowhere to be found in the recent D.C. indictment from the Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.”
  • Washington Post: Mark Meadows struggles to distance himself from Trump’s plot: “The many prosecutions involving former president Donald Trump effectively began in earnest Monday — and with a bang. Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows opted to take the stand in Georgia with a bold and perhaps questionable argument: that he was simply playing White House traffic cop. The issue at hand was whether Meadows could get his own prosecution, which is currently tied to Trump’s and that of 17 other defendants, “removed” from Fulton County into federal court by arguing that he was acting as a federal official. Meadows and his lawyers clearly calculated that his testimony — which defendants are usually advised to avoid giving — was necessary to succeed on that all-important question, which could have implications for other defendants. But the testimony also meant we got a taste of the case ahead in Georgia.”

Trump may skip arraignment in Fulton County; allies face increasing pressure

  • CBS: Trump may not attend arraignment in Fulton County: “Former President Donald Trump may not show up to his arraignment in Georgia next week, according to two sources familiar with his plans. Trump is considering waiving his arraignment appearance, which is scheduled for the morning of Sept. 6, the sources told CBS News. He is charged with 13 felony counts related to an alleged scheme to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.”
  • Washington Post: Trump co-defendant reaches bond agreement after weekend in jail: “The last of former president Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Fulton County, Ga., election interference case reached a bond agreement Tuesday after spending the weekend in jail. Harrison William Prescott Floyd, who is accused of harassing an Atlanta-area election worker in the weeks following the 2020 election, posted bond of $100,000 Tuesday. Jail records showed that Floyd was still in custody after 5 p.m. Tuesday, and it was not clear when he would be released. Unlike the other defendants in the case, Floyd did not initially retain a lawyer and did not contact the office of District Attorney Fani T. Willis to negotiate a bond agreement before surrendering at the county jail on Thursday. As a result, he was held in jail for five nights — until Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ordered a public defender to take up Floyd’s case to reach a bond agreement to get him out of jail.”
  • CNN: Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleads not guilty in Georgia election subversion case: “Sidney Powell, an attorney involved in Donald Trump’s post-election legal challenges, entered a not guilty plea and said she would waive her arraignment in the case in Fulton County, according to a new court filing. Powell was charged along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants in a sprawling racketeering case for their attempted efforts to upend the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. Trevian Kutti, another defendant in the case who is accused of participating in a campaign to harass an election worker, also entered a not guilty plea and said she would waive her arraignment in a court filing Tuesday.”
  • Washington Post: Georgia Republicans are unusually skeptical of Trump’s 2020 actions: “The new University of Georgia poll for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows that… many Republicans in the swing state seem to regard Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election as problematic — more so than GOP voters nationally. The poll shows that among likely GOP primary voters, more regard the charges against Trump as serious than not serious. While 44 percent say they’re either ‘not too serious’ or not at all serious, 49 percent say they’re at least ‘somewhat serious.’ The split among Republicans only — not including GOP-leaning independents — is nearly even.”
  • ABC: Willis seeks to have all 19 defendants in Georgia election interference case tried together: “Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a filing Tuesday reiterated her desire for all 19 defendants charged in her Georgia election interference case to stand trial together, telling the judge that her office ‘maintains its position that severance is improper at this juncture and that all Defendants should be tried together.’ The development came on the same day that the judge overseeing the hearing over former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request to move his case from state court into federal court requested “limited additional briefing” before he renders a decision on the matter. Willis’ filing came after Judge Scott McAfee ordered defendant Kenneth Chesebro to stand trial on Oct. 23, following Chesebro’s request for a speedy trial — and after former President Donald Trump’s attorneys alerted the court that they would move to sever the case.”

In the States 

TENNESSEE: GOP lawmakers attempt to silence “Tennessee Three” Democrat, tighten felony disenfranchisement scheme

  • NBC News: Crowd erupts after GOP silences ‘Tennessee Three’ Democrat on House floor for day on ‘out of order’ rule: “Republican lawmakers on Monday voted to silence a Democratic member of the so-called Tennessee Three during an already tense House floor session after determining the young Black member violated newly enacted rules designed to punish disruptive members. The move was directed at Rep. Justin Jones, which prohibited him from speaking and debating on bills for the remainder of the floor session. The vote prompted loud cries and chants that drowned out proceedings for several minutes even after the House speaker ordered the gallery to be cleared out. Moments prior, Jones had been criticizing legislation that would have allowed more law enforcement officers in schools and began listing other resources that the state should be providing.”
  • Slate: The Worst State in the Country for Voting Rights Just Got Even Worse: “In Tennessee, Jim Crow is alive and well. The state’s felony disenfranchisement voter-suppression regime is living proof. Felony disenfranchisement has long been a stain on our democracy. The practice, a destructive backlash against Black voting power, strips the freedom to vote from Americans if they have a past felony conviction. Felony disenfranchisement laws worked as designed, carrying racial discrimination in the criminal legal system into our democracy to silence Black voters. And these laws still serve that purpose today, stripping Black citizens of the freedom to vote at more than three times the rate of the general population nationwide. Tennessee, with the most convoluted voting rights restoration process and, by extension, the highest rate of Black disenfranchisement of any state in the nation, has been the poster child for the ruinous consequences of these laws.”

