The panel is looking at how to handle the GOP lawmakers
The 2020 Florida State Attorney’s Office Investigating a U.S. House Speaker’s Comedic Attempt to Interferode with the 2020 Election
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election filed paperwork Friday seeking to compel testimony from a new batch of Trump allies, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed petitions in court seeking to have Gingrich and Flynn, as well as former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others, testify next month before a special grand jury that’s been seated to aid her investigation.
Flynn didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, and his lawyer also didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Gingrich referred the questions to his attorney. Herschmann could not be reached immediately.
The case will be one month from Saturday when she will be taking a break from public activity.
Each of the petitions filed Friday seeks to have the potential witnesses appear in November after the election. But the process for securing testimony from out-of-state witnesses sometimes takes a while, so it appears Willis is putting the wheels in motion for activity to resume after her self-imposed pause.
The petition for Gingrich’s testimony relies on “information made publicly available” by the U.S. House committee that’s investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He was involved in a plan to run television ads that used false claims of election fraud and encouraged members of the public to contact state officials so they could challenge the results of the election.
Gingrich was also involved in a plan to have Republican fake electors sign certificates falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s official electors even though Democrat Joe Biden had won, the petition says.
The petition seeking Flynn’s testimony says he appeared in an interview on conservative cable news channel Newsmax and said Trump “could take military capabilities” and place them in swing states and “basically re-run an election in each of those states.”
He met with Powell, Trump and others for a discussion about topics including using martial law, seizing voting machines and appointing a special counsel to investigate the 2020 election, according to news reports.
The petition for Hisschmann’s testimony states that he was present for multiple meetings between former President Trump and other people related to the 2020 election when he was a senior adviser to Trump.
She said Penrose is a cyber investigations, operations and forensic consultant who worked with Powell and others associated with the Trump campaign in late 2020 and early 2021.
He sent a letter to Powell and others about the agreement he had with SullivanStrickler to make copies of voting system equipment in Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, and in Michigan and Nevada. Penrose did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.
Willis wrote in a petition seeking Lee’s testimony that he was part of an effort to pressure elections worker Ruby Freeman, who was the subject of false claims about election fraud in Fulton County. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127637799/flynn-gingrich-testimony-georgia-election-probe
Investigating Democratic Subpoenas in a Special Grand Jury: Donald Trump, the State of the Union, and the 2019 2020 Presidential Campaign
Georgia has special grand juries that investigate cases with a large number of witnesses and potential logistical concerns. Compared to regular grand juries, they have the ability to compel evidence and subpoena witnesses, as well as subpoena the target of the investigation to appear before it.
The special grand jury can issue a final report and recommend action after its investigation is complete. It’s then up to the district attorney to decide whether to ask a regular grand jury for an indictment.
The panel has been discussing whether it’s better for members of Congress to be referred to other parts of the federal government and if Congress should police its own. The House Ethics Committee can refer censure and referrals to the congressional mechanisms.
“We will also be considering what’s the appropriate remedy for members of Congress who ignore a congressional subpoena, as well as the evidence that was so pertinent to our investigation and why we wanted to bring them in,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and others have been subpoenaed by the January 6 panel.
The panel is likely to refer at least three criminal charges against Donald Trump to the Justice Department, including insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the federal government, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The impact House referrals could have remains unclear because the Department of Justice special counsel investigation is already examining Trump in its extensive probe into January 6.
But in addition to criminal referrals, January 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters that the panel could issue five to six other categories of referrals, such as ethics referrals to the House Ethics Committee, bar discipline referrals and campaign finance referrals.
“Censure was something that we have considered. The committee will disclose it’s decision on ethics referrals on Monday.
CNN previously reported that the panel had considered criminal referrals for many of Donald Trump’s closest allies, including John Eastman, former Trump attorney, Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff and Jeffrey Clark, former DOJ official.
Schiff reiterated Sunday that he believes there is evidence that Trump committed criminal offenses related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Someone is trying to pressure state officials to find votes that don’t exist. This is a person who tried to prevent a joint session by provoking a mob to attack the Capitol. If that’s not criminal, then I don’t know what is,” he added.
When asked if Donald Trump has a good match against the law, he stated that it was a good match.
“I think the president has violated multiple criminal laws. And I think you have to be treated like any other American who breaks the law, and that is, you have to be prosecuted,” he said.
It appeared that the theoretical prospect of an ex president and a presidential candidate being criminally charged appeared to be more real after Trump predicted he would be arrested this week. And it signaled America is headed for an even more politically divisive ordeal that will test his influence over the GOP.
As a possible indictment looms over former President Donald Trump, House Republicans are coming to his defense and arguing that Alvin Bragg — the New York prosecutor investigating alleged hush money paid by Trump to adult film actress Stormy Daniels — is politically motivated and his probe won’t stand up in court.
Law enforcement officials involved in the discussions have pointed out the need to properly prepare for the surrender and court appearance of the President, even though he could potentially be indicted anytime. A senior law enforcement official, who is familiar with discussions about security, said that a meeting of federal, state and local law enforcement happened Monday in New York City.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s probe into the Daniels case is politically motivated and, according to multiple people briefed on the situation, Trump believes an indictment would help him politically by getting his base riled up.
