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Monday, 1 April 2024:

 

Gag Order Against Trump Is Expanded to Bar Attacks on Judge’s Family. Donald Trump had in recent days targeted the daughter of Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing his criminal trial in Manhattan, in blistering social media posts. The New York Times, Jesse McKinley, Ben Protess, and William K. Rashbaum, Monday, 1 April 2024: “The New York judge overseeing Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial later this month expanded a gag order on Monday to bar the former president from attacking the judge’s family members, who in recent days have become the target of Mr. Trump’s abuse. Justice Juan M. Merchan last week issued an order prohibiting Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as their relatives. That order, however, did not cover Justice Merchan himself or the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, who brought the criminal case against the former president. And although the ruling issued on Monday still does not apply to the judge or the district attorney, Justice Merchan, granting a request from Mr. Bragg’s office, amended the gag order so that it does now cover their families. In his ruling, the judge cited recent attacks against his daughter, and rejected Mr. Trump’s argument that his statements were ‘core political speech.’ ‘This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,’ Justice Merchan wrote. ‘It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for defendant’s vitriol.’ Mr. Bragg’s office had asked the judge to clarify that their relatives were included, calling such protection ‘amply warranted.’ Noting Mr. Trump’s track record of issuing ‘threatening and alarming remarks,’ Mr. Bragg’s office warned of ‘the harms that those family members have suffered.’” See also, Trump ramps up attacks on judges, sparking concerns as criminal trial nears. The judge overseeing the criminal trial that will start April 15 issued an expanded gag order late Monday in response to some of the former president’s rhetoric. The Washington Post, Marianne LeVine, Clara Ence Morse, and Shayna Jacobs, Monday, 1 April 2024: “Former president Donald Trump is ramping up efforts to disparage judges overseeing his criminal and civil cases — reprising a long-standing strategy as a high-profile trial draws near and prompting growing concerns from legal experts and an an expanded gag order late Monday. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s approach, part of a broader election-year attempt to portray the judicial system as weaponized against him, was evident in a slew of attacks over the weekend. Such broadsides, which Trump has often lobbed without evidence for his claims, have raised worries about the safety of judges and threaten to undermine faith in the court system, some legal experts said Monday. Trump’s personal attacks against the daughter of the New York judge overseeing a hush money case prompted the judge to expand an existing gag order to include his family and the district attorney’s family.” See also, Judge expands gag order in Trump hush money case to include family members of the court, CNN Politics, Kara Scannell, Lauren del Valle, and Jeremy Herb, Monday, 1 April 2024: “The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial expanded a recently imposed gag order to include family members of the court and family members of the Manhattan district attorney, according to a late Monday ruling. In the ruling, which comes after Trump leveled comments against Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter in recent days, the judge issued a warning that Trump’s rhetoric threatens to instill fear in those who might be involved in the proceedings for their loved ones. ‘The average observer, must now, after hearing defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well,’ Merchan wrote. ‘Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.’ ‘It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings. The threat is very real. Admonitions are not enough, nor is reliance on self-restraint,’ he said.”

Trump Gets Bond Deal to Ward Off $454 Million Judgment, for Now. The guarantee means that New York’s attorney general will not be able to pursue Donald Trump’s assets and bank accounts until Mr. Trump’s appeals are settled. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Monday, 1 April 2024: “Former President Donald J. Trump averted a financial disaster on Monday, reaching a deal that will spare him from paying a $454 million judgment in his civil fraud case while he appeals the penalty. The lifeline came in the form of a bond that will prevent New York’s attorney general, who brought the lawsuit that led to the judgment, from collecting the $454 million until Mr. Trump’s appeal is resolved. The attorney general, Letitia James, accused Mr. Trump of fraudulently inflating his net worth by as much as $2 billion, and a judge ruled in her favor. Mr. Trump secured the bond after an appeals court last week granted his request to lower the bond amount, setting it at $175 million and staving off a financial crisis for Mr. Trump. He otherwise would have had to post a bond for the full $454 million, which his lawyers declared a ‘practical impossibility.’ Had he failed to do so, Ms. James could have frozen his bank accounts.” See also, Trump posts $175M bond to keep New York authorities from seizing his property, The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs, Monday, 1 April 2024: “Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday to prevent New York authorities from seizing his assets, including properties such as Trump Tower, pending appeal of a civil fraud judgment against him of nearly a half-billion dollars. The former president’s posting of the bond was necessary to keep New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) from initiating legal steps to take over his properties. The bond arrangement was made with Knight Specialty Insurance Company, according to a court document. After a 10-week trial late last year, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found Trump, the Trump Organization, Trump’s adult sons and two former executives liable in February for using illegal tactics to knowingly cheat business partners to increase the company’s profits and savings.” See also, Donald Trump has posted a $175 million bond to avert asset seizure as he appeals New York fraud penalty, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz, Monday, 1 April 2024: “Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday in his New York civil fraud case, halting collection of the more than $454 million he owes and preventing the state from seizing his assets to satisfy the debt while he appeals, according to a court filing. A New York appellate court had given the former president 10 days to put up the money after a panel of judges agreed last month to slash the amount needed to stop the clock on enforcement. The bond Trump is posting with the court now is essentially a placeholder, meant to guarantee payment if the judgment is upheld. If that happens, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will have to pay the state the whole sum, which grows with daily interest. If Trump wins, he won’t have to pay the state anything and will get back the money he has put up now.”

The Church of Trump: How He’s Infusing Christianity Into His Movement. Ending many of his rallies with a churchlike ritual and casting his prosecutions as persecution, the former president is demanding–and receiving–new levels of devotion from Republicans. The New York Times, Michael C. Bender, Monday, 1 April 2024: “Long known for his improvised and volatile stage performances, former President Donald J. Trump now tends to finish his rallies on a solemn note. Soft, reflective music fills the venue as a hush falls over the crowd. Mr. Trump’s tone turns reverent and somber, prompting some supporters to bow their heads or close their eyes. Others raise open palms in the air or murmur as if in prayer. In this moment, Mr. Trump’s audience is his congregation, and the former president their pastor as he delivers a roughly 15-minute finale that evokes an evangelical altar call, the emotional tradition that concludes some Christian services in which attendees come forward to commit to their savior. ‘The great silent majority is rising like never before and under our leadership,’ he recites from a teleprompter in a typical version of the script. ‘We will pray to God for our strength and for our liberty. We will pray for God and we will pray with God. We are one movement, one people, one family and one glorious nation under God.’ The meditative ritual might appear incongruent with the raucous epicenter of the nation’s conservative movement, but Mr. Trump’s political creed stands as one of the starkest examples of his effort to transform the Republican Party into a kind of Church of Trump. His insistence on absolute devotion and fealty can be seen at every level of the party, from Congress to the Republican National Committee to rank-and-file voters. Mr. Trump’s ability to turn his supporters’ passion into piety is crucial to understanding how he remains the undisputed Republican leader despite guiding his party to repeated political failures and while facing dozens of felony charges in four criminal cases. His success at portraying those prosecutions as persecutions — and warning, without merit, that his followers could be targeted next — has fueled enthusiasm for his candidacy and placed him, once again, in a position to capture the White House.”

