The Full Belmonte, 7/19/2023
Trump charges could include conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
Sean Hannity interviews Trump in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, yesterday. Screenshot: Fox News
“The target letter former President Trump says he received Sunday from special counsel Jack Smith — who's investigating the Jan. 6 attack and efforts to reverse the 2020 election results — mentions three federal statutes, ABC News reports:
Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States.
Deprivation of rights under color of law.
Tampering with a witness, victim or informant.
Also yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 pro-Trump fake electors with forgery and other felonies in an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election.
Affidavit accompanying Michigan charges. Photo: Jon Elswick/AP
Why it matters: They appear to be the first criminal charges against fake electors, who are accused of submitting false certificates as Trump electors even though Joe Biden won, Axios' Erin Doherty writes.
Those charged include Kathy Berden, national committeewoman of the Republican Party of Michigan, and Meshawn Maddock, the state party's former co-chair.
The big picture: Besides Michigan, other states where efforts to distort the 2020 results are under investigation are Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.
Federal prosecutors working for the special counsel have interviewed officials in all seven of those battleground states, which were targeted by Trump and his allies, CNN reports.
Keep reading. [Axios]
© The Associated Press / Czarek Sokolowski | Former President Trump in 2017.
Trump: More DOJ charges would be 'election interference'
“There is no U.S. precedent that comes close to a former president who wants voters to return him to the White House while facing charges that he placed U.S. national security at risk and allegedly schemed to try to cling to power.
Former President Trump has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges. Through his lawyers he says he prefers to go to trial after voters cast their ballots next year and boasts during his campaign appearances that he’s on the path to becoming the Republican nominee to challenge President Biden in 2024.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a new hurdle: He received a target letter from federal prosecutors who have been investigating Republican efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election results (The Hill).
‘I got the letter on Sunday night. Think of it. I don’t think they’ve ever sent a letter on Sunday night,” Trump said Tuesday during a town hall in Iowa with Fox News host and ally Sean Hannity. “And they’re in a rush because they want to interfere. It’s interference with the election. It’s election interference. Never been done like this in the history of our country, and it’s a disgrace’ (The Hill and USA Today).
Trump’s disclosure suggests he will soon face felony charges tied to the election he lost. According to some legal experts, and based on news reporting since Jan. 6, 2021, he could be charged with alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding (the 2021 certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory) (The New York Times).
As The Hill’s Niall Stanage writes, anticipation that Trump will face a new federal indictment means the public spotlight temporarily shifts toward the former president and his campaign, and away from his primary rivals. Trump is leading the GOP primary field, according to recent polls, and his supporters applaud his false assertions that the 2020 election was ‘rigged’ against him.
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel last week told CNN it’s hypothetical to imagine her party nominating ‘a convicted felon.’
“It’s up to the voters,” she said during an interview. “They’re going to make their decision. They’re going to hear this and they’re going to decide if this is an issue for them come November or come the primary process.”
Lawfare blog: ‘A third indictment appears to be forthcoming,’ Brookings Institution senior fellow Benjamin Wittes wrote on Tuesday, referring to a target letter Trump said he received with a deadline if he wishes to appear before a grand jury in Washington, D.C. ‘It’s reasonable to expect the grand jury to act as early as the end of this week.’
The Hill: GOP senators hold back on defending Trump as he faces new indictment.
Trump in April was criminally charged in Manhattan with 34 felonies related to filing false business documents, and separately charged by federal prosecutors in June with 37 counts including conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act tied to his possession of classified documents removed from the White House to his Florida estate.
The former president pleaded not guilty to all charges after his indictments in Manhattan and South Florida and continues to claim he’s the victim of a Democratic ‘witch hunt’ staged across multiple judicial jurisdictions.
In the documents case, a federal judge on Tuesday held a pretrial hearing in South Florida with Trump’s lawyers, who want his trial to begin after Election Day next year. Prosecutors have asked to start the trial at the end of this year. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, said she will issue a written order ‘promptly’ (The New York Times).
Pending in Georgia is a separate investigation of Republican actions to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. This week, Trump failed to block the Georgia probe in court (The Associated Press).