The ex-president also tried to intimidate prosecutors, mobilize his supporters, and persuade top GOP officials to support him. There is a constitutional right for political expression, but the ex-president made a call this weekend for his loyalists to protest, signalling that he was going to take violence to further his interests.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba told CNN’s Paula Reid Sunday there would be serious consequences if Trump were to be indicted for a mere misdemeanor – one possible outcome of the Manhattan probe. It’s going to be a lot of trouble, Paula. I mean, it’s just a very scary time in our country,” Habba said. She also said that Trump’s supporters should be peaceful.
— An indictment would potentially upend the 2024 Republican presidential primary, with Trump browbeating opponents to support his claims of innocence and portraying any failure to do so as siding with what he sees as a partisan investigation for political gain. They haven’t commented on a situation that could present them with a dicey dilemma. But both would have a strong interest in preventing the 2024 primary campaign from revolving exclusively around Trump portraying himself as a political martyr.
Trump’s allies in the House are trying to distract from the allegations against him by exploiting the case.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday called it “the weakest case out there.” The California Republican who has instructed GOP-led committees to investigate the use of federal funds by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said at a news conference that he had already spoken to Jim Jordan.
“I don’t think people should protest this,” McCarthy told reporters, when asked if he agreed with the former president’s calls for protests around an indictment. He said they want calmness. Nobody hurt, violence or harm to anything else.”
Several of Trump’s Republican critics line up next to him because of his social media post. It just feels like a politically charged prosecution here, says former Vice President Mike Pence who is considering challenging Trump for the nomination in four years. And I, for my part, I just feel like it’s just not what the American people want to see.”
The governor of New Hampshire said that the investigation was building a lot of sympathy for the former president and that it was time for Republicans to move on from Trump. He said that he had coffee with people who were not big Trump supporters but who said they felt like the president was being attacked.
— Any indictment against Trump would be rooted in the principle that no one, not even an ex-president, is above the law. There will be questions overwether the ex-president’s reputation is relevant in the case, as the nature and intricacy of the case and the opinion of some legal experts that a conviction might be a challenge. His lawyers could argue that someone less famous would have been treated differently.
— There is also the issue of whether the political division and trauma of putting Trump on trial would be in the wider national interest — at least in a fairly constrained case that seems to hold fewer lasting constitutional implications than those connected to the January 6 investigations. History may not be kind to failed prosecutions.
The fact that the Daniels case dates back to an election that is now more than six years old, even as the nation faces another White House campaign, could also raise questions for the public, especially given the uncertainty about the case for anyone outside the small bubble of the investigation. Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that “nobody in our nation is or should be above the law.” But he also said: “I would hope that, if they brought charges, that they have a strong case, because this is … unprecedented. And there are certainly risks involved here.”
Kelly talked about how Trump’s breaking of convention is different this time around than he was in the past because he was fresh out of the presidential campaign. He may be about to make another leap to the center of the political debate.
CNN takes a closer look at the situation with Donald Trump. Watch “CNN Primetime: Inside the Trump Investigations” Tuesday, March 21 at 9 p.m. ET.
Officials in New York and Washington, DC, are preparing for potential protests as a grand jury empaneled as part of the investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels continues to weigh possible charges.
There is an internal NYPD memo that tells us that all of the NYPD officers are prepared to go to work on Tuesday. Law enforcement officials told CNN that although Tuesday is a “high alert day,” there is currently no credible threat.
The memo came in response to Trump’s social media posts over the weekend that called on his supporters to protest in response to a potential arrest, echoing the calls he made for protests in Washington, DC, in response to his 2020 election loss – protests that later turned violent when scores of his supporters stormed the Capitol. The intelligence assessment obtained by CNN showed that the US Capitol Police are not currently tracking any threats to the US Capitol.
Reply to the Correspondence to “Kamiokande’s Co-Reply to Bragg” on the “Anomalous and Unprecedented Abuse of Prosecutorial Authority”
Cohen made himself available to the DA’s office as a rebuttal witness Monday but was “not needed,” according to a statement provided to CNN by his lawyer.
The chairs of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees sent a letter to Bragg on Monday, asking for documents, communications and testimony.
A spokesperson for Bragg responded by saying that the district attorney’s team “will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law.”
We follow the law without fear or favor in every prosecution. The skilled, honest and dedicated lawyers are working hard.
A possible indictment was called an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority” by the chairmen and it was based on a novel legal theory that federal authorities declined to pursue.
They said they expect him to appear as soon possible before Congress but did not set a date for a hearing. They asked Bragg to respond to them by Thursday so that they could arrange an appearance.
House Republicans are huddling at their annual retreat in Orlando, Fla., and the former president, who is running for the GOP nomination in 2024, is dominating the conversation.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fielded several questions about Trump at a press conference Sunday evening, and largely focused his response on attacking Bragg’s tenure and legal approach, instead of defending Trump’s behavior.
McCarthy said that one of the reasons they won races in New York was because the district attorney didn’t protect the citizens. “And the statute of limitations are gone.” He said an indictment would not hold up in court, if he wanted to do that.
The First Question about Bragg’s Proposal: Gimenez’s Remark on “It Smells Like It’s Political”
Questions about Trump were front and center as House Republicans tried to show their legislative agenda in the majority.
At a press conference Monday morning, the first question was about Bragg’s probe. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., used the same refrain most GOP lawmakers have used, telling reporters, “It certainly smells like it’s political.”
