Crooked Media - What A Day: Live to indict another day

Another whirlwind day for disgraced former president Donald Trump and his cadre of similarly-disgraced lawyers. 
 

• Trump’s legal team met with prosecutors from DOJ special counsel Jack Smith’s office on Thursday morning, more than one week after Trump announced he had received a target letter from the Justice Department telling him he should expect to face criminal charges in connection with his very public efforts to overturn the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6 insurrection. 
   

• This meeting was yet another signal that a grand jury indictment is imminent. The grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the case also met on Thursday at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC, where a prosecutor from Smith’s office was spotted as well. Prosecutors told Trump’s legal team to expect an indictment according to two sources, though Trump denies this. 
   

• Imminent does not mean today, alas. The courtroom deputy told reporters that no grand juries returned indictments today, and none were expected by close of business. So…what the hell? Well, according to legal analysts, it’s possible that an indictment has been returned and is now under seal, which would be in alignment with standard procedure in federal grand-jury investigations. Did the grand jury vote for a public indictment, a sealed indictment, or were they not asked to vote at all (at least not yet)? The public indictment option is unlikely, because it would likely have already made its way to, you know, the public were that the case.

But wait, there’s more (indictments)!
 

• In the event that Trump is formally charged, it will be his third indictment overall and second federal indictment. A very promiscuous member of the American criminal-justice system! One of those other indictments charges Trump with stealing classified documents on his way out of the White House and then lying to the federal investigators who tried to recover them from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Late Thursday, federal prosecutors in that case filed an updated grand jury indictment that adds new charges against Trump related to the documents case as well as an additional defendant.
   

• That co-conspirator is Carlos De Oliveira, a 56-year-old Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker, who appears to have participated in the obstruction efforts. The new charges against Trump include one additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two new counts of obstruction related to Trump’s alleged attempts to delete surveillance footage from his resort grounds in the summer of 2022.

It’s unclear what the Mar-a-Lago case developments mean for the 2020 election case, but boy is it a full-time job keeping up with this guy’s myriad crimes!

Guess which presidential candidate stopped by Pod Save America this week for a sit down with Lovett? Hint: Hint: He’s a passionate advocate for blocking bridges and tanning on closed state beaches. Yep, you guessed right! It’s Chris Christie - former governor of New Jersey and the first presidential candidate of the 2024 cycle to appear on the show. You’re definitely not gonna wanna miss this one. Check out the episode right now on the Pod Save America feed, wherever you get to your podcasts.

July 2023 is set to be the world’s hottest month ever recorded. 

The Justice Department has opened a sweeping investigation of allegations that the Memphis Police Department engages in systemic excessive force and discriminatory policing. The investigation is separate from the federal civil-rights investigation of the Memphis officers responsible for killing 29-year-old Tyre Nichols in January.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision to halt the remaining construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that will stretch 300 miles through West Virginia and Virginia. The Court’s decision is a loss for water resources and endangered species in the area, and a win for fossil fuel companies and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). 

Disgraced former president Donald Trump retains his staggering 30-point lead in the 2024 Republican primary polls, despite (or perhaps aided by?) all of the crimes. 

A military coup is unfolding in Niger, where armed security forces moved against President Mohamed Bazoum, while protests both in favor and against the coup took place in the country’s capital of Niamey. 

Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign “refresh” (laying off more than one-third of his staff and going with a “Let Ron be Ron” approach) is not going so hot.

Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan has accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his GOP-led House Judiciary Committee staff of ethical breaches and a “campaign to intimidate and harass” FTC staff. 

The intersection of the Israeli occupation and the ever-worsening climate crisis have made Palestinians among most water-insecure populations in the world.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) made a weird joke at the GOP prayer breakfast about how she was almost late to the event because her fiancé was trying to smash.

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The United States economy continues to grow, defying expectations and further staving off fears of a recession. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt penned an op-ed for the Washington Post arguing that if artificial intelligence uses someone’s work or writing as “training data” those parties should receive residual compensation.