Trump traveled from Trump Tower to lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon to be arraigned.
We’ll be following along below as more information emerges.
Remember Those Elections
We’ve given our everything to capturing the spectacle and the legal intricacies of today’s events. The big thing is that we’ve now gotten to see the indictment. We know what Trump’s facing. But don’t forget that there are two big elections tonight. The Chicago mayoral run off is a big one. But the Wisconsin Supreme Court election is not only big for Wisconsin — it has major, major national implications as well. There’s no denying that the latter is the most consequential election of 2023. And we’re going to know the results tonight. As I’ve mentioned before, the people who I follow to get the minute to minute results on election nights are the folks on this curated Twitter list.
In other news, our friend Rick Hasen thinks the Bragg case is weak, relies too much on novel legal theories that could get bogged down in appeals for years or even tossed for legal insufficiency. I have no ability to evaluate the legal arguments at this level. But it’s significant to me that Rick sees the case’s merits in these terms. My own expectation is that the whole question will become moot, as a public if not a legal matter, with other indictments. But we shall see.
Late Update: Here’s a contrary take on the case and New York state law from JustSecurity.
Bragg: Trump Falsified Business Records As Part Of A Larger Illegal ‘Scheme’
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg held a press conference on Tuesday afternoon shortly after former President Trump was indicted on 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
In his comments to reporters, Bragg said he felt the records were “made to cover up other crimes.”
“Why did Donald Trump repeatedly make these false statements? The evidence will show that he did so to cover up crimes relating to the 2016 election” Bragg said.
Continue reading “Bragg: Trump Falsified Business Records As Part Of A Larger Illegal ‘Scheme’”Read: The Trump Indictment
The indictment itself is dry and minimalistic; the accompanying statement of facts has some new detail and captures the sordid nature of Trump himself and the entire scheme to protect him from negative stories about his sex life during the 2016 campaign. Read them both here.
Inside Democrats’ Legal Case To Expand Access To The Abortion Drug
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general are pushing the Food and Drug Administration to expand access to mifepristone, one of the drugs commonly prescribed to induce abortions — a bid to counter a high-profile attempt to restrict it in Texas.
Continue reading “Inside Democrats’ Legal Case To Expand Access To The Abortion Drug”Some Of The People You Meet At The MAGA Carnival Outside Trump’s Arraignment
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Trump devotees, counterprotestors, right-wing provocateurs, cops, and reporters mingled outside the courthouse on Tuesday where Donald Trump will become the first former president to face criminal charges.
Continue reading “Some Of The People You Meet At The MAGA Carnival Outside Trump’s Arraignment”‘Fascists!’: Tennessee GOPers Spark Outrage With Push To Oust Dems Who Joined Gun Protests
Tennessee Republicans introduced resolutions Monday evening to expel three Democratic members from the state House after they participated in a protest against lax gun laws from the floor of the chamber last week in the wake of the Nashville school shooting.
The move to expel the three Democrats brought fiery protests to the state Capitol Monday night.
Continue reading “‘Fascists!’: Tennessee GOPers Spark Outrage With Push To Oust Dems Who Joined Gun Protests”Sic Transiting
There’s one thing to remember here. Trump blazed a path of almost nonstop criminal conduct over seven years. He’s finally being charged with one crime. More serious charges are likely to follow. It’s pretty straightforward really. Crimes often lead to indictments. It’s not as sure as night following day. But it’s a pretty established pattern.
If you haven’t yet, check out our live blog of the day’s events, with TPM on the scene outside the courthouse doing interviews and absorbing the moment while the rest of the team provides running updates on every development. I found this very low-key interview with 62-year-old Trump supporter, Al, who came from outside Philly to be very interesting.
On a different front entirely, I noticed a statement sent out by email from CPAC denouncing the indictment of the former president. No surprise there. But down at the bottom it’s signed by Matt Schlapp, who has somehow managed to hang on as president of the group, and by CPAC’s general counsel, David Safavinian. Yes, the same guy who was sentenced to prison in the Abramoff scandal. Small world. I guess he managed to get his law license reinstated after prison. I didn’t realize it was that easy. But good for him for getting rehabilitated. I’m a lover not a fighter.
Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far in our annual TPM membership drive. A good start but a long way to go. It’s super, super important. If you want to join us just click here.
Happy Arraignment Day!
Two options for you this morning:
- On overview of the day ahead, including timing, what to look for, etc.
- Smart moment-by-moment coverage all day long.
Take your pick or do both! Your call.
