Could a Supreme Court fact-finding test to determine whether actions taken while in office were “public” or “private” actually weaken the presidency?
Such an immunity test for the Trump case could be a catch-22, legal experts told the
@dcexaminer
.
@DezKochis
@Phil_Lewis_
@WeGotGame2
The plane never took off. It hit a fence and caught fire but I'd still call that a crash. Just clarifying for those not ITK.
JUST IN: Fifth Circuit just struck 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) as unconstitutional in US v. Daniels, the same statute Hunter Biden is charged under (and many others).
Supreme Court's Bruen is cited here, once again.
INBOX: Cherokee Nation speaks on OK GOV. STITT'S invite for a meeting tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the state Capitol.
"There has been no invitation to meet with Governor Stitt and there is no meeting scheduled." — Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. 1/2
Speaking to immigrants in the streets of Brownsville this afternoon. This man from Venezuela was given a date to appear in court for April 2027.
#Immigration
#BrownsvilleTX
#migrants
@tedcruz
excoriates reporter for asking what Republicans have done to ease the southern border crisis.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Cruz says, citing the record-low number of crossings during the Trump years.
@dcexaminer
NEW:
@Jim_Jordan
and
@RepJamesComer
are threatening to subpoena liberal Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb for failing to comply with their investigation into the reasons for his targeting of conservative judicial advocate Leonard Leo.
JUST IN: Trump RICO co-defendant Harrison Floyd becomes the first defendant to remain in jail without bond.
He was arrested earlier this year for assaulting an FBI agent that was serving a subpoena in Jack Smith's grand jury probe.
"The fact that Governor Stitt thinks he can command tribal leaders to his office by simply declaring on live television speaks volumes of why he has been a failure at state, tribal relations." 2/2
NEW: Judge Cannon has granted a motion for leave to accept amicus briefs from a variety of "constitutional lawyers" and former gov officials including former Rep. and Missouri AG Tom Coleman (R) as well as Laurence Tribe, among others.
Motion notably in "opposition" to Trump.
Chutkan: "A significant amount of this discovery is duplicative..."
You may not have been here since he beginning but Trump's "experienced" previous lawyers did. Any experienced counsel would not have been "sitting on their hands" throughout this process. - Chutkan.
NEW: Jack Smith has already replied to Trump's Supreme Court appeal over his presidential immunity bid to toss his D.C. criminal case.
Trump's position that he is immune "finds no support in constitutional text, separation-of-powers principles, history, or logic," Smith says.
Gaston: "In terms of witnesses, the number of people on the list is not a surprise either."
"Since the indictment, Lauro has an experienced team, four counsel of record... when Mr. Lauro appeared on multiple news programs and podcasts... he described a number of motions he plans…
Boarding my flight now from
#brownsville
to Dallas with more than two dozen people who are mostly migrants.
Most of these people are still awaiting approval for work permits, according to rep from Haitian Bridge Alliance here with them.
@dcexaminer
Lauro: "The worst thing" for a jury to see is a lawyer getting up there an asking questions [they] don't know what they're talking about because they don't have time to prepare.
Chutkan: You and I disagree greatly about the amount of time needed.
Gaston: "I think there is a reason why Lauro resisted your question... he doesn't want to admit that the electronic searches make it possible for him to be ready much sooner."
Chutkan: "He has a right to a fair trial" but how much time is fair?
"A lot of this is duplicative and a lot of this may not even be relevant..." It doesn't need two years.
Gaston: "There is an incredibly strong public interest" in both a speedy and a fair trial, saying "Defendant posts about this case on social media, publicly disparages witnesses ... potentially prejudices jury pool."
Lauro: "May I respond?"
Chutkan: "Yes."
Lauro: "I doubt that you can't push a button these days and get documents sorted."
"We start at the time of the charge. It would be highly prejudicial if your honor took into account any time before the charges were brought."
"I was…
Chutkan: "I'll not that many years ago when I was trying murder cases ... we got witness names on the day of the trial."
"While discovery rules in federal court provide for more discovery disclosure far in advance..." the government has proven it has done its due diligence.
SCOTUS revised the transcript today.
Full quote post-correction: "We have flu vaccines. The flu kills, I believe, hundreds, thousands of people every year. OSHA has never purported to regulate on that basis.”
Gaston: "let's set a trial date, and set a schedule."
Also on Lauro: "Selective prosecution statements are common... first amendment issues in the context of fraud is not a new legal issue, that won't be complex either."
BREAKING: A federal jury found former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro guilty on two charges that he ignored calls from the House Jan. 6 committee to produce documents and testimony.
@dcexaminer
Lauro: "The indictment essentially indicts President Trump for being president Trump."
