President Trump pleads not guilty to amended election interference indictment
Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, confirmed that Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump were in court today to discuss how to proceed in the federal election interference case against Trump, in the first hearing since the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Judge Tanya Chutkan is set to hear arguments from Trump’s defense team and prosecutors, along with special counsel Jack Smith, who filed competing proposals on Friday, in federal court in Washington, D.C., in the case accusing the former president of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
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Updated on 10.17 EDT
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Donald Trump has so far successfully avoided a face-to-face encounter with Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over his federal election subversion case.
Trump is not expected to appear Thursday for his first hearing in court since prosecutors rewrote the indictment in his election interference case following a Supreme Court ruling granting him broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Instead, the former president’s legal team is arguing on his behalf in federal court in Washington: Todd Blanche, Emile Bove, John Lauro and Greg Singer.
Appearing for the prosecution today were Thomas Windham and Molly Gaston.
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Updated on 10.37 EDT
Hugo Lowell
Lawyers for Donald Trump suggested to the judge last week that a process that could take several months would be necessary to move the case forward, given the Supreme Court’s ruling that granted broad immunity to former presidents.
Judge Tanya Chutkan said she would not set a timeline for Trump’s January 6th case at the status conference, but said she hoped to set one later today.
Speaking to Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, Chutkan noted that it had been nearly a year since the two last stood side-by-side in court, adding that Trump appeared to be “rested.”
Life was almost meaningless without you.
Chutkan replied with a laugh.
Enjoy it while it lasts.
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Updated on 10.23 EDT
President Trump pleads not guilty to amended election interference indictment
Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, confirmed that Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Federal prosecutors and lawyers for Donald Trump were in court today to discuss how to proceed in the federal election interference case against Trump, in the first hearing since the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Judge Tanya Chutkan is set to hear arguments from Trump’s defense team and prosecutors, along with special counsel Jack Smith, who filed competing proposals on Friday, in federal court in Washington, D.C., in the case accusing the former president of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
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Updated on 10.17 EDT
President Trump’s 2020 election interference lawsuits reopen
Hugo Lowell
Donald Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche, Emile Bove, John Lauro and Greg Singer are due to appear in court for a status conference in the Trump January 6th case today, where they plan to pressure Judge Tanya Chutkan to adopt a delayed timeline for considering the immunity ruling.
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Updated on 10.02 EDT
According to Axios, Donald Trump is focusing his campaign on key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada, where Trump held large leads in the polls before Harris’ victory.
This is a stark contrast to late July, when the Trump campaign emerged from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee boasting that it could expand the electoral map.
Days after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate defeat, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley laid out an ambitious plan to campaign in key battleground states and also get out the vote in states that Trump lost in 2016 and 2020. Whatley said:
We’re starting in Minnesota, Virginia, New Hampshire right now, so we’re on the offensive across the country. The Biden campaign is on the defensive.
Currently, New Hampshire is a state where a series of polls are showing Kamala Harris widening her lead over Trump, a sign that Trump’s path to victory is narrowing, according to Politico.
A top Trump campaign volunteer said in an email on Sunday that the campaign is “determined that New Hampshire is no longer a battleground state” and advised supporters to focus on Pennsylvania instead.
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Updated on 10.17 EDT
Trump to scale back campaign efforts in battleground states – reports
Donald Trump is reportedly scaling back his campaign efforts in several previously targeted states, including battleground states, a sign that the Republican presidential nominee’s path to victory is narrowing in his race against Kamala Harris.
Axios reported that the Trump campaign has reduced its focus on New Hampshire, Minnesota and Virginia and is instead pouring money into Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, three states seen as crucial to either side’s chances of victory.
The Trump campaign appears to be scaling back its activities in New Hampshire: The Republican nominee hasn’t set foot in the state since winning the state’s primary in January, and the campaign hasn’t sent a high-profile surrogate there since the spring, according to Politico.
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Updated 09.42 EDT
Abene Clayton
Donald Trump unleashed his usual barrage of insults and accusations on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during a town hall meeting broadcast on Fox News, before falsely claiming that immigrants from all over the world are streaming into the United States.
In a pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday night, the former president took to the stage at an arena in Pennsylvania amid cheers, applause and chants of “USA” from his supporters.
The town hall, hosted by Sean Hannity, comes less than a week before Trump and Kamala Harris face off in a debate as both candidates’ campaigns scour six so-called battleground states in the US – Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. Election forecaster Nate Silver has predicted that Pennsylvania is likely to be a “tipping point” in the election.
Read the full story here: Trump hurls same insults at Harris and Walz at Pennsylvania rally
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Updated 09.13 EDT
Donald Trump, in his usual erratic fashion, had threatened to pull out of the September 10 debate, claiming he was not being given a fair chance.
Last week, after watching Republican Sen. Tom Cotton be interviewed by Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week,” he posted to his Truth Social network that ABC News was “fake news” and attacked its “so-called Trump-hating panel.”
On Wednesday, President Trump appeared at a town hall event moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity, taking the opportunity to poke fun at ABC News, which is hosting the debate.
“ABC is the worst network when it comes to fairness,” Trump said.
They are the most dishonest network. The meanest, the dirtiest, but that’s what was presented to me. I was presented with ABC… I think a lot of people will tune in to see how dirty they are, how unfair they are. I agreed to it because they wouldn’t do the other networks.
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Harris and Trump accepted the debate rules, including allowing their microphones to be muted.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have accepted the rules for next week’s presidential debate in Philadelphia, which will air on ABC, the network announced Wednesday, which include muting microphones when the other candidate is speaking.
In a statement, ABC News said Harris and Trump “qualified to participate in the debate based on established criteria and have both agreed to the following debate rules.”
The Trump and Harris campaigns had been battling over debate guidelines, including whether microphones should be turned off when the candidates’ turn isn’t up to speak. Harris’ campaign had previously argued for live, or “hot,” microphones, arguing they would “allow ample opportunity for substantive exchange between the candidates.” The Trump campaign, on the other hand, had been pushing for the microphones to be turned off.
A statement from ABC clarified that candidates’ microphones would only be enabled for the candidate whose turn it was to speak, and would be muted when it was another candidate’s turn.
The debate will be 90 minutes long with two commercial breaks and will be moderated by ABC hosts David Muir and Lindsay Davis, who will be the only ones asking questions, with no audience in the venue.
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Updated 08.56 EDT
Harris heads to Pittsburgh for key debate
Good morning to all readers following US politics. Kamala Harris is heading to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today to prepare for next week’s presidential debate with Donald Trump, who will speak at the Economic Club of New York and then appear remotely at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas.
ABC News announced on Wednesday that both Harris and Trump had accepted the rules for the Sept. 10 debate, ending a dispute between the two sides over debate guidelines, including whether candidates should turn off their microphones when it is not their turn to speak.
Other things we’re keeping an eye on include:
A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments today in the first hearing since the Supreme Court’s immunity decision to consider how to proceed in special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference lawsuit against President Donald Trump.
Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Westby, Wisconsin, to speak about his economic policies.
Jury selection is set to begin in Los Angeles in the federal tax trial of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in his second trial this year after being convicted of a felony firearms offense in June.
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