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Friday, 1 December 2023:

 

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan Rejects Trump’s Claims That He Enjoys Absolute Immunity From Criminal Charges Accusing Him of Seeking to Reverse the 2020 Election. The ruling is likely to spark a series of appeals that the former president’s lawyers hope will push the trial on election interference charges past the 2024 election. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Friday, 1 December 2023: “A federal judge on Friday rejected claims by former President Donald J. Trump that he enjoyed absolute immunity from criminal charges accusing him of seeking to reverse the 2020 election, slapping down his argument that the indictment should be tossed out because it was based on actions he took while he was in office. The ruling by the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan, was her first denying one of Mr. Trump’s many motions to dismiss the election interference case, which is set to go to trial in Federal District Court in Washington in about three months. It offered a sweeping condemnation of what Judge Chutkan called Mr. Trump’s attempts to ‘usurp the reins of government’ and cited foundational American texts like the Federalist Papers and George Washington’s farewell address. Mr. Trump’s lawyers had expected the immunity motion to fail. They have, in fact, been planning for weeks to use the defeat to begin a long-shot strategy to put off the impending trial. They intend to appeal Judge Chutkan’s ruling all the way to the Supreme Court if they can, hoping that even if they lose, their challenges will eat up time and keep the case from going in front of a jury until after the 2024 election…. The former president’s lawyers essentially claimed that all the steps he took to subvert the election he lost to President Biden were not crimes, but rather examples of performing his presidential duties to ensure the integrity of a race that he believed had been stolen from him. Judge Chutkan had little patience for such arguments, saying on Friday evening that neither the Constitution nor American history supported the contention that a former president enjoyed total immunity from prosecution. ‘Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong get-out-of-jail-free pass,’ Judge Chutkan wrote. ‘Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability. Defendant may be subject to federal investigation, indictment, prosecution, conviction and punishment for any criminal acts undertaken while in office.’ She added, ‘Defendant’s four-year service as commander in chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.'” See also, Federal judge Tanya Chutkan rejects Trump immunity claim in January 6 criminal prosecution. Chutkan’s ruling sets the clock ticking on whether the Supreme Court will agree and allow Trump to face federal trial in Washington before the 2024 election. The Washington Post, Spencer S. Hus and Rachel Weiner, Friday, 1 December 2023: “A federal judge on Friday rejected Donald Trump’s claim of ‘absolute immunity’ from criminal prosecution for actions taken while he was president, setting the stage for a legal battle over presidential power probably headed to the U.S. Supreme Court and starting the clock ticking on whether the justices will agree to allow him to face trial in Washington before the 2024 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan denied Trump’s request to toss out his four-count August indictment on charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government’s election process, to obstruct Congress’s certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021, and to disenfranchise American voters.” See also, Federal judge Tanya Chutkan rules that Trump is not immune from election-subversion prosecution. ‘A former President’s exposure to federal criminal liability is essential to fulfilling our constitutional promise of equal justice under the law,’ Chutkan ruled. Politico, Kyle Cheney, Friday, 1 December 2023: “Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution for his attempt to subvert the 2020 election, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Friday, concluding that his term as president does not serve as a shield against charges that he sought to defraud and disenfranchise millions of Americans. ‘Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens,’ Chutkan ruled in a 48-page opinion, sweeping aside Trump’s most intricate attempt to derail the case against him.”

Federal Appeals Court Rules That Civil Lawsuits Seeking to Hold Former President Donald Trump accountable For the Violence That Erupted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Can Move Forward For Now. The court left open the possibility that the former president could still prevail in his effort to claim immunity from civil cases seeking to hold him accountable for the violence. The New York Times, Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, Friday, 1 December 2023: “A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that civil lawsuits seeking to hold former President Donald J. Trump accountable for the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, can move forward for now, rejecting a broad assertion of immunity that Mr. Trump’s legal team had invoked to try to get the cases dismissed. But the decision, by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, left open the possibility that Mr. Trump could still prevail in his immunity claims after he makes further arguments as to why his fiery speech to supporters near the White House on Jan. 6 should be considered an official presidential act, rather than part of his re-election campaign. The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution gives presidents immunity from being sued over actions taken as part of their official duties, but not from suits based on private, unofficial acts. The civil cases brought against Mr. Trump have raised the question of which role he was playing at the rally he staged on Jan. 6, when he told supporters to “fight like hell” and urged them to march to the Capitol. Essentially, the appeals court ruled that at this stage of the case, that question has yet to be definitively answered. It said Mr. Trump must be given an opportunity to present factual evidence to rebut the plaintiffs’ claims that the rally was a campaign event — scrutinizing issues like whether campaign officials had organized it and campaign funds were used to pay for it.” See also, Federal Appeals Court rules Trump doesn’t have presidential immunity from civil lawsuits related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, CNN Politics, Katelyn Polantz and Holmes Lybrand, Friday, 1 December 2023: “Former President Donald Trump can be sued in civil lawsuits related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot in a long-awaited, consequential decision from the federal appeals court in Washington, DC. The decision will have significant implications for several cases against Trump in the Washington, DC, federal court related to the 2020 election. The decision arises out of lawsuits brought by Capitol Police officers and Democrats in Congress. The opinion, written by Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, states that not everything a president does or says while in office is protected from liability.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote foreword for book filled with conspiracy theories and homophobic insults, CNN Politics, Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck, Friday, 1 December 2023: “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wrote the foreword and publicly promoted a 2022 book that spread baseless and discredited conspiracy theories and used derogatory homophobic insults. Written by Scott McKay, a local Louisiana politics blogger, the book, ‘The Revivalist Manifesto,’ gives credence to unfounded conspiracy theories often embraced by the far-right – including the ‘Pizzagate’ hoax, which falsely claimed top Democratic officials were involved in a pedophile ring, among other conspiracies. The book also propagates baseless and inaccurate claims, implying that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was subjected to blackmail and connected to the disgraced underage sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.” See also, House Speaker Mike Johnson Wrote the Foreward for a Racist, Homophobic, Anti-Poor Book That Endorsed Pizzagate and Denigrated a Prisoner of War, Vanity Fair, Bess Levin, Friday, 1 December 2023: “With George Santos’s expulsion drama taking up all the attention in Congress this week, you might have forgotten that the new leader of the House, Mike Johnson, has a history of deeply homophobic remarks that have come out on a near-daily basis since he was elected, as well as equally shitty takes on things like abortion, mass shootings, and democracy. But he does! And on a whole bunch of other stuff as well. CNN’s KFile reports that Johnson wrote the foreward for and then promoted a 2022 book written by Scott McKay called The Revivalist Manifesto, which: 1. Says poor voters are ‘unsophisticated and susceptible to government dependency’ and easy to manipulate with ‘Black Lives Matter defund the police pandering’; 2. Describes Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the ‘queer choice’ for the Cabinet job, calls him ‘openly, and obnoxiously, gay,’ and refers to him as ‘Gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg’; 3. Claims the Biden administration purposely let undocumented immigrants into the US for voting purposes; 4. Says Barack Obama’s ‘chief selling point was that he was black’; 5. Writes of the debunked conspiracy theory that Democratic officials ran a pedophile ring out of a pizza shop: ‘The Pizzagate scandal was born, and though some of the most outlandish allegations made in it were clearly disproven, other elements were not; the whole thing just seemed to be dismissed as debunked, and no explanation was ever given”; 6. Suggests Supreme Court Chief justice John Roberts had ties to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; 7. Declares John McCain used five and a half years as a prisoner of war during Vietnam ‘as a political get-out-of-jail-free card.'”

