memeorandum: Trump's First Amendment defense in Jan. 6 case is shaky, experts say (Sam Baker/Axios)

11:10 AM ET, August 3, 2023

Top Items:

Sam Baker / Axios:

Trump's First Amendment defense in Jan. 6 case is shaky, experts say — Former President Trump's legal team says he's been indicted for actions that are protected by the First Amendment — and that the First Amendment will ultimately exonerate him. … - “Donald Trump had every right …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Forbes, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Associated Press, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos, The Messenger, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and PoliticusUSA

Zachary Petrizzo / The Daily Beast:

‘So Sad!’ Trumpworld Delights That This Aide May Be in Legal Trouble — Trump's aides maintain that the former president is totally innocent and the latest indictment is a witch hunt. They're also happy to see one aide potentially in trouble. … When the latest indictment of Donald Trump came …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Messenger and New York Times

Washington Examiner:

Jack Smith's dangerous criminalization of dissent — “The attack on our nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” special counsel Jack Smith said on Tuesday as he unveiled his latest indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Jose Pagliery / The Daily Beast:

Indictment Mystery: Did Someone Spill About the Trump-McCarthy Jan. 6 Call? — It's one of the more intriguing mysteries about the new Trump indictment: Why are details about Trump's call with McCarthy on Jan. 6 unsourced? What could it mean? — The 45-page federal indictment …

Discussion: Raw Story, Roll Call, The Hill, Insider and Nebraska Examiner

Marc Elias / Democracy Docket:

Trump, Five Lawyers and Their Conspiracy Against Our Democracy — Former President Donald Trump has again been indicted by a federal grand jury. The four-count indictment lays out how Trump refused to accept that he lost the 2020 election. It describes how he contested the election in court and …

Ronald Brownstein / The Atlantic:

Trump's Threat to Democracy Is Now Systemic — Each time GOP leaders have had the opportunity to move away from Trump, the party has sped past the off-ramp. — The long-awaited federal indictment of Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election may be necessary to contain …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Digby's Hullabaloo, Mediaite, Raw Story, Orlando Sentinel, New York Times, RedState, Al Jazeera, National Review, Financial Times, The Hill, NPR and Mother Jones

New York Times:

Trump Election Charges Set Up Clash of Lies Versus Free Speech — The indictment of former President Donald J. Trump over his efforts to retain power accuses him of conspiracies built on knowing falsehoods. His supporters say he is protected by the First Amendment.

Isaac Stanley-Becker / Washington Post:

Jeffrey Clark plotted to reverse Trump's loss. Now he's a GOP luminary. — After trying to use the Justice Department to delegitimize the 2020 vote, Clark has become a rising legal star for Republicans — In a conference room near the Capitol, young conservatives gathered in April …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and The Intercept

Glenn Thrush / New York Times:
Trump Prepares to Make Familiar Trip to Courthouse, This Time in Washington

Discussion: The Messenger, Vox, Punchbowl News, USA Today, CNN, Bloomberg, NPR, CBS News, Politico, Fox News, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Washington Examiner, Washington Post, The Hill, Political Wire and NewsNation

New York Times:
Trump 2024: Running for President, and to Beat the Rap

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, PIX11, The Messenger, NH Journal, The Daily Caller, Power Line, Washington Post, UnHerd, Washington Examiner, USA Today, New York Magazine, Metro.co.uk, NPR, The Guardian, Politico, New York Post, ABC News and The Hill

Politico:
Trump's indictment for Jan. 6 turns Mike Pence into a litmus test

Jonathan Turley / The Daily Beast:
Trump Was Indicted for Being Wrong—Which Is Not a Crime

Discussion: The Federalist, Raw Story, Washington Monthly, Rolling Stone, The Western Journal, Morning Shots, Mediaite, Washington Examiner and Washington Post

Hunter Walker / Talking Points Memo:
Newly Revealed Text Messages Show GOP Officials At Ground Zero Of Election Conspiracy Outlined By Trump Indictment

Discussion: Raw Story

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
A dumbed-down defense of Trump on Jan. 6 indictment

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, TODAY.com, The Gateway Pundit, CBS News, Raw Story, Axios, Financial Times, New Republic, CNBC, The Hill, Semafor, The Daily Beast and The Daily Caller

Rolling Stone:
Trump Extremists Make New Calls to Hang Mike Pence: ‘Watch His Toes Dangle’

Discussion: Raw Story, Washington Examiner, The Hill, CBS News, Fox News, Just The News, The Western Journal and Breitbart

Josh Rogers / New Hampshire Public Radio:

