Summary of the day
Here’s a quick recap of today’s developments:
Several Republican candidates have showed willingness to challenge Donald Trump’s claims of “political persecution” since the indictment was unsealed on Friday, revealing the full extent of the serious charges Trump faces. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice-president who has broken with him, tried to thread the needle, simultaneously calling the allegations “very serious” while worrying about the politicization of the justice department.
Asa Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor who is among the most anti-Donald Trump candidates standing for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not vote for the former president if he is convicted of a felony.
But Trump has reportedly raised more than $7m since he was indicted last week, including more than $2m at a fundraising event at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, hours after appearing in a Miami federal court on Tuesday.
A new poll showed that, for Republican voters, Trump’s federal indictment over the Mar-a-Lago documents changes little. He remains the most popular GOP candidate for president, with 53% support, against runner-up Ron DeSantis’s 23%.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, defended special counsel Jack Smith in the Department of Justice’s indictment of Trump. Smith was a “veteran career prosecutor” who has “assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors and agents who share his commitment to integrity and the rule of law”, Garland said in his first public comments about the indictment since Trump pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges on Tuesday.
The House voted to reject a Republican resolution to censure the California congressman Adam Schiff over his comments about Trump and investigations into his ties to Russia. The Republican-led chamber defeated the motion by a vote of 225 to 196, with 20 Republicans joining 205 Democrats in opposition.
Joe Biden vetoed a Republican-led resolution that would have overturned his administration’s new limits on emissions from heavy-duty trucks. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) heavy-duty vehicle emissions rule will “make our air cleaner and prevent thousands of premature deaths by limiting hazardous heavy-duty vehicle pollution,” Biden posted to Twitter.
Fox News labelled US president Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator” who attempted to have “his political rival arrested” during a live broadcast of Trump’s post-arraignment speech.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has become the latest Republican to seek the 2024 GOP nomination, according to a Federal Election Commission filing. Suarez is expected to give a speech on Thursday in California, during which he is expected to formally announce his candidacy. He is the only Hispanic candidate seeking the GOP nomination and the third candidate from Florida, along with frontrunner Trump and Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis.
Donald Trump has raised more than $7m since he was indicted last week as of the previous hour, my colleague Hugo Lowell reports, citing a person familiar.
New: Trump has raised more than $7m since he was indicted last week in the Mar-a-Lago docs case as of the previous hour, per person familiar.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 14, 2023
Earlier we wrote that Donald Trump reportedly raised more than $2m at a fundraising event at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Tuesday, hours after appearing in a Miami federal court.
Trump’s team have said the former president has raised $4.5m online since his federal indictment, according to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. If true, that would mean Trump has raised $6.6m since the indictment.
Trump team says he raised $4.5 mill online since federal indictment, $2.1 mill last night at previously scheduled high-dollar fundraiser
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 14, 2023
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is expected to give a speech on Thursday in California, during which he is expected to formally announce his candidacy.
Earlier today, a Super Pac supporting Suarez released a two-minute video earlier today touted crimes rates in Miami, adding that “conservative mayor Francis Suarez chose a better path for Miami” compared to Democratic mayors in major cities.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez files to join Republican presidential race
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has become the latest Republican to seek the 2024 GOP nomination, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.
Suarez, 45, a Cuban-American, is in his second term as mayor after winning a resounding reelection in 2021. He is the only Hispanic candidate seeking the GOP nomination and the third candidate from Florida, along with frontrunner Donald Trump and Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis.
Updated
The House has voted to reject a Republican resolution to censure Adam Schiff, the California congressman who became a household name as the lead prosecutor in Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
The Republican-led chamber defeated the motion by a vote of 225 to 196, with 20 Republicans joining 205 Democrats in opposition.
The censure resolution, whose sponsors included Republican representatives Anna Paulina Luna, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, attempted to fine Schiff $16m over his comments about Trump and investigations into his ties to Russia.
Schiff was House intelligence chair and led Trump’s first impeachment, for seeking political dirt in Ukraine. He published a book about the Russia investigation and is now running for Senate. He has long been a top Republican target.
225-196: The House votes to TABLE a GOP resolution to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) over his handling of the Russia investigation and first Trump impeachment.