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Wednesday, 1 November 2023:

 

If Trump Wins, His Allies Want Lawyers Who Will Bless a More Radical Agenda. Politically appointed lawyers sometimes frustrated Donald Trump’s ambitions. His allies are planning to install more aggressive legal gatekeepers if he regains the White House. The New York Times, Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage, and Maggie Haberman, Thursday, 1 November 2023: “Close allies of Donald J. Trump are preparing to populate a new administration with a more aggressive breed of right-wing lawyer, dispensing with traditional conservatives who they believe stymied his agenda in his first term. The allies have been drawing up lists of lawyers they view as ideologically and temperamentally suited to serve in a second Trump administration. Their aim is to reduce the chances that politically appointed lawyers would frustrate a more radical White House agenda — as they sometimes did when Mr. Trump was in office, by raising objections to his desires for certain harsher immigration policies or for greater personal control over the Justice Department, among others. Now, as Trump allies grow more confident in an election victory next fall, several outside groups, staffed by former Trump officials who are expected to serve in senior roles if he wins, have begun parallel personnel efforts. At the start of Mr. Trump’s term, his administration relied on the influential Federalist Society, the conservative legal network whose members filled key executive branch legal roles and whose leader helped select his judicial nominations. But in a striking shift, Trump allies are building new recruiting pipelines separate from the Federalist Society. These back-room discussions were described by seven people with knowledge of the planning, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. In addition, The New York Times interviewed former senior lawyers in the Trump administration and other allies who have remained close to the former president and are likely to serve in a second term.”

Donald Trump Jr. Denies Responsibility for Company Business Statements. The former president’s son began the Trump family’s parade to the witness stand in the civil fraud case. The New York Times, Jonah E. Bromwich and Kate Christobek, Wednesday, 1 November 2023: “Donald Trump Jr. testified on Wednesday that he had no direct involvement in annual financial statements that his family’s business gave banks and insurers despite language in the statements themselves suggesting that he was partially responsible for them. His contention, which came during the trial of a civil fraud lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, capped an afternoon of otherwise unremarkable testimony from Mr. Trump, who is the first of his family members to testify about the case. Asked whether he worked on one such statement, from 2017, Mr. Trump was clear: ‘I did not. The accountants worked on it. That’s what we pay them for.’ He soon clarified that his conversations with others at the company may have informed the financial statement. The attorney general, Letitia James, has said such papers were filled with fraud that helped the company, the Trump Organization, gain favorable treatment from lenders.” See also, Donald Trump Jr. testifies and deflects responsibility in New York business fraud case, The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs and Mark Berman, Wednesday, 1 November 2023: “Donald Trump Jr. testified Wednesday afternoon in a multimillion-dollar civil case that accuses him, his father and other Trump Organization executives of cheating in business deals, saying he was not directly involved in the production of financial statements. The former president’s son is the first member of his family to be called as a witness by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) in its $250 million fraud lawsuit against the family and the company. James’s lawsuit accuses Donald Trump and his executives of inflating his financial statements to secure better terms. During his testimony, Trump Jr. said the responsibility of preparing financial statements rested with Mazars USA, the company’s longtime accounting firm.” See also, Donald Trump Jr. testifies he never worked on the key documents in his father’s New York civil fraud trial, Associated Press, Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz, Wednesday, 1 November 2023: “Donald Trump Jr. testified Wednesday that he never worked on his father’s financial statements, the documents now at the heart of the civil fraud trial that threatens former President Donald Trump’s real estate empire. The ex-president’s eldest son is an executive vice president of the family’s Trump Organization and has been a trustee of a trust set up to hold its assets when his father was in the White House. At least one of the annual financial statements bore language saying the trustees ‘are responsible’ for the document. But Donald Trump Jr. said he didn’t recall ever working on any of the financial statements and had ‘no specific knowledge’ of them. The lawsuit centers on whether the former president and his business misled banks and insurers by inflating his net worth on the financial statements. He and other defendants, including sons Donald Jr. and Eric, deny wrongdoing.” See also, Live From Trump Fraud Trial: Donald Trump Jr. Takes the Stand, Forbes, Dan Alexander, Wednesday, 1 November 2023.

Before he became a politician, House Speaker Mike Johnson partnered with an anti-gay conversion therapy group, CNN Politics, Andrew Kaczynski, Wednesday, 1 November 2023: “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson closely collaborated with a group in the mid-to-late 2000s that promoted ‘conversion therapy,’ a discredited practice that asserted it could change the sexual orientation of gay and lesbian individuals. Prior to launching his political career, Johnson, a lawyer, gave legal advice to an organization called Exodus International and partnered with the group to put on an annual anti-gay event aimed at teens, according to a CNN KFile review of more than a dozen of Johnson’s media appearances from that timespan. Founded in 1976, Exodus International was a leader in the so-called ‘ex-gay’ movement, which aimed to make gay individuals straight through conversion therapy programs using religious and counseling methods. Exodus International connected ministries across the world using these controversial approaches. The group shut down in 2013, with its founder posting a public apology for the ‘pain and hurt’ his organization caused. Conversion therapy has been widely condemned by most major medical institutions and has been shown to be harmful to struggling LGBTQ people.”

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Sunday, 1 October 2023:

 

