Trump on Monday turned to one of his favorite ways to go after an enemy: a lawsuit. The former president filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the FBI from reviewing the batch of classified documents seized in the search two weeks ago. In addition, he is asking the court to appoint a “special master” to review the evidence seized by investigators. In a move similar to his battles with the committee on Jan. 6, Trump is arguing that classified documents covered by executive privilege should not be among those obtained. “It is unreasonable to allow the prosecution team to review them without meaningful safeguards,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “Other than returning the seized items to the salon, only a neutral review by a special master can protect the “overwhelming public interest” in maintaining “the confidentiality of conversations that take place in the performance of the president’s official duties” ( The Hill).
New York Times: Trump had more than 300 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. READ: Trump lawsuit responding to FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago.
The move marks Trump’s first major legal maneuver since his West Palm Beach, Florida, residence was searched on August 8. It also comes as the federal judge considers whether to release the affidavit that gave the Justice Department the go-ahead to investigate Mar-a-Lago.
Judge Bruce Rinehart, who previously said he wanted to release the document in some form, said Monday that the changes made to the affidavit could render its public disclosure “meaningless.”
“I cannot say at this point that the partial amendments will be so far-reaching as to result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may eventually come to that conclusion after hearing more from the government,” Rinehart wrote in an order.
The Justice Department has until Thursday to propose amendments. Prosecutors late last week strongly defended keeping the affidavit sealed for the sake of protecting the ongoing investigation and their sources (The Hill).
▪ Politico: Capitol Hill leaders want to see Trump Mar-a-Lago probe documents.
▪ CNN: Justice Department issues new National Archives subpoena for more documents Jan. 6.
▪ The Washington Post: Files copied from voting systems from 2020 shared with Trump supporters, election deniers.
▪ Politico: Judge says FBI evidence in Mar-a-Lago probe ‘credible’.
▪ NBC News: Poll: 57 percent of voters say Trump investigations should continue.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who has advised seven presidents, announced Monday that he will retire by the end of December (The Hill). He will be 82 on Christmas Eve and told The New York Times about the “next chapter” in a career rooted in his work at the National Institutes of Health that began in 1968, signaling that he will leave government but continue to she works.
“As healthy as I am, and as energetic as I am, and as passionate as I am, I want to do some things outside the realm of the federal government,” he told The Times, adding that he wanted to use his experience and insight. of public health and public services to “hopefully inspire the younger generation”.
President Biden hailed Fauci as a “dedicated public servant and a steady hand of wisdom and insight” in a statement released Monday.
“Because of Dr. Fauci’s many contributions to public health, lives have been saved here in the United States and around the world,” the president said.
But several Republicans welcomed the news, indicating plans to bring the infectious disease expert before Capitol Hill panels next spring if the GOP recaptures the lower chamber in November (The Hill).
The New York Times: Adapting Fauci’s Four Decades.
Finally, Trump’s trifecta of villains was completed Monday as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the GOP has a “50-50” chance of winning back the Senate this fall.
“Flipping the Senate, what are the chances? It’s a 50-50 proposition,” McConnell said over a lunch in Georgetown, Ky. “We have a 50-50 Senate right now. We have a 50-50 nation. And I think the result is likely to be very, very close either way. But the stakes will be high, because if both the House and the Senate are overthrown, I think the president will be a moderate. He will have no choice” (CBS News).
As The Hill’s Mychael Schnell notes, the remarks came after the former president renewed his attacks on the Kentucky Republican over the weekend. In particular, Trump took aim at McConnell’s criticism of the GOP nominees. Last week, the Senate GOP leader said at a separate luncheon in his home state that the House is more likely to be flipped than the Senate and cited the “quality of the candidates” as the reason.
Relevant Articles
▪ Axios: McConnell says there is ‘very little election fraud’.
▪ Jim Geraghty, National Review: Who’s Not Helping 2022 GOP Senate Candidates?
PROGRAM OF THE DAY
➤ POLITICS
While Democrats in the nation’s capital, Georgia and New York are holding the spotlight in separate investigations into Trump’s actions as a New York businessman and former president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is gaining favor of the Republican Party, hoping to be seen as a top presidential standard-bearer in 2024, especially if Trump falters or does not run again. DeSantis must be re-elected first, and Democrats are questioning whether he’s beatable, The Hill’s Max Greenwood reports.
Progressives are eager to oust the governor from the ballot box in November, but recent polls have been mixed on the strength of potential Democratic challengers in today’s Florida primary (The New York Times).
According to the most recent poll this month, state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried leads Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.). Crist, a one-time former state GOP governor who over the years unsuccessfully ran for Senate, switched parties and became an independent and then a Democrat — winning a House seat in 2016 (Newsweek).
DeSantis, a former House member, last week lobbied for GOP Senate candidates in Pennsylvania and Ohio who have been endorsed by Trump, offering a window into what the governor’s potential presidential narrative might sound like. It was never mentioned to the 45th president. DeSantis straddles both sides of the Trump divide, preferring to engage in culture wars in Florida than Trump’s lies about the 2020 election (NBC News). And he’s a monster fundraiser, raising more money, including from prominent billionaires, than any gubernatorial candidate in decades (Tallahassee Democrat).
“We cannot simply stand idly by while vigilante ideology destroys every institution in our society,” the Florida governor told GOP voters in Pittsburgh. “We have to fight the awakening in our schools. We must fight the wake in our businesses. We have to fight the awakening in government services. We can never, ever surrender to the awakened ideology.”
▪ The Hill: Nine races to watch in New York, Florida and Oklahoma.
▪ NBC News: Three contested New York Democratic primaries today will cap a chaotic season that has included clashes over ideology, generational change and the quality of party leadership, with the careers of prominent politicians hanging in the balance.
Today’s special election in New York’s 19th Congressional District may prove to be the last key bellwether for the districts ahead of the November midterms, as Democrats seek to elevate abortion rights as an election issue, The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports .
Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) has until 9 a.m. Wednesday to file a motion with specific details as he seeks help from a federal court to avoid testifying in a Georgia court as part of a criminal investigation into alleged election meddling by Trump and his allies in the 2020 election, according to an order Monday by a federal judge. The Fulton County District Attorney’s office would then have until 9 a.m. on Aug. 29 to respond, with Graham’s response due at 9 a.m. on Aug. 31, the judge ordered. Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis (D) expressed interest in questioning the senator, a Trump supporter, about conversations he had after the 2020 election with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger (R) (The Washington Post).
The president and first lady Jill Biden will wrap up their summer vacation on Wednesday and headline a Democratic National Committee event on Thursday at a high school outside Washington, D.C., in Maryland. They want to rally the Democrats and begin a planned route to the fall of official and political events before the November contests (Bethesda magazine).
On Aug. 30 in Martha’s Vineyard, former President Obama will be the VIP guest at a fundraiser to benefit the Democratic National Reconstruction Committee led by his friend, former Attorney General Eric Holder, the organization’s leader, Politico Playbook reported.
A South Dakota ethics board on Monday said it found sufficient information that Gov. Christie Noem (R) may have “engaged in misconduct” when she interfered with her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license and referred a separate complaint to her state use of plane to state attorney general for investigation.
The three retired judges on the Government Accountability Board ruled that unspecified “appropriate…
