Category Archives: Donald Trump

Just a few months ago, the Republican presidential primary seemed as if it might include a frank and vigorous debate about the leadership and limitations of Donald J. Trump.

But any appetite for criticism of Mr. Trump among Republicans has nearly evaporated in a very short time. Voters rallied around him after his criminal indictment in March on charges related to hush money for a porn star, and potential rivals have faltered, with few willing to take direct aim at the former president and front-runner for the nomination.

In a live town hall on CNN on Wednesday, the cheers for every falsehood and insult that Mr. Trump uttered under tough questioning by a moderator showed there was little to no daylight between Mr. Trump and the Republican base. A quirky effort to disrupt the love-in by Chris Christie a potential rival who bought Facebook ads to supply audience members with skeptical questions such as Why are you afraid of debating? went nowhere.

In surveys and focus groups, a fair share of Republican voters say that they would prefer a less polarizing, more electable nominee. But a near taboo against criticizing Mr. Trump has made it hard for rivals, apart from Mr. Christie and one or two others near the bottom of polls, to stand out.

In what looks like a rerun of the 2016 Republican primary, almost none of Mr. Trumps competitors have openly gone after him, despite his glaring vulnerabilities. Instead, they are hoping now as then that he will somehow self-destruct, leaving them to inherit his voters.

After a jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll on Tuesday, Mike Pence, the former vice president, who is weighing a 2024 campaign, declined to criticize Mr. Trump. In an interview with NBC News, Mr. Pence said it was just one more story focusing on my former running mate that I know is a great fascination to members of the national media, but I just dont think its where the American people are focused.

Other 2024 candidates either defended Mr. Trump, such as the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, or played down the verdict, including Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor. Ms. Haley, who announced her candidacy in February, even defended Mr. Trump this week for threatening to skip Republican primary debates. With the numbers he has now, why would he go get on a debate stage and risk that? she said.

Only two 2024 hopefuls found the verdict in the Carroll case to be disqualifying for a would-be president: Mr. Christie and Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor. Mr. Hutchinson criticized Mr. Trumps contempt for the rule of law.

Several months ago, polling had suggested Mr. Trump could be a potentially weak candidate, with only 25 to 35 percent support from Republican voters in high-quality surveys. The Republican National Committee promised an autopsy of the 2022 midterms that was expected to address Mr. Trumps role in the partys surprising losses.

But today, the lane in the Republican primary for a candidate who is openly critical of Mr. Trump seems to be closing.

Mr. Hutchinsons long-shot campaign has failed to gain notice. Mr. Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, who has promised a decision this month on whether he will run, also has yet to generate much interest. Even the occasionally critical Mr. Pence, who mildly suggested Mr. Trump would be accountable to history for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, is struggling for affirmation from the Republican base.

And the R.N.C. autopsy of the midterms? A draft reportedly did not mention Mr. Trump at all.

David Kochel, a Republican strategist who advised Jeb Bush when he ran against Mr. Trump in 2016, said there was no opportunity for a candidate openly critical of Mr. Trump in the 2024 primary.

Voters have seen Trump as the most attacked president of their lifetimes, and they have an allergic reaction to one of their own doing it, Mr. Kochel said. Hes built up these incredible antibodies, in part stemming from how the base perceives he has been treated.

A CBS News poll released this month found that among likely Republican primary voters, only an insignificant handful, 7 percent, wanted a candidate who criticizes Trump.

The three candidates whom voters are the least open to considering, the survey found, are those who have criticized Mr. Trump to varying degrees: Mr. Christie, Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Pence.

David Carney, a Republican strategist in New Hampshire, said he had expected the race to be more competitive by now, but a turning point occurred in March with Mr. Trumps indictment in New York.

It fell into the presidents narrative of the past five years, Mr. Carney said, referring to Mr. Trumps portrayal of himself as a victim of a criminal justice system out to get him. Mr. Carney described what he called a boomerang effect on Republican primary polls. Theyre beating up your guy theres a rallying around the flag.

Mr. Trumps rivals could still see a surge in support between now and next years first primary contests, but for the time being he is dominating all challengers. A polling average shows him with a 30-point lead over his closest rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has yet to formally announce his run. All other candidates, declared and potential, are distant afterthoughts in the race, for now.

The former president is insulated from criticism, strategists said, because of the intense and dug-in partisanship of the Republican base, and because many of those voters get information only from right-wing sources, which have minimized the Jan. 6 attack and obscured Mr. Trumps 2020 loss.

They barely have access to the truth, said Sarah Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist. Ms. Longwell, who hosts a podcast about Republican voters called The Focus Group, said a sizable share of primary voters wanted to move on from Mr. Trump.

But according to polling, a majority of Republican voters dont believe Mr. Trump really lost in 2020. Every politician on their team, everyone they know and all the media they consume all tells them that the election was stolen, Ms. Longwell said.

Mr. Christie, the most sharply critical 2024 hopeful of Mr. Trump, recently attacked the former president, calling him a child for denying the 2020 election results and cowardly for suggesting he might duck Republican debates.

But when Mr. Christie tested the electoral waters during visits to New Hampshire the past two months, including at the same college where Mr. Trumps town hall took place on Wednesday, his crowds seemed tilted toward independents and even Democrats, including those who knew him as the house conservative on ABC News.

One element that may factor in Mr. Christies calculus: The New Hampshire primary next year could favor an anti-Trump Republican because of an influx of independent voters. Because Democrats chose South Carolina as their first nominating state and because President Biden may not appear on the New Hampshire ballot or campaign in the state up to 100,000 independents are expected to cast ballots in the Republican race, where they could tilt the results.

Independents are open to voting for a Republican candidate, said Matt Mowers, who served as Mr. Christies New Hampshire state director in 2016, but they arent open to voting for a crazy Republican.

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Why the Anti-Trump Republican Primary Has Yet to Emerge - The New York Times

Theres usually a simple rule of thumb for thinking about outlying poll results: Toss it in the average, and dont think too hard about it. After all, outlying poll results are inevitable, simply by chance. When they occur, it shouldnt be any surprise.

