As Trump’s legal cloud lifts, 45 allies still threatened by state-level 2020 election charges
CNN
Donald Trump derailed his 2020 election subversion indictments by winning back the White House, but dozens of his allies still face state criminal prosecutions that he, even as president, can’t shut down or short-circuit with pardons.
Donald Trump derailed his 2020 election subversion indictments by winning back the White House, but dozens of his allies still face state criminal prosecutions that he, even as president, can’t shut down or short-circuit with pardons. Since the election, Democratic prosecutors in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin have pledged to move ahead with cases against Trump allies who were involved with the “fake electors” plot, which tried to overturn his 2020 defeat in those states. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, another Democrat, also told CNN he is planning to soon bring a new indictment re-charging the 2020 fake electors from his state. (His original case was thrown out by a judge due to jurisdictional issues.) “I don’t make decisions based on who is the president,” Ford said. “I make decisions based on the rule of law. And these state electors, in our estimation, violated laws of the state of Nevada that are worthy of prosecution,” Ford said, adding, “This case is not going away.” A total of 45 Trump allies and aides are currently facing charges across these four states, with another six expected to be re-indicted soon in Nevada. While many defendants are state party officials or little-known GOP activists, some are prominent figures from Trump’s orbit including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and adviser Boris Epshteyn. The federal election subversion indictment against Trump, filed by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, has already been dismissed. And while the Georgia case against Trump and his 14 co-defendants remains in limbo, the state likely won’t move forward with charges against Trump while he’s the sitting president. Trump’s lawyers recently asked a court to throw out his charges, citing his reelection.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.