Playbook looks at 24 hours in Donald Trump’s life:
- He was revealed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the “fake electors” scheme in Michigan during a court proceeding.
- He was identified as “unindicted co-conspirator 1” in a slate of new grand jury indictments over Arizona’s “fake electors” scheme.
- He will be the subject of a Supreme Court case today as the justices hear oral arguments over his claims of immunity from criminal prosecution.
- He will return to a Manhattan courtroom for another day of testimony from former National Enquirer chief David Pecker in his criminal trial.
- He could see the judge in that case, Juan Merchan rule on whether he violated a gag order.
“Donald Trump on Thursday criticized the judge in his ongoing hush-money trial while arguing for presidential immunity during an early morning visit to a New York construction site,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “We have a big case today but the judge isn’t allowing me to go. We have a big case today in the Supreme Court on presidential immunity. A president has to have immunity, otherwise you just have a ceremonial president.”
“Donald Trump faces a high-pressure day on Thursday as a crucial witness is expected to describe to the jury for the first time the hush-money payment at the center of the Manhattan criminal trial,” the New York Times reports.
“The witness, David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, will take the stand for a third day on Thursday, and this time is likely to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.”
“Mr. Pecker, whose magazine had previously bought and buried two other salacious stories on Mr. Trump’s behalf, decided not to pay Ms. Daniels for her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump. Instead, Mr. Pecker is expected to explain how he and a top editor brought the story to Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who then paid Ms. Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet.”
“Prosecutors on Thursday accused former President Donald Trump of violating a gag order four additional times, saying that he continues to defy the judge’s directions not to attack witnesses, prosecutors and jurors in his hush-money trial,” the New York Times reports.
Donald Trump lost his bid for a new trial or a judgment overturning the more than $80 million verdict for E. Jean Carroll in the second defamation trial.
“A recurring theme in the testimony of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been how people around Donald Trump lived in fear of his wrath,” the New York Times reports.
“At least three times while testifying in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, Mr. Pecker described Michael Cohen, the former president’s fixer and lawyer, as warning him that ‘the boss’ — Mr. Trump — would be angry if Mr. Pecker did not follow through with whatever had been asked of him in that moment.”
“Notably, Mr. Pecker kept his eyes locked on exhibits and prosecutors while discussing Mr. Trump’s temper, not once glancing over at the former president in the courtroom.”
“Even though we haven’t spoken, I still consider him a friend.”— Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, quoted by the New York Times, as he testified against Donald Trump at his criminal trial.
“A state grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted so-called ‘fake electors’ who backed then-President Donald Trump in 2020, following a sprawling investigation into the alleged efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in the state,” NBC News reports.
“One month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and his electors were certified by state officials.”
“The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media post and sent it to Congress and the National Archives.”
Donald Trump is referred to in indictment as “Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1.”
Eighteen people were indicted in Arizona yesterday over the “fake elector” scheme Donald Trump’s allies pushed after the 2020 election — including the 11 who served as fake electors. The other seven people were Trump advisers. You’ve heard of Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Boris Epsteyn.
But you may not recall Trump attorney Christina Bobb, who was appointed last month to head up the “election integrity” operation at the Republican National Committee.
As Mother Jones reported on her appointment last month: “As a correspondent for OAN, Bobb promoted the Big Lie—enough that she was a named a defendant in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against the network. But Bobb was not just a purveyor of the Big Lie—she was also part of the operation. Weeks after the 2020 election, Trump brought in a new team of lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, to help him subvert the results and remain in office.
Though Bobb has not been charged with any crimes, she worked with that team to help coordinate the scheme to certify fake slates of electors in states Biden won, a plot that is part of both the criminal indictment against Trump in Georgia and the federal charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.”
Well, Bobb has now been indicted by an Arizona grand jury for election-related crimes.
It pretty much tells you the requirements the RNC was looking for in staffing its “election integrity” unit.
