Headlines for Tuesday, May 30, 2023
🗽There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny. - Thomas Jefferson
🗽There is no greater power than a community discovering the truth and working together to make sure an injustice is not repeated
NEWS HEADLINES FOR MAY 30, 2023
Washington Post: Evidence grows that Trump hoarded documents — and showed them to people: We have reached one of those points in reporting on Donald Trump’s post-presidency retention of documents when it’s useful to take a step back. On Thursday, The Washington Post teased out another aspect of this complicated situation. According to people familiar with the investigation, the government has evidence that Trump’s team practiced moving documents he took from the White House — the implication being that they rehearsed hiding them. Then, shortly before inviting the Justice Department to come pick up a cache of documents, the Trump employees apparently put that practice to use.
The Guardian: Trump lawyer said to have been waved off searching office for secret records: Donald Trump’s lawyer tasked with searching for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after the justice department issued a subpoena told associates that he was waved off from searching the former president’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials anywhere on the property. The lawyer, Evan Corcoran, recounted that several Trump aides had told him to search the storage room because that was where all the materials that had been brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency ended up being deposited. Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room. He then asked whether he should search anywhere else but was steered away, he told associates. Corcoran never searched Trump’s office and told prosecutors that the 38 papers were the extent of the material at Mar-a-Lago.
The Hill: Trump escalates attacks on judges amid increasing legal scrutiny: As former President Trump’s legal problems mount, he is frequently lashing out at a familiar target: judges. Trump has taken aim at the judge overseeing the civil case involving the writer E. Jean Carroll, deriding him as a “Clinton-appointed judge.” The former president has also claimed the judge handling the hush money case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “hates” him. It is not a new tactic for Trump, who throughout his presidency would question the motives or legitimacy of court rulings. But it is notable at a time when his 2024 campaign for the White House has included vows for “retribution” for those who feel they have been wronged by the government.
Wall Street Journal: Jan. 6 Capitol Attack: The Rioters’ Legal Reckoning, Visualized: A federal judge on Thursday handed down the stiffest punishment to date stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol when he imposed an 18-year prison sentence on Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to forcefully prevent the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Others among the more than 1,000 people charged with playing a role in the riot have faced a range of penalties, from prison time to probation. Here is a look at the status of cases emerging from what the Justice Department has described as one of the largest and most resource-intensive investigations in its history.
Associated Press: Jan. 6 rioters are raking in thousands in donations. Now the US is coming after their haul: Less than two months after he pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol, Texas resident Daniel Goodwyn appeared on Tucker Carlson’s then-Fox News show and promoted a website where supporters could donate money to Goodwyn and other rioters whom the site called “political prisoners.” The Justice Department now wants Goodwyn to give up more than $25,000 he raised — a clawback that is part of a growing effort by the government to prevent rioters from being able to personally profit from participating in the attack that shook the foundations of American democracy. An Associated Press review of court records shows that prosecutors in the more than 1,000 criminal cases from Jan. 6, 2021, are increasingly asking judges to impose fines on top of prison sentences to offset donations from supporters of the Capitol rioters.
NBC News: Ron DeSantis says he would consider presidential pardons for Jan. 6 rioters: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who officially stepped into the presidential race this week, said Thursday that, if elected, he would consider pardoning people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — possibly including his rival for the GOP nomination, former President Donald Trump. DeSantis has consistently polled second to Trump in national surveys and has sought to draw a contrast with the former president while being reluctant to attack him outright. In an appearance on "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show," a conservative talk radio show, DeSantis said that on "Day One" of his presidency he would have his staff examine cases of Jan. 6 rioters, pro-life demonstrators and parents arrested over their actions at school board meetings, and would be "aggressive" in issuing pardons. "We will use the pardon power — and I will do that at the front end," DeSantis said, claiming that the Justice Department and the FBI had been "weaponized" to unevenly punish people from "disfavored groups."
NBC News: Ron DeSantis administration officials solicit campaign cash from lobbyists: Officials who work for Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration — not his campaign — have been sending text messages to Florida lobbyists soliciting political contributions for DeSantis' presidential bid, a breach of traditional norms that has raised ethical and legal questions and left many here in the state capital shocked. NBC News reviewed text messages from four DeSantis administration officials, including those directly in the governor's office and with leadership positions in state agencies. They requested the recipient of the message contribute to the governor’s campaign through a specific link that appeared to track who is giving as part of a “bundle” program. “The bottom line is that the administration appears to be keeping tabs on who is giving, and are doing it using state staff,” a longtime Florida lobbyist said. “You are in a prisoner’s dilemma. They are going to remain in power. We all understand that.”
