|
|
|
|
|
It’s Tuesday, the traditional day for elections and for our pause-and-consider newsletter on politics and policy. We think of it as a mini-magazine in your inbox.
A CLEAR LOOK AT TRUMP’S COURT BATTLES
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent
We have never had a former president face criminal charges. Now we have one facing three sets of them and a possible fourth in the coming days.
In hopes of preventing the many threads involved from tangling, we’ll walk through the status of each of the cases centered around Donald Trump, former president and current Republican front-runner for 2024.
1. The Jan. 6 and 2020 election inquiry
Basics: Related to Trump’s efforts to overturn results of the 2020 election, which led to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack in Washington, D.C.
Status: Trump was indicted in this case on Aug. 1. He has pleaded not guilty. We await a trial date.
Read the full indictment here.
The charges. Trump faces four federal felony charges:
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States, by attempting to overturn a legitimate election.
- Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, by attempting to stop the electoral certification on Jan. 6, 2021.
- Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. (See above.)
- Conspiracy against rights, by attempting to overturn voters’ rightful decision in 2020. This charge comes from a 19th-century post-Civil War law.
Who is prosecuting? Department of Justice, led by independent special counsel Jack Smith.
When is the trial? No date has been set yet. The judge in the case will hold a hearing Aug. 28 to decide the trial start date. Which brings us to …
The judge. Tanya Chutkan. She is an Obama appointee who was confirmed 95-0 in the Senate in 2014. Chutkan was randomly selected from the judges sitting on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Trump has questioned her ability to be unbiased. CNN has reported an increase in security around her.
What does the prosecution say? In the grand jury indictment, Smith argued that Trump acted to overturn the 2020 election results and stop the legal transition of power. The indictment listed six unnamed co-conspirators who are accused of working with Trump. No one else has been charged yet, but still could be.
|
|
|
|
Watch the segment in the player above.
|
|
This case is NOT directly about the rioting or insurrection on Jan. 6 so much as it is about other actions related to the 2020 vote count and certification of results. That includes an alleged scheme to force then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop the electoral certification as well as attempts to replace legitimate slates of electors with Trump voters.
Trump’s defense. Trump’s attorneys argue that their client’s words about the 2020 election were free speech protected by the First Amendment and not conspiracy for fraud. (Sidenote: the special counsel anticipated this. The indictment states that lying is not a crime, but that fraud based on a lie is. See the bottom of pg. 1.)
From our reporting, we also know the defense team also will use every legal means to try to get the current judge, who they see as biased, removed from the case. They may propose moving the trial from the heavily Democratic-leaning Washington, D.C. to other states like West Virginia and Virginia. The Trump team is considering arguing that their client cannot get a fair trial anywhere, but that the nation’s capital is especially unfair.
The latest. The two sides’ first legal skirmish is over what evidence Trump’s team can publicly release and discuss in the case. Prosecutors with special counsel Smith’s team have asked for a “protective order” — a standard request in many cases — to keep legal teams from releasing most evidence to the public before trial. Trump’s team said the prosecutors’ request is unusually broad and are pushing for more leeway.
2. The classified documents case
Basics: Related to Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, obstructing justice and making false statements.
Status: Trump was indicted in this case on June 8. He has pleaded not guilty. Trial date is set for May 20, 2024. Trump waived his appearance at the arraignment for added charges on Thursday.
Read the latest superseding indictment here.
The charges. Trump faces 40 federal felony charges, including three new counts added on July 27. |
|
|
|
Watch the segment in the player above.
|
|
- 32 charges of willful retention of national defense information. Each charge relates to a separate classified document. Note: This charge was a misdemeanor previous to the Trump presidency. He signed a law making it a felony.
- One charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. This charge is that Trump told his attorneys to lie to the FBI about documents in his possession and attempted to delete security footage showing boxes of those documents being moved.
- Four charges of withholding, concealing or scheming to conceal a document. These charges allege that Trump tried to persuade his attorney to help conceal documents and that he moved documents to mislead his attorney and the FBI.
- Two charges of false statements and representation. Here, Trump is accused of setting up lies to the FBI, regarding sworn statements from his attorney and voluntary statements from a worker, which prosecutors say Trump knew to be lies. This testimony, essentially, suggested that Trump had provided access to all documents in his possession, when prosecutors say he had not.
- One charge of altering, destroying or attempting to mutilate an object. This charge is that Trump requested the destruction of security footage showing documents being moved.
Who is prosecuting? Again, the DOJ and special counsel Smith.
When is the trial? May 20, 2024, is the trial date set by the judge. This trial is set for Fort Pierce, Florida, which is about an hour outside of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
The judge. Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump in 2020. She was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 56-21, with 23 senators not voting. Cannon garnered attention last year when she agreed with Trump attorneys that a “special master” was needed to independently go through all of the documents Trump had retained. That ruling was reversed in a sharp opinion by an appeals court.
What does the prosecution say? The prosecution argues that Trump made repeated efforts to hide and illegally keep classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. They charge that he had boxes moved ahead of an agreed upon FBI visit to retrieve documents and then asked staff to delete security camera footage showing the move.
Trump’s defense: We await more specifics on the legal defense here, in part because Trump changed attorneys on this case at the time of the indictment. That said, the public pushback from Trump has focused on accusations that the FBI and DOJ are biased against him.
The latest. This week, Cannon asked federal prosecutors to explain why they chose to convene a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for part of this case and then convened a second one to file charges in Florida. Prosecutors are expected to respond by Aug. 22.
3. The Manhattan hush-money case
Basics: Related to falsifying business records involving hush-money payments to conceal alleged affairs during the 2016 presidential election.
