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Exclusive: Trump lawyers in talks with Justice Department about January 6 criminal probe

Exclusive: Trump lawyers in talks with Justice Department about January 6 criminal probe

The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators.

In recent weeks, investigators have moved aggressively into Trump’s orbit, subpoenaing top former White House officials, focusing on efforts to overturn the 2020 election and executing searches of lawyers who sought to aid those efforts.

The Trump team’s discussions are with the US attorney’s office in Washington, DC, which is in charge of the investigation, and its top January 6 prosecutor Thomas Windom, the sources said. The conversations have not been previously reported.

At this stage, the conversations are focused mostly on whether any communications that witnesses from the Trump West Wing had with the former president can be kept from a federal criminal grand jury under Trump’s claims of executive privilege, the people said.

The Justice Department has been anticipating a court fight with Trump over executive privilege. The issue has arisen as grand jury subpoenas have been issued to two former White House counsel’s office officials and to former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief counsel and chief of staff.

Trump’s legal defense team has warned him that indications are possible, sources tell CNN.

Some members of Trump’s legal team have discussed his potential defense strategies on at least two occasions in recent months, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as they brace for new developments in the Justice Department probe and a separate investigation by Georgia officials into his potentially criminal meddling in the state’s 2020 election results. Rolling Stone previously reported that Trump had been briefed.

Trump has grilled his attorneys on whether they actually believe he will face formal charges, sources said. Yet the former President has expressed a heavy dose of skepticism that he will be indicted, one of the sources familiar with the matter said.

Another source close to the former President told CNN that Trump also has posed questions about a potential indictment to members of his inner circle, some of whom believe the President is concerned about the possibility of federal charges.

But one person close to Trump said he is noticeably more engaged when he is chatting with friends and advisers about the 2022 midterms and his possible presidential campaign in 2024 than he has been during briefings on legal strategy.

First on CNN: DHS to stop wiping phones without backups

This person described the former President as dismissive in conversations about his legal troubles, often repeating his “witch hunt” mantra as he claims the various probes he’s facing are plainly driven by political opponents.

A Trump spokesman said in a statement to CNN: “There is clearly a concerted effort to undermine the vital, Constitutionally-rooted Executive and Attorney-Client Privileges through partisan, political persecution.”

“How can any future President ever have private conversations with his attorneys, counselors, and other senior advisors if any such advisor is forced, either during or after the Presidency, in front of an Unselect Committee or other entity, and be forced to reveal those privileged, confidential discussions? the spokesman said. “President Trump will not be deterred by witch hunts or kangaroo courts from continuing to defend and fight for America, our Constitution, and the Truth.”

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Mark Meadows could be a key witness

In recent months, the former President has ignored advice from some of his advisers to avoid speaking with former and current aides who have become entangled in the House select committee’s probe into January 6 and may become part of the criminal investigation, people familiar with the matter told CNN.

Trump has specifically been counseled to cut contact with his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, whose actions leading up to and on the day of the US Capitol insurrection have been deeply scrutinized by the House panel, the people said.

Two of Meadows’ former top aides, Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah Griffin, also have been highly critical of Trump, with Hutchinson testifying about damaging details about Trump’s actions on January 6 during her public testimony before the House panel in June. Hutchinson is cooperating in the DOJ probe as well.

Some of Trump’s attorneys believe Meadows could also be in investigators’ crosshairs and are concerned he could become a fact witness if he is pushed to cooperate in the Justice Department probe, according to two people familiar with the matter.

In response, Meadows’ attorney George Terwilliger told CNN on Thursday: “All of that is idle and uninformed speculation, apparently by people who know little but talk a lot.”

Former White House attorney Ty Cobb said Meadows is “perfectly positioned to be the John Dean of this month,” referring to the former Richard Nixon aide who offered crucial public testimony during the Watergate hearings.

“The reason [Meadows] is valuable is also the reason he is in jeopardy: He was basically at Trump’s right hand throughout all these exercises and participated in key meetings and phone calls,” Cobb said.

Yet, according to a source familiar with the relationship, Trump and Meadows have spoken a number of times. Another source close to Trump described their relationship as “not the same as it once was” while they served in the White House, but insisted they still maintained a relationship, even as Trump has complained about Meadows in his recent conversations with other allies.

