(India's space agency successfully landed an unmanned spacecraft on the moon's south pole Wednesday morning, NPR reports, three days after an unmanned Russian craft crashed there. India becomes the fourth country to successfully land a craft on the moon, after the U.S., Soviet Union and China.)

Chesebro and Smith Surrender – The count as of Wednesday morning is four booked, 14 plus ex-President Trump to go. Former Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro and Atlanta attorney Ray Smith were booked on charges he participated in a criminal organization that attempted to turn over 2020 Georgia presidential election results, The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreports. Chesebro posted a $100,000 bond, and Smith posted $50,000. 

On Tuesday, ex-Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer, along with former Coffee County GOP chairwoman Cathy Lanham turned themselves in to Fulton County, each posting $75,000. Donald J. Trump is scheduled to appear Thursday. District Attorney Fani Willis has given defendants in her RICO case until Friday to appear before the court.

•••

DC Grand Jury Concludes – The federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., investigating Donald J. Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents has finished its work, according to a 12-page filing Tuesday by David Harbach, deputy to Special Counsel Jack Smith, The Washington Post reports. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had argued over the Justice Department’s use of two grand juries, with one in South Florida in addition to the D.C. grand jury. Prosecutors said it was proper to use both because the alleged criminal conduct took place in two places.

Perjury charges: Meanwhile, prosecutors charged Trump employee Carlos De Oliveira with lying to FBI agents, but not specifically to the grand jury. De Oliveira has pleaded not guilty, while another Trump employee, tech worker Yuscil Taveras, began cooperating with investigators after Trump was first indicted for the Mar-a-Lagogate case. WaPo says it previously had reported that Taveras changed lawyers “not long” after Trump’s June indictment and “subsequently offered testimony” against De Oliveira, Trump and Waltine “Walt” Nauta.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 8/21/23

Trump Bond Set at $200,000 -- Ex-President Trump's bond has been set at $200,0000 in the Georgia case accusing him and 18 others of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, the AP reports. The bond agreement signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's attorneys prohibits the former president from intimidating co-defendants, witnesses and victims, including on social media, and prohibits him from communicating "in any way, directly or indirectly" about facts of the case with any co-defendant or witness, except through his attorneys.

•••

Democracy is Coming to Guatemala – Reformist candidate Bernardo Arévelo pulled off an upset win Sunday to become Guatemala’s next president, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Arévelo was leading Sandra Torres, a candidate from the country’s long dominant ruling class by more than 20 points, even though Arévelo’s Semila Party had no money for the campaign.

“Democracy has been defended,” a voter told NPR’s Eyder Peralta.

As of Monday, Torres had not yet conceded to Arévelo, though Guatemala’s outgoing president had congratulated him and pledged he would help in the transition of power.

•••

No Moon Over Moscow – A Russian Luna-25 spacecraft headed for the moon’s south pole crashed after entering an uncontrolled orbit Sunday (The Washington Post). The landing was to be the first on the moon’s icy south pole and the first landing anywhere on the moon by the country since a Soviet Union landing in 1976. Let your  schadenfreude toward Putin’s Russia run free: The Luna-25 was unmanned. 

***

Once More, This Time with Feeling – It’s official, again, that ex-President Trump will not attend Wednesday’s GOP presidential candidate debate in Milwaukee. Yes, we’ve heard it before, but this time it appears to be officially official, with Trump having committed to an interview with Tucker Carlson on an as-yet unnamed platform. 

Will Trump and Carlson try to call in to the debate?

And, of course, Trump still leads: A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll of likely GOP caucus-goers there show Donald J. Trump with 42% to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 19%, and Sen. Tim Scott (SC) at 9%. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is tied with former Vice President Mike Pence at 6%. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is at 5% and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy garnered 4% of the poll. 

The debate in Milwaukee will be held Wednesday, same day as India’s expected moon landing.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

(foxnews.com posted this photo of Trump on the morning of its GOP presidential candidate debate. At least he's not orange.)

Donald J. Trump will not attend Wednesday evening’s debate. That’s something we have known, on and off for weeks and officially confirmed in recent days. Instead, the former president will huddle with (ex) Fox News-pundit-in-exile Tucker Carlson in a recorded interview on X-Twitter. 

