Texas Woman Charged With Threatening Judge Chutkan
INSIDE: Mark Meadows ... Rudy G ... Sam Miele
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Racist Screed
A Texas woman allegedly called the chambers of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in DC on Aug. 5 and left a message using the N-word and threatening to kill the Black jurist overseeing the Jan. 6 prosecution of Donald Trump. The message also allegedly contained threats to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), who is also Black.
In the message, left two days after Trump was arraigned in Chutkan’s courtroom, Abigail Jo Shry of Alvin, Texas, allegedly called the judge a “stupid slave n***er.”
“If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, b*tch,” Shry allegedly said. “You are in our sights, we want to kill you.”
Shry has been charged with similar conduct in three other cases over the past year, according to the judge in the new case.
Her father spoke at her detention hearing, painting quite a picture of his daughter:
At the hearing, court papers said, Ms. Shry’s father, Mark Shry, testified that she was a “nonviolent alcoholic” who “sits on her couch daily watching the news while drinking too many beers.”
After drinking, Mr. Shry told a judge in Texas, Ms. Shry often became “agitated by the news” and started “calling people and threatening them,” the papers said.
Shry is being detained pending trial.
Meadows Gets Quick Hearing On Removal
A federal judge in Georgia has scheduled a hearing for Aug. 28 to take up Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ motion to remove the case against him for alleged election interference from state to federal court.
A lot of the initial pre-trial action will be focused on whether federal law entitles Meadows and Trump to have their cases tried in federal court. The case would still be tried under Georgia law, but with a different jury pool and other procedural differences. More on this over time.
Who Are The Co-Conspirators In The Georgia Indictment?
Everyone is cross-referencing clues in the indictment with public information and previous new reports to come up with a comprehensive list of the unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators in the Fani Willis indictment:
Just Security: Names of the “Unindicted Co-Conspirators” in Fulton County, Georgia Indictment
Daily Beast: Unmasking the Co-Conspirators in Trump’s Georgia Indictment
WaPo: Clues point to identities of ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ in alleged Coffee County breach
Georgia Indictment Updates
Atlanta DA Fani Willis’ opening bid for a trial date is March 4, 2024.
The Messenger: Here’s Why Only Three of the 16 Fake Trump Electors Were Charged in Georgia
Politico: Georgia’s peculiar pardon system is bad news for Trump
Journal-Constitution: Special grand jurors pleased with Fulton RICO indictment
NBC News: Trump supporters post addresses of Georgia grand jurors online
Poor Rudy
No dignity left to give:
The Messenger: Wiseguys Rejoice at Seeing NYC Mafia Buster Rudy Giuliani Indicted on Trump RICO Charge
Flashback:
CNN: Rudy Giuliani made desperate appeal to Trump to pay his legal bills in Mar-a-Lago meeting
Trump’s Money Woes
NYT: How Trump Uses Supporters’ Donations to Pay His Legal Bills
NYT: Donald Trump’s PACs have spent millions of dollars on a small army of lawyers to defend him in four separate federal and state criminal cases.
More Attorney Conflicts In MAL Case
Federal prosecutors are again bringing to the attention of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon the conflicts of interest that are bedeviling defense counsel. Initially, it was Walt Nauta attorney Stand Woodward. Now it’s Carlos De Oliveira’s new attorney John Irving, who also represents three witnesses the government may call at trial, according to yesterday’s filing by prosecutors.
Oh, Hello Again, George Santos
A former fundraiser for indicted Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has himself been indicted for allegedly impersonating an aide to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in order to juice his fundraising efforts for Santos.
Sam Miele was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Wednesday and was released on bail. A lawyer for Miele said he “looks forward to complete vindication at trial as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, Santos has failed to file his financial disclosure reports by the deadline.
SMDH
Th 5th Circuit Court of Appeals did less damage than it might have in the Texas mifepristone case. It reeled in the wildly excessive lower court decision by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk – but not entirely.
To give you a sense of the tone and tenor of things on the 5th Circuit, this is from Judge James Ho’s separate opinion in the case:
Unborn babies are a source of profound joy for those who view them. Expectant parents eagerly share ultrasound photos with loved ones. Friends and family cheer at the sight of an unborn child. Doctors delight in working with their unborn patients — and experience an aesthetic injury when they are aborted.
McCarthy Starts To Face Reality
Speaker McCarthy is starting to consider a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown at the end of next month as the House GOP struggles with the approps process.
Oh …
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Not going to swear to it but if I remember how it works, the GA case belongs in federal.
The bad news with that is far more troublesome for the defendants than for the prosecution. The feds push their cases far harder -- that is, faster -- than big city state courts. OTOH, even given that, I doubt that -- like the other cases -- it would be finally resolved before the election.
So really, doesn’t matter whether the GA stays in GA or federal court.
Oops! Forgot the sole downside to a transfer: cameras are banned in federal courts, not so in Georgia.
Still. Nothing to stress over.
I’m with Nixon, though; let Trump “twist slowly... in the wind”. He’s only growing more unhinged. By the election (presuming he’s nominated and not flat out clinically insane) I’d hope enough voters would be so repelled by him that the EC vote won’t be close. Likewise, I’d like to think there’d be a blue tsunami on the down tickets, what with the entire GOP as crazy as Trump.
🤞🏻
Federal Court? Let's see. Neither Trump nor Meadows are currently involved with the Federal government.
Sure, they're being prosecuted for crimes they committed when they were in the Fed, but Trump's already failed in getting his one case moved to Federal Court. I don't think either will succeed and certainly hope they will both fail. I want them ALL to experience the full force of the Rule of Law.
And it definitely needs to serve as a resounding warning to any other low lifes who think they can just "steal" the will and votes of the people, which is a guaranteed right to us all in our Constitution.