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Biden and Republican lawmakers vow to send Ukraine aid after Congress leaves it out of funding bill, The Washington Post, Kelly Kasulis Cho, Leo Sands, and Nick Parker, Sunday, 1 October 2023: “President Biden sought to reassure Ukrainians on Sunday that the United States would not abandon its support for the war-torn nation after a funding bill that averted a government shutdown this weekend did not include anticipated aid. ‘We cannot under any circumstance allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,’ Biden said in a news conference Sunday afternoon. Republican lawmakers also said Ukraine would receive aid in the coming weeks, though they said it would need to be packaged with spending on U.S. border security. Ukrainian officials sought to minimize the snub, though some observers worried that support could be waning. Biden said he expected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to support funding for Ukrainians ‘as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality.’ Biden touted ‘overwhelming’ bipartisan support for Ukrainian aid, and he said he hoped Republican leaders would ‘keep their word’ on further funding it. McCarthy said he’ll support sending Ukrainian troops ‘the weapons that they need,’ though a potential challenge to his leadership could further complicate plans for the aid. McCarthy, speaking on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ said he wanted to include efforts for U.S. border control in the next Ukraine-aid legislation. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham said Sunday morning that Senate Republicans would soon come out with a bill that would provide as much as $70 billion for Ukraine. ‘I’m not worried about the next six weeks,’ Graham (R-S.C.) said on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ referring to the time period covered by the short-term spending bill passed this weekend. ‘I’m worried about next year. We will produce in the United States Senate Ukraine funding $60 or $70 billion … to get them through next year.’ Graham also tied the next potential Ukraine aid to border funding. Ukraine’s envoy to Washington expressed optimism that funding guarantees for Kyiv would be secured. There is time, there are resources, and there is bipartisan support for Ukraine in Washington, Ambassador Oksana Markarova said in a Facebook post. An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence in U.S. aid Saturday. There has been no change in U.S. support, Andriy Yermak said on Telegram before the Senate vote, and Ukrainian leaders discuss the support often with Democratic and Republican officials. Aid for Ukraine had been a key issue as the United States headed toward a potential government shutdown. House Republicans, with late help from Democrats, pushed through a short-term bill to fund the government through Nov. 17 and avert a shutdown. Though the Senate ultimately approved the bill as well, the vote was at first delayed by Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), who expressed concern over the lack of additional aid to Ukraine. Slovakia’s parliamentary election has the potential to complicate the Western response to Ukraine. Nearly complete results showed that Robert Fico, a populist former prime minister whose campaign has been laced with pro-Russian and anti-American discourse, defeated his progressive rival. Fico said Sunday that his party would do ‘everything we can’ to promote immediate Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Zelensky has said he would allow peace talks only once Russian troops have left Ukraine; the Kremlin has said it must hold on to the five areas it has illegally annexed since 2014. Drones were spotted above Russian regions overnight into Sunday morning, local authorities said. Flights into Sochi International Airport were temporarily redirected as a result, the Black Sea resort city’s mayor, Alexei Kopaigorodsky, said early Sunday — adding in a Telegram post that a drone was shot down. Farther north, the governor of Smolensk region, bordering Belarus, said three drones were suppressed. NATO jets are monitoring part of its eastern flank ‘in the wake of Russian drone strikes near NATO territory,’ the defense alliance said. NATO’s X account said Sunday that Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance jets that arrived in Siauliai, Lithuania, last week ‘can detect aircraft and missiles hundreds of kilometres away.’ Romania detected ‘a possible unauthorized’ breach of the its airspace, the Defense Ministry said Saturday. In a separate instance a few weeks earlier, it said it found fragments of a suspected Russian drone in Romania.”

 

Monday, 2 October 2023:

 

Trump’s New York Civil Fraud Trial Starts With His Attacks on Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron. Trump appeared in court as lawyers for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, painted him as a fraudster. His lawyers said she was out to get the former president. The New York Times, Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich, and Kate Christobek, Monday, 2 October 2023: “The trials of Donald J. Trump began Monday in a New York courtroom, where the former president arrived to fight the first of several government actions — a civil fraud case that imperils his company and threatens his image as a master of the business world. The trial’s opening day brought Mr. Trump face-to-face with one of his longest-running antagonists: the attorney general of New York, Letitia James, who filed the case against him, his adult sons and their family business. If her office proves its case, the judge overseeing the trial could impose an array of punishments on Mr. Trump, including a $250 million penalty. Outside the courtroom, Mr. Trump fired a fusillade of personal attacks on Ms. James and the judge, Arthur F. Engoron. He called the judge ‘rogue’ and Ms. James ‘a terrible person,’ even suggesting that they were criminals. Inside, Mr. Trump sat in uncomfortable silence as Ms. James’s lawyers methodically laid out their case. The attorney general’s office accused the former president of inflating his riches by more than $2 billion to obtain favorable deals with banks and bragging rights about his wealth.” See also, Key Takeaways From the First Day of Trump’s Civil Fraud Trial. New York’s attorney general Letitia James filed the lawsuit accusing the former president of inflating the value of his assets. She seeks a $250 million penalty and other punishments. The New York Times, Jonah E. Bromwich, Monday, 2 October 2023. See also, New York’s $250 million civil fraud trial against Donald Trump gets underway, The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs, Mark Berman, Jonathan O’Connell, and Wesley Parnell, Monday, 2 October 2023. See also, Trump attended his civil fraud trial in New York court, The Washington Post, Monday, 2 October 2023: “A civil trial in which former president Donald Trump and his company are accused of committing rampant fraud began Monday in a Manhattan courtroom, with a sharp dispute playing out over the property valuations at the center of the case. New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit accuses the former president and his company of committing fraud by inflating the value of his real estate empire. Trump, who is running for president, has denied any wrongdoing and defended his business. James’s office said Monday in court that Trump and his business schemed to overestimate his assets for financial gain. Trump’s defense responded that there was ‘no fraud,’ saying there were multiple ways to value a real estate asset. The trial could last for weeks or months, and Trump is expected to testify. Proceedings concluded late Monday afternoon and are expected to resume Tuesday morning. New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the trial, issued a pretrial decision last week saying that fraud was broadly committed by the Trump Organization and its executives. James is seeking a $250 million financial penalty for Trump and restrictions on his ability to operate a business in New York state. Engoron, in his decision, revoked Trump’s New York business licenses, which could cause the former president to lose control over dozens of properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars.” See also, Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York begins Monday. Here’s what to know. The Washington Post, Shayna Jacobs, Monday, 2 October 2023.

Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump, CNN Politics, Jake Tapper, Monday, 2 October 2023: “John Kelly, the longest-serving White House chief of staff for Donald Trump, offered his harshest criticism yet of the former president in an exclusive statement to CNN. Kelly set the record straight with on-the-record confirmation of a number of damning stories about statements Trump made behind closed doors attacking US service members and veterans, listing a number of objectionable comments Kelly witnessed Trump make firsthand. ‘What can I add that has not already been said?’ Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. ‘A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all “suckers” because “there is nothing in it for them.” A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for me.” A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France…. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said,’ Kelly concluded. ‘God help us.’ In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, ‘I don’t get it. What was in it for them?’ Those details also include Trump’s inability to understand why the American public respects former prisoners of war and those shot down in combat. Then-candidate Trump of course said in front of a crowd in 2015 that former Vietnam POW Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, was ‘not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.’ But behind closed doors, sources told Goldberg, this lack of understanding went on to cause Trump to repeatedly call McCain a ‘loser’ and to refer to former President George H. W. Bush, who was also shot down as a Navy pilot in World War II, as a ‘loser.'” See also, John Kelly’s full-throated confirmation of Trump’s ugliest comment, parsed. Kelly finally went on the record to make clear that, yes, Trump did say those things about veterans and wounded soldiers. The Washington Post, Aaron Blake, Monday, 2 October 2023: “Among the many controversies Donald Trump has courted during his time in politics, perhaps none engender the kinds of emotions as his comments — and reported comments — denigrating veterans and the war-wounded. But some of the most serious reports about what he’s said have gone largely unconfirmed by key players. That changed in a major way on Monday. Former Trump White House chief of staff John F. Kelly delivered a blistering statement to CNN’s Jake Tapper that, for the first time, served to confirm years-old comments attributed to Trump and for which Kelly was present. Kelly, like many former top Trump administration officials, has criticized Trump somewhat in the past, but his new statement takes things to another level and fills out the picture of some of Trump’s ugliest alleged comments.” See also, John Kelly, a Former White House Chief of Staff, Confirms Trump’s Disparaging of Veterans. In a statement to CNN, Mr. Kelly corroborated reporting from 2020 that he declined to confirm at the time despite pressure from friends and associates to do so. The New York Times, Maggie Astor, published on Tuesday, 3 October 2023: “John F. Kelly, the onetime chief of staff to former President Donald J. Trump, confirmed on Monday some of Mr. Trump’s most startling comments about service members and veterans, reeling them off in a statement in which he said his onetime boss had ‘contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution and the rule of law. A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as P.O.W.s are all “suckers” because there is nothing in it for them,’ he told CNN. He went on: ‘A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because “it doesn’t look good for me.” A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are “losers” and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.’ The mention of ‘a Gold Star family’ was a reference to Mr. Trump’s 2016 attacks on the parents of an Army captain killed in Iraq, which he made after they criticized him. Four years later, he suggested that Gold Star families might be to blame for infecting him with the coronavirus. Mr. Kelly’s statement confirmed reporting from The Atlantic in 2020, which he declined to confirm at the time despite pressure from friends and associates to do so. The attitude he described also matched an account last month from Gen. Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Mr. Trump had chastised him for choosing an Army captain who lost a leg in Afghanistan to sing ‘God Bless America’ at a ceremony because ‘no one wants to see that, the wounded.’ In his final speech as chairman last week, General Milley said — without naming Mr. Trump — that American troops took an oath to the Constitution, not ‘to a wannabe dictator.'” See also, Trump Says Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers.’ The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic. The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, published on Thursday, 3 September 2020: “When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that ‘the helicopter couldn’t fly’ and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true. Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, ‘Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’ In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as ‘suckers’ for getting killed.”