“Michigan prosecutors consider former President Donald Trump and some of his top aides co-conspirators in the plot to submit a certificate falsely claiming he won Michigan’s 2020 election,” the Detroit News reports.
“That means prosecutors believe they participated, to some extent, in an alleged scheme to commit forgery by creating a false document asserting Trump had won Michigan’s 16 electoral votes when Democrat Joe Biden had won them.”
“The Supreme Court, in its last argument of the term, [heard arguments on] whether former President Donald Trump must face trial on charges that he plotted to subvert the 2020 election,” the New York Times reports.
“The court’s answer to that question will be a major statement on the scope of presidential power. Depending on its timing and content, the decision will also help determine whether Mr. Trump’s trial will start before the election, in time to let both jurors and voters evaluate the evidence that Jack Smith, the special counsel in the case, seeks to present.”
“Most legal experts do not expect Mr. Trump to prevail on his broadest arguments. But when and how he loses may turn out to be as important as whether he loses.”
Wall Street Journal: What to know about the immunity case.
Donald Trump’s attorney John Sauer argued before the Supreme Court that — depending on the circumstances — assassinating a political rival could be considered an official act, CNN reports.
The Washington Post notes Sauer also argued that a president ordering a military coup could be considered an official act.
New York Times: “Overall, several justices — maybe a majority — appear to have suggested through their questions that presidents should indeed enjoy some level of immunity from criminal prosecution. The questions seem to be how to decide what actions are protected from criminal charges and whether the allegations in Trump’s indictment in particular would qualify for immunity.”
Rick Hasen: “After a couple of hours of oral argument, it appears that the Supreme Court is unlikely to embrace either Donald Trump’s extreme position—that would seem to give immunity for a president who ordered an assassination of a rival or staged a coup—or the government’s position that a former president is not absolutely immune even for his or her official acts. Conservatives on the Court are going to make it hard to prosecute a former president for most crimes. But they are likely to reject some of the most extreme, insane, authoritarian arguments that were made by Trump’s lawyer.”
“The final opinion will likely come closer to the government’s position, but it will almost certainly result in a divided set of opinions (which take more time to draft) and a lot of work on remand to rework the results of the case.”
“The bottom line is that Trump is likely to get what he wants—a further delay of this election subversion case, maybe pushing it to after the election. If that happens, the public won’t get the benefit of having a jury determine before the election if Trump tried to steal the 2020 election. Further, if Trump is elected in 2024, he can end this and the other federal prosecution against him. He also is likely to try to pardon himself. And the Supreme Court will be complicit in much of this.”
Abby VanSickle: “A majority of the justices appeared skeptical of the idea of sweeping presidential immunity. However, several of them suggested an interest in drawing out what actions may be immune and what may not — a move that could delay the former president’s trial if the Supreme Court asks a lower court to revisit the issues.”
“Speaker Mike Johnson was drowned out by booing crowds during a speech at Columbia University where he condemned the ongoing student protests against the Gaza war,” CNBC reports.
“Johnson called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign if she could not restore order to the campus and said he would urge President Biden to take executive action against the protesters.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told the Washington Post he is eager to step out of leadership and into a role as a rank-and-file member.
Said McConnell: “After 18 years of kind of getting beat up and defending everybody else, I’m kind of looking forward to pursuing what I want to pursue and saying what I want to say.”
“The White House is seizing on remarks by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that former President Donald Trump was resistant to accepting any bipartisan compromise to toughen border security laws,” NBC News reports.
Said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates: “This week Senator McConnell explicitly said why the toughest, fairest bipartisan border legislation in modern American history is stalled: ‘Our nominee for president did not seem to want us to do anything at all.’”
He added: “After President Biden worked with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to assemble a landmark deal that secured the border and cracked down on fentanyl, congressional Republicans have been direct about why many of them sided with drug cartels and human smugglers over the Border Patrol Union and the Chamber of Commerce — because Donald Trump told them to.”
