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If President Biden were elected to a second term, he pledged to go to Congress to start any major war but said he believed he was empowered “to direct limited U.S. military operations abroad” without such approval when such strikes served critical American interests. “As president, I have taken great care to ensure that military actions carried out under my command comply with this constitutional framework and that my administration consults with Congress to the greatest extent possible,” he wrote in response to a New York Times survey of presidential candidates about executive power. “I will continue to rigorously apply this framework to any potential actions in the future,” he added. The reply stood in contrast to his answer in 2007, when he was also running for president and, as a senator, adopted a narrower view: “The Constitution is clear: Except in response to an attack or the imminent threat of attack, only Congress may authorize war and the use of force.”

Persons: Biden, “, ” Organizations: New York Times

Career civil servants include professional staff across the government who stay on when the presidency changes hands. Portraying federal employees as unaccountable bureaucrats, the Trump team has argued that removing job protections for those who have any influence over policymaking is justified because it is too difficult to fire them. Critics saw the move as a throwback to the corrupt 19th-century patronage system, when all federal jobs were partisan spoils rather than based on merit. Congress ended that system with a series of civil-service laws dating back to the Pendleton Act of 1883. Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, described Schedule F as “the most profound undermining of the civil service in our lifetimes.”

Persons: Trump, —, Critics, Everett Kelley Organizations: Trump, American Federation of Government Employees Locations: Pendleton

Over the past several months, Mr. Trump has kept a close watch on House Republicans’ momentum toward impeaching Mr. Biden. Mr. Trump has talked regularly by phone with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and other congressional Republicans who pushed for impeachment, according to a person close to Mr. Trump who was not authorized to publicly discuss the conversations. Mr. Trump has encouraged the effort both privately and publicly. House Republicans are proceeding with the impeachment inquiry without proof that Mr. Biden took official actions as vice president to benefit his son’s financial interests or that he directly profited from his son’s foreign deals. During those conversations, Ms. Stefanik also briefed Mr. Trump on the impeachment inquiry strategy, this person said.

Persons: Trump, Mr, Biden, Greene, Joe Biden, ”, “, Biden’s, Hunter, Elise Stefanik, Stefanik Organizations: Republicans, Caucus, White House, of Justice, Republican Locations: New York

Former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday called Blake Masters, the failed Arizona Senate candidate considering a second run next year, and told him he didn’t think Mr. Masters could win a primary race against Kari Lake, the former news anchor who ran unsuccessfully for governor last year, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Mr. Trump’s delivery of this blunt political assessment — which could indicate that Mr. Trump may endorse Ms. Lake if she has a relatively open path to the nomination — is at odds with Mr. Trump’s posture so far this political cycle, in which he has shown more restraint in endorsing candidates than he had in the 2022 midterms. Mr. Trump’s call on Sunday came days after a report that Mr. Masters, a 37-year-old venture capitalist, was preparing to make a second run for the Senate in the swing state after his loss to Senator Mark Kelly, the Democratic incumbent, in 2022. Ms. Lake, who lost a bitter contest with Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is looking at announcing a Senate campaign in the first half of October, two people familiar with the matter said.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Blake Masters, Masters, Kari Lake, Trump’s, Mark Kelly, Katie Hobbs, Kyrsten Sinema Organizations: Senate, Democratic, Gov, Democrat, Republican Party Locations: Arizona

President Biden said on Friday that he would meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida on Saturday during a visit to tour the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 3 storm that hit the state’s Gulf Coast and swept across the Southeast this week. The unusual miscue between the two chief executives — and potential 2024 rivals — came after Mr. Biden said during a visit to FEMA headquarters in Washington on Thursday that he would head south to see the damage. “By the way, I am going to Florida,” Mr. Biden said. While Mr. Biden did not provide details about the trip, during an event at the White House Friday morning he responded to a reporter’s question about whether he planned to see Mr. DeSantis in Florida, saying simply, “Yes.”

