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Early on March 18, former President Donald J. Trump hit send on a social media post saying he would be “arrested on Tuesday of next week.”“Protest,” he wrote on his Truth Social website. “Take our nation back!”Mr. Trump’s prediction was based on media reports, according to his lawyers, and his timing was off by two weeks. Yet the statement set in motion events that profoundly altered the course of the Republican nominating contest. The party apparatus rushed to defend Mr. Trump. These series of falling dominoes — call it the indictment effect — can be measured in ways that reveal much about the state of the Republican Party.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ”, Donors Organizations: Republican, Fox News, Mr, Republican Party, New York Times

(It is not yet clear when a trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election will start. But Mr. Trump could essentially try to hit pause on any state charges. Things would get even more complicated if Mr. Trump were to be convicted in one or more cases and still win the 2024 election. And Mr. Trump would almost certainly use his control of the Justice Department to ensure that it reverses its position. Among the questions that possibility would raise is who qualifies as a cabinet member if the Senate has not confirmed any new political appointees by Mr. Trump.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Jack Smith, Smith, Fani Willis, Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, “, Trump’s, — Organizations: Republican, Trump, Republican Party, Mr, Justice Department, Justice, Department Locations: Washington, Florida, New York, Georgia, Fulton County

☆ Mike Pence, the Indictment and the Chaos of Donald Trump - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Katherine Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

They left behind a few panicked people who remained grounded in reality like former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Mr. Pence, and then Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and the rest. Again and again, people describe desperate circumstances, arguments about doing things like seizing the voting machines, or trying to persuade Mr. Trump to call off the riot. According to prosecutors, at 7:01 p.m. on Jan. 6, Mr. Cipollone called Mr. Trump and asked him to withdraw his objections to certification; Mr. Trump refused. In his book, “Why We Did It,” Tim Miller debates this question with Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications official. In his book, Mr. Esper describes the way Mr. Pence represented a sane, normal presence in meetings.

Persons: Trump, Pat Cipollone, Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Cipollone, Jonathan Swan, Trump’s, Tim Miller, Alyssa Farah Griffin, ”, Miller, Alyssa, flack, George Floyd, Mark Esper, Esper Organizations: Mr, White, Trump, Federal Trade Commission, White House

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

☆ 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

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

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

Ms. Reynolds is said to have tired of Mr. Trump, and she reacted with disbelief to his comment that she owed him her governorship, according to people familiar with her thinking and her response. Before Mr. Trump’s latest visit to Iowa on Friday, a behind-the-scenes standoff played out for days over whether Ms. Reynolds would join him. Ms. Reynolds has said she will make an effort to appear with whomever invites her, but an aide said she had not actually been invited. The relationship with Mr. DeSantis, who has privately courted Ms. Reynolds for many months, has been strikingly different. They banter with a degree of familiarity and friendship that Mr. DeSantis rarely flashes with other politicians.

Persons: Reynolds, Trump, ”, Trump’s, DeSantis, Kim, Ron Organizations: Mr, Biden, America, Republican Party, Trump Locations: Iowa

The political network established by the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch has raised more than $70 million for political races as it looks to help Republicans move past Donald J. Trump, according to an official with the group. With some of this large sum to start, the network, Americans for Prosperity Action, plans to throw its weight into the G.O.P. The network spent nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates and conservative policies in the 2020 election cycle alone. Two groups closely affiliated with Charles Koch contributed $50 million of the more than $70 million that has been raised. Mr. Koch is a major shareholder in Koch Industries, which contributed $25 million to Americans for Prosperity Action, according to a preliminary draft of Federal Election Commission filings.

Persons: Charles, David Koch, Donald J, Trump, Charles Koch, Koch, Emily Seidel, ” Organizations: Prosperity, Koch Industries, Republican

On the recording, Mr. Trump can be heard rustling through papers and describing for his guests a “secret” plan regarding Iran that he said had been drawn up by Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Defense Department. Mr. Trump was describing the document in an effort to rebut an account that General Milley feared having to keep him from manufacturing a crisis with Iran in the period after Mr. Trump lost his re-election bid in late 2020. Ms. Harrington, one of Mr. Trump’s most aggressive defenders on Twitter, did not respond to questions about whether she is one of the voices talking on the recording as Mr. Trump appears to show a piece of paper. Ms. Harrington; Ms. Martin, who worked for Mr. Trump in the White House; and the other participants in the meeting could be important witnesses if Mr. Trump’s case goes to trial, since they can provide firsthand descriptions of what he was showing as he discussed the Iran plan. A lawyer for Ms. Martin declined to comment.

