Donald Trump September 2022-31 August 2023

A radical plan for Trump’s second term

Four Opinion Writers on Trump’s Indictment and ‘the Borderlands of Illegality
(NYT) …the broad contours are what we thought. There were 34 felony counts that all tied to falsifying business records. So basically bookkeeping fraud. Now, the problem is, in order for those to be charged as felonies rather than misdemeanors, they have to be in service of another crime.
And this is where things get complicated. It looks like one of the possibilities is that they’re gonna try and tie it to election violations of federal and state election law, and also possibly, maybe, falsifying state tax statements.
So it’s not a straightforward case. It’s not a slam dunk. It is extremely complicated. (5 April 2023)
Keeping Track of the Trump Investigations
(NYT) State and federal prosecutors are pursuing multiple investigations into Donald J. Trump’s business and political activities, with the cases expected to play out over the coming months. Here is a guide to the major criminal cases involving the former president. (1 August Update)

31 August
Donald Trump’s criminal cases, in one place
By Amy O’Kruk and Curt Merrill, CNN
Donald Trump is the first current or former president in US history to face criminal charges, and with his third presidential bid under way for 2024, the stakes are high for both him and the country.
Catch up on what you need to know about Trump’s four indictments, including key evidence, charges and what’s next in the legal process.
15 August
Notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump in 2023
The former president now faces 91 criminal charges across four indictments.
This month, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in the special counsel’s investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election and arraigned in a Washington, DC, courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty. On Monday, Trump and 18 allies were charged in efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
He also pleaded not guilty in June to dozens of federal counts related to the special counsel investigation into mishandling of classified documents.

One image, one face, one American moment: The Donald Trump mug shot
A camera clicks. In a fraction of a second, the shutter opens and then closes, freezing forever the image in front of it.
When the camera shutter blinked inside an Atlanta jail on Thursday, it both created and documented a tiny inflection point in American life. Captured for posterity, there was a former president of the United States, for the first time in history, under arrest and captured in the sort of frame more commonly associated with drug dealers or drunken drivers. The trappings of power gone, for that split second.
Left behind: an enduring image that will appear in history books long after Donald Trump is gone.

26-27 August
Jennifer Rubin: Another harebrained idea from Kenneth Chesebro
Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro apparently thought himself to be very clever. He is said to have helped launched the phony-elector scheme that is now the subject of both federal and Georgia state indictments, spelled out the plan in a Dec. 6, 2020, memo and seems to have hung out with Alex Jones on Jan. 6, 2021.
Chesebro this past week apparently figured he would catch Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis unprepared. He moved, as he is entitled, for a speedy trial. Willis shot back: She’ll try all 19 defendants beginning Oct. 23. Oops! The judge agreed with Willis and set Chesebro’s trial for Oct 23.
The four-time-indicted Trump moved to sever his case (get tried separately) from Chesebro. His objective is to delay any trial or conviction beyond the 2024 election. (Chesebro’s ability to go to trial so quickly might harm Trump’s protests that he will need years to prepare.) One can expect many, if not all, other defendants to also sever their cases from Chesebro’s. That would leave Chesebro all by himself facing state charges under the racketeering statute as well as for charges of conspiracy to commit impersonation of a public official, conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
Trump and His Co-Defendants in Georgia Are Already at Odds
Some defendants have already sought to move the case to federal court, while others are seeking speedy or separate trials.
(NYT) They are already at odds over when they will have their day in court, but also, crucially, where. Should enough of them succeed, the case could split into several smaller cases, perhaps overseen by different judges in different courtrooms, running on different timelines.
Five defendants have already sought to move the state case to federal court, citing their ties to the federal government. The first one to file — Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff during the 2020 election — will make the argument for removal on Monday, in a hearing before a federal judge in Atlanta.

21-23 August
Giuliani surrenders in Trump election subversion case, $150,000 bond set
(Reuters) Seven other of Trump’s co-defendants in the criminal case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accusing him and his associates of trying to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia also have surrendered at the jail in Atlanta, according to county records.
Former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis surrender in election subversion case
The scene of Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a notable former federal prosecutor, walking into the Fulton County jail is another amazing moment in the ongoing investigation into Trump and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Trump plans to turn himself in on Thursday over Georgia indictment
(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump plans to surrender on Thursday in Atlanta in connection with his indictment in Georgia on charges he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, he said on social media on Monday.

‘We’re Loving It’ — Atlanta Reacts to Donald Trump’s Indictment
Sixty years after the civil rights movement, the city marvels at its role in hosting the trial of a former president accused of subverting democracy.
Trump’s bond set at $200,000 in Georgia election-related case
The order also explicitly limits Trump’s ability to attack witnesses or his co-defendants, including on social media.
Similar orders were issued earlier Monday to three of Trump’s co-defendants, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall. But Trump’s included a more explicit order on witness intimidation, explicitly referencing the former president’s ability to use his social media platform to level attacks related to the case.

