Driving the Day
Sources with ABC claim that former Vice President Mike Pence spoke with the special counsel’s team earlier this year. He reportedly told investigators that Trump almost pushed the country toward a “Constitutional crisis.”
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) November 28, 2023
Must Read Stories
Trump’s controversial pardon of Kushner-linked convict Jonathan Braun undercut DOJ Investigations
- New York Times: A Troubling Trump Pardon and a Link to the Kushners: “Even amid the uproar over President Donald J. Trump’s freewheeling use of his pardon powers at the end of his term, one commutation stood out. Jonathan Braun of New York had served just two and a half years of a decade-long sentence for running a massive marijuana ring, when Mr. Trump, at 12:51 a.m. on his last day in office, announced he would be freed. Mr. Braun was, to say the least, an unusual candidate for clemency. A Staten Islander with a history of violent threats, Mr. Braun had told a rabbi who owed him money: ‘I am going to make you bleed.’ Mr. Braun’s family had told confidants they were willing to spend millions of dollars to get him out of prison.”
- Business Insider: Trump’s pardoning of a Kushner-linked drug smuggler undercut a larger DOJ investigation: “Key to gaining his clemency was Braun’s connection to the family of Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and a senior White House advisor during the Trump Administration. Braun was a member of the inaugural class of the Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, New Jersey, which the Kushner family funded. As a member of the first freshman class, Braun was classmates with Jared Kushner’s youngest sister, Nicole.”
- New York Times: 3 Takeaways From the Investigation Into Trump’s Pardon of Jonathan Braun: “In his final weeks in office, Mr. Trump had used his pardon power on behalf of a parade of loyalists, as well as scores of others who were not big political names. But few of them stood out like Mr. Braun, who was still under investigation by the Justice Department in an entirely different matter: for gouging small businesses through high-interest loans. At the time of the commutation, the New York State attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission were also after Mr. Braun for making predatory loans. Among other things, they accused him of threatening borrowers who owed him money. And his family had told others they were willing to spend millions of dollars to get him out of the prison sentence he had just started to serve on the drug charges.”
Release of Jan. 6 Capitol footage by Speaker Johnson ignites political firestorm and conspiracy theories
- New York Times: Johnson’s Release of Jan. 6 Video Feeds Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories: “Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to publicly release thousands of hours of Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, 2021, has fueled a renewed effort by Republican lawmakers and far-right activists to rewrite the history of the attack that day and exonerate the pro-Trump rioters who took part. Mr. Johnson’s move last week to make the footage available — something the far right has long demanded — came as he tried to allay the anger of hard-line Republican lawmakers for working with Democrats to keep the government funded. Now, some of the same people who were irate about that decision are using the Jan. 6 video to circulate an array of false claims and conspiracy theories about the largest attack on the Capitol in centuries. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hard-right Georgia Republican, was among the first lawmakers to post false information about the newly released videos. She claimed on the social media site X that surveillance video showed a rioter holding a law enforcement badge in his hand, suggesting that he was an undercover police officer ‘disguised as a Trump supporter’ and the attack was an inside job.”
- Vanity Fair: MAGA Republicans Lose Their Minds Over New January 6 Footage: “Over the weekend, House Republicans released thousands of hours of footage from January 6 after newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson announced his intention to do so. The response from the far-right? Incredibly reasonable. Devoid of conspiracy theories. Definitely not anything that could be described as ‘unhinged’ or ‘completely insane.’ Just kidding, of course. Instead, right-wing Republicans unsurprisingly lost their minds and dove even further into the deep end of deranged, half-baked explanations for what really happened on January 6, 2021. Leading the charge was Utah senator Mike Lee, best known for saying in late 2020 that he was spending ‘14 hours a day’ trying to help Donald Trump steal the election and urging then chief of staff Mark Meadows to grant lawyer Sidney Powell an audience with the president.”
- Politico: Ken Buck blasts his party’s hardliners for ‘lying to America’: “Republican Rep. Ken Buck laid into his own party Sunday, blasting those who continue to propagate the lie that the 2020 election was stolen for ‘lying to America.’ ‘Everybody who thinks that the election was stolen or talks about the election being stolen is lying to America,’ the Colorado Republican said during an interview on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ Buck didn’t stop there. ‘Everyone who makes the argument that January 6 was, you know, an unguided tour of the Capitol is lying to America. Everyone who says that the prisoners who are being prosecuted right now for their involvement in January 6, that they are somehow political prisoners or that they didn’t commit crimes, are lying to America.’ It’s not the first time Buck, a member of the Trump-aligned House Freedom Caucus, has decried his party’s unwillingness to accept the results of Biden’s 2020 victory or condemn the violent attack on the Capitol. The Colorado Republican voiced a similar warning earlier this month in announcing that he would not seek reelection in 2024.”