Meanwhile, here’s the lineup for the live GOP presidential debate, according to Fox News. It was scheduled to air from Milwaukee 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern (or 8-10 local time). Moderators are Fox News hosts Brett Baier and Martha McCallum:

•Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur and upstart politician and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will take center stage.

•Chris Christie. Fox News’ website virtually guaranteed he will slip from his already low poll numbers by introducing him thusly: “Who is Chris Christie? The former New Jersey governor is a vocal Trump critic popular with Democrats.”

•Mike Pence, who “has a rocky relationship with Trump.” (We all know the “too honest” former vice president’s candidacy is going nowhere, anyway.)

•Tim Scott. The well-funded senator from South Carolina is looking to “restore hope and create opportunities.”

•Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador under Trump is “seeking to take on China and Biden.”

•And all the rest: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and current North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are the Professor and Mary Ann of the debate, as far as the Fox News website is concerned. The Washington Post notes that Burgum promised $20 gift cards to citizens who helped him meet the requisite number of donations in order to qualify for the debate stage.

--TL

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Macaulay x Two

Pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay comments on RICO charges in Georgia against Donald J. Trump and 18 of all his best people in “Being and Somethingness.” Scroll down the page using the trackbar on the far right.

Scroll down further to read Macaulay’s column, “Trump’s Tinkerbell Defense,” about the federal indictment of the ex-president in United States of America v. Donald Trump.

As always, you are invited to submit civilly stated comments using the Comment section in this or the left column, or via email to editors@thehustings.news.

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(Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis wants Georgia's trial of Donald J. Trump and 18 associates over alleged election tampering to begin March 4. She will be competing with Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal case, plus two others.)

FRIDAY 8/18/23

Date Fight – Donald J. Trump’s attorneys want his trial for allegedly overturning the 2020 presidential election – the federal one -- to begin in April 2026, The Wall Street Journal reports, while Special Counsel Jack Smith, citing the public’s interest in a speedy trial, has requested a start date of January 2, 2024. The former president’s law team cited as much as 11.5-million pages of materials and testimony from hundreds of witnesses, as well as the historic nature of the case, in requesting Thursday a start date some 21 months after the next inauguration date. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will rule on the trial date.

•••

About That News Conference – Regarding the other election tampering case – the one brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (above) -- former President Trump has cancelled his news conference next Monday in which he had planned to release a report claiming new “evidence” of fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, citing advice of his attorneys, The Associated Press reports, while reminding us that Republican officials in Georgia long ago said Trump lost fairly to Joe Biden and they backed that up with three ballot recounts.

Grand Jurors threatened: The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating online threats against grand jury members who voted to indict 19 people, including Trump, accused of tampering with Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, The New York Times reports. The jurors’ names are listed in the 98-page indictment, as required in Georgia, making it an outlier in rules regarding federal and state grand juries.

--TL

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THURSDAY 8/17/23

Line Forms to Try Trump – Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (above) Wednesday proposed March 4, 2024, as the trial date for former President Trump’s Georgia election case, The Washington Post reports. Willis also proposed individual arraignment hearings for each of the case’s 19 defendants to begin the week of September 5, motion hearings to begin December 11, and February 20 for a pretrial conference. 

She will have to get in line with three other Trump cases.

“In light of defendant Donald John Trump’s other criminal and civil matters pending in courts of our sister sovereigns, the state of Georgia proposes certain deadlines that do not conflict with these other courts’ already scheduled hearings and filing dates,” Willis’ filing said. 

Aggressive timeline: Legal scholars and pundits doubt all these court dates can be completed before the November 5, 2024, presidential election. Trump attorneys already are busy filing for various delays.

Read: “Giant Four-Indictment Comparo!” on our Substack newsletter, at https://thehustings.substack.com/p/giant-four-indictment-comparo

Worse than Watergate: Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks told NPR’s Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep Thursday that what President Nixon did 40 years ago is “child’s play” compared to ex-President Trump’s threat to the nation’s democracy: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/17/1194349569/are-there-parallels-between-the-nixon-era-scandal-and-trumps-indictments

Fed judge threatened: A Texas woman has been arrested on charges she left a voice mail left for the federal judge hearing the Justice Department’s case alleging Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election, WaPo reports. 

