Driving the Day
Must Read Stories
The evolving classified documents case: Trial tentatively set for August amidst legal complexities and MAGA loyalty
- New York Times: Judge in Trump Documents Case Sets Tentative Trial Date as Soon as August: The federal judge presiding over the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump in the classified documents case set an aggressive schedule on Tuesday, ordering a trial to begin as soon as Aug. 14. The timeline set by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, is likely to be delayed by extensive pretrial litigation — including over how to handle classified material — and its brisk pace seems in keeping with a schedule set under the Speedy Trial Act. In each of four other criminal trials the judge has overseen that were identified in a New York Times review, she has initially set a relatively quick trial date and later pushed it back. The early moves by Judge Cannon, a relatively inexperienced jurist who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2020, are being particularly closely watched. She disrupted the documents investigation last year with several rulings favorable to the former president before a conservative appeals court overturned her, saying that she never had legitimate legal authority to intervene.
- ABC: Trump says he was too ‘busy’ to quickly return classified docs, wanted to get ‘personal things’: Donald Trump on Monday suggested he had been too “busy” and wanted to be sure he’d retrieved his personal belongings before complying with the federal government’s repeated demands — and, eventually, a grand jury’s subpoena — that he return classified documents he took with him when he left the White House. In a lengthy interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, which continued to air on Tuesday, Trump staunchly defended the conduct now at the center of an unprecedented, 37-count federal indictment against him. He pleaded not guilty last week and is tentatively set to go to trial later this year. He is the first former president to ever face federal criminal charges. Trump is accused of 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information; one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; one count of withholding a document or record; one count of corruptly concealing a document or record; one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; one count of scheming to conceal; and one count of making false statements and representations.
- The New York Times: How Classified Evidence Could Complicate the Trump Documents Case: Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump has told the judge overseeing his documents case that they have started the process of obtaining security clearances, the first step of what is likely to be a major fight over classified evidence before his trial. Mr. Trump is facing 31 counts of unauthorized retention of national security secrets under the Espionage Act, along with accusations that he obstructed the government’s efforts to retrieve sensitive files — including by defying a subpoena. Here is a closer look at the tricky legal issues raised by the role of classified evidence in the case.
- Washington Post: Judge Cannon sets Trump trial for August, but it’s not likely to stick: The judge presiding over the Justice Department’s criminal case against former president Donald Trump said Tuesday that the trial could begin as early as Aug. 14 — a timetable that is likely to be pushed back as lawyers navigate the complexities of an unprecedented case that hinges on highly sensitive classified documents. Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a federal judge in Florida, wrote in a court filing that hearings in the case would be held in her Fort Pierce courthouse, though she noted that location could change as the criminal proceedings get underway. The government filed its 38-count indictment against Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, in the West Palm Beach courthouse, about an hour south of Fort Pierce. Cannon has the authority to decide in which of the five divisions within the Southern District of Florida the trial will take place.
- Washington Post: The GOP’s remarkable views of Trump’s classified documents: Newsmax host Greg Kelly assured viewers Wednesday night that their government is misleading them. He pointed to the photos of boxes of documents from Donald Trump’s indictment and zeroed in on one in particular: the spilled box that Trump aide Walt Nauta allegedly discovered in a Mar-a-Lago storage room and snapped a picture of in December 2021. “A picture of what? A box with some papers coming out of it,” Kelly said. “Now, a lot of people thought this must be classified stuff or something like that.” He went on: “There’s not one classified thing in there. It’s just a bunch of newspapers and pictures and stuff. Stuff!”In fact, even as Kelly was uttering these words, smack-dab in the center of the screen was a document with a thick, black line on it. It was a line that doesn’t appear on the actual document itself, according to Trump’s indictment, because it was added to redact “visible classified information.” One of the 37 charges against Trump regards this document specifically, which the government says relates to the “military capabilities of a foreign country.”
Election fraud claims debunked again in Georgia
- ABC News: Georgia poll workers accused in Trump-backed conspiracy theories cleared of election fraud allegations: Allegations of election fraud against two Georgia election workers who became the subjects of a Trump-backed conspiracy theory in the aftermath of the 2020 election were found to be “false and unsubstantiated,” according to an investigative report released Tuesday by the Georgia Elections Board. Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, both former election workers from Fulton County, faced threats of violence from conspiracy theorists after their election-night conduct on a polling place livestream proliferated online among right-wing election deniers who believed Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
- CNN: Georgia state election board investigation clears Fulton County of 2020 election wrongdoing: The Georgia State Election Board dismissed the years-long investigation into alleged misconduct by Fulton County election workers during the 2020 election, saying it had found no evidence of conspiracy.“Over the course of the investigation, it was confirmed that numerous allegations made against the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections, and specifically, two election workers, were false and unsubstantiated,” according to a press release from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office. Former President Donald Trump and his campaign had targeted Fulton County election workers at State Farm Arena in Atlanta by baselessly claiming they were counting fake mail-in ballots during the 2020 election.