Persons: Trump, Mark, Milley, Mr, Harrington, Martin, Trump’s, —, Bret Baier Organizations: Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Department, Mr, Twitter, Fox News Locations: Iran

At his first town-hall event in New Hampshire, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida talked on Tuesday about illegal immigration in Texas, crime in Chicago, disorder on the streets of San Francisco and the wonders of nearly every aspect of Florida — a state he mentioned about 80 times. Mr. DeSantis’s comments seemed to especially resonate when he connected his actions at home to issues of importance to New Hampshire residents, like the flood of fentanyl and other deadly drugs into their communities. “Every year I’ve been governor, we’ve decreased the assumptions in our pension fund,” he boasted, digging deep into the Florida policy weeds. And we always reduced down to ensure that no matter what happens, our pension system is going to be funded.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, ”, Biden, DeSantis’s, “, I’ve, we’ve Organizations: Gov, Republican Party Locations: New Hampshire, Florida, Texas, Chicago, San Francisco, “ New Hampshire, ”

Ron DeSantis of Florida are set to hold dueling events on Tuesday in New Hampshire, but from vastly different political positions: one as the dominant front-runner in the state, the other still seeking his footing. Mr. Trump sees the first primary contest in New Hampshire as an early chance to clear the crowded field of rivals. And members of Team DeSantis — some of whom watched from losing sidelines, as Mr. Trump romped through the Granite State in 2016 on his way to the nomination — hope New Hampshire will be the primary that winnows the Republican field to two. “Iowa’s cornfields used to be where campaigns were killed off, and now New Hampshire is where campaigns go to die,” said Jeff Roe, who runs Mr. DeSantis’s super PAC, Never Back Down. Mr. Roe retains agonizing memories from 2016, when he ran the presidential campaign of the last man standing against Mr. Trump: Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

Persons: Donald J, Ron DeSantis, Biden, Trump, DeSantis, cornfields, ”, Jeff Roe, Roe, Ted Cruz Organizations: Trump, Gov, Republican Party, Republican, DeSantis’s, Mr Locations: Florida, New Hampshire, Granite State, Ted Cruz of Texas

When Judge Aileen M. Cannon assumed control of the case stemming from former President Donald J. Trump’s indictment for putting national security secrets at risk, she set the stage for the trial to be held with a regional jury pool made up mostly of counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous campaigns. She signaled that the trial would take place in the federal courthouse where she normally sits, in Fort Pierce, at the northern end of the Southern District of Florida. The region that feeds potential jurors to that courthouse is made up of one swing county and four others that are ruby red in their political leanings and that Mr. Trump won by substantial margins in both 2016 and 2020. “For years, it’s been a very conservative venue for plaintiffs’ lawyers,” said John Morgan, a trial lawyer who founded a large personal injury firm. Describing the various counties that feed into Fort Pierce, he said, “It is solid, solid Trump country.”

Persons: Aileen M, Cannon, Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, it’s, ”, John Morgan Organizations: Southern, Southern District of Locations: Fort Pierce, Southern District, Southern District of Florida, Florida, Trump

☆ Senator Rick Scott Has Been Weighing a Presidential Run
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jonathan Swan | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Should he enter the race, Mr. Scott, Florida’s former governor, would be challenging both the front-runner, Mr. Trump, as well as the distant-second rival, Ron DeSantis, the state’s current governor. Mr. Scott would also join Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis and Mayor Francis X. Suarez of Miami as the fourth Republican presidential candidate from Florida. Mr. DeSantis in particular could see his support erode further if Mr. Scott adds to an already crowded field of Trump alternatives. Like other recent entries, Mr. Scott appears to be assessing a G.O.P. field in which Mr. DeSantis, with whom Mr. Scott has had a difficult relationship, has lost some support after a series of missteps and unforced errors.

Persons: Rick Scott of, Donald J, Trump, Scott, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Francis X, Suarez, Mr, Larry Hogan, ” Organizations: Republican, Florida Republican, Suarez of Miami, CBS Locations: Rick Scott of Florida, Florida, Maryland

“I think presidents have bought into this canard that they’re independent, and that’s one of the reasons why they’ve accumulated so much power over the years,” Mr. DeSantis said. Mr. Trump has portrayed his legal troubles as stemming from politicization, although there is no evidence Mr. Biden directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Mr. Trump. Under Mr. Garland, Trump-appointed prosecutors are already investigating Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents and on Tuesday secured a guilty plea from Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, on tax charges. Especially since Watergate, there has been an institutional tradition of Justice Department independence from White House control. This is particularly seen as true for cases involving a president’s personal or political interests, such as an investigation into himself or his political opponents.

