Trump's Jan. 6 case roars back to life

Texas Republican predicts Dems will win U.S. House

Also in today’s edition of ‘Regular Order’ for September 6, 2024:

• Biden calls again for action on guns in Congress.

• Trump’s answer on child care policy draws scorn.

• Another Russia-related indictment.

---

TRUMP-LEGAL. Donald Trump thought the U.S. Supreme Court had snuffed out two federal criminal cases against him by ruling this summer that he had broad immunity from investigation. But a federal judge on Thursday waved aside concerns from Trump's lawyers, a decision which could create unwelcome headlines for the former President in the weeks before Election Day.

• COURT. After entering a plea of not guilty for Trump to a revised indictment, Trump's lawyers argued that any proceedings in this case would be unwarranted - so close to the November elections. But Judge Tanya Chutkan wasn't having any of that, saying the timing of the election 'is not relevant.'

• ELECTION CASE. Special Counsel Jack Smith will get two bites at the apple before November, as Chutkan will let the feds submit briefs on what is allowed under the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling. The first submission is due in three weeks; the second in mid-October.

• EVIDENCE. What does that mean? The filings could well produce new details and evidence from the Special Counsel’s investigation of Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Trump’s trial isn’t going to start anytime soon - but the headlines could.

• SCOTUS. Frankly, it really won't surprise me if the U.S. Supreme Court steps in and delays the schedule set out by Judge Chutkan. That shouldn't happen - but as I wrote last week, Donald Trump remains above the law, unlike everyone else arrested in the Jan. 6 and fake electors investigation.

NEW YORK. Remember the case related to the hush money payments for porn star Stormy Daniels - where Trump was found guilty of 34 felony charges? The New York City judge will announce today whether he's going to delay Trump's sentencing, which is scheduled for September 18.

---

WASTE. In a speech in New York, Donald Trump said on Thursday that if elected, he would set up a special 'government efficiency commission' to review all federal programs, in order to find trillions of dollars in savings. Trump says he would put billionaire Elon Musk in charge of that effort.

• FRAUD. There's certainly nothing wrong with having the federal government look at duplication of services or figure out ways to spend less while doing more. But let's be clear - you can’t save trillions of dollars. The only way you save trillions is by cutting things like Medicare and Social Security.

• NUMBERS. Uncle Sam spends about $1.7 trillion a year in the 'discretionary' budget that's controlled by the Congress. Over half of that is the Pentagon, veterans, plus border security. You could do away with the entire military (over $800 billion), and you wouldn't come close to balancing the budget right now.

• CAMPAIGN. Trump only has one campaign event scheduled all week, a rally on Saturday in Wisconsin. He’s been doing speeches and interviews instead of traveling. But Trump will hold a news conference at 12 noon today in New York. Next Tuesday is the big debate.

---

TRUMP. Democrats who gritted their teeth over attacks on Joe Biden’s mental state have been waiting for a Donald Trump word salad to break through in the press. It finally happened yesterday during Trump's speech at the Economic Club of New York. Trump was asked about how he would make child care more affordable. It was an open ended question. It was not a specific answer. Read it out loud.

We had Sen. Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka, was so impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that - because child care is child care - is couldn't, you know, it's something you have to have, in this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to when you're talking about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to - but they'll get used to it very quickly, and it's not going to stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about - including child care - that it's going to take care. We're going to have, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time - coupled with the reductions that I told you about on waste, and fraud, and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care, I want to stay with child care, but their numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just told you about. We're going to be taking in trillions of dollars and as much as child care is talked about as being expensive, it's relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in. We're going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we'll worry about the rest of the world. Let's help other people, but we're going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It's about Make America Great Again, we have to do it because right now we're a failing nation, so we'll take care of it. Thank you. Very good question. Thank you.

TARIFFS. Trump was basically saying that his plan to raise trillions of dollars in new tariffs on imported goods would help pay for some unspecified child care programs. But many economists don't like Trump's tariff ideas, worried it will spur a new round of inflation, especially on imported consumer goods.

• SAY WHAT. Democrats weren't having any of it. "I feel pretty strongly that our next President needs to have some kind of coherent idea of how they will make child care more affordable," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). "And — no — tariffs are obviously not going to solve the child care crisis."

• I SMELL BACON. Trump's answer on child care reminded me of a section in his standard stump speech where he talks about bacon prices and then quickly segues into a discussion of windmills and energy prices. I've heard it multiple times this year. It really doesn't make any sense, but he keeps repeating it.

---

NOVEMBER. No matter how bad the election outlook might be for their party, lawmakers in Congress usually keep a stiff upper lip in public even when times are bad on the campaign trail. But Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) threw that out the window on Thursday, telling the Texas Tribune Festival that the GOP is heading in the wrong direction in 2024.

• GONZALES. "What is frustrating me is I firmly believe that House Republicans are going to lose the majority," said Gonzales, a moderate who has often clashed with conservatives over the general direction of the GOP. "We're going to lose it because of ourselves."

