Trump

Seattle Times - It turns out Washington has a law on the books against convicted felons running for office. It was first established back when Washington was a territory, in 1865, that anyone convicted of “infamous crimes” could be blocked from holding elected office. That was modified in 1959, and then again more recently, to the scheme we have today. Any registered voter can “challenge the right of a candidate to appear on the general election ballot” for any of five causes, state law says. One of those causes is flashing in bold neon lights today: “Because the person whose right is being contested was, previous to the election, convicted of a felony by a court of competent jurisdiction, the conviction not having been reversed nor the person’s civil rights restored after the conviction.”

ProPublica - Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald Trump have received significant financial benefits, including large raises from his campaign, severance packages, new jobs, and a grant of shares and cash from Trump’s media company. The benefits have flowed from Trump’s businesses and campaign committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of public disclosures, court records and securities filings. One campaign aide had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500. Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement. And one of the campaign’s top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee. These pay increases and other benefits often came at delicate moments in the legal proceedings against Trump. One aide who was given a plum position on the board of Trump’s social media company, for example, got the seat after he was subpoenaed but before he testified. Significant changes to a staffer’s work situation, such as bonuses, pay raises, firings or promotions, can be evidence of a crime if they come outside the normal course of business. To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony.

Roll Call - House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Monday recommended using the congressional appropriations process to curtail prosecutions against former President Donald Trump. The Ohio Republican pitched a series of policy riders for fiscal 2025 appropriations bills in a letter to the House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole.. One proposed policy rider goes after special counsel John L. “Jack” Smith’s office, which has brought criminal charges against Trump in Florida and the District of Columbia. The rider would prohibit funding for an “office of a Special Counsel, who has not been confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a U.S. Attorney,” from being used “to bring a criminal prosecution of a former or current President or Vice President.” Another rider would prohibit funds from being used to consult, advise or direct state prosecutors and state attorneys general “in the civil action or criminal prosecution of a former or current President or Vice President brought against them in state court.”

Politicususa -  Trump complained that his criminal trial was keeping him off of the campaign trail, but the trial has been over for days, and Donald Trump has held zero campaign events