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Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — October 31, 2023

By October 31, 2023No Comments

Driving the Day

Must Read Stories

Federal judge reimposes gag order on Trump while former president claims First Amendment violation

  • New York Times: Federal Judge Reinstates Gag Order on Trump in Election Case: “A federal judge reinstated a gag order on former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday that had been temporarily placed on hold nine days earlier, reimposing restrictions on what Mr. Trump can say about witnesses and prosecutors in the case in which he stands accused of seeking to overturn the 2020 election. In making her decision, the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, also denied a request by Mr. Trump’s lawyers to freeze the gag order for what could have been a considerably longer period, saying it can remain in effect as a federal appeals court in Washington reviews it. Judge Chutkan’s ruling about the order was posted publicly on PACER, the federal court database, late on Sunday, but her detailed order explaining her reasoning was not immediately available because of what appeared to be a glitch in the computer system.”
  • The Hill: Trump vows to appeal reimposed gag order: ‘It will not stand!’: “Former President Trump vowed to appeal the gag order reimposed late Sunday by a federal judge in his election interference case, calling the decision unconstitutional and politically motivated. Trump went on a lengthy social media rant shortly after the decision was posted, calling U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan a ‘very Biased, Trump-Hating Judge’ and claiming that the gag order will put him at a “disadvantage” in his legal battles and on the campaign trail. He again said that the gag order violates his First Amendment rights, an argument his legal team has pressed. ‘This order, according to many legal scholars, is unthinkable! It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Polls,’ he wrote on Truth Social.”

Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 23 federal charges as fellow NY Republicans in Congress push for expulsion

  • Washington Post: Embattled Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to latest federal charges: “Freshman Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who is facing a renewed effort by his New York Republican colleagues to expel him from office, pleaded not guilty Friday to 23 federal charges, including fraud, money laundering, falsifying records and aggravated identity theft. In May, Santos was charged in a 13-count federal indictment by prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York, who later added an additional 10 charges in a superseding indictment in October. Prosecutors have accused Santos of numerous financial crimes, including taking unemployment benefits in 2020 while he was employed and running for Congress, making unauthorized charges to the credit cards of his political donors, and lying on federal forms about his campaign finances. On Friday, Santos appeared in the federal courthouse in Central Islip, Long Island, and pleaded not guilty to all the charges, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office, Danielle Haas. The judge overseeing the case, Joanna Seybert, set a trial date for early September 2024, about two months before the general election.”
  • Politico: New York Republicans plan to move on Santos expulsion: “New York Republicans looking to expel Rep. George Santos are planning to move forward this week, according to multiple GOP lawmakers. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) said that he plans to trigger a privileged resolution on Wednesday, which would mean the full House would have to consider the measure within 48 hours. It would require a two-thirds vote to actually pass, a high bar that the House is unlikely to clear. Those New York Republicans had renewed their push to distance themselves from the embattled Santos after he faced a superseding indictment earlier this month. Santos has pleaded not guilty and is denying wrongdoing for various charges like wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and more.”

Trump’s children to testify in fraud trial on allegations of inflating asset values for favorable deals

  • New York Times: Trump’s Children Are Set to Take the Stand at His Fraud Trial This Week: “Former President Donald J. Trump will testify early next month in a trial that threatens the business empire that is the foundation of his public persona and informed his run for the White House. It stems from a lawsuit brought by New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, which accuses Mr. Trump and other defendants, including his companies and his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, of fraudulently inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. Monday will be the trial’s 19th day. For the past four weeks, lawyers from the attorney general’s office have argued that Mr. Trump’s employees had arbitrarily assigned values to assets in order to arrive at the former president’s desired net worth. Mr. Trump’s attorneys have responded that the assets had no objective value and that differing valuations are standard in real estate.”
  • Forbes: Ivanka Trump Helped Her Dad Lie About His Net Worth: “Ivanka Trump is expected to testify on Friday in a $250 million fraud case that the New York attorney general is waging against her father and his associates. That’s bad news for Ivanka, who tried to get out of taking the stand. But it might be even worse news for her father, who employed Ivanka in his years-long con to convince the world that he had more money than he actually did. The attorney general will have plenty of questions for Donald Trump’s eldest daughter. Ivanka helped lead the acquisition of two assets at the center of the lawsuit, the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C. and the Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami. She also lived in another property caught up in the proceedings, a condo building named Trump Park Avenue in New York City.”

