Closing summary
Donald Trump’s looming indictment had protesters convening outside the Manhattan courthouse where a grand jury is weighing charges against the former president, and police growing nervous about an increase in threats from online extremist groups. An indictment is not expected to happen before Wednesday, but Republicans nonetheless spent today reacting to what are expected to be history making allegations.
Here’s what else happened today:
Ron DeSantis might be Trump’s most prominent challenger for the Republican presidential nomination next year, but he’s way down in the polls.
Older Americans are holding protests across the country against banks that finance fossil fuel projects.
The defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News is having a major hearing in a Delaware court.
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell signaled opposition to repealing the authorizations behind the invasion of Iraq and America’s involvement in the Gulf war.
A former lawyer for the January 6 committee said Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg needs to take steps to ensure his expected indictment of Trump is not viewed as politically motivated.
On the Senate floor, Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer is sounding optimistic about repealing the legal authorizations for America’s involvement in the Gulf war and invasion of Iraq, according to C-SPAN:
Schumer from Senate floor on Iraq War AUMF repeal bill: "I hope Republicans will work with us to keep this bill moving forward because AUMF repeal in the Senate is now a matter of when, not of if. It's my hope we can finish our work on repealing these AUMFs as soon as possible." https://t.co/g5W7yofxie pic.twitter.com/iSWv8wwhcu
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 21, 2023
Schumer:"We'll have a reasonable amendment process. That said,given last week's strong vote (68-27) there is no reason to drag this out. I'm encouraged that in the House, members from both sides of the aisle seem to be open to taking action once the Senate passes the resolution."
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 21, 2023
Schumer on Iraq War AUMF repeal bill: "And there are members of the Senate Republican leadership who seem very strongly for the bill. That's a very good sign."
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) March 21, 2023
Eric Columbus was an attorney for the January 6 committee, which – among other things – wrapped up its investigation last year by recommending that Donald Trump face criminal charges.
Now Trump appeared poised to be indicted by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg for misconduct that’s completely separate from the attack on the Capitol. But on Twitter, Columbus warned Bragg’s case runs the risk of being seen as politicized. Here’s more from Columbus:
Leaving aside other issues for now, I have serious concerns about indicting Trump over the Stormy payments if—and it's a big if—there's nothing here that wasn’t known in 2018. Trump could have been indicted for this the day he left office. Why indict him now, 26 months later? 1/
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) March 21, 2023
Some claim that “the rule of law” demands that Trump be prosecuted for this. But the rule of law includes the concept of prosecutorial discretion: that prosecutors can and should refrain from prosecuting every criminal act. 2/
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) March 21, 2023
And the rationale for prosecutorial discretion is especially strong when the prosecuting office has *already* exercised such discretion and opted not to prosecute. If a prosecuting office reverses course, it must be able to explain why. This too is part of the rule of law. 3/
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) March 21, 2023
The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has just released a memo outlining reasons not to repeal the legal authorizations for America’s invasion of Iraq and involvement in the 1991 Gulf war.
The Senate last week took the first vote in the effort to repeal the two authorizations for use of military force, which was supported by all Democrats and enough Republicans for it to overcome a filibuster. Earlier today, the Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled he was willing to bring it up for a vote in the House.
However, the release of the memo suggests McConnell, who wields great influence among the Senate GOP, is opposed to the repeal effort. Titled “Congress Should Not Tie The Hands Of American Commanders In The Middle East,” the memo includes comments the Republican leader made in 2021:
Do supporters of this repeal fully understand the ways it might limit counterterrorism missions? Cyber ops? Support for Kurdish and Arab forces in Syria? How do they propose we respond to growing attacks against our forces and interests in Iraq? … We’re learning a lesson in real time about withdrawing from Afghanistan without a plan. We shouldn’t make the same mistake here.”
Reuters surveyed a political scientist and a Republican operative about how Donald Trump’s looming indictment will affect his 2024 chances.
While the indictment would mark the first time in American history charges have been leveled against a former president, Trump has faced plenty of legal trouble in the past. Will the indictment expected from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg be any different? Probably not, Reuters finds.
