Trump update

Robert Reich - Not only should Trump be prosecuted, but Section 3 of the 14th Amendment clearly bars anyone from holding office who has “engaged in insurrection” against the United States. He should be disqualified from running for president.

Former president Donald Trump being charged over the January 6 insurrection would mark the end of civilization – that is, according to his eldest son. Donald Trump Jr made the comment during an interview with right wing broadcaster Real America’s Voice, also suggesting that civilization was actually due to end soon anyway. “This is like the end of the civilization,” he said. “And, you know, if you look at the timing, most civilizations last 250 years, we’re at about 248 – so we are in serious trouble if we don’t right this ship.”

A federal judge on Wednesday upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting the former president’s claim that the award was excessive and that the jury vindicated him by failing to conclude in the civil case that he raped a columnist in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the jury’s May award of compensatory and punitive damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation was reasonable.

Rolling Stone - The special counsel’s letter to Donald Trump related to Jan. 6 listed the federal statutes under which Trump is expected to be charged, including conspiracy, obstruction, and civil rights violations, according to a source with knowledge of the contents of the target letter. Special counsel Jack Smith sent the letter to Trump on Sunday, informing him he was a target of the Justice Department. Trump on Tuesday announced he’d been sent the letter via a post on the social media platform Truth Social.

The letter mentions three federal statutes: Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States; deprivation of rights under color of law; and tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant. It does not offer further details, nor does it detail how the special counsel believes Trump may have violated the statutes, the source tells Rolling Stone. The letter does not mention statutes on sedition or insurrection, according to the source. Trump is the only person named in the letter, the source says. 

Israeli antiquities intended for an exhibition in Washington, DC, in 2019 turned up at Mar-a-Lago, and senior Israeli officials have not been able to retrieve them from Trump’s estate

Donald Trump is stewing because his former press secretary, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, hasn't endorsed his 2024 run, Axios' Alex Thompson and Worth Sparkman report. Trump asked her personally for an endorsement in a phone call months ago. . . .Sanders is among several Republicans with national ambitions who are staying neutral in the presidential primary, despite Trump's huge lead in early polls. Lots of potential Republican presidential aspirants are yet to endorse: These include Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) — along with Govs. Greg Abbott (Texas) and Kristi Noem (S.D.).

Donald Trump's former WH Chief of Staff John Kelly warns of a second Trump term: "It would be chaotic. It just simply would be chaotic because he’d continually be trying to exceed his authority, but the sycophants would go along with it. It would be a nonstop gunfight with the Congress and the courts."