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2024 Elections

'Right through the sky': Trump boasts indictment has driven his poll numbers 'way up'

Donald Trump on Saturday claimed in the wake of his federal indictment that the new charges have dramatically increased his standing in the polls, and boosted his fundraising.

Trump, who made history by becoming the first former president to be hit with a federal indictment when he was charged with 37 counts in connection with the storage of classified documents, told the Georgia audience that his polls are "way up" since the indictment was filed. This was his first speech after the indictment was announced, and it isn't clear if any formal public polls have been released since that time.

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Watch: Trump makes first public speech after federal indictment in docs case

Donald Trump on Saturday is scheduled to speak in Georgia, the first live event he has held since he became the first former president to be hit with a federal indictment.

Trump was indicted on 37 counts in connection with classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. He has since then claimed in social media posts that the indictment, which includes charges under the Espionage Act, is a "witch hunt."

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'A sign of desperation': Trump lawyers' pushback on indictment flattened by former impeachment counsel

According to the attorney who oversaw the drafting of the House Judiciary Committee's Jan. 6 investigation's final report, Donald Trump's attorneys who fanned out to cable networks to levy allegations of misconduct after their client was slammed with a 37-count federal indictment are tipping off they have no coherent defense strategy.

Writing for MSNBC, attorney Michael Conway claimed their accusations will go nowhere and that they are a "sign of desperation."

While Trump attorney Alina Habba ran to Fox News to complain, "I'm embarrassed to be a lawyer at this moment. Honestly, I am ashamed. I'm ashamed to be a lawyer. I'm ashamed that this is the state of our country.”

Tim Parlatore, who walked away in frustration from Trump's legal brain trust in May, appeared on MSNBC to complain that "misconduct committed by Jay Bratt [Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, National Security Division at the DOJ] and his team in bringing the [documents] case to this level."

According to Conway, their pushback is not a sign of a winning strategy.

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'Wipe away those tears': Trump flips out on 'deranged maniacs' in Truth Social post

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday lashed out at the criminal indictments that were filed against him by United States Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Trump wrote at 10:22 a.m.:

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Trump's own lawyers ruined his 'witch hunt' defense: conservative analyst

In a column for the conservative National Review, longtime political observer Andrew McCarthy made the case that Donald Trump can no longer call the investigation by special counsel Jack Smith a "witch hunt" since key evidence contained in the 37-count indictment was provided courtesy of his own lawyers.

As McCarthy points out, the charges against the former president should give his defenders pause and that analogies to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's national security issues are grossly misplaced.

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'It was all so, so dumb': Trump insiders rattled that indictment was 'more damning than they expected'

Now that the contents of special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count indictment of Donald Trump have been unsealed, some close advisers to the former president are expressing dismay and shock at the details with one saying it all could have been avoided if the former president had only complied with government requests.

According to a report from the Washington Post, confidence in the Trump defense has waned after the evidence presented in the indictment became public knowledge.

The Post is reporting, "The indictment unsealed Friday rattled some of his advisers, who were not aware of the granular evidence obtained by the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the matter," before adding, "Two people said the evidence was more damning than they expected, and could have been avoided if Trump would have just listened to his lawyers and advisers."

RELATED: Michael Cohen points to new signs of Trump's 'state of panic'

Noting the departure of two key Trump lawyers within 24 hours of the indictment announcement, which has left the Trump legal team scrambling before the Tuesday Florida hearing, the Post reports the recovery process is being "driven by unforced errors and stubbornness."

According to one adviser to the former president, "The story of this will be we didn’t have to get to this place. None of this really had to happen. It was all so, so dumb.”

Republican pollster Whit Ayres admitted that the Smith case is profoundly more concerning than the indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, telling the Post: "If you were trying to design a lawsuit that was easy for Republicans to dismiss as a partisan witch hunt, you would produce exactly the lawsuit that Alvin Bragg brought. Jack Smith is not a jokester.”

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Former Trump lawyer gives DOJ a tip: Follow 'unholy relationships' with the Saudis

Now that special counsel Jack Smith has slammed Donald Trump with a 37-count federal indictment containing alleged conspiracy and Espionage Act violations, it's time for the Department of Justice to look into the former president and his family's dealing with the Saudi royal family.

That is the opinion of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen who visited with MSNBC host Katie Phang early Saturday morning to discuss the groundbreaking indictment of a former president.

Claiming such an inquiry could already be in the process of being pursued, Cohen told the host that Trump as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner appear to have an "unholy" relationship with the Saudis.

"Donald will throw anyone and everyone under the bus in order to preserve his own freedom, in order to benefit himself," the former Trump "fixer" told the MSNBC host.

"I think the DOJ should be, if they're not already, [be] looking at the unholy relationships that exist between Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, and Jared Kushner," he explained.

"I mean, this whole two plus billion dollars to an unqualified hedge funder makes no sense to me, and in light of the information that came out, that there was military information on Iran, and we all know that Saudi Arabia has had with Iranian aggression on their mind for a long time -- who knows what was shown to them? Who knows what was discussed? Who knows what was sold? None of us."

