'Trump has learned just how much his lawyers spilled': Expert breaks down new court filing – Raw Story
David joined Raw Story in 2023 after nearly a decade of writing about the legal industry for Bloomberg Law. He is also a co-founder and a commissioning editor at Hypatia Press, a publisher that specializes in philosophical works that challenge religion or spirituality.
Donald Trump late Friday night slammed Special Counsel Jack Smith in a new court filing, saying the prosecutor's "demanded deadlines" are "detached from reality."
Specifically, Trump's attorneys filed an opposition to Smith's request that the court force Trump to make it known whether he plans to utilize an advice-of-counsel defense in the Mar-a-Lago case involving classified documents. Legal experts say the special counsel hopes to make Trump answer the question, a move many said was an attempt to obtain key attorney communications that would otherwise be covered by attorney-client privilege.
"The Special Counsel’s Office has repeatedly demanded deadlines in this case that are detached from reality and practice, and this Motion is no different," Trump's attorneys write in the new filing. "The 60 days requested in the Motion would give the Office more time to 'investigate' an advice-of-counsel defense than the Office proposed to give President Trump to review approximately 1.3 million pages of discovery and file Rule 12(b) motions."
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National security attorney Bradley P. Moss said Trump simply "opposes efforts to make him decide if he will rely on an 'advice of counsel' defense in the documents case."
"Basically, they’re just saying it’s not necessary yet to declare it," the lawyer said, adding that there are two parts of the filing that stand out to him.
"Two interesting tidbits. As part of discovery, it appears Trump has learned just how much his lawyers spilled to the grand jury. And it’s a lot," Moss wrote. He highlighted a part of the filing in which Trump says the Smith team "fails to inform the Court that they have much more information regarding legal advice provided to President Trump than in a typical case."
The second part, Moss said, is that "Trump is foreshadowing introducing classified evidence at trial via CIPA."
"Gee, why would the evidence be classified if he declassified everything?" the expert added.
Read the filing here.
A few days before Christmas, Hong Kong activist Tony Chung boarded a flight to Okinawa, Japan, carrying nothing but a backpack — his casual appearance a ruse to hide plans to seek political asylum in the UK.
Chung was among the youngest people in Hong Kong to be convicted under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, and had finished serving time six months before.
Fresh out of prison, he found that he remained under the thumb of the authorities, particularly the national security police, who pressed him to become an informant and take a trip with them to China.
"Not only do they completely control my life and interfere with it, their actions affect my personal safety and put my life in danger," Chung, 22, told AFP in an interview from Britain on Friday.
Taking HK$40,000 ($5,100) with him, Chung left Hong Kong last week after he promised his overseers he would come back after a short vacation. Once in Okinawa, he bought a ticket for London.
Chung is among a growing list of Hong Kong activists who have sought refuge overseas, as city officials and Beijing vow to hold them accountable.
He wrote a long public post on Facebook detailing his escape after landing at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, a move that turned him into a fugitive in the eyes of the Hong Kong government.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK urged Britain to "bring (Chung) to justice as soon as possible and repatriate him to Hong Kong".
Asked if he felt safe, Chung said the UK would not accept Hong Kong's attempt to paint him as a criminal.
Tony Chung is among a growing list of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists who have sought refuge overseas © Ben Stansall / AFP
"I believe the UK government would not agree with how China's government has implemented the national security law in Hong Kong to suppress Hongkongers," he said.
In 2016, Chung was a high school student when he led the group "Student Localism", which called for Hong Kong's independence from China.
Considered a redline for Beijing, calling for separation from China was a fringe view in the former British colony.
Student Localism ceased its local operations in 2020 just before Beijing's national security law took effect in response to the huge and sometimes violent democracy protests the previous year.
Despite authorities saying the law would not be retroactive, Chung — then 19 years old — was arrested for secession in July 2020 and granted bail.
Hong Kong police line a driveway as a van transports activist Tony Chung, 19, from the court © Anthony WALLACE / AFP
He was arrested again three months later outside the United States consulate in Hong Kong, where he said he had been trying to seek political asylum.
He later pleaded guilty to secession and money laundering in connection with donations taken for his group, and was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.
In prison, he said he witnessed the nascent stages of Hong Kong's "deradicalisation" program — partly consisting of patriotic movie screenings, Chinese history lectures and cultural performances.
"(Prison officials) lectured us with a pitying tone, saying we were exploited, that we were bought by Americans to disrupt China's development," Chung said.
In June, Chung said he was granted early release after agreeing to strict limits on speech, movement and employment.
Another source of stress was Hong Kong's national security police, who would pay him between HK$500 and HK$3,000 for information on people in his circles.