A criminal complaint filed Friday, August 11, alleges Abigail Jo Shry, 43, of Alvin, Texas, left a racial slur on a phone in Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers and threatened her, saying “If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are going to kill you, so tread lightly, b----.” The VM was left on the phone two days after Trump’s arraignment in Washington, D.C., for election interference.

The complaint further alleges Shry also threatened to kill Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) as well as Washington Democrats -- apparently in general -- and members of the LGBTQ community.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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Trump Indictment IV, This One in Georgia

TUESDAY 8/15/23

Mr. Ex-President, Here’s Your 11,780 – Or rather, 41-counts in one indictment by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis (above) against Donald J. Trump and 18 other defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and attorneys John Eastman and Sidney Powell. Following a nearly 10-hour grand jury hearing Monday according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Fulton County prosecutors charged 19 men and women under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, initially designed to target mob crime.

In her press conference just before midnight Tuesday, Willis gave defendants a noon Monday, August 21 deadline to enter their pleas. Responding to a reporter’s question, Willis’ rather surprising response was; “Do I intend to try 19 defendants together? Yes.” 

Trump later was quoted as calling Willis a “rabid partisan,” according to NPR. 

Willis on Monday night thanked law enforcement for protecting her team and the grand jury during the investigation.

The indictment alleges that the manner and method of the criminal conspiracy by the defendants included, but was not limited to:

•False statements to and solicitation of state legislatures in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania in November and December 2020 “to persuade legislators in those states to unlawfully appoint their own presidential electors.

•False statements to and solicitation of high-ranking state officials.

•Creation and distribution of false Electoral College documents. The indictment notes that “Similar schemes were executed by members of the enterprise in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin” (as Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes alone would not be sufficient to overturn the election in Trump’s favor).

•Harassment and intimidation of Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman, including false accusations she committed election crimes in connection with the November 3, 2020 ballot count.

•Solicitation of high-ranking U.S. Justice Department officials – “In one instance, Donald Trump stated to the Acting United States Attorney Gen. [Jeffrey Clark] ‘Just say that the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,’” the indictment alleges.

•Solicitation of the vice president of the United States.

•Unlawful breach of election equipment in Georgia and elsewhere.

In addition to Trump, Giuliani, Meadows, Eastman, Powell and Clark the indictment charges …

•Kenneth Cheseboro

•Jenna Ellis

•Ray Stallings Smith III

•Robert Cheeley

•Michael Roman, a Republican strategist

•David James Shafer, former Georgia Republican Party chairman

•Shawn Micah Tresher Still

•Stephen Cliffgard Lee, an Illinois pastor

•Harrison William Prescott Floyd, “who briefly ran for a suburban Atlanta U.S. House seat before serving as director of Black Voices for Trump” (per AJC)

•Trevian Kutti (former publicist for Ye and R-Kelly, according to Rolling Stone)

•Cathleen Alston Latham, former Coffee County Republican chairwoman

•Scott Graham Hall, an Atlanta bail bondsman

•Misty Hampton, a.k.a. Emily Misty Hayes, former Coffee County elections supervisor

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

(The Consumer Price Index rose to a 3.2% annual rate in July, the Commerce Department reports, a slight uptick from a 3.0% rate in June. Although it is the first CPI increase after 12 months of inflation easing from record highs, The Wall Street Journal says it remains modest and could deter the Federal Reserve from raising rates at its September meeting.)

MONDAY 8/14/23

Indictment Number Four? – More than two years since launching an investigation into former President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 Electoral College vote, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to begin presenting her case before a grand jury early this week, The Washington Post reports. Former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has confirmed he was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury Tuesday.

New quote of the year: Duncan tweeted; “I look forward to answering their questions around the 2020 election. Republicans should never let honesty be mistaken for weakness.”

Did Trump team breach Georgia ballot boxes?: CNN says in an exclusive report that Georgia’s prosecutors have messages showing that Trump’s legal team was behind a Coffee County, Georgia voting system breach in January 2021.

--TL

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FRIDAY 8/11/23

Garland Names Weiss Special Counsel in Biden Investigation – U.S. Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland has elevated David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware appointed by the Trump administration to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings (The Hill) to special counsel in the case. The appointment puts focus of the investigation back on two whistleblowers, Gary Shapely and Joseph Ziegler, after U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika snuffed out a plea deal over Biden’s tax evasion issues. 