14-18 August
Trump tests the tolerance of judges and even his own lawyers
(NPR) Former President Donald Trump is testing the tolerance of the judiciary, and perhaps even his own legal team, with belligerent messages about prosecutors, witnesses and judges involved in the criminal cases against him.
Trump already has disparaged former Vice President Mike Pence, who could be a key witness against him in a federal election interference trial, and urged former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan not to testify before a grand jury in Fulton County, Ga.
Jennifer Rubin: Fani Willis puts violence front and center
Special counsel Jack Smith, for practical and legal reasons, chose not to indict defeated former president Donald Trump on charges of instigating the violence on Jan. 6, 2021. Smith wants a solid, slimmed-down case without First Amendment complications, which could arise in focusing on Trump’s “Stop the Steal” speech on the Ellipse.
Fortunately, Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis puts the question of Trump’s responsibility for mob violence front and center.
The indictment works to refocus our attention on the mob Trump and Giuliani allegedly tried to incite, to the threats the MAGA horde lobbed toward election officials and others, and to the gripping testimony from Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, at the House Jan. 6 hearings.
Who is Fani Willis?
… Willis, a Democrat, is a longtime prosecutor who was elected in 2020 as district attorney. She is the first Black woman to hold the job
A graduate of Howard University and Emory University School of Law, Willis spent a few years in private practice before joining the Fulton County district attorney’s office in 2001.
Trump prosecutor Fani Willis faces racist abuse after indicting ex-US president
Georgia prosecutor subjected to flurry of threats after Trump makes thinly veiled reference to N-word after latest charges
Trump Georgia indictment: RICO charges could be a double-edged sword
(Reuters) – A Georgia state law against racketeering could be a powerful tool in prosecuting Donald Trump, but applying charges traditionally used to take down organized crime risks miring the case in legal and logistical complications.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday charged the Republican former president and 18 associates in a wide-ranging scheme to reverse his 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump is indicted in Georgia on charges of racketeering. What it means, what happens next
What’s the maximum sentence if he’s convicted? Will he pose for a mug shot?
(WaPo) Former president Donald Trump and a long list of his allies have been indicted in Georgia for crimes related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state, just weeks after he was indicted by the federal government for similar crimes. Here’s what that means and what happens next for him.
Here’s who else was charged in Georgia (other than Trump)
Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman and Sidney Powell are among the 18 others who were indicted
Trump charged in Georgia 2020 election probe, his fourth indictment
Former president Donald Trump and 18 others were criminally charged in Georgia in connection with efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to an indictment made public late Monday night.
Trump was charged with 13 counts, including violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery in the first degree and conspiring to file false documents.
Atlanta begins to brace for the potential of a new Trump indictment as soon as next week
(AP) — Donald Trump and officials in Atlanta are bracing for a new indictment that could come as soon as next week in a Georgia prosecutor’s investigation into the former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Trump’s Georgia indictment is looming
(Politico Nightly) For much of the year, the political world and legal observers have been waiting for Fani Willis, the District Attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, to criminally charge Donald Trump in connection with a long-running probe into the effort by Trump and his allies to keep him in power after his loss in the 2020 election.

16 August
Why the Trump indictments have not moved the needle with Republicans
(NPR) The raft of indictments against former President Trump have not made a difference politically with the Republican base. In fact, one could argue that he strengthen his hand in the GOP primary.
But the same can’t be said for everyone else, including independent voters, who lean toward either party, and are often a deciding factor in presidential elections.
The NPR, PBS NewsHour and Marist poll found that independents had jumped 11 points to 52% believing that Trump had done something illegal from March, before the indictments, until now.
And majority of respondents — 53% — in an AP/NORC poll this week said they would “definitely” not vote for Trump in 2024. And yet Trump continues to barrel toward the Republican nomination.

1-6 August
Politico Playbook: Where is Mark Meadows?
Meadows’ sudden low profile is a serious change in dynamic for those of us who’ve covered him since he came to Washington as a baby North Carolina lawmaker. The former Freedom Caucus founder-turned-Trump-ally was always — and we mean ALWAYS — at the center of the action, often by his own design.
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
Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey
(WaPo) Potential witnesses in the cases will also face a special challenge to keep Trump’s confidence in their loyalty while at the same time avoiding drawing prosecutors’ suspicions. Even though their grand jury testimony and document production was compelled by subpoenas, as would be trial testimony, any appearance of cooperating with the case against Trump could cause the former president to turn on loyal aides, spoiling their day jobs.
Trump Pleads Not Guilty to Plotting to Overturn the 2020 Election
(NYT) The former president was arraigned in a Washington federal courtroom two days after he was formally charged with conspiring to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. The next hearing in the case is set for Aug. 28.
August 1, 2023
Heather Cox Richardson Letters from an American
The grand jury indicted Trump for “conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted and certified by the government; “conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified”; and “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”
“Each of these conspiracies,” the indictment reads, “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.” “This federal government function…is foundational to the United States’ democratic process, and until 2021, had operated in a peaceful and orderly manner for more than 130 years.”
This Is the Case
Special Counsel Jack Smith has sounded the call, but voters must answer it if they wish to preserve American democracy.
By Tom Nichols
(The Atlantic) Donald Trump stands indicted for attempting to thwart the peaceful transfer of power and subvert the rights of American citizens. This is the moment that will decide our future as a democracy.
Over the past year, state and federal prosecutors have alleged that Donald Trump went on something like a crime spree as a presidential candidate, as the sitting president, and then as a private citizen after his defeat. The charges, from Manhattan to Mar-a-Lago, include business fraud, the illegal retention of classified material, and the destruction of evidence.
All of these accusations, however, pale in importance next to the indictment handed down today.
Trump is accused of multiple conspiracies against the United States, all designed to keep him in power against the will of the voters and in violation of the Constitution. The former president—once our chief executive, the commander in chief, the leader we entrusted with the keys to nuclear hell—is accused of knowing that he lost a free and fair election, and, rather than transferring power to a duly elected successor, engaging in criminal plots against our democracy, all while firing up a mob that would later storm the Capitol. (The Trump campaign issued a rambling statement that called the charges “fake.”)
Long before now, however, Americans should have reached the conclusion, with or without a trial, that Trump is a menace to the United States and poisonous to our society. (Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio once referred to Trump as “cultural heroin,” but that was before he decided to seek power in the Republican Party.) The GOP base, controlled by Trump’s cult of personality, will likely never admit its mistake: As my colleague Peter Wehner writes, Trump’s record of “lawlessness and depravity” means nothing to Republicans. But other Republicans now, more than ever, face a moment of truth. They must decide if they are partisans or patriots. They can no longer claim to be both.
… The indictment handed down today challenges every American to put a shoulder to the wheel and defend our republic in every peaceful, legal, and civilized way they can. According to the charges, not only did Trump try to overturn the election; he presided over a clutch of co-conspirators who intended to put down any further challenges to Trump’s continued rule by force. According to the indictment:
The Deputy White House Counsel reiterated to Co-Conspirator 4 that there had not been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that if the Defendant [Trump] remained in office nonetheless, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.” Co-Conspirator 4 responded, “Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”
The Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy the U.S. armed forces against American citizens. The alleged plot inside the White House was not merely to invalidate an election; it included the possibility of unleashing the American military against its own people.
Trump has been indicted before. Historians say this time is different.
Scholars say the new charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election pose a unique test for the rule of law and go to the core of the threat to democracy
(WaPo) Tuesday’s indictment accuses a former president of the United States with attempting to subvert the democracy upon which the nation rests. And with Trump again running for the White House, the charges he faces pose an extraordinary test to the rule of law, experts say.
The Indictment of Donald Trump—And His Enablers
Will the Republican Party now abandon its Faustian bargain?
By Peter Wehner
Trump’s latest indictment finally holds him to account for 2020 election plot
Joan E Greve
(The Guardian) Past efforts to hold Trump accountable for the violence and his broader election subversion campaign have fallen short