NORTH CAROLINA: State Supreme Court justice sues Judicial Standards Commission investigating her

  • Associated Press: A North Carolina court justice wants to block an ethics panel probe, citing her free speech: “A Democratic justice on North Carolina’s Republican-majority Supreme Court sued an ethics panel Tuesday to block it from investigating her public comments about state courts and colleagues, saying the probe and other recent scrutiny violate her free speech rights. Associate Justice Anita Earls filed the federal lawsuit against the state Judicial Standards Commission, which is charged by law with investigating potential violations of the state’s judicial conduct code, and its members. She wants a judge to declare that the panel can no longer investigate her speech “on matters of public concern.” A commission staff attorney wrote Earls two weeks ago that it planned to investigate her for a media interview in which she discussed the Supreme Court’s recent record related to diversity. The letter, which was attached to the lawsuit, said the commission had already dismissed an earlier complaint in which Earls was accused of speaking publicly about some administrative matters under consideration by the seven-member court.”

OREGON: GOP lawmakers’ challenge to anti-walkout law could go straight to Oregon Supreme Court

  • Oregon Capital Chronicle: Republican senators, state attorneys seek Oregon Supreme Court review of anti-walkout law: “Five Republican senators and attorneys representing the state are seeking a quick resolution from the Oregon Supreme Court on the senators’ challenge to a voter-approved state law intended to block them from running for reelection after they ground the legislative session to a halt for six weeks. Last year, voters frustrated with Republican lawmakers’ increasing reliance on quorum-blocking walkouts passed a constitutional amendment to bar any senator with more than 10 unexcused absences from serving another term. Ten conservative senators passed that point in May, and they stayed away for another month as they protested bills on abortion, transgender health care and guns. Now, half of the affected senators are arguing that the voter-approved law wasn’t written clearly, and that they should be able to run for reelection. They sued Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade late Friday, seeking a court order that would allow them to file for reelection. The suing senators, including Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, represent districts that span the state, from the northwest coast to the far reaches of eastern Oregon and up and down the Cascade range. Some have years of experience in the Legislature.”

What Experts Are Saying

Dennis Aftergut for Verdict Justia: “The removal issue matters greatly to both sides. Among other reasons, Meadows is looking for a more favorable jury pool in federal court and likely for delay that would follow from the prosecution moving to federal court. For the opposite reasons, Willis is seeking to have the case “remanded,” or sent back, to state court. To the extent feasible, she wants her case against the charged defendants tried together in the same forum.”

Joyce Vance on X (Twitter): “It doesn’t make any sense for part of any public official’s job, let alone the president’s chief of staff, to include scheming to steal an election. But that’s Mark Meadows’ argument to remove his prosecution from state to federal court.”

Barb McQuade in a thread on X (Twitter), about Meadows’ request for removal to federal court: “Why seek removal? Federal court offers a larger jury pool that draws from predominantly Republican areas, no TV cameras in the courtroom, and nicer prisons, but the real reason is to assert governmental immunity and get the whole case dismissed. And Trump will tag along. 

The legal standard is not simply whether the defendant was a federal official at the time of the alleged conduct, but whether he was acting within the scope of his official duties. Meadows seemed to fall far short of meeting that standard. 

He argued that arranging phone calls and meetings for the president was part of his job, but that is not the only inquiry. You have to look at the nature of those calls and meetings. Here, that work was clearly political, and not governmental. 

Meadows offered to use Trump campaign funds to assist with recount efforts, and participated in calls with lawyers hired by the Trump campaign, not government lawyers. 

Meadows says the famous call with SOS Raffensperger was an effort to resolve litigation. Maybe so, but the litigation was between Georgia and the Trump campaign, not the United States government. 

As chief of staff, Mark Meadows was paid by the taxpayers to perform work on behalf of the American people. The activity alleged in the indictment is conduct performed on behalf of the Trump campaign. Motion to remove denied.”

Christina Baal-Owens for Democracy Docket: “At least 222 insurrectionists were elected to public office in 2022. Recent Public Wise research found that although the vast majority of Americans have heard common election denier claims about voting and elections, there is no clear consensus among voters about what being an election denier means… Let’s be clear: election denialism is a threat to all of us, an attempt to ignore our voices at the ballot box and disenfranchise voters.”

Headlines

The MAGA Movement and the Ongoing Threat to Elections 

New Republic: MAGA State Senator Goes There: “Do You Want a Civil War?”

The Atlantic: The End Will Come for the Cult of MAGA

Trump Investigations 

New York Times: Court Skirmishes Show Divergent Strategies by Prosecutors in Trump Cases

Washington Post: Judge rules Giuliani defamed Georgia election workers, orders sanctions

New York Times: Why a DOJ lawyer questioned a Trump case witness at the White House

Washington Post: Judge says Peter Navarro can’t use privilege as defense in contempt case

New York Times: How Might Trump Challenge the March 4 Trial Date in the Federal Election Case?

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

Washington Post: Sentencing postponed for ex-Proud Boys leader Tarrio in Jan. 6 conspiracy

Politico: Judge rejects Navarro’s ‘executive privilege’ claim for defying Jan. 6 committee

The Hill: First alleged Jan. 6 rioter to enter Capitol tunnel apprehended by FBI, more than two years later

Washington Post: In court, Trump supporter faces election official he violently threatened

Opinion

The Hill: Confused about Trump’s legal problems? Read this.

Washington Post: Mark Meadows paints himself into a corner

The Hill: 5 ways Mark Meadows’s testimony in Georgia federal court could backfire

New York Times: The Forgotten Radicalism of the March on Washington

In the States

Texas Standard: Texas prepares to leave multistate compact to clean its voter rolls, without an alternative

The Detroit News: Trial ordered over how Michigan’s redistricting treated Black voters

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Redistricting Commission meeting schedule in limbo