Headlines for Tuesday, May 9, 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 9, 2023
Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump Found Liable in E. Jean Carroll Civil Case, Ordered to Pay $5 Million for Sexual Abuse and Defamation: A federal jury found Donald Trump liable to E. Jean Carroll for battery and defamation and ordered him to pay $5 million in damages, after a civil trial in which the columnist alleged the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store nearly 30 years ago.The jury, following a two-week civil trial, didn’t find that Mr. Trump committed rape but found it more likely than not that he sexually abused Ms. Carroll in a dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman, sometime around 1996. Jurors also found that Mr. Trump defamed Ms. Carroll in comments he made denying her allegations, which she first made publicly in 2019.The verdict is a rebuke to Mr. Trump as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination while being dogged by a host of legal troubles. He is separately facing New York criminal charges connected to his payment of hush money to a porn star before the 2016 election, as well as other criminal investigations, related to the pressuring of Georgia officials after the 2020 election, his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, and his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence. He is also facing civil fraud allegations from the New York attorney general and another civil lawsuit from Ms. Carroll, who formerly was a longtime Elle magazine columnist and at one time a writer for “Saturday Night Live.”
Washington Post: In some GOP-dominated statehouses, Black and trans lawmakers punished: In more than a dozen deep-red states in recent months, Republican lawmakers passed bills to ban transgender health care and restrict access to abortions while ignoring calls for gun control measures. The fierce but futile opposition has often been led by a new generation of liberal lawmakers, some of them Black or transgender, who have represented their constituents by pushing the debate into places that have angered Republicans. GOP lawmakers have said Democrats are welcome to dissent but have to follow long-established rules of decorum, including acting civilly and not interrupting floor sessions. So far, Ballotpedia has tracked 70 cases in which elected officials were expelled from state legislative chambers between 1813 and 2023. They include 37 Democrats, 24 Republicans, and seven members of the Socialist Party. Since 2020, at least nine lawmakers have been kicked out of state legislatures. Among them were legislators accused of committing crimes, engaging in hostile behavior and, in one case, allowing armed far-right protesters into the Oregon Capitol.
Mother Jones: This Supreme Court Case Could Kneecap the Executive Branch: The Supreme Court could once again hinder the ability of the executive branch to address climate change when it reconsiders the precedent, set almost 40 years ago, upon which many of its efforts rest. The precedent, which was unanimous, was widely understood at the time to reflect long-standing practice and has in the decades since benefited Republican and Democratic administrations. In Loper, the question at hand is whether the Fisheries Service’s requirement that commercial operators compensate outside observers is a reasonable interpretation of the law. But because it’s the Supreme Court, the ruling will extend far beyond that particular case.
The Hill: Fox Corp. reports $50 million net loss following Dominion settlement: Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News, reported a net loss of $50 million in the first quarter of 2023, just weeks after it paid a historic settlement to Dominion Voting Systems. The company reported total quarterly revenues of $4.08 billion, representing an 18 percent increase from the $3.46 billion reported in the prior year for the first quarter. In last year’s first quarter, Fox Corp. reported a net profit of $290 million. The conservative media giant agreed to pay Dominion a massive $787 million settlement late last month to forgo a jury trial after the voting systems provider hit it with a blockbuster defamation lawsuit stemming from Fox’s airing of false statements about its software being promoted by former President Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.
POLITICO: DeSantis takes major step ahead of expected presidential bid: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis severed his connection to his long-standing state political committee and the tens of millions of dollars that it now controls, a step he needs to take ahead of a presidential campaign. The Republican governor is expected to jump into the race for president soon and the move to rebrand his Florida political committee — called Friends of Ron DeSantis — is the most concrete sign so far that his candidacy is imminent. The website for the committee was changed on Tuesday morning to say that its mission is “committed to advancing the Freedom Agenda and keeping Florida free.” But more importantly, the website says that the committee is associated with state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia and not DeSantis. The committee on Tuesday also filed paperwork that says Ingoglia is replacing a Tampa accountant as the official chair of the organization. Ingoglia is a Republican ally of DeSantis who sponsored several of the governor’s key legislative priorities during the recently concluded legislative session, including a crackdown on illegal immigration that includes $12 million for the governor’s controversial migrant relocation program.
