He needs more than a minute. He needs to retire and seek serious medical attention.Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to have another possible medical episode on Wednesday, freezing for more than half a minute when questioned at an event in Kentucky.
Video footage showed McConnell, 81, trailing off and remaining silent after he was asked if he would seek re-election in 2026.
An aide then stepped in to ask the top Republican House lawmaker if he heard the question. She then informed reporters that the lawmaker would "need a minute."
MSN
Excuse me, but I hope it breaks him economically for the rest of his miserable life.In an unsparing, 57-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell said Giuliani had flagrantly violated her orders to preserve and produce relevant evidence to the election workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, resulting in a “default” judgment against him. She also ordered him to pay Freeman and Moss “punitive” damages for failing to fulfill his obligations. A jury will determine the amount of those damages.
Politico
Ouch.Howell’s ruling is tied to Freeman and Moss’ separate lawsuit against Giuliani in federal court in Washington for defamation, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Howell has now ordered the case to proceed to a trial purely to determine the amount of damages Giuliani will have to pay them.
[...]
Giuliani spent weeks accusing Freeman and Moss of manipulating ballots during Georgia’s vote counting process after the 2020 election, despite repeated investigations that debunked and discredited the allegations.
The harassment that Freeman and Moss endured as a result of these conspiracy theories is at the heart of some of the criminal charges now facing several of Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia racketeering case brought by Fulton County prosecutors. Giuliani is charged in that case, in part, for “false statements” to Georgia legislators related to his attacks on Freeman and Moss.
[...]
The election workers filed their lawsuit in 2021 against Giuliani and the owners of the conservative, pro-Trump One America News network, alleging that reports about claims the pair tampered with ballots were unfounded and libelous. One America’s owners settled with the two women last year for an unspecified amount, but the litigation has continued against Giuliani.
[...]
Howell has given the former New York City mayor and former federal prosecutor until Sept. 20 to produce documents about his net worth.
[...]
Howell also suggested that Giuliani’s complaints about the flurry of legal demands he is facing are theatrical and intended for political consumption.
“Donning a cloak of victimization may play well on a public stage to certain audiences, but in a court of law this performance has served only to subvert the normal process of discovery in a straight-forward defamation case, with the concomitant necessity of repeated court intervention,” she said. “The fact that Giuliani is a sophisticated litigant with a self-professed 50 years of experience in litigation — including serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — only underscores his lackluster preservation efforts.”
As if.Howell’s latest ruling comes amid a renewed and assertive effort by Giuliani and his allies to convince Trump to foot more of Giuliani’s mounting legal bills, which now include not only civil lawsuits, but the criminal indictment in Georgia where Trump, Giuliani and others are charged with racketeering for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state.
I don't think it's going to happen.If a federal judge agrees that Meadows’ actions plausibly fell within the scope of his federal duties, the case may get moved into federal court, and Meadows may be immune from the charges against him, which prosecutors brought under state law.
Politico
Poor baby.“It was a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week kind of job,” Meadows said during questioning by his lead attorney, George Terwilliger III. “It was a very broad responsibility. … I found myself on defense a lot with things coming at me from a million different directions.”
Huge gamble. Jones is not a Trump appointee. In fact, he's a black man appointed by Obama, so hopefully a fair and just jurist.Meadows’ appearance was a gamble by his defense team, opening him to cross examination by the prosecution and locking him into a specific description of events in a way that will be difficult for him to vary from if the case goes to trial.
However, it gave Meadows a chance to try personally to persuade U.S. District Court Judge Steve C. Jones that the charges brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following a lengthy grand jury investigation intrude on fundamental federal responsibilities.
So far, Jones has shown that he would like to avoid a circus while not giving short shrift to Meadows’ arguments, said Steve Vladeck, a CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. The orders Jones has already issued have hewed tightly to the relevant statutes and case law, and he has moved the proceedings along very efficiently.
Jones is “by the book, which includes quickly and quietly,” Vladeck said.
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Meadows is facing two charges in the Georgia case: racketeering and soliciting Raffensperger to violate his oath of office.
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Four other defendants have joined Meadows in seeking to move their cases to federal court. They include three GOP activists from Georgia who posed falsely as legitimate presidential electors as part of Trump’s bid to stay in power. The other, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, is slated for a similar evidentiary hearing on Sept. 18.
