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The former president has told aides that he has made up his mind not to participate in the debate and has decided to post an online interview with Tucker Carlson that night instead, according to people briefed on the matter. Upstaging Fox’s biggest event of the year would be provocation enough. The decision is a potential source of aggravation for the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, who privately urged him to attend, including in her own visit to Bedminster last month. But Mr. Trump’s primary motive in skipping the debate is not personal animosity toward Ms. McDaniel but a crass political calculation: He doesn’t want to risk his giant lead in a Republican race that some close to him believe he must win to stay out of prison. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the campaign.

Persons: Tucker Carlson, Upstaging, Carlson —, Trump, Ronna McDaniel, McDaniel, that’s, Fox —, Rupert Murdoch — Organizations: Republican National, Republican, Fox Corporation Locations: Bedminster

And Mr. Trump’s apparent decision to skip the first debate of the presidential nominating contest is a major affront to both the R.N.C. The exact timing and platform of the interview with Mr. Carlson remain unclear, but if it goes ahead as currently planned, the debate-night counterprogramming would serve as an act of open hostility. Fox sent Mr. Carlson a cease-and-desist letter after he aired a series of videos on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The Trump campaign’s conversations with Mr. Carlson — and the possibility of counterprogramming — have previously been reported by multiple news organizations. Mr. Carlson also did not respond to requests for comment.

Persons: Trump’s, Carlson, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, Fox, Carlson —, — Organizations: Republican, Republican National Committee, Fox News, Fox, Twitter, Trump Locations: Bedminster, N.J

It remains unclear why Mr. Chesebro was with Mr. Jones’s group outside the Capitol or how he came to be with them. A lawyer for Mr. Jones said that Mr. Jones was unaware that Mr. Chesebro had been following his entourage that day. Wearing a red MAGA hat, Mr. Chesebro can be seen joining Mr. Jones’s group outside the Capitol shortly before 2 p.m. that day, according to the photographs and video reviewed by The Times. Mr. Jones and Mr. Alexander were among the first “Stop the Steal” activists to draw attention from federal prosecutors investigating the Capitol riot. As early as April 2022, Mr. Jones reached out to the Justice Department in an unsuccessful effort to secure an immunity deal in exchange for information.

Persons: Chesebro, Jones, Trump’s, Trump, Joseph R, Biden, Jack Smith, Mike Pence, Mr, Alexander, Owen Shroyer, Jones’s, — Organizations: Capitol, Mr, The Times, Justice Department Locations: Fulton County ,, Washington

An opposition research memo about the Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy that was written by the super PAC supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida invokes the entrepreneur’s Hindu faith and family visits to India. With six months until the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Ramaswamy has been gaining on Mr. DeSantis in some public polls. In a separate debate strategy memo, Never Back Down officials advised Mr. DeSantis to take a “sledgehammer” to Mr. Ramaswamy in the debate as a way to create a “moment” for media coverage. They suggested that Mr. DeSantis call him “Fake Vivek” or “Vivek the Fake.”

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, “ Ramaswamy —, Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Donald J, Vivek ”, Vivek Organizations: Gov, Mr, Trump Locations: Florida, India, America, Iowa

The DeSantis super PAC and campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Notably missing from the debate materials is a document focused on Mr. Trump. The former president, who has said he is unlikely to participate in the debate, is also not among the candidates whose previous attacks against Mr. DeSantis were highlighted by the super PAC, in a preview of what he might expect onstage. Key among the documents is one entitled “Debate Memo,” dated Aug. 15, which cynically describes how Mr. DeSantis — who has been battered by critical coverage and has struggled to capture attention in the face of Mr. Trump’s indictments — could wring the most favorable media attention from the debate. To that end, the memo lists “potential Orchestra Pit Moments,” beginning with one drama-making opportunity, complete with a recommendation for a Trump-style insult: “Take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy: ‘Fake Vivek’ Or ‘Vivek the Fake.’”