Jonathan Chait: “Having apparently learned that former attorney general William Barr has endorsed his candidacy, after having previously described him as childlike and unfit for office, Donald Trump accepted Barr’s submission with characteristic grace. For Trump, this meant a social-media post ridiculing Barr.”
“If the insult is too wry for you, allow me to translate: Trump is calling Barr fat. And, of course, Barr is rather hefty. So, too, is Trump. But one of the rules of bullying is that the bully does not need to follow the same standards as his targets.”
“It may seem bizarre that Trump feels compelled to gratuitously insult a man who has just endorsed him. But it is fully consistent with the method Trump uses to dominate his subordinates. Barr wished to escape his relationship with Trump with at least some tiny scrap of dignity. For Trump, it is important not to allow this to occur.”
“U.S. economic growth slowed in the first part of the year, falling short of economists’ expectations,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“If you want a single number to capture America’s economic stature, here it is: This year, the U.S. will account for 26.3% of the global gross domestic product, the highest in almost two decades,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Wall Street Journal: “Thursday’s report on economic activity delivered the latest in a series of rude awakenings to investors and Federal Reserve policymakers who have held their breath in anticipation that lower inflation would allow interest-rate cuts to begin in earnest this summer.”
“Instead, Commerce Department data showed that, for the third straight month, inflation was proving stickier than expected after an immaculate cooling in the second half of last year.”
“New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges, a stunning reversal in the foundational case of the #MeToo era,” the New York Times reports.
“In a 4-3 decision, the New York Court of Appeals found that the trial judge who presided over Mr. Weinstein’s case had made a crucial mistake, allowing prosecutors to call as witnesses a series of women who said Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them — but whose accusations were not part of the charges against him.”
Jodi Kantor: “The overturning of Weinstein’s New York sex crimes conviction, and the ordering of a new trial, may feel like a sudden, shocking turn. In the public mind, he is a fully disgraced figure: sentenced to long prison terms in two cities, defined by the public testimonies of nearly 100 alleged victims whose stories formed the cornerstone of the #MeToo movement. But in legal terms, his New York conviction was always controversial, and his appeals always stood a chance.”
“Two Arizona state House lawmakers were removed from key committees Monday following the chamber’s vote to repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban, with one Republican who voted with Democrats among them,” The Hill reports.
“Arizona state House Rep. Matt Gress (R) was removed from the Appropriations Committee, while Rep. Oscar De Los Santos (D) was removed from both the Appropriations Committee and Rules Committee.”
“Tennessee is poised to become the second state in the nation to make it illegal for adults to help minors get an abortion without parental consent, a proposal that is likely to face immediate legal challenges should Gov. Bill Lee sign it into law,” the AP reports.
“Tennessee’s GOP-dominant Statehouse approved the bill Wednesday, clearing the way for the measure to head to the Republican governor’s desk. While Lee hasn’t public commented on the proposal, he has repeatedly defended enacting the state’s sweeping abortion ban and stressed his opposition to the procedure.”
“Ohio lawmakers voted Wednesday to criminalize marital rape in all situations, ending a years-long fight over a law that critics cast as archaic and harmful to survivors,” USA Today reports.
“A Secret Service agent tasked with protecting Vice President Kamala Harris brawled with several other agents on Monday morning,” the New York Post reports.
“The agent in question, whose identity has not been revealed, was immediately ‘removed from their assignment.’”
“President Joe Biden and Speaker Mike Johnson built an unlikely working relationship in recent months — a partnership that handed Biden a pivotal foreign policy victory and surprised much of Washington, which assumed nothing at all would get done,” Politico reports.
“But that relationship remains one of convenience. And as congressional Democrats debate whether to prop up Johnson’s speakership amid threats from Republicans looking to oust him, Biden is signaling that he’s going to stay out of it.”
