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Lawmakers Warn of Violence Before Midterm Elections

August 31, 2022 at 7:48 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“National leaders are warning of the potential for political violence as campaign rhetoric heats up, fueled by an FBI investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents that has generated a furious backlash from him and his supporters,” NBC News reports.

“With less than 10 weeks to go before the midterm elections, the political climate is increasingly volatile, experts who study extremism say. Federal agencies like the IRS, FBI and National Archives are beefing up security as they become targets of the right. Lawmakers are disclosing threats and openly predicting violence; one even says that it has become too dangerous to hold public events and that she feels the need to shield her family from harm.”

Republicans Notably Silent as Trump Probe Deepens

August 31, 2022 at 7:42 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“At first, Republicans were highly critical of the FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, but as new details emerge about the more than 100 classified documents the former president haphazardly stashed at his private club Republicans have grown notably silent,” the AP reports.

“The deepening investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive government information has disclosed damaging and unsettling new details. With every court filing there is new information about the cache of documents the former president took with him from the White House and the potential national security concerns. While the unprecedented search has galvanized many Republicans to Trump’s defense, others in the party are unwilling to speak up, often wary of crossing him.”

Trump’s Legal Jab Left Him Wide Open

August 31, 2022 at 7:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Former President Donald Trump may have thought that he was playing offense when he asked a federal judge last week for an independent review of documents seized from his residence in Florida — a move that, at best, could delay but not derail an investigation into his handling of the records,” the New York Times reports.

“But on Tuesday night, the Justice Department used a routine court filing in the matter to initiate a blistering counteroffensive that disclosed new evidence that Mr. Trump and his legal team may have interfered with the inquiry.”

Washington Post: Justice filing points to new legal trouble for Trump and lawyers, experts say.

For members: Donald Trump Has Really Bad Lawyers

A Justice Department Show of Force Against Trump

August 31, 2022 at 7:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Lawfare: “The Justice Department’s filing Tuesday evening in former President Trump’s federal court effort to slow the Mar-a-Lago investigation presents a remarkable show of strength and confidence in the ongoing probe.”

“The document’s legal arguments are not particularly engaging, as they respond to uninteresting, meritless legal challenges from the former president. Its factual summary, by contrast, is a rip-roaringly great read, one in which the department tells the story of its investigation in some detail. Some of this story it has told before, but some it has not. There are a lot of new details in here, and nearly all of them are bad for the former president.”

“Some of these flesh out the volume and nature of the classified material Trump hoarded at Mar-a-Lago. But other details, more importantly in our view, flesh out questions of intent and mens rea that are key to all of the statutes at issue in the warrant. While the document goes out of its way not to discuss Trump’s personal behavior, it also includes material specifically suggestive of the degree to which the department has collected material incriminating Trump personally.”

Biden Shifts From Compromise to Combat

August 31, 2022 at 7:35 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Biden likes to say there is nothing America cannot do if the country is united and its rival parties are willing to work together,” the New York Times reports.

“But with just two months until the midterm elections, Mr. Biden is purposely spending less time hailing the virtues of compromise and more time calling out dangers to democracy — using some of the sharpest and most combative language of his presidency.”

Ron Johnson Has Fake Elector on His Campaign Payroll

August 31, 2022 at 6:55 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“For months, Sen. Ron Johnson has drawn scrutiny for his office’s role in attempting to deliver false packets of electors to former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“While the Oshkosh Republican continues to downplay his office’s connection to the effort, saying his participation lasted just seconds, one of Wisconsin’s false electors has been working on Johnson’s reelection campaign.”

Abortion Rights Proposal Knocked Off Michigan Ballot

August 31, 2022 at 6:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Michigan’s elections panel deadlocked along partisan lines Wednesday on certifying an abortion rights measure for this fall’s ballot that proposed adding an explicit right to seek the procedure in the state,” the Detroit Free Press reports.

“The impasse leaves the measure off the ballot, and Reproductive Freedom for All plans to file an appeal asking the Michigan Supreme Court to put the proposed constitutional amendment before voters as the state prepares to send out ballots next month.”

If It Were Anyone Else, They’d Be Prosecuted

August 31, 2022 at 4:46 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Adam Serwer: “Retaining classified documents is not even close to the worst thing Trump has done. We are, after all, speaking of a man who twice tried to subvert the democratic process, first by using foreign aid in an attempt to blackmail Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into falsely implicating then–Democratic rival Joe Biden in a crime, and later by attempting to use a mob to seize power by force after bureaucratic means failed.”

“But those were both overtly political acts, subject to distortions of perception and emphasis, and this one is rather more straightforward. It is illegal to ‘knowingly’ remove ‘such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location.’ The photograph of documents emblazoned secret removes any ambiguity as to whether Trump was in possession of classified documents.”