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Friday, 1 September 2023:

 

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: U.S. says Ukrainian forces advance in Zaporizhzhia, The Washington Post, Andrew Jeong, Victoria Bisset, Robyn Dixon, Natalia Abbakumova, Miriam Berger, Karen DeYoung, and Serhiy Morgunov, Friday, 1 September 2023: “White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Friday that Ukraine has achieved ‘notable progress’ in recent days in its counteroffensive to retake territory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. ‘They have achieved some success along that second line of Russian defenses,’ he said at a news conference. It ‘is not beyond the realm of the possible that Russia will react’ to Ukraine’s push, he said. Kirby declined to comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s claims overnight that Kyiv had used new domestically made long-range missiles to hit a target at some 435 miles distance. Zelensky did not offer specifics, including whether they were used in a test or against an enemy target. Hours later, the head of Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, said that Moscow’s new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, had after months of delay been put on combat alert. Ukraine’s apparent advance came after several weeks of near stalemate, which has prompted concern, including within the administration, about Ukraine’s military strategy. Russia’s Ministry of Justice branded Nobel laureate Dmitry Muratov a ‘foreign agent’ on Friday. Muratov, the editor in chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, has been a frequent critic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ‘foreign agent’ designation imposes rules and restrictions relating to finances and public disclosures. The underlying law has been used to harass and burden human rights organizations and journalists in Russia. Zelensky said Kyiv’s new long-range weapons were produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries and, according to Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, have been under development since 2020. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the Ukrainian claims. Kirby referred all questions about Ukrainian capabilities to Kyiv and reiterated the administration’s policy of not encouraging or enabling Ukrainian strikes inside Russia’s borders. ‘We are focused on making sure Ukraine can win back its own territory,’ Kirby said. Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s Roscosmos, announced the deployment of the Sarmat missile complex on Friday, three months after Russian President Vladimir Putin initially said it would be ready, Russian state news agency Interfax reported. The Kremlin, which has claimed that it can breach ‘any missile defense’ system, successfully test-launched one of the intercontinental ballistic missiles in April. At the time, Pentagon said it was not a significant threat to the United States or its allies. Russia said Friday that any weapons facilities in Ukraine could become a target, a day after Zelensky’s office announced that Britain’s largest defense contractor, BAE Systems, will open an office in Kyiv to streamline support for Ukrainian forces. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the development would not ‘fundamentally change the situation,’ but warned: ‘Any weapons production facilities, especially if these weapons are fired at us, become the object of special attention by our military forces.’ BAE has been providing Ukraine with weapons such as the L119 and M777 artillery systems, Zelensky said. Putin said Friday that he would meet ‘soon enough’ with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who the Russian president called ‘his friend’ and ‘a person who does a lot for the development of Russian-Chinese relations.’ The two leaders most recently met in March and held three days of talks in Moscow — a symbolic joint stand against the United States and its Western allies. Xi and Putin agreed to expand economic ties, which have become a lifeline for Russia under Western sanctions. Ambassadors from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremony and banquet, after the foundation behind the prize said it would invite all countries with diplomatic representation in Sweden. Both countries were uninvited from last year’s ceremony in Stockholm — which awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to a trio of Kremlin critics and human rights defenders in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia — following the invasion of Ukraine. ‘The achievements recognised by the Nobel Prize require openness, exchange and dialogue between people and nations,’ the organization wrote in a statement Thursday, adding that it wished to reach out ‘even to those who do not share the values of the Nobel Prize.’ A Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, urged North Korea not to negotiate with Russia or provide it with arms, describing the arms in question as ‘essentially artillery ammunition’ in a briefing with reporters. The previous day, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Russia and North Korea are ‘actively advancing’ negotiations for weapons that would be used in the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday. The announcement comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan. are expected to meet in Moscow to discuss a proposal to send Russian grain to Turkey with the financial help of Qatar, as an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal. The grain would be processed in Turkey and exported to countries ‘in need,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Military exercises involving more than 2,500 soldiers from Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began Friday in Belarus, and are set to last through Sept. 6. Armenia, which is part of the same military alliance of post-soviet states, declined to participate. Ukraine and Poland said they were strengthening protections at their shared borders with Belarus. Poland’s internal affairs minister, Mariusz Kaminski, said that all Belarusian crossings with the European Union will be immediately closed should any provocations arise.”

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Ukraine’s Offensive Makes Progress. Washington acknowledges Kyiv’s counteroffensive has advanced in the past three days. The New York Times, Friday, 1 September 2023:

• Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made ‘notable progress’ in the last 72 hours, the White House says.
• Russia claims its Sarmat intercontinental missile is on ‘combat duty.’
• A U.S. official meets with a Ukrainian delegation to discuss Kyiv’s anti-corruption efforts.
• Russia brands a Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist a ‘foreign agent.’
• Putin and Erdogan will meet as grain talks appear stalled.
• Ukrainian students begin a new school year in the shadow of war.
• New Russian high school textbooks seek to justify the war in Ukraine.

Two Proud Boys Sentenced in January 6 Sedition Case. Ethan Nordean, a ground commander of the far-right group, got 18 years, matching the longest January 6 sentence so far. Dominic Pezzola, among the first rioters to enter the Capitol, received 10 years. The New York Times, Alan Feuer and Zach Montague, Friday, 1 September 2023: “Two more members of the Proud Boys were sentenced to prison on Friday for their roles in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a ground commander in the far-right group, Ethan Nordean, given 18 years, and Dominic Pezzola, the man who set off the initial breach of the building by smashing a window with a riot shield, getting 10 years. The sentences imposed on Mr. Nordean and Mr. Pezzola were the third and fourth to have been handed down this week to five members of the far-right group who were tried in May for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in one of the most significant prosecutions to have emerged from the Capitol attack. While Mr. Pezzola’s sentence was only half of the 20 years the government had requested, Mr. Nordean’s was the stiffest penalty issued so far in any case related to the Capitol attack and was the same as term given in May to Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, who was also found guilty of sedition in connection with Jan. 6.”

