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Trump pleads not guilty to classified documents charges, setting stage for historic legal battle
- Washington Post: Trump pleads not guilty to all 37 classified documents charges: Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal charges that he broke the law dozens of times by keeping and hiding top secret documents in his Florida home — the first hearing in a historic court case that could alter the country’s political and legal landscape. “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty,” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said at the arraignment in a small but packed courtroom, where Trump sat at the defense table, scowling and with his arms folded for much of the hearing. Flanked by his lawyers, Blanche and Christopher Kise, the former president listened impassively as U.S. magistrate judge Jonathan Goodman said he planned to order the former president not to have any contact with witnesses in the case — or his co-defendant Waltine “Walt” Nauta — as the case proceeds.
- CNN: Trump makes numerous false claims in speech after court appearance: Former President Donald Trump made numerous false and misleading claims in a speech he delivered Tuesday night following his afternoon arraignment in Miami federal court to face charges of illegally retaining classified documents and obstructing the federal investigation into his conduct. Trump, who pleaded not guilty, has been persistently dishonest about matters related to the indictment. Here is a fact check of some of the things he said in the Tuesday night address from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
- New York Times: Trump Has Options for Fighting Charges, but They Might Face Challenges: Former President Donald J. Trump and his advisers have been scrambling down to the wire to assemble a legal team for his first scheduled court appearance on Tuesday after being charged with mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. But even when Mr. Trump figures out who will represent him, the lawyers will face a more significant challenge: how to rebut the charges in a criminal case in which their options may be limited.
- Time: Jack Smith Faces Challenges in Prosecuting Trump: Bringing historic federal charges against Donald Trump was just the start. The challenge for Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, as he prepares to argue in court that the former President illegally took national defense secrets to his Florida home and willfully defied efforts to get them back, is to make the charges stick. No matter the merits of the case, the obstacles for Smith, a taciturn career prosecutor with a medieval-looking beard, are considerable. The case was assigned to a federal judge who has already been chided by an upper court for inappropriately favoring Trump in a ruling over documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago Club. Jurors will be selected from a state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020. And then there’s the personal attacks: Trump has already launched a campaign to impugn Smith’s motives, calling him a “Trump hater” and “deranged.”
- New York Times: Who is Jonathan Goodman, the judge handling Tuesday’s appearance?: Presiding over President Trump’s first court appearance on federal criminal charges was Jonathan Goodman, a magistrate judge who is not expected to remain involved in the case. Magistrate judges often handle the routine, procedural aspects of court cases, like the initial appearance on Tuesday by Mr. Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, in Miami federal court. The trial will be overseen by Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee who has issued favorable rulings to Mr. Trump in the past and was randomly assigned to the case. In court papers released on Monday in response to a request by news media outlets to photograph and record the proceedings, Judge Goodman made clear his involvement would be limited.
- Washington Post: Does Trump’s motive matter for the Espionage Act?: On Monday, we noted how it appears that a chief GOP defense of Donald Trump in the face of Espionage Act charges for withholding sensitive documents will be that he wasn’t literally engaged in spying. Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) plus Fox News host Mark Levin and the Wall Street Journal editorial board all advanced a version of that argument. Soon, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joined in, telling CBS News: “There’s no allegation that there was harm done to the national security. There’s no allegation that he sold it to a foreign power or that it was trafficked to somebody else or that anybody got access to it.” This is surely going to be a feature of the GOP’s public defense of Trump, in the service of downplaying the indictment. But what about his actual legal defense?
- New York Times: Outside the courthouse, a circuslike atmosphere brings out activists seeking eyeballs: A circuslike atmosphere spread across the grounds of the federal courthouse where former President Donald J. Trump was set to appear on Tuesday, with hundreds of reporters in downtown Miami alongside those who wanted to be seen and heard. The small but colorful crowd included dozens of Trump supporters and a handful of critics, many dressed eccentrically to get their messages across on camera. There was the Uncle Sam who sped around the courthouse grounds on a two-wheeled hoverboard singing pro-Trump songs, the woman with a unicorn horn affixed to her forehead who wore an “Aunt-ifa” shirt and chanted derisively about the former president, and the man in a black-and-white jail jumpsuit carrying a sign that read, “Lock Him Up.”