- AP News: Georgia officials won’t take over elections in state’s largest county, debunk conspiracies: Georgia’s State Election Board won’t take over running elections in the state’s most populous county, ending an investigation that had sparked fears of partisan meddling. The board voted unanimously on Tuesday to end its performance review of Fulton County nearly two years after it had begun. Multiple board members said that they want the county to continue to work on improvements before the 2024 election and not to backslide on work already done. “The question is, are we going to draw a line in the sand and say let us go, be done with this, and leave us alone, which is a little bit of what I’m hearing… or are we going to say it’s time to change?” said State Election Board Chair Bill Duffey.
- Rolling Stone: Yet Another Probe Into 2020 Election Fraud Closed Due to Lack of Evidence: On Monday night, Donald Trump insisted to Fox News host Brett Baier that the 2020 election had been fraudulently rigged against him. “I won in 2020 by a lot, let’s get that straight,” Trump said. “They were counting ballots, not the authenticity of the ballot. The ballots were fake ballots, this was a very rigged election,” Baier attempted to lay out the dozens of lawsuits, audits, and investigations that had disproven Trump’s claim, but was unable to break through the former president’s delusions. Some investigations have continued even years after Trump vacated the White House, and less than 24 hours after the former president once again aired his grievances about 2020 on national television, he was given another reality check. On Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the closure of an investigation into claims of fraud made by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, after the DA’s office found no evidence that would substantiate the claims. “Over the course of the investigation, it was confirmed that numerous allegations made against the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections, and specifically, two election workers, were false and unsubstantiated,” Raffensberg’s office wrote in a press release.
In The States
TEXAS: Governor signs two election bills focused on Harris County, vetoes another that would’ve expanded voting access for people with disabilities
- Houston Chronicle: Gov. Abbott signs bills targeting Harris County elections, triggering legal showdown: Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law over the weekend two bills targeting Harris County elections, triggering a legal showdown in which the county is expected to argue the actions violate the Texas Constitution. Senate Bill 1750 abolishes the county’s elections administrators office. The other measure, Senate Bill 1933, allows certain individuals to file election complaints that could place Harris County election officials under “administrative oversight,” meaning that they would need to clear all election policies and procedures with the secretary of state. The first bill transfers election administration duties to two elected officials — the county clerk and the tax assessor-collector — ending Harris County’s three-year run with an appointed elections administrator. The second bill creates a process for the governor-appointed secretary of state, currently former state Sen. Jane Nelson, to file a lawsuit to remove those two officials. Harris County plans to fight both laws in court in the next couple weeks, County Attorney Christian Menefee said Tuesday.
- Texas Tribune: Gov. Greg Abbott vetoes bill that would give people with disabilities new option to vote by mail: Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have expanded vote-by-mail access for people with disabilities — specifically people who are blind or paralyzed and need assistance marking their ballot. Advocates say Abbott’s veto of House Bill 3159 is a blow for voters with disabilities who have for years called for the Legislature to grant them a way to mark their mail-in ballots without having to rely on anyone else. Co-authored by state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and state Rep. John H. Bucy III, D-Austin, the bill would have allowed voters who need help casting a ballot, such as people who are visually impaired or are paralyzed, to do so “privately and securely” by requesting an electronic ballot and using a computer to mark their choices. The bill still would have required those voters to print out, sign and return their ballots by mail.
- Bloomberg Law: Texas Trims Some Claims in Suit Challenging Redistricting Plan: Texas has won dismissal of some claims in a suit alleging its redistricting plan discriminates against Latino voters. The suit, filed by League of United Latin American Citizens, nine other organizations, and multiple individuals, alleges the plan for the Texas House, Texas Senate, Congress and State Board of Education approved by the state legislature in October 2021 violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the US Constitution. The plaintiffs failed to establish two of their vote-dilution claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Judge David C. Guaderrama of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas.
IOWA: Latest Republican-led state to leave ERIC
- Iowa Public Radio: Iowa is officially out of a group that helps clean voter rolls, and the path forward isn’t clear: Iowa’s resignation from a bipartisan group that helps states keep their voter rolls up to date is official as of last Friday. Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate announced in a tweet in March that Iowa would leave the Electronic Registration Information Center. Three months later, he has not provided new information about the state’s path forward without it. The group, also known as ERIC, allows member states to share data so they know when someone moves, dies, or votes illegally in more than one state in one election. It also requires members to send voter registration information to people who are likely eligible to vote.
