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Special counsel investigation hints at potential indictment of former President Trump
- New York Times: Grand Jury in Florida Hears Testimony in Trump Documents Case: A federal grand jury in Miami continued hearing from witnesses on Wednesday in the investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents and other presidential records at his private club in Florida after he left office. Among those who appeared for questions was Taylor Budowich, a former spokesman to Mr. Trump who now is a top adviser at the super PAC supporting Mr. Trump’s presidential candidacy. One matter that prosecutors were interested in asking about was a statement that Mr. Trump had his aides draft shortly after news broke that National Archives officials had recovered 15 boxes of material from him in January 2022. Mr. Budowich was Mr. Trump’s spokesman at the time.
- Hill: Political world braces for possible federal indictment of Trump: The political world is bracing for the possibility of a federal indictment of former President Trump. A flurry of recent activity and posturing related to a special counsel probe into his handling of classified documents is fueling talk that an indictment could be imminent. Trump’s attorneys met Monday with Justice Department officials, including special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing whether Trump improperly handled classified documents after leaving office. A Florida grand jury is reportedly convening this week in the case after a lengthy hiatus. Democrats and Republicans went back and forth on Tuesday over a letter Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a vocal Trump ally and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland to obtain more information about special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump.
- Guardian: Multiple witnesses subpoenaed in Florida in Trump Mar-a-Lago case: Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed multiple witnesses to testify before a previously unknown grand jury in Florida in the criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice, according to people familiar with the matter. The new grand jury activity at the US district court in Miami marks the latest twist in the investigation that for months has involved a grand jury that had been taking evidence in the case in Washington but has been silent since the start of last month. Trump aide Taylor Budowich is scheduled to testify before the Florida grand jury on Wednesday, one of the people said, and questioning is expected to be led by Jay Bratt, the justice department’s counterintelligence chief detailed to the special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation.
- New York Times: Mark Meadows Testified to Grand Jury in Special Counsel Investigation of Trump: Mark Meadows, the final White House chief of staff under President Donald J. Trump and a potentially key figure in inquiries related to Mr. Trump, has testified before a federal grand jury hearing evidence in the investigations being led by the special counsel’s office, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Meadows is a figure in both of the two distinct lines of inquiry being pursued by the special counsel appointed to oversee the Justice Department’s scrutiny of Mr. Trump, Jack Smith.One inquiry is focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election, culminating in the attack by a pro-Trump mob on the Capitol during congressional certification of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, 2021. The other is an investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents after he left office and whether he obstructed efforts to retrieve them.
- Hill: Barr pushes back on Trump: This is not a ‘witch hunt’: Former Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back on former President Trump’s claims that a special counsel’s ongoing documents probe is politically motivated and said he thinks the public eventually will come to realize the former president’s culpability. “Over time, people will see that this is not a case of the Department of Justice conducting a witch hunt,” Barr said in an interview on CBS on Tuesday. “In fact, they approached this very delicately and with deference to the president, and this would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents. But he jerked them around for a year and a half.”
- NBC: Trump ally Bannon subpoenaed in special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 grand jury probe: Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Jan. 6 and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to stay in office, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The subpoena, for documents and testimony, was sent out late last month, the sources said. The grand jury investigating Trump’s actions surrounding the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and in connection with efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power is separate from the grand jury in Miami that heard testimony Wednesday about his handling of classified documents.
Capitol surveillance footage fuels controversy and legal challenges
- Politico: DOJ counters QAnon Shaman’s bid to toss his Jan. 6 sentence: The Justice Department on Tuesday blasted as “meritless” a bid by Jan. 6 rioter Jacob Chansley — famously known as the QAnon Shaman — to unravel his conviction for obstructing Congress’ proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, which landed him in prison for more than two years. Chansley’s legal effort, fueled by Capitol surveillance footage provided to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, distorts the “overwhelming” evidence of his criminality, argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall in a blistering 31-page filing. In fact, Carlson’s footage covered roughly four minutes of Chansley’s trip through the Capitol and was nearly all subsequent to the most egregious examples of his conduct that day, the prosecutor wrote.
