Driving the Day
During the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual meeting, several of the most influential Black leaders in the US warned of threats to our nation’s democratic institutions. They said many of these threats appear to be aimed at Black communities.https://t.co/opwgkiqA6T
— Defend Democracy Project (@DemocracyNowUS) September 28, 2023
Must Read Stories
Senator Bob Menendez pleads not guilty, faces mounting resignation calls amid corruption charges
- New York Times: Menendez Pleads Not Guilty to Bribery Charges: “Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to bribery charges, standing before a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court, his wife, Nadine, seated nearby. About three hours earlier, the Menendezes had held hands as they pushed through a crowd of journalists and entered the courthouse without answering questions. A lone protester shouted ‘Resign!’ Ms. Menendez, 56, also entered a not-guilty plea for her role in the bribery conspiracy, which prosecutors said involved weapons sales and aid to the government of Egypt. In a 39-page indictment unsealed last week, they also described efforts by Mr. Menendez, a powerful Democrat, to strong arm prosecutors in New Jersey in an attempt to influence criminal investigations.”
- NBC: Sen. Bob Menendez to be arraigned as resignation calls grow louder: “Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., is set to appear Wednesday before a federal judge in New York to formally respond to corruption charges alleging that he and his wife used his influence to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Menendez, his wife, Nadine, and two co-defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in the morning. A third co-defendant was arraigned Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. Since the indictment was unsealed Friday, Menendez has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and he is expected to plead not guilty. But he faces a deluge of calls to resign from his Democratic colleagues in the Senate and at the local level in New Jersey. As of Tuesday night, two dozen of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate had called for him to step down.”
- Washington Post: Menendez brushes off calls to resign from Senate after indictment: “A defiant Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) brushed aside growing calls for his resignation Monday, declaring that he will be exonerated and will continue to serve in the U.S. Senate after a federal indictment alleging that he and his wife accepted bribes in exchange for exerting his political influence. Menendez, who is up for reelection next year, gave no indication that he might forgo the race. ‘I recognize this will be the biggest fight yet,’ Menendez said at a community college in Union City, the town where he grew up and began his decades-long political career. ‘But as I have stated throughout this whole process, I firmly believe that when all the facts are presented, not only will I be exonerated, but I still will be New Jersey’s senior senator.’”
- New York Times: Groundswell of Democrats Builds Calling on Menendez to Resign: “A stampede of Senate Democrats led by some of the party’s most endangered incumbents rushed forward on Tuesday calling for Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey to resign, a day after he defiantly vowed to fight federal corruption charges and predicted he would be exonerated. Even as Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, defended Mr. Menendez as a “dedicated public servant” and refused to publicly move to push him out, the drumbeat for Mr. Menendez to step down grew from within his ranks. That left Mr. Schumer in a difficult position, caught between his role as the leader and defender of all Senate Democrats and the political imperative of cutting loose a member of his caucus who had become a political liability in an already difficult slog to keep the party’s Senate majority.”
- Washington Post: The GOP’s defenses of Bob Menendez, and what they ignore: “The dam is breaking when it comes to Democrats urging Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to resign. They responded with cautious silence Friday after the Justice Department announced Menendez’s indictment on bribery charges; by Tuesday, at least 18 Democratic senators, and many other party leaders, had called for him to step down. But perhaps predictably, Republicans pushed back Tuesday. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) delivered the moment some had wagered might come from Donald Trump: He urged Menendez not to resign by citing the idea that this was the same Justice Department that had secured two of Trump’s indictments and couldn’t be trusted. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) later echoed the sentiment. The GOP defenses of Menendez are obviously somewhat self-serving, but they are also clarifying.”
Judge rules Trump committed fraud in his real estate dealings
- AP: Judge rules Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers while building real estate empire: “A judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, and he ordered some of the former president’s companies removed from his control and dissolved. Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling in a civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, found that Trump and his company deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing his assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork used in making deals and securing loans. Engoron ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as punishment, making it difficult or impossible for them to do business in New York, and said he would continue to have an independent monitor oversee Trump Organization operations.”
- New York Times: Ruling Against Trump Cuts to the Heart of His Identity: “Nearly every aspect of Donald J. Trump’s life and career has been under scrutiny from the justice system over the past several years, leaving him under criminal indictment in four jurisdictions and being held to account in a civil case for what a jury found to be sexual abuse that he committed decades ago. But a ruling on Tuesday by a New York State judge that Mr. Trump had committed fraud by inflating the value of his real estate holdings went to the heart of the identity that made him a national figure and launched his political career.By effectively branding him a cheat, the decision in the civil proceeding by Justice Arthur F. Engoron undermined Mr. Trump’s relentlessly promoted narrative of himself as a master of the business world, the persona that he used to enmesh himself in the fabric of popular culture and that eventually gave him the stature and resources to reach the White House.”