— The Recount (@therecount) June 14, 2023
20 Republicans voted with Democrats against the effort. 5 Democrats and 2 Republicans voted present. pic.twitter.com/57Bo8i6nLy
Updated
Joe Biden has vetoed a Republican-led resolution that would have overturned his administration’s new limits on emissions from heavy-duty trucks.
The veto preserves the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) heavy-duty vehicle emissions rule that will “make our air cleaner and prevent thousands of premature deaths by limiting hazardous heavy-duty vehicle pollution,” Biden posted to Twitter.
Earlier, I vetoed a Republican resolution to repeal an @EPA standard that will make our air cleaner and prevent thousands of premature deaths by limiting hazardous heavy-duty vehicle pollution.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 14, 2023
This would take us backwards in our fight against air pollution, so I'm blocking it. pic.twitter.com/7M5S8rNGFs
Under the EPA’s new standards, truck makers must reduce emissions from heavy duty trucks, school buses and motor homes to 80% below the current standard.
The EPA estimates that by 2045, the rule would prevent up to 2,900 fewer premature deaths annually. Republicans opposed the EPA rules, arguing that they are too challenging to implement, will increase supply chain costs and will make trucks too expensive for small business owners.
The lawyer representing E Jean Carroll has welcomed a ruling allowing the writer to include in an ongoing defamation lawsuit disparaging comments Donald Trump made about her after she won her sexual abuse case against him.
Roberta Kaplan, the attorney for Carroll, also noted on Tuesday night that she and her client looked forward to “moving ahead expeditiously” with the remaining claims after a federal judge ruled Carroll could pursue her $10m defamation case against the former US president that was filed following the publication of her 2019 book in which she accused Trump of rape and his claim she was lying.
This lawsuit is related to but separate from the case in New York in which Carroll won a $5m civil judgment against Trump last month – $2m for battery and $3m for defamation – when a jury found him liable for sexual abuse after he assaulted her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Jurors in that case decided it had not been proved Trump had also raped her, as Carroll had alleged in the suit filed last November as well as in the 2019 suit that is ongoing.
Trump had argued in recent weeks that the ongoing defamation case must be dismissed because the jury in New York had concluded he never raped her.
Fox News is apparently feeling some feelings about the “wannabe dictator” label it briefly gave Joe Biden last night.
CBS News caught the network cutting away during the White House’s now-concluded daily press briefing, when a reporter asked Biden’s spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre about the chyron:
Hmm... @foxnews cuts away from live coverage of the White House press briefing when a reporter asks about the network's use of a graphic calling @POTUS Biden a ‘wannabe dictator’ during a Tuesday night speech. Switched to someone who rescued a 10-foot crocodile from a pool.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) June 14, 2023
Jean-Pierre declined to comment, but added a barb Fox executives were sure to recognize:
Before network cut away, @PressSec said "There are probably about 787 million things that I can say about this that was wrong" -- a subtle nod to the $787M the network paid to settle defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) June 14, 2023
Updated
In other Donald Trump news, he turned 77 yesterday and celebrated right after his court date for the Mar-a-Lago charges. “Some birthday”, as Trump put it. The Guardian’s David Smith takes you inside the former president’s not-so-happy day:
Donald Trump, the former US president, spent his 77th birthday on Wednesday consolidating his lead in the Republican primary race for 2024 under the shadow of federal criminal charges – and bracing for further legal bombshells.
In a court in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to a 37-count indictment alleging that he unlawfully hoarded national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. He could face a significant prison sentence if convicted.
The ex-president sought to turn his historic court appearance into a political rallying cry and fundraising opportunity. But there were ominous signs that he may soon be back in court.
Updated
Republican political operatives are privately worried about the federal charges against Donald Trump, particularly considering his status as the frontrunner for the party’s nomination, NBC News reports.
The story published earlier today quotes several unnamed politicos affiliated with rival presidential campaigns, who cast Jack Smith’s indictment and the possibility of further charges to come as a bad look.
