News Roundup: Investigations into Trump

Much of this week’s news has focused on the potential indictment of former President Trump related to hush money payments made before the 2016 election. Of course, the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal probe isn’t the only investigation Trump is facing. The U.S. Justice Department is looking into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his actions around Jan. 6, 2021, as well as Trump’s handling of classified documents.

• On Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, had to provide testimony and turn over documents to prosecutors in the classified materials investigation.
• Former Vice President Pence’s legal team has challenged the subpoena from Jack Smith, the special counsel heading the election interference investigation, but the Washington Post reported this week that “Pence’s advisers have privately accepted the possibility that the former vice president might have to testify against his former boss.”

There’s also the investigation of Trump’s 2020 election interference in Georgia (and in case you missed it, last week it was reported that investigators in Fulton County have an audio recording of another phone call Trump made in his effort to overturn his loss the state — this one to the Georgia House speaker). Here are some recent headlines related to election denial, a lasting legacy of Trump’s refusal to accept defeat:

• Election conspiracy movement grinds on as 2024 approaches (Associated Press)
• Arizona court declines most of Lake’s appeal over gov’s race (Associated Press)
• ‘Conspiracy theories’ still dominate Arizona Senate Elections Committee (Arizona Mirror) 
• ‘Election integrity’ proposals do not address most common voting infraction in Wisconsin (PBS Wisconsin)

In the last week, the grip of election conspiracy theories has led yet more conservative-led states — Ohio and Iowa — to abandon the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), the interstate database “they once hailed as a solution to cutting down on voter fraud,” reported Politico. A bill in Arizona would remove that state from ERIC as well. And other states are worried about the effect this could have on keeping voter lists up to date.

Meanwhile, attacks on civil rights and public education continue in states across the country — notably in Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed expanding his “Don’t Say Gay” law to all grade levels.

• Last week, we sued the Florida Department of Education for records related to Florida’s education policies, including communications with the governor’s office and records related to the rejection of the AP African American Studies course.

On the Records

Defense Records from Presidential Transition Period
In the weeks after the 2020 election, the Trump administration forced out several high-level Defense Department officials, replacing them with loyalists who supported the former president’s false claims of a stolen election. Members of Pentagon advisory boards were also forced out, with some of those loyalists being appointed to them in the final days of the administration. New records we obtained include emails about a few of those last-minute discussions. 

• We obtained emails from Jan. 6, 2021, in which officials discussed the appointment of loyalist Kash Patel, then acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller’s chief of staff, to the Defense Policy Board. Patel was named to the board on Trump’s last full day in office, but was removed during the first weeks of the Biden administration.
• On Jan. 8, Joshua Whitehouse, then the Trump White House’s liaison to the Pentagon, emailed former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and asked Spicer to confirm whether he still wanted to be appointed to the U.S. Marine Corps University Board of Visitors. Spicer was later appointed to the Naval Visitors Board before he was asked to resign in September 2021. 
• Read the full set of documents here, and learn more about our lawsuit for these records here.

Other Stories We’re Following

Jan. 6 Investigations

• House GOP ignored Capitol Police requests to review public Jan. 6 footage, lawyer says (Politico)
• The Jan. 6 investigation is the biggest in U.S. history. It’s only half done. (Washington Post)
• Secret Service monitored Million MAGA March ahead of Jan. 6 (CREW)
• Four convicted of obstruction on Jan. 6 in final Oath Keepers trial (New York Times)

Voting Rights

• Revived measure to require 60% for Ohio constitutional amendments gets first hearing (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Youngkin requires people convicted of felonies to apply for voting rights (Washington Post)
• East Lansing sued over ordinance requiring landlords to give tenants voting information (Lansing State Journal)

National News

• ‘We were helpless’: Despair at the CDC as the pandemic erupted (New York Times)

• White House disbanding its Covid-19 team in May (Washington Post)
• Glitchy CBP One app turning volunteers into Geek Squad support for asylum-seekers in Nogales (Arizona Luminaria)
• U.S. flies migrants caught at Canada border to Texas in deterrence effort (Reuters)
• Biden warns that climate change could upend federal spending programs (New York Times)
• The Fed raises interest rates again despite the stress hitting the banking system (NPR)

In the States

• Georgia lawmakers poised to create oversight panel with power to remove local prosecutors (Georgia Recorder)
• DeSantis’, other officials’ travel records would be secret under Florida bill (Tampa Bay Times) 
• DeSantis administration scrubs ‘equity’ from state health priorities (Tampa Bay Times)
• The culture war bromance of Ron DeSantis and Chris Rufo (Politico)
• DeSantis’ State Guard vision: planes, boats, police powers (Tampa Bay Times)

Education and Civil Rights

• Virginia history standards debate wraps up, with board vote near (Washington Post)
• The new Red Scare for red states: Diversity programs (Politico)
• Transgender youth: ‘Forced outing’ bills make schools unsafe (Associated Press)
• Arkansas restricts school bathroom use by transgender people (Associated Press)
• Anti-trans bills flood states in ‘centrally coordinated’ attack on transgender existence (The Appeal)
• Judge halts Wyoming abortion ban days after it took effect (Associated Press)
• Abortion pill access threatened in Nevada amid legal uncertainty (Politico)
• A new Arkansas law allows an anti-abortion monument at the state Capitol (NPR)
• As book bans ebb, the battle to criminally charge Texas librarians has started (Houston Chronicle)
• Missouri Senate votes to limit transgender care for minors, allow current patients to keep treatment (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)