Persons: ” Mr, DeSantis, “, DeSantis’s, Griffin, Trump, Biden, General Merrick Garland, Garland, Biden’s, Hunter Organizations: Justice Department Locations: White

Former President Donald J. Trump claimed to a Fox News anchor in an interview on Monday that he did not have a classified document with him in a meeting with a book publisher even though he referred during that meeting to “secret” information in his possession. They presented me this — this is off the record, but — they presented me this. This was the Defense Department and him.”On the recording, according to two people familiar with its contents, Mr. Trump can be heard flipping through papers as he talks to a publisher and writer working on a book by his final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Mr. Trump and the people in the meeting do not explicitly say what document the former president is holding. According to the transcript, Mr. Trump describes the document, which he claims shows General Milley’s desire to attack Iran, as “secret” and “like, highly confidential.” He also declares that “as president, I could have declassified it,” adding, “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, —, Mark, ”, Mark Meadows, Milley’s, “ Organizations: Fox News, Defense Department, White House Locations: Bedminster, N.J, Iran

When Donald J. Trump responded to his latest indictment by promising to appoint a special prosecutor if he’s re-elected to “go after” President Biden and his family, he signaled that a second Trump term would fully jettison the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” Mr. Trump said at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., on Tuesday night after his arraignment earlier that day in Miami. “I will totally obliterate the Deep State.”Mr. Trump’s message was that the Justice Department charged him only because he is Mr. Biden’s political opponent, so he would invert that supposed politicization. In reality, under Attorney General Merrick Garland, two Trump-appointed prosecutors are already investigating Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents and the financial dealings of his son, Hunter. But by suggesting the current prosecutors investigating the Bidens were not “real,” Mr. Trump appeared to be promising his supporters that he would appoint an ally who would bring charges against his political enemies regardless of the facts.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, he’s, “, ” President Biden, Joe Biden, Biden, ” Mr, Mr, General Merrick Garland, Hunter Organizations: ”, Trump, Justice Department Locations: United States of America, Bedminster, N.J, Miami, State

☆ G.O.P. Rivals See Trump’s Indictment as a Big Problem (for Them)
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Jonathan Swan | Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Advisers working for Mr. Trump’s opponents are facing what some consider an infuriating task: trying to persuade Republican primary voters, who are inured to Mr. Trump’s years of controversies and deeply distrustful of the government, that being criminally charged for holding onto classified documents is a bad thing. In previous eras, the indictment of a presidential candidate would have been, at a minimum, a political gift for the other candidates, if not an event that spelled the end of the indicted rival’s run. Competitors would have thrilled at the prospect of the front-runner’s spending months tied up in court, with damaging new details steadily dripping out. And they still could be Mr. Trump’s undoing: If he does not end up convicted before November 2024, his latest arrest is not likely win him converts in the general election. But Mr. Trump’s competitors — counterintuitively, according to the old conventional political wisdom — are actually dreading what threatens to be an endless indictment news cycle that could swallow up the summer.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, rival’s, —, grumbled, Trump Organizations: Trump, Republican, Mr

Donald J. Trump will make his first appearance in federal criminal court on Tuesday. For Mr. Trump and his team, there has been a sense of familiarity, even normalcy, in the chaos of facing a 37-count indictment in the classified documents case. After two House impeachments, multiple criminal investigations, the jailing of his business’s former accountant, his former fixer and his former campaign manager, and now two criminal indictments, Mr. Trump knows the drill, and so do his supporters. Until now, the main pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., has focused heavily on Mr. Trump’s chief Republican rival, Gov. But that messaging has shifted after the indictment, with a new commercial already being shown that pits Mr. Trump directly against Mr. Biden.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Biden, Trump’s, Ron DeSantis Organizations: ”, Republican, Trump, MAGA Inc, Gov, Mr Locations: Florida

The timing of the photograph was noteworthy: One day earlier, the aide, Walt Nauta, had been notified by the government that he was a target of a federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents, suggesting that charges against Mr. Nauta were likely. On Friday, prosecutors unsealed those charges. Mr. Nauta, a 40-year-old Navy veteran, was charged with conspiracy, making false statements and withholding documents as part of Mr. Trump’s effort to thwart the government’s attempts to reclaim the classified documents Mr. Trump had taken with him when he left the White House. Mr. Nauta’s story is, among other things, a cautionary tale about what loyalty to Mr. Trump can bring. After serving his country in the military and serving as a valet in the White House, Mr. Nauta stayed with Mr. Trump as a personal aide — and now faces the prospect of years in federal prison for having apparently carried out his wishes.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, LIV, Walt Nauta, Nauta, — Organizations: Navy, White, Mr Locations: Saudi, Sterling , Va

The papers Mr. Trump kept included plans for retaliating to a foreign attack and details of American nuclear programs, according to the indictment. Look, look at this.”Several people close to Mr. Trump and his team privately acknowledged the facts in the case were damaging. Mr. Trump’s team is preparing to march forward, claiming he is being victimized. The indictment was filled with information from people who work with him, and Mr. Trump had already been skeptical of some aides who might have revealed certain details to the special counsel, the person said. He was especially focused on a photo of documents spilled out over the storage room floor at Mar-a-Lago, according to another person who spoke with him.

Persons: Trump, ”, Jack Smith Organizations: Republican Locations: Mar

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