Here’s what someone connected to Ron DeSantis thinks:
An operative in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ orbit, who requested anonymity to speak candidly without approval from higher-ups, said that “from an objective standpoint,” the federal charges Trump faces for his post-presidency handling of classified documents are far more serious than the earlier ones around hush money payments before the 2016 election.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in Georgia,” this person said, referring to the investigation into possible election interference by Trump and his allies. “But the man is going to prison. It’s happening. So at this point, where we are is ‘Who’s going to be the nominee?’ … Donald Trump broke the law, and frankly, I’m not a never-Trumper. I’m really not. But this is too much.”
“This is something that if you were to get George Washington, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson and sit them down and explain to them what’s happening … they would disagree with what Donald Trump was doing and would agree that he should be prosecuted,” the person added.
That sort of comment is further than where many of Trump’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination will go publicly. Still, even out in the open, there are indications that they believe this federal indictment is far more serious than the last one. Many of the candidates are criticizing the Justice Department while avoiding giving Trump a bear hug of support.
The thoughts of an aide to an unnamed campaign:
“Every campaign right now that is not Donald Trump is receiving pressure from donors to go harder against Donald Trump,” an aide to a rival presidential campaign said, adding: “The pressure is there. Is that where the larger Republican [electorate is] as a whole? Look at the comments from these various campaigns. You would see that none of them are taking that advice.”
However Mick Mulvaney, a former acting White House chief of staff under Trump, said some voters remain unconvinced of the severity of the charges over the Mar-a-Lago documents, NBC reports:
Mulvaney said many Republicans “and even some independents” are asking, “Where’s the harm?”
“Put another way: Do we really want to throw an ex-president in jail for a ‘technical’ violation of the law?” he continued. “But if they have evidence that, say, he gave stuff to the Saudis, or even if a foreign operative had access to the records, that might cause even some hard-core MAGA people to stop and say, ‘Hang on … that’s a problem.’”
Donald Trump, Jack Smith, Joe Biden and Merrick Garland – to those following the former president’s legal troubles, these are all familiar names. But one name less known is Aileen Cannon, the federal judge assigned to Trump’s case who will play a major role in determining, among other things, whether the proceedings are resolved before next year’s presidential election. The Guardian’s Richard Luscombe has taken a close look at Cannon, who was appointed by Trump and has a history some say indicates partiality to the former president:
With Donald Trump’s arraignment concluded, scrutiny of the legal proceedings in the former president’s classified documents case switches to the status of its assigned judge – his own appointee to the federal court bench, Aileen Cannon.
Analysts have already raised concerns about the impartiality of the inexperienced jurist, seemingly plucked by random to handle arguably the most explosive case ever to be tried in the southern district of Florida.
Her favorable rulings for Trump last year in an earlier stage, including a subsequently overturned decision to appoint a special master to review the documents and flawed assertion he enjoyed special treatment under the law, would appear to give justice department (DoJ) prosecutors grounds for filing a motion for Cannon to recuse herself.
Indictment has no impact on Trump popularity, poll finds
A newly released poll by Quinnipiac University confirms that, for Republican voters, Donald Trump’s federal indictment over the Mar-a-Lago documents changes little. He remains the most popular GOP candidate for president, with 53% support, against runner-up Ron DeSantis’s 23%.
Crucially, the survey was taken between 8 and 12 June – the period of time when Americans were learning that special counsel Jack Smith planned to unveil dozens of felony charges against the former president for hoarding secret materials at his south Florida resort, and conspiring to keep them from the federal government. Despite the unprecedented nature of the allegations, the survey says there has been no meaningful impact on his popularity.
“A federal indictment. A court date on a litany of charges. A blizzard of critical media coverage. The negative impact on the former President’s standing with voters? Not much at all,” Tim Malloy, a polling analyst at the Connecticut-based university, said in a statement.
Among all registered voters, the poll finds Joe Biden with a slight edge, at 48% support against Trump’s 44%. As for all the other Republicans in the race, none besides Trump and DeSantis polled above single-digits among GOP and GOP-leaning voters.
Asa Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor who is among the most anti-Donald Trump candidates standing for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not vote for the former president if he is convicted of a felony.
“I’m not going to vote for him if he’s a convicted felon,” Hutchinson told Politico. “If he’s convicted of espionage, I’m not going to vote for him.”
His statement is one of the biggest breaks with Trump yet by a Republican candidate, but nonetheless not much of a surprise. Hutchinson began his campaign by calling for Trump to drop out of the race, but it appears to have cost him: poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight reports Hutchinson has less than 1% support, against Trump’s 53.4%.