January 6 updates: Guilty pleas by Marines, as DOJ seeks lengthy sentence for taser attack
- Washington Post: Two more Marines with intelligence jobs plead guilty in Jan. 6 riot: Two Marines who worked in intelligence gathering and were on active duty during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty Monday to their involvement with the mob at the U.S. Capitol, joining a colleague who admitted his participation last month.Sgts. Joshua Abate, 22, and Dodge Dale Hellonen, 23, were arrested in January along with Cpl. Micah R. Coomer, 24. All three pleaded to the misdemeanor charge of illegally demonstrating inside the Capitol building. While court documents don’t indicate when the three Marines were identified by law enforcement as members of the mob that sought to keep lawmakers from certifying President Biden’s 2020 election victory over Donald Trump, Hellonen admitted his involvement a year ago and Coomer’s Facebook account was searched in August 2021.
- Hill: DOJ seeks 14-year prison sentence for Jan. 6 rioter who pleaded guilty to using Taser on police officer: The Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning to seek a 14-year prison sentence for a Jan 6. defendant who pleaded guilty to using a Taser on former Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone during the insurrection. According to a sentencing memorandum filed last week, federal prosecutors argued that Daniel Rodriguez’s actions on that day add up to domestic terrorism, referring to him as “one of the most violent defendants” on Jan 6.
In The States
NORTH CAROLINA: NC Republican-backed bill may change election rules and the structure of elections
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Axios: More big changes to NC election laws could be imminent: More changes to North Carolina elections could be imminent, along with a major shift in the governor’s appointment powers. State Senate Republicans unveiled long-awaited legislation Monday afternoon that would strip the governor of his authority to appoint members to state and county election boards and turn it over to the General Assembly. The move, presented as a bipartisan solution to restore public trust in elections, is another flex by the Republican-controlled legislature emboldened by state Rep. Tricia Cotham’s party switch in April. In handing Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the legislature, Cotham’s flip set in motion a series of policy proposals that the GOP can now usher into law without the support of Democrats, including changes to election laws. Details: With Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper having sole appointment authority over the North Carolina State Board of Elections, it is currently made up of three Democrats and two Republicans. (The law stipulates that no more than three members of one political party serve on the board.)
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FOX 8: Here’s how two bills could change elections in North Carolina: The North Carolina Senate’s plans for “increasing voter confidence” in elections is really a two-bill package: one to make changes in how some votes are received and the other to oversee how elections are managed. Sen. Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and two chairs of the Senate Redistricting and Election Committee – Warren Daniel (R-Buncombe) and Paul Newton (R-Cabarrus) – explained on Tuesday how Senate Bill 749 – titled “No Partisan Advantage in Elections” – would change the make-up of state and county boards of election by removing appointments by the governor and providing what they described as more balanced control. Last week Senate Bill 747, which proposes changes in voting processes, found its way to the Senate Rules Committee for first consideration and routing.
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WFAE: The impact of proposed changes to election law in NC and across the country: North Carolina is one of the latest states where Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation they say is meant to protect election integrity, but opponents argue limits voting rights. Under one proposal, voters using same-day registration at early voting sites have to use a provisional ballot which could be challenged or thrown out later. Mail-in ballots would also have to be received by the time polls close on Election Day. That eliminates a three-day grace period for a ballot to arrive. North Carolina is not alone. From identification requirements to limits on drop boxes and beyond, states across the country are trying to get new laws put in place ahead of the 2024 election.
ARKANSAS: Advocates appeal AR redistricting case to the U.S. Supreme Court
- Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Notice of appeal filed in dismissed Arkansas redistricting case in the wake of U.S. Supreme Court decision: The attorney for plaintiffs challenging the state’s congressional district lines, which were redrawn after the 2020 Census, is appealing the case’s dismissal by a three-judge panel to the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently ruled in favor of an Alabama plaintiff objecting to that state’s congressional map in a case with similar elements to that of the Arkansas case. On Monday, Richard Mays, representing plaintiffs Jackie Williams Simpson, Wanda King, Charles Bolden, Anika Whitfield, state Rep. Denise Ennett, D-Little Rock, and state Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, Mays told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the ruling on Allen v. Milligan in Alabama — in which the high court’s majority ruling said justices gave more weight to the effect of the newly drawn districts in Alabama than the intent of the state legislature in drawing those districts. Last month, a three-judge panel in Arkansas — 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge David Stras, Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. and U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr. — held that the plaintiffs in the Arkansas redistricting lawsuit Simpson v. Thurston had failed to document a racial motivation on the part of state legislators in approving the new congressional map and dismissed the case.