4 August
Jared and Ivanka are slinking back to Gomorrah
Kathleen Parker
(WaPo) If only Ivanka Trump were as witty as Barbie. Instead, she and her Ken, Jared Kushner, somnambulate like renegades from the wax museum from one investment fund to the next. Preternaturally perfect and utterly lacking in affect, Javanka, as they’re called, make real dolls seem animated.
Both spawns of excessive wealth and privilege, Ivanka and Jared are reason enough to cast Donald Trump into the outer darkness. Their presence in the White House from 2017 to 2021 was a frequent embarrassment, as they convinced themselves that their value amounted to more than the family name. For a while after the 2020 election, they distanced themselves from Trump, which meant we were all spared their spectral visages.
But those days are nigh gone, as the pair appears to be back in search of the family ring. (Run, Gollum, run.)

20 June
Trump Real Estate Deal in Oman Underscores Ethics Concerns
Details of the former president’s agreement to work with a Saudi firm to develop a hotel and golf complex overlooking the Gulf of Oman highlight the ways his business and political roles intersect
(NYT) On a remote site at the edge of the Gulf of Oman, thousands of migrant laborers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are at work in 103-degree heat, toiling in shifts from dawn until nightfall to build a new city, a multibillion-dollar project backed by Oman’s oil-rich government that has an unusual partner: former President Donald J. Trump.

16 June
After indictment, majority want Trump to drop out, but he’s getting stronger with GOP
Given his indictment by a federal grand jury in Florida, a majority of Americans say they think former President Donald Trump should drop out of the race for president, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey.
But the opposite is true of Republicans, most of whom not only like him but want him to be president again.
Independent problems: A majority of independents (58%) think Trump should drop out. They have also jumped 9 points — to 50% — in thinking Trump has done something illegal since March, before the New York indictment and the $5 million judgment against Trump for sexual abuse.
A stronger hand with Republicans: At the same time, more than 8 in 10 (83%) of Republicans think he should stay in the race, two-thirds (64%) say Trump is their choice in the GOP primary going forward, and Trump’s favorability rating with Republicans and Republican-leaning independents has jumped 8 points since February. Republicans have also gone up 5 points since March in thinking Trump has done nothing wrong, the inverse of the rest of the country.

15 June
At the Heart of the Documents Case: Trump’s Attachment to His Boxes
The former president has long stowed papers and odds and ends in cartons that he liked to keep close. His aides have called it the “beautiful mind” material.
(NYT) During former President Donald J. Trump’s years in the White House, his aides began to refer to the boxes full of papers and odds and ends he carted around with him almost everywhere as the “beautiful mind” material. …
The phrase had a specific connotation. The aides employed it to capture a type of organized chaos that Mr. Trump insisted on, the collection and transportation of a blizzard of newspapers and official documents that he kept close and that seemed to give him a sense of security.
Mr. Trump’s attachment to the contents of the boxes has now left him in serious legal peril, but it appears to be in keeping with a long pattern of behavior. Mr. Trump has always hung onto news clippings, documents and other mementos, according to more than a half-dozen people who have worked for him over the years, including before his presidency.
Donald Trump Just Got Dumped by His Lawyer Again
(Daily Beast) Donald Trump is bleeding lawyers as quickly as he needs them, with Jim Trusty—once representing the former president in both his criminal documents case and a defamation lawsuit—motioning to end his relationship with Trump altogether on Friday.
Trusty wrote in a motion that he was dropping Trump as a client in his defamation suit against CNN because of “irreconcilable differences” that made it impossible for him to “effectively and properly represent” him.
“The defamation lawsuit against CNN is entering a new phase, as more irrefutable facts are revealed,” a spokesperson for Trump told Politico. “We thank Mr. Trusty for his work on this case and wish him all the best.”

12-14 June
Politico Playbook: Scenes from a presidential arraignment
By RYAN LIZZA, RACHAEL BADE and EUGENE DANIELS
(Politico) He was standing inside Versailles, the famous Cuban restaurant in Little Havana, surrounded by a crowd serenading him with “Happy Birthday” hours before he turned 77.
He had just left the downtown courthouse where he’d had his first contact with the indignities of the federal criminal justice system. Legal analysts had been on air estimating how many years in prison Trump might serve as they waited for him to emerge from the untelevised hearing. (Ten to twelve, said one.) A Fox News legal pundit had said that if Trump was convicted on just one of the dozens of counts against him, he was looking at a “terminal sentence” — i.e. he could die in jail.
Trump had been fingerprinted, though not photographed, and then sat in silence for 48 minutes as lawyers around him debated the parameters of his release. No gag order. No bail. No travel restrictions. Trump could keep his passport. But the judge did say he wasn’t allowed to commit any crimes after his release.
Trump was also given permission, after some debate, to have continued contact with witnesses, most of whom work with or for him when he’s in the bubble of Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster. They include his co-defendant and body man, WALT NAUTA, who was still staffing Trump yesterday as they showed up together at the courthouse; MARGO MARTIN, his close aide and “fake MELANIA” who was also with him at court; the Secret Service agents who protect him; and EVAN CORCORAN, one of his lawyers. (While Trump can talk to them, he can’t talk about the case, except through counsel.)
“Trump appeared stoic, arms folded with his gaze fixed straight ahead for most of the hearing,” said Josh Gerstein, who was at the hearing. (“The folded arms is Trump’s go-to pose when he is feeling defiant,” noted Maggie Haberman.)

Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Documents Case
Donald J. Trump, the first former president to be charged with federal crimes, was arraigned on 37 counts related to his handling of classified documents.
Tom Nichols: The United States v. Donald Trump
It’s important to understand why exactly the former president was arrested today.
(The Atlantic) Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned today—without incident—and he has now pleaded not guilty to 37 charges tied to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. But before we see more possible indictments (from Georgia or the January 6 investigation), Americans should not lose sight of the astonishing charges read to Trump today in Florida.
Who is Aileen Cannon?
(GZERO media) On Tuesday, former US President Donald Trump will appear before a federal court in Miami to face 37 felony counts related to alleged mishandling of classified documents. But Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed Florida district judge, could present roadblocks for prosecutors.
Cannon — who belongs to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group — is the newest member of the federal bench in South Florida. Trump’s case was randomly assigned to one of the four judges in the district, and it gives her the power to control the timing of hearings, oversee jury selection, and determine what evidence can be presented. Her role has raised questions in the Justice Department about her ability to be impartial and spurred calls for Cannon to recuse herself over rulings that delayed the DOJ’s probe earlier this year.
For instance, Cannon prevented federal investigators from using over 100 classified documents found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as a part of their criminal inquiry, arguing that it was a national security risk over a potential leak. She later agreed to the former president’s request to appoint a special master to assess if the sensitive documents in question could be covered by executive privilege. (Both rulings were later overturned by a Florida appeals court.)
But whatever the controversy, there is no legal requirement for Cannon to step away from the case. If she did, the trial would be reassigned to one of the other three federal judges in her division, none of whom were appointed by (!) the defendant.
How the judge handles the timeline of the proceedings might determine how they affect the 2024 election. If it’s a quick trial, Trump could be found guilty just before Americans vote — validating his claim that this legal prosecution is really political persecution. And while any potential decision is still months away, the indictments in New York and Miami continue to bolster Trump’s fundraising and poll numbers among Republicans.

Donald Trump Faces Several Investigations. Here’s Where They Stand.
Mr. Trump has been indicted in Florida and Manhattan, and federal and state prosecutors elsewhere have opened a number of investigations.
(NYT) He has been indicted in two cases, including on federal criminal charges as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified documents and whether he obstructed the government’s efforts to recover them after he left office.
In the documents case, Mr. Trump faces 37 criminal counts: 31 related to withholding national defense information, five related to concealing the possession of classified documents and one related to making false statements.
In April, Mr. Trump was indicted in Manhattan on 34 felony counts related to his role in what prosecutors described as a hush-money scheme to cover up a potential sex scandal in order to clear his path to the presidency in 2016.
The special counsel overseeing the documents case, Jack Smith, is also examining Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse his defeat at the polls in 2020 and his role in the events that led to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
And a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Mr. Trump’s attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

10 June
Trump Supporters’ Violent Rhetoric in His Defense Disturbs Experts
The former president’s allies have portrayed the indictment as an act of war and called for retribution, which political violence experts say increases the risk of action.
(NYT) “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” said Kari Lake, the Republican former candidate for governor of Arizona. “And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the N.R.A.”
The federal indictment of former President Donald J. Trump has unleashed a wave of calls by his supporters for violence and an uprising to defend him, disturbing observers and raising concerns of a dangerous atmosphere ahead of his court appearance in Miami on Tuesday.
In social media posts and public remarks, close allies of Mr. Trump — including a member of Congress — have portrayed the indictment as an act of war, called for retribution and highlighted the fact that much of his base carries weapons. The allies have painted Mr. Trump as a victim of a weaponized Justice Department controlled by President Biden, his potential opponent in the 2024 election.

9 June
United States of America v. Donald J. Trump and Waltine Nauta
By Scott R. Anderson, Anna Bower, Hyemin Han, Tyler McBrien, Roger Parloff, Stephanie Pell, Katherine Pompilio, Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Benjamin Wittes
(Lawfare) The indictment of former President Donald J. Trump that was unsealed today by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida represents a beginning in several distinct senses.
It is, at one level, the beginning of a single criminal proceeding: an indictment which alleges discrete crimes against two individuals, one of whom happens to have served as President of the United States.
It is also, however, the beginning of the broader effort to use federal criminal law as a vehicle of accountability for Trump’s behavior—both in office and following his departure from office. It is, after all, the first federal criminal case against Trump—against whom prior criminal investigations have come up short and other federal and state criminal investigations remain ongoing.
And it is, at the same time, the beginning of new era in American political life, one in which federal prosecutions of former presidents are—fortunately or unfortunately, as Trump might say—no longer either unthinkable or an eventuality to be avoided, either by prudential exercises of prosecutorial discretion (as in the case of Bill Clinton) or by preemptive exercises of the presidential power of clemency (as in the case of Richard Nixon).

Trump Indicted

Special Counsel Unveils Case Against Trump
The special counsel, Jack Smith, released an indictment describing how the former president hoarded documents concerning nuclear programs and attack plans after leaving the White House.
Federal prosecutors laid out their case against former President Donald J. Trump in a 38-count indictment on Friday, saying he mishandled classified documents — including some involving sensitive nuclear programs and others that detailed the country’s potential vulnerabilities to military attack — after leaving office, then obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who is bringing the case, cast the investigation as a defense of national security in brief remarks on Friday, urging the public to understand the “scope and gravity” of the charges.
The 38 Federal Charges in the Donald Trump Documents Indictment
31 counts
Related to withholding national defense information
One count against Mr. Trump for each document he was alleged to have kept in his possession.
5 counts
Related to concealing possession of classified documents
Among them are counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and withholding documents and records, levied against both Mr. Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta.
2 counts
False statements
Related to statements to the F.B.I. by Mr. Trump and an aide, Walt Nauta.
The Trump Classified Documents Indictment, Annotated

Trump loses 2 lawyers just hours after being indicted
(Politico) Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who helmed Trump’s Washington, D.C.-based legal team for months and were seen frequently at the federal courthouse, indicated they would no longer represent Trump in matters being investigated and prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, who is probing both the documents matter and efforts by Trump to subvert the 2020 election.
Trump picks lawyer from NY criminal case for classified documents charges
Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social platform that Todd Blanche will lead his defense in the federal case, along with “a firm to be named later,” replacing his previous lawyers, Jim Trusty and John Rowley.

Indictment politics: A tightrope that other candidates for office have walked.
Former President Donald J. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, on Thursday became the first former U.S. president ever to face federal charges, opening an unprecedented and extraordinary new chapter in American politics.
But at home and abroad, there are many examples of prominent politicians who ran for office while under indictment or serious investigation.