CNN: Trump strategized Tuesday with House allies including the Speaker and chair of the GOP conference to go on offense to defend him and assail the Justice Department investigation. “ [The Hill]
US soldier detained in North Korea got there on a tour bus
“Army Col. Isaac Taylor confirmed Tuesday that a U.S. service member ‘willfully and without authorization’ crossed into North Korea, sparking the latest diplomatic incident between the Cold War foes. The Army identified the American soldier as Pvt. Travis King, who is believed to have gotten to North Korea on a tour bus. King had prior contact with local law enforcement before he spent time at his Army base in South Korea where he was processed before his scheduled flight to the United States, the official said. King was last seen entering a van and being whisked away by North Korean officials. North Korea has been silent about the highly unusual entry.” Read more at USA Today
A general view shows the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, on July 19, 2022.
Kim Hong-Ji, AP
Little heat relief in sight as Phoenix reaches record highs
“The southern tier of the U.S. continued to swelter Tuesday as temperatures and heat indexes soared above 100 degrees over a large chunk of the nation from Southern California to Florida. In Phoenix, the "Valley of the Sun" is accustomed to extreme summer conditions, but the city set a new record Tuesday: it has now endured 19 straight days with high temperatures of at least 110 degrees, breaking a 1974 record. Meanwhile, heat warnings and advisories were in effect for more than 90 million Americans as record-breaking temperatures swept across the South with little relief in sight.” Read more at USA Today
A car drives on Seventh Street as the temperature of 115 degrees is displayed on a digital billboard in downtown Phoenix on July 17, 2023.
Rob Schumacher, The Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
“A federal judge in California is set to hear a challenge to the Biden administration's new rules on seeking asylum today. The policy, which took effect in May, gives migrants one legal pathway to seek asylum through a mobile app called CBP One. The Biden administration says it's led to a drop in illegal border crossings. However, thousands face long waits at the border for appointments. Many decide to wait because the new rules make gaining asylum much harder if they cross the border illegally.
Immigrant advocates say the app can't be the only way to access asylum, as it creates a bottleneck, according to NPR's Joel Rose. National immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit as soon as the rules went into effect, saying they were identical to Trump's policies. Meanwhile, Rose adds that immigration hardliners are also critical of the app, saying it creates a so-called legal pathway that Congress never intended.” [NPR]
Covid-19
“It has been more than two and a half years since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the US intelligence community has yet to reach a conclusion about where the virus originated. The Wuhan Institute of Virology is at the center of a theory that Covid-19 escaped from the lab in late 2019, triggering the global pandemic and nearly 7 million recorded deaths. This week, the Biden administration suspended funding for the Wuhan research lab following a monthslong review that revealed some safety concerns. The virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, but researchers have denied that the lab was related to the outbreak. To complicate matters, China has blocked international scientists from freely exploring all hypotheses for how the virus emerged — hampering research that could have potentially shone a light on the outbreak's origin.” [CNN]
Immigration
“A bus carrying dozens of migrants from Texas arrived in Los Angeles Tuesday evening — the fourth such bus to arrive in the city in recent weeks, according to a nonprofit. This comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have sent thousands of migrants to Democratic-led states in protest of the Biden administration's immigration and border security efforts, which they have slammed as inadequate. The arriving migrants were greeted by an immigration coalition and community groups that provided them with food, clothes and consultations with legal immigration attorneys. Many nonprofits that are helping migrants are calling on the White House to provide protection for asylum seekers and increase funding in anticipation of more buses arriving in California and other states in the near term.” [CNN]
South African leader says arresting Putin if he comes to Johannesburg would be ‘war’
“South Africa’s president said Tuesday that arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin — should he show up at an economic summit next month in Johannesburg — would amount to a ‘declaration of war’ by his country. Read more.
Why this matters:
As a signatory to the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, South Africa is obliged to arrest Putin on an indictment the court issued against the Russian leader for war crimes involving the abduction of children from Ukraine.Moscow has dismissed the warrant.
Having already decided not to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, South Africa faces a further straining of relations with the West if it allows Putin to freely attend the August summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — a bloc of developing economies known as BRICS.” [AP News]
“US climate envoy John Kerry met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on his final day of talks in Beijing, after President Xi Jinping warned the nation won’t have its path to curb emissions dictated by others. Kerry has called for fresh cooperation between the world’s top two polluters and raised concerns China is continuing to add more coal-fired power generation, while Xi said his nation remains committed to its goal of peak emissions by the end of the decade and to hit net zero by 2060.
