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‘Darkening Clouds’ for Trump With Key Pence Aides Set to Lead Off House Hearings: Report

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According to an analysis by Slate’s Dennis Aftergut, the constant drip of information about former President Donald Trump and his administration’s involvement in the Jan 6th insurrection looks to turn into a flood when the House hearing on the Capitol riot kicks off on Thursday with three witnesses linked to former vice president Mike Pence poised to testify first for maximum effect.

As Trump and his allies prepare to do all they can to push back at the six scheduled hearings slated to be broadcast live, Aftergut wrote, a bad May for Trump is about to become a worse June for the former president.

“There are darkening clouds on his horizon,” wrote Aftergut. “On June 9, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee will hold public hearings as part of their ongoing investigation into the storming of the Capitol last year. In short order, the set of six scheduled televised sessions this month are likely to build momentum towards making the case that the president was directly involved in attempts to undermine the peaceful transition of power.”

“The steady dropping of shocking findings from the committee over the course of the past months suggests the sessions will likely have many viewers on the edge of their seats,” Aftergut added, and then suggested that the Pence associates could set Trump’s defenders back on their heels as they reveal the content of conversations between the former president and their former boss as Trump tried to get him to refuse to oversee the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

READ MORE: ‘Bad news for super MAGA’: Morning Joe says Jan. 6 probe is about to blow up Trump’s allies

“June’s hearings follow a series of escalations in Trump’s ongoing legal battles stemming from his attempts to undermine the 2020 election,” he writes. “May’s legal developments and the looming hearings suggest increasing pressures and prospects that Trump will face criminal charges, the committee’s lead-off witnesses will be three courageous Republicans working for Vice President Mike Pence, who supported his resistance to the multi-step conspiracy that Trump appears to have led and aimed at ending the lawful transfer of power: His staff attorney, Greg Jacob, Pence’s outside attorney, Michael Luttig, the eminent former federal Court of Appeals Judge, and Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff.”

Aftergut suggests that, after dropping several “bombshells” in the weeks precedinhg the hearings, the devil will be in the details as the committee makes their case for criminal charges againt Trump.

“While the final details are still being sorted, the upcoming hearings have two apparent goals. First, committee members intend to address Trump’s election meddling. And second, to elucidate the circumstances around the ‘hours of inaction‘ before Capitol police received backup from the national guard releasing a video telling his followers inside the Capitol to leave,” he wrote adding, “If the details coming out of the investigation are any indication, the committee is hard at work building their case.”

“If May’s news was any indication, this select committee’s hearings will tell an even more chilling story — beginning, middle and end — about how a criminal conspiracy nearly ended our democracy,” he concluded.

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Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump’s attorneys were notified Thursday afternoon a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict him on felony charges related to his alleged hush money payoff of a porn star he reported slept with.

The ex-president’ attorney recently said if indicted Trump would travel to New York to turn himself in.

The Office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has just issued a strongly-worded statement saying it is “coordinating” with Trump’s attorneys for his “surrender.”

“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” the statement reads.

READ MORE: ‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

The Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery posted the statement to Twitter.

NBC News explains the process, noting he is expected to be arraigned next week.

“After the indictment, Trump will be arrested and taken into custody. He will likely have a mug shot and fingerprints taken,” NBC reports. “Trump will then appear in court to be arraigned, where he will hear charges and enter a plea. Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News that the former president is likely to be arraigned next week. Trump will either be jailed or released while pre-trial hearings take place.”

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Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury on Felony Charges: NYT

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2 hours ago

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury investigating his role in a hush money payoff scheme that allegedly was designed to aid his election chances in 2016, according to multiple news reports.

“Mr. Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges. The precise charges are not yet known, but the case is focused on a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign,” The New York Times was first to report. “The unprecedented case against Trump will have wide-ranging implications.”

CNN, citing sources, also reports Trump has been indicted.

Trump’s attorney, Susan Necheles, confirms to CBS News’ Graham Kates that the ex-president has been indicted.

NEW –
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’
‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

This is a breaking news and developing story.

Image via Shutterstock

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New Poll Sends Trump Damning Message About 2024 if He’s Criminally Indicted

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10 hours ago

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March 30, 2023

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Biden Beats Trump – But Barely – in Latest Poll

A new Quinnipiac poll is offering damning news to Donald Trump: The majority of Americans think he should not even be allowed to run for president if criminal charges are filed against him.

That majority, 57%, includes nearly nine in ten Democrats (88%), more than half (55%) of independents, and even close to one-quarter (23%) of Republicans.

“Yes, say Americans, it was all about him and not the country’s well-being when Trump proclaimed he was targeted for arrest,” says Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy. “And, yes he should be forever banished from office if he is charged as a criminal.”

The poll serves up even more bad news for the ex-president. Despite the right’s attempts to paint Trump’s alleged hush money payoff as a mere bookkeeping issue, or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s case against him, as one GOP lawmaker said recently, “wrongful persecution,” the majority of Americans – 55% – say the accusations against Trump are “serious.”

READ MORE: New WSJ Poll Is Devastating for DeSantis and His ‘Anti-Woke’ Policies

Conservatives’ attempts to paint the investigation as political, however, appear to be working, at least among Republicans and independents.

More than nine out of ten Republicans (93%) and 70% of independents say they believe the investigation is motivated by politics, while two-thirds of Democrats (66%) say it is motived by the law.

Still more troubling news for the Trump team.

Exposing the growing partisan divide across the country, the majority of Americans, nearly six in ten (58%) say Trump has had a mainly negative impact on the Republican Party.

But inside the GOP, the view is far different.

The vast majority of Republicans (72%) say Trump has had a positive impact. Just 21% say he has had a negative impact. (The poll does not appear to take into account former Republicans who left the GOP because of Trump.)

READ MORE: Watch: House Dem Mocks Republicans by Thanking Them for Taking Time Away From ‘Trump’s Memorial Service to David Koresh’

Echoing the “positive impact” they believe Trump has had on their party, 79% of registered Republicans say they are supporters of his MAGA movement. The poll does not appear to define “support,” nor the various “levels” of support some Republicans now express, including “ultra MAGA.”

Meanwhile, when offered a choice between Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, or 11 other Republican candidates or potential candidates, Trump gets a plurality of voters: 47%. DeSantis gets one-third, 33%. Pence gets just 5%, and Haley – who has already officially declared she is running – gets even less, at 4%.

There’s little change when GOP voters are asked who they would choose in a head-to-head matchup between Trump and DeSantis. Trump gets 52%, DeSantis 42%.

And even more bad news for Team Trump: In a head-to-head matchup among registered voters, President Joe Biden would beat Donald Trump, although by a slim margin: 48% to 46%.

There is one piece of good news for the DeSantis campaign, which technically does not exist yet. DeSantis would beat Biden, also by a slim margin: 48% to 46%.

But some believe DeSantis will not run, especially given his poor campaign pre-launch. Others, like top Trump critic and former Republican George Conway, say DeSantis shouldn’t even bother.

“It makes no sense for DeSantis to run this cycle,” Conway said Thursday morning, unrelated to the Quinnipiac poll. “To beat Trump, DeSantis would have to go hammer and tong in a one-on-one race against him. DeSantis isn’t capable of that, it isn’t going to be one-on-one, and even if he were and it was, DeSantis would end up alienating a good chunk of the GOP base. And no matter what, Trump would try to destroy the GOP if it ever became clear he wouldn’t get the nomination. Trump would run as a third-party candidate to take the GOP nominee down. The smart play for DeSantis is to fleece donors by pretending to run, and pocket the cash for 2028, when he’ll still be only 49.”

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