Meadows has been known to attend fundraisers and events at the former President’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, where he also helped organize a donor retreat last April for the Conservative Partnership Institute, a group he runs with former Republican Sen. Jim De Mint.

The securing of Trump’s endorsement for US Senate candidate Ted Budd “was the last time Meadows was really around regularly. Since then, he’s never been a big part of the political operation or [Trump’s] thought process,” said a second person close to Trump.

CNN’s Pamela Brown and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

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DeSantis suspends Tampa prosecutor who took stance against criminalizing abortion providers

DeSantis suspends Tampa prosecutor who took stance against criminalizing abortion providers

DeSantis also accused Warren of not prosecuting criminals to the fullest extent of his powers as the state attorney of Hillsborough County.

“To take a position that you have veto powers over the laws of the state is untenable,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Tampa surrounded by law enforcement.

The move by DeSantis, a Republican, to remove a Democrat twice elected by Hillsborough voters drew an immediate and sharp rebuke from Democratic state lawmakers and officials. Minority Leader Sen. Lauren Book said DeSantis was “behaving more like a dictator than ‘America’s governor.'” And Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor, called Warren’s suspension “a politically motivated attack on a universally respected state attorney democratically elected to exercise prosecutorial discretion .”

“Ron DeSantis is a pathetic bully,” Fried said.

Warren called DeSantis’ action an “an illegal overreach that continues a dangerous pattern by Ron DeSantis of using his office to further his own political ambition.” DeSantis is running for reelection in November and is considering whether to run for president in 2024.

“In our community, crime is low, our Constitutional rights — including the right to privacy — are being upheld, and the people have the right to elect their own leaders — not have them dictated by an aspiring presidential candidate who has shown time and again he feels accountable to no one,” Warren said in a statement.

Warren is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4 pm ET to discuss a development in a 40-year-old cold case.

DeSantis said the decision to suspend Warren came after he directed staff to review whether any state attorneys in Florida had taken it “upon themselves to determine which laws they like and will enforce,” after watching prosecutors in other states decline to press charges for certain crimes. . That review led them to Warren, who has become a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform and overturning wrongful convictions.

“The governor should not have had to come to Hillsborough County and clean up our mess,” former Tampa police chief Brian Dugan said during the press conference. “That’s really what it comes down to.”

Under Florida law, a governor can remove “any county officer” for malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony. The Florida Senate has the power to reinstate a suspended official or remove that person from office.

DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez to serve as state attorney during Warren’s suspension. I have previously appointed Lopez to circuit court judge in Hillsborough County. DeSantis told reporters that he did not speak to Warren ahead of the announcement.

Warren was first elected to state attorney in 2016, defeating a longtime Republican incumbent in a narrow race that predicted the bellwether Florida county’s leftward turn. He was reelected in 2020, winning a higher percentage of the vote in Hillsborough County than President Joe Biden.

During his first years in office, Warren kept a relatively low profile as he quietly modernized the office and adopted criminal justice reforms. In 2018, I have endorsed the reelection campaign of the county’s elected Republican sheriff, Chad Chronister, and often held press conferences with law enforcement. In turn, Chronister praised Warren in the months leading up to the Democrat’s campaign for a second term.

But Chronister hosted Thursday’s press conference at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and delivered a biting critique of Warren while standing next to DeSantis. (Chronister’s wife, Nicole DeBartolo, and father-in-law, Edward DeBartolo, a former NFL owner granted a presidential pardon by Donald Trump, have donated a combined $472,000 to DeSantis’ reelection campaign.)

Warren grew increasingly critical of DeSantis during the pandemic. Early in the coronavirus outbreak, he publicly bashed the governor’s decision to allow megachurches to operate in Florida just days after the arrest of a Tampa pastor who defiantly held in-person service. Later that summer, Warren announced he wouldn’t prosecute 67 people arrested in a protest following the death of George Floyd.

But it was Warren’s foray into the country’s political divide over transgender and abortion care that sparked Thursday’s action from DeSantis. Warren last year joined dozens of local and state prosecutors who signed onto a letter authored by the progressive organization Fair and Just Prosecution denouncing laws that criminalize doctors that provide gender affirming care for transgender people. After the US Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate constitutional protections for abortion, Warren signed another letter from Fair and Justice promising to use discretion not to use “limited criminal legal system resources” to prosecute those who seek, provide or support abortions.