POLITICO: Ron DeSantis upended education in Florida. He’s coming for your state next.: Ron DeSantis paved his political brand — and wound his way into conservative hearts — through Florida’s classrooms. Get ready to hear about it on the campaign trail. A lot. The presidential hopeful isn’t the first Republican governor to embrace “parental rights” or limit how race and gender are discussed in schools. But DeSantis has built a long legislative record as an “education governor” amid battles with Democrats and civil rights groups that endeared him to rank-and-file GOP voters. Now he’s planning to pitch that record across the nation in a bid to become the new leader of the Republican Party. Since becoming governor in 2019, DeSantis earned the nickname among conservatives by codifying a “Parents Bill of Rights,” vastly expanding school choice, allowing for armed teachers, and advocating for new workforce education. He has also rolled back higher education diversity programs, engaged in a high-profile feud with the College Board over its African American studies course and worked with other Republicans to reshape higher education in Florida by installing key allies in statewide posts.
NPR: Why Florida's new immigration law is troubling businesses and workers alike: Pressure is growing for a boycott of Florida, including Latino truck drivers who vow to stop deliveries across the state and calls for an immigrant labor strike on June 1. Businesses are pledging to shutter their doors for the day to protest Gov. Ron DeSantis' sweeping new immigration law. For years, the Republican presidential hopeful has railed relentlessly against U.S. immigration policies and newly arrived asylum seekers. Senate Bill 1718, which takes effect on July 1, will offer a preview of the controversial changes DeSantis has said he'd like to see Congress implement. Among its provisions, the strict new state legislation limits social services for undocumented immigrants, allocates millions more tax dollars to expand DeSantis' migrant relocation program, invalidates driver's licenses issued to undocumented people by other states, and requires hospitals that get Medicaid dollars to ask for a patient's immigration status.
Axios: Texas Senate sets date for AG Ken Paxton's impeachment trial: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial will start no later than Aug. 28 after the state Senate adopted a resolution on the matter Monday. The Republican was temporarily suspended after the GOP-dominated Texas House voted to impeach him Saturday and if he's found guilty he'd be permanently removed from office following the Senate trial. To remove Paxton from office would require a two-thirds majority approval in the Senate, which comprises 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats.
Texas Tribune: Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities: Texas public universities’ diversity, equity and inclusion offices likely have six months left before they’re banished. State lawmakers came to an agreement Saturday on legislation that would ban DEI offices, programs and training at publicly funded universities, largely adopting the version that the Texas House approved a week ago, with some minor changes. Notably, the conference committee of lawmakers appointed to hash out the differences between the two chambers’ versions of the bill removed the House provision that would ensure universities reassign DEI office employees to new positions with similar pay. Instead, universities may provide letters of recommendation for employees.
Washington Post: Texas Republicans pass voting bills targeting large Democratic county: Texas Republicans wound down their regular legislative session Sunday by changing election policies for a single populous Democratic stronghold but not other parts of the state. The measure gives the secretary of state under certain conditions the power to run elections in Harris County, home to Houston and 4.8 million residents. It follows a bill approved days earlier that shifts the oversight of elections from its appointed elections administrator to the county clerk and county assessor. Harris County officials at a news conference last week said they would bring a lawsuit challenging the measures as soon as Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signs them into law.
The Guardian: US supreme court end-of-term decisions could transform key areas of public life:The US supreme court is gearing itself up for the final nail-biting month of its 2022-3 term in which it will deliver decisions that could transform critical areas of public life, from affirmative action in colleges to voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality and the future of Native American tribes. As the court enters the traditional June climax to its judicial year, it is already being battered by ethics scandals and plummeting public confidence. Yet over the next four weeks the six rightwing justices who command a supermajority on the nine-seat bench are still expected to push at the limits of constitutional law in the pursuit of their ideological goals. For the first time since the pandemic struck in 2020 the justices, dressed in their customary black robes, will appear in person to read out the opinions – as well as potentially some blistering dissents from the three liberal members.
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