Judge denies Meadows’ request to move Arizona ‘fake elector’ case to federal court
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Monday denied former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ request to have the Arizona “fake elector” case against him moved to federal court from Arizona state court.
Meadows, along with 17 others, was charged in Arizona with forgery and conspiracy over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. He has pleaded not guilty.
In August, Meadows’ attorneys argued the case should be moved to federal court because the indictment “squarely relates to Mr. Meadows’s conduct as Chief of Staff to the President.” The argument is similar to the one Meadows has made for months in his Fulton County, Georgia, case, citing a law that calls for the removal of criminal proceedings when someone is charged for actions they allegedly took as a federal official.
U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi said the state charges — nine felony counts for his role in the effort to overturn former President Donald Trump’s Arizona election loss — is “unrelated” to Meadows’ official duties.
“Although the Court credits Mr. Meadows’s theory that the Chief of Staff is responsible for acting as the President’s gatekeeper, that conclusion does not create a causal nexus between Mr. Meadows’s official authority and the charged conduct,” Tuchi said.
“The Court finds that Mr. Meadows fails to present good cause for his untimely filing of his Notice of Removal, and that in any event, an evaluation on the merits yields that he fails to demonstrate that the conduct charged in the state’s prosecution relates to his former color of office as Chief of Staff to the President,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement in response to the ruling. “The Court therefore will remand this matter to the state court.”
Earlier this summer, charges were dropped against former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis in exchange for cooperation in the case.
(WASHINGTON) — A photography-related “incident” occurred at Arlington National Cemetery Monday during a visit by former President Donald Trump, leading to a report being filed, the cemetery said in a statement to ABC News.
While the cemetery did not immediately provide specifics, NPR reported that a source had told the publication that two Trump campaign officials engaged in a verbal and physical altercation with a cemetery staff member during Trump’s visit, which came on the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 service members during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The alleged altercation took place after the Trump campaign officials were asked not to take photos and videos in Section 60, a section of the cemetery where recent U.S. veterans are buried, NPR reported.
When contacted by ABC News on Tuesday night, a representative for the Arlington National Cemetery released a statement that confirmed an “incident” but didn’t provide specifics.
“Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate’s campaign. Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants. We can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed,” the statement read.
On Tuesday, Trump’s campaign posted a video capturing moments from the former president’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery, including more images of his visit to Section 60 where the alleged altercation occurred, and appears to be an example of how the campaign violated the cemetery’s rules.
The TikTok video, which is overlayed by guitar instrumentals, shows a montage of Trump participating in the wreath-laying ceremony, taking photos with Gold Star families and visiting Section 60.
In the video, Trump can be heard making a political point throughout the video — blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. The video is also captioned “Should have never happened,” again condemning his political opponent’s previous actions.
In the TikTok video, Trump and some of the family members are seen smiling and holding thumbs up as they posed for photos, with overlaid captions claiming Trump didn’t lose a single soldier in 18 months, but that a “disaster” ensued after the Biden-Harris administration took over.
Trump campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, posted on X what he said was proof of the team’s approval to have an official photographer and videographer outside the main press pool.
“Only former President Trump may have an official photographer and/or videographer outside of the main media pool,” a screengrab of what appears to be an access guideline posted by Cheung reads. However, it should be noted that campaign officials — not professionals — were also taking photos and videos of the day’s events.
Cheung also claimed on Tuesday night after the news broke that, “There was no physical altercation as described, and we are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made” in a statement to ABC News.
Trump campaign staffers posted multiple pictures and videos of Trump visiting Arlington Cemetery, including from what appears to be Section 60, using the moment to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris’ absence. Trump was at the cemetery on the third anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate during the withdrawal from Afghanistan to pay tribute to the 13 U.S. Service members killed in the incident.
In one video posted by Trump campaign’s senior adviser Chris LaCivita, Trump can be seen laying flowers on the grave of Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss, who died in the attack. LaCivita wrote in the post that Trump was speaking on the phone with Knauss’ family, who couldn’t make it to the ceremony on Monday.
Multiple other Trump campaign staffers posted photos from there, and some of the images were then shared by the Trump campaign on their official X account.
Prior to the event, the cemetery had been explicit in its rule that no Trump activity could be filmed during his visit to Section 60.
Monday’s press pool note read: “The family visit to Section 60 following the wreath laying is private and at their explicit request, there will be NO coverage at that location. Your POOL will wait inside the press van during this visit. POOL will then be taken to an unknown location for an OTR stop to round out the morning.”
On Tuesday, following NPR’s report, Cheung said in a statement that “there was no physical altercation as described.” He also claimed someone “decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team.”
In a statement to ABC News, LaCivita, a combat-wounded Marine, stressed that Trump “was there on the invitation of the Abbey Gate Gold Star Families to honor their loved ones who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country,” calling the individual who attempted to block Trump campaign officials “despicable.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is facing backlash after a post on Tuesday that showed two side-by-side images that disparaged immigrants, writing “Import the third world. Become the third world.”