China’s defense minister, Li Shangfu, blamed the actions of ‘some people’ in the US for the breakdown of friendly bilateral ties in a meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.” [Bloomberg]
“North Korea launched two missiles into waters off its east coast in a show of anger hours after the US brought a submarine capable of firing nuclear ballistic missiles to a port in South Korea for the first time in about four decades. The missiles flew about 340 miles, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, calling the launches a ‘grave provocation.’” [Bloomberg]
“Russia fired 31 missiles from ships, strategic bombers and land-based launchers as well as 32 drones at Ukraine overnight, mainly targeting infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, the Ukrainian Air Force command said. Defense forces downed fewer than half of the missiles. A European Union summit of Latin American leaders ended with a joint statement that expressed ‘deep concern’ over the war but didn’t mention Russia.” [Bloomberg]
“Pita Limjaroenrat’s renewed attempt to win parliament’s support to become the next prime minister of Thailand hit another obstacle after the Constitutional Court suspended his status as a lawmaker pending a verdict on a case brought by the Election Commission. While the decision doesn’t affect Pita’s ability to run, he will still need to win enough support from the military-appointed Senate today to become premier after falling short last week.” [Bloomberg]
Demonstrators outside the Thai parliament building today. Photographer: Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg
“Boris Johnson lashed out at what he called a ‘protracted political assassination’ as he quit the UK Parliament last month, but it is the current prime minister who’s left with most at stake as the fallout from Johnson’s resignation plays out in three special elections tomorrow. Losing all three would be a major setback as Sunak tries to show he can reverse the Conservative Party’s slump in the polls.” [Bloomberg]
“Sunak’s popularity rating sank to its lowest level since he became prime minister in October, a new poll showed.” [Bloomberg]
“Young people in Africa are overwhelmingly opposed to strengthening the rights of the LBGTQ community in their countries, highlighting the challenges facing the group across the continent, a survey showed.” [Bloomberg]
“Few in Israel had heard of Gali Baharav-Miara when she was appointed attorney general two years ago to become the first woman in the job. Now she finds herself at the center of a political storm over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary. In the past seven months, she has ordered Netanyahu to recuse himself from debate over the judiciary while he faces corruption charges and accused him of breaking the law. Supporters call her an ‘iron lady’ defending democracy, while some in the governing coalition want her fired.” [Bloomberg]
Gali Baharav-Miara. Photographer: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images
Microsoft's AI gusher
Screenshot: Microsoft
“Microsoft will charge $30 per user per month for businesses to use its AI-infused copilots to automate work in Office products, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Why it matters: That'll add up to a hefty chunk of change — the most significant new revenue opportunity for Microsoft's Office business since it switched to a subscription model, Axios' Ina Fried and Ryan Heath report.
The company announced Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing — along with a business version of GPT-4-powered Bing Chat, which will sell for $5 per user per month, and also will be included in some subscription bundles.
Bing Chat Enterprise adds protections for business data.
By the numbers: That could add $5 billion to $16 billion in revenue for Microsoft next year, Ivana Delevska, chief investment officer at asset manager Spear Invest, told Axios. Her estimate assumes 5% to 16% of Office 365 users sign up for Copilot.
Delevska noted it costs Microsoft on the order of $2 to $5 per hour for the computing capacity needed to provide the service.”
Share this story. [Axios]
Collectible iPhones
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco in 2007. Photo: Paul Sakuma/AP
“A first-generation iPhone (factory-sealed in the original packaging) sold at auction for $190,373 — nearly 380 times the original price of $499 when the groundbreaking device went for sale in 2007, AP reports.
LCG Auctions, which hosted Sunday's sale, said the 4GB iPhone model was 20 times rarer than the 8GB model released at the same time for $599. The 4GB model was discontinued two months after launch, given customer preference for the larger memory size.” [Axios]
”Country Music Television pulled a video for Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town” that was filmed at the site of a lynching.” [New York Times]
“The police searched a Nevada home in connection with the unsolved 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur.“ [New York Times]
Lives Lived: Angelo Mozilo led Countrywide Financial as it grew into one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders and then crashed in the 2008 financial crisis. He died at 84.” [New York Times]