Driving the Day:
Seven of Donald Trump's closest advisers and allies, including Rudolph Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham, were subpoenaed today in the ongoing criminal investigation in Georgia of election interference by Trump and his MAGA allies. https://t.co/c9ZooRkr1N
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) July 5, 2022
Must Read Stories
Georgia Grand Jury Subpoenas Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, And Other Trump Associates
- Atlanta Journal Constitution: Fulton Grand Jury Subpoenas Giuliani, Graham, Trump Confidantes: The Fulton County special grand jury investigating potential criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections has subpoenaed key members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to copies obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In addition to Giuliani, those being summoned include John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis, all of whom advised the Trump campaign on strategies for overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s wins in Georgia and other swing states. The grand jury also subpoenaed U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s top allies, along with attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason. The subpoenas were filed July 5 and signed by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special grand jury. They noted that all seven people were “a necessary and material witness” to the investigation.
- Atlanta Journal Constitution: More Details On The Expanding Grand Jury Probe Of Donald Trump: A closer look at the subpoenas unearthed even more developments. Among them: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made “at least two” calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office in late 2020 to urge him to reexamine “certain absentee ballots” to help Trump close the gap. Trump aide Ken Chesebro was apparently intimately involved in the Georgia GOP’s plot to put forth sham electors in December 2020. The subpoena said he worked with chair David Shafer and others to coordinate the slate of phony electors and he drafted at least two memos to back the fraudulent scheme. Prosecutors are intensely interested in the Dec. 3, 2020 Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing that then-state Sen. William Ligon held with Giuliani that featured doctored video of Fulton County elections staffers counting ballots, Hallerman observed. That’s why Jenna Ellis and Jacki Pick Deason, a podcaster, were also subpoenaed.
January 6 Hearings Will Resume Next Week With A Focus On Violent Extremists
- New York Times: Jan. 6 Hearings to Resume Next Week With Focus on Domestic Extremists: The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol plans to hold a hearing next Tuesday to reveal its findings about the connections between former President Donald J. Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and the domestic violent extremist groups that helped to organize the siege on Congress. The panel announced that the session would take place on July 12 at 10 a.m. It is expected to be led by Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, and Representative Stephanie Murphy, Democrat of Florida, who plan to chart the rise of the right-wing domestic violent extremist groups that attacked the Capitol and how Mr. Trump amassed and inspired the mob. The panel also plans to detail known links and conversations between political actors close to Mr. Trump and extremists.
- CNN: Former Deputy Press Secretary For Trump To Testify At An Upcoming January 6 Committee Hearing: Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary in the Trump White House until resigning shortly after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, has been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the insurrection and has agreed to testify at an upcoming hearing, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. Matthews has been subpoenaed to testify at a public hearing as early as next week, sources tell CNN. Matthews resigned the night of January 6, 2021, saying in a statement that she was honored to serve in then-President Donald Trump’s administration but “was deeply disturbed by what I saw.” She added: “Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power.”
Republicans Plot “Vengeance” Against January 6 Committee
- Axios: Republicans Plot Vengeance On Jan. 6 Committee: Key House Republicans are threatening to subpoena records of the Jan. 6 committee if the GOP retakes the majority next year — an escalation of the party’s effort to undercut the investigation’s findings. Why it matters: Fresh talk of 2023 subpoenas, following last week’s vivid testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, means the committee’s “final report” expected this fall may be far from the last word on the Capitol attack. Between the lines: Ever since the Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed GOP members of Congress — including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — Republicans have been threatening unspecified subpoenas in retaliation. The hearings have painted a damning portrait of Trump, with many former aides testifying they told him his claims of a stolen election were bogus. While Republicans have been eager to move beyond what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, many want to use a GOP-controlled majority to frame their own narrative of what happened that day — and also raise questions about the Jan. 6 committee’s work and spending.
- NBC: Rep. Adam Kinzinger Releases Expletive-Laced Audio Of Numerous Calls To D.C. Office Threatening Violence: Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., released an audio compilation Tuesday of calls or voicemails made to his Capitol Hill office, most of them laced with profanity and threatening him, members of his family or Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. An introductory text prefacing the audio clips, which Kinzinger tweeted out, said “all voicemails, and phone calls are received by my interns, high school or college level, attempting to learn about the legislative process.” “Threats of violence over politics has increased heavily in the last few years. But the darkness has reached new lows,” Kinzinger wrote in his tweet. In the first call, a man said he hoped the congressman naturally dies “as quickly as f—— possible.” “You backstabbing son of a b—-,” another call said. “You go against Trump y’all know y’all mother——- are sitting up there lying. Like a damn dog.” Several callers warned they knew where Kinzinger lived, including one in which a man said he would “go protest” in front of the lawmaker’s house.