In The States

GEORGIA: Federal judge says Georgia’s congressional and legislative districts are discriminatory and must be redrawn

  • New York Times: Georgia’s Voting Maps Are Struck Down: “Republicans in Georgia violated a landmark civil rights law in drawing voting maps that diluted the power of Black voters, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled on Thursday, ordering that new maps must be drawn in time for the 2024 elections. Judge Steve C. Jones of the Northern District of Georgia demanded that the state’s legislature move swiftly to sketch out congressional and General Assembly districts that provide an equitable level of representation for Black residents, who make up more than a third of the state’s population. In the ruling, Judge Jones wrote that the court ‘will not allow another election cycle on redistricting plans’ that had been found to be unlawful. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, responded on Thursday by calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly that will begin on Nov. 29, giving lawmakers 10 days to meet a Dec. 8 deadline set by Judge Jones.”
  • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia voter intimidation trial begins after 250K registrations challenged: “A federal trial opened Thursday with allegations that the conservative group True the Vote intimidated Georgia voters through 250,000 unverified challenges to their eligibility before runoffs that decided control of the U.S. Senate in early 2021. True the Vote countered that it didn’t threaten anyone when it followed a Georgia law that allows citizens to question whether a voter still lives where they’re registered. The lawsuit filed by Fair Fight asks a judge to banish Texas-based True the Vote from operating in Georgia and from disputing voter eligibility in the future. Fair Fight, which was founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams, contends that True the Vote violated the Voting Rights Act’s protections against voter intimidation. Voter challenges targeted many legitimate voters who were ‘forced to jump through hoops,’ leave the line to vote and in some cases wait for hours, Uzoma Nkwonta, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in his opening statement.”

OHIO: Nearly 27,000 Ohioans purged from voting rolls just six days after voters began receiving ballots for November elections

  • The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio canceled over 26,000 inactive voter registrations. Here’s what you need to know: “Secretary of State Frank LaRose purged over 26,000 inactive voter registrations last month as part of a process to update Ohio’s voter rolls. The move, which wasn’t announced at the time, garnered attention last week when Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, D-Westlake, wrote LaRose a letter demanding answers about the process. A June directive from LaRose gave local boards of elections until Sept. 27 to cancel the registrations of voters who were inactive for at least four years. At that point, the November election was technically underway. Military and overseas voting began Sept. 22. Federal law requires states to establish a program to routinely remove ineligible voters who died or moved out of state. The latest cycle dates back to 2019, when Ohio got data from the U.S. Postal Service on voters who moved and may have needed to update their registration.”
  • Cincinnati Enquirer: Typo sends Ohio redistricting reform group back to square one: “A typo will send a group trying to remove Ohio politicians from the redistricting process back to square one. Citizens not Politicians recently realized that its summary language included the wrong date for when congressional and state legislative plans must be finished. Because of the mistake, the group will collect another 1,000 signatures and resubmit the language to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office for approval. The error sets the group back several weeks in collecting signatures to make the November 2024 ballot. But the redistricting reform group says it’s important that the constitutional amendment be done right. ‘We are quickly addressing the typo and moving forward because it’s critical that we end gerrymandering in Ohio by putting citizens – not politicians and their cronies – in charge of drawing legislative maps,’ spokesperson Chris Davey said. Neither Yost’s office nor the Ohio Ballot Board, which recently gave the group the green light to collect signatures, noticed the discrepancy. Citizens Not Politicians informed Yost’s office of the error in a Wednesday letter.”

VIRGINIA: Gov. Youngkin’s elections department admits it removed 3,400 qualified voters from the state’s rolls ahead of the General Assembly elections, far higher than its initial estimate of 270

  • Washington Post: Youngkin ‘purge’ removed nearly 3,400 legal Virginia voters from rolls: “Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s elections team has admitted in the run-up to pivotal General Assembly elections that it removed nearly 3,400 qualified voters from the state’s rolls, far higher than the administration’s previous estimate of 270. Elections officials under Youngkin (R) acknowledged what it called the mistaken removal of about 3,400 voters in a news release Friday — five weeks after early voting began for Nov. 7 General Assembly elections. The outcome will determine the viability of Youngkin’s last-minute presidential prospects and the fate of his conservative legislative agenda, which includes banning most abortions after 15 weeks. The news release claimed that local registrars had already reinstated all but ‘approximately 100’ of the voters, all of whom had been convicted of felonies, had their voting rights restored, and then went on to violate the terms of their probation. The state’s computer software had erroneously counted the probation violations as new felonies that disqualified them from voting, administration officials have said.”

