A Tues evening fundraising email from #Trump’s campaign &signed in his name arrived w/the subj, "They were authorized to shoot me!" & said of the #Biden admin, "You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable ... Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
Trump also wrote on TruthSocial:
"Joe Biden's DOJ, in their Illegal & UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE."
One page in the document includes a “policy statement” on the use of deadly force, which says officers may resort to lethal force only when the subject of such force poses an “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury” to an officer or another person.
4 months after the #FBI raided #MarALago, Trump’s attys discovered 4 docs marked #classified in his personal bedroom.
That revelation was among several cited by US District Judge Beryl Howell in a newly unsealed 2023 opinion that found prosecutors had presented compelling #evidence that #Trump#knowingly stashed #NationalSecurity docs in his home & then tried to conceal them when the #DOJ tried to retrieve them.
Throughout the opinion, Howell — who was chief judge of the Washington, DC federal district court at the time — described w/varying degrees of incredulity how 4 documents w/ classification markings could have been discovered in #Trump’s private quarters months after prosecutors had subpoenaed them & the #FBI conducted its own exhaustive search of the property.
“Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago,” Howell wrote.
In a footnote, #Howell also noted that another #Trump adviser connected to his SaveAmerica #PAC had acknowledged scanning the contents of the box that contained the #classified materials in 2021 & storing them on a personal laptop provided by the PAC.
Howell’s opinion was unsealed along w/a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related docs stemming from the investigation into #Trump for withholding reams of #ClassifiedDocuments after leaving office in 2021, incl’g some of the nation’s most sensitive #MilitarySecrets. US Dist Judge #AileenCannon, a Trump appointee based in #Florida, released the batch of docs Tues after lengthy negotiations w/ #JackSmith’s team & Trump’s lawyers over redactions.
Related: Chief Judge Boasberg denied#Trump “body man” #WaltNauta’s request to transfer some #GrandJury materials from DC to #Florida, says #Nauta failed to make specific case.
#FaniWillis#wins#primary
Willis now proceeds to November’s general #election, where she will face Courtney Kramer, a Republican lawyer who interned in the #Trump White House.
#FaniWillis defeated challenger Christian Wise Smith as she seeks another 4yr term as the top prosecutor in the #Atlanta area, acc/to an AP projection.
Another leading figure in the #Georgia#criminal case against #Trump, #FultonCounty Superior Court Judge Scott #McAfee was also on the ballot Tues, seeking his first full term since being appointed to the bench last year. That race has not yet been called.
Yesterday, Costello behaved so atrociously on the witness stand that Juan Merchan cleared the courtroom to admonish him & the defense attorneys. Costello is due back on the stand
#Hoffinger, in a brief, final series of questions & answers, again confirms that #RobertCostello was never officially hired as #MichaelCohen’s lawyer. Costello steps down from the witness stand.
Justice #Merchan turns to the #jury & explains the upcoming schedule. Closing arguments will take a day & his instructions to them afterward will take at least an hour.
Court will be adjourned, for jurors, until a week from today.
The judge reminds #jurors that they should not discuss the case or read the news about the trial in the meantime.
Court is adjourned until the afternoon when it’s expected that prosecutors & defense lawyers will srgue for their preferred versions of the #JuryInstructions during a “charging conference”.
Justice #Merchan may also rule on the defense lawyers' latest attempt to #dismiss the case, which they made in a motion yesterday.
Justice #Merchan asks the defense to argue on behalf of one of its many requests: to add the word “willfully” in 2 places to the #JuryInstructions on a federal #ElectionLaw which isn’t charged.
Defense proposes #JuryInstructions on campaign finance law “#FECA” (federal election campaign act) must include the word "willfully" to specify a #criminal violation.
The 34 falsifying business records charges against #Trump are #felony charges bc prosecutors say he used the false records to try to conceal a 2nd #crime.
That 2nd crime, prosecutors specified, is a violation of a state #ElectionLaw that forbids a person from seeking election by “unlawful means.”
Prosecution & defense argue whether the evidence at trial supported the idea that #Trump did enter a conspiracy w/ #Pecker & #MichaelCohen in 2015 to suppress negative stories during his presidential campaign.
(isn’t that for the jury to decide?)
Defense suggests that there was nothing #criminal about “participating” in that meeting, & that meeting w/ The #NationalEnquirer was simply “standard operating procedure” for campaigning. (Um, no)
Defense argues that to reach a #guilty#verdict jurors MUST not only to agree #unanimously that #Trump had falsified records to conceal a #conspiracy to win an election by unlawful means, but also jurors must be unanimous on what the #UnlawfulMeans are; making reaching a verdict nearly impossible.
Trump's attys argued that while that unanimity is not required by #law, Justice Merchan can use his discretion in asking for it.
#Colangelo argues the instruction proposed about fmr #NationalEnquirer publisher #Pecker’s legal consult w/his attorney is irrelevant, because Pecker testified that he didn’t reveal all of the facts to AMI’s general counsel when he consulted them & therefore his attys couldn’t provide proper legal advice.
Bove argues that what matters is Pecker told Trump that he had been told the McDougal agreement was “bulletproof,” & Trump relied it.