- Washington Post: Right-wing review of Capitol riot footage isn’t exonerating the rioters: Late last month, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) granted access to surveillance footage from the Capitol riot to two Trump-sympathetic writers: fervent Capitol-rioter defender Julie Kelly and John Solomon of Just the News, whose uncritical coverage of claims made by Ukrainian officials was at the center of Trump’s 2019 impeachment. McCarthy had already given access to Tucker Carlson, back when Carlson commanded millions of viewers a night on Fox News. In each case, it’s safe to say, McCarthy was seeking to build a stronger relationship with the right-wing media ecosystem, using Capitol video footage as a chit.
In The States
ALABAMA: High court to decide on Alabama gerrymandering case in the coming weeks
- Associated Press: Supreme Court tossed out the heart of Voting Rights Act a decade ago. The next ruling could go further: Within hours of a U.S. Supreme Court decision dismantling a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Texas lawmakers announced plans to implement a strict voter ID law that had been blocked by a federal court. Lawmakers in Alabama said they would press forward with a similar law that had been on hold. The ruling a decade ago continues to reverberate across the country, as Republican-led states pass voting restrictions that, in several cases, would have been subject to federal review had the court left the provision intact. At the same time, the conservative-leaning court has continued to take other cases challenging elements of the landmark 1965 law. The Supreme Court weakened another section of the Voting Rights Act two years ago with a ruling in a case from Arizona. And justices are expected to rule in the coming weeks in still another case out of Alabama that could make it much more difficult for minority groups to sue over gerrymandered political maps that dilute their representation.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: House Republicans want to change D.C.’s election laws
- Washington Post: House GOP floats rewriting D.C.’s election laws in latest hearing: House Republicans examined D.C. election laws Wednesday in their latest hearing digging into the city’s affairs, an opportunity for them to advocate for stricter voting laws in the deep-blue city. Republicans in the joint hearing of the House Oversight and Administration committees painted a picture of unsecure and “mismanaged” elections in the city — which the D.C. Board of Elections’ executive director pushed back on — as Democrats decried what they saw as an effort to restrict voting in a city that already lacks voting representation in Congress.
CONNECTICUT: Connecticut Legislature Sends State Voting Rights Act to Governor
- CT News: Voting Rights Act Wrapped Into Budget: Included in the 832-page budget is an effort to codify the federal Voting Rights Act into state law. The language was included because the House of Representatives was unlikely to vote on a separate bill to do the same before the legislative session comes to an end Wednesday at midnight. “There was a hangup when it came down from the Senate, because at the time that it came down the money wasn’t in the budget for it,” House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said ahead of Monday’s vote on the $5-Billion biennium budget. Lawmakers drafted a state’s voting rights act, named after Civil Rights icon and former congressman John R. Lewis, as a protection in case federal laws changed. “We’ve seen at the federal level how one of the Civil Rights movement, the Voting Rights Act, has been systematically dismantled by a conservative majority on the Supreme Court,” said Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the legislature’s Government Administrations and Elections Committee.
FLORIDA: State lawmakers score significant legal win after a federal judge allowed them to challenge a specific aspect of the state’s redistricting plan
- WFSU: Lawmakers win a round in a North Florida redistricting fight: As they try to defend a congressional redistricting plan, the Florida House and Senate will be able to challenge part of a 2010 constitutional amendment that set rules for drawing maps, a Leon County circuit judge said Monday. The ruling by Judge J. Lee Marsh came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of voting-rights groups and individual plaintiffs that contends, in part, the redistricting plan violates the 2010 “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment because it diminishes the voting power of Black residents in North Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis last year pushed through the Republican-controlled Legislature a plan that dramatically changed Congressional District 5, which in the past sprawled across North Florida and elected Black Democrat Al Lawson. The new map ultimately led to white Republicans winning all North Florida congressional seats in November.In trying to fend off the lawsuit, the state has contended that applying the Fair Districts amendment’s so-called “non-diminishment” standard to Congressional District 5 would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That mirrors a DeSantis administration position last year that the Equal Protection Clause prevented the Legislature from using race as a “predominant factor” in drawing the district.