The position on abortion put Warren at odds with a new state law that bans abortion in Florida after 15 weeks. DeSantis, who last year signed a ban on transgender girls and women participating in scholastic sports as a female, has also taken steps to ban gender affirming care for children, which he called on Thursday “literally chopping off the private parts of young kids.”

“Those are really, I think, egregious and again, it’s beyond just exercising discretion,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis has used his power to remove certain elected officials more than his predecessors. In one of his first actions by him as governor, DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, who oversaw the police response to the deadly mass shooting at a Parkland high school.

But past suspensions were a result of actions already taken by elected officials. Warren’s suspension is in part for actions yet to be taken. Notably, the state’s new abortion law is facing a legal challenge and one judge said it violated the state’s constitutional, though a higher court said otherwise.

“It spits in the face of the voters of Hillsborough County who have twice elected me to serve them, not Ron DeSantis,” Warren said.

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Sinema’s support for the tax and climate bill could hinge on drought funding for the Southwest

Sinema's support for the tax and climate bill could hinge on drought funding for the Southwest

Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, confirmed to CNN that Sinema is seeking $5 billion worth of drought resilience funding. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, said he’s “aware of the request.”

“I’m looking forward to details, I do welcome the additional resources for drought resilience,” Padilla told CNN.

Sinema is not the only lawmaker asking leadership to add drought funding, a source familiar with the negotiations told CNN. A coalition of several Western lawmakers who represent states in the Colorado River basin are in talks with Democratic leadership, and staff-level conversations are centered around seeking funding for programs that would be managed by the US Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency that oversees the Colorado River.

The focus, the source said, would be to blunt the impact of the drought on farmers and cities in the West.

A senior Democratic source told CNN they believe Democratic leaders will accommodate Sinema’s concerns, as well as her request to drop a $14 billion carried interest tax provision from the bill.

Sinema’s office did not respond to CNN’s questions about the drought request.

Padilla and other senators from Western states told CNN that the years-long drought is a paramount concern.

Around 90% of Arizona was in some level of drought this week, according to the US Drought Monitor. And exceptional drought, the monitor’s most dire category, has also spread across parts of California, Nevada and Utah.
The senators’ drought request also comes as the US Bureau of Reclamation prepares its August report on the future of Lake Mead — which has continued its precipitous decline this year — and the Colorado River. CNN has reported that more water cuts are likely for the Southwest, given recent projections.
Manchin, Democratic leadership strike deal to advance controversial natural gas pipeline in Appalachia
The drought, which scientists reported in February is the region’s worst in 12 centuries, has had sprawling consequences beyond water shortages, including extraordinarily dry vegetation, which has fueled intense and fast-moving wildfires.
“Things are terrible with drought in Colorado and the Colorado River Basin,” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado told CNN. “There’s half the water in the Colorado River that we need. This is a profoundly difficult time for the people that I represent.”

Bennet said he “cannot vote for a bill unless it improves the condition of the Colorado River in Colorado and in the upper basin,” and called for lawmakers to focus on long-term and lasting fixes, though he didn’t say exactly what was needed.

“I hope we can get to a solution, but it’s going to have to be a real solution — not these short-term temporary solutions that have spent lots of money but not seen any result from the point of view of the river basin, Bennett said.

Padilla, who represents California, said drought conditions are “very bad” there.

“There’s a sustained drought, it’s very concerning both from a water supply standpoint and of course wildfires,” Padilla said. “Drought, extreme heat, and windy conditions; it’s a dangerous recipe.”
Funding for drought resilience was also written into the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Biden signed in November and Sinema played a key role in crafting. The bipartisan bill included $8.3 billion for water infrastructure programs and $1.4 billion for ecosystem restoration and resilience.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

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Dick Cheney rips ‘coward’ Trump in election ad for daughter Liz

Dick Cheney rips 'coward' Trump in election ad for daughter Liz

Former Vice President Dick Cheney looks on as his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., takes the oath of office on the House floor on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017.

Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

Former Vice President Dick Cheney assailed ex-President Donald Trump as a “coward” and a prime threat to the United States in a new campaign ad for his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, days before her Republican primary election in Wyoming.

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who has posed a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” the elder Cheney said in a straight-to-camera ad, which was shared online Thursday afternoon.

“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” said Cheney, 81, who served for eight years as vice president in the George W. Bush administration.

“He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters,” Cheney said. “He lost his election and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it.”

The 60-second spot, titled “He Knows It,” will run across Wyoming and online starting Friday, the Cheney campaign said. The ad comes less than two weeks before the Wyoming Republican primary, where the incumbent Cheney appears to be in trouble.

Cheney is Trump’s biggest Republican critic in Congress and a leading member of the House select committee investigating him over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. For her refusal of her to back down from her criticisms of the former president, she has been largely ostracized by her party of her and condemned by Trump’s loyal base of Republican voters.

Polls of the Aug. 16 Wyoming primary show Cheney trailing her top Republican opponent, Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, by wide margins. Hageman has echoed Trump’s false claims that his loss of him to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election was “rigged” by widespread fraud.

Yet Cheney, unlike some other House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot, has kept up her vocal attacks on Trump over the “Big Lie.”

Her persistence may have damaged her standing among some Republican voters, but it has not hampered her fundraising efforts: She has far outraised her competitors while assuring key donors and supporters that she will continue to hold Trump accountable. Dick Cheney has been involved in these talks as well, CNBC previously reported.

“Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the Constitution when so many in our party are too scared to do so,” Dick Cheney said in the ad.

“Liz is fearless. She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office. And she will succeed,” he said in the ad .

“I’m Dick Cheney. I proudly voted for my daughter. I hope you will too,” he said.

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Jan. 6 committee and federal investigators have asked for Alex Jones’ phone records, Sandy Hook attorney says

Jan. 6 committee and federal investigators have asked for Alex Jones' phone records, Sandy Hook attorney says

“I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide (the records),” Mark Bankston, the plaintiffs’ attorney, told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble. “Absent a ruling from you saying you cannot do that … I intend to do so immediately following this hearing.”

“I believe that there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that Mr. Reynal has done to fulfill his obligations to protect his client and prevent me from doing that,” he said, referring to Jones’ attorney, Andino Reynal.

Sandy Hook family attorney exposes Alex Jones' dishonesty during brutal cross-examination

“I’ve been asked by the January 6 committee to turn the documents over,” Bankston added later.

Bankston declined to specify to CNN which other investigators outside of the House committee expressed interest in obtaining Jones’ text records.

Bankston revealed in court on Wednesday that Reynal’s firm, in an apparent mishap, sent him two years of cell phone records that included every text message Jones had sent.
Jones was a central player on January 6. He was at the rally before the riot though he did not storm the Capitol. The Infowars founder testified virtually before the January 6 committee earlier this year, but he said he repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during the interview.

The judge overseeing the case advised Reynal to take some time while they await a verdict to investigate a legal argument to stop Bankston from disclosing information to the January 6 committee and others.

The jury hearing the case is deliberating how much Jones will have to pay the parents of a victim of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School who sued him for defamation and infliction of emotional distress and won default judgments.

CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.

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Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro named permanent co-hosts on ‘The View’

Alyssa Farah Griffin, Ana Navarro named permanent co-hosts on 'The View'


New York
CNN Business
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Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro, two conservatives who have been extraordinarily critical of former President Donald Trump, were officially announced on Thursday as a permanent co-hosts of “The View.”

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg made the announcements during two live segments on the ABC daytime talk show.

Griffin said she was “honored” to become a co-host and Navarro described it as an “enormous, incomparable privilege.”

The appointment of Griffin and Navarro to permanent seats on the show is not entirely surprising. Both have regularly co-hosted the show and several news organizations reported recently that Griffin would soon be announced as an official co-host.

Ana Navarro (L) and Alyssa Farah Griffin

Griffin resigned in December 2020 from the Trump administration, in which she’d held several positions, including White House communications director. Griffin has since leveled searing criticism at her former boss and colleagues who have covered for him.

Navarro, a longtime Republican strategist and commentator who has been a contributor on “The View” since 2019, has for years spoken in no-holds-barred terms against Trump and his allies.