Axios: Trump's weird weapon: Bad news: Call it the Trump Law of Inverse Reactions: Everything that would seem to hurt the former president only makes him stronger. Trump's grip over Republicans seems stronger than ever — and chances of beating President Biden are as high as ever. For the first time in a long time, top Republicans and Democrats are telling us the same thing, in the same words — Trump looks impossible to beat for the Republican nomination. Here's another echo of 2016. Beltway and establishment Republicans are fantasizing that something magical will make Trump go away — instead of deploying a coordinated effort to supplant him.
Forbes: Donald Trump Says CNN Town Hall ‘Could Turn Into A Disaster For All’: Ahead of his first appearance on CNN in years, former President Donald Trump said his decision to take part in a prime time town hall Wednesday night “could turn into a disaster for all, including me.” Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump urged his supporters to watch, saying “I’ll be doing CNN tomorrow night, LIVE from the Great State of New Hampshire.” CNN This Morning co-host Kaitlan Collins will moderate the event, which will feature questions from New Hampshire Republican and undecided voters. Trump, who regularly attacked CNN as “fake news” and an “enemy of the people” during his term in the White House, said he decided to accept the network’s offer to appear because “they made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.” Still, Trump couldn’t resist taking a shot at CNN, saying the town hall wasn’t a journalistic decision, but was motivated by CNN being “desperate to get those fantastic (TRUMP!) ratings once again.” Trump… [suggested] that his return to CNN “could be the beginning of a New & Vibrant CNN, with no more Fake News, or it could turn into a disaster for all, including me. Let’s see what happens? Wednesday Night at 8:00!!!”
NPR: He followed strict rules as a judge, and wants Supreme Court justices to do the same: A growing list of reports spotlighting several Supreme Court justices' lack of disclosure of high-cost gifts, expenses and business dealings — from luxury trips to real estate deals to private school tuition — has prompted many to call for ethics reform at the nation's highest court. Among them is retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, a widely respected conservative judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Recently, Luttig — who served as Boeing's general counsel until 2019 — submitted a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee for its hearing on Supreme Court ethics last week. In it, he wrote that Congress "indisputably has the power under the Constitution" to prescribe ethical standards for the Court, if it were to fall short of what he described as "the housekeeping that is necessary to maintain a Republic."
The Guardian: US ethics watchdog calls on Clarence Thomas to resign over undisclosed gifts: The conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas must resign, an ethics watchdog said on Tuesday, citing revelations about his failure to declare lavish gifts and financial support from a Republican mega-donor, Harlan Crow. In an open letter to the scandal-hit Thomas, Noah Bookbinder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or Crew, cited a “grave crisis of institutional legitimacy currently facing the supreme court”. “For the sake of the court and for the sake of our democracy which depends on a judiciary that the public accepts as legitimate and free from corruption, we urge you to resign.” Thomas has said he did not declare gifts from Crow including luxury travel and resort stays because he was advised not to do so, but will do so in future. He has not commented on reports that Crow bought from him property in which his mother still lives rent-free; that Crow paid for the private schooling for Thomas’s great-nephew, who the justice said he was raising like a son; and that the conservative activist Leonard Leo secretively arranged the payment of tens of thousand dollars to Ginni Thomas, the justice’s rightwing activist wife.
CNBC: Jury begins deliberations at Trump rape defamation trial: A jury began deliberations Tuesday morning at the civil trial where former President Donald Trump is accused of raping and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. The nine-member panel started discussing potential verdicts in the case at 11:50 a.m. ET after Judge Lewis Kaplan gave the panel final instructions and a 10-question verdict form in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. If jurors unanimously determine that Carroll proved either of her claims, of battery and defamation, they will decide whether to award her compensatory and punitive monetary damages, There are six men and three women on the jury.