8 May
Hitler-promoting antisemites will speak at Trump’s Miami hotel alongside Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and other Trump personalities
The Trump National Doral resort will host two antisemites who have promoted pro-Adolf Hitler propaganda and spread virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories. They will be speaking at an event in Miami alongside numerous Team Trump personalities, including Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Devin Nunes.
Trump Doral speaker Scott McKay, who has a streaming show on Rumble, has claimed that Jewish people orchestrated 9/11 and were responsible for the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and William McKinley. He has also said that Jewish people routinely torture children and eat their hearts.
He has praised Hitler for supposedly trying to take down a Jewish banking system and said, “Hitler was actually fighting the same people that we’re trying to take down today.”
Trump Doral speaker Charlie Ward, who also streams a show on Rumble, has shared posts praising Hitler for supposedly “warning us” about Judaism
The two are featured speakers in the “ReAwaken America” tour, which is set to stop at Trump’s Miami hotel on May 12 and 13. Scheduled to speak alongside McKay and Ward are numerous members of Trump’s orbit, including: Eric Trump, Lara Trump, former Trump economic adviser Peter Navarro, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former senior Department of Defense official Kash Patel, former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes, and Trump ally Roger Stone.
Rachel Maddow details Trump’s anti-Semitic panel of speakers welcomed to Miami event this week (YouTube)

25 April
Most Republicans would vote for Trump even if he’s convicted of a crime, poll finds
There’s a huge disconnect, though, with persuadable voters, making Trump’s chances of winning a general election precarious. Just 29% of independents, for example, say he should be president again.
It’s a key group, especially for Republicans, who need to win a larger share of them than Democrats.
(NPR) As President Biden launches his reelection campaign, a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump looks increasingly likely. This comes as a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll out Tuesday that finds two-thirds of Republicans would still vote for Trump even if he is found guilty of a crime.
Overall, 64% of respondents do not want Trump to be president again. And that grows to 70% if he’s convicted of a crime.
That so many rank-and-file Republicans would stick with Trump, seemingly no matter what, shows the real stronghold he has on the GOP base — and why he’s considered the front-runner to win the Republican nomination again.

24 April
Warning (if you needed it): Trump is nuts, and he’ll do anything — anything — to win
His name should not be allowed on the 2024 ballot
Robert Reich
The most obvious question in American politics today should be: Why is the guy who committed treason just over two years ago being allowed to run for president?
Answer: He shouldn’t be.
But he is running for reelection — despite the explicit language of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits anyone who has held public office and who has engaged in insurrection against the United States from ever again serving in public office.
The reason for the Constitution’s disqualification clause is that someone who has engaged in an insurrection against the United States cannot be trusted to use constitutional methods to regain office.
Can any of us who saw (or have learned through the painstaking work of Congress’s January 6 committee) what Trump tried to do to overturn the results of the 2020 election have any doubt he’ll once again try to do whatever necessary to regain power in 2024, even if illegal and unconstitutional?

2-5 April
Donald Trump lashes out, resorting to old tactics after arraignment hearing
(NPR) Faced with criminal charges for the first time for any former president, Donald Trump ripped from a well-worn page in his playbook Tuesday night — lashing out with a, at times, bigoted speech full of lies and conspiracies.
And that’s really no surprise.
Any time Trump has had his back against the wall, he’s resorted to a familiar script:
Blast opponents;
Build an air of victimization;
Try to discredit accusers, questioning their motives and drawing tenuous lines of guilt by association to create perceived conflicts of interest;
Be as provocative as possible to deflect and distract even if that means resorting to conspiracies or simply making things up.

Trump Flourishes in the Glare of His Indictment
The former president’s appetite for attention has been fundamental to his identity for decades. Where others may focus on the hazards of a criminal case, he raises money, promotes his campaign and works to reduce the case to a cliffhanging spectacle.
By Peter Baker
(NYT) Since long before he entered the White House, former President Donald J. Trump has been an any-publicity-is-good-publicity kind of guy. In fact, he once told advisers, “There’s no bad press unless you’re a pedophile.” Hush money for a porn star? Evidently not an exception to that rule.
And so, while no one wants to be indicted, Mr. Trump in one sense finds himself exactly where he loves to be — in the center ring of the circus, with all the spotlights on him. He has spent the days since a grand jury called him a potential criminal milking the moment for all it’s worth, savoring the attention as no one else in modern American politics would.
Rather than hide from the indignity of turning himself into authorities this week, Mr. Trump obligingly sent out a schedule as if for a campaign tour, letting everyone know he would fly on Monday from Florida to New York, then on Tuesday surrender for mug shots, fingerprinting and arraignment. In case that were not enough to draw the eye, he plans to then fly back to Florida to make a prime-time evening statement at Mar-a-Lago, surrounded by the cameras and microphones he covets.
Heather Cox Richardson: April 1, 2023
Although no one has seen the charges, MAGA Republican lawmakers reacted to the decision of a grand jury of ordinary citizens to charge a former president by preemptively accusing Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg of abusing the power of the government against MAGA Republicans.
… The lawmakers have reached their position after extensive coordination with Trump, with whom Stefanik, Jordan, and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speak regularly to keep him abreast of what they know about investigations and to plan policy. As Stephen Collinson pointed out on CNN, they are taking to a new level what they have been doing since Trump took office: weaponizing the government to put Trump back into power.

28 January
Trump opens 2024 run, says he’s ‘more committed’ than ever
(AP) — Former President Donald Trump kicked off his 2024 White House bid with a stop Saturday in New Hampshire before heading to South Carolina, events in early-voting states marking the first campaign appearances since announcing his latest run more than two months ago.

2022

28 December
Trump’s GOP foes are scared. But not as much as they should be.
By David Byler, Data analyst and political columnist
(WaPo) Trump’s foes are right to fear a repeat of 2016, but they’re thinking too small. There are so many other ways the primary could turn out badly for them.
Here are four completely speculative doomsday scenarios. None of them are likely. But they illustrate how the GOP’s problems go far beyond the potential for a divided field. …
The GOP’s real problem: Trump is out for himself, and his opponents don’t always work together well.
These scenarios are purely speculative — and arguably unlikely. But they highlight a core problem for the GOP. Trump leads his faction, in pursuit of his own goals, and the rest of the party often fails to work together against him.
If Trump’s opponents work together well — finding a competent candidate who can withstand the spotlight and beat Trump — they have a shot at taking back the party. If not, one of these nightmare scenarios, or one yet to be imagined, might come to pass.

