negativenull

Better place for discussion I suppose

The new report from #WeCount reveals that the number of abortions increased nationwide after the Dobbs decision, with an average monthly change adding up to about 2,200 more abortions in a year.

The Atlantic's McKay Coppins is out with the first excerpt of his highly anticipated biography of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), timed to the 2012 GOP presidential nominee's announcement today that he will not seek re-election.

Why it matters: Romney — the only GOP senator to vote to convict former President Trump in his first impeachment trial — was brutally honest about his Republican colleagues over the course of two years of interviews with Coppins, a fellow Utahn.

Highlights:

• On Jan. 2, 2021, Romney texted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to warn about extremist threats law enforcement had been tracking in connection with pro-Trump protests on Jan. 6. McConnell never responded.
• Romney kept a tally of the dozen-plus times that Republican senators privately expressed solidarity with his criticism of Trump. "You're lucky," McConnell once told him. "You can say the things that we all think."
• Romney shared a unique disgust for Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who he thought were too smart to believe Trump won the 2020 election but "put politics above the interests of liberal democracy and the Constitution."
• He also was highly critical of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who reinvented his persona to become a Trump acolyte after publishing a best-selling memoir about the working class that Romney loved. "I don't know that I can disrespect someone more than J. D. Vance," Romney said.

Zoom in: After House impeachment managers finished a presentation about Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, McConnell told Romney: "They nailed him."

• Taken aback, Romney said Trump would argue he was just investigating alleged corruption by the Bidens — the subject of House Republicans' present-day impeachment inquiry.
• "If you believe that," McConnell replied, "I've got a bridge I can sell you."

The bottom line: Romney said he never felt comfortable at a Senate GOP conference lunch after voting to convict Trump in 2020. "A very large portion of my party really doesn't believe in the Constitution," he told Coppins a few months after Jan. 6.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump White House official Peter Navarro was convicted Thursday of contempt of Congress charges filed after he was accused of refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The verdict came after a short trial for Navarro, who served as a White House trade adviser under President Donald Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost.

Navarro was the second Trump aide to face contempt of Congress charges after former White House adviser Steve Bannon. Bannon was convicted of two counts and was sentenced to four months behind bars, though he has been free pending appeal.

Prosecutors said Navarro acted as if he were “above the law” when he defied a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee. He was charged with two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, both punishable by up to a year behind bars.

A defense attorney argued Navarro didn’t ignore the congressional subpoena but instead told committee staffers to contact Trump about what material might be covered by executive privilege, something they did not do.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Navarro’s executive privilege argument wasn’t a defense against the charges, finding that Navarro hadn’t shown evidence Trump invoked it.

Prosecutors said that much of the material the committee sought was already publicly available and that Navarro should have handed over what he could and flagged any questions or documents believed to be protected under executive privilege.

Trump faces a federal indictment in Washington, D.C., and a state indictment in Georgia over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat. He has denied wrongdoing and has said he was acting within the law.

The House Jan. 6 committee finished its work in January, after a final report that said Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election and failed to act to stop a mob of his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

NLRB = National Labor Relations Board

Alabama state Rep. David Cole (R) on Tuesday was arrested and charged with voter fraud on accusations he voted in “multiple or unauthorized locations,” according to jail records provided by Madison County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the sheriff’s records, Cole was booked Tuesday afternoon and released on bail amounting to $2,500. The charge is a Class C felony, meaning conviction could result in up to 10 years in prison.

Al.com, a local news outlet, said Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office confirmed he was prosecuting the case.

Additional details of the charges were not immediately available in court records. However, the arrest comes after increased scrutiny over Cole’s primary residence.

Cole was elected to represent District 10 in the Alabama legislature, but local reports claimed Cole actually lived in District 4, which would violate state law. Libertarian candidate Elijah Boyd challenged the election results in court.

In a deposition in May, according to reports, Cole sat for more than two hours answering questions that centered on whether Cole truly lived at the District 10 home listed as his residence.

During the deposition, he said he could not remember whether he had moved any personal property into the home. He also said he could not recall whether he had ever slept at the home overnight and said he could not recall ever eating a meal at the home or bathing there.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R) issued a statement Tuesday, according to multiple reports, and said the investigation was ongoing and he was waiting for more details to emerge. He stressed the importance of election integrity.

“In recent years, the Alabama House has prioritized legislation that promotes election integrity, and we believe that any allegation of fraud must be addressed regardless of the party, public official, or candidate involved,” the statement read.

“Alabamians may remain confident that their elections are conducted honestly, their votes are cast and counted fairly, and their ballot boxes are secure. Now, it is up to a court of law to determine the validity of the allegations Cole is facing, and I anticipate Alabama’s election laws will withstand their true intent,” Ledbetter continued.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge has set a March 4 trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The decision from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a defense request to push the trial back until April 2026, about a year and a half after the 2024 election, but also sets it later than the January date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Chutkan made it clear to both sides at the outset of Monday’s status conference that she considered neither proposal acceptable.

“These proposals are obviously very far apart,” she said. “Neither of them is acceptable.”

Trump, a Republican, was charged earlier this month in a four-count indictment with scheming to undo his loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the 2020 election.

The federal election subversion prosecution is one of four criminal cases against Trump. Smith’s team has brought a separate federal case accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, property, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to give them back. That case is currently set for trial next May 20.

Trump also faces state cases in New York and Georgia. Manhattan prosecutors have charged him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actor who has said she had an extramarital affair with Trump, while prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have charged Trump and 18 others in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at undoing that state’s 2020 election.

Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, surrendered Thursday in that case, posing with a scowling face for the first mug shot in American history of a former U.S. president. He has claimed the investigations of him are politically motivated and are an attempt to damage his chances of winning back the White House.

Former President Trump's bail has been set at $200,000 in the Fulton County prosecution over his alleged efforts to subvert 2020 election results in Georgia.

Driving the news: The Monday court filing, signed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump's lawyers, also includes strict conditions on witness intimidation.

• "The defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice," per the court filing.
• "The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media," the order adds.

The big picture: Trump was charged last week with 13 counts in the probe into his alleged efforts to flip Georgia's 2020 election results.

• The most sweeping count that Trump faces in Georgia relates to a mobster statute, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO).

What to watch: Trump and 18 of his c0-defendants in the case are due to surrender to authorities at the Fulton County Courthouse by 12 pm ET on Friday.

• Two co-defendants, lawyers John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, both agreed to a $100,000 bond on Monday.
• Eastman championed the legal theory that Trump used to pressure his Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results. Chesebro is credited with being the first lawyer to suggest that slates of fake pro-Trump electors could try to get recognized by Congress on Jan. 6.