Status: Trump was indicted in this case on April 4. He has pleaded not guilty.
Read the full indictment and a statement of facts from the prosecutor’s office here.
The charges. Trump faces 34 New York state felony charges of falsifying records.
- The accusation is that Trump oversaw a scheme to record financial lies in his company’s accounting books. Specifically, that these reimbursements, including a $130,000 pay-off to Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels, were legitimate business expenses.
- The 34 counts represent the various ledger entries of the sometimes monthly reimbursements.
Who is prosecuting? Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
When is the trial? It is set to start March 25, 2024, in Manhattan.
The judge. Juan Manuel Merchan. Initially appointed by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006, Merchan has spent 16 years on the bench.
What does the prosecution say? Bragg argues that Trump knowingly pushed to cover-up tens of thousands of dollars in hush-money payments as legitimate business expenses. Their evidence includes the expected testimony of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, a key witness in the New York investigation who said he arranged the payments and was the person being reimbursed.
Trump’s defense. Trump’s team and allies have argued that these charges are politically motivated and should all be misdemeanors — not felonies. They point to outside findings, including this analysis from The New York Times, that prosecuting this many “stand-alone” felony charges — that is, charging for falsifying business records and no other crimes — is highly unusual. Trump has also attacked Bragg, especially on social media. Some of those words were so threatening or inciting that the judge in the case barred Trump from posting about it on social media altogether.
The latest. Neither the indictment nor the district attorney’s office has specified which other crimes may be elevating the charges to the felony level. Sidenote: Prosecutors do not need to charge or convict Trump on a second crime to escalate charges, but must show that there was intent to “commit or conceal” one.
4. The Georgia election interference inquiry
Basics: This investigation has looked specifically at possible election interference in Georgia.
Status: Trump’s team is awaiting news of a possible grand jury indictment potentially this week or next.
Read the redacted grand jury report here.
The charges. We are waiting on this one. There are no charges yet. But a redacted grand jury report released earlier this year focused on two possible areas:
- Disruption of the 2020 election results in Georgia
- Possible perjury of witnesses who went before the grand jury
The report did not name Trump (or anyone) as the target, but his attorneys believe he is likely to be indicted.
Who is prosecuting? Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. She won election in 2020 and took office in 2021.
Where: Fulton County, Georgia. It is the state’s largest county in terms of population and home to the state capital, Atlanta.
OK, that is a lot. But that is only the known criminal cases involving the former president. Two civil cases are also proceeding.
Expect us to drop into your inbox with more coverage from online and on-air if and when indictment No. 4 drops. |
|
|
HOW VOTERS FEEL ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
|
|
|
|
Watch the segment in the player above.
|
|
By Bella Isaacs-Thomas, @bella_is_
Digital Reporter, Science
Human-driven global warming has long been a divisive issue in the U.S., thanks in part to decades of polarizing messaging from industry, political figures and others.
As the world experiences extreme heat and other climate change-driven events with increasing frequency, people’s views on what’s happening still vary widely, and often according to their political alignments.
Most Democrats — 87 percent — think climate change is a major threat. That’s compared to around a quarter of Republicans and about half of independents, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll. |
|
|
|
Image by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour
|
|
|
Slightly more than a third of Republicans and independents said they consider climate change a minor threat, compared to 10 percent of Democrats. A third of Republicans said they don’t consider climate change a threat at all, compared to 11 percent of independents and 3 percent of Democrats.
“It’s really hard to bring people on different ends of the political spectrum together on this issue,” said Nan Li, an assistant professor in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Despite this polarization, experts say there’s room for common ground — and nuance can often be found by digging into people’s values.
Risk perception is a big deal when it comes to climate change because if people don’t see it as a threat in the first place, they won’t be motivated to do anything about it, said Brianne Suldovsky, associate professor of communication at Portland State University.
“There is a huge opportunity here to engage folks who don’t see climate change as a threat in different ways and [engage] them about local environmental issues they care about,” she said.
|
|
More on climate change from our coverage:
- Poll Findings: People were also asked in our latest poll if they think climate change is currently affecting their local communities to a notable degree. The responses varied, especially when viewed through gender, race and income.
- The Deadly Heat: This year’s record-breaking summer heat has led to a massive coral reef bleaching, a large-scale wildfire that threatens the Joshua Trees in the Mojave Desert, and bigger waves off California’s coast.
- More Broken Records: July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record — by a wide margin.
- How to Stay Safe: Experts offer some tips for staying alive in the extreme heat.
- Climate Anxiety: Is climate change causing a sense of despair? Here are some ways to combat it.
|
|
|
#POLITICSTRIVIA
By Cybele Mayes-Osterman, @CybeleMO
Associate Editorial Producer
Ohio voters head to the polls Tuesday to cast votes on a ballot measure that would require state constitution amendments to get 60 percent of the vote instead of a simple majority. The change would make it more difficult for changes to the state constitution to pass, including an upcoming referendum on abortion this November.
Ohio’s initiative and referendum system exists in large part because of the work of the Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow, pastor of Vine Street Congregational Church in Cincinnati and an activist in socialist and pacifist movements. Bigelow was once kidnapped and whipped in response to his opposition to U.S. participation in a major global conflict.
Our question: What was that global conflict?
Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.
Last week, we asked: Not counting Trump or this upcoming election cycle, who was the last GOP candidate for president to run while under indictment?
The answer: Rick Perry. The former Texas governor, who sought the Republican nomination in 2016, was indicted in 2014 on two felony counts related to abuse of power.
Congratulations to our winners: Barry Weinstein and Susan Kupsky!
Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