23 December
Jan. 6 report calls for barring Trump from office
(CBS News) The Jan. 6 committee has released its final report after nearly 18 months, 11 public hearings and more than 1,000 witness interviews. The conclusion of the report was that former President Donald Trump should be barred from seeking federal office. Nikole Killion reports.
Donald Trump Is Now Forever Disgraced
By Brenda Wineapple
(NYT Opinion) On Monday, at the final public hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee, Representative Bennie Thompson said that any attempt to overturn the legitimate results of an American election, impede the peaceful transfer of power or foment an insurrection must never be allowed to happen again. To that end, Representative Jamie Raskin firmly announced that the committee was making four criminal referrals whose center, in each, was Donald Trump, the man who hatched a scheme that would, if successful, defraud Americans of their sacred right to have their vote count.
These unprecedented referrals suggest that Mr. Trump, who as president took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not only violated that oath but also committed a series of specifically indictable crimes. One of these referrals — for the crime of inciting an insurrection — is the most stunning, the most unpredictable and the most crucial, for its implications and its remedy, which includes barring the former president from holding political office.
Release of Trump’s Tax Returns Delayed Until After Christmas
(Bloomberg) — Six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns won’t be released until after the Christmas holiday, according to the House committee that is reviewing the documents.
The Ways & Means Committee this week voted to make the tax returns public once they were redacted to remove key identifying information, such as account numbers. The earliest the information would be released is Dec. 27.

20 December
An Early Trump Backer’s Message to the Republican Party: Dump Him
Tom Marino, one of the first members of Congress to support Trump, now says the G.O.P. “has to do whatever it has to do” to get away from him.

19 December
A Diminished Trump Meets a Damning Narrative
Former President Donald Trump’s current woes extend beyond the report by the House Jan. 6 committee, but the case the panel laid out against him further complicates his future.
(NYT) As the summer and the House Jan. 6 committee’s hearings began, former President Donald J. Trump was still a towering figure in Republican politics, able to pick winners in primary contests and force candidates to submit to a litmus test of denialism about his loss in the 2020 election.
Six months later, Mr. Trump is significantly diminished, a shrunken presence on the political landscape. His fade is partly a function of his own missteps and miscalculations in recent months. But it is also a product of the voluminous evidence assembled by the House committee and its ability to tell the story of his efforts to overturn the election in a compelling and accessible way.

11 December
The Trump campaign that isn’t
(The Hill) Four weeks after declaring his 2024 White House bid, former President Trump appears to be a candidate in name only.
Trump announced his third presidential campaign on Nov. 15 from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. … Since then, Trump has not held any formal campaign events. He has not traveled to early voting states, made any major staffing announcements or done much of anything to scare off would-be rivals.
Instead, he’s been making headlines for controversies including dining with a white nationalist and calling to suspend the rules of the Constitution to redo the 2020 election.
The failure to launch has fueled chatter that Trump is as politically weak as he’s ever been — giving others weighing 2024 campaigns more food for thought.

Heather Cox Richardson: November 26, 2022
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, November 22, former president Trump hosted the antisemitic artist Ye, also known as Kanye West, for dinner at a public table at Mar-a-Lago along with political operative Karen Giorno, who was the Trump campaign’s 2016 state director in Florida. Ye brought with him 24-year-old far-right white supremacist Nick Fuentes. Fuentes attended the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in its wake, he committed to moving the Republican Party farther to the right. Fuentes has openly admired Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and authoritarian Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is currently making war on Russia’s neighbor Ukraine. A Holocaust denier, Fuentes is associated with America’s neo-Nazis. …
Today, after the news of Trump’s dinner and the thundering silence that followed it, conservative anti-Trumper Bill Kristol tweeted: “Aren’t there five decent Republicans in the House who will announce they won’t vote for anyone for Speaker who doesn’t denounce their party’s current leader, Donald Trump, for consorting with the repulsive neo-Nazi Fuentes?”
So far, at least, the answer is no.

15-16 November
Murdoch tells Trump he will not back fresh White House bid – report
Media mogul turns to ‘DeFuture’ Ron DeSantis after ex-president’s poor showing in midterm elections
(The Guardian) Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
After the Republican party’s disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch’s rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president’s damaged reputation and perceived waning political power.
Last week, Murdoch’s influential media empire, including right-leaning Fox News, his flagship paper the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post, each rounded on Trump, calling him a loser and a flop responsible for dragging the Republicans into “one political fiasco after another”.
Bret Stephens: Donald Trump Is Finally Finished
Whether or not Donald Trump’s hat is in the ring, he’s finished as a serious contender for high office.
(NYT) Last week, the realization finally dawned on his devoted supporters that Trump can no longer deliver what they want most: power. Or, let me put it in language more congenial to them: Whatever purpose they believe he was meant to serve — bringing working-class voters back to the Republican fold; restoring nationalism to conservative ideology; rejecting the authority of supposed experts — has been served. Others can now do the same thing better, without the drama and divisiveness. He’s yesterday’s man.
This is an observation made from an objective reading of political reality: Trump cost Republicans dearly in the midterms.
Heather Cox Richardson: November 15, 2022
…former president Donald Trump announced a run for the 2024 presidency tonight in a speech from Mar-a-Lago before an audience that included a number of far-right social media influencers, his wife Melania, and family members Eric, Lara, and Barron Trump and Jared Kushner, but, so far as I can tell, no members of the Republican Party leadership. Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who was a key advisor in the Trump White House, was not there, and said tonight she does “not plan to be involved in politics.”
The speech was a subdued version of his rallies, claiming he is a victim and offering a replay of his inaugural address, which focused on what he called “American carnage.” Tonight he warned “our country is in a horrible state, we’re in grave trouble” and said he was leading “a great movement” to take the country back. Compared with the midterms crowds yelling for their candidate, the lack of enthusiasm in the room seemed marked, and after about an hour, while Trump was ranting about former German chancellor Angela Merkel, the Fox News Channel cut the live feed.
Oh, how Donald Trump has fallen
Cas Mudde
Everyone thought Trump had the Republican nomination in the bag – but now, that’s not the case
(The Guardian) It is paradoxical that the midterms, in which he didn’t run, did to Trump what the 2020 presidential elections, which he lost, could not do: make him into the one thing he despises the most: a loser. And although his ideas live on in the Republican party, he himself has been deemed toxic by that same party. This is particularly ironic, as Trump himself was never interested in the ideas, just in himself.