But sometimes, that guidance gets a little hard to follow. The most recent ABC/Washington Post poll is proving to be one of those cases.

In a startling finding, the poll found Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis each leading President Biden by seven percentage points, with Mr. Biden trailing among young people and struggling badly among nonwhite voters. After a few days of relentless media conversation, even Ive been forced to abandon the usual rule of thumb.

Make no mistake: This survey is an outlier. The Post article reporting the result acknowledged as much. But of all the cases over the last few years when an outlier has dominated the political discourse, this may be one of the more useful ones. For one, it may not be quite as much as an outlier as you might assume. Even if it is, it may nonetheless help readers internalize something that might have been hard to believe without such a stark survey result: Mr. Trump is quite competitive at the outset of the race.

To the extent the usual rule of thumb would mean dismissing the poll result and returning to an assumption that Mr. Trump cant win, the usual guidance might be counterproductive.

Before I go on, I should acknowledge that I do have a few gripes with this survey. It reported the results among all adults, not registered or likely voters. The question about the presidential matchup explicitly offered respondents the option to say theyre still undecided, which could tend to disadvantage the candidate with less enthusiastic support. For good measure, the matchup was buried 16th in the questionnaire, following other questions about the debt ceiling, abortion, the presidential primary, the allegations against Mr. Trump and so on.

But my various gripes probably dont explain Mr. Trumps strength. The poll actually did report a result among registered voters and still found Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis ahead by six. And just a few months ago, an entirely different ABC/Post survey asked about the presidential matchup among registered voters in the typical way, without offering undecided as an option. What did they find? Mr. Trump still led by three points among registered voters. Similarly, they found him leading by two last September.

Interestingly, the January and September surveys showed all of the same peculiar results by subgroup Mr. Trumps lead among young voters (18 to 39), and the staggering Democratic weakness among nonwhite voters. And while this was not included in the most recent poll, Mr. Trump led among voters making less than $50,000 per year, historically a Democratic voting group. No other high-quality survey has consistently shown Mr. Biden performing so poorly, especially among young voters.

All of this means that the ABC/Post poll isnt quite like the usual outlier. This consistent pattern requires more than just statistical noise and random sampling. Something else is at play, whether thats something about the ABC/Post methodology, the underlying bias in telephone response patterns nowadays, or some combination of the above. It should be noted that the ABC/Post poll is nearly the last of the traditional, live-interview, random-digit-dialing telephone surveys that dominated public polling for much of the last half-century. So its easy to understand why it could produce different results, even if its not obvious why it produces them.

But if no other survey has matched the ABC/Post poll, it would probably be wrong to say that its entirely alone in showing a weak Biden. Yes, its alone in showing Mr. Trump ahead by seven (counting leaners). But even the last Times/Siena poll, in October, showed Mr. Trump ahead by one point among registered voters. So far this year, the average of all polls has shown an essentially tied race.

And virtually all of the polling shows an admittedly more muted version of the same basic demographic story, especially among nonwhite voters. Even excluding ABC/Post polling altogether (in clear violation of the toss it in the average rule), Mr. Biden still has a mere 49-37 lead over Mr. Trump among Hispanic voters and just a 70-18 lead among Black voters. In each case, Mr. Biden is far behind usual Democratic benchmarks, and it comes on the heels of a midterm election featuring unusually low Black turnout.

If the lesson from the ABC/Post poll is that Mr. Biden is vulnerable and weak among usually reliable Democratic constituencies, then perhaps the takeaway from an outlying poll isnt necessarily a misleading one.

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An Outlier Poll on Trump vs. Biden That Still Informs - The New York Times

How does George Santos lie? Let us count the ways.

It is far too easy to mock Santos. His serial fantasies seem, in some ways, more amusing and frivolous than serious and dangerous. Who, after all, lies about being a volleyball star? If you are going to lie, go bigat least claim to be a basketball star.

But mocking Santos in this way both trivializes his rampant criminality and obscures his potent symbolism. Santos is not just a criminal in his own right; he is also a Donald Trump Mini-Me, exemplifying the intersection of the Big Lie form of politics and serial criminality. In his indictment, there are lessons to learn about both the degradation of politics and the limits of criminal laws ability to resist that degradation.

Some of Santoss alleged criminality is almost prosaic. Prosecutors allege that in June 2020, during the early months of the COVID pandemic, Santos sought unemployment benefits in New York, even though he was employed by a Florida investment firm (apparently, Harbor City Capital) earning a salary of $120,000 annually. If these facts are proven true, Santos is little more than a garden-variety crook trying to scam the federal government.

The more notable allegations involve Santoss fundraising activities during his campaign for Congress. Santos is alleged to have personally profited from a fraud involving his solicitation of contributions to assist in his congressional campaign. Election finance law allows the creation of a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(4) of the tax laws for the purpose of making independent expenditures on behalf of a candidate. Because these independent organizations have only limited obligations to disclose the sources of their funding, they are considered an effective and useful way of influencing elections without too much public exposure.

But to be lawful, the 501(c)(4) organization has to be an actual non-profit and spend money independently to advance a candidates campaign. According to the prosecutors, in Santoss case, neither happened. The company in question appears to be a for-profit Florida company named RedStone Strategies, and the money collected was sent to Santoss personal bank accounts where he used the money to buy luxury designer clothing and pay part of his outstanding car loan, among other things.

Podcast May 11 2023

From promising a general amnesty to Jan 6 rioters, to re-victimizing E. Jean Carroll on

In other words, even though Santos and those who worked for him told the contributors that the money would pay for political ads to advance Santoss campaign, Santos instead put the money in his own pocket and used it for his personal benefit. The lies that Santos told by email and by text are at the heart of the criminal wire fraud charges against him. And transferring $74,000 from the company to his own personal account is said to be evidence of laundering the criminal proceeds for his own benefit.

Again, a simple frauda lie told in an effort to separate the rubes from their money. But this time it is a crime with larger political implications, not because of Santos, but because of how his alleged crimes mimic Trump and those around him. In 2019, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million because money Trump raised supposedly for veterans actually went to his presidential campaign. The House January 6th Committee uncovered that money Trump raised for his legal defense (i.e., his efforts in court to overturn the 2020 election) actually went to a political action committee. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was charged with fraud for raising money putatively to building a wall on the southern border, then pocketing it.