CNN: ‘Don’t freak out’: Notes from defense table during the Proud Boys Seditious conspiracy trial: As the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy trial dragged on for weeks longer than anticipated, someone at the defense table doodled in blue pen on a note card a balding man with facial hair, slumped over, looking to one side and saying, “I was 25 when this trial started”. The five defendants – all in their 30s and 40s – also passed notes with each other and their lawyers about their legal strategy, saying they needed to “solidify arguments” and provide “better explanations” for chat messages that celebrated the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot. In one note, however, someone at the defense tabletook issue with prosecutors’ characterization of the Proud Boys marches. “Were not roaming the streets because of election,” the note reads.
Ms. Magazine: Healthcare Providers File Federal Lawsuit to Expand Abortion Pill Access: On May 8, abortion providers in Virginia, Montana and Kansas filed a federal lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking an order to maintain and expand access to mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used for early abortion and miscarriage. The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), comes in response to legal uncertainty caused by a Texas court ruling voiding FDA approval of mifepristone and a dueling Washington court order requiring the FDA to maintain access to the medication. Then the Fifth Circuit severely restricted access to mifepristone in an appeal of the Texas order. On April 14, the Supreme Court halted enforcement of these orders while the Fifth Circuit considers the merits of an appeal of the Texas decision. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of all facility-based abortion care in the United States. “It is critical that abortion providers and patients obtain certainty in light of the chaos that is currently surrounding mifepristone,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of CRR. “We are suing on behalf of abortion providers in states where abortion access remains, but healthcare practitioners need protection for providing medication abortion.”
Politico: Mexican President calls Florida’s New anti-immigration bill ‘immoral’: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador slammed Florida’s new anti-immigration bill on Monday, calling it “immoral” and “politicking” after lawmakers passed a bill last week that gives Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis $12 million for migrant transports. “Why does [DeSantis] have to take advantage of people’s pain, of migrants’ pain, of people’s need for political gain,” López Obrador said at a press conference. “This is immoral. This is politicking.” The legislation lawmakers passed last week would require medium-sized and large employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the status of new employees and mandates hospitals to ask patients about their legal status. The bill, SB 1718, will also allow authorities to charge someone with human trafficking if they knowingly transport an undocumented migrant across state lines. It would also prohibit an undocumented immigrant from driving a car even if they have a driver’s license from another state.
Washington Post: Senate panel asks Crow for full accounting of gifts to Thomas, other justices: The Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter Monday asked billionaire Harlan Crow to provide a full accounting of the free travel and other gifts he has made to Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas or any other justice, marking an escalation of the powerful committee’s efforts to convince the Supreme Court to adopt stricter ethical standards for itself. Judiciary Committee Chair Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and the committee’s 10 other Democrats signed on to the letter asking Crow to provide an itemized list of gifts worth more than $415 that he’s made to Thomas, any other justice or any justice’s family member, as well as a full list of lodging, transportation, real estate transactions and admission to any private clubs Crow may have provided. The Judiciary Committee is now the second Senate committee to target Crow after ProPublica reported that the Republican donor invited Thomas on pricey vacations, bought his mother’s house, and provided Thomas’ grandnephew with private school tuition, most of which were not disclosed by the justice.
New York Times: In Rape Trial, Jury Must Now Decide if It Believes Carroll or Trump: As the civil trial over the writer E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that former President Donald J. Trump raped her neared its end, one of her lawyers focused on the man who was missing from the courtroom. Mr. Trump did not testify on his own behalf or even show up. “He just decided not to be here,” the lawyer, Michael J. Ferrara, told the jury on Monday. “He never looked you in the eye and denied raping Ms. Carroll.” On Tuesday, the jurors are to begin deliberations after the judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, instructs them on the law. Ms. Carroll’s lawsuit, brought under a New York law that provides a one-year window for sexual abuse victims to sue, seeks damages for battery and defamation: Mr. Trump on his Truth Social website had called Ms. Carroll’s case “a complete con job” and “a Hoax and a lie.”
