Month: December 2023

On Monday, Special counsel Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to quickly review a bid by former President Donald Trump to have the federal election interference charges against him dismissed. Citing its importance to the nation, Smith petitioned the high court to urgently rule on Trump’s argument that he enjoys sweeping immunity against charges he was at the center of a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently overturn his 2020 presidential election loss to Joe Biden.

Smith wrote in seeking an expedited review of the matter, “This case involves issues of exceptional national importance,” noting the former president’s trial is scheduled to begin on March 4. The counsel asked the Supreme Court take up the matter on a “certiorari” basis, urging it to consider the case before it is ruled on by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Smith said a quick ruling by the Supreme Court is necessary because the case is essentially frozen while a potentially lengthy appeals process is underway. If allowed to do so, the process could push the trial date beyond the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is the frontrunner to again win the Republican Party nomination.

Trump is facing four counts accusing him of conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 presidential election; his team are trying to have the charges thrown out on broad claims he is shielded from criminal prosecution for official presidential conduct.

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According to an Air Force investigation released Monday, fifteen airmen have been disciplined (including with removal of their command) for failing to take proper action when they became aware of accused leaker Jack Teixeira’s activities. The internal review is separate from the Justice Department’s criminal investigation, which led to Teixeira’s indictment earlier this year on six charges of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Teixeira pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial date.

The watchdog report found no evidence that Teixeira’s immediate superiors were aware at the time of his intelligence-seeking activities; however, the report details a pattern of oversight by Air Force officials at Teixiera’s base that indirectly contributed to his ability to gather and then leak classified documents without being caught. The report states that other airmen knew he was improperly accessing the sensitive materials.  According to the Air Force, the 15 service members range in rank from staff sergeant to colonel, and have since been removed from their positions, receiving non-judicial administrative punishments.

Teixeira, an airman 1st class, is accused of spreading highly classified materials through the popular online platform Discord to a small group. Following his arrest in April, the Air Force inspector general was tasked with reviewing the environment around Teixeira and the compliance with policy, procedures and standards by the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts where Teixeira was serving as an IT specialist.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a statement: “Every Airman … is entrusted with the solemn duty to safeguard our nation’s classified defense information. When there is a breach of that sacred trust, for any reason, we will act in accordance with our laws and policies to hold responsible individuals accountable. Our national security demands leaders at every level protect critical assets, ensuring they do not fall into the hands of those who would do the United States or our allies and partners harm.”

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Former President Donald Trump announced that he is no longer planning to testify in his civil fraud trial in New York on Monday. Trump was expected to take the witness stand to testify in his own defense against allegations that his family and his business engaged in fraud, but he reversed course Sunday, writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday in an all-caps message that he “WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY. MAGA!”  Trump said that he’s already testified and has nothing more to say on the matter — and that the entire trial is an attempt at election interference.

Trump’s attorney Chris Kise said in a statement: “President Trump has already testified. There is really nothing more to say to a Judge who has imposed an unconstitutional gag order and thus far appears to have ignored President Trump’s testimony and that of everyone else involved in the complex financial transactions at issue in the case. The Attorney General continues her rabid and unreasonable pursuit of President Trump, obviously intent on driving profitable businesses out of New York. Under such circumstances, there is no valid reason for President Trump to testify further in this case.”

Trump and his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are defendants in the lawsuit. Trump testified earlier in the trial under questions from the New York attorney general’s office, and his lawyers had been expected to question him as part of his defense on Monday.

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University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) president Elizabeth Magill has voluntarily resigned from her post, amid backlash in the wake of her testimony during a congressional hearing on anti-Semitic harassment on campus.

UPenn Board of Trustees Chairman Scott Bok said in a letter to the school community on Saturday announcing Magill’s resignation as president that Magill has “voluntarily tendered her resignation” as president of the University of Pennsylvania but will remain a tenured faculty member at the university’s law school. Said Bok: “On behalf of the entire Penn community, I want to thank President Magill for her service to the University as President and wish her well.”

Magill said in a statement shared by the board: “It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution. It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”  The board’s executive committee also announced that Bok has stepped down as chairman of the University of Pennsylvania’s Board of Trustees.

Magill’s resignation comes as pressure mounted on her, as well as Harvard President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth, due to their testimony last Tuesday in front of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce at a hearing entitled “Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Anti-Semitism.”  After Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked all three university presidents if they considered rallies calling for genocide against Jewish people to be harassment worthy of action, Gay said the answer wasn’t cut-and-dried and depended on context, such as if the speech is “targeted at an individual.” Magill said it could be a violation of school policy if it was followed up by certain conduct, while Kornbluth such calls for genocide would be “investigated as harassment if pervasive and severe.

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