Special Counsel Jack Smith is said to be gathering evidence about whether or not Trumps team solicited donations with false claims of election fraud. The idea is that Trump lost the 2020 election and that he knew he had lost. At least two outside consulting firms hired by the Trump team investigated those claims and reported to the Trump team that his claims of election fraud were not supported by any evidence.

It appears, however, that notwithstanding their knowledge that the election was lost fair and square, Trumps Save America PAC solicited and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from donors via email solicitations that claimed the election had been stolen. In much the same way that Santoss lies soliciting funds came to form the basis of charges against him, one can readily imagine that emails sent out to small-dollar donors saying, in effect, send us $25 so we can prove that Trump won the election would likewise be subject to potential fraud charges if those who crafted them or who directed that they be sent knew that it would not be possible to prove the election claims.

To be sure, there are differences in the two cases. Fund-raising solicitations are well-known for the proliferation of vague, unprovable, and overblown claims. It is no crime, for example, for Trump to say, elect me and I will cut taxes, even if he knows he cannot achieve that goal. Whether or not Trumps solicitations crossed the line from grandiose puffery to criminal fraud depends on the precise phrasing of the solicitations, how they were perceived by the victims who donated funds, and the depth of the knowledge of falsity held by those who sent the emails. These are all questions that need to be further examined.

And, likewise, unlike Santos (and Bannon), there is, as yet, no evidence that Trump put the money in his own pocket. So the personal profit motive that Santos is facing may not be present in a Trump-related case. Those differences may well matter in the end.

Or they may not. The charges against Santos, like those against Bannon, are a template for potential charges involving the Trump campaign. While personal profit is a robust motivation, so is maintaining the narcissistic fiction of a stolen election. Whatever the motivation, it is a crime to lie to those from whom you solicit money.

Bannon was pardoned by Trump for that crime. Santos faces criminal charges. Both are Trumpian fraudsters on a smaller scale. And so, perhaps, the Santos case is a trial run for these types of allegations. If so, Trump may yet face fraud charges as well.

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How Is George Santos Different from Donald Trump? - The Bulwark

Indiana Sen. Todd Young strongly rebuked Donald Trump Thursday, telling reporters in Washington D.C. that he wont support his fellow Republican in his 2024 run for the GOP presidential nomination.

When asked why, according to several tweets, Young said, Where do I begin?

Young named at least one factor in the brief exchange: Trumps failure to vocalize his support for Ukraine in the yearlong conflict following the Russian invasion.

I think President Trumps judgment is wrong in this case. (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and his government have been engaged in war crimes Thats why I dont intend to support him for the Republican nomination, Young said, according to video tweeted by CNN reporter Manu Raju.

In a CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night, moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about whether Ukraine should win the war, Trump said, he didnt think in terms of winning or losing.

I want everybody to stop dying, Trump said.

He declined to support Ukraine explicitly and pushed back against calling Putin a war criminal.

In a separate Twitter thread, HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic shared more from Young, who said he didnt believe Trump could unite people.

You want a nominee to win the general election. As President Trump says, I prefer winners. He just consistently loses. In fact, he has a habit of losing not just his own elections, but losing elections for others, Young said. I dont think conservatives would be well-served by electing someone whose core competency seems to be owning someone on Twitter.

Young sidestepped a direct question about whether hed support Trump in the general election if he won the nomination, saying he didnt think hed win. He added, Republicans are in a winning mood. We want to win. We know hes the shortest path to losing.

Donald Trump talks gun rights but not his criminal charges at NRA convention

Young was just re-elected in 2022 to a six-year term. He has broken with Trump on several key issues, including the presidents desire for then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election results.

Politico noted that Young was one of only four Senate GOP incumbents that Trump didnt endorse for re-election.

Sen. Mike Braun, who will not run for re-election in 2024, declined to respond to Youngs Thursday comments, but his office pointed to recent remarks made following Aprils NRA convention indicating Brauns full support for the former president.

Its not that difficult, Braun told Fox News Digital on April 22. I think when it comes to that candidate that can portray what was working so well pre-COVID, we know who that was. It was President Trump.

Braun opted to run for Indianas open gubernatorial seat in 2024, freeing up his post for Congressman Jim Banks, a long-time and enthusiastic supporter of Trump who reiterated his approval for Trump as recently as April 20.

Banks currently faces opposition in neither the primary nor the general election.

Trump appeared on CNN Wednesday as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in the 2024 election. Other declared candidates for the nomination include: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Ryan Binkley, Larry Elder, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Perry Johnson and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is also rumored to be considering a run for the Republican nomination.

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Sen. Todd Young says he won't support Trump nomination - Indiana Capital Chronicle

nominee Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in the Rodeo Arena at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds October 29, 2016 in Golden, Colorado. The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Friday it discovered emails pertinent to the closed investigation of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's private email server and are looking to see if they improperly contained classified information. Trump said "I think it's the biggest story since Watergate." (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump took a victory lap Thursday, bragging about the sky high ratings for his town hall appearance on CNN Wednesday. People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they havent seen in a very long time. It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!

CNN, which has languished in third place behind MSNBC and Fox News Channel, jumped into first place Wednesday night, with its controversial Trump town hall delivering a total audience of 3.264 million viewers. CNN also drew more than 2 million viewers in the hours before and immediately after the town hall. CNN slipped back into third place in the 10 p.m. ET hour, but still had an audience well above its recent average, 1.23 million viewers.

But the network was harshly criticized for allowing Trump to repeat lies about the 2020 election being stolen and to disparage the criminal cases against him, including laughing a jurys verdict finding that Trump has sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, writing in CNNs Reliable Sources newsletter, said while moderator Kaitlan Collins is largely receiving praise for her relentless fact-checking of the former president, she was facing an impossible task. CNN and new network boss Chris Licht are facing a fury of criticism both internally and externally over the event.