Shapely and Ziegler claim the Justice Department slow-walked the Hunter Biden investigation, gave him preferential treatment and declined to pursue charges in California and Washington, D.C., where they say there was stronger evidence. The two also said Weiss earlier had sought and was denied special counsel status, a claim both Garland and Weiss deny.

While House Republicans had once called for Garland to promote Weiss to special counsel. They now are criticizing the move for potentially obstructing the House Oversight Committee’s own investigation into the younger Biden’s business dealings while his father was vice president. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has floated the possibility of an impeachment inquiry into Garland over how the case was handled, as well as a possible inquiry into President Biden over issues regarding the family’s foreign business dealings.

•••

Trump Backs Out of Debate – Will Donald J. Trump or won’t Donald J. Trump? The punditocracy has been a-twitter for a few weeks trying to figure out whether the former president and frontrunner by far in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination will join the party’s first debate, August 23 in Milwaukee. The answer appears to be “no,” and Trump’s rationale might take its toll on his popularity, at least among the non-MAGA Republicans who have failed to push back against him so far. 

“I wouldn’t sign the pledge” to support another GOP candidate for president next year unless it is him, Trump told right-of-Fox News Newsmax, according to The New York Times. “Why would I sign a pledge? There are people here that I wouldn’t have.”

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told CNN last month that only candidates who sign a pledge they will support the eventual winner of the party’s nomination are allowed to participate in the debate. 

“The rules aren’t changing. We’ve been very vocal with them.”

That won’t stop former governors Chris Christie (NJ) and Asa Hutchinson (AR) from signing the pledge, just to get on to the debate stage.

“I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” Christie, who is running (in part) to help stop the former president’s efforts, told CNN.

Hutchinson, who so far has not met other qualifications to participate, said he would sign the pledge “based on the far-from-safe assumption” Trump won’t win the nomination, the NYT reports.

•••

Trump and Co-defendant Plead 'Not Guilty' -- Donald J. Trump and co-defendant Waltine Nauta pleaded "not guilty" to multiple charges alleging the former president kept classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and with help of two aides, tried to hide some material from government officials seeking their return to the National Archives. Trump did not appear in-person for the plea at federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, but made the plea via his attorneys, The Washington Post reports. Nauda, who faces six charges in the initial indictment plus two additional crimes in a superseding indictment did appear. Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira was charged for the first time in the superseding indictment, and did not enter a plea.

•••

Imminent Perp Motorcade – A fourth indictment of former President Trump, this time from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over his alleged attempts to turn over Georgia’s Electoral College vote, are expected as early as Thursday. Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat say they have prepared, in anticipation for Trump’s indictment motorcade, the biggest preventive security dragnet in the region since the 1996 Olympics, USA Today reports.

On the right: Don’t miss Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s critique of Trump’s planned defense in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, the former president’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, now in the right column.

Tweet this: Twitter was fined $350,000 for failing to turn over Trump’s data from tweets made leading up to the January 6^thCapitol insurrection, The Washington Post reports. An appellate court referenced 18 of Trump’s tweets, including seven from January 6, 2021, in an order to turn over the data to Special Counsel Jack Smith.

•••

FBI Shoots Armed Man Over Biden Threats – FBI special agents shot to death Craig Deleeuw Robertson, of Provo, Utah, as they attempted to serve a warrant over accusations he made threats against President Biden ahead of an appearance in Salt Lake City, Wednesday. Robertson was armed at the time of the shooting, law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the AP. Self-described “MAGA Trumper” Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah, and would dig out a camouflage suit and begin “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.”

•••

Ecuador Presidential Candidate Assassinated – Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate who vowed to crack down on drug trafficking and corruption in Ecuador, was assassinated at a campaign event in the capital, Quito, Wednesday night (The Washington Post). A criminal gang named Los Lobos has claimed responsibility, the BBC reports. A former journalist, Villavicencio had been a member of Ecuador’s National Assembly since 2017. President Guillermo Lasso has announced that the first round of voting, scheduled for Sunday, August 20, will not be delayed.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

(President Biden Tuesday designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kuveni – Ancestral Footprints of Grand Canyon National Monument.)