MISSISSIPPI: Lawsuit challenges Mississippi’s new ballot harvesting law
- WJTV: Lawsuit takes aim at Mississippi’s ballot harvesting ban: The ruling for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) motion to block a bill that would ban ballot harvesting in Mississippi could come down on Tuesday, June 13. An emergency hearing was held on Tuesday for oral arguments to be heard in the preliminary junction motion of Senate Bill 2358. The SPLC said the bill infringes upon disabled voters’ rights. he ruling for the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) motion to block a bill that would ban ballot harvesting in Mississippi could come down on Tuesday, June 13. An emergency hearing was held on Tuesday for oral arguments to be heard in the preliminary junction motion of Senate Bill 2358. The SPLC said the bill infringes upon disabled voters’ rights. “I think that is a sham argument from the Southern Poverty Law Center, because if anyone is totally disabled, they have some type of caregivers that they interact with. And the law says that they can help those people. The Constitution gives the states the right to set election law. If we base our laws on how many times we’re going to get sued, we’d never pass anything because they’re going to sue us every time. So, it’s our responsibility and our right under the U.S. Constitution to set election law,” said Burks Hill.
What Experts Are Saying
Norman L. Eisen, White House ethics czar and ambassador to the Czech Republic under President Barack Obama as well as as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for the first impeachment and trial of President Donald Trump, and Andrew Warren, former State Attorney of Hillsborough County, Florida and former Justice Department prosecutor: “Even though [the Trump classified documents] case has so many extraordinary features, the genius of the American legal system is that almost everything which will unfold in the court will be ordinary, structured, and even banal. That is as it should be in a rule of law system…Whether [the former president] is guilty or not will depend not on the many views outside the courthouse but on the twelve people in the jury box. And in spite of everything surrounding the case, there is something reassuring about the process running its ordinary course under such extraordinary circumstances.” The Daily Beast Op-Ed
Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Why has there not been violence around Trump’s arraignment? Because when governments enforce laws, it deters rational people. Best thing for political violence has been DOJ action post-Jan 6. Can we have some DOJ action to protect election officials now?” Tweet
VIDEO: Joyce Vance, former US attorney: how the Mar-a-Lago federal case could put Trump’s New York, Georgia inquiries on hold MSNBC
Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security: “We know how incitement to violence works. It is nurtured from the top and given license to spread by leaders. They don’t have to direct it to one place or time. They can simply unleash it, knowing full well that someone may become emboldened to act[.]” CNN
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian at New York University: “As strongmen like Trump seduce political elites, promising them more power than they ever dreamed possible, they also corrupt them. Accepting the leader’s lies and violence ties them to him, making them partners in his crimes and thus vulnerable to being exposed. This is why each lawless action by Trump has made the GOP more, not less, faithful to him; in saving him, they think they are saving themselves. And so, after defending him through two impeachments, party elites obeyed Trump’s commands to deny his defeat, try and overturn the 2020 election, and then become co-conspirators of a coup attempt on Jan. 6 designed to keep him in power illegally…Trump is an expert manipulator of people, and the GOP lawmakers who engage in public displays of fealty know that opposing him could mean the end of their political careers. While corruption often works through the promise of material gain, the threat of losing something –your reputation or position– can be even more persuasive.” Lucid
Headlines
The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections
Intercept: Trump is a predator who feeds on lackeys
Rolling Stone: Latest Fever Swamp Theory: Trump Miami Protests Are a Trap
Trump Investigations
Rolling Stone: Inside the Implosion of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Legal Team
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Could feds delay Ga. Trump case?
Politico: Judge lets E. Jean Carroll add Trump’s post-verdict remarks to original defamation case
January 6 And The 2020 Election
ABC: As Trump faces charges in docs case, special counsel is quietly continuing Jan. 6 probe
CBS 13: Sentencing delayed for Mainer convicted of assaulting police officers during Jan. 6 insurrection
WUSA9 CBS: Couple charged in Capitol riot: Indict Trump or drop our case
Opinion
Washington Post: Aileen Cannon should not preside over the Trump trial
New York Times: Republicans Have Made Their Choice
Hill: Who will decide US v. Trump — jurors or voters?
USA Today: Trump arraignment: Why prosecutors will push for a speedy trial before 2024
Washington Post: Arguments against prosecuting Trump don’t add up
New York Times: Just when you thought there was nothing new to learn about Donald Trump
In the States
KAAL: New election laws now in effect in Minnesota
Law360: Voting Rights Groups Want Ga. Early Voting Limits Blocked
Hartford Courant: It’s official, new CT voting rights signed into law
