memeorandum: Democrats are drastically overperforming in 2023's special elections. Is it a clue for Biden vs. Trump? (Tal Axelrod/ABC News)

4:05 PM ET, August 5, 2023

Top Items:

Awkwardness in Trump's circle: Top aides could be trial witnesses — Some of Trump's closest advisers are referenced in charges against him, potentially putting them in a bind as cases advance — At least seven currently serving advisers to former president Donald Trump took actions …

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, CNN, HuffPost, TheBlaze and Associated Press

Toluse Olorunnipa / Washington Post:

Country lacks a unifying voice in aftermath of Trump charges — No trusted figure has emerged to reassure the country in a shattering moment — In the hours after former president Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday, President Biden dined at a seafood restaurant, stopped by a movie theater …

Politico:

Feds alert judge to Trump's 'If you go after me, I'm coming after you!' post — Prosecutors say the former president's message on Truth Social raises specter he might use evidence to target witnesses. — Prosecutors on Friday night called a judge's attention to a social media post from Donald Trump …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Bloomberg, Mother Jones, New York Times, Breitbart, Outside the Beltway, Washington Times, TheBlaze, Mediaite, The Hill, HuffPost, CNN, PoliticusUSA and The Messenger

Nick Robertson / The Hill:

Deshowitz slams Barr for ‘dead wrong’ comments on Trump indictment — Harvard Law professor and attorney Alan Dershowitz pushed back on claims by former Attorney General Bill Barr that free speech isn't on trial in former President Trump's election fraud case, calling the suggestion “dead wrong.”

Discussion: Breitbart, RedState, Raw Story, HuffPost and Daily Caller News Foundation

New York Times:

Trump's Legal Team Is Enmeshed in a Tangle of Possible Conflicts — Former President Donald J. Trump's growing cast of lawyers is marked by a web of overlapping interests encompassing witnesses, co-defendants and potential targets. — M. Evan Corcoran, a lawyer who accompanied former …

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Raw Story and Political Wire

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

How Jack Smith Structured the Trump Election Indictment to Reduce Risks — The special counsel layered varied charges atop the same facts, while sidestepping a free-speech question by not charging incitement. — Reporting from Washington — In accusing former President Donald J. Trump …

Discussion: BizPac Review, The Conversation, Fox News, Raw Story, Washington Examiner and CNN

Nick Robertson / The Hill:
DOJ prosecutors request gag order after Trump arraignment, citing social media threats

David Jackson / USA Today:
'I'm coming after you:' Donald Trump responds to latest arraignment with new threats

Discussion: RedState, al.com, Mediaite, Raw Story, The Hill, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Associated Press and Breitbart

Michael Wolff / New York Times:
Donald Trump's Way of Speaking Defies All Logic

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, One America News Network, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone and Reason

New York Times:

Clarence Thomas's $267,230 R.V. and the Friend Who Financed It — The vehicle is a key part of the justice's just-folks persona. It's also a luxury motor coach that was funded by someone else's money. — Justice Clarence Thomas met the recreational vehicle of his dreams in Phoenix, on a November Friday in 1999.

Discussion: Raw Story, The Messenger and Insider

New York Times:

A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul — The Times unraveled a financial network that stretches from Chicago to Shanghai and uses American nonprofits to push Chinese talking points worldwide. — Mara Hvistendahl is an investigative reporter focused on China.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

John Eastman Comes Clean: Hell Yes We Were Trying to Overthrow the Government — THE BACKCHANNEL — I want to return to this revelatory interview with coconspirator John Eastman, the last portion of which was published Thursday by Tom Klingenstein, the Chairman of the Trumpite Claremont Institute …

The Atlantic:

What the Best Places in America Have in Common — What the data show about the country's poorest places — When president lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional war on poverty” in 1964, the nation didn't have any method of counting the poor, or even a firm notion of how poverty should be defined.

Zack Beauchamp / Vox:

I regret to report the economic anxiety theory of Trumpism is back — In David Brooks's new column, he asks the American elite if they're the baddies. But he's actually telling them a comforting fiction. — The question of why Donald Trump manages to maintain such a grip on the Republican base …

Discussion: The National Pulse+

Donell Harvin / Politico:

Here's the Intelligence Assessment of Donald Trump that the Government Can't Write — Homeland Security officials can't use politicians' names in their assessments. But I can. — Federal intelligence and national security agencies — from the FBI to DHS — are in universal agreement …

Discussion: Raw Story

Tal Axelrod / ABC News:

Democrats are drastically overperforming in 2023's special elections. Is it a clue for Biden vs. Trump? — Some Republicans, however, caution against “reading too much into specials.” — Looking ahead to 2024, Democrats concede some cause for concern — including President Joe Biden's …

Discussion: Digby's Hullabaloo, Blue Virginia and Political Wire

Akbar Shahid Ahmed / HuffPost:

Another 2024 Republican Candidate Is Now Profiting Off Saudi-Backed LIV Golf — The upstart league is hosting a major tournament at The Greenbrier, owned by Senate hopeful Jim Justice — mirroring LIV's relationship with former President Donald Trump. — West Virginia governor …