"They never offered me a choice, they just said this (arrangement) would happen," Chung said.
"I can only accommodate them, and let them think I fit their idea of rehabilitation."
Asked about Chung's informant claims, Hong Kong police said it "has been effectively collecting intelligence… through various channels, means and individuals".
The final straw came when national security police suggested taking him on a trip to mainland China.
"I could not speculate what their aim was. What I can say is I felt a very immediate threat," he said.
Chung shot to prominence as a student protester advocating independence in 2016 © Ben Stansall / AFP
Police dropped the idea when he objected, but he believed that future requests may be harder to turn down.
Fleeing to the UK felt "unreal", until his flight touched down and British immigration officers secured plastic tags on his luggage — standard procedure for asylum claimants, he was told.
Chung stopped short of discussing his plans for the future, only saying he wanted to "continue to contribute" to Hong Kong.
"Since long ago, I have thought about the prospect of being jailed and being forced to leave Hong Kong," he said.
"But when I actually took the path that may lead me away from Hong Kong forever… I would hope that I can one day return."
© 2023 AFP
On Friday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) issued a veiled threat to states considering the disqualification of former President Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot.
"Maine, Colorado, and other states that might try to bureaucratically deny ballot access to any Republican nominee should remember the US House of Representatives is the ultimate arbiter of whether to certify electors from those states," Massie wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Massie's threat seems to suggest that any state that excludes Trump from its respective ballot could face severe consequences, including having their state's chosen Electoral College representatives potentially excluded from the final electoral vote count. Hypothetically, this could mean that if the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upholds the Colorado supreme court's disqualification of the former president, the Centennial State's 10 Electoral College members may not be certified by the full House of Representatives — effectively denying the votes of millions of Coloradans from being included in the final result.
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?
The Kentucky Republican's tweet comes in the wake of Trump potentially facing ballot disqualification in at least two states, pending judicial review. In Colorado, the state's supreme court ruled 4-3 in the Anderson v. Griswold case that Trump was not qualified to appear on the ballot due to being in violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
Colorado's Republican Party appealed that ruling, and a stay has been placed on the ruling preventing it from going into effect until January 4, pending review by SCOTUS. For now, Trump will remain on the Colorado ballot.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows likewise issued a ruling on Thursday night that stated Trump was "not qualified to hold the office of president" due to his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Bellows noted the Maine legislature delegated the responsibility of determining candidates' eligibility to her office, rather than have it be litigated in court.
Additionally, Trump's ballot eligibility is being challenged in North Carolina. Republican lawyer Brian Martin filed an appeal to state elections officials arguing that including Trump on the ballot would be "constitutionally unacceptable" given that he could ultimately be disqualified, thus depriving millions of North Carolinians from having their votes be properly counted. And a voter in Louisiana has filed a lawsuit seeking to disqualify Trump in the Bayou State under the insurrection clause.
READ MORE: Louisiana voter files 'long shot' lawsuit to exclude Trump from state ballot
The nonprofit run by the Republican National Convention's host committee is reportedly having to use "finesse" to win over donors, according to a new report.
Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee chair Reince Priebus — both a former Republican National Committee chairman and a former chief of staff to then-President Donald Trump — told Politico that his pitch to donors is more economic in nature than political. He told the outlet that the organization is on track to raise a goal of $70 million for next July's nominating convention, and is doing so by selling donors on the economic benefits to Milwaukee for hosting the event.
"The convention is about economic development and not who the nominee will be," Priebus said. "As a nonprofit, you have to separate the two."
Priebus noted that as a nonprofit, the host committee can't make any overt political gestures. He added that while there are donors who are less than enthusiastic about former President Donald Trump being the party's nominee, "there are very well-known donors to President Trump that are also already supportive."
Business leader and philanthropist Ted Kellner, who is CEO of the host committee, also told Politico that his role is to put the politics of the convention to the side. He acknowledged that some donors have a "hard time distinguishing" the difference between the Republican National Committee and the Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee.
"We line up the hotels. We line up the transportation and the credentials and maybe organize some parties," Kellner said, stressing that his role doesn't involve the actual presidential nominating process. “And for the most part, the vast majority of people understand that.”
According to Politico, Kellner was also honorary host committee chair of the Democratic National Committee's nonprofit to host its 2020 nominating convention before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the party to host a virtual convention. Kellner is also a longtime friend of and donor to President Joe Biden.
READ MORE: How a Trump conviction would throw the GOP convention into chaos
The 2024 Republican National Convention will take place from July 15 to July 18. The Democratic National Convention — which is in Chicago this year — is scheduled from August 19 to August 22.
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