Trump news – latest: Trump Organization jury selected as Jan 6 panel plans to interview Secret Service agents
Ex-president to campaign for midterms with incumbents and newcomers whom he has endorsed
A jury has been selected for the upcoming trial of the Trump Organization, which has been indicted for allegedly perpetrating a massive tax fraud scheme. Prosecutors noted the difficulty in choosing a fair jury in Manhattan, where the former president is especially unpopular.
The company, which denies the allegations, has already seen its former CFO Allen Weisselberg plead guilty.
Meanwhile, as Donald Trump’s attorneys take receipt of the January 6 select committee’s subpoena compelling the former president to turn over documents and appear before its members, reports say that the panel is planning to call key Secret Service agents to testify as to what happened in the days leading up to the attack on the US Capitol.
In the course of the summer, it became clear that the service had lost or deleted messages exchanged between staff on the day of the riot and before it despite having been instructed to preserve them. The official explanation of how and why they were wiped has shifted over the last months, but at least some have been recovered.
Palin: Trump has “nothing to hide” from Jan 6 panel
At a four-way debate in Alaska’s ranked-choice congressional election campaign, former governor and early Trump presidential endorser Sarah Palin was asked what she thought of the January 6 committee’s subpoena for Donald Trump’s testimony. Her response? “Subpoena away!”
In her view, Mr Trump committed no crime and has nothing to hide. Whether he will actually comply with the subpoena and testify on 14 November, however, is not yet clear.
Trump claims people voted 28 times in 2020
Donald Trump gave an interview yesterday to Dinesh D’Souza, the longtime right-wing conspiracy merchant whose documentary 2000 Mules propagates numerous debunked claims about the supposed theft of the 2020 election. And in the course of their discussion, Mr Trump came out with an alarming figure: apparently, some people who took part in the last election voted up to 28 times in a day.
Trump finally receives Jan 6 subpoena – report
Attorneys for former president Donald Trump have formally accepted service of a subpoena commanding the ex-president to provide documents and give evidence before the House January 6 select committee next month.
According to Politico, the select committee’s subpoena for the ex-president was received on Wednesday by Matthew Sarelson, an attorney for Mr Trump with the Dhillon Law Group.
The report that Mr Trump’s team has accepted the panel’s compulsory process comes just days after it was issued by the select committee’s chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Trump attorneys receive Jan 6 committee subpoena, report says
Can Trump run again in 2024?
Losing to Joe Biden in November 2020 may have dented Donald Trump’s pride, but it now seems almost certain that he will run again for the White House in 2024.
Mr Trump has not stopped fundraising since moving from Washington DC to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, amassing a war chest of well over $100m with which he can help boost Republicans who backed his “Big Lie” to defeat those in the GOP who did not.
And Mr Trump has been back out on the road this year ahead of the midterm elections. He’s been holding MAGA rallies in state after state with candidates he’s endorsed, insisting to crowds that he did not legitimately lose to Mr Biden and repeatedly hinting that he plans on avenging his defeat by running again.
So what, if anything, could stop him?
Here’s an analysis from Graeme Massie and Gustaf Kilander:
Can Trump run again in the 2024 election?
Tucker Carlson firing up election lies in advance of 8 November
Donald Trump’s relentless lying about the theft of the 2020 election began well before that election was even held, and has not stopped in the two years since. And just as last time, the same sort of groundwork is being laid for any Democratic victories in important 2022 races to be violently disputed from the right:
Fanone speaks at Jan 6 rioter’s sentencing
Sentencing is underway in the case of Albuquerque Head (his real name), who has been found guilty of multiple offences at the January 6 riot. Among them is participating in the assault on police officer Michael Fanone, who has since spoken out many times about the brutality he and his fellow officers faced on the day – and who has been addressing the court today:
Analysis: Why Trump isn’t campaigning in important states
In today’s Inside Washington dispatch, Eric Garcia takes a look at Donald Trump’s latest midterm campaign rally itinerary, which includes stops in relatively safe Iowa and Florida but ignores Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.
As ever, it seems the logic underpinning the plans revolves around Mr Trump alone:
While rumors floated that Trump would head to Georgia to campaign with Herschel Walker after his debate with Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, those plans never came to fruition – for good reason. With the exception of Walker, many of the Georgia Republicans that Trump endorsed fell flat, including both David Perdue’s challenge to Governor Brian Kemp and Jody Hice’s challenge to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Instead of helping out in vital races, Trump is focusing on states where he can brag about being undefeated in primary endorsements.
Read the full analysis below.
Trump is holding rallies in some strange places during the midterms. Here’s why
ICYMI: Mark Meadows ordered to testify in Georgia
A judge in South Carolina ruled that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows must testify before a grand jury in an investigation about Republican attempts to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller denied Mr Meadows’s attempt to stop a petition to stop him from testifying in an investigation advised by Fulton County’s district attorney. Mr Miller said that going to Atlanta would not present an “undue hardship.”
“Well, you have eloquently enumerated your arguments, which I think perhaps an appellate court can review, but based on what’s before me today I’m going to find that the witness is material and necessary to the investigation,” Mr Miller told Mr Meadows’s attorney James Bannister.
Eric Garcia has the story:
Judge rules that Mark Meadows must testify in Georgia election meddling probe
Trump-flavoured violence rears its head in advance of midterm elections
More than 40 per cent of voters are now worried about threats of violence or intimidation at the ballot box this year, according to polling from Reuters. The same survey found that 67 per cent of voters are worried about post-election violence – and an elections task force at the US Department of Justice also found that Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania are all particular hotbeds for threats against election workers.
There is no direct connection between Donald Trump and the sometimes armed vigilante groups that are cropping up to “defend” the integrity of the midterm elections, but as Alex Woodward writes, the rhetoric and tactics of these groups carry a distinct echo of January 6 – and of the lies Mr Trump has told about the 2020 election since before it was even held.
Read more:
Armed ‘vigilantes’ and conspiracy theorists threaten to disrupt midterm elections
Justice Kagan blocks Jan 6 subpoena for Arizona GOP official’s phone records
US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has temporarily blocked a subpoena from the House committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol seeking phone records for an Arizona Republican Party official who joined a scheme to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Justice Kagan issued an administrative stay on 26 October, giving the full court a chance to weigh in on the decision.
Alex Woodward reports.
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