What Experts Are Saying
Anthony Coley, former Justice Department director for public affairs and senior advisor to the attorney general: “Here’s my public service announcement, a reminder, for the day: Trump creates and thrives off of chaos. It’s his playbook. And sometime uninformed people are cited, wrongly, as credible sources. (THREAD)..A similar effort to create chaos (and panic, among his faithful) is at play now….the fact of the matter is that only a small group of DOJ officials really know the state-of-play with Smith’s investigations. Everything else – charges, timing, venue – is pure speculation. Let’s all take a breath, and let Smith and team complete their work. We’ll all know when we know. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk <smile>” Twitter Thread
Norm Eisen, former White House ethics czar and special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment of Trump, and Trevor Morrison, law professor and dean emeritus at New York University School of Law: “With Donald Trump facing multiplying criminal inquiries, he is resorting with even more desperation to his favorite court maneuver—delay. That is what is happening in the criminal case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump is now arguing in court that the creation of phony personal documents to cover up those payments were official presidential acts, and therefore that the state case against him should be removed to federal court. This ploy must be rejected. The damage that extended and unmerited federal wrangling could do to the case would be consequential and, if successful, it could serve as a terrible model for similar delay efforts in later cases like the potential indictment he is facing in Fulton County, Georgia. The courts must send a clear message repudiating these tactics.” Slate Op-Ed
Joyce Vance, former US attorney, re: news that Mark Meadows has testified to federal grand jury as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Trump: “Why the fuss about Meadows? He was one of just a few aides at Trump’s side as the Jan. 6 attack unfolded. He was in on Trump’s phone call to Brad Raffensperger where he begged Ga’s Secy of State to “find” him enough votes for the won. His texts were a treasure trove for the J6C.” Tweet
VIDEO: Ryan Goodman, former Defense Department special counsel and New York University Law professor: “If the Special Counsel has given Mark Meadows immunity to testify (NOT a big if), here’s why that’s enormously significant about the likelihood of an indictment of former President Trump in January 6th investigation. My conversation with @ErinBurnett @OutFrontCNN[.] 2. The point is: It is not only the wealth of information that Meadows can provide. It is the tactic of giving immunity to someone with potentially significant criminal liability and what that says about Special Counsel Smith’s choices and the trajectory of the investigation.” Tweets
Timothy Snyder, Levin professor of history at Yale University: “The Nova Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine, controlled by Russia, has been destroyed. This brings humanitarian, ecological, and economic disaster to Ukrainians. Here are some guidelines for writing about this catastrophe. Avoid the temptation to bothsides a calamity. That’s not journalism…Citing Russian claims next to Ukrainian claims is unfair to the Ukrainians. What Russian spokespersons have said has almost always been untrue, whereas what Ukrainian spokespersons have said has largely been reliable. The juxtaposition suggests a false equality…Objectivity does not mean treating an event as a coin flip between two public statements. It demands thinking about the objects and the settings that readers require for understanding amidst uncertainty.” Twitter Thread
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
Washington Post: Tucker Carlson becomes just another social-media conspiracy theorist
Trump Investigations
Reuters: Donald Trump faces skeptical court in New York fraud appeal
Washington Post: If Trump documents probe leads to charges, bulk of indictment would be in S. Florida
Hill: GOP lawmakers preview defense if Trump indicted on federal charges
January 6 And The 2020 Election
Daily Beast: Jan. 6 Lawyer Says It’s Time for D.C. Jail Protesters to Go Home
NBC: Long Island funeral home owner arrested two years after Jan. 6 sleuths ID’d him
New York Times: Man Charged With Spraying Police With Insecticide on Jan. 6
NBC: DOJ charges ‘Bob’s Burgers,’ ‘Arrested Development’ actor in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Opinion
New York Times: The Suburbs Are Still Driving American Politics, but Where Are They Taking Us?
New York Times: Republicans Are No Longer Calling This Election Program a ‘Godsend’
In the States
NBC News: Maine election officials say No Labels may be misleading voters in its third-party push
CBS17: NC Dems blasts GOP-supported bill seeking changes to election laws
Port City Daily: As the voter ID law goes into effect, opinions vary on future impact