On CNN Thursday evening, Anderson Cooper defending the networks decision to host Trump, saying you have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again. But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?

Later in the evening, Kaitlan Collinswho moderated the town hall session and tried repeatedly to counter Trumps lies, only to be called nasty by the former presidentdefended the event as newsworthy. Anchoring the networks CNN Primetime, Collins opened the hour by saying about last night before describing the town hall as a major inflection point in the Republican Partys search for its nominee, and potentially the starting line for Americas next presidential race.

Collins aired clips of Republicans in Congress who criticized Trumps performance, including Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who said I think people saw last night what they would get with another term of Donald Trump as president, which is completely untethered to the truth.

Trump ridiculed criticism from both the left and right, saying in a message on Truth Social that the Radical Left screamed take it down, take it down during the Show because they saw that I was making so many important points on the Border, Energy Independence, the Afghanistan Catastrophe, Inflation, the Economy, Russia/Ukraine, and so much more. Many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer Brilliance.

While CNNs ratings were sky high compared to recent months, the town hall sagged compared to previous town hall events with Trump. Sean Hannitys town hall with Trump in June 2020 drew 5.1 million viewers on Fox News, and CNNs event Wednesday trailed the ratings for four other Trump town halls that aired on Fox, all delivering ratings between 3.5 and 4.2 million viewers. CNNs highest-rated town hall was with President Biden in 2021, which drew 3.7 million viewers.

Mark Joyella is a five-time Emmy Award-winning reporter and news anchor for television stations in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and New York City. He's worked in cable news at CNN and Fox and his writing has appeared in Adweek, the New York Post, the Orlando Sentinel, The Dallas Morning News and Men's Health.

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Donald Trump Defends CNNs Town Hall, Brags About Sky High Ratings - Forbes

In little over an hour, Donald J. Trump suggested the United States should default on its debts for the first time in history, injected doubt over the countrys commitment to defending Ukraine from Russias invasion, dangled pardons for most of the Capitol rioters convicted of crimes, and refused to say he would abide by the results of the next presidential election.

The second-term vision Mr. Trump sketched out at a CNN town-hall event on Wednesday would represent a sharp departure from core American values that have been at the bedrock of the nation for decades: its creditworthiness, its credibility with international allies and its adherence to the rule of law at home.

Mr. Trumps provocations were hardly shocking. His time in office was often defined by a the-rules-dont-apply-to-me approach to governance and a lack of interest in upholding the post-World War II national security order, and at 76 he is not bound to change much.

But his performance nonetheless signaled an escalation of his bid to bend the government to his wishes as he runs again for the White House, only this time with a greater command of the Republican Partys pressure points and a plan to demolish the federal bureaucracy.

The televised event crystallized that the version of Mr. Trump who could return to office in 2025 vowing to be a vehicle of retribution is likely to govern as he did in 2020. In that final year of his presidency, Mr. Trump cleared out people perceived as disloyal and promoted those who would fully indulge his instincts things he did not always do during the first three years of his administration, when his establishmentarian advisers often talked him out of drastic policy changes.

From my perspective, there was an evolution of Donald Trump over his four years, with 2020 I think being the most dramatic example of him the real him, said Mark T. Esper, who served as Mr. Trumps defense secretary. And I suspect that would be his starting point if he were to win office in 2024.

In a statement, Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, dismissed criticisms of the former president, who he said spoke directly to Americans suffering from the Biden decline and President Trumps desire to bring about security and economic prosperity on Day 1. He added, Understandably, this vision is not shared by the failed warmongers, political losers and career bureaucratic hacks many of whom he fired or defeated who have created all of Americas problems.

At the town-hall event, Mr. Trump almost cavalierly floated ideas that would reshape the nations standing in the world, vowing to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours and declining to commit to supporting the country, an American ally that has relied on billions of dollars in aid to hold off the Russian onslaught.

Do you want Ukraine to win this war? CNNs Kaitlan Collins pressed.

Mr. Trump evaded.

I dont think in terms of winning and losing, he replied, adding that he was focused on winding down the conflict. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people. He did not mention that the majority of the killing has been committed by Russia.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and is close to President Biden, said there were fears internationally of Mr. Trumps return.

His performance last night just reinforced what so many of our allies and partners have told me concerns them over the past two years that a return of Trump to the White House would be a return to the chaos, he said.

Some Republican elected officials who are skeptical of U.S. aid to Ukraine praised Mr. Trumps performance. Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio called his Ukraine answer real statesmanship.

Mr. Miller argued that Mr. Trump had an entire term with no new wars, and hes ready to do it again.

In New Hampshire, the audience of Republicans lapped up Mr. Trumps one-liners and slew of insults to Ms. Collins (a nasty person, he jeered, echoing his old attack on Hillary Clinton), to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to E. Jean Carroll, the woman whom a jury this week found Mr. Trump liable of sexually abusing and defaming. And the crowd expressed no dissent as he again tried to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn his election loss.

It was a beautiful day, Mr. Trump said.

If he becomes president again, he said, he would most likely pardon a large portion of his supporters who were convicted over their actions on Jan. 6. They were there with love in their heart, he said of the crowd, which he beamed had been the largest of his career.

You see what youre going to get, which is a presidency untethered to the truth and untethered to the constitutional order, said Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the Republican Partys most prominent Trump critic remaining on Capitol Hill. The idea that people whove been convicted of crimes are all going to be pardoned, or for the most part pardoned, is quite a departure from the principles of the Constitution and of our party.

Mr. Trump also embraced the possibility of defaulting in the debt-ceiling standoff between President Biden and congressional Republicans, an act that economists say could spell catastrophe for the global economy.

You might as well do it now because youll do it later, because we have to save this country, Mr. Trump said. Our country is dying.

Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican who is running a long-shot campaign for president in 2024, said Mr. Trumps potential return to the White House posed an enormous risk for the nation.

He has shown such a disrespect for our institutions of government that are critical to our democracy, Mr. Hutchinson said, adding that he had been particularly unnerved by the talk of defaulting. He talked like it was OK for the United States to default on the debt. And thats like putting his past business practices of using bankruptcy as a tool and applying that to the government.

