Headlines for 4-25-2023
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
🗽There is no power greater than a community discovering the truth and taking action to ensure it never happens again
NPR: Poll: Republicans think Trump should be president — even if he's convicted of a crime: As President Biden launches his reelection campaign, a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump looks increasingly likely. This comes as a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll out Tuesday that finds two-thirds of Republicans would still vote for Trump even if he is found guilty of a crime. "Everything that Trump has ever been accused of, has come out to be false," said one of the almost 1,300 poll respondents, Richard Holton II, 65, of Beaver Creek, Ohio. There are multiple criminal investigations into Trump — beyond the charges he's facing in New York. There are two federal ones relating to his taking of classified documents from the White House and his conduct around the Jan. 6 insurrection, as well as one in Georgia looking into his pressure campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost.
New York Times: Tucker Carlson’s Surprise Exit Stuns People in Donald Trump’s Orbit: The announcement on Monday that Fox News was parting ways with its top-rated prime-time host, Tucker Carlson, stunned people in Donald J. Trump’s orbit. The casual news observer would be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Trump and his family no longer had a relationship with Mr. Carlson, given the recent disclosures of the Fox host’s scathing private text messages, which emerged as part of the conservative network’s legal battle against Dominion Voting Systems. When the texts were released in March, Mr. Trump was wounded and called Mr. Carlson to talk about them, according to a person familiar with the outreach. But the two men patched it up quickly. Last year, some of Mr. Trump’s advisers had worried that Mr. Carlson seemed poised to support the potential presidential candidacy of Mr. Trump’s top rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida. But over the past six weeks, as Mr. Trump and Mr. Carlson spoke more often, the Trump team felt increasingly confident that Mr. Carlson would not be weighing in for Mr. DeSantis, who has been heavily promoted by Rupert Murdoch’s media properties including Fox News.
POLITICO: Law firm head bought Gorsuch-owned property: For nearly two years beginning in 2015, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sought a buyer for a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colo. Nine days after he was confirmed by the Senate for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, the then-circuit court judge got one: The chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, one of the nation’s biggest law firms with a robust practice before the high court. Gorsuch owned the property with two other individuals. Gorsuch did not disclose the identity of the purchaser. That box was left blank. Since then, Greenberg Traurig has been involved in at least 22 cases before or presented to the court, according to a POLITICO review of the court’s docket.
The Guardian: Tucker Carlson: firing highlights texts unearthed during Fox-Dominion trial: The $787.5m settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems spared executives and on-air talent from taking the stand in a defamation lawsuit that centered on the network airing false claims of a stolen election in the weeks after Donald Trump’s 2020 loss. The lawsuit still revealed plenty of what Fox personalities had been saying about the bogus election claims, including Tucker Carlson, the network’s top-rated host who was let go Monday. His unexplained departure has turned a spotlight on what he said in depositions, emails and text messages among the thousands of pages Dominion released in the leadup to jury selection in the case. Carlson’s messages lambasted the news division and management, revealed how he felt about Donald Trump and demonstrated his skepticism of the election lies – so much so that Fox attorneys and company founder Rupert Murdoch held him up as part of their defense of the company. The judge who oversaw the case ruled that it was “CRYSTAL clear” none of the election claims related to Dominion was true.
The Associated Press: Jury selection begins in rape lawsuit against Trump: For decades, former President Donald Trump has seemed to shake off allegations, investigations and even impeachments. Now his “Teflon Don” reputation is about to face a new test: a jury of average citizens in a lawsuit accusing him of rape. Jury selection began Tuesday for a trial over former advice columnist’s E. Jean Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. He denies it. The trial is in a federal civil court, meaning that no matter the outcome, Trump isn’t in danger of going to jail. He isn’t required to be in court, either, and his lawyers have indicated he most likely won’t testify.
New York Magazine: What the Abortion-Pill Decision Reveals About the Shadow Docket The author of a new book on the Supreme Court’s backdoor lawmaking breaks it down. On Friday night, the clock ticked toward the Supreme Court’s 11:59 p.m. self-imposed deadline to rule on access to medication abortion. Deeply conservative lower-court judges had thrown down the gauntlet, drastically curtailing what’s left of abortion access and daring the Court to let them do it via its so-called shadow docket — what’s meant to be a temporary, procedural stage rather than the exhaustively briefed and argued merits docket. The shadow docket’s use spiked during the Trump administration, enabling some of its most egregious policies via a legal backdoor. The shadow docket is an evocative shorthand that Will Baude, the Chicago law professor, coined to describe basically everything that the Supreme Court does other than the merits docket — so other than the 60 to 70 lengthy, signed decisions that we get each term in cases that were argued and that got the full nine yards of process.