Both Griffin and Navarro are CNN political commentators. A CNN spokesperson said they will both continue in their role with the cable news network while also hosting “The View.”

“The View” has been in search of a conservative co-host since Meghan McCain left the program last summer.

“We promised to take a little time to fill the seat and we have found the right match and a welcome addition to the show with Alyssa,” executive producer Brian Teta said in a statement. “She is willing to share her unique political experience and brings a strong conservative perspective while holding her own de ella in tough debates with her co-hosts and guests on both sides of the aisle.”

“Ana has made an indelible impact on ‘The View’ since the first time she joined us at the table,” Teta added. “She is a strong independent thinker with savvy insight, not to mention that she is whip-smart and fiercely funny. We are very happy to officially welcome her as a co-host.”

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Nancy Pelosi visited Korean Demilitarized Zone with congressional delegation

Nancy Pelosi visited Korean Demilitarized Zone with congressional delegation

“It was a privilege to engage with American heroes in uniform on the ground in Korea, led by General Paul LaCamera, Commander, US Forces Korea. During visits to the Demilitarized Zone/Joint Security Area (DMZ/JSA) and Osan Air Base, we conveyed the gratitude of the Congress and the Country for the patriotic service of our Servicemembers, who stand as sentinels of Democracy on the Korean peninsula,” Pelosi said in the statement.

The DMZ is a 160-mile-long no-man’s land about 30 miles north of Seoul that was established in the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement. It is often described as the world’s most heavily armed border.

Pelosi said the delegation also visited Seoul and praised what she described as “a strong bond” between the US and South Korea.

“The United States and South Korea share a strong bond formed for security and forged by decades of warm friendship. Our Congressional delegation traveled to Seoul to reaffirm our treasured ties and our shared commitment to advancing security and stability, economic growth and democratic governance,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said the delegation was “honored to be hosted” at a parliamentary meeting “where we reaffirmed our commitment to the US-Korea alliance” and “was pleased to engage in a phone meeting with Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol.”

Providing a readout of the call, Pelosi said, “We thank the President for Korea’s hospitality of 28,000 US Servicemembers and their families. Each Member engaged in conversation with the President, highlighting areas of continued cooperation to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific. ”

The announcement comes after Pelosi recently visited Taiwan amid threats of Chinese retaliation.

Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday, marking a significant show of support for Taiwan. Pelosi’s stop in Taipei is the first time that a US House speaker has visited Taiwan in 25 years. Her trip by Ella comes at a low point in US-China relations and despite warnings from the Biden administration against a stop in Taiwan.

This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.

CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Sol Han contributed to this report.

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US says Russia aims to manufacture evidence in prison deaths

US says Russia aims to manufacture evidence in prison deaths

WASHINGTON (AP) — US officials believe Russia is working to fabricate evidence concerning last week’s deadly strike on a prison housing prisoners of war in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine.

US intelligence officials have determined that Russia is looking to plant false evidence to make it appear that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the July 29 attack on Olenivka Prison that left 53 dead and wounded dozens more, a US official familiar with the intelligence finding told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Separately, a Western government official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said explosive experts who have reviewed photos of the prison released by the Russians following the incident have determined that the destruction wasn’t likely caused by “a high-explosive strike from the outside” and that it was “much more likely to be incendiary and from inside the location.”

Russia has claimed that Ukraine’s military used US-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic.

The Ukrainian military denied making any rocket or artillery strikes in Olenivka. The intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defense ministry claimed in a statement Wednesday to have evidence that local Kremlin-backed separatists colluded with the Russian FSB, the KGB’s main successor agency, and mercenary group Wagner to mine the barrack before “using a flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of fire in the room.”

The US official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the classified intelligence — which was recently downgraded — shows that Russian officials might even plant ammunition from medium-ranged High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, as evidence that the systems provided by the US to Ukraine were used in the attack.

Russia is expected to take the action as it anticipates independent investigators and journalists eventually getting access to Olenivka, the official added.

Ukraine has effectively used HIMARS launchers, which fire medium-range rockets and can be quickly moved before Russia can target them with return fire, and have been seeking more launchers from the United States.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday angrily dismissed the US officials’ claims about Russia fabricating the evidence.