“If it were anyone else, they would be prosecuted.”

Peter Thiel Rebuffs McConnell Over Arizona Race

August 31, 2022 at 4:41 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “In the ensuing weeks, a high-stakes game of chicken would play out between McConnell and Thiel, culminating in a move last Friday by a super PAC linked to the minority leader, the Senate Leadership Fund, to abandon about $8 million worth of TV, radio and digital ads originally booked to boost Masters. The move was preceded by a pair of phone calls placed last week to Thiel by McConnell and the Kentucky Republican’s top fundraising lieutenant, Steven Law, who heads the Senate Leadership Fund.”

“Details of the conversations, which have not been previously reported, shed light on ordinarily veiled negotiations with major donors critical to the battle for the Senate. They also illustrate McConnell’s vexed relationship with candidates elevated by former president Donald Trump and donors, such as Thiel, sympathetic to Trump’s worldview.”

National GOP Drops $2.6 Million in New Hampshire Primary

August 31, 2022 at 4:37 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“National Republicans appear to be dropping millions of dollars in New Hampshire’s Senate primary, a sign that the party is intervening in a race to prevent a far-right candidate from becoming the nominee,” Politico reports.

Bonus Quote of the Day

August 31, 2022 at 4:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“It is a really unusual election. Republicans have significant advantages on their set of issues (inflation, economy, crime, border security) and Democrats enjoy significant advantages on issues of concern to their voters (abortion, climate change, guns, health care). There is no overlap, no competitive issues. This means each party has an unusual opportunity to try to create their own narrative to their own voters on what this election is about.”

— Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, quoted by CNN.

Merrick Garland’s Perilous Path to Prosecuting Trump

August 31, 2022 at 3:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Political fallout, precedent and national security risk are just some of the intangibles Garland will have to consider as he considers what would potentially be the highest-profile criminal case in American history, according to former prosecutors, intelligence agency lawyers and Justice Department officials.”

“One consideration for Garland is how Trump’s alleged actions stack up against other cases DOJ has brought or not brought over mishandling classified information. A second factor is how confident prosecutors are they could win at trial — knowing the political fallout of a losing case against a former president could be devastating.”

“And finally, Garland has to consider the damage that a trial might have on national security secrets, given the nature of the Mar-a-Lago document seizures.”

Biden’s Approval Snaps Back

August 31, 2022 at 2:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Six weeks after President Biden scored the lowest marks of his presidency, his job approval rating has jumped to a level not seen since September 2021. Americans give Biden a negative 40% to 52% job approval rating, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

Japan to Dramatically Boost Military Spending

August 31, 2022 at 2:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Japan will upgrade its cruise missiles and research hypersonic weapons as it seeks to significantly increase military spending to counter what Tokyo sees as the rising threat from China,” the Financial Times reports.

Trump Lawyer Claimed She Scoured Trump’s Office

August 31, 2022 at 1:30 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Just six days before the Justice Department subpoenaed to recover highly sensitive documents housed at Mar-a-Lago, one of Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys scoured the estate searching for records in response to a separate legal matter, Politico reports.

“The attorney, Alina Habba, told a New York State court that on May 5, she conducted a search of Trump’s private residence and office at Mar-a-Lago that was so ‘diligent’ it included ‘all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.’ She was looking for records in response to a subpoena issued by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating matters related to the Trump Organization.”

“The filing submitted to the New York AG’s office raises key questions in relation to the separate Mar-a-Lago probe, chiefly, whether Habba ended up handling any of the documents that DOJ later discovered at Trump’s club; and, if so, whether she has the clearance to have done so.”

Senate GOP Mulls Rolling the Dice in Colorado

August 31, 2022 at 1:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“From Arizona to Georgia, GOP candidates backed by former President Donald Trump have floundered, putting Mitch McConnell’s quest to take back the Senate majority at serious risk,” CNN reports.

“Now, top Republicans are weighing whether to pour huge sums of money in the final months of the 2022 campaign to lift Joe O’Dea, the Colorado Senate GOP nominee who has kept his distance from Trump and survived a Democratic attempt to meddle in his primary.”

Syracuse May Revoke Giuliani’s Honorary Degree

August 31, 2022 at 12:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Syracuse University Board of Trustees might revoke Rudy Giuliani’s honorary doctorate, the Daily Orange reports.

Republicans See Opening for Dr. Oz to Rebound

August 31, 2022 at 12:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Mehmet Oz remains behind John Fetterman in the race for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat 10 weeks until Election Day,” McClatchy reports.

“But Republicans now see seeds for a potential rebound against the Democratic front-runner, which is rooted in an unrelenting advertising assault on a record they see as largely unchallenged and questions about his ability to perform senatorial duties as Fetterman continues to recover from a severe stroke he suffered last spring.”