Trump Coup Lawyer Jeff Clark Absolutely Scorched In DC Bar Finding

INSIDE: Trump's TIME interview ... Todd Blanche ... Fox News ... Cannabis

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May 01, 2024

Jeffrey Clark, former Acting Assistant Attorney General (Photo by Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Not Looking Good For Jeff Clark

Jeff Clark, the DOJ attorney who Trump unsuccessfully sought to install mid-coup attempt as attorney general, is facing an effort to disbar him in Washington D.C. And things aren’t going well for him.

On Tuesday, a panel recommended that he be disbarred, finding that it is “the only possible sanction” befitting his attempt to “create national chaos.”

From the disciplinary counsel’s proposed finding of fact and conclusions:

It is not enough that the efforts of these lawyers ultimately failed. As a profession, we must do what we can to ensure that this conduct is never repeated. The way to accomplish that goal is to remove from the profession lawyers who betrayed their constitutional obligations and their country. It is important that other lawyers who might be tempted to engage in similar misconduct be aware that doing so will cost them their privilege to practice law. It is also important for the courts and the legal profession to state clearly that the ends do not justify the means; that process matters; and that this is a society of laws, not men.

The proceedings are not over, but Tuesday’s report was a serious blow to Clark.

(Perhaps the most serious since his boss at the DOJ swatted away his January 2021 power grab by reminding him he had only ever been appointed to lead the Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division: “You’re an environmental lawyer. How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill.” But we digress …)

Reactions to Trump’s TIME Interview

In case you missed it, Trump made some of his most ominous noises yet about what to expect in 2025 in an interview with a publication close to his heart: TIME magazine.

He said it was up to the states to monitor pregnant women for abortions, promised mass immigrant deportations, declared he’d prosecute Biden if the Supreme Court didn’t grant him full immunity, mulled pardons for January 6 rioters, and speculated about violence if he doesn’t win.

Some reactions to that interview:

Josh Marshall: Decoding Trump Bullshit: Foreign Defense Budget Edition
Philip Bump: Trump won’t say what he plans to do as president
Dems (via the Times): Biden and Democrats Seize on Trump’s Striking Interview

Important Case Come November

Kate Riga reports on a case out of Pennsylvania that could decide a close election, and may be SCOTUS-bound.

The fight centers on the date voters must write on the outer envelope holding the ballot; if it’s wrong or missing, the ballot goes uncounted. It’s a steep penalty given the reality that none of the parties involved in the case asserts that those dates are actually used for anything.
“People are gonna have their votes not counted under this ruling for totally immaterial reasons, like writing 2023 instead of 2024,” Ari Savitzky, lead attorney on the case for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is representing individual voters and a group of state civil and voting rights groups, told TPM. “Filling out the date on this form has nothing to do with anything.”

Trump Trial Update

We’re off today.

On Tuesday, Josh Kovensky reported, prosecutors seemed to be building toward testimony by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. It’s been unclear when — or even if — he would take the stand, but the information given by former Stormy Daniels lawyer Keith Davidson yesterday seemed to set the stage for him, with Davidson describing his interactions with Trump’s fixer, many of which were … unpleasant. “The moral of the story is no one wanted to talk to [Michael] Cohen,” Davidson said, per Josh.

So we’ll be looking to see if Cohen makes an appearance when things resume tomorrow.

Also Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan found Trump in contempt, fined him and threatened to jail him if he continues to flout the gag order. He laid out what he’ll be looking for going forward. Here’s Josh:

Trump needs to “be able to fully campaign for the office which he seeks” and must “be able to respond and defend himself against political attacks,” Merchan wrote in the order, adding that witnesses shouldn’t take advantage of the gag and use it as a “sword instead of a shield.”
The limit, Merchan wrote, comes when there’s no precipitating political attack to which Trump might be responding. Merchan did not hold Trump in contempt for the Avenatti post in part because of what Merchan described as a “tenuous correlation” to a preceding post that Cohen had made. For the remaining ten, Merchan wrote, Trump’s attorneys had failed to identify any political attack which Trump might have been responding.

Trump immediately fundraised off the contempt finding.

Trump is, predictably, pissed at his lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, the Times reports:

He has griped that Mr. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and veteran litigator, has not been following his instructions closely, and has been insufficiently aggressive. Mr. Trump wants him to attack witnesses, attack what the former president sees as a hostile jury pool, and attack the judge, Juan M. Merchan.

Secession Cosplay To Own The Libs

Just as Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton will not recognize that the federal Border Control is in charge of the international border, they also want you to know that they aren’t going to let the U.S. Department of Education define what counts as discriminatory in schools. The more they can lob toward the Supreme Court, the better, it seems.

Nicole Lafond has the details.

Making Trump Own It

As Florida’s six-week abortion ban goes into effect officially today — making access to the procedure nearly impossible for women in the state and ending Florida’s status as a stronghold for abortion in the southeast — both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are sending a message to Florida voters and those in the South who have relied on the state for the procedure:

“Today, an extreme abortion ban takes effect in Florida, banning reproductive health care before many women even know they are pregnant,” Biden said in a statement. “There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump.”
Harris will be in Jacksonville for a campaign event highlighting the dangerous new law.

Repeal Vote In Arizona

After Arizona state House Republicans repeatedly blocked their Democratic colleagues’ efforts to advance legislation that would repeal the draconian abortion ban the state Supreme Court just allowed back on the books — mostly by mucking up procedural votes to advance it — three House Republicans ultimately voted with Democrats to pass the legislation last month. The state Senate is expected to vote on that legislation today. Democrats will need to pick up two Republican votes for it to pass.

But even if it passes and becomes law (Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected to sign it) the repeal won’t go into effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, which may be June or July.

Back On Schedule

The Commission on Presidential Debates told Fox News Tuesday that, despite calls from the Trump campaign to move up the first presidential debate, it’s planning to stick to it’s OG schedule, meaning the first debate will be held in September. The Trump campaign is already trying to circumvent the CPD.

WH Mulls Welcoming Some Palestinian Refugees

Per CBS News, which obtained internal federal docs:

In recent weeks, the documents show, senior officials across several federal U.S. agencies have discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents.
One of those proposals involves using the decades-old United States Refugee Admissions Program to welcome Palestinians with U.S. ties who have managed to escape Gaza and enter neighboring Egypt, according to the inter-agency planning documents.

The Ever-Shrinking Republican Majority

New York state Sen. Tim Kennedy, a Democrat, has won the special election in New York’s Twenty-Sixth Congressional District to replace former Rep. Brian Higgins (D), who left Congress in February. Kennedy defeated a local Republican town supervisor and will serve for the rest of Higgins’ term, which ends in January.

Once Kennedy is sworn in, House Republicans’ majority will be temporarily reduced to one seat until other vacancies are filled. For example, the race to serve for the remainder of ousted-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) term will be determined during a runoff election later this month.

Federal Three-Judge Panel Tosses Louisiana Map

The recently redrawn congressional map included the addition of a second majority-Black district in the state. The Tuesday ruling from a Fifth Circuit panel leaves Louisiana without a congressional map six months out from a major presidential election, and the Supreme Court is expected to get involved in the case.

Big Deal

The Drug Enforcement Administration is reportedly moving to ease restrictions on cannabis, reclassifying it from a schedule I drug — alongside heroin and LSD — to a schedule III drug, part of a push by the Biden administration to decriminalize marijuana use. The move has to clear more regulatory hurdles, but, once it does, would be the biggest shift in DEA policy in 50 years, per the AP.