• RED FLAG. Gonzales - who represents Uvalde, Texas - has tried unsuccessfully to push the GOP to embrace tougher laws on guns. "Our children are speaking to us but we aren't listening," Gonzales said Thursday, a day after a mass school shooting in Georgia. "More has to be done to keep our kids safe."

• ELECTION. What do I think of the Gonzales warning about November? Yes, it's possible the House could flip back to the Democrats, simply because the current GOP margin is so slim. It doesn't take that many Republican lawmakers to lose for Democrats to be in charge. But I’m not so sure it’s a dead crab at this point.

---

BIDEN. President Biden is on the road again today in Michigan, a key state this November. He made a trip Thursday to Wisconsin for a speech about clean energy, touting federal grants to electric coops. In other words, it was an 'official' White House trip, but it probably looked and sounded a lot like a campaign stop for Democrats. (That's the power of the presidency.)

• GUNS. Biden started his remarks in Wisconsin by calling on Congress to act on gun control measures after the school shooting in Georgia. "We cannot continue to accept the carnage of gun violence," Biden said. "Some of my Republican friends in Congress need to say 'enough is enough' - we have to do something."

• DEMS. That sentiment was echoed by a number of Democrats on Thursday. "We don't have to live this way," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), as Democrats called for a ban on assault weapons, universal background checks on all gun sales, red flag laws, and gun storage laws. "Our kids deserve better," said Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC).

• GOP. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), the GOP lawmaker who represents the district where the high school shooting took place saw it differently. On Newsmax, Collins said it’s “not the right time" to talk about gun laws. "We've got to get back to God in this country," Collins said.

• ACTION. Outside gun activist groups say Republicans are making a mistake. "Gunmen are becoming gunboys while Congressional Republicans choose the gun lobby over our children," said the Newtown Action Alliance, which was started after the terrible massacre at Sandy Hook almost 12 years ago.

---

RUSSIA RUSSIA. The feds rolled out another set of indictments on Thursday related to Russia. This time, it was former Trump campaign adviser Dimitri Simes. The feds allege that Simes - who does work for Russian state TV - laundered money from the Kremlin by having his wife buy art and antiques. "They remain at large and are believed to be in Russia," the Justice Department said.

• RUSSIA TODAY. That came a day after the feds indicted two Russians who funneled nearly $10 million to a group of conservative social media influencers. "Russia was covertly paying influencers to spread Kremlin propaganda," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who called it 'completely unsurprising.'

• DETAILS. That indictment contains one very interesting item. After a major terrorist attack in Moscow earlier this year, the Russian agents asked their conservative pals in the U.S. to blame Ukraine for the attack - even though the Islamic State had taken responsibility. (Commentator-3 agreed to do it.)

• TUCKER. Here’s a funnier story. Earlier this year, Tucker Carlson went on a PR tour of Russia, marked by his visit to a Moscow grocery store. It looked like such a total Kremlin operation that this group of U.S. influencers felt like it was ‘shilling’ for Moscow.

BUT HER EMAILS. Eight years ago right now, a trove of internal emails from Hilary Clinton's top aide John Podesta were being released on a daily basis by Wikileaks - which was nothing more than a front for Russian intelligence. Most days, the first news organization to release a story on the emails was RT - Russia Today - the exact group in this week's indictment.

---

ALASKA HOUSE. The November ballot for Congress still isn't set in Alaska. Voters held a 'Top Four' primary to select candidates, but the third place finisher - the GOP Lt. Governor - dropped out. That pushed up the fifth place finisher, an independent. But then the fourth place finisher - another Republican - dropped out as well.

• NUMBER SIX. That would seemingly elevate Eric Hafner, a Democrat who won 467 votes and finished sixth in the U.S. House primary. But Hafner clearly doesn't live in Alaska, because he's serving time in a federal prison right now in New York - I'm not making this up.

• GARDEN STATE. Hafner is identified by the feds as a New Jersey resident, who was sentenced to 20 years for making threats to a series of public officials. Democrats are now suing to force him off the ballot.

---

RAP SHEET. A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to charges that he attacked police outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Video from the Lower West Terrace tunnel shows Joshua Atwood repeatedly throwing objects like metal poles at police. He later used a long wooden pole to repeatedly strike officers. “Every one of you mother fuckers are pieces of shit,” Atwood told police.

---

MUSE OF HISTORY.  September 6, 1945.  With World War II over, and Congress called back early to Capitol Hill, President Truman on this date sent out a 21-point plan to convert the U.S. from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy.  "The Congress reconvenes at a time of great emergency," Truman said. "It is an emergency about which, however, we need have no undue fear if we exercise the same energy, foresight, and wisdom as we did in carrying on the war and winning this victory."

---

LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM:

The House is back for votes on Monday.

The Senate returns on Monday.

Follow me on Twitter @jamiedupree.

Email me at jamiedupree@substack.com

If you want to say ‘thanks’ - you can buy me a cup of coffee.