The Iowa Supreme Court split 3-3 on reviving a six-week abortion ban Friday, blocking the ban and keeping the procedure legal in the state.
Continue reading “Conservative-Dominated Iowa Supreme Court Deadlocks On Six-Week Ban, Keeping Abortion Legal”E. Jean Carroll’s Next Defamation Trial Scheduled For January, Adding Onto Trump’s Busy 2024
A federal judge in New York scheduled writer E. Jean Carroll’s remaining defamation lawsuit against former president Donald Trump for trial in January, adding onto the long list of legal perils the 2024 candidate is facing in the election year.
Continue reading “E. Jean Carroll’s Next Defamation Trial Scheduled For January, Adding Onto Trump’s Busy 2024”Donald Trump Keeps On Confessing To His MAL Crimes
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Just Keep Talking, Donald, Just Keep Talking
In speeches, social media posts, and friendly TV interviews, former President Donald Trump keeps clownishly making admission after admission that is admissible against him in the Mar-a-Lago case.
It’s been a running joke for a long time now that Trump is his own worst enemy (though that often bleeds into weird, excuse-making analyses by his adherents and by credulous reporters). But this is a different flavor of self-own.
The statements Trump has made in recent days could very well be used by Special Counsel Jack Smith at trial. They expand upon and reinforce some of the public statements that Trump already made that Smith ended up putting in the Mar-a-Lago indictment.
A great example of Trump giving up the whole game in a post yesterday:
His post-arraignment speech at Bedminster earlier in the week was also a classic example, as former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissman observed:
There is a more sophisticated, nuanced way of looking at this (though I do prefer the hilarity of it to the more sober analysis):
Trump’s legal & political strategies continue to conflict.
— Mark S. Zaid (@MarkSZaidEsq) June 16, 2023
Legally, every time he “speaks” he brings himself one step closer to conviction.
Politically, to his benefit to be grandiose & aggressive. Raises funds, creates support & polarizes.
Which will prevail ultimately? https://t.co/f6keddmyBN
Seen this way, Trump’s presidential campaign IS his defense strategy. The factual evidence is overwhelmingly against him, and he had few legitimate legal arguments to make. But running again puts in play, among other things, Trump as a victim, “election interference,” and his double reverse “DOJ weaponization” argument.
He went so far as to accelerate his campaign announcement in order to put his favorite rhetorical gimmick more fully in play: Biden and DOJ are interfering in this election! Trump has raised this argument in court since last August, when he tried to use U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to thwart the Mar-a-Lago case.
But beyond the case itself, Trump’s best chance of preserving his own liberty is to win re-election and scuttle the federal prosecutions against him by some combination of hiding behind the notorious OLC opinion that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted, ordering DOJ to stand down, or pardoning himself.
To the extent his devastating public admissions help him politically even though they hurt him legally, don’t take that as some evil genius move. It’s just another sign of his self-delusion and desperation, though for much of his life those two things have perversely resulted in a form of self-preservation.
And Off We Go …
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has given defense lawyers in the Mar-a-Lago case until June 20 to confirm to her that they have contacted the Justice Department about obtaining security clearances to handle the classified discovery in the case.
Still Unearthing Jan. 6 Details
TPM:
Bernie Kerik had a plan to keep former President Trump in office after losing the 2020 election — and he knew how much it would cost. Roughly.
Per an email surfaced in a defamation lawsuit brought against Rudy Giuliani, Kerik wrote to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in a Dec. 28, 2020 missive that he would need “between $5 to $8M” to put a plan into action that would pressure state legislators into throwing their electors behind Trump.
Why Did Rudy G Use ‘Helen’ As Email Alias?
TPM’s Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky explain.
Tish James Has Received Death Threats While Pursuing Trump
New York AG Tish James: “I have more law enforcement around me these days, individuals have threatened my life, but I will not be paralyzed by fear by no means. I’m from Brooklyn.”
Gonna Be A Helluva 2024 Primary Season
The judge has set a Jan. 15, 2024 trial date for E. Jean Carroll’s other defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump.
Fox News Poised To Settle Ex-Producer’s Lawsuit
CNN:
Abby Grossberg, the former network producer who filed an explosive complaint against the company in March, is in the final stages of ironing out a settlement with the company, I’m told. …
Representatives for both Grossberg and Fox News declined to comment on Thursday. While the deal is close to being finalized, last-minute hiccups are always possible. The terms of the agreement are not known.
Heads Up
We rarely know which Supreme Court rulings are coming when, but another round of decisions are to be announced this morning, with the big affirmative action case the main one on our radar.