Republican strategist Ford O’Connell sees it as a rally-around-the-flag moment, saying in the piece, “I think this will strengthen the resolve of his supporters.”
Larry Sabato, a politics guru at the University of Virginia, believes the affair will be bad for Trump – but not crippling.
“It’s not good for Trump, the question is how bad for Trump it is,” Sabato told Reuters. “There could be multiple indictments … it begins to add up to a major problem.”
The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reports that new lawsuits have raised more troubling allegations against Fox News and its most popular commentator:
A Fox News producer who worked on Tucker Carlson’s flagship show has claimed in a pair of lawsuits that network lawyers “coached” and “intimidated” her into giving misleading testimony in the $1.6bn Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit.
Abby Grossberg, a senior producer and head of booking for Tucker Carlson who has also worked on Maria Bartiromo’s show, alleged that the network attempted to pin the blame for Fox News’s airing of voting conspiracies on her and Bartiromo – an effort that Grossberg says was part of a broader culture of sexism and misogyny at Fox News.
The lawsuit was first revealed by Daily Beast’s Confider newsletter, which reported that Fox News filed a counter lawsuit on Monday, seeking a restraining order to prevent Grossberg from revealing conversations she had with network lawyers.
The day so far
Donald Trump’s looming indictment has protesters convening outside the Manhattan courthouse where a grand jury is weighing charges against him, and police growing nervous about an increase in threats from online extremist groups. An indictment is not expected to happen before Wednesday, but Republicans have nonetheless spent today reacting to what are expected to be history making allegations.
Here’s what else has happened today:
Ron DeSantis might be Trump’s most prominent challenger for the Republican presidential nomination next year, but he’s way down in the polls.
Older Americans are holding protests across the country against banks that finance fossil fuel projects.
The defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News is having a major hearing in a Delaware court.
The right wing of the Republican party is continuing its campaign to defund the police, with the introduction of legislation to block the construction of a new headquarters for the FBI.
Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative House Republican, has introduced a bill to stop the government from spending the $375m allocated last year for the new building, the Daily Caller reports. The FBI is looking to move out of its ageing offices in downtown Washington DC and into a newly built site, either in Maryland or Virginia (a hotly contested issue between the two states, which border the capital).
In a statement to the Daily Caller, Gaetz cited conservatives’ belief about being targeted by the FBI as the reason to cut off its funding:
The cancer at the Washington Field Office has metastasized so large that the entire body is in critical condition. Gifting the FBI a new headquarters larger than the Pentagon would condone, reinforce, and enable their nefarious behavior to levels we have never seen before.”
Updated
Poll puts DeSantis at lowest primary point
Ron DeSantis is having a tricky time responding to the looming indictment of Donald Trump, to whom he is the only remotely close challenger for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. A poll out today shows just how tricky.
The Morning Consult poll puts the Florida governor at 26% support to 54% for Trump, tying DeSantis’s lowest mark in the survey since it began in December.
Under pressure from Trump allies, DeSantis addressed the New York situation on Monday. He chose to focus his fire on Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney expected to indict Trump over his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, while slipping in a barbed remark about the payment and Daniels’ chosen profession.
Trump responded with mockery and an insinuation about DeSantis’s sexuality. Classy, it wasn’t. Indicative of ferocious political warfare to come, if or when DeSantis jumps into the primary proper, it was.
So today’s Morning Consult poll will make happy reading for the Trump camp, as it ramps up attempts to use the looming indictment for fundraising and to strengthen the former president’s hold on the Republican base.
In other findings, the poll put the former vice-president Mike Pence, like DeSantis not yet a declared candidate, at 7% and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who has declared, on 4%.
Liz Cheney, the anti-Trump party pariah, took 3%. No one else made it above a single percentage point: a potential embarrassment for possible contenders including the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the South Carolina senator Tim Scott.