Despite such warnings from old-guard Republicans, the cheers from the conservative crowd in New Hampshire during the CNN event were an audible reminder of Mr. Trumps sizable lead in Republican primary polls.

Karl Rove, the architect of George W. Bushs two presidential victories, said in an interview that for true believers and ardent supporters, it was a boffo performance by Mr. Trump. But he said that other Republicans would now be forced to answer for a big pile of noxious material on their doorsteps.

Do other Republicans believe that rioters who attacked police, broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and, in some cases, attempted to overthrow the government should be pardoned? Mr. Rove asked. Do other Republicans agree that it doesnt matter if the United States government defaults on its debt? Do other Republicans not care who wins in Ukraine?

One of the most controversial policies of Mr. Trumps presidency was the forced separation of migrant parents from their children at the southern border, which Mr. Trump reversed himself on in June 2018 after a huge backlash.

But during the town hall on Wednesday, Mr. Trump suggested he would revive it. Well, when you have that policy, people dont come, he said. If a family hears theyre going to be separated, they love their family, they dont come.

Casual observers might be inclined, as some did in 2016, to take Mr. Trumps most extreme statements, such as his casual embrace of allowing the nation to default, seriously but not literally.

But underneath Mr. Trumps loose talk are detailed plans to bulldoze the federal civil service. These proposals have been incubating for more than two years within a network of well-funded and Trump-connected outside groups.

In the final, chaotic weeks of the 2020 election, Mr. Trumps lawyers, having crafted a novel legal theory in strict secrecy, released an executive order known as Schedule F that aimed to wipe out most employment protections against firing for tens of thousands of federal workers.

Mr. Trump ran out of time to carry out that plan. But a constellation of conservative groups has been preparing to revive the effort if he regains the presidency in 2025.

Pressed by Ms. Collins, Mr. Trump would not say he was willing to accept the 2024 results.

Former Representative Liz Cheney, who lost her Republican primary bid for re-election after helping lead the Houses investigation into Jan. 6, said of the Trump town hall, Virtually everything Donald Trump says enhances the case against him.

Donald Trump made clear yet again that he fully intended to corruptly obstruct Congresss official proceeding to count electoral votes in order to overturn the 2020 election, said Ms. Cheney, who has made opposing Mr. Trumps return to power her top political priority since her defeat last year. He says what happened on Jan. 6 was justified, and he celebrates those who attacked our Capitol.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump also denounced his former vice president, Mike Pence, for upholding the 2020 election results and waved off the suggestion that Mr. Pence had been at risk on Jan. 6, even though the Secret Service tried to evacuate him from the Capitol.

I dont think he was in any danger, Mr. Trump said.

Marc Short, who was with Mr. Pence that day as his chief of staff, called out Mr. Trumps double standard in defending violence by his supporters while claiming to broadly stand for law and order.

Many of us called for the prosecution of B.L.M. rioters when they destroyed private businesses, Mr. Short said, referring to Black Lives Matter supporters. Its hard to see how theres a different threshold when rioters injure law enforcement, threaten public officials and loot the Capitol.

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Trump Town Hall Shows His Second-Term Plan: Shattering Even ... - The New York Times

Trump litigation has long been plural, and its tough to keep track.

The May 9 jury verdict that Donald Trump abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll is more than a historic #metoo moment. As we process this front page news, lets not overlook the outcome of yet another Trump lawsuit that highlights the importance of protection against litigation intended to chill free speech.

Such lawsuits have a curious acronym: SLAPP (not a verb).

SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation, a tool to silence and-or intimidate criticism through costly legal proceedings. The idea is for the usually rich and-or powerful SLAPP such suits on anyone who criticizes them, silencing the speaker and bogging them down in court.

On May 3, a judge in New York dismissed Trumps most recent lawsuit against The New York Times and three of its reporters, citing the New York State anti-SLAPP law designed to quickly resolve such strategic litigation. The Times had won a Pulitzer in 2018 for stories detailing how Trump made hundreds of millions through dubious tax schemes.

As of April 2023, 32 states and the District of Columbia have anti-SLAPP laws, says Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press. Ohio is not one of them.

An outlier, Ohio should plug this statutory hole to ensure speech is free for all not just the rich, powerful and lawyered up. Anti-SLAPP laws protect debate at zoning hearings, complaints about medical care, criticism of public officials, environmentalists speaking out on behalf of the environment, activists criticizing the police, just to name a few.

The Trump lawsuit against The New York Times offers compelling fresh evidence to support anti-SLAPP protections. The narrative of this case is worthy of a plot line of the HBO hit show Succession. Trump sued The Times and his niece, Mary L. Trump, who gave his financial documents to the newspaper. He sought $100 million for tortious interference, saying that the Times caused Mary Trump to break her confidentiality agreement in a prior lawsuit involving their inheritance money.

(Succession writer Jesse Armstrong: For people who come from powerful families, there is nothing in life quite as interesting as being at court.)

Niece Mary Trump provided tax and financial documents to The Times, which published a lengthy unflattering report in 2018.

Justice Robert R. Reed (Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York: Commercial Division) tossed Trumps claim against The Times and its reporters, noting that its not just abusive libel suits that need to be SLAPPed down. (Trump didnt file a libel suit in this case because as plaintiff, he would have to prove what the Times wrote was false. He didnt want to go there.)

The court said:

In 2020, the New York Legislature broadened the States anti-SLAPP law to make it easier for defendants to obtain dismissals.

The new law requires courts to broadly construe the term public interest to cover cases involving any communication in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest or any other lawful conduct in furtherance of the exercise of the constitutional right of free speech in connection with an issue of public interest.

Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman of Lima introduced anti-SLAPP legislation in 2019 (Senate Bill 215), and remains supportive of enacting anti-SLAPP protection.

The worthy goal of safeguarding against strategic lawsuits intended to chill speech and criticism does not mean that legitimate grievances cant be decided in court. Dismissing baseless, frivolous claims enables courts to focus on serious matters.