Consent Decree Coming For Minneapolis PD?
The Justice Department is expected to release the results of its investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department launched in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd:
The report is expected to be released at a news conference with Attorney General Merrick Garland, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta and city officials. The contents of the report are not yet known, but people familiar with the investigation said the inquiry uncovered significant systemic problems and could lead to an agreement between the parties, known as a consent decree, overseen by a federal judge.
2024 Ephemera
- Politico: After squandering a chance to draw congressional maps more favorable to their electoral prospects, Democrats in New York and Wisconsin are eying a redo.
- ProPublica: Voting Maps Throughout the Deep South May Be Redrawn After Surprise Supreme Court Ruling
Discord Leaker Indicted
Airman Jack Teixeira was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
US Gov’t Agencies Hacked
WSJ:
Several U.S. government agencies, including the Energy Department, have been hacked in a data-stealing cyberattack exploiting a software bug that had already compromised major businesses in the U.K. and elsewhere, U.S. officials said Thursday.
While officials were still investigating the intrusions, they said none of the pilfered data had apparently been leaked online so far and that no extortion demands had been paid to the hackers. A Russian-speaking criminal group was likely responsible, officials said.
Hello, Wyoming
WaPo: America’s unlikeliest abortion clinic has opened in its reddest state
Your Modern Republican Party …
The RNC is refusing to carve out an exception to its loyalty pledge – meaning candidates for president must agree to support the eventual nominee – for when the nominee is a convicted felon. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
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Stop for Two Minutes
We need to keep our momentum going in this year’s TPM Journalism Fund drive. I know it’s easy to put things off. I do it all the time. So I wanted to ask if you can take a two-minute time out from whatever you’re doing at this moment and contribute to this year’s drive. Like literally right now. If you’re a member you don’t even need to get out your credit card. It’s super simple and fast. Just choose whatever amount you feel comfortable giving. It helps us so much. Just click right here.
Inside TPM
If you’re interested in how TPM functions as an organization and a business and the history of the operation, including the radically changed business model, you’ll want to check out this special episode of The Josh Marshall Podcast. My cohost Kate Riga and I were joined by Publisher Joe Ragazzo to discuss how the place operates, what moved us from an advertising to a subscription business model and some ways that may not be obvious in which we differ pretty dramatically from other media organizations. Along the way I even discuss a few things I haven’t gotten into before: like how exactly do I know so much about how the advertising economy is the taproot of bothsidesist journalism? And what was I thinking when staff came to me and said they wanted to form a union? You can listen to the episode here on the site or on your device if you already subscribe to the pod through one of the standard services.
Where Things Stand: Biden Has Politicized The DOJ So We Must Make Sure The DOJ Is Properly Politicized, Trump Admin Officials Argue
Jeffrey Clark, the man who sought to become attorney general in the tail days of the Trump administration so that he could steal the election, has teamed up with another former Trump administration official to put forward a plan to remake the DOJ the next time we have a Republican president.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Biden Has Politicized The DOJ So We Must Make Sure The DOJ Is Properly Politicized, Trump Admin Officials Argue”Bernie Kerik Pitched Mark Meadows on ‘$5 to $8’ Million Plan To Reverse Trump 2020 Loss
Bernie Kerik had a plan to keep former President Trump in office after losing the 2020 election — and he knew how much it would cost. Roughly.
Continue reading “Bernie Kerik Pitched Mark Meadows on ‘$5 to $8’ Million Plan To Reverse Trump 2020 Loss”Rudy Giuliani Used A Female Alias In Emails About Plan To Overturn The Election
Rudy Giuliani used an email address with the name “Helen” in some of his communications about his efforts to oppose former President Trump’s 2020 election loss. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and personal attorney to Trump, has discussed his use of the email address “rhelen0528@gmail.com” in court appearances as part of a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, two Georgia election workers. According to court documents made public on Thursday, the address is one of seven that is at the center of a fight over documents in the case.
Continue reading “Rudy Giuliani Used A Female Alias In Emails About Plan To Overturn The Election”Abbott Busses Migrants To Los Angeles, Continuing Effort To Out-MAGA DeSantis
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Wednesday that he had bussed a group of migrants to Los Angeles for the first time, adding yet another blue state destination to the stunt he and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) have been using to out-MAGA one another and score political points — all at the expense of vulnerable migrants.