Updated
Federal Reserve pauses interest rate hikes in inflation fight
After months of back-to-back interest rate hikes intended to stop the worst wave of inflation the US economy has experienced in decades, the Federal Reserve today decided to pause the increases, at least for now.
Led by chair Jerome Powell, the independent central bank’s decision is both a sign that progress has been made in the inflation fight, and also that the Fed is keeping an eye on the knock-on effects of higher borrowing rates – such as the instability recently seen in the banking sector, which has experienced several alarming failures, but not a wider crisis. It’s unclear what the decision’s implications may be for Joe Biden, whose popularity has suffered as Americans dealt with higher prices for everyday purchases, including food and gasoline.
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani about today’s decision:
US Federal Reserve officials have announced a pause in interest-rate hikes, leaving rates at 5% to 5.25% after more than a year of consecutive rate increases.
The decision, made by the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), marks a shift in how Fed officials view the state of inflation, which reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June last year as food and energy costs soared. Inflation in May was down to 4%, the lowest since April 2021.
The FOMC said in a statement: “Holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy. In assessing the appropriate stance of monetary policy, the committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook.”
Updated
When news broke on Thursday that Donald Trump would be indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents, most of his Republican presidential primary opponents rushed to his defense, blaming the charges on the “weaponization of federal law enforcement”, as the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said.
But several Republican candidates have shifted their tone since the indictment was unsealed on Friday, revealing the full extent of the serious charges Trump faces. Trump’s vice-president and now primary opponent, Mike Pence, was one of them. On Tuesday, Pence told the Wall Street Journal editorial board that he considered his former boss’s alleged actions to be indefensible.
Although the former South Carolina governor and presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, initially responded to news of the indictment by condemning “prosecutorial overreach, double standards and vendetta politics”, she begrudgingly acknowledged on Monday that Trump’s alleged behavior represented a grave threat to Americans’ safety.
“If this indictment is true, if what it says is actually the case, President Trump was incredibly reckless with our national security,” Haley told Fox News.
I’m a military spouse. My husband’s about to deploy this weekend. This puts all of our military men and women in danger.
The South Carolina senator Tim Scott softened his own impassioned defense of Trump after the indictment was made public. While Scott lamented “a justice system where the scales are weighted” on Thursday, he told reporters on Monday that Smith’s indictment represented a “serious case with serious allegations”.
But those three candidates did not go as far as the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who has been far more outspoken in his criticism of Trump. At a CNN town hall on Monday, Christie credited Smith’s team with crafting “a very tight, very detailed, evidence-laden indictment”.
Christie said:
Whether you like Donald Trump or you don’t like Donald Trump, this conduct is inexcusable, in my opinion, for somebody who wants to be president of the United States.
Christie, who was once a Trump loyalist before turning against the former president, attributed the retention of the classified documents to “vanity run amok”.
Updated
Merrick Garland defends special prosecutor Jack Smith
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has defended special counsel Jack Smith in the Department of Justice’s indictment of Donald Trump.
Garland’s comments, made at a press event on Wednesday, are the first time he has commented publicly about the indictment since Trump pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Garland said:
When I appointed Mr Smith, I did so because it underscores the justice department’s commitment to both independence and accountability.
Smith was a “veteran career prosecutor” who has “assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors and agents who share his commitment to integrity and the rule of law”, Garland continued. He added:
Any questions about this matter will have to be answered by their filings in court.
Asked what role he had in the indictment process, Garland replied:
My role is completely consistent with the regulations that set forth responsibilities to the attorney general under the special counsel regulations, and I followed those regulations.
AG Garland, when asked why he didn’t stop Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents probe into Trump:
— The Recount (@therecount) June 14, 2023
“Mr. Smith is a veteran career prosecutor. He has assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors… who share his commitment to integrity and the rule of law.” pic.twitter.com/LeqRyGtkMl
Updated
Donald Trump raised more than $2m at a fundraising event at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, just hours after appearing in a Miami federal court on Tuesday, according to a report.
A “candlelight dinner” with top donors and campaign bundlers raised $2.04m, Politico reported, citing a person familiar with the campaign.