The image on the left, captioned “Your neighborhood under Trump,” shows a nice, clean town home with the American flag hanging. There are no people in the photo.
The image on the right, captioned “Your neighborhood under Kamala,” shows a cropped version of a Getty Images photo of migrants in New York City in August 2023.
The photo mostly features people of color. The Getty Images caption describes the people in the photo as recent migrants that were camping outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, which had been made into a reception center for migrants.
Critics, responding to the post, are accusing the campaign of doubling down on racial hostility and an anti-immigrant sentiment.
“Don’t just take our word for it. They are showing all of us just how racist they are,” wrote NAACP’s X account. “This is what’s on the ballot this November.”
“Well, didn’t take too long for the Trump campaign to get to the openly racist part of their effort,” Bill Burton, former deputy press secretary for former President Barack Obama, wrote in a post on X.
The Trump campaign doubled down on the post, saying it “emphasizes the contrast between President Trump and Kamala Harris’ immigration policies.”
“President Trump puts Americans first and secured our border. Kamala Harris has opened our border to millions of illegal immigrants from all over the world and has forced struggling taxpayers to pay for their free entry into the country,” Trump campaign’s national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News in a statement.
Former Trump campaign adviser Bryan Lanza also defended the post on CNN Tuesday night, saying race was not a factor and “[he doesn’t’] think Republicans look at skin color.”
“I don’t think that that image is racist,” Republican commentator Tricia McLaughlin also said on CNN with Lanza. “I think that they’re showing chaos.”
On the campaign trail, Trump has repeated disparaging rhetoric on undocumented immigrants, claiming they’re criminals and mental health patients and often describing them with racially charged language, calling them “animals” or saying they’re “poisoning the blood of our country.”
The Trump campaign has used similar images and rhetoric showing migrant encampments in their campaign ads and other materials, claiming Vice President Kamala Harris’ agenda includes putting “illegals first.” In addition to highlighting various migrant crimes, the Trump campaign touts its “America-first agenda” as well as their promise of mass deportation on Day 1 of his presidency should he win.
Trump continues to spread the false claim that Harris was appointed “border czar,” despite Harris never actually having special responsibilities relating to the border.
Rather, Harris was tasked with leading diplomatic efforts to “address the root causes” of migration in Central America, primarily focusing on El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. In fact, Biden served a similar role when he was vice president.
“Kamala Harris has pursued a policy of allowing large numbers of unvetted migrants into our country. It has led to predictable and extremely tragic results,” Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, wrote Wednesday morning on X.
During an interview on X Monday night, Trump told Musk that the migrant crisis has “overwhelmed” New York City.
Trump also insisted on repeating sweeping claims that undocumented immigrants are “non-productive” people even after Musk said undocumented immigrants are “probably good, hard-working people.”
At the Republican National Convention last month, Trump emphasized his stance on immigration, and attendees displayed signs calling for “Mass Deportations Now.”
(CHICAGO) — The Democratic National Convention has seen the party’s top leaders advocate for Vice President Kamala Harris to win the White House this November.
Among the many speakers to take the DNC stage this week was Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic Senate candidate in Maryland who stands to make history as the first Black woman senator to represent the state.
In an interview with ABC News at the DNC on Thursday Alsobrooks praised Harris for bringing unity to the Democratic party.
“She is absolutely the leader of our party — she’s already bringing the party together. The unity that we have seen cross-generationally from older to younger has been so refreshing,” Alsobrooks said.
When voters head to the polls this November, Alsobrooks believes there’s a choice between Harris’ “positive” vision for the nation’s future and the “hatred and division” from former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
“People are very interested in putting Donald Trump exactly where he belongs, which is in America’s past,” Alsobrooks said.
“We’re talking about the future,” Alsobrooks said of Harris’ campaign. “We’re talking about our imagination again, about innovation and American ideals and values. And these are all messages that resonate with Americans and they’re going to continue to come out and support this positive vision for the future,” she added.
Alsobrooks believes young Americans are going to head to the polls for Harris to protect women’s right to choose, and voting rights as well as endorse climate change and gun violence measures.
“These are issues that are really resonating with especially younger voters, who are going to show out in huge numbers and ensure that they have leaders who hear their concerns and can respond to them,” Alsobrooks said.
In Maryland, Alsobrooks is campaigning against former Gov. Larry Hogan in a race that has the potential to reshape the currently Democrat-controlled Senate.
Echoing her remarks on Harris’ campaign, Alsobrooks said, “This election is about the future and it’s also about democracy, freedom and about preserving the majority in the Senate of the United States.”
Alsobrooks highlighted the importance of the Senate’s role in controlling the “agenda for our country,” saying the visions between the two parties are “really so different from each other.”
In a bid to Maryland voters, Alsobrooks said her campaign is running on economic growth, medical care for families in need, bringing jobs and infrastructure to the state, growing affordable housing and supporting a woman’s right to choose.