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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — December 9, 2022

By December 9, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

January 6 Committee Plans to Issue Final Report on Dec. 21, Followed By Criminal Referrals By End of Year

  • The Hill: Jan. 6 Committee’s Referrals May ‘Stiffen The Spine’ Of Prosecutors: Plans from the House Jan. 6 committee to imminently release its list of criminal referrals is raising questions over how far the panel will go in implicating former President Trump and his allies in a plot that culminated in last year’s deadly attack on the Capitol. Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) told reporters Tuesday that the committee had come to a “general agreement” to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department. It’s a move that would allow the panel to put a finer point on its more than yearlong investigation, naming names and detailing specific statutes that were violated in an effort they have repeatedly said was a lawless campaign to block the peaceful transfer of power. And while it would still be up to the Justice Department to act on the recommendations, it could put pressure on a department that, at least publicly, has trailed the committee in its own review of the Capitol riot. “They stiffen the spine of state and federal prosecutors by encouraging them to act,” Norm Eisen, counsel for Democrats in Trump’s first impeachment, said of the referrals on a call with reporters. Legal experts have for some time argued there are a number of statutes that could be used for a possible Trump prosecution, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.  But a remaining question with respect to the committee is just how broad they will go in outlining possible illegal behavior among allies. “This is what we’re discussing as we go into the last days of our work on this important investigation,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the committee’s members, said in a Wednesday morning interview on NPR.
  • NBC: Jan. 6 Committee Plans To Issue Criminal Referrals With Its Final Report This Month:  The House Jan. 6 committee plans to vote on any criminal referrals when it releases its final report on Dec. 21, Chairman Bennie Thompson said Wednesday. Thompson, D-Miss., had told reporters Tuesday that he expects the panel to make criminal referrals but that members were still weighing the potential targets. In addition to considering a referral involving former President Donald Trump, the committee could offer contempt of Congress referrals for fellow members who have ignored its subpoenas, for witnesses it believes lied to its investigators and for people it believes tried to intimidate witnesses. Thompson on Wednesday confirmed earlier NBC News reporting that the committee would publish its final report on Dec. 21. He told reporters that there will be “a formal presentation” of the report but that committee members “haven’t decided exactly what that will be.” The committee is required by statute to issue its report by Dec. 31, so any referrals to the Justice Department or other agencies would come before the end of the year. “The committee continues to meet.” We have a “meeting upcoming, and decision points to be made,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., a committee member. “We will announce anything we have likely as a part of our final report.” The report will be a massive compilation of the work the committee has done for the last year and a half, outlining its findings and offering up recommendations and possible legislation to prevent something like the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, from happening again. Thompson has said the document could be up to eight chapters long.
  • Politico: Jan. 6 Panel Plans Weekend Meeting To Consider Criminal Referrals: The Jan. 6 select committee plans to huddle Sunday to discuss whether to make criminal referrals on any of its investigative targets — including Donald Trump. The panel is weighing whether anyone in the scope of its investigation violated criminal law and warrants formally urging the Justice Department to lodge charges, according to the panel’s chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). Trump is the most notable possibility on that list, and the panel has previously accused him of committing multiple crimes in his bid to subvert the 2020 election. Those discussions will also include whether to recommend criminal charges against some of Trump’s allies in the chaotic weeks that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. And lawmakers will also debate whether any of the select committee’s hundreds of witnesses committed process crimes — like perjury, witness tampering or contempt of Congress.

The January 6 Committee Is Weighing Criminal Referrals For Trump and Several Others