“It has been absolutely proven and it’s absolutely obvious what happened in Olenivka,” Peskov said Thursday in a conference call with reporters. “Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by the Ukrainian military. Ukraine killed its soldiers who were in captivity, and many others were wounded. There is an evidence and there is nothing to hide.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is appointing a fact-finding mission in response to requests from Russia and Ukraine to investigate the killings at the prison.

Guterres told reporters he doesn’t have authority to conduct criminal investigations but does have authority to conduct fact-finding missions. I have added that the terms of reference for a mission to Ukraine are currently being prepared and will be sent to the governments of Ukraine and Russia for approval. Peskov said that Russia has invited the UN and the Red Cross to visit the site and conduct a probe.

The Ukrainian POWs at the Donetsk prison included troops captured during the fall of Mariupol. They spent months holed up with civilians at the giant Azovstal steel mill in the southern port city. Their resistance during a relentless Russian bombardment became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance against Russia’s aggression.

More than 2,400 soldiers from the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian national guard and other military units gave up their fight and surrendered under orders from Ukraine’s military in May.

Scores of Ukrainian soldiers have been taken to prisons in Russian-controlled areas. Some have returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner exchanges with Russia, but other families have no idea whether their loved ones are still alive, or if they will ever come home.

US and UK officials, before the war and in its early stages, repeatedly went public with what they said were Russian plans to stage fake videos and events that the Kremlin would blame on Ukraine but in fact were perpetrated by Russia.

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Lederer reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

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Trump ally Navarro sued for alleged unofficial email account

Trump ally Navarro sued for alleged unofficial email account

NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department filed suit Wednesday against Peter Navarro, claiming the former adviser to Donald Trump used an unofficial email account while working in the White House and wrongfully retained presidential records.

The lawsuit in federal court in Washington claims Navarro used at least one “non-official” email account — a ProtonMail account — to send and receive emails. The legal action comes just weeks after Navarro was indicted on criminal charges after refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The civil cases alleges that by using the unofficial email account, Navarro failed to turn over presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge for an order “authorizing the recovery of any Presidential records in the possession, custody, and/or control of Mr. Navarro.” The suit also seeks unspecified damage.

“Mr. Navarro is wrongfully retaining Presidential records that are the property of the United States, and which constitute part of the permanent historical record of the prior administration,” the suit states.

A lawyer representing Navarro in the criminal case did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment about the civil case.

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Primaries bring big losses for incumbent GOP state lawmakers

Primaries bring big losses for incumbent GOP state lawmakers

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — As Wisconsin’s longest-serving Assembly speaker, Republican Robin Vos has presided over efforts to restrict abortions, weaken unions, expand gun rights and push back against COVID-19 mandates. Despite that, he’s facing a primary challenger who claims he’s not conservative enough.

The challenger’s argument: You should do more to respond to former President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations of fraud in the 2020 elections.

Primary challengers like the one facing Vos next Tuesday have been successfully targeting incumbent state lawmakers across the country, and Republicans are taking the brunt of it.

With more than half the state legislative primaries concluded, Republican incumbents this year have been losing at nearly twice the average rate of the past decade, according to data compiled for The Associated Press by the election tracking organization Ballotpedia. The primary loss rate for Democratic state lawmakers is similar to previous elections.

The Republican losses continued to mount Tuesday, as Trump-endorsed candidates You incumbent state senators in Arizona and Michigan and a conservative challenger beat the assistant majority leader of the Missouri Senate. Though not technically an incumbent, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers also lost a bid for state Senate after being criticized for refusing to help Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In many cases, Republican lawmakers are being defeated by challengers portraying themselves as more conservative on election integrity, transgender policiesschool instruction and other hot-button issues.

“We have a far-right faction that is very dissatisfied with what’s happening on the left. So if you are not rabidly a fanatic that just punches every button, then you’re going to have an issue,” said Arkansas state Rep. Craig Christiansen, who lost in a Republican primary earlier this year.

Though Christiansen considers himself “very conservative,” he drew multiple challengers and failed to advance to a runoff. That came after he voted against overriding Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of legislation making Arkansas the first state banning gender-confirming treatments for those younger than 18. Christiansen said he considered the legislation unconstitutionalbecause it lacked an exception for youths already undergoing such treatments.