CNN: Company with ties to GOP megadonor and longtime friend of Justice Thomas had business before Supreme Court: A company related to Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, a longtime friend of Clarence Thomas who paid for lavish trips for the Supreme Court justice and his wife, had business before the Supreme Court in the mid-2000s, records show. Crow’s name does not appear in a caption of the case, which concerned a dispute related to a copyrighted architectural drawing, and his office said neither Crow nor his company were involved in the matter or discussed it with Thomas. But the revelation challenges assertions by both men that their relationship was completely separate from Thomas’ role as a Supreme Court justice and is likely to add to scrutiny over his ethical conduct. Recently, justices have been under pressure to be more forthcoming about their actions and finances, and Thomas’ trips paid for by Crow were not disclosed on his financial disclosure forms. In addition, in a statement Thomas released in April, he said that Crow “did not have business before the court.”
New York Post: Trump’s bitterest trial begins as E. Jean Carroll accuses him of rape: Donald Trump faces the bitterest and most personal trial of his legal battles yet in Manhattan Tuesday as advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s claim that he raped her in the 1990s then lied about it finally goes in front of a jury. Carroll, 79, will go under oath to accuse Trump of forcing himself on her in the dressing rooms of Bergdorf Goodman’s lingerie department, while her lawyers plan to play jurors the infamous “p—ygate” tape, and bring in other women who claim the former president attacked them too. But Trump’s legal team will launch its own ferocious defense in the civil trial of the rape-and-lies claims, painting Carrol as a liar and an anti-Trump obsessive. They will highlight that Carroll is suing almost three decades after she says the rape happened, that there are no witnesses – and will try to tell jurors that her lawyers are funded by a liberal billionaire who despises the ex-president.
New York Times: The Calculus Behind Firing Tucker Carlson: Fox News’s firing of Tucker Carlson, the most popular prime-time host in cable news, sent shock waves through the media and political spheres yesterday. Few had thought that repercussions from Fox’s $788 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems would reach Mr. Carlson, who commanded a following of millions and has the ear of Donald Trump. But Fox and Rupert Murdoch, who are used to courting controversy and legal settlements as the costs of doing business, may be betting that getting rid of Mr. Carlson is the smarter financial move. Mr. Carlson may have become too hot to handle: The Dominion lawsuit unearthed private comments by Mr. Carlson in which he often profanely disparaged colleagues, sources and, perhaps crucially, his bosses. A former producer is suing Fox News after accusing Mr. Carlson of overseeing a hostile and discriminatory work environment.
The Associated Press: Proud Boys leader lawyer: Trump to blame for Jan. 6 riot: A defense attorney argued Tuesday at the close of a landmark trial over the Jan. 6 riot that the Justice Department is making Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio a scapegoat for Donald Trump after the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Tarrio and four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors say was a plot to attack the Capitol to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to President Joe Biden after the 2020 election. In his closing argument, defense lawyer Nayib Hassan noted Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, having been banned from the capital after being arrested on allegations that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner. Trump, Hassan argued, was the one to blame for extorting a crowd outside the White House to “ fight like hell.”
NPR: Tucker Carlson ousted at Fox News following network's $787 million settlement: In an austere, four-sentence statement, Fox News announced Monday that prime-time star Tucker Carlson is leaving the network, effective immediately. "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the network said in a statement released by a spokesperson. "We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor." The ouster of Fox's top opinion host comes less than a week after Fox settled an epic defamation lawsuit by an election technology company for more than $787 million. Dominion Voting Systems sued over segments promoting bogus claims that election fraud cheated then-President Donald Trump of victory in 2020.
The New York Times: Trump Faces Rape Allegation as E. Jean Carroll’s Suit Goes to Trial: In a Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday, a jury will begin hearing E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that former President Donald J. Trump raped her more than two decades ago in a department store dressing room, in a proceeding that seeks to apply the accountability of the #MeToo era to a dominating political figure. The trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, expected to last one to two weeks, stems from a lawsuit and will take place amid a barrage of legal action aimed at Mr. Trump, who is running to regain the presidency and arguing that the suits and investigations are meant to drag him down.
NBC News: Georgia prosecutor to reveal charging decisions in Trump probe this summer: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said Monday that she'll announce charging decisions stemming from her probe into possible interference in the 2020 election by former President Donald Trump and his allies as early as mid-July. Willis said the charging decisions will be revealed during the state Superior Court’s fourth term, which begins July 11 and ends Sept. 1. The timeline is the clearest that Willis has given about potential indictments since she said in January that an announcement was “imminent.” “In the near future, I will announce charging decisions resulting from the investigation my office has been conducting into possible criminal interference in the administration of Georgia’s 2020 general election,” Willis wrote in a letter Monday to Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat.
New York Magazine: The Case(s) Against Donald Trump It’s hard to keep track, so we made a guide: Donald Trump’s legal troubles extend far beyond New York’s city limits. In Georgia, he is being investigated for his attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results while he was president. In Washington, a Justice Department special counsel is running a fast-moving probe into both his handling of classified documents and his conduct around the attack on the U.S. Capitol. And then there’s the civil case against him by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault and defamation. It can be a lot to follow, so here’s what’s on deck.