Persons: Trump, DeSantis, ”, cynically, DeSantis —, Roger Ailes, Vivek Ramaswamy, Vivek Organizations: DeSantis, PAC, Mr, Fox News Locations: Iowa, Hampshire

Just days ago, the judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s prosecution on charges of seeking to subvert the 2020 election admonished him against violating the conditions of his release put in place at his arraignment — including by making “inflammatory statements” that could be construed as possibly intimidating witnesses or other people involved in the case. But Mr. Trump immediately tested that warning by posting a string of messages on his social media website, Truth Social, that largely amplified others criticizing the judge, Tanya S. Chutkan. In one post, written by an ally of Mr. Trump’s, the lawyer Mike Davis, a large photo of Judge Chutkan accompanied text that falsely claimed she had “openly admitted she’s running election interference against Trump.” In two other posts, Mr. Trump wrote, “She obviously wants me behind bars. VERY BIASED & UNFAIR.”After eight years of pushing back at a number of institutions in the United States, Mr. Trump is now probing the limits of what the criminal justice system will tolerate and the lines that Judge Chutkan sought to lay out about what he can — and cannot — say about the election interference case she is overseeing. He has waged a similarly defiant campaign against others involved in criminal cases against him, denouncing Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought two federal indictments against him, as “deranged”; casting Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., as “corrupt”; and even singling out witnesses.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Tanya S, Mr, Trump’s, Mike Davis, Judge Chutkan, “, she’s, ”, Chutkan, Jack Smith, Willis Organizations: Trump, ” Locations: United States, Fulton County ,

The federal prosecutors who charged former President Donald J. Trump this month with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election got access this winter to a trove of so-called direct messages that Mr. Trump sent others privately through his Twitter account, according to court papers unsealed on Tuesday. While it remained unclear what sorts of information the messages contained and who exactly may have written them, it was a revelation that there were private messages associated with the Twitter account of Mr. Trump, who has famously been cautious about using written forms of communications in his dealings with aides and allies. The court papers disclosing that prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, obtained direct messages from Mr. Trump’s Twitter account emerged from a fight with Twitter over the legality of executing a warrant on the former president’s social media. Days after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the platform shut down his account. The papers included transcripts of hearings in Federal District Court in Washington in February during which Judge Beryl A. Howell asserted that Mr. Smith’s office had sought Mr. Trump’s direct messages — or DMs — from Twitter as part of a search warrant it executed on the account in January.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Jack Smith, Beryl A, Howell Organizations: Twitter, Capitol, Court Locations: Washington

The document focuses on what detractors of the election have insisted are widespread voting anomalies in Georgia during that campaign, the people said. It has been in the works for many weeks, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Ms. Harrington has been making calls to people outside of Mr. Trump’s campaign about the event, according to two people familiar with the matter. She posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, four hours after Mr. Trump announced the news conference. She also appears, although unnamed, in a key scene detailed in Mr. Trump’s first federal indictment, over his mishandling of classified documents.

Persons: Harrington, Trump, they’ve, Ms, Trump’s Organizations: “ Locations: Georgia, “ Georgia, Bedminster, N.J

House Republicans have also brought forth two I.R.S. agents who worked on Mr. Weiss’s investigation and claimed there had been political interference. The order appointing Mr. Weiss to special counsel authorizes him to bring charges in any jurisdiction. Alyssa DaCunha, a co-chair of the congressional investigations practice at the law firm WilmerHale, said she believed House Republicans’ investigations and their criticisms of the proposed plea deal had “caught the attention” of the Justice Department. For Mr. Trump, in particular, it provided him with the investigation he has long desired to be able to depict the Biden family as corrupt, even as Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes are significantly less severe than the charges Mr. Trump is facing.

Persons: Weiss, Biden, Hunter Biden, Alyssa DaCunha, WilmerHale, “, ” Ms, DaCunha, Trump, Hunter Biden’s Organizations: Mr, Republicans, Congress, Justice Department Locations: Washington and California

Donald J. Trump’s legal problems aren’t just piling up — his legal bills are, too. The total amounts to more than $27 million in legal fees and other investigation-related bills in the first six months of 2023, according to a New York Times analysis of federal records. The new disclosures revealed the remarkable degree to which Mr. Trump’s political and legal cash are intermingled, much like his own political and legal fate. Mr. Trump’s complex political orbit is already spending more than it is taking in, and tapping into money it raised years ago — an unusual trajectory this far out from an election. And the burn rate raises questions about whether such an approach is untenable, or whether Mr. Trump will eventually need to dip into his own fortune to pay for his lawyers, his 2024 campaign or both.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, billings Organizations: PAC, New York Times, D.C Locations: New York , Florida, Washington