Lauro previews motion for executive immunity, likely a delay tactic.
Chutkan: Given that Mr. Trump knows several of the witnesses that may be called ... why would the defense need two years to investigate.
Lauro: There's no obligations for a defense to begin preparing simply because a grand jury is investigating.
Remember: Lauro wants to be…
Senate confirmed Sara Hill 52-14, making her the first Native American woman to serve as a federal judge in Oklahoma. 4 Republicans, Lankford, Collins, Grassley, and Murkowski voted yes.
Manchin only Dem no vote.
NEW: The Georgia Court of Appeals rejected the state's appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed counties to offer early voting on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in the Senate runoff between Warnock and Walker.
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@dcexaminer
Windom specifies that roughly 250 pages would be provided to defense over the classified information, but again government does not plan to introduce it at the trial.
NEW: TRUMP ATTORNEY Steve Sadow responds to plea deals for Powell and Chesebro:
“It appears to me that the guilty plea to count 15 of the Fulton County indictment was the result of pressure by Fani Willis and her team and the prosecution’s looming threat of prison time."
Lauro: "No one is suggesting that we aren't being diligent... no one is suggesting that we aren't taking our responsibility seriously.
"Trump is not above the law nor below the law."
"We cannot be ready under the circumstances of this case until we have a reasonable time."
And we are underway. Worth noting this is the same courthouse where Peter Navarro is having a separate hearing today, and three proud boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in May are having a sentencing hearing this week.
I’m en route to the district court in DC, where a judge is slated to weigh dueling trial date start suggestions from Jack Smith and Trump.
Smith has asked for a Jan 2 start, which Trump had asked for April 2026.
Will be bringing you coverage live!
EXCLUSIVE:
@America1stLegal
lodges DOD complaint for failure to supply responsive records related to a FOIA over an Obama-era committee that gave POTUS "exclusive control" over information resources.
AFL says it could implicate Trump documents case.
Lauro: "This is a question of whether or not one man gets a fair trial... "Years ago there may be 50 boxes and we would go with them one by one... today there are 12 million.... I have to go through the grand jury testimony... text messages..."
Chutkan: Let's take break and discuss CIPA. Should we discuss now or end of hearing?
Parties agree to discuss now.
"As I understand it, CIPA does not create any additional right... creates procedures for how classified information will be handled in the discovery process."
Chutkan: "I understand all too" well the need for time to prepare. I take seriously that Trump need to be treated like any other defendant.
"I also want to point out that most defendants do not receive this level of" preparation.
NEW: Justice Gorsuch steered the debate during the Supreme Court's Trump immunity case.
“It’s clear the justices will narrowly hold the [POTUS] .. is immune from criminal prosecution for official (not personal) acts,”
@Article3Project
's Mike Davis said.
NEW: Supreme Court today also grants cert to Joseph Fischer, one of three Jan. 6 defendants who petitioned high court to reexamine whether Section 1512 (c)(2) of the United States Code is the right statute under which to prosecute the defendants.
NEW: U.S. District Judge Steve Jones is asking for an additional briefing from parties over Meadows' bid to remove his Fulton County RICO indictment to federal court.
"Would a finding that at least one (but not all) of the overt acts charged occurred under the color of Meadows's…
Chutkan: "Mr. Trump is represented by a team of zealous, experienced attorneys and has the resources necessary..." Discovery has already been provided to defense.
Grand jury in this case was convened in Sept. 2022. Trump has known this case is coming.
Lauro is detailing the layers of "unique legal issues" that he plans to spring up throughout the duration of these forthcoming hearings.
"I will say that this court, I know your honor is look at all of those issues seriously... not only are we going to be dealing with a host of…
Chutkan: Gov has noted that is does not plan to introduce classified documents in the case. Is this still the plan?
Windom: Whatever happens with CIPA, we don't expect this to impact the trial date.
5-10 non duplicative classified documents that will be given to defense. A…
CHUTKAN to gov: The statement that you cited where Trump said something about Pence, that's behavior that may be impacting his conditions for release but not really the protective order.
"I'm really trying to determine if I need to subject the nonsensitive to the order."
Chutkan: Jan 2, 2024 is also not acceptable. Trump needs more than 5 months. But April 2026 is far beyond necessary.
"To try this case over 5 years later risks that witnesses will become unavailable or their memories may fade."
NEW: SCOTUS rejected an effort by GOP state officials to bring back former President Trump's policy that blocked certain immigrants deemed likely to qualify for government benefits from gaining lawful permanent residency in the US.
|
@dcexaminer
IMPORTANT: Chutkan does not accept Trump's amendment that exempts from protective order any records that become publicly available. Discovery can become public in several ways, sometimes improper.