Vos, who has served as Wisconsin Assembly speaker since 2013, has taken sharp criticism for not pursuing a resolution decertifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state. trump endorsed his Republican challenger, Adam Steen, saying that “Vos refused to do anything to right the wrongs that were done” in the 2020 election.

Under pressure from Trump, Vos hired former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman last year to investigate the election. Gableman said decertifying the election was “a practical impossibility.”

Steen said he decided to challenge Vos because he failed to pass legislation outlawing absentee ballot drop boxes ahead of the 2020 election and hasn’t pushed for tougher consequences for voter fraudamong other things.

“Conservatism as a whole has been lethargic,” Steen said. “We lack vision, and I think that vision is coming back.”

Vos said Steen is running on hyperbole. He said Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, poses the real obstacle to conservatives. Evers, for example, vetoed Republican bills that would have made it harder to vote absentee.

“If we don’t get a Republican governor, (Steen) would have less success than I had,” Vos said.

You are one of nine GOP Wisconsin lawmakers facing primaries. Though the challengers face an uphill fight, they could push the already conservative Legislature even further right if they notch a few victories. That would mark a significant shift in a state that plays a crucial role in national elections.

Twenty-seven states had held legislative primaries or conventions before Tuesday. In those, at least 110 Republican incumbents and 33 Democrats had been defeated. The Republican loss rate of 7.1% far exceeds the Democratic rate of 2.8%. It also significantly exceeds the 3.6% average Republican incumbent loss rate over the previous decade in those states, as well as the 4.4% Republican loss rate in those states during the last redistricting election cycle in 2012.

Idaho voters have led the way in ousting Republican incumbents, defeating 18 GOP lawmakers — or 30% of those who sought reelection — even while choosing GOP Gov. Brad Little over a Trump-backed challenger who claimed he wasn’t conservative enough. The losers included three lawmakers representing Kootenai County in northern Idaho, where a local Republican committee recommended conservative challengers against some incumbents after a lengthy vetting process.

“People have kind of had it, and they’re willing to get up and vote,” said Brent Regan, chair of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed primary opponents to four GOP state House members who hadn’t supported her plan to provide taxpayer-funded scholarships for students to attend private schools. All four incumbents lost, including House Education Committee Chairman Dustin Hite.

Even in some Democratic-dominated states, Republican primary voters have ousted incumbents deemed not conservative enough.

Illinois state Rep. David Welter, one of nine Republican lawmakers booted from the chamber in February for ignoring COVID-19 protocols to wear masks, lost his primary in June to a challenger who claimed Welter wasn’t Republican enough. Challenger Jed Davis criticized Welter’s votes for the Equal Rights Amendment and a construction bill containing a gas tax hikeamong other things.

Davis also derived Welter’s connections to US Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who became a GOP outcast after voting to impeach Trump and participating in the Democratic-led House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Welter eleven worked for Kinzinger’s campaign and received $32,500 in contributions since 2021 from committees associated with Kinzinger.

“People pegged me as more of a moderate,” Welter said. “I’m now going to be replaced by somebody who is really, really far to the extreme on the right.”

Welter believes redistricting after the 2020 census also played a role in his defeat by shifting the voters he represented.

In states where partisan officials controlled redistricting, such as Illinois, the maps enacted for the 2022 elections often contained “more and more extreme partisan gerrymanders,” according to a recent analysis by political scientists and data experts.

When legislative districts tilt further right or left, incumbents are more likely to face challengers, and candidates who take more extreme positions are more likely to win, according to an analysis in a forthcoming book by Saint Louis University political scientist Steven Rogers.

Wisconsin’s state legislative districts had some of the largest pro-Republican tilts among all states during the past decade and underwent only minor changes before this year’s election.

Most of the challengers there are likely to lose, said University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political scientist Anthony Chergosky. But they still could leave their mark by forcing incumbents further right to please the GOP base that votes in primaries.

“We are just experiencing a real scramble for power within the Republican Party right now,” he said. “President Trump is really flexing his muscles in directing activists in the party against people like Robin Vos. Anyone in a position of authority in the Republican Party is a target.”

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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo.

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