Attention to the Unseen

The New York Times reports: In accusing former President Donald J. Trump of conspiring to subvert American democracy, the special counsel, Jack Smith, charged the same story three different ways. The charges are novel applications of criminal laws to unprecedented circumstances, heightening legal risks, but Mr. Smith’s tactic gives him multiple paths in obtaining and upholding a guilty verdict. “Especially in a case like this, you want to have multiple charges that are applicable or provable with the same evidence,…

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Politico reports: Trump was sworn in by a courtroom deputy and swore to tell the truth, so help him god. He stated his name and age a bit awkwardly — “Donald J. Trump. John.” “Seven-seven.” He had to confirm that he was not on any medication or drugs that might alter his ability to comprehend the proceedings. Trump spoke few words during his 45 minutes in the room, replying to questions with “yes” or “yes, your honor” in ways that…

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The New York Times reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said that claims about the 2020 election being stolen were false, directly contradicting a central argument of former President Donald J. Trump and his supporters. The comments went further than Mr. DeSantis typically goes when asked about Mr. Trump’s defeat. The governor has often tried to hedge, refusing to acknowledge that the election was fairly conducted. In his response on Friday, Mr. DeSantis did not mention Mr. Trump by name…

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Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump is a long, long way from winning the GOP primary, let alone retaking the White House. But he always has revenge on his mind, and his allies are preparing to use a future administration to not only undo all of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s work — but to take vengeance on Smith, and on virtually everyone else, who dared investigate Trump during his time out of power. Rosters full of MAGAfied lawyers are being assembled….

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The Washington Post reports: If convicted in any of the three criminal cases he is now facing, Donald Trump may be able to influence whether he goes to prison and what his stay there looks like under a law that allows former U.S. presidents to keep Secret Service protection for life, some current and former U.S. officials said. Presidents since 1965 have been afforded lifetime protection. Since then, only Richard M. Nixon has waived it, as a cost-saving move for…

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Politico reports: Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday jumped into the heated debate over ethics at the Supreme Court, arguing that Congress has broad powers to regulate the nation’s highest tribunal despite the recent claim from one of her conservative colleagues that such a step would violate the Constitution’s separation of powers. Kagan’s comments, at a judicial conference in Portland, came just days after the Senate Judiciary Committee responded to recent ethics controversies around justices’ luxury travel by advancing a bill…

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Reuters reports: About half of Republicans would not vote for Donald Trump if he were convicted of a felony, a sign of the severe risks his legal problems pose for his 2024 U.S. presidential bid, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Thursday. The former president and current front-runner in the Republican nomination contest for the November 2024 presidential election, Trump pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday to federal charges he led a conspiracy to overturn his loss…

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Randall D. Eliason writes: This is the indictment that those who were horrified by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, have been waiting for. The catalog of misdeeds that Donald Trump is accused of is extensive, some reflected in other prosecutions over classified documents and hush-money payments or in civil lawsuits. But this case — a sitting U.S. president’s assault on democracy — is by far the most consequential. And from the looks of this indictment, the prosecution’s case is…

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Ronald Brownstein writes: The long-awaited federal indictment of Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election may be necessary to contain the threat to American democracy that he has unleashed. But it’s unlikely to be sufficient. The germ of election denialism that Trump injected into the American political system has spread so far throughout the Republican Party that it is virtually certain to survive whatever legal accountability the former president faces. With polls showing that most Republican voters…

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The Washington Post reports: In a conference room near the Capitol, young conservatives gathered in April to learn how to run for office — how to win and wield government power. Among the keynote speakers at the summit, hosted by a group devoted to “training America’s future statesmen today,” was Jeffrey Clark, the former senior Justice Department official who in 2020 sought to use federal law enforcement power to undo then-President Donald Trump’s defeat. Clark, who accused the Biden administration…

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Politico reports: When Judge Tanya Chutkan presides over the new criminal case against Donald Trump, it won’t be her first time tangling with the former president and his lawyers. In fact, the U.S. district court judge already dealt the ex-president one of the most significant legal blows of his lifetime, triggering perhaps the greatest deluge of evidence about his bid to subvert the 2020 election — a scheme for which he now stands charged with serious crimes. The Obama-appointed jurist…

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  The indictment of Donald Trump on charges growing out of multiple schemes to steal the election is the most important case in the history of the Department of Justice and probably the country. We’ve had some quick reactions on cable TV. But in this special live tape episode, 3 of the country’s most knowledgeable commentators – Norm Eisen, Renato Mariotti, and Jen Rubin – join Harry Litman for the most in-depth discussion out there of the most important legal…

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Lawfare analysts write: The indictment released today by the Jan. 6 grand jury in Washington charges former President Donald Trump with four felony counts: two for obstruction of an official proceeding, one for conspiracy to defraud the United States, and one for conspiracy against rights. These are among the more straightforward crimes the special counsel could have charged; they are commonly used by prosecutors in a variety of contexts, and they avoid some of the legal pitfalls that would have…

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The Washington Post reports: A carload of White men who attacked an interracial couple with rocks and bricks. A member of the Ku Klux Klan who built a cross, wrapped it in sheets soaked in gas and oil and instructed two others to set it ablaze in front of the home of a family of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. A social media influencer who spread misinformation aimed at preventing people from voting. And now, a former president of the…

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The Washington Post reports: A grand jury indicted former president Donald Trump on Tuesday for a raft of alleged crimes in his brazen efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — the latest legal and political aftershock stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol two and a half years ago. The four-count, 45-page indictment accuses Trump of three distinct conspiracies, charging that he conspired to defraud the U.S., conspired to obstruct an official proceeding and conspired against…

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Politico reports: Donald Trump’s legal troubles have created windfalls for his political fundraising in the past. And his team has not been shy about using various investigations, indictments and court appearances to turbocharge his donor base. But new data filed with the Federal Election Commission by WinRed, the premiere GOP donation processor used by Trump and most other Republican candidates, shows that trend may be ebbing. The former president’s fundraising did not spike as high after his second indictment in…

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