Judge denies Meadows’ request to move Arizona ‘fake elector’ case to federal court
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(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) — First lady Jill Biden welcomed the cast of “The West Wing” to the White House Friday, in celebration of the television show’s 25th anniversary.
“Your work inspired so many to step forward and serve our country, maybe even some of the people here today working in Congress, at nonprofits, or on political campaigns, or at the White House,” the first lady said, calling that effect the “power of storytelling.”
“The West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin explained how they would occasionally hear about someone who was inspired to enter public service because of the show.
“That’s something that 25 years ago this week, none of us could have foreseen or even dared to hope for,” he said.
He also referred to Biden withdrawing from the presidential race in July as a “’West Wing’ moment.”
“Over the years, I’ve noticed that during times of peak political tension, pundits will warn us not to expect a ‘West Wing’ moment. They mean not to expect a selfless act of statesmanship, not to expect anyone to put country first,” Sorkin said. “But the fact is, ‘West Wing’ moments do happen, and Dr. Biden, we saw proof of that on the morning of July 21.”
Sorkin was also joined at Friday’s event by the show’s cast members, including actor Martin Sheen, who referred to his character of President Jed Bartlet as a “wonderful character that changed [his] life.”
“The West Wing” debuted on Sept. 22, 1999 and ran for seven seasons. The political drama’s many accolades include 26 Emmy Awards out of 95 nominations, as well as two Golden Globe Awards and two consecutive Peabody Awards.
Bradley Whitford, who played White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the show, was absent from Friday’s event but expressed his regret in a lengthy social media post for missing it, as well as Monday’s Emmy Awards, during which “The West Wing” stars Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Dulé Hill, Janel Moloney and Richard Schiff present the Emmy for Best Drama Series.
“I’m in Budapest on another White House set pretending to work for another administration. (I know. I need to work on my range),” Whitford quipped on X.
“So what’s next? To celebrate our anniversary, I hope you will check your voter registration and make a plan to vote!!!” he concluded.
(WASHINGTON) — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D, said Sunday that Democrats are “moving forward” after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign and passed the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday pressed Klobuchar on comments Biden made, saying that Democrats were concerned that his presence atop the ticket this November would drag down House and Senate candidates. Klobuchar didn’t speculate on what caused Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential race but cast Harris’ candidacy as a turning of the page in the Democratic Party.
“He made the honorable decision, he took the honorable path. And for me, I am not looking in the rearview mirror about who said what, and who hurt whose feelings. For me, this is about, as Kamala Harris has said over and over again, this is about moving forward and not going backward,” Klobuchar said.
“People are interested in moving forward, and they respect President Biden. I love Joe Biden, but we are moving forward as a party and as a nation,” she said.
Klobuchar, like other Democratic lawmakers, expressed excitement about Harris’ candidacy and her selection of Tim Walz — Klobuchar’s state governor — as her running mate, swatting away attacks that the pair is too liberal to defeat former President Donald Trump.
“Kamala Harris is [a] voice of the future, but when you look at what she’s done in her life, she was a prosecutor running the biggest attorney general’s office in the United States of America. She put people behind bars. She went after murderers and rapists. So, they can try to paint her whatever way they want, but that was her North Star for many, many years,” Klobuchar said. “She is not going to let this get to her, and nor is Tim Walz, who was a fantastic choice for vice president.”
Still, Klobuchar had to play some defense for the new Democratic ticket.
Harris has not extensively talked to the media since becoming the presidential nominee, sparking criticism from Republicans — though she did say she hopes to schedule a sit-down interview with a media outlet by the end of the month.
“Twenty-one days, Jonathan, of running for president, before that she did tons of interviews. She’s done interviews with you. She’s done interviews. I’m sure she’s going to do interviews. Just last night in Nevada she talked to the press. I was reading about some of her answers. Look, she is going to talk to the press,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar also defended Walz, who found himself facing criticism last week over past comments suggesting he served in combat during his 24 years in the Army National Guard, even though he did not. (In a video clip tweeted out by the Harris campaign last week, Walz tells an audience that he carried guns “in war” while trying to make the case for restrictions on gun access.) Republicans also raised questions over his retirement and whether he knew his unit was going to be deployed to Iraq when he retired to run for Congress.
The Harris campaign said he misspoke about serving in a war zone, and Klobuchar and other Democrats have defended the timing of his retirement, with conflicting reports emerging over whether he was aware of the pending deployment when he made his decision in 2005.
“I think he made the decision that he was going to run for Congress, and that was his decision. He served four years longer than he would have had to serve to retire in the Guard. He stepped down simply because he made a decision to run,” Klobuchar said. “That’s why he stepped down, and it’s completely acceptable.”
(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.”