  • CNN: January 6 Committee Considers Criminal Referrals For At Least 4 Others Besides Trump: The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection is considering criminal referrals for at least four individuals in addition to former President Donald Trump, multiple sources told CNN. The panel is weighing criminal referrals for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, right wing lawyer John Eastman, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the sources said. The committee has not officially decided whom to refer to the Justice Department for prosecution and for what offenses, sources said. The four individuals who are among those under consideration, and whose names have not been previously reported, provide a window into the panel’s deliberations. Another source cautioned that while names are being considered, there is still discussion before names are finalized. While the criminal referrals would largely be symbolic in nature – as the DOJ has already undertaken a sprawling investigation into the US Capitol attack and efforts to overturn the 2020 election – committee members have stressed that the move serves as a way to document their views for the record. A spokesperson for the January 6 committee declined to comment. Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said Thursday that committee members are expected to reach a decision on criminal referrals when members meet virtually on Sunday.
  • Bloomberg: Trump Among Five Targets as Jan. 6 Panel Weighs Criminal Referrals: The House Jan. 6 committee is considering criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump, his chief of staff Mark Meadows and at least three other key allies involved in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. Those referrals are being suggested by a subcommittee of the panel and have not officially been approved by the full committee. They also include unofficial former Trump legal adviser John Eastman, Trump’s former lawyer and ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. The person, who asked not to be identified discussing information not yet made public by the panel, didn’t specify what criminal counts might be referred against Trump and the other four. It wasn’t clear whether others might be targeted for referrals. Representatives for each of the five men didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. CNN earlier reported on the potential referrals. Such referrals would be recommendations that aren’t legally binding on the Department of Justice or other agencies to follow through on.

Justice Department Considers Holding Trump in Contempt After Attorneys Find More Classified Documents In Trump Storage Unit At Mar-a-Lago

  • CNN: Justice Department Seeking To Hold Trump In Contempt Over Classified Documents: The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena issued this summer ordering the former president to turn over records marked classified, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The development comes after Trump’s legal team said it conducted searches at four locations just before Thanksgiving, finding two documents with classified markings at a storage facility in Florida. The Trump team turned over those two documents to the FBI and announced to a federal judge in Washington, DC, that they believed Trump was now in compliance with a 6-month-old subpoena. But the Justice Department disagreed. And in an escalation last week, department prosecutors told DC District Chief Judge Beryl Howell, who oversees federal grand jury proceedings there, that the searches weren’t satisfactory. The contempt proceedings before Howell are under seal. The proceedings ratchet up the pressure on Trump as he faces possible criminal liability in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation being conducted by special counsel Jack Smith. It also adds another chapter to the ongoing struggle for federal officials to reclaim government records – especially those that contain national security secrets – from Trump after his administration ended. Trump does not plan to appeal dismissal of Mar-a-Lago special master to Supreme Court. “President Trump and his counsel continue to cooperate and be transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attacks by the weaponized Department of Justice,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
  • Washington Post: Items With Classified Markings Found At Trump Storage Unit In Florida: Lawyers for Donald Trump found at least two items marked classified after an outside team hired by Trump searched a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., used by the former president, according to people familiar with the matter. Those items were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to those people, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The search was one of at least three searches for classified materials conducted by an outside team at Trump properties in recent weeks, after Trump’s legal team was pressed by a federal judge to attest that it had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings, according to people familiar with the matter. There has been a lengthy and fierce battle between Trump’s attorneys and the Justice Department in a Washington federal court in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Much of the legal wrangling remains under seal by a federal judge, but people familiar with the matter say the Justice Department has raised concerns about what prosecutors view as a long-standing failure to fully comply with the May subpoena by Trump’s team.
  • New York Times: Special Master’s Review in Trump Case Ends as Appeal Court’s Ruling Takes Effect: A federal appeals court on Thursday brought to an end a special master’s review of sensitive documents the F.B.I. had seized from former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, concluding a court fight that had delayed the Justice Department’s investigation for nearly three months. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta acted after Mr. Trump’s lawyers chose not to contest its decision last week shutting down a lawsuit by Mr. Trump that had imposed a special master. The court had given him a week to challenge the decision before it took effect. The move ended the special master’s review and lifted an injunction that had blocked prosecutors from using the seized materials as evidence. The step formally removed a significant obstacle to the inquiry into whether Mr. Trump illegally retained national security secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., and obstructed government efforts to recover them. The ruling last week by the appeals court panel, which included two Trump appointees, vacated an order issued in September by a fellow Trump appointee, Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida. It also ordered her to dismiss the lawsuit.