CNN
Depending on how that statement came about, that seems slightly ominous for Meadows.The judge noted he would give it "thorough consideration" and that it was a "very important case" and would likely set precedent.
The judge added that if he doesn't rule by Sept. 6 -- the date the defendants are set to be arraigned -- he said Meadows will have to go through with the arraignment.
ABC
And now that his coup attempt trial has been set for March 4, he'll be unable to do as many shows on the campaign trail, too. Wah, wah, wah.On Sunday afternoon Donald Trump pitched a fit that his legal problems are keeping him from attending a golf tournament being held at his golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland.
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According to the former president who is facing four separate indictments and a handful of civil lawsuits, "I have the Staysure Senior PGA Championship in Aberdeen, Scotland, on my great course, and I can’t go. I have to stay around and fight off the Crazed Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, Marxists, and Fascists."
He then added, "I wouldn’t want to be in Europe and watch this COUNTRY DESTROYING Scum work their disgusting and illegal 'magic' on unsuspecting Republican 'leaders' who just don’t think it is appropriate to Fight Fire With Fire. BUT WE WILL WIN. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
MSN
He's pushing it. She COULD revoke his bail.“Today a biased, Trump Hating Judge gave me only a two month extension, just what our corrupt government wanted, SUPER TUESDAY. I will APPEAL!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, repeating his claim that his numerous legal problems amount to “election interference” as he runs for a second White House term.
Trump’s team is likely to file motions and attempt to delay the trial, though the date itself cannot directly be appealed.
The Hill
They's slightly smarter than Trump.“The date set today deprives President Trump of his Constitutional right to a fair trial, a seminal bedrock of America, and continues to expose the corruption of the witch hunts being thrown against President Trump,” [a Trump] spokesperson said in a statement issued by the Trump campaign via email but not attributed to a specific individual.
Ha! They never met an incident they couldn't fundraise off.“From setting a trial date for the day before ‘Super Tuesday’ to sending a fundraising email the moment of President Trump’s processing in Fulton County, the Biden regime is no longer hiding its nakedly political motivations,” the statement said. “President Trump will not be deterred, he will fight these hoaxes at every turn, and will win for the American people.”
I wonder how Trump's lawyers thought they would sneak that one by her.“The events giving rise to this case occurred at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. To propose trying this case over five years later risks the real danger that witnesses become unavailable or their memories may fade,” Chutkan said. “My primary concern here, as it is, in every case, is the interest of justice and that I’ve balanced the defendant’s right to adequately prepare.”
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The former president had asked ahead of the hearing for the trial to take place in April 2026, citing the supposed “median time” of 29.2 months that it took to convict defendants in cases that involved the charge of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
But prosecutors had argued in response that using the median time as a benchmark was misleading because it included the time it takes for jury selection, trial, verdict and several months of sentencing deliberation, rather than just the duration of pre-trial proceedings.
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[Judge Chutkan] agreed that the Trump legal team’s statistics were “misleading” adding that one of the cited cases was one she is currently overseeing and delayed because of Covid-19 issues which didn’t apply to Trump.
Guardian
At the hearing, Chutkan said that to make her determination she would instead consider the volume of discovery materials prosecutors were turning over to the defense and what a reasonable time would be for Trump’s lawyers to review the 12m pages of evidence.
The judge also explained that the Speedy Trial Act, which requires criminal cases to go to trial within 70 days of indictment, exists to protect not just Trump but the public interest in ensuring the timely administration of justice.
The theme of Chutkan’s questioning of Trump’s lead lawyer, John Lauro, repeatedly returned to her contention that he did not have to read every one of the 12m pages anew because many of the documents were duplicative and the key facts were made public by the House January 6 select committee.
The judge said that she considered the government as having made a considerable effort to produce the discovery in an organized and keyword-searchable manner that should expedite their review. “You are not going to get two years,” she said.
[Jack Smith] sat in the gallery behind the prosecution table which included Molly Gaston and John Windom.
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He sat pretty much stone-faced during the entire hearing, stroking his beard now and then. He only nodded once, and that was when the judge said it was clear the DoJ had gone out of its way to prepare discovery for the defense. Officer Harry Dunn sat directly behind Jack Smith in the courtroom.
[...]
Jury selection will begin on March 4th, which alleviates the conflicting December 11th date recommended by DoJ that would have been the same date as an evidentiary hearing in the documents case, so that filing in FL should now be moot.
Mueller, She Wrote