A lawyer allied with President Donald J. Trump first laid out a plot to use false slates of electors to subvert the 2020 election in a previously unknown internal campaign memo that prosecutors are portraying as a crucial link in how the Trump team’s efforts evolved into a criminal conspiracy. The existence of the Dec. 6, 2020, memo came to light in last week’s indictment of Mr. Trump, though its details remained unclear. But even if the plan did not ultimately pass legal muster at the highest level, Mr. Chesebro argued that it would achieve two goals. In mid-December, the false Trump electors could go through the motions of voting as if they had the authority to do so. Then, on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence could unilaterally count those slates of votes, rather than the official and certified ones for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mr, Kenneth Chesebro, “, Chesebro, Biden, Mike Pence, Joseph R Organizations: The New York Times, Trump

Ms. Peck, who will stay on as the campaign’s chief strategist, had drawn heavy criticism from Mr. DeSantis’s allies and donors after heavy spending led to a fund-raising shortfall. In response, the campaign had to lay off more than a third of its staff and start holding smaller events — a leaner operation more suited to a candidate who is trailing well behind Mr. Trump. Still, the successive rounds of changes have been an enduring distraction for Mr. DeSantis’s campaign. In 2022, Ms. Peck, 36, oversaw Mr. DeSantis’s overwhelming re-election as governor, making herself an invaluable confidante to the governor and his wife, Casey. Mr. Uthmeier, a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal group, served as general counsel to the governor and in the Trump administration.

Persons: Peck, DeSantis’s, Trump, Casey, Uthmeier, Jones, “ James Uthmeier, Generra Peck, Joe Biden, ” Andrew Romeo Organizations: Federalist Society Locations: Washington

Shortly after, in a standard move early in a criminal prosecution, the government filed its request for a protective order in the case to Judge Chutkan. A short time after the government’s filing, Mr. Trump’s campaign issued a statement with no aide’s name attached, insisting he was practicing his First Amendment rights. “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech,” the statement said, adding that it was in response to “dishonest special interest groups” and political committees attacking him. That Mr. Trump is a political candidate exercising free speech is going to be an element of his defense in the latest case against him. (It includes the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who has brought a civil action case.)

Persons: Judge Chutkan, Trump “, ”, Trump’s, Trump, Biden, Letitia James Organizations: “ IF, Prosecutors, Twitter, New Locations: New York

M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer who accompanied former President Donald J. Trump to court this week for his arraignment on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election, has given crucial evidence in Mr. Trump’s other federal case — the one accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents. Another lawyer close to Mr. Trump, Boris Epshteyn, sat for an interview with prosecutors this spring and could be one of the former president’s co-conspirators in the election tampering case. And Mr. Epshteyn’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, is defending Mr. Trump against both the documents and election case indictments. The legal team that Mr. Trump has assembled to represent him in the twin prosecutions by the special counsel, Jack Smith, is marked by a tangled web of potential conflicts and overlapping interests — so much so that Mr. Smith’s office has started asking questions.

Persons: Evan Corcoran, Donald J, Trump, Boris Epshteyn, Epshteyn’s, Todd Blanche, Jack Smith

☆ Pence Says Trump Pushed Him ‘Essentially to Overturn the Election’
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Maggie Haberman | More About Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday said that former President Donald J. Trump and his advisers had tried to get him “essentially to overturn the election” and that the American people needed to know it. The remarks, made in an interview with Fox News, are some of Mr. Pence’s most pointed to date about what he experienced in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when he presided over the congressional certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. And they came as Mr. Pence, who is trailing his former boss, the G.O.P. front-runner, in the Republican primary, has faced a slog in his attempt to get enough small-donor donations to qualify for the first Republican debate on Aug. 23. An adviser to Mr. Pence said he got more than 7,000 donations on Wednesday, the day after Mr. Trump’s indictment on charges of conspiring to overthrow the 2020 election.