An Unprecedentedly Corrupt Ex-POTUS Finally Faces The Music
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Alvin Bragg Runs A Tight Ship
I would not have put any amount of money on the Trump indictment not leaking for five days after we first learned of it Thursday. But we made it through another night without so much as an official peep.
The most substantive non-official account to emerge in the last 24 hours comes via Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, who reports that the indictment contains a whopping 34 felony counts for falsification of business records. Isikoff’s source is someone “who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president.”
We’ll see.
What You Need To Know Today On Timing
I suspect today’s schedule will be pretty fluid, so this is guidance, not gospel:
2:15 p.m. ET: Trump arraignment
3:30 p.m. ET: District Attorney Alvin Bragg will hold a press conference
The Atmospherics
The only two things I truly care about today are (i) what’s actually in the indictment; and (ii) any political violence encouraged by Trump or carried out by his followers.
Alas, this is a circus with all the attendant breathless coverage (fellow editors and producers, it doesn’t have to be this way …), so let me quickly run through some of the related items:
- Trump wanted a spectacle: Of course he did! Rolling Stone reports that the Secret Service wanted a low-key, maybe even remote arraignment, but Trump wanted no such thing.
- No mugshot or handcuffs for Trump? Michael Isikoff reports:
But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot.
- No video coverage in the courtroom: Judge Juan Merchan issued an order last night allowing five still photographers into the courtroom before but not during the arraignment. No video coverage of the arraignment will be allowed, and no electronic devices will be allowed in the courtroom during the arraignment. Cameras will be permitted in the hallways of the courthouse.
What To Look For
The coverage today is going to be hamstrung by lack of cameras or electronic devices in the courtroom, but … but … but: Arraignments are generally boring, procedural and lacking in news. So it sets up a whole day of waiting and anticipating for something that doesn’t amount to much and that we won’t actually see.
Which brings me back to the indictment itself. Not clear when exactly it will be unsealed: right before the arraignment, simultaneous with it, immediately afterwards? Or possibly it will be leaked by the Trump side, or emerge in some other way. Whatever the exact timing, the indictment unsealing is the day’s big news.
I’ll be focusing on the indictment itself, and TPM’s coverage will be built mostly around the actual charges. Our live coverage throughout the day will be here.
One last point: The indictment could be skimpy on facts or a fact-rich lengthy narration. A lengthy narration would have the potential advantage of revealing new details, new bad acts or incriminating evidence. Obviously, I’m hoping for the latter.
Trump Has A New Lead Criminal Defense Attorney
Trump has tapped attorney Todd Blanche to lead his defense of the New York state criminal case.
- Blanche had to resign as a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to take on the representation of Trump, a sign that Trump remains toxic to big law firms.
- Previous Blanche clients from Trump world: former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and Rudy Giuliani associate Igor Fruman. (Note: Blanche successfully repped Manafort in the state financial crimes case, where charges were ultimately dropped, not the parallel federal prosecutions).
Meanwhile, In The MAL Case …
Several Secret Service agents have been subpoenaed and are expected to testify before a DC grand jury on Friday in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, Fox New reports.
Trying To Get His Life Back
Former Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann, acquitted after being targeted in Special Counsel John Durham’s deeply corrupt probe, has landed a new job in the cybersecurity and privacy practice of a Silicon Valley-based law firm.
I Keep Going Back To That 60 Minutes Disaster With MTG
Lesley Stahl’s epically bad 60 Minutes segment on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is still reverberating.
Jeff Sharlet dissects it with great skill here:
Outwitted By Mickey Mouse
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) orders the state inspector general to investigate how Disney succeeded in bamboozling him.
Big Protests In Nashville
High school students across Nashville walked out Monday and gathered at the state capitol to protest lax gun laws after last week’s shooting left six dead at Covenant School.
Tennessee House GOP Flips Out Over Protests
The GOP speaker of the Tennessee House is moving to expel three Democratic representatives who joined with school shooting protestors in the chamber last Thursday. Comparing the protest to the Jan. 6 attacks, even though no property damage and no injuries occurred, House Republicans unleashed chaos in the chamber Monday night as they introduced the expulsion resolution. A vote on the resolution is expected Thursday.
‘It’s Kind Of A Jesus Christ Thing’
Feel the narcissism.
From the Rolling Stone report on Trump wanting to make his arraignment into a spectacle:
“It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing. He is saying, ‘I’m absorbing all this pain from all around from everywhere so you don’t have to,’ ” says the source. Describing the message Trump hopes to send his supporters, the source says: “ ‘If they can do this to me they can do this to you,’ and that’s a powerful message.”
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