In Washington, the Guardian’s Joan E Greve is attending a protest against banks that fund oil and gas companies:
The protest against “dirty banks” (those that fund oil and gas companies) is underway in DC’s Franklin Park. Bill Kitchen is one of those protesting, calling on banks to be “fossil free.” pic.twitter.com/fSCMcZGmTv
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) March 21, 2023
Stephen Schiff says he came out to protest “dirty banks” because he wants other Americans to understand “the need for us to take action before we irrevocably destroy the planet.” pic.twitter.com/17cjfNAm6L
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) March 21, 2023
The protesters are sitting in painted rocking chairs to underscore the older age of the demonstration’s participants. The event’s organizers say that demanding action against climate change shouldn’t be solely the responsibility of younger generations. pic.twitter.com/jO09m7iTff
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) March 21, 2023
The demonstration today is part of a wider campaign happening in about 90 locations across the country:
Here’s more from Lindsey Graham on the ongoing rivalry between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis:
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked about “Ron DeSanctimonious” hitting back at Trump:
— The Recount (@therecount) March 21, 2023
“If I were Trump … I would say, ‘DeSantis, I picked him out of a crowd … He’s been a great governor, but I’m better able to be president for the next four years.’ But that ain’t gonna happen.” pic.twitter.com/GEjd3UuFv0
Lindsey Graham is one of Donald Trump’s allies in the Senate, so it was little surprise that he predicted dire consequences if the former president is indicted, CNN reports:
.@LindseyGrahamSC on Fox & Friends this morning said a potential Trump indictment is "going to blow up our country, and this is a bunch of BS."
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) March 21, 2023
He added that previous NY prosecutors chose not to indict & were later criticized for that. "So Alvin Bragg feels that pressure."
He also criticized Florida governor and Trump’s chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination next year Ron DeSantis for his comments yesterday about the potential charges. “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just, I can’t speak to that,” DeSantis said.
That didn’t sit well with Graham:
Graham also criticized Ron DeSantis' for his remarks yday: "If you start this thing, you better be willing to take it. I don't like it. You know, Trump is not into 'Thou shall nots,' that's not his thing"
— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) March 21, 2023
Today’s the day Donald Trump said he would be arrested, and called for his supporters to protest in response.
But the former president remains a free man, and if the scene thus far in New York is any indication, both his opponents and supporters have turned out to demonstrate in front of the Manhattan courthouse where grand jurors are considering his indictment.
Here are a few scenes from Manhattan:
The Guardian’s Sam Levine writes in with this dispatch from Delaware, where a major hearing in Dominion Voting Systems’s lawsuit against Fox News is happening today:
I’m here in Wilmington, Delaware where a hearing in the closely-watched defamation lawsuit between Dominion and Fox quickly fell into a dispute over redacted information.
Both sides are appearing before Delaware judge Eric Davis to try and convince him to rule in their favor on a number of claims ahead of trial. Davis’ ruling will likely set out the scope of the trial in the $1.6bn defamation lawsuit.
Lawyers for both sides were set to begin their opening arguments when Erin Murphy, a lawyer representing Fox, objected to information that Dominion had included in some of its slides. Some of that information, she said, contained sensitive information. Lawyers for Dominion said they should be allowed to include the information.
Davis seemed skeptical of at least one of the redactions and ordered a 15 minute recess to allow the parties to try and work it out.
The opening dispute illustrates how sensitive internal messages have played a major role in the lawsuit thus far. Over the last few months, several of Dominion’s filings have exposed stunning internal messages from top Fox News hosts showing they knew voter fraud claims about Dominion were outlandish.
A bomb threat delayed the hearing this morning of New York attorney general Letitia James’s fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and his family members, Law 360 reports:
NEW: Bomb threat at NYC civil courthouse 60 Centre Street. Court officers closed doors for some time but have now been cleared, according to court official and union official. @Law360 https://t.co/KKzLHwEgya
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) March 21, 2023
911 caller made the threat, according to those sources. “Trump” was not mentioned, per court official.
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) March 21, 2023
Court officers made a sweep of the downtown courthouses in response to the caller’s bomb threat. All clear now, I’m told.
— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) March 21, 2023
Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit against Fox News has already resulted in unflattering behind-the-scenes revelations about the network and many of its most popular personalities. A major hearing is happening in a Delaware courtroom today, and the Guardian’s Sam Levine reports on what to expect:
Lawyers for Fox News and voting equipment company Dominion will face off in a Delaware courtroom on Tuesday in the latest phase of Dominion’s closely watched $1.6bn defamation suit against the media company for spreading election lies.