Wall Street Journal: Judge Restricts Donald Trump’s Use of Evidence in Hush-Money Case: A New York judge ordered limits Monday on how Donald Trump can use and review evidence in advance of his criminal trial on charges connected to his role in paying hush money to a porn star. State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan granted several requests made by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg regarding the handling of evidence and other case information. Prosecutors, who have charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, said the measures were needed to protect the integrity of the proceedings and the safety of case participants, citing the former president’s past attacks on judges, jurors and others. Justice Merchan ordered that Mr. Trump and others who review evidence provided by prosecutors can’t share the material, including on social media sites such as Truth Social, the former president’s social-media network. The judge said Mr. Trump could only review certain evidence deemed sensitive in the presence of his lawyers. He also granted the district attorney’s request that names of some office staffers not be disclosed to the defense until jury selection.
ABC News: More say politics, not the law, drive Supreme Court decisions: POLL: Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, two-thirds of Americans continue to oppose its decision -- and 51% now think its justices base their rulings mainly on their personal political opinions, not on the law. Early in 2022, before the abortion ruling, the public divided evenly, 46%-45%, on whether the justices' rulings were based mainly on the law or on their own political preferences. Today, well fewer than half, 39%, think Supreme Court rulings are based mainly on the law, a 7-point drop in this fundamental measure of confidence in the court. While these views have grown more partisan, even among Republicans and conservatives, just half think the justices rule mainly on the basis of the law. And today, just 35% to 37% of Democrats, independents and moderates alike, and 27% of liberals, think so. Faith in the court to follow the law has dropped by double digits in three of those groups.
CNN: Georgia GOP chairman says he was just following orders from Trump lawyers: Lawyers representing David Shafer, the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week. Specifically, Shafer’s attorneys say their client was relying on “repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel” when he organized a group of “contingent” electors from Georgia and served as one himself, thus “eliminating any possibility of criminal intent or liability,” according to a copy of the May 5 letter.
NPR: Fox isn't in the apology business. That could cost it a ton of money: Fox News' abrupt firing of star Tucker Carlson has caused such an uproar over the past two weeks that it has obscured profound questions about its corporate board and its controlling owners, the Murdochs. Fox Corp.'s executive chair and chief executive, Lachlan Murdoch, is set to address investors and Wall Street analysts on Tuesday. Murdoch is not expected to apologize for Fox's broadcasting of bogus claims that Dominion Voting Systems conspired to cheat then-President Donald Trump of victory in 2020. Instead, according to two people with knowledge of his plans, Murdoch intends to say Fox is on strong legal, financial and professional footing, just three weeks after the company agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion's defamation suit. Nor does the Fox boss intend to detail the thinking behind the firing of Carlson, Fox's top star, who has developed into one of the most influential figures in Republican politics and whose departure has sunk Fox's primetime ratings, at least for the moment.
Reuters: Michael Cohen calls Trump's $500 mln suit against him "pure retaliation": Donald Trump's onetime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen asked a court to throw out the former U.S. president's $500 million lawsuit against him, calling it an "abusive act of pure retaliation and witness intimidation." Cohen's lawyers in a filing late Monday in Miami federal court said the lawsuit combined the "worst of Mr. Trump's vindictive impulses," and that its timing was no coincidence. Trump sued Cohen on April 12, eight days after pleading not guilty to 34 criminal charges from the Manhattan district attorney's office over a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump's lawsuit accused Cohen of violating rules governing lawyers' conduct by revealing his "confidences" and "spreading falsehoods" in books, podcasts and media appearances.
Associated Press: Judge: Wisconsin fake electors complaint must be reheard: A Wisconsin judge said Monday he will order that the state elections commission reconsider a complaint filed against fake Republican electors who attempted in 2020 to cast the state’s electoral ballots for former President Donald Trump. But this time, Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington said, the commission must consider the complaint without the participation of one of its six commissioners who was also one of the fake electors. The Wisconsin Elections Commission, Republican commissioner Robert Spindell and those who brought the lawsuit ultimately all agreed that the complaint should be heard again without Spindell’s participation. Given that agreement, Remington said during oral arguments on Monday that he would write a written order as soon as next week to vacate the commission’s unanimous rejection in March 2022 of the complaint against the fake electors and to require it to consider it again without Spindell.
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