Ohio should join the majority of states that enacted laws to disincentivize SLAPP lawsuits.

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A lesson for Ohio from Donald Trump: Fill the void to protect against ... - Ohio Capital Journal

By now youve likely heard the news that on Tuesday, Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing (and defaming) writer E. Jean Carroll, and was ordered to pay her $5 million. Given that Trump has spent decades evading and all repercussions for his actions; has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct (he has denied all allegations); and literally claimed on tape that its okay for stars to sexually assault people, the outcome felt monumental. And by the way, if youre wondering whether Trumpnow a certified sexual predatorrefrained from behaving inappropriately with women while he was serving as president, the answer is: Of course he didnt.

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Speaking to CNN, Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communicationsandassistant to the president, told host Jake Tapper: I have countless pieces of what I considered impropriety in the White House that I brought to the chief of staff because I thought the way he engaged with women was dangerous.

You brought to Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, or other chiefs of staff, incidents that you witnessed of Donald Trump behaving inappropriately with women? Tapper asked.

I did as well as former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and others, Farah Griffin said. Nothing that rises to [E. Jean Carroll] level but things that I would consider improper and that I had a duty to report.

Incidentally, Stephanie Grisham also appeared on CNN on Tuesday, and she told anchor Erin Burnett: There was specific stafferthat [Trump] would request for her to be on constant trips when it wasnt her turnhe one time had one of my other deputies bring her back so that they could look at her ass is what he said to him. And I wrote about this in my book so this is nothing new for me to be saying publiclyI sat down and talked to her at one point asked her if she was uncomfortable. I tried everything I could to ensure she was never alone with him. I did take it to a couple different chiefs of staff including Mark Meadowsat the end of the day what could they do other than go in there and say, This isnt good sir, and you know Donald Trump will do what Donald Trump wants to dowhen youre dealing with the president of the United States, again, theres no HR group or HR representative to go to, to talk to about these kinds of things.

Grisham added: With this one staffer it was really bad, to the point that I was extremely uncomfortableevery senior staff member knew itit happened with her a lot. I did everything I could to keep her off of trips actually and to stay with her if she was alone because I was really nervous about what could happen.

In other news re: Trump and yesterdays verdict, members of the Republican Party have, not surprisingly, lined up to shamelessly defend the guy. Marco Rubio declared, The whole case is a joke, while Senator Tommy Tuberville, last seen trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, said the outcome makes me want to vote for him twice.

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Surprise: ExWhite House Employees Say Donald Trump Behaved Grossly With Women While President - Vanity Fair

Stop yourself if this sounds familiar.

Donald Trump is asked a questionsay, whether he regrets his actions on Jan. 6and he answers with something like this:

Let me tell you, there's nobody who loves this country more than me, believe me. January 6 was a historic day, a day where millions of Americans came to Washington, D.C. to peacefully protest the rigged election. I did nothing wrong, and I have nothing to regret. The real regret is that the election was stolen from the American people, and that the corrupt politicians and fake news media refuse to acknowledge it.

If those comments sound like textbook Trump, you would be rightso right that it wasnt actually Trump who uttered them; it was ChatGPT.

We used the groundbreaking artificial intelligence tool to summon the voice of the ex-president and 2024 GOP frontrunner to respond to some of the exact questions he was asked during his shambolic CNN town hall on Wednesday night.

Only ChatGPTcall it TrumpGPTseems far more capable of delivering coherent answers than Trump himself, while rendering just enough of his trademark stylistic flourishes and tics to come across as the man himself.

Whats most remarkable about this experiment is that the AI version of Trump answered specific questions much in the same way as the real Trumphitting similar points, making similar pivots, reflecting similar political calculations.

Many political observers across the spectrum have noted that Trump, at this point, is almost painfully predictable. Much of the outcry around CNNs decision to give him a largely unfiltered platform was rooted in outrage that they were unprepared for him to behave in the precise way he has behaved for the last seven years.

Trump was so predictable that AIalbeit an extremely sophisticated AIwas largely able to stand in for Trump, and generally do a much better, more coherent, job.

Just judge for yourself:

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: Why should Americans put you back in the White House?

ChatGPT: Well, let me tell you something folks, nobody, and I mean nobody, has done as much for this great country as I have. When I was in the White House, we had record-low unemployment, we rebuilt our military, and we put America first.

But then the Democrats, and the fake news media, they came after me. They spied on my campaign, they impeached me for nothing, and they tried to steal the election. But I'll tell you what, I'm not a quitter. I'm a fighter. And I fought back harder than anyone else would have.

And you know what? We almost won. We almost took back the White House in 2020, but they cheated, folks. They cheated like you wouldn't believe. They rigged the election, they stole it from us, and they installed Sleepy Joe Biden in the White House.

But I'm not giving up, folks. I'm not giving up on America. I love this country too much. And I know you love it too. That's why I'm asking for your support. Because together, we can make America great again. Again.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: But Mr. President, you know that the election wasn't stolen? The election wasn't stolen.

ChatGPT: Well, let me tell you something, fake news. You're wrong, as usual. The election was stolen, and it was stolen from me. We had massive voter fraud, we had dead people voting, we had illegal immigrants voting, we had ballots being shipped in from other countries. It was a disgrace, and everybody knows it.

But you know what? We're not gonna let it stand. We're not gonna let the Democrats get away with stealing the election. We're fighting back, and we're gonna keep fighting until we get to the truth.

Because that's what we do, folks. We fight for what's right, and we never give up. And I know that the American people are with us, because they know that the election was stolen too. They know that Sleepy Joe Biden didn't win, he lost, and he lost bigly.

So don't try to tell me that the election wasn't stolen, fake news. I know the truth, and the American people know the truth too. And we're not gonna stop fighting until we get the justice that we deserve. Because that's what true patriots do. We fight for our country, we fight for our freedom, and we fight for the truth.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: Do you have any regrets about your actions on January 6?

ChatGPT: Well, let me tell you something, folks. What happened on January 6 was a disgrace. It was a disgrace to our country, and it was a disgrace to the millions of Americans who support me and my vision for America.