In The States 

GEORGIA: Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Testifies Before Fulton County Grand Jury Over 2020 Election Interference

  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Michael Flynn Testifies In Georgia Election Probe: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was at a downtown Atlanta courthouse Thursday to testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia. Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, had tried to get out of appearing before the panel. But a judge in Florida last month said he must testify and an appeals court earlier this week declined to stay that order while Flynn’s appeal was pending. Flynn could be one of the final witnesses the panel hears from as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s leading the investigation, has said she wants to wrap up the the special grand jury soon. The grand jurors have already questioned a number of other high-profile Trump associates, including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
  • ABC17: Michael Flynn Appears Before Atlanta Grand Jury Probe Into Trump’s Election Subversion: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn is appearing Thursday before an Atlanta-area special grand jury probing efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. CNN spotted Flynn, who was escorted by a small entourage, walk up the stairs of the Superior Court of Fulton County shortly before 1 p.m. on Thursday. Last month, a judge in Florida ordered Flynn to testify, saying the former Trump administration official “is indeed material and necessary in the special grand jury proceeding in the state of Georgia.” Flynn’s attorneys had argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing the investigation, “overstepped her authority,” so he should not be required to travel to Atlanta to testify because there is an “utter lack of facts” to support that Flynn is a necessary witness.

ARIZONA: Senator Kyrsten Sinema Switches Party Affiliation To “Independent”

  • Arizona Republic: Kyrsten Sinema Leaves Democratic Party, Registers As Independent, Cuts Fragile Margin In US Senate: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said Friday she is leaving the Democratic Party and will formally become an independent in a move that more fully places her at the center of a narrowly divided chamber. She announced her decision in an opinion piece published Friday in The Arizona Republic. “I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington,” she wrote. Sinema maintained she doesn’t plan to change her voting habits: often aligning with Democrats but backing Republicans on certain issues. And she won’t dispense with the legislative filibuster that has led many Democrats to call for her to face a primary challenge in 2024. Sinema’s move will jar Democrats who had hoped Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff victory in Georgia on Tuesday would provide the party a measure of breathing room on difficult votes that often hinged on Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. “We’ve seen in recent years that the parties have pulled folks to the political edges,” Sinema said during a 45-minute interview with The Republic. “There’s an increasing demand that you kind of fit in with one political orthodoxy or the other. … I’ve never fit that.” She plans to caucus with Democrats, giving the party an edge on committee seats, something that could prove especially important to moving quickly on judicial nominations. But Sinema will remain uninvolved in party leadership votes and advancing the party’s broader efforts.
  • Arizona Republic (Kyrsten Sinema): Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: Why I’m Registering As An Independent: I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington. I registered as an Arizona independent. Like a lot of Arizonans, I have never fit perfectly in either national party.  Becoming an independent won’t change my work in the Senate; my service to Arizona remains the same. Arizonans who’ve supported my work expanding jobs and economic opportunity, or my opposition to tax hikes that would harm our economic competitiveness, should know my focus on these areas will continue. […] I offer Arizonans something different. Some partisans believe they own this Senate seat. They don’t.  This Senate seat doesn’t belong to Democratic or Republican bosses in Washington. It doesn’t belong to one party or the other, and it doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to Arizona, which is far too special a place to be defined by extreme partisans and ideologues.  It’s an honor to represent the state I love so much in the U.S. Senate. And while I do, I pledge to continue doing exactly what I promised – to be an independent voice for Arizona.

What Experts Are Saying

Norm Eisen, a counsel to the Democratic House committee leading Trump’s first impeachment: “‘They [criminal referrals] stiffen the spine of state and federal prosecutors by encouraging them to act’…Eisen said while any referrals would likely include legal analysis and statute-by-statute recommendations, the Justice Department may be more eager to get other intel from the committee. ‘The roadmap, the evidence – that’s the most critical part. If I’m a prosecutor, I would much rather have the evidence than the legal analysis and conclusion that you should charge,’ he said.” The Hill: Jan. 6 committee’s referrals may ‘stiffen the spine’ of prosecutors 