- The Guardian: Five key takeaways from Donald Trump’s financial fraud case ruling: “A New York judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed financial fraud by overstating the value of his assets to broker deals and obtain financing. The ruling is an acceleration of the case the New York attorney general Letitia James has been building against Trump since 2019, that the former president fudged financial statements and inflated his net worth up to $2.2bn more than the actual figure. In a dramatic step just days before the trial is set to start, New York supreme court justice Arthur Engoron issued a partial ruling largely agreeing with James. He also ordered the cancellation of New York business certificates of all companies related to Trump and his two sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, making it difficult for Trump to continue running his real estate business in the state. A trial is still set to start 2 October, where Engoron will decide whether Trump, his allies and his companies will have to pay the $250m in monetary damages James is asking for. Trump’s lawyers say they will appeal the judge’s ruling.”
In The States
ALABAMA: Supreme Court denies Alabama’s request to keep its illegal congressional map
- New York Times: Supreme Court Declines to Revisit Alabama Voting Map Dispute: “The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused Alabama’s request to reinstate a congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers that had only one majority-Black district, paving the way for a new map to be put in place before the 2024 election. Alabama’s request to keep its map was the second time in under a year that it had asked the Supreme Court to affirm a limited role of race in establishing voting districts for federal elections in what amounted to a defiant repudiation of lower-court rulings. In the latest twist in the case, the lower court had found that the state had brazenly flouted its directive to create a second majority-Black district or something “close to it.” The court’s order gave no reasons, which is often the case when the justices decide on emergency applications. There were no public dissents. The ruling clears the way for a special master and court-appointed cartographer to create a new map. The special master in the case submitted three proposed maps on Monday, the deadline set by the three-judge federal district court. All three proposals included a second district where Black voters would have the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice, according to a report filed by the special master.”
FLORIDA: Federal trial begins over whether Florida’s congressional map illegally hurt Black voters
- Politico: DeSantis’ redistricting plan on trial in federal court: “A challenge to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ redistricting map heads to federal court in Tallahassee this morning, in a trial that could determine control of the U.S. House after the 2024 elections. Various civil and voting rights organizations sued in federal court last year after DeSantis sliced up a North Florida district held by former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat. Plaintiffs have accused DeSantis of ‘intentional racial discrimination’ and argue that weakening Floridians’ voting power on the basis of race violates the 14th and 15th Amendments. The trial could last as long as eight days and will go before a three-judge panel. Kathay Feng, a lawyer with Common Cause, a democracy advocacy organization and one of the groups suing, said that “someone isn’t signing a confession note” about what happened in terms of proving discriminatory intent, but she said that DeSantis ‘bullied’ the Legislature and that he had ‘an intent to dismantle a Black opportunity district at all costs. The governor’s racial discrimination should be fully on display for the court to consider.’”
- Associated Press: DeSantis purposely dismantled a Black congressional district, attorney says as trial over map begins: “On the same day Alabama Black voters scored a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal trial opened in Florida in which lawyers say Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the U.S. Constitution by deliberately dismantling a congressional district that favored Black candidates. It’s one of several lawsuits around the country that are challenging Republican-drawn maps they say are gerrymandered to diminish the ability of Black voters to select a candidate of their choice. If successful, the lawsuits could help Democrats as they try to regain control of the House. The focus in Florida is a district that stretched more than 200 miles to connect Black voters in Jacksonville and in the majority Black county of Gadsden about 200 miles (322 kilometers) to the west. DeSantis vetoed maps the Legislature drew, which would have preserved a Black district, and forced the Legislature to approve one his staff drew.”
OHIO: Ohio Redistricting Commission unanimously approves new GOP-backed state legislative maps
- Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio Redistricting Commission adopts sixth version of Statehouse maps with bipartisan support: “The Ohio Redistricting Commission reached bipartisan agreement as it passed new Statehouse maps late Tuesday night after a few more hours of public comment, and then negotiation behind closed doors. The maps show a Republican-to-Democratic advantage of 61 to 38 in the Ohio House, with eight Democratic toss-up seats and three GOP toss-ups. In the Ohio Senate, the maps show a 23 to 10 Republican advantage, with three Republican toss-up seats and one Democratic toss-up seat. The commission held a fourth meeting for public testimony on Tuesday morning, with dozens more Ohioans submitting public comment the day after a doubleheader in Newbury on Monday. As the Tuesday meeting opened, Republican Auditor of State and commission co-chair Keith Faber said negotiations went on after the meetings on Monday and were actively happening even as public testimony happened Tuesday.”