CNN: ‘Tennessee Three’ meets with Biden to discuss gun control: President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with three Democratic Tennessee lawmakers at the White House on Monday, after the trio faced expulsion votes over their act of protest advocating for gun control. In the Oval Office, Biden told the Tennessee lawmakers, “If you stand up for kids, you’re standing up our communities and democratic values.” The three Democrats – Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson – were each subject to an ouster vote by Tennessee Republican lawmakers earlier this month over their protest on the state House floor to advocate for gun control, where they used a bullhorn to address those in the room. The lawmakers’ act of protest and rare expulsions from the body’s Republican supermajority came days after a mass shooting at a Nashville Christian school that left six people dead, including three 9-year-old students.
The New York Times: Biden Announces Re-election Bid, Defying Trump and History: President Biden formally announced on Tuesday that he would seek a second term, arguing that American democracy still faces a profound threat from former President Donald J. Trump as he set up the possibility of a climactic rematch between the two next year. In a video flashing images of a mob of Trump supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the president said that the “fight for our democracy” has “been the work of my first term” but is incomplete while his predecessor mounts a comeback campaign for his old office that Mr. Biden suggested would endanger fundamental rights. Although he described himself as “a bridge” to the next generation during his 2020 campaign, a comment that some interpreted as a hint that he would serve only one term, Mr. Biden concluded that he was not in fact ready to hand over the torch yet. His decision was fueled in part, aides said, by his antipathy for Mr. Trump and his belief that he is the Democrat best positioned to keep the criminally indicted and twice-impeached former president from recapturing the White House.
The Hill: They graduated during the pandemic. Now they face their first student loan payments: A grace period that let people who graduated college during the coronavirus pandemic avoid paying back their federal loans is about to end, meaning millions of young people are about to take a serious financial hit. Graduates for the last three years all had the grace period, as the Trump and Biden administrations extended a pause on student loan payments amid the national health emergency. Now things are about to change: Payments will begin either 60 days after the Supreme Court rules on President Biden’s student debt forgiveness program or 60 days after June 30, whichever comes first. Borrowers have also been tugged around on Biden’s plan that would give up to $20,000 in relief for the 44 million federal borrowers. In October, borrowers were filling out applications to receive the historic debt forgiveness. Now, they wait on a decision from the Supreme Court on if Biden’s program can move forward at all.
The Washington Post: Alito’s remarkable reasoning in his abortion-pill dissent: Even for a Supreme Court justice whose opinions and public comments have often stirred controversy, it was a remarkable assertion. As Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. was listing his reasons Friday for dissenting from the court’s ruling in favor of continued access, for now, to the abortion pill mifepristone, among them was the idea that the Biden administration might simply disregard the ruling anyway. “[T]he Government has not dispelled legitimate doubts that it would even obey an unfavorable order in these cases, much less that it would choose to take enforcement actions to which it has strong objections,” Alito wrote. And it wasn’t just an aside; it was the thing Alito cited immediately before writing, “For these reasons, I would deny the stay applications.” Alito, unfortunately, didn’t cite any evidence to back up this claim. But it appears to have to do with a weeks-old back-and-forth over calls by some Democrats and even a Republican congresswoman to ignore or not enforce rulings against the abortion pill.
Wall Street Journal: Proud Boys Seditious-Conspiracy Trial Nears Conclusion: Members of the Proud Boys were “thirsting for violence” ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and considered themselves “Donald Trump’s army” as the former president clung to power after the 2020 election, a federal prosecutor said Monday. “For these defendants, politics was no longer something for the debating floor or the voting booth. For them, politics meant actual, physical violence,” said federal prosecutor Conor Mulroe, as closing arguments began Monday in the seditious-conspiracy trial against members of the far-right group. Mr. Mulroe’s address to the jury summarized the Justice Department’s case against former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the far-right group—Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl—who all stand accused of conspiring to prevent the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021. Lawyers for two of the defendants rejected the conspiracy charge Monday. The jury will begin deliberations after defense lawyers for all the accused Proud Boys make their closing arguments, which are expected to last at least through Tuesday.
National Review: Welcome to Post-Settlement Fox News: The fact that Tucker Carlson’s program is ending so abruptly — no farewell show, no final chance to thank the viewers for tuning in, night after night – is an indication that this was not such an amiable separation and that Fox News did not trust their highest-rated host to appear on-air, even for one last time. In the coming days and weeks we will learn more about the circumstances that led to Carlson leaving Fox News, but it is hard to believe that the split has nothing to do with Fox News paying $787 million to settle the lawsuit from Dominion. (And don’t forget that the Smartmatic lawsuit still needs to be resolved.)
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