In The States
ARIZONA: Department Of Justice Sues Arizona Over Proof Of Citizenship Requirement For Voters
- New York Times: Justice Dept. Sues Arizona Over Voting Restrictions: The Justice Department sued Arizona on Tuesday over a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to vote in a presidential election, saying the Republican-imposed restrictions are a “textbook violation” of federal law. It is the third time the department under Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has challenged a state’s voting law and comes as Democratic leaders and voting rights groups have pressed Mr. Garland to act more decisively against measures that limit access to the ballot. Arizona’s law, which Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed in March, requires voters to prove their citizenship to vote in a presidential election, like showing a birth certificate or passport. It also mandates that newly registered voters provide a proof of address, which could disproportionately affect people with limited access to government-issued identification cards. Those include immigrants, students, older people, low-income voters and Native Americans.
KANSAS: Original Election Conspiracy Theorist Kris Kobach Is Looking For A Comeback
- Associated Press: Kobach Looks For Comeback In Kansas After Losing 2 Big Races: Kansas voters have said no to Kris Kobach twice over the past four years. But he is nonetheless betting that this can be the year he makes a political comeback. His losses, including a 2018 defeat that handed the governor’s office in this Republican-leaning state to a Democrat, might end other political careers. But Kobach, who built a national reputation as an immigration hard-liner while Kansas secretary of state, is now aiming for the state attorney general’s office. He faces two Republican opponents who lack his star power. If he wins the Aug. 2 primary, an anticipated GOP tide in November may be enough to lift even wobbly candidates. […] Kobach was the earliest prominent Kansas supporter of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, advised Trump on immigration issues, served as vice chair of a short-lived Trump commission on election fraud and was mentioned as a possible Cabinet appointee. He was a regular Fox News Channel guest and a Breitbart columnist. He promoted the idea that fraud distorts U.S. elections long before much of the GOP embraced Trump’s false claims about his 2020 presidential election loss to Biden.
What Experts Are Saying
Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, and Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor, re: independent legislature theory and Moore v. Harper: “Our freedom to govern ourselves is at stake if the conservative justices embrace this theory…Keeping our power as citizens to choose our leaders and keeping our republic are one and the same. We need to recognize the great peril we now face and speak out fiercely against what we can foresee unfolding in state legislatures and on the Supreme Court.” Los Angeles Times
Neil Eggleston, served as White House Counsel in the Obama administration: “[Pat] Cipollone has no valid legal basis to refuse to appear—and once in the witness chair, there are no valid claims of privilege that would permit him to refuse to answer questions relating to matters the committee is investigating.” Just Security
Dennis Aftergut, counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings Institution: “Some conspiracies don’t die. They have to get investigated away. It’s time to do just that, starting with the pre-hearing pressure on [Cassidy] Hutchinson—and the post-hearing smears against her good name.” Slate
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, NYU historian: “[I]t’s precisely when democracy is under attack that patriotism is most important. Today the extremist GOP claims a monopoly on patriotism, even justifying violent actions, such as the Jan. 6 coup attempt, as necessary to ‘save the nation.’…Creating passion around America explicitly as a multiracial democracy directly confronts the GOP’s attempts to disenfranchise non-Whites and engineer and enforce rule by White minority. Celebrating America as a multiracial democracy is forward-looking and pragmatic.” Lucid
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
The Bulwark: Doug Mastriano’s Election-Takeover Plan
HuffPost: GOP Lawmakers Celebrate July 4 Like They Didn’t Try To Overthrow Democracy
New York Times: The Rise of the Far-Right Latina
January 6 And The 2020 Election
Associated Press: Judges keeping Capitol riot trials in DC amid bias claims
Grid: The insurrectionists’ clubhouse: Former Trump aides find a home at a little-known MAGA hub
Insider: Donald Trump wants to sue former FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, but can’t find them after a half-dozen tries since March
Opinion
Charlotte Observer (Mick Mulvaney): Former Trump chief of staff: Republicans should pay attention to Jan. 6 hearings
Los Angeles Times (Laurence Tribe and Dennis Aftergut): The Supreme Court is poised to cut the heart out of majority rule
Slate (Norm Eisen and Dennis Aftergut): Add Witness Intimidation to the List of Potential Jan. 6 Charges Against Trump
Washington Post (Jennifer Rubin): Sorry, Mitt Romney. Denial is not an equal-opportunity offense.