Ohio Says No to Issue 1 – Voters in Ohio turned out in high numbers for an August ballot initiative to reject Issue 1, which would have required a 60% vote to pass a November initiative codifying abortion rights in the state’s constitution. Ohio ballot initiatives have required just 50% plus-one for 111 years. 

With 90% of the tally in, “no” was leading the Republican-backed “yes” on Issue 1 by more than 350,000 vote in, AP reports. Cuyahoga County and other Democratic-friendly regions had yet to report. Republicans blamed the summer-vacation timing of the ballot initiative, NPR reports, even though the party’s leaders pushed for the date, ahead of the regular November elections. 

If Issue 1 had passed, it would also require signatures from all 88 Ohio counties to get on the ballot, according to ABC News. The state’s current law requires signatures by 5% of the number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election.

Upshot: While Issue 1 was primarily about defeating a November ballot initiative that would assure abortion rights in a state governed by Republicans, in the long run it’s also about voting rights. For perspective on the authoritarian wing of the GOP, read our latest newsletter at thehustings.substack.com.

--TL

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TUESDAY 8/8/23

What Voter Turnout? – Ohio voters weigh in Tuesday on Issue 1, a ballot measure that would require 60% approval for changes to the state’s constitution. For 111 years, Ohio ballot initiatives have required just 50% for a change to its constitution, The Washington Post notes. Not coincidentally, there’s an initiative on Ohio’s November ballot that seeks to enshrine abortion rights to the state constitution, so if Tuesday’s measure passes, it would require 60% rather than 50% of the vote to pass.

Issue 1 is the only reason for Ohioans to go to the polls today, smack in the middle of vacation season. Or, as Gov. Mike DeWine, who along with the majorities of both Ohio’s legislative chambers, is a Republican, put it: “People are still going to have the opportunity to vote, and people are going to vote on this.”

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 8/7/23

Protection for Prosecutors – After Donald J. Trump’s all-caps message on his Truth Social media outlet Friday, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU”, federal prosecutors in last week’s indictment alleging he tried to overturn the 2020 election asked for a protection order that would prevent the ex-president from sharing evidence of the case publicly. Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a request from defense attorneys to extend the deadline for the protection order beyond 5:30 p.m. Monday, August 7, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. 

Attorneys for Trump once again accused “President Biden’s Justice Department” of trying to suppress political speech and attempted in vain to delay Judge Chutkan’s order. 

“The point is, we will not agree to keeping information that’s not sensitive from the press,” Trump attorney John Lauro told Dana Bash on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday. He added; “I’m shocked that the press isn’t lined up objecting to the order.”

Upshot: Above his attorney team’s rhetoric, the former president’s warning in capital letters above serve as a clear indication of how authoritarian and vindictive his return to the White House would be.

--TL

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Read columns to the left and right to learn how to comment on this and other recent political news items.

FRIDAY 8/4/23

Judge Tanya Chutkan Thursday afternoon set August 28, five days after the first GOP presidential debate, for the first hearing in the case of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump after the former president pleaded not guilty to four charges related to his alleged pursuit of “unlawful means of discounting votes and subverting the election results.” Unlike his plea formally made by an attorney in his confidential documents case, Trump spoke up for his own plea Thursday. 

Trump gave a brief comment to the press when arriving at the airport after the arraignment, but CNN (whose video shot appears above) did not carry the comments live … other than the ex-prez’s opening line about how very sad a day this was.

--TL

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Pull Quote

WEDNESDAY 8/2/23

“On January 1, the Defendant called the Vice President and berated him because he had learned that the Vice President had opposed a lawsuit seeking a judicial decision that, at the certification, the Vice President had the authority to reject or return votes to the states under the Constitution. The Vice President responded that he thought there was no constitutional basis for such authority and that it was improper. In response, the Defendant told the Vice President, “You’re too honest.” Within hours of the conversation, the Defendant reminded his supporters to meet in Washington before the certification proceeding, tweeting, “The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C. will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6^th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!” –United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Defendant

Trump co-conspirators: Five of six unindicted co-conspirators – candidates for turning evidence on the former president – have been identified by numerous political pundits and analyst, including those at The Washington Post. They are …

Co-Conspirator 1: Attorney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, “who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies” that 2020 re-election campaign staff would not pursue.

