The lines between Trump’s 2024 campaign and his criminal defense have all but evaporated. 
 

• Disgraced former president Donald Trump is the subject of multiple criminal investigations, and fighting his own prosecution is eating into so much of his time and resources that the effort is now inextricably linked to his 2024 campaign. So now Trump becomes yet another first-of-his-kind candidate: not just juggling multiple criminal indictments while running for president, but using his campaign-fundraising apparatus to finance his defense.
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• More than half of the money Trump raised last quarter went not to his 2024 campaign but to the Save America PAC which is funding his legal defense, according to the latest report to the Federal Election Commission. At what point will the GOP see this guy’s legal bills reaching nine figures and finally say, “He ain’t worth it, bro,”? Well, maybe never. Because like Trump, Trump supporters have blended his criminal prosecutions together with his likely rematch against President Biden. 
   

• Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who was once Trump’s main primary rival, has tried to draw attention to this glaring swindle. An aide to DeSantis’s PAC issued a statement noting, “Trump’s supporters are being taken advantage of by having to foot the bill for Trump’s legal troubles…Gov. DeSantis is forwardly focused on saving our country and Donald Trump is yet again focused on Donald Trump.” But increasingly, it seems like Trump supporters don’t have a problem with that at all.

In other Trump news…
 

• Trump’s former-lawyer-turned-critic Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization have settled his lawsuit seeking $1.3 million in legal fees. The final terms of the deal remain undisclosed, but Cohen stated that the matter “has been resolved in a manner satisfactory to all parties.” The settlement came just days before the case was slated to go to trial, where witnesses including Donald Trump, Jr., and Trump Organization Executive Vice President Alan Garten were set to testify. Cohen’s 2019 testimony before Congress about Trump and the Trump organization led to an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that culminated in the company’s criminal conviction last year. 

• Then there’s Trump’s biggest (current) legal woe: the classified-documents case. Defense attorneys for Trump and Department of Justice prosecutors presented their arguments for the timeline of the trial to Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon on July 18. The Department of Justice wanted the trial to begin by the end of the year, while Trump’s legal team wanted it pushed until after the 2024 election. On Friday, Cannon set Trump’s criminal trial date for May 2024, at which point he will likely have won the GOP presidential nomination. 

Another week of living in Donald Trump’s news machine; can’t say I would recommend it! But the news increasingly featuring legal consequences for Trump is, at the very least, a nice change of pace. As is watching Republicans continue to leash themselves to him.

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Alabama Republicans have refused to draw a new congressional map, defying a federal court order upheld by the Supreme Court. The original map drawn by the Alabama GOP packed most of the state’s Black voters into a single district. 

In case you thought that meant Supreme Court rulings were optional: The Nebraska woman who was charged with having an illegal abortion in the wake of the Dobbs decision when she was 17 was sentenced to 90 days in jail on Friday and two years of probation. Greatest country in the world!!!

The Justice Department announced on Thursday that it will  sue the state of Texas for placing floating barriers in the Rio Grande river.

Outgoing Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder will be forced to pay the NFL a $60 million fine as part of the closing costs on the sale of his franchise after an investigation found that the team withheld revenue it was supposed to share with other franchises and that Snyder sexually harassed a former team employee. Another morally excellent billionaire!!

Legendary American singer and entertainer Tony Bennet has died at 96.

The White House announced on Friday that it has secured voluntary commitments from seven major tech companies leading the development of artificial intelligence technologies to safeguard users before their products are released. 

According to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, the Pentagon has no intention to stop covering abortion-related travel costs for soldiers who need to cross state lines in the wake of the Dobbs decision, despite continued protests from former football coach/professional dumb guy Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL). 

The Biden administration confirmed on Friday that the president chose Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the Navy. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

AMC has quashed its plan to charge higher ticket prices for better seats in its movie theaters.