“Donald Trump’s already sizable stake in his social media company is set to jump by more than $1 billion, as he’s rewarded with additional shares in the parent of Truth Social — the result of its stock price staying high in recent weeks,” the New York Times reports. “The windfall comes at a crucial time for Mr. Trump, who is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars of legal bills tied to the multiple cases against him. The presumptive Republican nominee for president is also ramping up his political campaign, with the boost to his net worth bolstering his image as a wealthy businessman, an important part of his pitch to voters.”
“The founder of the accounting firm hired by Donald Trump’s social media group has used 14 variations of his name in filings with the industry regulator,” the Financial Times reports.
“Some of the 49 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by the state of Florida are now able to legally work in the United States and have temporary protections from deportation — because they are considered victims of a potential crime,” the Miami Herald reports.
“The migrants are eligible for these protections because they applied for a special kind of visa meant for crime victims who are helping law enforcement, after they said they were tricked into taking charter flights from San Antonio to Massachusetts with false promises of jobs and other aid.”
Semafor: “The mother of Hunter Biden’s young child has been quietly shopping a book about her relationship with the president’s son.”
“In recent months, Lunden Roberts has met privately with a number of major publishers to discuss the publication of a memoir that would detail how she met Hunter and the public court fight over their child.”
Wall Street Journal on giving legal immigrant status to immigrant spouses: “The idea has gained currency inside the White House since last summer, despite the fraught nature of immigration politics heading into the 2024 presidential election. There is a growing recognition among Biden’s top political advisers that the president could benefit from taking a positive step on immigration to contrast with his tough talk on the issue, and with an expected executive order aiming to sharply curb illegal crossings at the southern border.”
“Officials inside the White House and at the Department of Homeland Security have been studying a range of proposals to provide work permits or deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for a long time. They have zeroed in on the population of mixed-status families, where typically the children and one parent are U.S. citizens, because they believe that demographic is the most compelling.”
Politico on anti-Trump legal pundits holding briefings for the media: “The meetings are off the record — a chance for the group’s members, many of whom are formally or loosely affiliated with different media outlets, to grapple with a seemingly endless array of novel legal issues before they hit the airwaves or take to print or digital outlets to weigh in with their thoughts. About a dozen or more people join any given call, though no one takes attendance. Some group members wouldn’t describe themselves with any partisan or ideological lean, but most are united by their dislike of Trump.”
“The group’s host is Norman Eisen, a senior Obama administration official, longtime Trump critic and CNN legal analyst, who has been convening the group since 2022 as Trump’s legal woes ramped up. Eisen was also a key member of the team of lawyers assembled by House Democrats to handle Trump’s first impeachment.”
“January 6th was no less than an intent and an effort to replace by force who our country had voted for. The mob was there because it hadn’t achieved what it wanted to at the ballot box.”— U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, quoted by the AP, in sentencing a Capitol rioter.
“The Lincoln Project — a super PAC that ranks among former President Donald Trump’s leading antagonists — lost $35,000 in what it described to federal regulators as ‘fraudulent’ transactions committed by cyberthieves,” Raw Story reports.
“He said, ‘Oh, my God, Chris. I could never do that. I can never go to jail. They tell you when to go to bed at night and when to wake up in the morning and what to wear and what to do, who you can talk to and what you can eat. I could never do that.’” — Former Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the Washington Post, on Donald Trump’s fears of going to jail.
“I’m more attuned to all of the different ways you can have a good life, only some of which involve public life.” — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, quoted by NOTUS, in how parenthood has changed him. He wouldn’t say if he would continue in his current job if President Biden wins another term.
“Federal agencies with competing interests are slowing the country’s ability to track and control an outbreak of highly virulent bird flu that for the first time is infecting cows in the United States,” the Washington Post reports. “The response has echoes of the early days of 2020, when the coronavirus began its deadly march around the world. Today, some officials and experts express frustration that more livestock herds aren’t being tested for avian flu, and that when tests and epidemiological studiesare conducted, results aren’t shared fast enough or with enough detail.”
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