14 November
Trump filing in suit against Twitter compares former president to Galileo
“Most people once believed these to be crackpot ideas; many still do. But crackpot ideas sometimes turn out to be true,” Trump’s lawyers argued to a federal appeals court.
The 96-page filing submitted to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday contends that Twitter and the federal government are working to “suppress opinions and information about matters that Americans consider of vital interest.”
Those matters include the source of the virus that caused the pandemic, the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, the validity of the 2020 election results, and the legitimacy of documents from a hard drive allegedly belonging to President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, the court filing says.
The brief likens Trump to Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was persecuted by the Catholic Church for promulgating the belief that the Earth revolved around the sun.

9-12 November
Donald Trump’s Gift to Democrats
By Benjamin Hart
He’s one of the best get-out-the-vote operations that Democrats have ever had.
(New York) I spoke with Amy Walter, publisher and editor-in-chief of the esteemed Cook Political Report, about the ex-president’s drag on Republicans this year, how to think about polling’s excellent night, and the seemingly permanent era of close elections.
What’s the most surprising element of the election to you?
They did one of the hardest things in politics, which is turning a midterm election away from being a referendum on the party and the president, and onto the other side — making the election a choice instead of a referendum. It’s very hard to do, but Democrats did it thanks to three things. One, of course, is the Supreme Court abortion decision. Two, there was Donald Trump and his continued presence throughout the campaign. And three, there were candidates that, thanks in large part to Trump, made it easier for Democrats to make the case that it was a bigger risk to go for change than it was to stick with a status quo they were unhappy with.
The GOP Revolt Against Trump Is More Serious Than You Think
It’s not going to be like 2016 or 2021.
Trump’s rivals on the right suddenly see opening to sideline him
After disappointing midterms for the Republicans, some are deploying the ‘L’ word
It’s perhaps the most dreaded word in Trump’s vocabulary; a 5-letter calumny aimed at convincing fellow Republicans that now, finally, is the time to walk away: L-O-S-E-R.
It’s suddenly spreading on the right, the idea that Trump’s gravest sin — the reason to finally dump him — is not his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot or any of the other stuff he’s done, but a more practical reason: According to them, he makes Republicans lose elections.
The L-word attack has been prominent throughout the media properties owned by Fox News magnate Rupert Murdoch, including on the Wall Street Journal editorial page, which usually (though not always) staunchly defended Trump, including during past investigations. Sharp attacks on Trump from Rupert Murdoch’s news outlets
The Economist Today: “On top of his other flaws, the former president is a serial vote loser”
Trump paved Ron DeSantis’s way. Now apprentice has turned on master
Cas Mudde
Trump unleashed a revolution that opened the door to people like DeSantis. Now the Florida governor and his supporters want to continue that revolution without its original leader
(The Guardian) The day after the midterm elections, the knives were out for Donald Trump. On rightwing social media, people were emotionally debating the alleged toxicity of the former president and his hand-picked nominees, while Fox News highlighted the victory of the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, emphasizing that he is “reviled by Trump”, while heralding the “dominating win” of the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis. A Fox News contributor pronounced DeSantis “the new Republican party leader”. In fact, the idea that DeSantis is the big Republican winner of the midterms – and Trump the big loser – seems to be the broad consensus in today’s media.

Trump’s Midterm Death Ride
In the absence of yesterday’s anticipated Red Wave, the GOP’s missed opportunity has a father – and we know his name
John Schindler
(Top Secret Umbra) What happened? That requires detailed analysis which hasn’t come in yet, and this outcome, like all complex events, is far from monocausal. Surely the Dobbs decision on abortion by the Supreme Court this summer, which caught many elected Republicans flatfooted, was no help to the GOP in the midterms. More controversially, cynical Democratic support to MAGA candidates in the Republican primaries, bolstering extremists at the expense of moderates, seems to have paid dividends in the general election, given how many of those Trump wannabes went down to defeat yesterday.
That said, the clear culprit behind yesterday’s GOP debacle is Trump himself. Republicans have him to thank for running many candidates who frankly had no business being there. Hard-right neophytes with no credentials for office except kissing Trump’s ring as often as the former president demanded it, did not do well in the midterms. Neither did merely being famous. Trump’s model of being a reality TV star who says whatever he wants, no matter how fact-free or outrageous, is sui generis. Even Trump failed to replicate his success a second time. For all other Republicans, Trump’s template is a disaster.
Trump Lost the Midterms. DeSantis Won.
If the Florida governor ever intends to wrest control of the GOP from Trump, now is his moment.
By David Frum
DeSantis’ sweeping victory in Florida sets up a potential rivalry with Trump
The resounding win enhances DeSantis’ profile among Republicans and sets up a potential rivalry with Trump. Trump has already signaled he’s ready with attacks, calling DeSantis “DeSanctimonious” at a recent rally.
On Tuesday, Trump told reporters DeSantis shouldn’t consider entering the presidential race.

4 November
Trump team eyes Nov 14 for 2024 presidential bid announcement – Axios
(Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s inner circle is discussing announcing the launch of a 2024 presidential campaign on Nov 14, Axios reported on Friday, citing three sources familiar with the discussions.
Trump teased a strong possibility of a comeback during a rally in Iowa on Thursday.
“And now, in order to make our country successful and safe and glorious, I will very, very, very probably do it again,” the former president said during the rally on Thursday night, teasing a 2024 bid.

14 October
The Supreme Court, for Now, Is Playing a Central Role in Discrediting Donald Trump
But the former President will continue to search relentlessly for friendly judges nationwide between now and 2024.
By David Rohde
In a bland, single-sentence order on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected a request from former President Donald Trump that the country’s highest tribunal intervene in the legal fight over the documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago home.
The former President’s Supreme Court loss was no surprise. Legal analysts had said the Court would likely reject his request that his lawyers be given access to the hundred and three classified documents that Justice Department officials considered the most sensitive among the roughly eleven thousand retrieved.
So far, Trump’s legal gambits have fared poorly at the Court, even though a third of the Justices are his appointees. The Court rejected multiple Trump-backed challenges to the 2020 election, and it rejected his request that the January 6th committee be denied access to certain White House documents.