- The Hill: House Intelligence chair praises release of Jan. 6 tapes: ‘Now people can see the truth’: “House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) praised newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for releasing the Capitol footage from the Jan. 6 riot, calling the move an ‘important’ step toward exposing the truth. In an interview on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Turner suggested the American people were only reading biased accounts of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, an echo of a frequent argument in favor of releasing the tapes. ‘It’s important for Americans to know the truth. This has been fraught with an unbelievable amount of misinformation and untruths,’ Turner said, when asked whether it was responsible for Johnson to release the footage, despite stated concerns from the Capitol Police about jeopardizing the security of the complex.”
In The States
LOUISIANA: Trial begins over whether the state’s new legislative maps violate the Voting Rights Act
- KALB: Louisiana’s legislative voting maps headed to court: “The federal courthouse down in Baton Rouge is expected to hear a challenge to Louisiana’s legislative voting maps on Monday, Nov. 27, as an additional lawsuit is challenging voting maps in the state. This lawsuit focuses on how Louisiana elects its state senators and state representatives, different from the battle over the state’s congressional voting maps for congress which have been the subject of multiple lawsuits in recent months. The case Nairne v. Ardoin, alleges the current map dilutes the voting power of black Louisianans, noting multiple regions throughout the state, predominately in southern Louisiana, where additional black majority districts could be drawn. ‘When it comes down to it on the congressional side as well as the state legislative side, black voters’ voting power is being diluted through our current unlawful maps,’ said Omari Ho-sang with Black Voters Matter.”
NORTH DAKOTA: Judge finds Voting Rights Act violation in North Dakota redistricting for two tribes; the state’s top election’s official to appeal
- Associated Press: In wake of Voting Rights Act ruling, North Dakota to appeal decision that protected tribes’ rights: “A day after a federal appeals court dealt a significant blow to the Voting Rights Act, North Dakota’s top election official announced Tuesday that he wants the court to review a judge’s recent ruling that protected two Native American tribes’ voting rights. Voting rights groups had hailed U.S. District Chief Judge Peter Welte’s ruling Friday that the tribes’ voting rights were unlawfully diluted by a 2021 legislative redistricting map. But, in an unrelated lawsuit Monday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private individuals and groups such as the NAACP do not have the ability to sue under a key section of the Voting Rights Act.”
- Courthouse News Service: North Dakota lawmakers diluted the Native American vote, judge finds: “A federal judge ruled Friday that North Dakota’s legislative redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act and weakened the voting power of two Native American tribes. U.S. District Judge Peter Welte held that the redistricting move by the 2021 North Dakota Legislature violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which lays out a prohibition on the manipulation of district lines to dilute votes based on race. The decision is expected to lead to another special session of the Legislature to rectify the violation. The judge wrote in the ruling that the redistricting under the latest census data ‘prevents Native American voters from having an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.’”
TENNESSEE: Judges rule against Republican-drawn state Senate map; a new map must be redrawn by January 31
- Tennessean: Judges rule Tennessee Senate map unconstitutional, order legislature to redraw by Jan. 31: “The Tennessee General Assembly must redraw its state Senate map by January following a Tuesday ruling by a three-judge panel that found the district boundaries unconstitutional. Three voters, backed by the state Democratic party, sued Tennessee in 2022 over allegations that legislative Republicans unconstitutionally drew House and Senate maps to further entrench the GOP supermajority in the legislature. The plaintiffs accused Republicans of excessively dividing cities and counties when redrawing state House maps and failing to follow a provision in the Tennessee Constitution that requires Senate districts in counties with several districts be numbered consecutively. The districts in question are Davidson County’s four state Senate districts, which are numbered 17, 19, 20 and 21.”
GEORGIA: Redrawing of congressional and General Assembly districts begins Wednesday
- Atlanta Journal Constitution: Take two: Georgia lawmakers make another attempt at redistricting: “Georgia’s lawmakers return to Atlanta on Wednesday for a special legislative session with one major task: redraw the state’s political districts in a way that a federal judge says complies with the law. The stakes are high, with Democrats hoping to make inroads into Georgia’s Republican majority in Congress and the General Assembly. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones last month threw out the state’s congressional and legislative maps, saying they violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by illegally diluting Black voting power.”
- Georgia Recorder: Balance of state’s political power on the table when lawmakers gather for special session next week: “When state lawmakers meet next week to redraw Georgia’s political maps, a national audience will follow the debate over the creation of an additional court-ordered majority Black district in west metro Atlanta. But Georgia political observers say the forced reworking of the state’s legislative maps could also prove consequential. Lawmakers have until Dec. 8 to redraw the state’s district lines after federal District Court Judge Steve Jones last month tossed out maps created in 2021 that he ruled diluted the voting strength of Black Georgians. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp quickly called for a post-Thanksgiving special legislative session to start on Nov. 29. But attorneys for the state have also said they plan to appeal the decision.”