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Tuesday, 1 August 2023:

 

Trump Is Indicted in His Push to Overturn the 2020 Election. The former president faces three conspiracy charges and a count of attempting to obstruct an official proceeding in his campaign to use the levers of government power to remain in office. The New York Times, Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted on Tuesday in connection with his widespread efforts to overturn the 2020 election following a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency. The indictment, filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Trump of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States; a second to obstruct an official government proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote; and a third to deprive people of a civil right, the right to have their votes counted. Mr. Trump was also charged with a fourth count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. ‘Each of these conspiracies — which built on the widespread mistrust the defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud — targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election,’ the indictment said. The charges signify an extraordinary moment in United States history: a former president, in the midst of a campaign to return to the White House, being charged over attempts to use the levers of government power to subvert democracy and remain in office against the will of voters. In sweeping terms, the indictment described how Mr. Trump and six co-conspirators employed a variety of means to reverse his defeat in the election almost from the moment that voting ended. It depicted how Mr. Trump promoted false claims of fraud, sought to bend the Justice Department toward supporting those claims and oversaw a scheme to create false slates of electors pledged to him in states that were actually won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. And it described how he ultimately pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, to use the fake electors to subvert the certification of the election at a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, that was cut short by the violence at the Capitol.” See also, The Trump January 6 Indictment, Annotated. The Justice Department unveiled an indictment on Tuesday charging former President Donald J. Trump with four criminal counts. They relate to Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which culminated in the January 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. The New York Times, Charlie Savage and Adam Goldman, Tuesday, 1 August 2023. See also, Here Are the Charges Trump Faces in the January 6 Case. The former president is charged with three conspiracy counts and the corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding. The New York Times, Charlie Savage, Tuesday, 1 August 2023. See also, Judge In Trump January 6 Trial Is Known for Tough Capitol Riot Sentences. A judge with a liberal background and significant criminal trial experience, Tanya S. Chutkan swiftly ruled against the former president in his 2021 attempt to keep White House papers secret from the congressional inquiry. The New York Times, Charlie Savage and Alan Feuer, published on Wednesday, 2 August 2023. See also, The Indictment Says Trump Had Six Co-consiprators in His Efforts to Retain Power. The New York Times, Alan Feuer, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “The indictment of former President Donald J. Trump mentions — but does not identify by name — six co-conspirators who prosecutors say worked with him in seeking to overturn the 2020 election. It is not clear why the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, decided to seek only Mr. Trump’s indictment for now, though it is possible that some of the co-conspirators could still face charges in the weeks ahead…. Among those people central to the inquiry were Rudolph W. Giuliani, a lawyer who oversaw Mr. Trump’s attempts to claim the election was marred by widespread fraud; John Eastman, a law professor who provided the legal basis to overturn the election by manipulating the count of electors to the Electoral College; Sidney Powell, a lawyer who pushed Mr. Trump to use the military to seize voting machines and rerun the election; Jeffrey Clark, a Justice Department official at the time; and Kenneth Chesebro and James Troupis, lawyers who helped flesh out the plan to use fake electors pledged to Mr. Trump in states that were won by President Biden.” See also, Four Takeaways From the Trump Indictment. The indictment of the former president for trying to subvert democracy was issued by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia. It’s the third set of charges that he faces. The New York Times, Jonathan Swan, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: See also, Keeping Track of the Trump Investigations, The New York Times, updated Tuesday, 1 August 2023. See also, Trump indicted on 2020 election charges after January 6 investigation, The Washington Post, Perry Stein, John Wagner, Amy B Wang, Mariana Alfaro, Maegan Vazquez, Jacqueline Alemany, Amy Gardner, Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Niha Masih, and Lyric Li, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “A grand jury has indicted former president Donald Trump for multiple alleged crimes stemming from his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The four-count, 45-page indictment accuses Trump of three distinct conspiracies, and charges that he conspired to defraud the U.S., conspired to obstruct an official proceeding and conspired against people’s rights. Trump, who is seeking to return to the White House in next year’s election, denied all wrongdoing. Special counsel Jack Smith, in a brief appearance, said his office would seek a speedy trial.” See also, Trump charged in investigation of January 6 efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment alleges four different crimes and describes six unnamed, uncharged co-conspirators. The Washington Post, Devlin Barrett, Spencer S. Hsu, Perry Stein, Josh Dawsey, and Jacqueline Alemany, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “A grand jury indicted former president Donald Trump on Tuesday for a raft of alleged crimes in his brazen efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory — the latest legal and political aftershock stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol 2½ years ago. The four-count, 45-page indictment accuses Trump, who is again running for president, of conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiring against people’s civil right to have their vote counted. The maximum potential sentence on the most serious charge is 20 years in prison. ‘The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,’ special counsel Jack Smith told reporters after the indictment was filed. ‘It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant.’ Smith also praised the law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol, saying that they ‘did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people.'” See also, Read the full text of the 45-page Trump January 6 indictment document, The Washington Post, Washington Post Staff, Tuesday, 1 August 2023. See also, Here are the Trump co-conspirators described in the Department of Justice indictment, The Washington Post, Holly Bailey, Josh Dawsey, Jacqueline Alemany, Rachel Weiner, Amy B Wang, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “In criminally charging former president Donald Trump for his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, federal prosecutors allege that Trump enlisted six co-conspirators to ‘assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power.’The co-conspirators were not charged on Tuesday and are not named in the indictment, but five of them can be identified using the detailed descriptions provided by prosecutors.” See also, Trump has been indicted before. Historians say this time is different. Scholars say the new charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election pose a unique test for the rule of law and go to the core of the threat to democracy. The Washington Post, Kevin Sullivan, published on Wednesday, 2 August 2023: “When Donald Trump was indicted in Manhattan in March, it was the first time in U.S. history that a president or former president had faced criminal charges. On Tuesday, it happened to Trump for the third time in just over four months — and he may face even more charges before the summer is done. Historians and legal scholars say the new indictment, brought by federal special counsel Jack Smith, is fundamentally more consequential than the earlier ones, which related to hush money paid to an adult-film actress and the alleged mishandling of classified documents. While those are serious allegations, Tuesday’s indictment accuses a former president of the United States of attempting to subvert the democracy upon which the nation rests. And with Trump again running for the White House, the charges he faces pose an extraordinary test to the rule of law, experts say.” See also, 4 things that stand out from the Trump January 6 indictment, The Washington Post, Aaron Blake, published on Wednesday, 2 August 2023. See also, Judge Tanya Chutkan is a tough Trump critic and the toughest January 6 sentencer. Trump’s trial judge in D.C. is a former public defender and was one of the first U.S. judges to reject his executive privilege claims to withhold January 6 White House records. The Washington Post, Spencer S. Hsu and Tom Jackman, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “With U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan as the trial judge overseeing his case in Washington, Donald Trump’s legal troubles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack come near full circle. Trump’s federal criminal indictment on charges of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election was randomly assigned Tuesday to Chutkan, 61, who nearly two years ago became one of the first federal judges in D.C. to reject the former president’s efforts to use executive privilege to withhold White House communications from Jan. 6 investigators, in that instance from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.” See also, Trump indicted for efforts to overturn 2020 election to block transfer of power, Associated Press, Eric Tucker and Michael Kunzelman, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “Donald Trump was indicted on felony charges Tuesday for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol, with the Justice Department acting to hold him accountable for an unprecedented effort to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power and threaten American democracy. The four-count indictment, the third criminal case against Trump, provided deeper insight into a dark moment that has already been the subject of exhaustive federal investigations and captivating public hearings. It chronicles a months-long campaign of lies about the election results and says that, even when those falsehoods resulted in a chaotic insurrection at the Capitol, Trump sought to exploit the violence by pointing to it as a reason to further delay the counting of votes that sealed his defeat. Even in a year of rapid-succession legal reckonings for Trump, Tuesday’s indictment, with charges including conspiring to defraud the United States government that he once led, was stunning in its allegations that a former president assaulted the ‘bedrock function’ of democracy. It’s the first time the defeated president, who is the early front-runner for next year’s Republican presidential nomination, is facing legal consequences for his frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power.” See also, The New Trump Indictment and the Reckoning Ahead. With the former President still far ahead of the rest of the Republican field, the American electorate is headed for a crucial test. The New Yorker, David Remnick, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “To read the stark criminal indictment, returned by a federal grand jury on Tuesday, charging Donald Trump with conspiring to steal the 2020 Presidential election is to realize more deeply than before that the country is headed for a great reckoning—in the courts and at the ballot box. It suggests a question that cannot be escaped: Will the American electorate show itself capable of overlooking a conspiracy to undermine democratic rule and return the chief conspirator to power? The third and latest indictment against Trump sets out four charges and makes the case against him in the plainest terms. ‘Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power,’ the introduction to the forty-five-page document reads—and where have you seen a more succinct summary of criminal intent?” See also, Trump charged with 4 felony counts for attempt to overturn the 2020 election, NPR, Carrie Johnson, Ryan Lucas, Jaclyn Diaz, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on four counts related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to court documents. Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering, conspiracy against the rights of citizens, and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges were unsealed two weeks after the former president said he had learned he may be indicted by a federal grand jury investigating the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That’s when protesters loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent then-Vice President Mike Pence from performing his ceremonial role of certifying the presidential election in favor of the winner, Joe Biden.” See also, 5 things to know about the latest charges against Donald Trump, NPR, Emily Olson, Jaclyn Diaz, Ximena Bustillo, published on Wednesday, 2 August 2023.