Persons: Mike Pence, Donald J, Trump, Pence’s, Joseph R, Biden, Pence Organizations: Fox News, Republican

Running through the indictment charging former President Donald J. Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election was a consistent theme: He is an inveterate and knowing liar. The indictment laid out how, in the two months after Election Day, Mr. Trump “spread lies” about widespread election fraud even though he “knew that they were false.”Mr. Trump “deliberately disregarded the truth” and relentlessly disseminated them anyway at a “prolific” pace, the indictment continued, “to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and erode public faith in the administration of the election.”Of course, Mr. Trump has never been known for fealty to truth. Throughout his careers in business and politics, he has sought to bend reality to his own needs, with lies ranging from relatively small ones, like claiming he was of Swedish and not German descent when trying to rent to Jewish tenants in New York City, to proclaiming that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, “, Mr, Trump “, Barack Obama Locations: New York City, United States

The indictment of former President Donald J. Trump in connection with his efforts to retain power after his 2020 election loss left a number of unanswered questions, among them: Who is Co-conspirator 6? The indictment asserted that six people aided Mr. Trump’s schemes to remain in office. Identified by the indictment as “a political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding,” the person could have been a number of figures in Mr. Trump’s orbit. But a close look at the indictment and a review of messages among people working with Mr. Trump’s team provides a strong clue. An email from December 2020 from Boris Epshteyn, a strategic adviser to the Trump campaign in 2020, to Mr. Giuliani matches a description in the indictment of an interaction between Co-conspirator 6 and Mr. Giuliani, whose lawyer has confirmed that he is Co-conspirator 1.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Rudolph W, Giuliani, John Eastman, Mike Pence, Boris Epshteyn Organizations: New Locations: New York

Mr. DeSantis and his allies, however, are testing the limits of the campaign finance system. The filings showed that the super PAC had received donations of more than $1 million from just seven wealthy Republicans, or firms connected to them. One of those donors, Saul Fox, also gave money to a super PAC supporting Mr. Trump. The super PAC did not reach $30 million until almost two months later, the week that Mr. DeSantis formally became a presidential candidate. When Mr. DeSantis’s super PAC made the earlier claim about its fund-raising, the money raised came primarily from a single megadonor, Robert Bigelow, a real estate and aerospace mogul from Las Vegas.

Persons: DeSantis, DeSantis’s, Saul Fox, Trump, Robert Bigelow Organizations: PAC, Mr, DeSantis’s Locations: Iowa, Las Vegas

So far, however, having reservations about Mr. Trump’s alleged wrongdoing does not appear to be leading Republican voters to reconsider their support for him. Views of Mr. Trump have long been remarkably stable, and the public’s views of his potential criminality are no exception. About half of all voters say they think he has committed serious federal crimes, nearly identical to the share that held that view last year. Much like the overall public, Democrats have held firm in their views on Mr. Trump: Nearly 90 percent of Democrats consistently say they think Mr. Trump has committed serious federal crimes. To be sure, nearly 75 percent of Republicans still say Mr. Trump did not commit any serious federal crimes.

Persons: Trump’s, Trump Organizations: Republican, Times, Democrats Locations: Manhattan, Siena, Iowa

Former President Donald J. Trump was indicted on Tuesday in connection with his widespread efforts to overturn the 2020 election following a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the presidency. The indictment, filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington, accuses Mr. Trump of three conspiracies: one to defraud the United States; a second to obstruct an official government proceeding, the certification of the Electoral College vote; and a third to deprive people of a civil right, the right to have their votes counted. Mr. Trump was also charged with a fourth count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. “Each of these conspiracies — which built on the widespread mistrust the defendant was creating through pervasive and destabilizing lies about election fraud — targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election,” the indictment said. The charges signify an extraordinary moment in United States history: a former president, in the midst of a campaign to return to the White House, being charged over attempts to use the levers of government power to subvert democracy and remain in office against the will of voters.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Jack Smith, — Organizations: Federal, Court, Electoral, United, White Locations: Washington, United States