FLORIDA: State asks for the lawsuit contesting the state’s voter registration system to be dismissed
- The Capitolist: State asks feds to dismiss voter registration lawsuit filed by LWV and NAACP: In a dispute rooted in a 2018 constitutional amendment designed to restore voting rights for convicted felons, a judge Tuesday heard arguments in an attempt by the state to end a lawsuit that alleges a voter-registration form violates federal law. Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd want U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor to dismiss a lawsuit filed in April by the League of Women Voters of Florida and the NAACP. The lawsuit contends that the state’s voter-registration form violates a federal law known as the National Voter Registration Act because it does not properly inform potential voters of eligibility requirements. That has resulted, in part, in high-profile arrests of felons who thought they had regained voting rights, according to attorneys representing the voting-rights groups. By seeking changes in the voter-registration form, the plaintiffs are asking the state to “nip this problem in the bud,” Eliza Sweren-Becker, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, told Winsor during Tuesday’s hearing.
- Sun Sentinel: Florida seeks to scuttle voter registration lawsuit: In a dispute rooted in a 2018 constitutional amendment designed to restore voting rights for convicted felons, a judge Tuesday heard arguments in an attempt by the state to end a lawsuit that alleges a voter-registration form violates federal law. Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd want U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor to dismiss a lawsuit filed in April by the League of Women Voters of Florida and the NAACP. The lawsuit contends that the state’s voter-registration form violates a federal law known as the National Voter Registration Act because it does not properly inform potential voters of eligibility requirements. That has resulted, in part, in high-profile arrests of felons who thought they had regained voting rights, according to attorneys representing the voting-rights groups. By seeking changes in the voter-registration form, the plaintiffs are asking the state to “nip this problem in the bud,” Eliza Sweren-Becker, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, told Winsor during Tuesday’s hearing.
What Experts Are Saying
Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of the States United Democracy Center: “Disciplinary hearings against John Eastman began [this week] & I can’t emphasize this enough: if we want to preserve & defend our democracy, we must hold people accountable when they work to undermine it. We @statesunited filed the initial Bar complaint in 2021.” Tweet
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian at New York University: “‘You couldn’t use the T word,’ a former DOJ official told the Post, referring to the DOJ and FBI’s reluctance to investigate former president Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 coup meant to keep him in power illegally. From the point of view of democracy protection and the history of coups, this is misguided and also profoundly sad. The ‘institutional caution,’ and worries about being seen as partisan that lay behind this non-action are a symptom of the success of the far-right in putting our democratic institutions on the defensive. And the bottom-up approach taken by the FBI and DOJ –concentrating on the foot soldiers and leaving those who orchestrated the coup alone–has left our democracy more, not less, exposed to future authoritarian actions.” Lucid
Joyce Vance, former US attorney: “Discovery will take some time in [the Mar-a-Lago] case, especially the classified discovery. But we are talking about weeks and months, not years, so long as Trump is not permitted to play his usual delay game. The case prosecutors brought is not particularly complicated, although the defendant is. There is no reason, given what we see now, that this case can’t be tried before the 2024 election. Whether that happens will in large part be up to the judges involved in the matter.” Civil Discourse
Dahlia Lithwick, writes about the courts and the law for Slate and hosts the podcast Amicus, and Michael Podhorzer, former political director of the AFL-CIO and founder of the Analyst Institute and the Research Collaborative: “Perhaps it is time to reconsider what we call a norm, and also to ask why we bind ourselves to ideas and values that are not shared. If the norms of democratic governance are not shared, then they are simply rules to which one side binds itself and the other does not. So perhaps instead of referring to all these soft rules and conventions and traditions as norms, we should more accurately refer to them as ‘rules to which we adhere and they do not.’” Slate
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
New York Times: G.O.P. Targets Researchers Who Study Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Election
Slate: Our Major American Misunderstanding
Trump Investigations
New York Times: Barr Says Documents Case Against Trump Is ‘Entirely of His Own Making’
The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Will Trump’s Florida trial impact Georgia indictments?
January 6 And The 2020 Election
NPR: Washington Post’ journalist on FBI’s delayed investigation of Trump’s role in Jan. 6
PBS: Attorney John Eastman, who advised Trump’s efforts to undermine 2020 election, faces potential disbarment
NBC: Jan. 6 rioter who electroshocked Michael Fanone shouts ‘Trump won’ after receiving a 12.5 year sentence
Opinion
Washington Post: Trying Trump under the Espionage Act will be trickier than you think
The Guardian: The right believes the FBI is obsessed with jailing Trump. The opposite is true
Washington Post: Trump’s confession on Fox News should prompt Democrats to step up
In the States
KNAU: Hobbs: Arizona counties can’t hand count ballots
Ohio Capital Journal: States with low election turnout did little in 2023 to expand voting access
Spectrum News: Voter ID now required in North Carolina: 5 things to know