Barbara McQuade, former US attorney: “[T]he Oath Keepers’ convictions bring accountability and deterrence for illegal efforts to thwart the results of an election. DOJ is now in a position of strength as other defendants await their day in court. Trials are set for Dec. 12 against a second set of Oath Keeper defendants and for Dec. 19 against members of the Proud Boys, another paramilitary group charged with seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack on the Capitol. Now that they have seen that DOJ is able to effectively prosecute seditious conspiracy and that juries are willing to deliver guilty verdicts, these defendants may be reconsidering whether they should go to trial or plead guilty. And if they choose to plead guilty, they must also consider whether they should seek to reduce their own sentencing exposure by cooperating with the government. If so, they could potentially provide information that could lead to the prosecution of offenders who were higher up in the planning of the attack. The convictions of Rhodes and his co-defendants have ripple effects on what comes next.” CAFE: Insider 

Carah Ong Whaley, academics program officer at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics: “While candidates who made the most outrageous statements, like Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Arizona, garnered significant attention, the 2022 elections included a much bigger pool of candidates and elected officials. We wanted a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes and what it may mean for the future. So, we analyzed a database of 552 Republican candidates running for Senate, House of Representatives, governor, secretary of state, and attorney general in the 2022 elections.” Sabato’s Crystal Ball: No, the Big Lie Hasn’t Gone Away: Tracking how election deniers performed in 2022

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections

Time: American Democracy Is Under Threat—Again

International Bar Association: US: Election deniers suffer defeats in midterms but threats to rule of law remain

Trump 2024

ABC: Trump hosts event featuring QAnon, ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago

CNN: ‘Trump obsession is very bad’: Senate Republicans confront their problems after poor election showing
New York Times: Donald Trump and His Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad 3 Weeks

Semafor: ‘Unmitigated Disaster’: How Donald Trump’s campaign failed to launch

Washington Post: Trump’s isolation deepens as Georgia loss adds to 2024 bid’s rocky start

New York Times: Where Trump Stands in Early (Very Early) 2024 Polls

January 6 And The 2020 Election

The Hill: Jan. 6 committee considering criminal referrals for Trump, at least 4 others: reports

The Bulwark: How Trump and MAGA Allies Are Defending Violent Jan. 6th Rioters

Washington Post: Trump told crowd to ‘fight like hell’ before riot. Can he be sued?

The Hill: Jan. 6 Committee’s Referrals May ‘Stiffen The Spine’ Of Prosecutors

Other Trump Investigations

The Atlantic: Evidence of Trump’s Criminality Is Everywhere

Salon: New special counsel Jack Smith is not wasting any time issuing subpoenas in Trump investigation

New York Times: Classified Documents Found in Trump Search of Storage Site

Washington Post: Items with classified markings found at Trump storage unit in Florida

CBS: Fraud trial conviction could be “death knell” for Trump Organization

Supreme Court

Vox: Amy Coney Barrett appears likely to block the GOP’s latest attack on democracy

Politico: SCOTUS skeptical of elections theory

The Charlotte Observer: In their own words: Some of the most telling quotes from SCOTUS justices in NC case

NBC: Supreme Court searches for middle ground in North Carolina elections case

Slate: A Moment of Promise at the Supreme Court

Political Violence

Daily Beast: MAGA Is Eating Itself After GOP’s Midterm Disaster 

Michigan Advance: As antisemitism rises in U.S., Michigan leaders fight hatred at home

Opinion

Daily Beast (Bonnie Kristian): Donald Trump Doesn’t Respect (or Even Understand) the Constitution

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jamie Dupree): Georgia becomes Donald Trump’s kryptonite

Mother Jones (David Corn): The Media Still Doesn’t Know How to Cover Trump’s Extremism

In The States

Arizona Republic: Finchem channels election loss in barrage of vitriolic, antisemitic tweets

The Charlotte Observer: Supreme Court hears NC case on elections, with big implications for 2024 and beyond
AZ Mirror: Arizona voters split their tickets, citing protecting elections and preventing another January 6 insurrection

NPR: An election probe heightens the tension between Texas leaders and the Houston area