The former president addressed his supporters after he arrived at the Bedminster resort on Tuesday evening, and was seated at table with donors and supporters that included the Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville, from Alabama, according to the news outlet.
The day so far
Republicans have spent today digesting Tuesday’s arraignment of Donald Trump, the most recent GOP politician to occupy the White House. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice-president who has broken with him, tried to thread the needle, simultaneously calling the allegations “very serious” while worrying about the politicization of the justice department. At the Capitol, several Republican senators warned of retaliation over the charges, while a high-profile House committee announced a hearing looking into a Trump-era report that was critical of the FBI.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Fox News appeared to repudiate an on-screen label that called Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator”.
Biden has instructed White House officials and the Democratic Party’s offices not to comment on the charges against Trump, according to a report.
If you have been wondering where the best place to store classified documents in your home is, here is the answer.
Republican senators step up threats over Trump charges
Republican senators are scrambling to defend Donald Trump from the charges unveiled yesterday, and from future indictments.
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted the former president over the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, is also investigating his involvement in the January 6 insurrection, and the overall effort to overturn the 2020 election, and could file separate indictments over those matters.
CNN reports that GOP senator Lindsey Graham has warned against doing that, while another lawmaker, John Cornyn, equated the charges against Trump to the scandal over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server:
Lindsey Graham warns: "If the special counsel indicts President Trump in Washington, DC for anything related to January 6th, that will be considered a major outrage by Republicans because you could convict any Republican of anything in Washington DC." pic.twitter.com/5fYGwsy6o1
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 14, 2023
On Fox News, GOP senator Marsha Blackburn was eager to draw attention to the president’s son Hunter Biden, a Republican fixation who may soon be in legal trouble of his own:
“We feel like we caught [President Biden] … If Joe Biden and his son Hunter took this bribe, if these recordings do exist, the American people deserve to know.”
— The Recount (@therecount) June 14, 2023
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) calls for a special counsel to investigate President Biden pic.twitter.com/CXHY581AGG
Fox News responds to labeling Biden 'wannabe dictator'
In a statement to the Washington Post, Fox News said an on-screen caption displayed last night that refers to Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator” was “addressed”.
Fox News has long been a mainstay of American conservative media, and the chyron reading “wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested” appeared during a split-screen showing Biden while the network was covering Donald Trump’s speech at his New Jersey golf club after his arraignment.
A Fox News spokesperson told the Post “the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed”, without providing specifics. You can read more about the dust-up, which was over the top even for a network with a history of deference to Trump, below:
If you, too, have a stash of classified documents at your property and would like to keep them safe, then read Guardian reporter Wilfred Chan’s exploration into the best places to store such material:
Let’s say you’re a world leader who has improperly retained juicy national security secrets after leaving office. What would be a safer place to stash them: your bathroom or your garage?
According to the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who on Monday defended Donald Trump after photos released by federal investigators showed boxes of classified documents piled high next to a shower in the ex-president’s Florida resort home, the answer is the bathroom.
“A bathroom door locks,” the California Republican said.
That would be more secure, McCarthy argued, than the location where classified documents were found stored in Joe Biden’s residence: in his garage “that opens up all the time”.
Donald Trump Jr would have been right at home in the crowd that gathered outside the Miami federal courthouse yesterday as the former president was being arraigned, the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports:
Even by Florida’s already unorthodox standards, the arraignment of Donald J Trump, the ultimate carnival barker, in Miami on Tuesday afternoon was something of a circus.
The concept of a former leader of the free world appearing before a federal judge to deny he stole and retained some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets – keeping some in a bathroom – was surreal enough.
But the historic act of the twice impeached, twice indicted ex-president actually doing so, while remaining the runaway favorite to win the Republican party’s nomination for next year’s general election, was extraordinary.
Updated
Donald Trump Jr hits airwaves to complain about charges facing his father
Joe Biden may be keeping quiet about Donald Trump’s indictment, but the former president’s family is out in full force and decrying the charges.
On rightwing Real America’s Voice, Donald Trump Jr held forth with his customary apocalyptic rhetoric about the allegations against his father:
“We are witnessing the end of the republic if this is allowed to go through.”