She accepts gov language and exempts only records publicly available.
NEW: San Francisco's far-left district attorney, Chesa Boudin, was voted out of office on Tuesday after facing a recall petition over his criminal justice platform voters saw as soft on crime.
for
@dcexaminer
"There is a societal interest in providing a speedy trial that exists ... sometimes separate from the" desire of the accused. - Chutkan.
"The public has an interest in the fair and timely administration of justice," Judge adds.
Lauro: "How could we go into a dark room and figure out what they were investigating?"
"This is an enormous factual issue ... we haven't even gotten to the law issue."
"We're making sure that we're responding immediately... diligently."
Chutkan: Some of "This is not brand new information."
You personally, this may be new to you, some of this material are statements of your client and materials created by your client or entities associated with him. This is not brand new information.
Lauro: Of course it is.
BREAKING: Students for Fair Admissions petitions Supreme Court to enjoin West Point from using "the fact of an applicant’s race as a factor in making admissions decisions."
Comes after a NY federal judge denied request to block affirmative action at the school.
NEW: Trump debuts in court filing he will rely on advice-of-counsel defense in his upcoming New York trial.
He will contend he can't be held responsible for concealing hush money payments, citing he was acting on advice from his attorneys.
Gaston: "Request that that polling not begin until we have the option to brief."
Chutkan: "I'll ask Mr. Lauro to notify the court... if and when defense decides to undertake such activities."
"Setting a trial date should not depend on a defendant's personal and professional obligations," Chutkan says of Trump, makes a comparison to a busy professional athlete.
CHUTKAN: The protective order will only govern materials that the government states is sensitive.
JUDGE IS GIVING TRUMP TEAM SOME LEWAY FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER AMENDMENTS.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once praised San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin as a "great beacon to many." That was before more than 60,000 voters turned out to recall him from office.
for
@dcexaminer
Chutkan: "A lot of this is material your client created, or material his other lawyers saw.":
Lauro: Statements by the client are minuscule to the "avalanche" of material presented here.
"I am aware that Mr. Trump faces charges in other state and federal criminal case ... the court has considered the currently set trial schedules in those cases." - Chutkan.
BREAKING: Supreme Court lets Texas enforce SB 4, the immigration law allowing state police to arrest illegal migrants in the state. Kagan and Sotomayor say the order will “sow chaos”
Lauro: You can't come up with a better hypothetical for violating the first Amendment than what the prosecutors have proposed.
What you have put in place is working.
Chutkan laughs out loud.
Chutkan: "You personally are not going to review those pages" bit by bit. "You're going to review electronically, right?"
Lauro pushes back, says that while the documents can be searched electronically that doesn't help speed up the process to the point that the government's…
BREAKING:
@DickDurbin
has just filed a subpoena to FedSoc co-chairman Leonard Leo.
Leo releases statement calling it "unlawful" and "politically motivated."
"I am not capitulating to his lawless support of Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and the left's dark money effort to silence…
Chutkan: "I'm not planning to restrict" your ability to do polling to find a separate jurisdiction.
Chutkan: "I'm going to request if you do that kind of polling that you notify the court."
Chutkan motions to Gaston: "How much of the discovery did Trump have access to?"
Gaston: "At this point, discovery is now substantially complete. 5th production last night. At this point the discovery is approximately 12 million pages."
"But pages are not best metric of…
Chutkan: Why won't the information the government has provided already not speed things up?
"Why won't the manner in which this discovery has been turned over speed up your review process?"
Chutkan is reading citations of lengthy cases by Trump's defense, though she is clarifying that some of these estimates, I.e. 29 months, are taken from cases that occurred during the pandemic.
The government proposes that the trial begin on Jan. 2, estimate it will take no longer than 4-6 weeks.
The defense proposes that trial begin April 2026.
"These proposals are very far apart and neither of them are acceptable." - Chutkan.
The Supreme Court will hear two back-to-back cases over fishermen challenging a rule requiring them to keep and pay at-sea monitors aboard their vessels.
Such cases could also be the vessels to overturn a longstanding legal precedent known as Chevron.
That's a wrap for today folks! Get a condensed and less-chaotic unfolding of the hearing today in my report here, which will be updated throughout the morning.
Gaston now says that 27,000 open source, I.e. tweets.
She says the "key documents" are approx 47,000 pages. Includes all case agents' summary testimony, things like transcripts, a file that is an annotation of the indictment.
@DickDurbin
The subpoena comes less than a week after Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb quietly closed a probe into Arabella Advisors, the $1 billion left-wing dark money network that shares connections to his office.
But the AG is still probing groups linked to Leo, an…