It’s hard to decide where to start with this week’s news, because a lot (a LOT) happened. If you are new to this Substack you might be interested in the quick cheat sheet I wrote earlier this week on all of the different cases, which can help you get up to speed and put this week’s events into context.
There’s too much to delve into too much detail, but I will be discussing more on these topics with Renato next week and have included articles and clips on some of the topics below. Here is a quick preview in case you missed anything:
In what seemed like a two-day episode of The Real Prosecutors of Fulton County, D.A. Fani Willis, her dad, her boyfriend and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, and various friends and acquaintances testified in a hearing about whether Willis and her team should be disqualified from that case. It wasn’t clear where Judge Scott McAffee was going with all of the testimony, since he was basically letting the defense question them about, well, anything. In the end, I’d say that the prosecutors got the best sound bites, even if it was mostly solid dating advice from Fani (“a man is not a plan,” never go on a date without having cash so you can get where you want to go if you need to). It’s not clear to me that defendants met their burden of showing that Willis benefited from Wade’s salary or that either had misrepresented the timeline of their relationship to the court. So hopefully the far-ranging questioning was mainly to create a fulsome record that will help insulate McAffee on appeal.
House Oversight Committee James Comer had a womp womp moment when the Justice Department announced that they had charged his star (only?) “informant,” Alexander Smirnov, with making false statements. Oops! I’ll be writing about that for CAFE Insider this week, so stay tuned.
Judge Juan Merchan, who oversees Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump for concealing hush money payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case and scheduled the trial for March 25. Let the games begin! I’ll undoubtedly be covering this more in the coming weeks, but Bragg’s big challenge here will be to frame this case as one about election interference — meaning that the Daniel’s payment was the “gateway crime” that went on to lead to welcoming Russia’s help, pressuring Zelensky to publicly frame Biden, and, of course, January 6.
Those who read my cheat sheet will have the Blassingame case on their radar. Yesterday was Trump’s deadline to appeal the D.C. Circuit’s rejection of his “absolute immunity” claim in the civil suits which have been brought against him (by Capitol police officers and members of Congress) to the Supreme Court. Trump decided not to appeal, which will allow those trials to proceed to discovery. BUT Trump can raise the defense again after he has developed a factual record in discovery, so it’s not the end of the story. (This is separate and apart from Trump’s absolute immunity claim for his criminal January 6 case, which is currently pending in front of SCOTUS as a request for an emergency stay of D.C. circuit’s separate rejection of his claim there.)
Finally, Judge Arthur Engoron issued his ruling in Trump’s civil fraud case in New York, which was brought by NY Attorney General Letitia James. Writing that Trump and his codefendants’ lack of remorse “borders on the pathological,” Trump has been ordered to disgorge $354 million of his “ill-gotten gains” to New York, can’t apply for loans for three years, and has a babysitter appointed to oversee the Trump Organization. Importantly, Judge Engoron found the testimony of Michael Cohen — who will be a star witness in Bragg’s criminal case — to be truthful…which doesn’t bode well for Trump in his upcoming criminal trial.
As Renato and I mention in this week’s podcast, we’re going to have trouble keeping up with developments in real time, with things moving so fast. But hopefully our discussions will help you make sense of some of the main issues at play in each of these areas:
Articles worth reading:
Just as a general note moving forward, I highly recommend that you make Just Security a regular source of information — and I’m not just saying that because I’m on the editorial board. Just Security just has great explainers on the various issues going on in the Trump cases (two examples below), as well as an amazing centralized clearinghouse for all of the filings and documents in the various cases. Check it out!
This Just Security explainer discusses Georgia’s law on disqualification and why it does not apply to the facts in Fani Willis’ case
This Just Security piece breaks down Judge Engoron’s civil fraud judgment in more detail, including why his retraction of the “corporate death penalty” for Trump has strengthened the ruling on appeal
Noteworthy clips from this week:
I broke down the big takeaways to understanding Judge Engoron’s ruling in Trump’s civil fraud case:
Upcoming events:
NEXT WEEK! Guest Speaker Nina Jankowicz, Thursday, February 22, 3 p.m. EST. I’m thrilled to have Nina, Vice President of the Center for Information Resilience and author of How to Lose the Information War and How to be a Woman Online, join our class to discuss social media, disinformation, and what we can learn from other countries tackling this problem around the world. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers three hours before the discussion, and will be recorded and posted for paid subscribers the following day.
NEW! Zoom Office Hours, Thursday, February 29, 5 p.m. ET. We’ll discuss the latest. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers at 2 p.m. Office hours discussions are not recorded.
Guest Speaker Barb McQuade, Thursday, March 28, 4 p.m. EST. Barb will be a guest speaker for my class, Preserving Democracy in the (Dis)Information Age. Barb is about to release her book, Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America, and I’m excited to get her perspective on where we are as we head into the 2024 election. Zoom link will be sent to paid subscribers three hours before the discussion, and will be recorded and posted for paid subscribers the following day.
Freedom Academy Book Club, Date/Time TBA (likely early April). We’ll be discussing Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America with author Andrew McKevitt. Drew’s book illuminates how our society became so saturated with guns, and how gun ownership intersects with race, politics, and money. This discussion will be recorded and posted for paid subscribers.
Have a great weekend — stay chill like Pancake!
As always, fantastic commentary! The news cycle is such in Tsunami Trump world that I completely forgot that the special counsel that was appointed to investigate President Biden ultimately found the source to lack credibility / lied to the FBI. I could never reconcile Joe Biden taking a bribe, and thank goodness, he is properly vindicated, except to the ultra-MAGAs who believe that Taylor Swift put a spell on whoever.
I greatly hope that the $350 million fine will put him in his proper place once and for all, although I had hoped his company could never do business in the State of New York again. Funny how his beligerant attitude toward the judge in an effort to look tough to his base merely backfired on him. I don't think the jury took his arrogance and defiant attitude in a positive manner. Furthermore, if Judge Ergeron was deciding the penalty, trying to aggravate him only prompted his honor to impose a fine at the upper end of the scale, as well as underscores the contempt and lack of seriousness in the issue at hand, thus need for a penalty that would resonate with the thickheaded former President.
I don't want him to go through bankruptcy again until after he coughs up the money. The upside of his Presidential run is that he is unlikely to declare bankruptcy during the campaign to avoid looking like the helpless, big mouth weakling he really is. It will be interesting how this all plays out.
(BTW, Pancake looks to be either partially or entirely Maine Coon! People who don't like cats are control freaks, or simply don't understand the vast array of "personalities". But I digress...)
OMG Asha, I have cats named Egg and Bacon 😂