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Moscow says drone hits skyscraper again; Kherson and Kharkiv report strikes, The Washington Post, Kelly Kasulis Cho, Ellen Francis, Natalia Abbakumova, Serhiy Morgunov, and Eve Sampson, Tuesday, 1 August 2023: “A drone hit the same Moscow skyscraper — which houses offices and ministries — for the second time in days, the city’s mayor and Russia’s Defense Ministry said early Tuesday, blaming Ukraine. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility, but Ukrainian officials have described targets in Russia as legitimate. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak suggested early Tuesday that the drones meant that Moscow was ‘rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war.’ Ukrainian officials said Russian attacks a day earlier killed at least 10 people, including a 10-year-old girl and her mother, and injured at least 100 in the southern city of Kherson and in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian shelling Tuesday hit a medical facility in Kherson, killing a doctor, injuring a nurse and damaging a surgical department there, the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said in a statement. International humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders confirmed that it maintains a partnership with the hospital that was attacked. Russian air defenses thwarted ‘several drones’ trying to reach Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Tuesday. He said the facade of the building’s 21st floor was damaged, that it was the same skyscraper hit on Sunday and that there was no information on casualties. UNESCO has verified damage to 274 locations in Ukraine, including religious sites, museums, monuments and libraries, during nearly a year and a half of war, the U.N. organization said. Russian drones struck Kharkiv and destroyed two floors of a dormitory, the mayor of the northeastern city, Ukraine’s second-largest, said overnight. Belarusian helicopters violated Polish airspace during a training exercise Tuesday, Poland’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The Belarusian Defense Ministry refuted the claims, calling them ‘far-fetched.’ Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak ordered more soldiers along the border, the ministry said. Britain imposed sanctions on six Russian nationals involved in the trial of British-Russian dual national Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was sentenced to 25 years in a penal colony on treason charges. Kara-Murza has publicly denounced Russia’s war on Ukraine and was sentenced on ‘bogus charges,’ British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. The sanctioned Russian citizens include three judges, two prosecutors and an expert witness. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is slated to attend a Ukrainian-backed peace summit that Saudi Arabia is planning, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning. Ukraine’s foreign minister said he discussed the possibility of using Croatian ports to export grain during a meeting Monday with his Croatian counterpart. Russia’s withdrawal from a U.N.-backed grain deal last month has blocked the flow of Ukrainian grain exports via Black Sea routes.”

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Drone Again Hits a Moscow Building Housing Russian Ministries. Ukrainian officials have become more open in their view that targets inside Russia are legitimate. The New York Times, Tuesday, 1 August 2023:

• Central Moscow is hit for the second time in two days in a drone attack.
• In Moscow, some residents worry after recent attacks while others move on.
• UNESCO says 274 cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since February last year.
• A Ukrainian doctor is killed in a shelling attack on his first full day at work, authorities say.
• Ukraine’s stepped-up attacks on Russia aim at the Kremlin’s military logistics.
• Ukraine is moving to export grain through Croatia’s ports.
• Extensive minefields impede Ukraine’s counteroffensive, military experts say.

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My daily chronicle of news about the Trump administration (20 January 2017 – 20 January 2021), Republicans, Democrats, corporations, courts, resistance, and persistence continues. I am still posting important articles, especially ones that reflect the differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration and ones that address the toxic legacy of the Trump administration and Republicans. However, I hope to devote more of my time to posting muckraking articles on this site in the coming months. Thanks for reading!

 

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Saturday, 1 July 2023:

 

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: C.I.A. Director William Burns says Wagner’s mutiny is a sign of the war’s ‘corrosive’ effect on Russia, The Washington Post, Kelsey Ables, Adela Suliman, Nick Parker, and Karen DeYoung, Saturday, 1 July 2023: “Russia’s ‘mistakes’ in Ukraine have laid bare its military weaknesses and damaged its economy for years to come, CIA Director William J. Burns said Saturday. Speaking in a lecture at Britain’s Ditchley Foundation, Burns reiterated the Biden administration’s insistence that the United States ‘had and will have no part’ in last week’s rebellion by Yevgeniy Prigozhin and his Wagner Group. The impact of Prigozhin’s ‘scathing indictment of the Kremlin’s mendacious rationale’ for the Ukraine invasion and the conduct of Russia’s military leadership in the war ‘will play out for some time, a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of [President Vladimir] Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime.’