The dwindling cash reserves in Mr. Trump’s PAC, called Save America, have fallen to such levels that the group has made the highly unusual request of a $60 million refund of a donation it had previously sent to a pro-Trump super PAC. This money had been intended for television commercials to help Mr. Trump’s candidacy, but as he is the dominant front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2024, his most immediate problems appear to be legal, not political. The super PAC, which is called Make America Great Again Inc., has already sent back $12.25 million to the group paying Mr. Trump’s legal bills, according to federal records — a sum nearly as large as the $13.1 million the super PAC raised from donors in the first half of 2023. Those donations included $1 million from the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner, whom Mr. Trump pardoned for federal crimes in his final days as president, and $100,000 from a candidate seeking Mr. Trump’s endorsement. The extraordinary shift of money from the super PAC to Mr. Trump’s political committee, described in federal campaign filings as a refund, is believed to be larger than any other refund on record in the history of federal campaigns.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Charles Kushner Organizations: Trump’s PAC, Trump, Republican, PAC, Inc, Mr

Former President Donald J. Trump’s team is creating a legal-defense fund to handle some of the crush of legal bills stemming from the investigations and criminal indictments involving him and a number of employees and associates, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The fund, which is expected to be called the Patriot Legal Defense Fund Inc., will be led by Michael Glassner, a longtime Trump political adviser, according to the people familiar with the planning, who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Another Trump aide who worked at the Trump Organization and then in Mr. Trump’s administration, Lynne Patton, will also be involved, the people said. It is unclear how broad a group of people the legal-defense fund will cover, but one person said it was not expected to cover Mr. Trump’s own legal bills. In recent months Mr. Trump’s political action committee has paid legal bills for him and several witnesses, spending over $40 million on lawyers in the first half of 2023.

Persons: Donald J, Michael Glassner, Trump, Lynne Patton, Trump’s Organizations: Patriot Legal Defense Fund Inc, Trump Organization, Trump

According to the indictment, Mr. Nauta was central to the first part of the scheme, moving boxes from the room at least five times at Mr. Trump’s direction. Mr. Nauta’s path to Mr. Trump and Mar-a-Lago was also characterized by a degree of turbulence. A member of the Navy, Mr. Nauta had worked as a valet for Mr. Trump in the White House. Mr. Nauta leaped at the opportunity, the person said, taking the job in July 2021 after receiving an honorable discharge from the Navy. It remains unclear whether Mr. Trump knew of Mr. Nauta’s troubles in the Navy at the end of his career.

Persons: Nauta, Trump, Lago Organizations: Prosecutors, Mar, Navy Locations: Mar

The political action committee that has been paying former President Donald J. Trump’s legal fees requested a refund on a $60 million contribution it made to the super PAC supporting the Republican front-runner, according to two people familiar with the matter. The decision of Mr. Trump’s political team to ask for a refund of money that was meant to help his 2024 campaign, and was instead diverted to an account paying his legal bills, is extraordinary. It reflects the choice to spend precious donor cash on lawyers rather than on television advertising in the early months. But the refund was sought as the political action committee, Save America, spent more than $40 million in legal fees incurred by Mr. Trump and witnesses in various legal cases related to him this year alone, according to another person familiar with the matter. The numbers will be part of the Save America Federal Election Commission filing that is expected to be made public late on Monday.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Republican, Save, Mr, Commission Locations: Save America

“Demanding that evidence be destroyed is the most basic form of obstruction and is easy for a jury to understand,” said Mr. Goldstein, who is now a white-collar defense lawyer at the firm Cooley. “It is more straightforwardly criminal than the obstructive acts we detailed in the Mueller report,” he said. “And if proven, it makes it easier to show that Trump had criminal intent for the rest of the conduct described in the indictment.”The accusation about Mr. Trump’s desire to have evidence destroyed adds another chapter to what observers of his career say is a long pattern of gamesmanship on his part with prosecutors, regulators and others who have the ability to impose penalties on his conduct. And it demonstrates how Mr. Trump viewed the conclusion of the Mueller investigation as a vindication of his behavior, which became increasingly emboldened — particularly in regards to the Justice Department — throughout the rest of his presidency, a pattern that appears to have continued despite having lost the protections of the office when he was defeated in the election. In his memoir of his years in the White House, John R. Bolton, who served as Mr. Trump’s third national security adviser, described Mr. Trump’s approach as “obstruction as a way of life.”

Persons: ”, Goldstein, Cooley, Mueller, Trump, —, John R, Bolton, Trump’s Organizations: Justice Department —

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