Continue reading “Abbott Busses Migrants To Los Angeles, Continuing Effort To Out-MAGA DeSantis”Hero Or Goat? Meet Trump’s Chief Enabler In The Mar-a-Lago Case
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
We Have So Much To Thank Tom Fitton For
Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton is widely credited with waltzing Donald Trump straight into criminal charges by advising him that he was legally entitled to keep the documents he had squirreled away at Mar-a-Lago.
Fitton, who heads up the conservative legal activist group but is not himself a lawyer, offered Trump misguided advice about the law, the precedent, and the issues involved in the Mar-a-Lago case.
The irony for those old enough to remember the Clinton years is that Fitton was mistakenly drawing on a case Judicial Watch was involved in back in the day when it was among the leading right-wing nemeses of Bill Clinton. Remember Larry Klayman?
The kicker to all this is that despite Fitton’s horrendous advice and Trump’s subsequent indictment, Trump still holds him close. Fitton had dinner with Trump and Nauta and their lawyers Monday night at a steakhouse at Trump’s Miami club.
Trump’s Lawyers Tried … They Really Did
It’s important not to reduce Trump’s mess of his own making to bad advice from Tom Fitton. It’s just an amusing addendum to the Trump train wreck.
The truth is that multiple Trump lawyers (reminder: Fitton is not a lawyer) advised him of his legal peril if he did not surrender the documents in his possession. Self-interested accounts from lawyers now caught in bad situations? Sure, but this is no-brainer legal advice. You don’t have to be a high-powered superlawyer to reach the conclusion that Trump was facing a world of hurt if he persisted on his defiant course.
Trump did what Trump wanted to do, as he always does. He ignored the advice he didn’t like, and proceeded as he saw fit.
And here we are.
The Biggest Question Of All
As TPM’s Josh Kovensky reports, the chances of getting the Mar-a-Lago case wrapped up before Election Day 2024 seems super remote. You can’t rule it out, but it’s really hard to see it happening.
Tack on any indictments of Trump and his inner circle in the Jan. 6 investigation, the looming Georgia indictments, and the ongoing hush money case in New York, and you have a million reasons why these cases are all going to be tied up in pre-trial wrangling for months or even years.
And yet …
Not to engage in magical thinking, but it’s feels like we might be underestimating Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel Jack Smith if we expect them to be undertaking these massive, historic, unprecedented prosecutions involving a former president without taking into account the election calendar in a strategic way.
They know their federal cases will go away if Trump is re-elected. I don’t know how they’ve accounted for it. Maybe they haven’t. But I doubt it.
The timing – the crunch between now and the 2024 election – is what has me perched on the edge of my seat, more so than the pre-trial fights themselves, or the difficulty of proving this or that charge, or the jury pool in Miami.
The window is tight and it’s closing. The stakes could not be higher.
Love Seeing ‘Radical’ In NYT Headline
NYT: The Radical Strategy Behind Trump’s Promise to ‘Go After’ Biden
Aileen Cannon Is A Real Wild Card
The judge in the Mar-a-Lago case tried very few cases as a prosecutor and has presided over a similarly small number of criminal trials since taking the bench in 2020.
All The President’s Men
One thing worth mentioning about the conditions of Donald Trump’s pre-trial release. The Justice Department was willing to let Trump continue to have contact with witnesses in the case without restriction, an unusual accommodation in a criminal case. The magistrate judge was displeased with that much leniency and imposed the condition that Trump could interact with witnesses but not talk to to them about the case.
Now, if you know Trump or anyone like him, setting a boundary of any kind is the equivalent of an invitation for them to cross that boundary. It’s like waving a red cape in front of a bull. The existence of the boundary is itself an irresistible attraction.
Add to that the extraordinary number of witnesses who are Trump lawyers, former lawyers, employees, former employees, aides, former aides, and assorted hangers-on, and you have a recipe for witness-tampering disaster.
What A Fine Paragraph
Premium use of the verb “toggle,” too:
Nauta — who spent Tuesday bizarrely toggling between the roles of co-defendant, equal under the law to Trump, and dutiful “body man,” subservient to the former president — has showed no signs that his loyalty to Trump is waning.
And, no, Nauta does not seem poised to cooperate with prosecutors.
Fani Willis Is Undeterred
The Atlanta DA’s office says the Mar-a-Lago indictments “will not have any impact on the Fulton County election investigation.”
Hate To See It
Smooth, Guys, Real Smooth
Marine Arrested In Abortion Clinic Firebombing
Two men, including an active-duty marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, have been arrested in last year’s firebombing of an abortion clinic in California.
Ya Don’t Say?
Between South Carolina And Me
Judd Legum: Why a South Carolina high school decided to censor Ta-Nehisi Coates
What’s Your Idiot-Detection System?
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