— The Recount (@therecount) June 14, 2023
— Donald Trump Jr. reacts to his father’s arrest in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case pic.twitter.com/Ab4o72PXre
Updated
Biden keeping Democratic Party quiet on Trump charges - report
Joe Biden has refused to publicly comment on the federal charges leveled against his predecessor Donald Trump over allegedly hoarding government documents from his time in the White House, and Politico reports the president has also instructed Democratic party offices to do the same.
While many top Democratic lawmakers have condemned the allegations against Trump, neither Biden nor top officials at the White House or his re-election campaign have spoken out about the indictment and his arraignment in Miami yesterday. Politico reports that some Democrats – none of whom would allow their names to be used – believe the strategy is a missed opportunity to cast Trump as reckless and boost Biden’s re-election chances.
Here’s more from their story:
Biden has privately told aides that he is disgusted by Trump’s behavior but is adhering to his promise that the Department of Justice would have independence from the White House. The DNC, meanwhile, has advised members of Congress seeking guidance on what to say that they should not comment on the Trump probes if they are speaking publicly in their role as Biden campaign surrogates.
While Biden has framed his stance as in line with longstanding tradition, it is not uncommon for presidents to occasionally weigh in on ongoing criminal investigations. Biden has at times done so himself – including weighing in before the verdict was announced in the 2021 trial of the white Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd.
Some people in Biden’s orbit believe that the moment calls for his imprimatur, outlining for the nation the gravity of a former president facing charges in a federal court. Others believe it would be political malpractice to not make Trump’s woes a campaign issue and privately said that they wish the president’s campaign would take on the issue directly.
They argue that the charges connected to Trump’s alleged reckless mishandling of some of the United States’ top secrets shows that he is unfit for the job. And they believe that both the ongoing January 6 and Georgia election interference probes illuminate their central campaign arguments.
Updated
Top Donald Trump ally Taylor Budowich does not think much of Mike Pence’s stance on the former president’s indictment:
Mike Pence sounds a lot like a less charismatic Asa Hutchinson. No wonder he will soon be joining Asa in the Zero Percent club. https://t.co/aY6BAkUMMv
— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) June 14, 2023
Last week, Budowich, who heads the Maga Inc super Pac, was called to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Trump.
Updated
As the Guardian’s Royce Kurmelovs reports, Fox News was particularly strident in defending Donald Trump following yesterday’s arraignment:
Fox News labelled US president Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator” who attempted to have “his political rival arrested” during a live broadcast of Donald Trump’s post-arraignment speech.
The network was the only major cable news network to carry Trump’s Tuesday evening speech live, with CNN and MSNBC choosing not to air the address.
Towards the end of the speech, viewers were presented with a split screen carrying a separate speech from Biden at the White House. Below the image, the news chyron read: “wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested”.
Donald Trump may have put an end to Mike Huckabee’s White House ambitions by hoovering up his evangelical Christian support base in the 2016 primaries, but the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister is nonetheless a fan of the ex-president.
In an appearance on Fox Business today, Huckabee reached for the Old Testament to describe Trump’s current legal peril:
"Here's what I predict: Donald Trump is like the third monkey on the ramp to Noah's Ark, and brother it's starting to rain, and this is one monkey that's going to fight harder than you've ever seen a monkey fight."
— The Recount (@therecount) June 14, 2023
— Former AR Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) pic.twitter.com/NxUoyYY8lf
Mike Pence went on CNBC this morning to simultaneously express dismay at what Donald Trump is alleged to have done, while insinuating bias in the justice department.
It was pretty much the same thing as what he said to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, and seems to be indicative of how he’ll handle the investigation of his former boss in his ongoing presidential campaign:
"No one is above the law," says @Mike_Pence. "I cannot defend what is alleged. The very prospect that highly classified material could have fallen into the wrong hands even inadvertently, jeopardizes our national security. The former president has a right to his day in court." pic.twitter.com/tHi3cMe1PB
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) June 14, 2023
As big of a deal as Donald Trump’s arraignment yesterday was, the Guardian’s David Smith reports that court rules denied the public the ability to view key elements of the proceedings:
With a presidential-style plane and motorcade, a bunch of flag-waving fans and a lawyer shouting alternative facts, the latest season of The Trump Show – let’s call this one The Defendant – again filled every TV screen on Tuesday.
