Trump says DoJ gave ‘no indication of notice’ to his lawyers
Donald Trump said his attorneys had a “productive” meeting with the Department of Justice this morning, and that “no indication of notice” was given during the meeting.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country. No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!
It was reported earlier today that Trump’s lawyers were seen entering the offices of special counsel Jack Smith, a week after the former president said he had received a target letter from Smith. According to NBC, Trump’s attorneys were told to expect an indictment against him.
Key events
Court indicates no indictments expected today after Trump lawyers met with prosecutors
The wait to find out whether Donald Trump will be charged over the January 6 insurrection continues, as Politico reports that the federal court in Washington DC says no indictments are expected to be filed today:
JUST IN: A deputy clerk at US Dist Court in DC says no indictments were returned today and none are expected for remainder of the day.
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 27, 2023
Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is facing criticism from African-American members of his own party after his appointees proposed new school curriculums standards, which will see students taught that slaves learned some useful skills.
As governor, DeSantis has pursued a campaign against “wokeism” in the state, which detractors have said is in fact an attempt to cover up the impacts of white supremacy and racism in American history. The new school standards were forcefully decried by Kamala Harris during a speech in the state last week.
Yesterday, Byron Donalds, a Black Florida congressman who is supporting DeSantis’s opponent and current frontrunner Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, tweeted that the assertions about slaves should be “adjusted”:
The new African-American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate. That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this.https://t.co/muq8zi1p85
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) July 26, 2023
Hours later, Christine Pushaw, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, shot back at Donalds, implying that he was working with Harris – despite the congressman being a staunch conservative whose policies are generally at odds with Democrats:
Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 26, 2023
This afternoon, Michael Steele, a Trump critic who was the first and thus far only African American to serve as chair of the Republican National Committee, joined in on criticizing DeSantis:
“…teaching our nation’s true history”? So @RonDeSantis thinks America’s TRUE history is Black people benefited from a glorified jobs program called slavery? Hating on @ByronDonalds because he called out his BS (and didn’t endorse him) is pathetically sad and yet, so DeSantis. https://t.co/UsvsChHGry
— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) July 27, 2023
Here’s a round-up from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly of everything we learned so far today regarding Donald Trump’s indictment over the January 6 insurrection, which may or may not happen at any time:
Lawyers for Donald Trump met on Thursday with the special counsel Jack Smith and members of his team, as a potential indictment loomed regarding Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
In a social media post the former US president called the meeting “productive” but lashed out at media coverage.
Multiple outlets reported that the Trump lawyers John Lauro and Todd Blanche, meeting prosecutors including Smith, attempted to make a case for why the former president should not be indicted.
The Guardian has reported that Smith’s team has assembled evidence to charge Trump with three crimes.
Former Texas congressman and GOP presidential candidate Will Hurd said if Republicans nominated Donald Trump then “we are willingly giving four more years to Joe Biden”.
Hurd, an outspoken Trump critic, told CNN that a potential third Trump indictment is “not going to change things” for his supporters, but that “those independents, those general election voters, of course they’re going to be sick and tired of this.”
Lawyers for Donald Trump met with members of special counsel Jack Smith’s team investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, AP is reporting, citing a source.
The meeting included Trump’s attorney, John Lauro, according to the source.
Donald Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung said a previous report by NBC that the former president’s lawyers were told to expect an indictment was “incorrect”.
Trump says DoJ gave ‘no indication of notice’ to his lawyers
Donald Trump said his attorneys had a “productive” meeting with the Department of Justice this morning, and that “no indication of notice” was given during the meeting.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country. No indication of notice was given during the meeting — Do not trust the Fake News on anything!
It was reported earlier today that Trump’s lawyers were seen entering the offices of special counsel Jack Smith, a week after the former president said he had received a target letter from Smith. According to NBC, Trump’s attorneys were told to expect an indictment against him.
The Department of Justice asked a federal judge on Wednesday evening to order Texas governor Greg Abbott to remove a floating barrier placed on the Rio Grande to stop migrants entering the US from Mexico.
The DoJ argued in a court filing that the barrier “caused significant and ongoing harm to the United States’ foreign relations with Mexico”, days after it filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas and Governor Abbott, arguing that the floating barrier violates federal environmental law and threatens public safety.
The filing states:
Governor Abbott’s suggestion that Texas can violate the [Rivers and Harbors Act] in service of its own policy priorities inverts the Supremacy Clause and controverts Supreme Court precedent recognizing the federal government’s plenary power over immigration and foreign affairs.
The department urged the judge to order the removal of the barrier and supporting infrastructure within 10 days and to prohibit the state from building any additional buoys.
The day so far
Joe Biden announced new steps to protect workers from extreme heat as much of the United States faces yet another day of scorching temperatures. He also singled out for criticism Texas Republicans, who recently acted to override local ordinances mandating water breaks for construction workers, and the wider GOP’s policies on climate change. Elsewhere in Washington DC, Donald Trump’s lawyers met at the office of special counsel Jack Smith and were reportedly told to expect an indictment, the latest sign that the former president could soon face charges related to the January 6 insurrection.
Here’s what else has happened today:
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The supreme court cleared what may be the last obstacle to construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a controversial natural gas conduit in West Virginia and Virginia.
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Two Florida lawmakers invited all of Congress to tour the site of the worst school shooting in US history in Parkland, before the building is torn down.
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We live in the “era of global boiling”, the United Nations chief warned, as he called for more forceful action against climate change.
Biden says he will ‘call out’ US states that ignore worker heat protections
Joe Biden outlined steps his administration will take to protect workers, while taking time to criticize Republicans.
He announced that the “Hazard Alert” he has asked the labor department to issue “clarifies that workers have … federal heat-related protections. We should be protecting workers from hazardous conditions, and we will, and those states where they do not, I’m going to be calling them out.” Biden added that the department would also step up inspections “in high-risk industries, like construction and agriculture.”
He then accused the GOP of opposing efforts to protect Americans from heat and the broader threat posed by climate change.
“Maga extremists in Congress are trying to undo all this progress,” Biden said. “Not a single one of them, not a single Republican voted … for the Inflation Reduction Act that had all this money for climate, which provides funding … to combat climate change, and now many of them are trying to repeal those provisions. We’re not going to let that happen.”
Biden says 600 people a year die from heat-related illness as he kicks off announcement
Joe Biden kicked off his remarks with a veiled swipe at legislation passed by Republican lawmakers in Texas and approved by the governor, Greg Abbott, that overrode local regulations requiring construction workers be offered water breaks.
“The number one weather-related killer is heat. Six-hundred people die annually from its effects, more than from floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes in America combined,” the president said. “And even those places that are used to extreme heat have never seen it hot as it is now, for as long as it is. Even those who deny that we’re in the midst of a climate crisis can’t deny the impact of extreme heat is having on Americans.”
Biden spoke about how the heat has made everything from fighting fires to harvesting crops more perilous, and noted, “construction workers, who literally risked their lives working all day in blazing heat, in some places don’t even have the right to take a water break. That’s outrageous.”