NH Republicans size up DeSantis, as he offers harsh rhetoric in primary campaign — Every Republican running for president not named Donald Trump has to hope they benefit from the former president's latest criminal indictments. But no candidate may need the lift more than the one every poll shows …

Discussion: The Hill, Florida Politics, PoliticusUSA, Raw Story and Politico

Jared Gans / The Hill:
35 South Carolina lawmakers, leaders endorse DeSantis White House bid

Discussion: The Messenger and Florida Politics

Christopher Cadelago / Politico:
Ron DeSantis agrees to debate Gavin Newsom on Fox News

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Daily Caller, Breitbart and Florida Politics

NBC News:
Ron DeSantis agrees to debate Gavin Newsom

CNN:

CNN Poll: Percentage of Republicans who think Biden's 2020 win was illegitimate ticks back up near 70% — The share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who believe that President Joe Biden's 2020 election win was not legitimate has ticked back up, according to a new CNN poll fielded throughout July.

Discussion: The Hill, The Messenger, Mercury News and Political Wire

CNN:

CNN Poll: Half of Americans think the economy is getting worse, despite months of stronger economic news — Despite months of increasingly positive economic indicators, the American public remains negative about the state of the nation's economy, with 51% saying they think the economy is still …

Discussion: The Messenger, National Review and The Daily Caller

Domenico Montanaro / NPR:
Three-quarters of Republicans prioritize the economy over climate change

Discussion: The Messenger and PBS NewsHour

Raheem J. Kassam / The National Pulse+:

EXCLUSIVE: Capitol Police Chief Called Jan 6 Events ‘A Cover Up’ in Tucker Carlson Interview HIDDEN By Fox News. — Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that events surrounding the January 6th riots at the U.S. Capitol appear to have been a “cover up …

Discussion: The Messenger, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit and Breitbart

Ryan J. Reilly / NBC News:
Jan. 6 rioter who Tucker Carlson guest said was a fed is arrested by the FBI

Discussion: Mediaite, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Daily News, Raw Story, Associated Press and The Messenger

Ryan Bort / Rolling Stone:

Rudy Giuliani in Vile New Audio Transcripts: ‘Jewish Men Have Small Cocks’ — The transcripts were filed on Tuesday by Noelle Dunphy, who is suing the former Trump lawyer for sexual harassment — RUDY GIULIANI WAS sued for sexual harassment earlier this year by Noelle Dunphy, a former staffer at his firm.

Discussion: New York Post, Morning Shots, New Republic, HuffPost, Raw Story, The Daily Dot, Mother Jones, UPROXX, The Messenger, Mediaite and Insider

Isabella Ramirez / The Daily Beast:
‘Come Here, Big Tits’: Rudy Giuliani's Sex Abuse Accuser Has the Tapes

Discussion: VICE, Semafor, New York Daily News and Raw Story

Jane C. Timm / NBC News:

Arizona Republicans wanted to hand-count ballots. Then they saw the price tag — and the errors. — Election workers spent three days counting 850 ballots in Mohave County. They made errors in 46 races. — An Arizona county has decided not to hand-count its ballots in next year's elections …

Discussion: Salon

William Bredderman / The Daily Beast:

Cornel West Owes More Than Half a Million in Unpaid Taxes — The presidential candidate has made raising taxes on the rich a fixture of his campaign. He's shorted the IRS more than the median salary in six of the last 20 years. … Veteran Ivy League professor and bestselling author …

Reese Gorman / Washington Examiner:

Biden investigation: Full Devon Archer testimony released — The House Oversight Committee released the full transcript from Monday's Devon Archer interview, in which he testified that Hunter Biden had his father on speakerphone 20 times around business associates and that Burisma officials …

Discussion: Washington Times, New York Post, The Federalist and RedState

Reuters:

US weekly jobless claims rise moderately; layoffs drop to 11-month low — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, while layoffs dropped to an 11-month low in July as labor market conditions remain tight. — Initial claims for state …

Discussion: The Hill

Noble Predictive:

The Sinema Situation: Gallego's Edge and the Enigma of Sinema's Independent Run — Sinema's Third-Party Run Does Not Guarantee a GOP Victory in Arizona Senate Race — As the 2024 Arizona Senate race looms, recent public opinion polling data from Noble Predictive Insights' (NPI) …

Discussion: The Hill and Political Wire

David Brooks / New York Times:

On Anti-Trumpers and the Modern Meritocracy — Donald Trump seems to get indicted on a weekly basis. Yet he is utterly dominating his Republican rivals in the polls, and he is tied with Joe Biden in the general election surveys. Trump's poll numbers are stronger against Biden now than at any time in 2020.

Discussion: RedState and Althouse