What Experts Are Saying
Marc Elias, on voting rights, for Democracy Docket: “There are reasons for those of us in the pro-democracy movement to give thanks. After years of attacks, the crown jewel of American democracy — Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) — shined bright this year. After the Supreme Court gutted Section 5 of the VRA in 2013, the importance of Section 2 — which prohibits any voting law, practice or map that results in the ‘denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color’ — has risen in the last 10 years, allowing voters and groups to challenge discriminatory maps and voting rules.”
Sarah Haake, on the Supreme Court’s new code of conduct, for Salon: “Despite the historical imperative of assuring that all free governments answer to one rule of law, the U.S. Supreme Court recently announced, with its empty code of ethics, that it answers to no one…The opening statement of the ‘Code of Conduct’ drips with hubris: ‘The absence of a Code has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.’ Do they really need to be handed the memo? America’s ‘misunderstanding’ didn’t form in a vacuum. Justices Alito and Thomas don’t just ‘regard themselves’ as unrestricted by ethics, they have so egregiously violated the rules of fair play that they shouldn’t be allowed to serve. They certainly shouldn’t be allowed to impose their 18th century religious views on the nation.”
Tom Joscelyn and Norm Eisen for Just Security, on Chesebro’s leaked proffer statement in Fulton County, GA election subversion case: “Last week, the Washington Post reported on parts of Chesebro’s statement, as well as excerpts of the proffers recorded for three of his co-defendants – Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Scott Hall – all of whom pleaded guilty to charges in Fulton County as well. The Post’s account is based on leaked ‘portions’ of their statements – not their full proffers, which haven’t been released to the public. A lawyer for a fifth defendant in the Fulton County case admitted that he gave the video evidence to the media…The Post’s reporting on portions of Chesebro’s proffer raises a series of questions. Chesebro provided Fulton County prosecutors with some intriguing new details. He revealed, for example, that he personally met with then President Trump in the White House on Dec. 16, 2020. But based on what was reported in the Post, Chesebro’s description of that meeting, as well as other details, may have downplayed some important aspects of his role in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”
Joyce Vance, on threats against the judge in Trump’s civil fraud case, for Substack: “In a sworn affidavit from an officer assigned to the New York judicial threats assessment unit, which was submitted in support of keeping the gag order in place, disturbing details about the impact of Trump’s prior post about the Judge and his law clerk came to light. The judge and his staff are receiving hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls every day. The email and voicemail messages are so concerning that they have required security personnel ‘to constantly reassess and evaluate what security protections to put in place to ensure the safety of the judge and those around him.’ For the Judge’s clerk, in particular, the threats have been voluminous and serious. It took 275 single spaced pages to transcribe all of them.”
Chauncy Devega for Salon: “The sum effect is that these discussions and warnings about America’s ‘democracy crisis’ and ‘fascism’ are often ignored or filtered out by large portions of the public as being just more ‘partisan bickering’ and ‘politics as usual.’ Intervening against that dangerous tendency requires making the stakes and implications of Trump’s return to power and the end of American democracy very clear, very direct, and very real for the average person. The mainstream news media and political class have largely failed in that task. To that point, this may be the last Thanksgiving where the American people will live in a democracy, however flawed and ailing it may be, where their basic Constitutional and other civil rights are relatively secure.”
Headlines
Extremism
Daily Beast: The Secret Megadonor Behind the MAGA Movement’s ‘Nerve Center’
ABC: ‘Really worried’: Meta decision allowing 2020 election-denial ads risks distrust, extremism, experts say
Trump investigations
The Guardian: Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani
PBS: Judge to weigh revoking bond of Trump co-defendant in Georgia election case
The Hill: ‘Fake elector’ probes in 2020 swing states could spell more trouble for Trump
January 6 and the 2020 Elections
NBC: Sen. Mike Lee promotes a debunked conspiracy theory about a Jan. 6 rioter
NBC: Jan. 6 rioter who used sovereign citizen ‘gobbledygook’ at trial is found guilty
Opinion
New York Times: Trump Has a Master Plan for Destroying the ‘Deep State’
Washington Post: Elon Musk’s silly lawsuit offers a glimpse into the Musk-MAGA alliance
New York Times: The Very Good Reason People Like George Santos Lie About Nonsense
In the States
Politico: Voting machine trouble in Pennsylvania county triggers alarm ahead of 2024
The Hill: North Carolina sued over new state Senate maps
AZCentral: Arizona Republican leaders ask court to excuse them from depositions in voting rights case
Michigan Advance: Michigan voting rights advocates decry ‘calamitous ruling’ on Voting Rights Act