25 September
“Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America”
“This is the book Trump fears most.” – Axios
From the Pulitzer-Prize-winning New York Times reporter who has defined Donald J. Trump’s presidency like no other journalist: a magnificent and disturbing reckoning that chronicles his life and its meaning from his rise in New York City to his tortured post-presidency.
Few journalists working today have covered Donald Trump more extensively than Maggie Haberman. And few understand him and his motivations better. Now, demonstrating her majestic command of this story, Haberman reveals in full the depth of her understanding of the 45th president himself, and of what the Trump phenomenon means.
Trump dishes to his ‘psychiatrist’
(Politico Playbook) It has arrived: The first excerpt from Maggie Haberman’s hotly anticipated new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America”, was published this morning by The Atlantic. And it’s certain to generate buzz.
Culled from three sit-down interviews Haberman had with Donald Trump, the piece is chock full of eye-popping, quotable moments. (Trust us: You’re going to want to read the whole thing.)
Three Conversations With Donald Trump
The former president tried to sell his preferred version of himself, but said much more than he intended.
By Maggie Haberman
(The Atlantic) For much of the past decade, reporting on Trump has been my full-time job as a correspondent for The New York Times. To fully reckon with Donald Trump, his presidency, and his political future, people need to know where he comes from. The New York from which Trump emerged was its own morass of corruption and dysfunction, stretching from seats of executive power to portions of the media to the real-estate industry in which his family found its wealth. The world of New York developers was filled with shady figures and rife with backbiting and financial knife fighting; engaging with them was often the cost of doing business. But Trump nevertheless stood out to the journalists covering him as particularly brazen.

24 September
No former U.S. president has ever been charged with a crime. But former President Trump is facing deepening legal troubles.
The many investigations surrounding Donald Trump: Jan. 6, Mar-a-Lago, taxes and more
(NPR) New York Attorney General Leticia James announced Wednesday that former President Trump and his children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr., are facing a civil suit alleging at least a decade of fraud.
James alleges that Trump has inflated his net worth by billions of dollars; she’s asking that Trump and his children get restricted from doing business in New York and is seeking $250 million in damages.
It’s a civil case, but James also said she believes Trump violated state and federal criminal laws, and sent a referral to the Department of Justice. And the list goes on!

21 September
The 4 major criminal probes into Donald Trump, explained
Keeping track of all the criminal investigations of Trump isn’t easy, so we did it for you.
By Ian Millhiser
(Vox) If all the criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump end in conviction, then Trump will be a true renaissance man of crime.
The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence because, as federal prosecutors said in a fiery court filing in August, they believed not only did the former president possess “dozens” of boxes “likely to contain classified information” but also that “efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.” In that search, the FBI said it did remove over 100 classified documents, some of which reportedly contained information about nuclear weapons. That’s all part of just one investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act, the improper handling of federal records, and obstruction of a federal investigation.

Trump Endorsed QAnon Because He’s Stuck
He’s grasping at straws, not solidifying his political base.
By Juliette Kayyem
(The Atlantic) For a man who believes in nothing, has no coherent ideology or value system except his own continuing relevance, obsesses over conspiracies, and subsists on grievance and anger, Donald Trump took a long time to fully embrace QAnon. For some time, the former president has been flirting with the cult—which believes, among other preposterous things, that Democrats are part of a global child-sex-trafficking ring that Trump will ultimately defeat. But lately, that courtship has turned into a consummated marriage, as Trump incorporated QAnon tropes into an Ohio rally and started spreading them on his social-media service.

16 September
What to know about Judge Raymond Dearie, the Mar-a-Lago search special master
(NPR) Republican President Ronald Reagan appointed Dearie, then 41, to serve as a federal judge in New York in 1986, and he assumed senior status in 2011. Justice Department lawyers have said that Dearie has “substantial judicial experience” and is thus qualified for the special master job.
Dearie, 78, a former chief judge of the federal court in the Eastern District of New York, was one of the special master candidates suggested by Trump whom the Justice Department did not object to.
[Judge Aileen] Cannon directed Dearie to issue interim reports and recommendations “as appropriate” during the review and set a Nov. 30 deadline to complete his work. The Justice Department has said it will appeal the order for a special master.

8 September
Steve Bannon Is in Big Trouble in New York
(New York) Donald Trump pardoned Bannon in the closing hours of his presidency (despite a previous falling out between the two), voiding the indictment of his onetime campaign manager. But because some of the donors Bannon allegedly defrauded live in New York, the state had jurisdiction to pick up the legal baton — and presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes.
Bannon charged with fraud, money laundering, conspiracy in ‘We Build the Wall’
Trump ally and right-wing activist Stephen K. Bannon surrendered to prosecutors in New York on Sept. 8, facing a state-level criminal indictment.
(WaPo) Stephen K. Bannon has been charged with money laundering, fraud and conspiracy in connection with the “We Build the Wall” fundraising scheme, for which he received a federal pardon during Donald Trump’s final days in the White House.
Bannon, 68, was convicted this summer of contempt of Congress and is awaiting sentencing in that matter. He surrendered to prosecutors in Manhattan Thursday morning on the charges outlined in a newly unsealed state indictment and is expected to appear in court in the afternoon.

6 September
Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Some seized documents were so closely held, only the president, a Cabinet-level or near-Cabinet level official could authorize others to know
(WaPo) A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property.
Some of the seized documents detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them. Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs.
Documents about such highly classified operations require special clearances on a need-to-know basis, not just top-secret clearance. … But such documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago, with uncertain security, more than 18 months after Trump left the White House.
Trump Reportedly Had Information About a Foreign Government’s Nuclear Secrets at Mar-a-Lago, and Yeah, That’s Exactly as Bad as It Sounds
He held on to this information despite a subpoena demanding he turn over every classified document in his possession, and a signed statement from his attorney claiming he’d done so.