Persons: Biden, Ron DeSantis, Idalia, —, ” Mr, “ I’m, ” Organizations: Gov, Mr, FEMA, White, Service Locations: Florida, Coast, Washington, DeSantis

That loss happened in 2016, when Mr. Roe ran the presidential primary campaign of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who came closer than any other candidate to toppling Mr. Trump. But because the DeSantis campaign has relatively little cash and the super PAC has had plenty, Never Back Down has taken over all of those functions. The unusual arrangement has necessitated an awkward tap dance around campaign finance laws. Mr. DeSantis insists he is technically separate from this super PAC even as he travels around on a bus funded by the super PAC and even as he attends his own events as a “special guest” of the super PAC. In July, Mr. DeSantis laid off more than a third of his campaign staff.

Persons: Roe, Ted Cruz, Trump, DeSantis, Donors, Generra Peck Organizations: Mr Locations: Ted Cruz of Texas

The Trump campaign is taking no chances on a contested convention. Many of those changes, which favor Mr. Trump, remain in place. Mr. Trump himself has gotten involved deep in the weeds of convention politics. This loyalty has already delivered results for Mr. Trump’s campaign. This month, the Nevada Republican Party quietly announced it would not share political data or coordinate with super PACs — a blow to Gov.

Persons: Trump, —, Justice Department —, Trump’s, Cruz, Henson, Brian Jack, Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita —, — Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Nick Trainer —, Ron DeSantis, Jeff Roe, Cruz’s Organizations: Justice Department, Republican, Nevada Republican Party Locations: Louisiana , Colorado, Nevada, Milwaukee, Florida

☆ Ramaswamy-Pence Clash Shows New Right’s Radical Break From Reaganism
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Jonathan Swan | More About Jonathan Swan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Disbelief flashed across Vivek Ramaswamy’s face. The Republican presidential candidates, minus the front-runner, were 42 minutes into their first debate when former Vice President Mike Pence took issue with the young businessman’s claim that America was gripped by a national identity crisis. “We’re not looking for a new national identity,” said Mr. Pence, 64. “The American people are the most faith-filled, freedom-loving, idealistic, hard-working people the world has ever known.”“It is not morning in America,” Mr. Ramaswamy, 38, shot back in his rapid-fire Harvard debating style. Yet here was an upstart candidate, with no record of public service, standing at center stage in a G.O.P.

Persons: Vivek Ramaswamy’s, Mike Pence, “, ”, Pence, ” Mr, Ramaswamy, Ronald Reagan, Reagan’s, Reagan, — Organizations: Republican, Harvard Locations: America

One thing was clear when former President Donald J. Trump decided to skip the first debate of the 2024 Republican primary race: There would be a vacuum to fill. But it was not Mr. Trump’s chief rival in the polls, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who emerged at the epicenter of the first Trump-free showdown on Wednesday, but instead the political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy, whose unlikely rise has revealed the remarkable degree to which the former president has remade the party. Mr. DeSantis had stumbled heading into the debate and was widely seen as in need of a stabilizing performance. All eight candidates mostly jostled for position among themselves, and few targeted the front-runner who is set to surrender on Thursday after his fourth criminal indictment.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, DeSantis Organizations: Republican, Gov, Trump Locations: Florida

This winter, after receiving a subpoena from a grand jury investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, Mark Meadows commenced a delicate dance with federal prosecutors. Yet Mr. Meadows — Mr. Trump’s final White House chief of staff — initially declined to answer certain questions, sticking to his former boss’s position that they were shielded by executive privilege. But when prosecutors working for the special counsel, Jack Smith, challenged Mr. Trump’s executive privilege claims before a judge, Mr. Meadows pivoted. Even though he risked enraging Mr. Trump, he decided to trust Mr. Smith’s team, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Meadows quietly arranged to talk with them not only about the steps the former president took to stay in office, but also about his handling of classified documents after he left.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Mark Meadows, Meadows, —, Jack Smith, Mr, Trump, Smith’s Organizations: White House, Mr, Republican Locations: Washington, Georgia