"I do believe that our law enforcement, because we have the greatest law enforcement in the world, they can find anything, and I do believe they will find a lot of information that goes on outside of Trump, even though I do believe he probably had his hands in it, that he certainly knows about it, and chances are, if he had his hand in it and he knew about it, he profited from it," he charged.

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Michael Cohen points to new signs of Trump's 'state of panic'

Reveling in special counsel Jack Smith's 37-count indictment of Donald Trump on charges ranging from obstruction of justice to very serious Espionage Act violations, former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen said his ex-boss is showing definite signs of fear.

Speaking with MSNBC host Katie Phang, the former Trump lawyer said the now twice-indicted ex-president's flip-out on Truth Social is a sign that he is in a "state of panic."

"At twelve o'clock midnight Trump is in an absolute panic," Cohen told the MSNBC host. "You may have seen it on his Truth Social, all caps again, which connotes in Trump's speech that he's angry. But it also connotes that he's nervous, that he's in a state of panic."

He continued, "And he starts attacking the Biden administration, he starts attacking the DOJ, he starts attacking the attorney general and why? Again, read my book 'Revenge' and you'll understand why. That's what Donald Trump did during his administration. Donald Trump went ahead, he weaponized the DOJ using a willing and complicit attorney general."

He added, "It's typical Trump deflection."

Watch below or at the link:

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Former GOP lawmaker trashes 'cringe-worthy' Rep. Clay Higgins

Appearing on MSNBC early Saturday morning, former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) lashed out at a fellow Republican who responded to Donald Trump's latest indictment with what appears to be a call for another insurrection.

After the announcement that the former president will be formally indicted by the Department of Justice in Florida next week, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) fired off a tweet stating: "President Trump said he has been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.”

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Trump allies thought indictment was a big political boost — until they saw the charges: analyst

Former President Donald Trump's associates were initially hopeful that his being indicted in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case would be a good thing for him, by giving him a boost to his fundraising and polling — but they were horrified when they actually got a look at the indictment and realized he was on the hook for 37 charges including Espionage Act offenses and obstruction, reported Kristen Holmes on CNN Friday.

"What are you learning about the mood in Trump World tonight, now that they know he's been indicted, now that they've had a very riveting read and a very damning read in this indictment?" asked anchor Erin Burnett.

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'Stuck with whatever he can get': Trump has a lawyer 'problem' as he faces off with Jack Smith

Appearing on CNN early Saturday morning, the state attorney for Palm Beach County claimed the lawyer turmoil Donald Trump is experiencing as he heads to Florida where he will be formally charged on dozens of charges from the Department of Justice puts him at a disadvantage.

Speaking with host Amara Walker, prosecutor Dave Aronberg pointed out that the former president has put himself in the position of not having legal representation experienced in dealing with national security issues that are at the heart of the case against him.

Noting that Trump lawyers Jim Trusty and John Rowley walked away less than 24 hours after the indictments were announced, Aronberg said that is a "problem" for the now twice-indicted former president.

With Walker prompting, "There's a high turnover rate of his legal team," Aronberg quickly responded, "The strategy is just to find a lawyer who will take the case in Florida with knowledge in this area."

"The problem is, as respected as his new lawyer is, apparently he's not an expert in the field of national security," he continued. "We lawyers are specialists and you want someone who is used to this stuff, dealing with classified information because they're going against Jay Bratt who's the head of the Department of Justice's Counterintelligence division and you are going against Jack Smith who is a bulldog."

"You want to bring your A-game, and you don't want to bring someone new to this area," he continued. "But this is what happens with Donald Trump. You know lawyers are reluctant to work for him because look at Chris Kise, well-respected former solicitor general, brought on to help Trump, given a $3 million retainer. Trump didn't like his advice. Kise wanted Trump to be cooperative with the DOJ-- Trump rejected it, he sidelined him. He's stuck with whatever he can get."

Watch below or at the link:

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'Bumbling mafia don': legal expert explains how Trump made the prosecution's case stronger

Donald Trump acted like "the most bumbling mafia don in the history of mafia dons" when he coordinated the obstruction alleged in the confidential documents case, national security attorney Brad Moss said Friday night.

Moss, who said on Thursday that Trump is facing the legal challenge of his life with a legal team that isn't up for the job, was part of a panel discussing the case on MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell. Moss accused Trump of "showing off documents" and being careless in other ways.

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Prosecutors getting Trump's lawyer notes says 'all you need to know' about the case: ex-DOJ official

The fact that the government was able to pierce the barrier of attorney-client privilege and obtain Donald Trump's lawyer's notes tells you "all you need to know" about the strength of the prosecution's case, a former DOJ official said Friday evening.

In a wide-ranging interview on MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States Neal Katyal suggested that the prosecution's ability to work within the courts to get access to traditionally barred materials says a lot about how the trial will unfold.

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