But the most important scene of all was missing. And no one was happier about that than Donald Trump himself.
Americans were denied the chance to see and hear the former US president, the first to face federal criminal charges in America’s 247-year history, sitting in court and taking his medicine.
It was like To Kill a Mockingbird without Atticus Finch’s closing argument or A Few Good Men without Colonel Jessup erupting: “You can’t handle the truth!” Instead of Twelve Angry Men, it was Twelve Angry Maga Men waving flags outside court.
House Republicans announce hearing with special counsel that disproved deep-state plot against Trump
The Republican-led House judiciary committee announced it would on 21 June hold a hearing with former justice department special counsel John Durham, author of a much-hyped report which found that though the FBI bungled parts of its investigation into Donald Trump’s ties with Russia, there was no proof of a deep-state conspiracy against the then president.
The committee is chaired by Jim Jordan, a prominent defender of Trump among House Republicans, who has this year been leading a subcommittee aimed at proving to voters that “weaponization of the federal government” is to blame for the criminal cases against the former president.
Updated
If you are wondering what Donald Trump did after his history-making indictment in Florida yesterday, the Guardian’s Maanvi Singh has the answer:
Hours after facing criminal charges for the alleged mishandling of classified documents, Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters at his golf resort in New Jersey that his indictments were a “corrupt” and “political pursuit” designed to destroy him.
Donors and supporters chanted Trump’s name, cheered him on and sang “happy birthday”. “I just got charged,” joked the former president, who turns 77 on Wednesday. “A wonderful birthday.”
The former president was in Miami earlier in the day for his arraignment in the classified documents case. Federal prosecutors have accused him of wilfully withholding classified documents and obstructing justice, charging him with 37 federal counts including 31 violations of the Espionage Act.
Pence worries Trump charges politicized, but calls indictment 'very serious'
Former vice-president Mike Pence was Donald Trump’s deputy for four years, and fell out with him only when the then president pushed him to stop Joe Biden from taking office. When Pence announced his presidential campaign last week, he drew a stark contrast between himself and Trump, but that doesn’t mean he’s completely on board with the federal charges against the former president.
“Having read the indictment, these are very serious allegations. And I can’t defend what is alleged. But the President is entitled to his day in court, he’s entitled to bring a defense, and I want to reserve judgment until he has the opportunity to respond,” Pence told the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal in an interview yesterday.
But he also was wary of the fact that the indictment was brought under the Biden administration. “After years of politicization, it’s hard for me to believe that politics didn’t play some role in this decision,” Pence said. He called on attorney general Merrick Garland to explain “what if any role he played, or his judgment played, in the decision to move forward with an unprecedented indictment of a former President of the United States”.
Updated
Anti-Trump Republicans rally as Pence says ‘can’t defend’ former boss over charges
Good morning, US politics blog readers. What a day yesterday was. After becoming the first former president ever to be federally indicted, Donald Trump appeared in court in Miami and pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal charges related to the classified government documents found at Mar-a-Lago. The hearing was merely the start of what is expected to be a long legal road for Trump, which could lead to him doing jail time, or simply being pardoned if he or a fellow Republican wins the White House in 2024.
Polls continue to show a solid majority of GOP voters back him and view the charges as politically motivated, but anti-Trump Republicans pointed to the unprecedented indictment as evidence that the former president cannot be allowed his job back.
The latest counterargument came from Mike Pence, who reversed his earlier wariness towards the prosecution by telling the Wall Street Journal “I can’t defend what is alleged”. We’ll keep an eye out today if the political calculus changes further.
Here’s what else is going on today:
The state department just announced secretary Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing later this month, likely in a bid to cool tensions with China that have climbed for various reasons lately, including over the country’s affinity for spy balloons.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs the press at 1.45pm ET. Will she finally offer the Biden administration’s official view on Trump’s indictment to the reporters that are sure to inquire? Almost certainly not, but you can expect them to try.
House Republicans have long mulled impeaching homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and while they haven’t decided whether or not to go through with that yet, the homeland security committee is at 10am holding a hearing on “Secretary Mayorkas’s Dereliction of Duty”.
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