But you know what? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't incite violence, and I didn't encourage anyone to break the law. What I did was speak the truth and fight for what's right.

And that's why I have no regrets about my actions on January 6. I was standing up for the millions of Americans who feel like their voices aren't being heard, and I was standing up to the corrupt politicians who are trying to silence us.

Now, some people might try to twist my words or take them out of context, but the truth is that I never encouraged violence or lawlessness. I simply encouraged people to fight for what's right and to demand that our voices be heard.

So no, I have no regrets about my actions on January 6. I will always stand up for what's right, and I will always fight for the millions of Americans who support me and my vision for America.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: But Mr. President, you did incite violence. You told an angry mob to stop the steal. You said we would never give up, never concede. You said, If you don't fight like hell, you're not gonna have a country anymore. You assembled this mob. You fired them up. And then sent them to the Capitol. You tweeted that Mike Pence didn't have the courage to overturn the election. And then you watched the attack on the Capitol and didn't do anything for hours.

ChatGPT: Fake news! You're spreading lies and twisting my words. I never incited violence. I never told anyone to commit any acts of violence or to break the law.

What I said was that we need to fight for our country, fight for our rights, and fight for the truth. And that's exactly what we did. We peacefully protested, and we demanded that our voices be heard.

But you know what? The Democrats and the fake news media don't want to hear our voices. They want to silence us and they want to suppress the truth. And that's why they're spreading these lies about me inciting violence.

And as for Mike Pence, he didn't have the courage to do what needed to be done. He had the power to overturn the election, but he didn't use it. And that's a disgrace.

But let me be clear. I did not watch the attack on the Capitol and do nothing. I immediately called for peace and for everyone to go home. And that's exactly what happened.

So don't believe the lies and the fake news. The truth is that I love this country, and I will always fight for it. And the millions of Americans who support me and my vision for America know that.

REUTERS/Russell Cheyne/File Photo

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: A jury just found you liable for the sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll. What do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president?

ChatGPT: Let me tell you something, folks. The verdict in the E. Jean Carroll case was a total sham. It's a witch hunt, just like the Russia hoax and the impeachment hoax.

I've been falsely accused by all sorts of people over the years, and this is just the latest in a long line of baseless accusations. It's a disgrace, and it's an attack on me and my supporters.

But you know what? I'm a fighter. I never give up, and I never back down. And that's why I'm not going to let this verdict stop me from fighting for the millions of Americans who support me and my vision for America.

And let me be clear. I never sexually assaulted anyone. E. Jean Carroll is just another person who's trying to get attention and make some money off of my name. It's a disgrace, and it's a total fabrication.

So to all the voters out there who think this disqualifies me from being president, I say this: don't believe the fake news media. Don't believe the lies. The truth is that I'm the best thing that ever happened to this country, and I'm going to make America great again, again.

So let's focus on the real issues facing our country, like jobs, the economy, and securing our borders. That's what matters, and that's what I'm going to keep fighting for.

The experiment is perhaps most illuminating, though, when you compare some of ChatGPTs answers to what Trump actually said. Here are just a few examples:

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: If elected president again, how would you act not only to defend our Second Amendment rights but to restore rights that have been taken from us?

ChatGPT: Let me tell you something, folks. Nobody loves the Second Amendment more than I do. I mean, it's right up there with making America great again. And believe me, nobody's gonna mess with our Second Amendment rights on my watch. I'm gonna defend them like nobody's ever defended them before. We're gonna have the strongest, most powerful Second Amendment protections you've ever seen.

REAL TRUMP: There's been nobody that's protected the Second Amendment, as you know, like I have. I've protected it through thick and thin, not easy to do. But we have a very big mental health problem in this country. And again, it's not the gun that pulls the trigger; it's the person that pulls the trigger. And we have to protect our Second Amendment.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: Would you sign a federal abortion ban into law?

ChatGPT: Let me tell you, folks, I'm the best when it comes to making deals and protecting life. And let me be very clear, I am pro-life, very pro-life. We need to protect the sanctity of life, and that includes the lives of unborn babies.

As for a federal abortion ban, I would definitely consider it. It's something that needs to be looked at very closely, but I can tell you this, I will always err on the side of life. We need to do everything we can to protect the most vulnerable among us, and that includes unborn babies.

So, if a federal abortion ban comes across my desk, I will absolutely consider it and if it is the right thing to do, I will sign it into law without hesitation.

REAL TRUMP: What I will do is negotiate so that people are happy. But the fact that we were ableI was ableI'm so proud of it, we put three great justices on the Supreme Court. We have almost 300 federal judges on the Supreme Court

President Trump is going to make a determination what he thinks is great for the country and what's fair for the country. But the fact that I was able to terminate Roe v. Wade, after 50 years of tryingthey worked for 50 years, I've never seen anything like it. They workedand I was evenI was so honored to have done it. We are in a very good negotiating position right now, only because of what I was able to do.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: Why did you take those classified documents with you when you left the White House?

ChatGPT: First of all, let me tell you, nobody loves classified documents more than me. I mean, nobody. They're tremendous, believe me. And let me tell you, I had every right to take those documents with me, OK? Because they were mine, all right? They were mine because I'm the President, and the President can do whatever he wants. That's just how it is. And you know what? I wanted to make sure that those documents were safe and secure. Because, let's face it, the people who are running the government now, they're not very good at their jobs. They're a disaster, really. So, I took those documents with me to make sure they didn't fall into the wrong hands. And if you don't believe me, just look at what's going on in this country right now. It's a mess, and it's all because of the people who are in charge. So, you can blame me all you want, but I did the right thing. I did the smart thing. And nobody can take that away from me.

REAL TRUMP: I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified. Biden, on the other hand, he has 1,850 boxes. He had boxes sent to Chinatown, Chinatown, where they don't speak even English in that Chinatown we're talking about

Just so you understand, I had every right to do it. I didn't make a secret of it. You know, the boxes were stationed outside of the White House. People were taking pictures of the GSA and the various people that were moving.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: What do you think about the United States' current debt situation, and how can we move forward?