One of the arguments that the Republican National Committee chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, made to Mr. Trump that day was that by skipping the debate, he would give President Biden an excuse to get out of debating Mr. Trump should they meet again in 2024, according to two people familiar with their conversation. Mr. Trump apparently disregarded the warning: He told people close to him in recent days that he had made up his mind not to participate in the first debate, though he has not ruled out debates later in the year. Instead, he sat for a taped interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, which is expected to be posted online Wednesday. Still, it’s an argument that appealed to a key focus of the Trump campaign as it looks ahead to a possible rematch with Mr. Biden: getting both men onstage. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said publicly that he wants debates with Mr. Biden, and Mr. Trump’s advisers view face-offs with the incumbent president as vital to Mr. Trump’s chances of winning.

Persons: Donald J, Ronna McDaniel, Trump, Biden, Tucker Carlson, Mr, Trump’s Organizations: Republican Party, Republican National, Fox News Locations: Bedminster, N.J

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

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

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

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 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

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

☆ Four Takeaways From the Trump Indictment.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Jonathan Swan | More About Jonathan Swan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jack Smith made only his second televised appearance as special counsel on Tuesday to explain his decision to charge former President Donald J. Trump with leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. He took no questions and urged viewers to read the 45-page indictment in its entirety. Mr. Trump has been charged with four crimes, including conspiracies to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding. Here are four takeaways:The indictment portrays an attack on American democracy. Mr. Smith framed his case against Mr. Trump as one that cuts to a core function of democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.

Persons: Jack Smith, Donald J, —, Smith, Trump Organizations: Trump 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

On the day his presidential campaign said it had laid off more than a third of its staff to address worries about unsustainable spending, Gov. The choice was a routine one — Mr. DeSantis and his wife, Casey, haven’t regularly flown commercial for years — but also symbolic to close observers of his struggling presidential campaign. As Mr. DeSantis promises a reset, setting out on Thursday on a bus tour in Iowa to show off a leaner, hungrier operation, several donors and allies remained skeptical about whether the governor could right the ship. Their bleak outlook reflects a deep mistrust plaguing the highest levels of the DeSantis campaign, as well as its supporters and the well-funded super PAC, Never Back Down, bolstering his presidential ambitions. Publicly, the parties are projecting a stoic sunniness about Mr. DeSantis, even as he has sunk dangerously close to third place in some recent polls.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Casey, haven’t Organizations: Gov, Publicly Locations: Florida, Chattanooga, Tenn, Iowa

On Tuesday, Mr. DeSantis was on a three-stop fund-raising swing through Tennessee when his four-car motorcade had a pileup after traffic suddenly slowed. On Thursday, Mr. DeSantis is set to return to Iowa for two days of events and his first bus trip in the state. His main super PAC is doing so instead, inviting Mr. DeSantis as a “special guest.”The payroll reduction came on the heels of a donor retreat in Park City, Utah, where Mr. DeSantis convened about 70 top supporters. They enjoyed s’mores on the deck and cocktails as campaign officials and super PAC advisers made presentations about the state of the race. Instead, they focused on the notion that they were steadying the ship, making adjustments and trying to find ways to help Mr. DeSantis spread his message.

Persons: Ethan Eilon, Carl Sceusa, DeSantis Organizations: PAC Locations: Tallahassee, Tennessee, Iowa, Park City , Utah

Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands. Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control. Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him. Mr. Trump intends to bring independent agencies — like the Federal Communications Commission, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies, and the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces various antitrust and other consumer protection rules against businesses — under direct presidential control.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Biden Organizations: White House, Justice Department, White, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission

Chinese hackers intent on collecting intelligence on the United States gained access to government email accounts, Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday night. In a blog post, Microsoft said about 25 organizations, including government agencies, had been compromised by the hacking group, which used forged authentication tokens to get access to individual email accounts. Hackers had access to at least some of the accounts for a month before the breach was detected, Microsoft said. The new intrusion involved far fewer email accounts and did not go as deep into the targeted systems, Microsoft officials said. Nevertheless, having access to government email for a month before being detected could allow the hackers to learn information useful to the Chinese government and its intelligence services.

Organizations: United, Microsoft Locations: United States

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