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Tag: alvin bragg
Fulton County District Attorney Hints Early August Indictment Of Trump

Fulton County District Attorney Hints Early August Indictment Of Trump

Despite already facing a total of 71 criminal counts — 37 in special counsel Jack Smith's federal Mar-a-Lago case, 34 in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr.'s case in New York state — former President Donald Trump may be up against even more criminal charges if an investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis leads to a state indictment in Georgia.

Willis has been probing Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, which is also the focus of a separate and broader probe being conducted by Smith for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). It remains to be seen whether either case will lead to an indictment, but according to CBS News reporters Graham Kates and Nikole Killion, Georgia residents selected as grand jurors on Tuesday, July 11 "may soon consider charges against Trump."

Willis, they report, has "indicated in letters to county officials that potential indictments in the case could come between July 31 and August 18."

"There will be two concurrent 23-person grand juries," Kates and Killion explain in an article published on July 11. "One group will meet on Mondays and Tuesdays. The other will meet Thursdays and Fridays. Of the 23 Fulton County residents chosen for the grand jury, a majority, 12, would need to vote in favor of an indictment."

Once a deep red state, Georgia has evolved into a swing state in recent years. The Peach State has a conservative GOP governor, Brian Kemp, and two Democratic U.S. senators (Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock). After Democratic President Joe Biden won Georgia in 2020, Trump falsely claimed the election was stolen from him there — a claim that was repeatedly debunked.

Willis has spent much of 2023 aggressively investigating Trump's post-election activities in Georgia.

"Over the course of six months in 2022," Kates and Killion note, "a special purpose grand jury — which had the power to issue subpoenas and produce a final report with indictment recommendations — interviewed 75 witnesses. In media interviews after the report was delivered to Willis' office, the special purpose grand jury's foreperson indicated multiple indictments were recommended. The special purpose grand jury did not call Trump, but it did interview his allies, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and political critics such as Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis

Trump's Legal Woes Don't Help DeSantis In Primary

Cheerleaders for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign continue to hope that former President Donald Trump's legal problems will give DeSantis an advantage, but so far, that isn't happening.

A Fox News poll released on June 28 found DeSantis' trailing Trump by 34 percent among 2024 GOP presidential primary voters. Polls released several days before that showed Trump ahead of DeSantis by 29 percent (NBC News) or 38 percent (Emerson College).

If Trump's Republican primary frontrunner status holds up, it is entirely possible that 2024 will see a rematch between him and President Joe Biden. Some pundits believe that Trump's legal problems are helping, not hurting, him among GOP primary voters — a themed explored in articles published on July 3 by The Messenger and The New Republic.

Merle Miller, who chairs the Washington County, Iowa GOP, told The Messenger, "The majority of Republicans here are for Trump after this frickin' legal lynching. That's all it is…. People here take the indictment personally. I think if they wouldn't have done this thing and try to prosecute and persecute him and drag this guy through the mud like they've been doing for seven years, that it would be different. But people are mad."

Between special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count federal prosecution for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr.'s 34-count case for New York State, Trump is facing a total of 71 criminal counts. And his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results are the focus of investigations by Smith and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis.

The Messenger's Marc Caputo reports that Kelley Koch, who chairs the Dallas County, Iowa GOP, is also seeing a surge in support for Trump among Republican primary voters.

Koch told The Messenger, "What I'm hearing in my county is that it's basically all in for Trump…. They poured a ginormous jug of diesel fuel on a bonfire, and people are fired up. They stirred people that normally would not be stirred right now. People are starting to identify with what Trump is going through."

The New Republic's Tori Otten, meanwhile, stresses that Trump's legal problems "could send him straight to the Republican presidential nomination."

"Trump has capitalized on the indictments, using them to stoke outrage — and rake in donations," Otten explains. "His campaign announced in mid-June that it had raised $6.6 million in the week after his second indictment, in which the Department of Justice alleged that he had stored highly sensitive documents relating to national security in a bathroom. He had raised more than double that in the days after he was indicted in April."

Otten notes that polls continue to show Trump with "a substantial lead over DeSantis, the current runner-up."

"It is, of course, still nearly a year until the Iowa caucuses, Otten observes. "Any number of things could change by then. But it's safe to say that Trump has not been hurt by the indictments nearly as much as some expected."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Alvin Bragg

Manhattan Prosecutors Tell Trump He's On Tape With Witness

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial have notified the ex-president’s attorneys they have a recording of him and a witness. The notification comes in the form of an automatic discovery form, CBS News reports, which “describes the nature of the charges against a defendant and a broad overview of the evidence that prosecutors will present at Trump’s preliminary hearing or at trial.”

CBS reports prosecutors have handed the recording over to Trump’s legal team.

It’s not known who the witness is, nor are any details known publicly about what the conversation entails, or even if it is just audio or if it includes video.

According to the article’s author, CBS News’ Graham Kates, via Twitter, prosecutors say they also have recordings between two witnesses, a recording between a witness and a third party, and various recordings saved on a witness’s cell phones.

Trump is facing 34 felony counts in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case related to his allegedly unlawful attempt to hide hush money payoffs to a well-known porn star by falsifying business records to protect his 2016 presidential campaign.

See the discovery form above or at this link.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

New York Judge Sets Trump Criminal Trial For February Or March

New York Judge Sets Trump Criminal Trial For February Or March

New York (AFP) - The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump's criminal case asked the prosecution and defense Thursday to agree a specific trial date for February or March next year.

The instruction means the historic trial over hush-money paid to a porn star will occur in the thick of the Republican primaries for the 2024 presidential race in which Trump is seeking to regain office.

Judge Juan Merchan said that once the date is fixed then all parties, including Trump, who is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, should not schedule other events.

"He cannot agree to any speaking engagements, appearances," during the trial, Merchan said at the Manhattan state court, where Trump was not present.

His comments came during the first hearing in the case since Trump was arraigned last month on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Merchan heard arguments surrounding a request by prosecutors that Trump be prohibited from publicizing elements of the prosecution's case.

The judge said that once he makes a ruling Trump will be required to appear in court virtually via camera to be advised of it.

Trump denied the charges related to reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors say the 2016 payments were intended to silence Daniels over sex she says she had with the ex-president years earlier.

Trump is the first former or sitting president to ever be charged with a crime.

The criminal case is one of several legal challenges facing Trump as the 76-year-old Republican seeks a return to the White House in next year's election.

He is being investigated over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the southern state of Georgia, his alleged mishandling of classified documents taken from the White House and his involvement in the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.