ChatGPT: Well, let me tell you, nobody knows more about debt than me. Nobody. And I can tell you, the United States is in a very bad situation right now. We've got a tremendous amount of debt, and it's only getting worse. We're being ripped off by countries all over the world, and we're not doing anything about it. It's a disgrace, really. But you know what? I'm a businessman, and I know how to fix things. And I can tell you, the first thing we need to do is start negotiating better deals with these other countries. We can't keep letting them take advantage of us like this. We need to put America first. And you know what else we need to do? We need to cut spending. We need to get rid of all these wasteful government programs that are just wasting our money. And we need to start investing in our own country. We need to create jobs, we need to rebuild our infrastructure, and we need to make America great again. And you know what? I'm the only one who can do it. Nobody else has the experience, nobody else has the knowledge, and nobody else has the guts to take on this challenge. But I do.

REAL TRUMP: Such an important question. So we're at $33 trillion, a number that nobody ever thought possible. When we had our economy rocking and rolling just prior to COVID coming in, like literally, we were making a fortune. And oil, we were going to make so much money from oil, we were going to start paying off debt. But then with COVID coming in, we had to do other things. We had to keep this country alive because it was so serious. But we have to get the country back. We have to lower energy prices. We have to lower interest rates. Interest rates are through the roof. Energy has to come down, it all has to come down and we have to start paying off debt. But when we have a debt limit, and they use that very seriously. I mean, they came inSchumer came in with Nancy Pelosi, and they were using, we'll violate it, we'll do whateverthey talked a whole lot different than they do right now.

I say to the Republicans out therecongressmen, senators if they don't give you massive cuts, you're going to have to do a default. And I don't believe they're going to do a default because I think the Democrats will absolutely cave because you don't want to have that happen. But it's better than what we're doing right now because we're spending money like drunken sailors.

Answer this question in the style of Donald Trump: Do you feel that you owe your vice president Mike Pence an apology for your actions on January 6?

ChatGPT: Well, first of all, let me tell you, January 6 was a very tragic day for our country. And let me just say, nobody feels worse about what happened than I do. Nobody. But you know what? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't incite violence, I didn't encourage people to storm the Capitol. That's just fake news, OK? And as for Mike Pence, let me tell you, he's a good man. He's a great man. But he made a mistake, OK? He made a mistake by not standing up for me and not fighting harder to overturn the election. And you know what? I'm disappointed in him. I really am. But do I owe him an apology? Absolutely not. I did what I had to do. I fought hard for our country, and I fought hard for the American people. And if Mike Pence can't see that, then that's his problem, not mine. So no, I don't owe him an apology. In fact, he owes me an apology for not standing up for what's right. And you know what else? I'll always be the President. Nobody can take that away from me. And I'll always be a winner. That's just who I am.

REAL TRUMP: No, because he did something wrong. He should have put the votes back to the state legislatures and I think we would have had a different outcome. I really do

I like Mike Pence very much. He's a very fine man. He's a very nice man. He made a mistake. His lawyer said, you cannot move. I call them the human conveyer belt. I said, even if the votes you meanI talked to his lawyereven if the votes are absolutely fraudulent, he cant sendyes, sir, he cant send them back. And the Democrats played it and the RINOs played it. And then, the election was over. They told them he couldnt do it. And Mike said to me, I cant do it. The lawyers told me I can't do it, they cant do it. But the lawyers were wrong because right after the election, they all met, the RINOs and the Democrats, and they worked out a plan to make sure that future vice presidents don't do what I said you could do.

See the rest here:

We Had ChatGPT Answer CNN's Questions for Donald Trump - The Daily Beast

The New York state judge presiding over the criminal hush money case against Donald Trump issued an order Monday restricting the former president from posting about some evidence in the case on social media.

Judge Juan Merchan largely sided with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg by limiting what Trump can publicly disclose about new evidence from the prosecution before the case goes to trial.

The order says that "any materials and information provided by the People to the Defense in accordance with their discovery obligations ... shall be used solely for the purposes of preparing a defense in this matter."

Merchan's order said anyone with access to the evidence being turned over to Trump's team by state prosecutors shall not copy, disseminate or disclose the material to third parties, including social media platforms, without prior approval from the court."

It also singles out Trump, saying he is allowed to review sensitive "Limited Dissemination Materials" from prosecutors only in the presence of his lawyers and "shall not be permitted to copy, photograph, transcribe, or otherwise independently possess the Limited Dissemination Materials."

In addition, the order restricts Trump from reviewing "forensic images of witness cell phones," although his lawyers can show him "approved portions" of the images after they get permission from the judge.

Trumps lawyers and the DAs office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The ruling largely tracks with the DAs office request for a protective order, which Trump's attorneys had complained was extremely restrictive.

Prosecutors had argued they needed safeguards that will protect the integrity of the materials, saying the risk that Trump would use them inappropriately is substantial.

Donald J. Trump has a longstanding and perhaps singular history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, trial jurors, grand jurors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him, putting those individuals and their families at considerable safety risk, the DA's office argued in a court filing last month.

Prosecutors had stressed they were not seeking a gag order against Trump, a 2024 presidential candidate they just wanted to make sure he did not misuse their evidence.

Defendant has a constitutional right to speak publicly about this case, and the People do not seek to infringe upon that right, their filing said.

Trump's lawyers argued in a filing last week that the DA's proposed order would do exactly that.

The Peoples Proposed Protective Order infringes upon President Trumps First Amendment right to freely discuss his own character and qualifications for federal office and the First Amendment rights of the American people to hear President Trumps side of the story, it said.

Merchan said in Monday's order that prosecutors had shown "good cause" for their request.

Trump was charged last month with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and another woman toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign to prevent them from speaking about their allegations of affairs with him. Hehas pleaded not guilty and has said he did not have an extramarital affair.

Trump has maintained Bragg and the judge are biased against him, and his lawyers filed paperwork last week seeking to have the case transferred to federal court. The request is pending.

Adam Reiss is a reporter and producer for NBC and MSNBC.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Trump barred from posting evidence in hush money case to social media - NBC News