What Experts Are Saying

Norm Eisen and Amy Lee Copeland, for the New York Times: “Trials are about the evidence and the law. But they are also theater, and the jury is the audience. In this case, the jury is not the only audience — the Georgia trials will be televised, so many Americans will also be tuned in. Ms. Ellis is poised to be a potent weapon against Mr. Trump in the courtroom and on TVs. That is bad news for her former co-defendants — above all, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump. Ms. Ellis was most closely associated with Mr. Giuliani, appearing by his side in Georgia and across the country. If her court appearance last week is any indication, she will be a compelling guide to his alleged misconduct. She will also add to what is known about it; she and Mr. Giuliani undoubtedly had many conversations that are not yet public and that will inform the jury. And because Mr. Giuliani was the senior lawyer on the case, her pointed statement that she was misled by attorneys “with many more years of experience” hits him directly.”

Mike Podhorzer, in a piece on Substack: “Imagine movie critics who either did not know, or did not care to know, that movies have producers, scriptwriters, directors, financiers, or casting directors, and so based their reviews on the premise that it was the actors alone who created the storyline, dialogue, and mise en scene, and that the most successful actors were those who best understood the audience. That is essentially how all politics is covered in 21st century America.”

Jesse Wegman for the New York Times: “Fifty years after Watergate, the nation is once again confronted with a president who grossly abused the powers of his office, leading to criminal prosecutions. And once again, that abuse relied heavily on the involvement of lawyers. If Mr. Trump’s 2020 racket was “a coup in search of a legal theory,” as one federal judge put it, these lawyers provided the theory, and the phony facts to back it up. In doing so, they severely tarnished their profession.”

Amanda Marcotte for Salon: “[Speaker Mike ]Johnson warned that legalized same-sex marriage is ‘the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic’… He’s repeatedly described homosexuality with terms like ‘sinful,’ ‘destructive,’ ‘deviant,’ and ‘bizarre.’ He, like all these bigots, compared same-sex marriage to the right of ‘a person to marry his pet.’”

Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez for Democracy Docket: “This substantial increase in youth voter participation showcases a growing awareness and engagement among young people, a trend that we must continue to build upon. Millennials and Gen Zers have demonstrated their dedication to justice, equality, and progress through engagement and advocacy. Our energy and passion have driven historic turnouts at the polls, demonstrating our collective desire for a brighter future for our country.”

Headlines

Extremism

The Hill: Trump pledges to direct ‘completely overhauled DOJ’ to probe DAs and AGs

Public News Service: Democracy experts worry about chaos, violence ahead of 2024 elections

Trump investigations

Washington Post: The Trump Trials: Cannon fodder

The Hill: Trump tensions with Michael Cohen explode

Newsweek: How Donald Trump Shot Himself in the Foot in Judge Chutkan Case

CBS: Why guilty pleas in Georgia 2020 election interference case pose a significant risk to Donald Trump

Newsweek: Trump “Confused” by His Former Lawyers Pleading Guilty

January 6 and the 2020 Elections

Washington Post: Most Republicans say Trump didn’t even try to overturn the election

Axios: Jan. 6 rioter who hit officer with wooden plank gets 33 months in prison

The Dallas Morning News: Arlington man pleads guilty to assaulting police officer during Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Opinion

New York Times: Jenna Ellis Could Become a Star Witness Against Trump

USA Today: The week the Republican Party caved to MAGA and surrendered America’s middle to extremism

New York Times: Trump’s Lawyers Should Have Known Better

In the States

WRAL: Appointments, redistricting, and judiciary moves are culmination of NC Republicans’ march to power

The Guardian: Republicans have ruled Wisconsin for a decade – but a court decision could change that

KRCR: Voter advocates call on California Secretary of State to monitor and support Shasta County elections