Judge Chutkan Has Trump’s Jan. 6 Case Back And Is Ready To Roll

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.

What SCOTUS Hath Wrought

After its ponderous sojourn at the Supreme Court, the Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump was officially returned Friday to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., and she immediately picked it back up again and started moving it forward.

Among her initial actions, notably undertaken over the weekend, Chutkan:

1. set a Friday, Aug. 9 deadline for the parties to submit a proposed scheduling order for pretrial proceedings;
2. set a status conference for next Friday, Aug. 16,
3. denied a pending Trump motion to dismiss the case on statutory grounds, but gave him the chance to re-up it once the immunity questions in the case are resolved.
4. denied a pending Trump motion to dismiss the case on the grounds of selective and vindictive prosecution.

And just like that, the case was up and running again. But don’t hold your breath that this will go to trial before the election. Time is simply too short at this point.

The elephant in the room is the Supreme Court’s expansive ruling in this very case on presidential immunity, how much that narrows the indictment, what kind of evidentiary hearings Chutkan needs to address presidential immunity, and the still-unknown ways in which the high court’s unprecedented ruling effects this and the other Trump prosecutions.

Hanging over all of that will be at least one more trip to the Supreme Court to give it a chance to weigh in on whether Chutkan properly jumped through all the hoops it has put in her way. Again, there’s no way for all this to happen before Election Day.

In her order denying Trump’s motion to dismiss for selective and vindictive prosecution, Chutkan used some of the same direct and no-nonsense language that had marked her earlier handling of the case:

At the outset, the court must address—as it has before—Defendant’s improper reframing of the allegations against him. … At this stage, the court cannot accept Defendant’s alternate narrative.

Chutkan went on to find that most of Trump’s arguments were speculative or conclusory and that he “proffered no meaningful evidence” that would justify a hearing on his motion to allow him to try to develop a factual record.

Under Chutkan’s scheduling order, we may get legal fireworks right off the bat. Don’t expect the parties to come to any kind of substantive agreement on a pretrial schedule; the parties are too far apart, so Chutkan will likely have to weigh in there. But we’ll get our first taste of the legal posture Trump will be taking in this case, knowing the Supreme Court has his back.

Rudy G Officially Booted From Bankruptcy Court

Rudy Giuliani’s attempt to use the bankruptcy process – but not actually comply with it – to avoid creditors like Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss has failed. Giuliani, in addition to his pre-existing debt, is now also on the hook for $100,000 in professional fees arising from the now-dismissed bankruptcy case. His Upper East Side apartment and his Florida condo are now at risk of sale to satisfy that obligation, though apparently not immediately.

On The Trail

• Trump pulls out of presidential debate: Donald Trump reneged on his commitment to a second presidential debate rather than face new Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Trump proposed instead a debate hosted by Fox News in front of an arena audience, to which Harris responded: “It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space.'”
• News coverage fail: Some outlets failed to grasp the real dynamic of Trump’s debate withdrawal, but none more egregiously than the NYT, which later revised its headline.
• Trump v. Kemp: While on a Georgia campaign swing, the former president reactivated his long-running feud with Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) at the very moment Kamala Harris may have put the state back in play for November.
• All Dem Hands On Deck: Harris campaign brings aboard former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe and veteran Democratic operatives Stephanie Cutter and Jennifer Palmieri.

Veep Watch

• Kamala Harris’ announcement of her decision on a running mate is imminent, with a video announcement reportedly expected Tuesday ahead of a planned rally in Philadelphia that will be the Democratic ticket’s first joint appearance.
• Harris met in person Sunday at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory in DC with three contenders for the veep nod: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). She spoke with other contenders, but not in person.
• Harris was briefed Saturday by former Attorney General Eric Holder on the results of the process he led of vetting the veep contenders.

‘Our Own Democracy Is Being Tested’

Bloomberg: DOJ Boosts Effort to Avoid Election Mayhem

Trump Shooting Watch

WaPo: Radio traffic shows failed search for Trump rally shooter

Be Careful?

Promoting a new book, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch was asked on Fox News about President Biden’s proposal to reform the high court: “I just say: Be careful,” he warned.

Trump Congratulates Putin On ‘Great’ Hostage Swap

After promising that only he could free WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich from an unlawful Russian detention, Donald Trump spent the weekend dumping on the deal Biden struck for Gershkovich’s release.

WTF?

A truly stunning turn of events in the case against the alleged 9/11 plotters held at Guantanamo: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin abruptly canceled the plea agreement reached only two days earlier and reserved to himself the power to oversee the case. The NYT provides a limited tick-tock of the dramatic reversal.

Among the biggest questions, and there are many, are:

1. How could there be such a colossal breakdown in communications and decision-making in the highest profile detainee cases the Pentagon has ever handled?
2. How did a plea agreement get struck in the first place in such a monumental case without sign-off from the highest levels of the Pentagon?
3. What possessed the defense secretary to renege on the plea agreement and undermine the entire process, apparently without consulting with the White House?

Rough Day Ahead For Equities Markets

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 12% overnight, its biggest one-day drop since the Black Monday crash of 1987. European markets were also sharply down, but not nearly as dramatically. Ahead of the opening bell, U.S. stock futures were off by 2%-6%.

Headline For The Ages

If you made up the wildest RFK Jr. headline your imagination could possibly conjure, it would still fall well short of the real thing:

And yet … the headline still doesn’t do justice to the video confession gave to … Roseanne Barr:

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