What Experts Are Saying
Former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason on X (Twitter): “It really appears Cannon is slow-walking this case to benefit Trump. She’s already had these motions for weeks, and schedules the hearings more than two weeks from now? And this after taking weeks to issue a standard protective order.”
Barb McQuade to Salon: “Trump’s comments about the FBI, the special counsel and the judge are beyond reckless. He knows that people listen to his words, and sometimes take action on them. From the pipe bomber Cesar Sayoc to the rioters on Jan. 6, some people hear Trump’s words as a call to action.”
Devon Hasano on the new EagleAI for Democracy Docket: “…EagleAI NETwork is one of the right’s leading replacements for ERIC, which has come under conspiracy-laden fire from the nine Republican states that have left the organization since early 2022. Featuring a comprehensive database full of information about voters, EagleAI claims that the program quickly combs through data and flags supposedly suspicious voter registrations. Activists can then review the flagged names and report them to election officials… While EagleAI is just the latest example of right-wing election vigilantism, it could be an especially worrisome one. With the Republican grassroots enthusiastically behind the project, conversions already underway in certain states and a rapidly-operating program working in conjunction with dangerous state laws, the threat of EagleAI should not be taken lightly.”
Issue One, in their new report, “The High Cost of High Turnover”: “Issue One’s new research shows that half of the 76 million Americans who live in the western United States have a new chief local election official since the 2020 presidential election. In this 11-state region — which includes two major presidential battleground states as well as a mix of Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning states and where elections are typically administered at the county level by a single official — more than 160 chief local election officials have left their positions since November 2020.”
“This represents roughly 40% of the total chief local election officials in the region, which includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, and where chief local election officials frequently hold titles such as county clerk, county recorder, county auditor, county registrar of voters, or county elections director. (In Arizona, election administration duties are typically split between two officials in each county — an elected county recorder and an appointed elections director. Issue One’s analysis includes both of these positions in Arizona’s figures. In the other 10 states, Issue One’s analysis focused on a single county-level official.)
“The brain drain associated with this exodus is real. Issue One found that these officials took with them more than 1,800 years of combined experience.”
E. Danya Perry, Joshua Stanton, and Norm Eisen on the NY Attorney General’s Case Against Trump for Just Security: “Today’s complaint, taken together with the vast additional information in OAG’s prior court filings, assert that, over a period of more than a decade, Trump and his organization prepared misleading financial statements that seriously misstated Trump’s finances. Although some of the allegedly fraudulent methodologies involved sophisticated accounting tricks, many of the misleading statements seem to involve blatant falsehoods—including apparently about the size of Trump’s penthouse in the Trump Tower. The court filings indicate that these allegedly misleading financial statements were used to achieve a variety of benefits—including those to which Michael Cohen testified before Congress—such as lower taxes and more favorable loans and insurance coverage.”
Headlines
MAGA and the Threat to 2024 Elections
Salon: With Rupert Murdoch leaving Fox News, an even more deranged MAGA media is making its move
Trump investigations
New York Times: Trump Lawyers Assail Gag Order Request in Election Case
Washington Post: How Jamaica-born Judge Tanya S. Chutkan became Trump’s latest target
Politico: Inside the courtroom of Trump’s D.C. judge
January 6 and the 2020 Elections
Newsweek: Donald Trump Repeated ‘Hang’ Mike Pence Chant: Cassidy Hutchinson
NBC: Jan. 6 defendant who wanted to arrest ‘the traitors’ to ‘protect the Capitol’ is sentenced to 4 years
Opinion
New York Times: Senate Leaders Need to Break With Menendez Now
MSNBC: I saw firsthand how Project Veritas paved the way for MAGA
New York Times: Clarence Thomas Should Not Get Away With It
In the States
NPR: New Mexico’s Republican Party takes the state’s congressional map to trial
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican bill would allow clerks to begin processing absentee ballots a day before Election Day
PennLive: How does Pa.’s new automatic voter registration work, and what impact will it have?
Axios: North Carolina Republicans are drawing new redistricting maps for 2024