The case has attracted much attention because it represents one of the most aggressive efforts to hold any party accountable for spreading election misinformation in the United States.
Court filings leading up to the hearing have produced stunning internal messages showing that prominent Fox hosts, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, privately doubted the far-fetched allegations about Dominion even as the network continued to air them.
Updated
McCarthy signals support for repeal of Iraq war authorizations
Punchbowl News reports that Republican speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy seems open to considering a measure to repeal the legal authorizations for America’s involvement in the 1991 Gulf war, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq:
NEW: @SpeakerMcCarthy says he thinks there's a good chance the Senate-passed AUMF will get through committee and through the House.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) March 21, 2023
The Democratic-controlled Senate is currently considering legislation to repeal the authorizations for use of military force that sanctioned America’s hostilities with Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. The measure appeared to have enough GOP support to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, but it had been unclear whether it had the backing of McCarthy and the House Republicans.
The January 6 insurrection looms over Donald Trump’s calls to protest his pending indictment. Yesterday, a jury handed down guilty verdicts in the cases of four militia members involved in the attack, the Associated Press reports:
Four people associated with the far-right Oath Keepers militia were convicted on Monday of conspiracy and obstruction charges stemming from the insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021 by extremist supporters of Donald Trump in a failed attempt to keep him in office, in the latest trial involving members of the anti-government group.
A Washington DC jury found Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio, Laura Steele, of Thomasville, North Carolina, William Isaacs, of Kissimmee, Florida, and Connie Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida, guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and other felony charges.
In a rare loss for prosecutors, Sandra Parker’s husband, Bennie Parker, was acquitted of obstruction as well as one conspiracy charge, and a sixth defendant – Michael Greene, of Indianapolis – was acquitted of two conspiracy charges.
Here’s more from the Associated Press on the jitters surrounding Donald Trump’s possible indictment:
A New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump over a hush money payment to an adult film star appears poised to complete its work soon, as law enforcement officials make preparations for possible unrest in the event of an indictment.
Over the weekend, Trump claimed without any evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, with his representatives later saying he was citing media reports and leaks. There was no indication that prediction would come true, though the grand jury appeared to take an important step forward by hearing on Monday from a witness favourable to Trump, presumably so prosecutors could ensure the panel had a chance to consider any testimony that could be remotely seen as exculpatory.
No Trump indictment expected today
Donald Trump’s indictment may appear imminent, but the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reported yesterday that the grand jury handling the charges isn’t meeting today:
New: Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen not expected to be called back before the grand jury for any more testimony after Trump witness Bob Costello testified, sources tell me tonight. Grand jury next meets on Wednesday.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) March 20, 2023
That seems to undercut Trump’s claim, made over the weekend, that he’d be arrested today. He had called for protests against the indictment – a worrying prospect, considering he made a similar call that led to the January 6 insurrection.
According to CBS News, law enforcement is picking up more threats from violent extremists who see the case against the former president as a political persecution. A number of police agencies have stepped up their security arrangements ahead of the potential charges, including the New York police department and the US Capitol police in Washington DC, where protesters could also convene.
Law enforcement see rising threats ahead of possible Trump indictment
Good morning, US politics blog readers. We’re still waiting for the potential indictment of Donald Trump by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, allegedly for facilitating a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. The grand jury Bragg has convened is said to be wrapping up its work, and there’s no saying when an indictment could be made public, but CBS News reports on one consequence of the looming charges: a “significant increase” in threats towards law enforcement officials by violent extremists. The report notes that none are yet viewed as credible, but they underscore the tense atmosphere surrounding the indictment, which would be a first in American history.
Here’s what else is going on today:
House Republicans are holding a retreat in Orlando, Florida, where they’re plotting strategy for the months ahead – including their response to Trump’s potential arrest.
Joe Biden is hosting the White House Conservation in Action Summit, where he’ll announce the designation of two new national monuments in Texas and Nevada at 1.45pm.
The Senate will continue working on legislation to repeal the legal authorizations behind America’s involvement in the Gulf war, and invasion of Iraq.
Updated