Co-Conspirator 2: Attorney John Eastman, “who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the vice president’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding of the presidential election.”

Co-Conspirator 3: Attorney Sidney Powell, whose baseless election fraud accusations Trump “embraced and publicly amplified” even as the president told others he considered her claims “crazy.”

Co-Conspirator 4: Jeffrey Clark, who worked with Donald J. Trump “to use the Justice Department to open sham election claim investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud.”

Co-Conspirator 5: Attorney Kenneth Chesebro “who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.”

Co-Conspirator 6: As-yet unknown political consultant “who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification procedure.”

Conspicuously absent from the list is Trump’s loyal chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who is not described in any of the above, perhaps because Meadows may already have flipped on his former boss and is cooperating with Special Counsel Jack Smith.

--TL

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Trump Indicted, Again

TUESDAY 8/1/23

Donald J. Trump’s third indictment – and second federal indictment – was filed at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. Tuesday evening by Special Counsel Jack Smith, over the former president’s alleged involvement efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The four charges are, per NPR …

•Conspiracy to defraud the United States.

•Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

•Obstruction of, and attempt to, obstruct an official proceeding.

•Conspiracy against the rights of citizens.

Trump is ordered to appear before the court on August 3, Thursday, though he may chose not to appear in person. Judge appointed to the case is Tanya Chutkan, a former public defender appointed to the bench by President Obama.

The full indictment may be found at this link: https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf

--TL

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TUESDAY 8/1/23

Step Aside, Trump Rivals – Former President Trump is “crushing it” according to a New York Times/Siena poll of Republican preferences for the 2024 presidential nominee. Trump scored 54% to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 17%. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (SC) and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador during the Trump administration were tied for third place with each at 3%. They might as well be running for Trump’s running mate. Scott already is according to pundit speculation, while Pence certainly is not. 

Pro-MAGA tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and anti-Trump former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie each garnered 2% of the vote. 

Haley on McConnell: Haley, by the way, speaking on CBS News' Face the Nation called on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to step down in light of his 20-second "freeze" in a Capitol press conference last week.

"I think Mitch McConnell did an amazing job when it comes to our judiciary, when we look at the judges, when we look at the Supreme Court he's been a great leader. But we've got to stop electing people because they look good in a picture and they hold a baby well."

If McConnell would step down, it would be up to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, to make an appointment for the remainder of McConnell's term, ending in 2026.

Authoritarian platform?: If not quite ready to foist a more authoritarian platform on his GOP supporters, Trump appears to be taking an authoritarian position with the GOP. In a rally last Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania, the former prez called on those rivals above to drop out of the ’24 race and threatened to go after members of Congress who fail to concentrate their efforts on investigating President Biden, The Associated Press reports. Trump also called for withholding military aid to Ukraine until the White House cooperates with congressional investigations into Biden and his family.

“Every dollar spent attacking me by Republicans is a dollar given straight to the Biden campaign,” Trump said.

Widely reported: The Republican Party of Iowa used a Brooks & Dunne tune to introduce presidential candidates as they took to the stage for its Lincoln Dinner Friday, but these specific lyrics played as Trump stepped up to the podium: "One could end up going to prison; one just might end up president."

And so it goes: Congress is off on its summer recess until Tuesday, September 5, and …meanwhile… will be updated regularly until then. Meanwhile, you can read our weekly newsletter on Substack. The first 100 Hustings readers to email editors@thehustings.news will be entered for a free subscription.

Also this week?: Political animals of all stripes are nervously awaiting a potential Trump indictment related to the January 6^thattack on the U.S. Capitol. There were expectations of such charges last week, when Special Counsel Jack Smith added charges instead to his indictment of Trump for allegedly absconding with confidential documents kept at Mar-a-Lago and at the former president's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Watch this space for updates. The Washington, D.C. grand jury looking into Trump’s 1/6 involvement meets on Tuesday and Thursdays.

Coming August 23: The first debate for GOP presidential candidates, in Milwaukee, location of the 2024 Republican National Convention.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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