• ‘Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership’ and create a ‘once in a generation opportunity’ for U.S. intelligence, said Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. ‘We’re not letting it go to waste,’ Burns said Saturday. Intelligence initiatives have included the unprecedented release of classified information on Putin’s war plans before the invasion and subsequent intelligence sharing with allies and Ukraine, and the use of social media through the Telegram channel ‘to let Russians know how to contact us safely on the dark web,’ he said. ‘We had 2.5 million views in the first week, and we’re very much open for business.’
• Burns made a secret visit to Ukraine last month, when officials revealed an ambitious endgame for the war, The Post has reported. The strategy aims to retake Russian-occupied territory and open cease-fire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year, officials familiar with the visit said.
• The Biden administration is weighing whether to supply Kyiv with cluster bombs. Senior U.S. administration and defense officials have contacted lawmakers to assess their comfort with sending the munitions, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. The Biden administration has concerns about the optics of the move and the potential for long-term harm to civilians because the munitions can leave behind unexploded bomblets that remain deadly for decades.
• A U.S. official told The Post that the United States has seen an ‘increasing need’ for cluster munitions, which could help address ammunition shortages in Ukraine. ‘We’ve always said our security assistance would evolve as battlefield conditions have evolved, and that continues to be the case,’ the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue. The United States is not among the more than 120 nations that have signed an international convention banning the use, transfer or production of cluster munitions, which international rights groups and other governments have long condemned as inhumane.
• Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he offered Wagner troops an abandoned military base in Belarus, the country where Prigozhin, the mercenary group’s leader, relocated this week, although he has not made a public appearance there yet. Satellite imagery captured Friday showed what could be the rapid construction of a new camp in Belarus to house Wagner forces, according to local media and experts. The Post could not independently verify the reports.
• Lukashenko signed a law allowing the ban of media outlets based in countries that he deems unfriendly to Belarus. The longtime authoritarian leader has a history of fomenting media criticism and protests.
• Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived in Ukraine on Saturday to meet with Zelensky, as his country takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union council. Sánchez tweeted: ‘I wanted the first act of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the E.U. to be in Ukraine,’ as he expressed European solidarity. Zelensky tweeted his appreciation after a joint news conference, thanking Spain ‘for supporting Ukraine on the way to joining the European Union.’
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘expressed understanding and support’ for Putin’s efforts to solidify power after the failed Wagner revolt, according to the Kremlin’s readout of their phone conversation Friday. The United States, Ukraine’s largest backer, has close ties with India, hosting a recent state visit for Modi, who has not condemned Russia’s invasion.
• Japan said it spotted two Russian Navy ships in the waters near Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa islands over the last four days, according to its Defense Ministry. Tokyo said last month that repeated Russian military activity near Japanese territory posed a ‘serious concern’ for the country’s national security, Reuters reported.

Trump pressured Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election, The Washington Post, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Josh Dawsey, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Saturday, 1 July 20223: “In a phone call in late 2020, President Donald Trump tried to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state’s presidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud, according to two of these people. Pence called Ducey several times to discuss the election, they said, though he did not follow Trump’s directions to pressure the governor. The extent of Trump’s efforts to cajole Ducey into helping him stay in power has not before been reported, even as other efforts by Trump’s lawyer and allies to pressure Arizona officials have been made public. Ducey told reporters in December 2020 that he and Trump had spoken, but he declined to disclose the contents of the call then or in the more than two years since. Although he disagreed with Trump about the outcome of the election, Ducey has sought to avoid a public battle with Trump.”

 

Sunday, 2 July 2023:

 

Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Wagner Group pauses hiring during move to Belarus, The Washington Post, Bryan Pietsch, Leo Sands, Shera Avi-Yonah, Ben Brasch, and Kyle Rempfer, Sunday, 2 July 2023: “Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s Wagner Group will pause hiring mercenaries for a month as its forces move to Belarus, scaling down the group’s activities after it aborted a mutiny attempt outside Moscow last month. A Telegram channel the company uses for hiring said Wagner’s forces won’t fight in Ukraine as they shift operations from Russia. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Kyiv this weekend as his country took the helm of the rotating European Council presidency. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the visit as symbolic, saying it showcased a ‘new reality’ amid the Russian invasion.

• The Wagner Group will stop recruiting new mercenaries for a month while its forces move to Belarus, and it has paused activities in Ukraine, according to a post on a Telegram channel the company uses for hiring. Prigozhin agreed to move his forces to Belarus last month as part of a deal brokered to stop his mutiny attempt. Wagner has used social media to mount a global hiring campaign in more than a dozen languages, the disinformation research group Logically told Politico Europe. Russia has also shut down several media outlets connected to Prigozhin, Reuters reported.
• Sánchez’s visit to the Ukrainian capital underscores ‘the priorities of the Spanish presidency and our cooperation,’ Zelensky said in his nightly address after the Saturday visit. ‘It was always impossible to imagine our common European home as complete without Ukraine. And now we have achieved at the political level that European affairs are no longer considered without Ukraine.’
• CIA Director William J. Burns said Russia’s ‘mistakes’ in Ukraine have revealed its military weaknesses and damaged its economy. He also reiterated that the United States had no part in the armed rebellion in Russia by Wagner Group founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Discontent in Russia during the war has created a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ for U.S. intelligence, said Burns, who is also a former U.S. ambassador to Russia. Last month, he made a secret visit to Ukraine, where Ukrainian officials conveyed their goals for the war’s endgame.
• President Biden will travel to Lithuania and Finland for diplomatic conferences this month, the White House announced in a news release Sunday. He will attend an annual NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, and a U.S.-Nordic summit in Helsinki on July 13. Ukraine continues to seek fast-tracked NATO accession, a step British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said this week the alliance should consider. Some NATO members have been cool to that idea. The European Union is also considering Ukraine’s membership bid and may formally discuss it in December, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said Thursday.
• Russia’s Maks air show has been postponed until 2024, organizers confirmed. The biennial show, which was last held in 2021 and was scheduled to take place this month, bills itself as the hallmark of Russia’s aerospace industry. According to Britain’s Defense Ministry, ‘the show has probably been canceled largely due to genuine security concerns, following recent uncrewed aerial vehicle attacks inside Russia.’
• The first direct flight from Russia to Cuba in over a year took place this weekend, Russia’s state-run Tass news reported Sunday. Publicly available flight data showed the 13-hour flight, operated by Aeroflot’s Rossiya Airlines, bypassed European airspace with a route over the Arctic and south over the Atlantic. According to Reuters, flights from Russia to Cuba, Mexico and the Dominican Republic were suspended in February 2022 after Western countries blocked Russian flights from using their airspace.
• Satellite imagery captured Friday showed what could be the rapid construction of a new camp in Belarus to house Wagner forces, according to experts and local media. The Post could not independently verify the reports. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he offered Wagner troops an abandoned military base in the country. Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary organization, also relocated to Belarus this week but has not yet made a public appearance there.
• Poland will bolster security along its border with Russian ally Belarus by deploying an additional 500 police officers, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said Sunday on Twitter. Kaminski described the situation on the border as ‘tense.’ Since Prigozhin’s relocation to Belarus last week, the Russian ally’s E.U. neighbors have grown increasingly wary of instability in the country spilling beyond its borders.
• Viktor Bout — the Russian infamous arms dealer traded for WNBA megastar Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap — is running for a seat in a Russian regional legislature as an ultranationalist candidate, state news agency RIA reported Sunday. Bout was serving a 25-year prison sentence after being arrested in a U.S. sting operation in Thailand. Griner, the two-time Olympic gold medalist, was serving nine years in a Russian prison for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.

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