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'Fasten your seat belts': Indictment rumors swirl amid report that Jack Smith’s grand jury is reconvening
June 04, 2023
Late Saturday night, NBC News dropped a potential bombshell when it reported that the federal grand jury that has been examining evidence in the United States Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former President Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents will reconvene this upcoming week.
"Prosecutors face two central legal questions: 1) Did Trump wrongfully retain classified documents after he left the White House? 2) Did he later obstruct the government’s efforts to retrieve them?" NBC noted. "If Smith decides to indict Trump, it would be the first time a former president has been charged with a federal crime. Though Trump has already been charged in New York with state crimes related to hush money payments, the cases differ dramatically."
Although NBC stressed that "it's unclear whether prosecutors are prepared to seek an indictment at this point," rumors nonetheless swirled amongst legal experts following the publication of NBC's story.
Ex-Deputy Attorney General Harry Litman tweeted that "the obvious inference-not the only one but the most obvious— is they're reconvening to vote out an indictment. Fasten your seat belts."
Conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin responded that "the special counsel's recommendation has been made" and that Attorney General Merrick Garland "has decided to follow it."
Watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote that "Trump's first federal indictment could be just days away."
Law professor and author Jennifer Taub quipped, "I love it, especially later in summer," referring to possible charges filed against Trump by Smith.
Veteran Allison Gill stated that "this could be a number of things including: 1. He's ready to ask for indictments 2. He's got a new cooperating witness."
Former White House Ethics Czar Norm Eisen said that "reports that the Trump classified document grand jury is meeting again shortly, what can we expect? Charges! (If not this week, soon).
Ex-federal prosecutor and legal analyst Renato Mariotti, however, cautioned that the update "doesn’t tell us much about the timing of a potential indictment. The grand jury could be considering a proposed indictment, but prosecutors could just be presenting evidence to the grand jury."
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Trump's inability to find missing military document 'may strengthen' Jack Smith's case: legal expert
June 04, 2023
Speaking with MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin, legal analyst Melissa Murray claimed Donald Trump's inability to come up with a top-secret government document he is heard discussing with an assortment of people lacking security clearances in a tape the DOJ now possesses has increased the chances of his indictment.
Reacting to the bombshell report that the former president was bragging and "showing off" the sensitive document -- and now it has disappeared -- Murray stated the special counsel Jack Smith can add that to his case that may include violations of the Espionage Act.
"If the material is still missing, how does that impact the case?" the MSNBC host pressed.
"I think it is really important here, if you cannot find this document, if it is still missing, you still make the case that something has not been turned over properly -- it has gone missing" Murray responded.
She then added, "Which might strengthen Jack Smith's case about the retention of documents issue."
"It's not simply that the retention of these documents, their careless handling poses real concerns for national security in terms of those in the field who might be compromised because this is handled so loosely; it also, and again, the losing of this document, it may underscore this," she continued, "meaning our allies cannot trust us with this kind of information going forward."
"It makes it much harder for members of the intelligence community to function, to work with foreign intermediaries to keep us safe, so there is a lot here," she elaborated. "All of it goes to those questions around the nature of this act, which is about preventing national security information from being carelessly handled, compromising national security. More broadly, focusing on the idea that those in control of these documents have to control them safely, they cannot withhold them willfully or knowingly."
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MSNBC 06 04 2023 07 04 24 youtu.be
PHOENIX — A Republican state senator is urging the Arizona governor to sign a bill that would end the “practice of filming pornography in K-12 schools,” something that is currently not allowed or encouraged at public schools in the state.
Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, put out a statement earlier this week asking Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign his Senate Bill 1696, which would make it illegal for sexually explicit acts to be filmed or facilitated on property owned, leased or managed by the state or any other government entity in Arizona.
But the bill also stops workers for any government agency in the state from referring minors to sexually explicit materials, which could stop public librarians from referring teens to some classic works of literature and even informative books about reproduction and puberty.
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“I think we are in good order to cover both topics at once,” Hoffman said during a Senate Government committee meeting in February. “I don’t want minors in Arizona being exposed to sexually explicit materials.”
While Hoffman’s recent statement seemed to imply that the filming of pornography at public schools was a widespread issue, the bill is based on one incident in Mohave County last year. The two teachers involved were a married couple who both worked for Lake Havasu Unified School District.
“Certainly calling one isolated incident a ‘practice of filming pornography’ is misleading,” Democratic Sen. Priya Sundareshan, of Tucson, told the Arizona Mirror. “Hopefully the governor will veto it. This is definitely not a widespread practice.”
Hoffman told the Senate Government Committee in February that he believed the bill was necessary after a science teacher at Thunderbolt Middle School filmed explicit content for her OnlyFans channel, a subscriber-based service often used by adult content providers, after hours, at the school.
The teacher resigned Oct. 31, after students found her OnlyFans content online. Her husband, who was sometimes featured on her channel and who worked at another school in the district, was let go several days later.
“Astonishingly, there is no law that prohibits this from happening,” Hoffman said in the statement. “These are places where our children go to learn, they should not be locations for the adult entertainment industry. It’s an egregious misuse of taxpayer-funded property, and it needs to end.”
Hoffman did not respond to an interview request for this story.
Robert J. Campos, a former Maricopa County prosecutor in the sex crimes division and currently a Phoenix defense attorney, agreed with Hoffman’s take that there are not likely any crimes on the books in Arizona that specifically outlaw filming sexually explicit material on school property.
But in his eyes, this issue would be better served through employer policy than criminal law.
“It sounds like overkill to me,” Campos told the Mirror. “I think it sounds rather drastic to pass a law when you’ve had one incident.”
He added that laws regarding sexual behavior and minors in Arizona typically pertain to sexual activity when a child is present, or involved, or exposing minors to sexually explicit materials, but not to filming content when children are not present.
The rest of the bill, pertaining to exposing minors to sexually explicit material, has caused concerns for some Democrats.
Their most significant concerns had to do with the breadth of the bill, which could essentially mean a ban on public libraries making classic works of literature available to minors if those works contain any sexual content, Sundereshan said.
Sundareshan, who has had two children in the past three years, said that she checked out a book from her local library that extensively covered the process of pregnancy, to help her understand how her body would change. And that book included descriptions of the entire process of pregnancy, including how it begins. She worries informational books like those would no longer be available at public libraries if this law is passed.
“I benefited from public libraries having the ability to provide me with scientifically accurate information,” she said.
While SB1696 would apply to schools, the legislature already passed a bill last year, when Republican Doug Ducey was in the governor’s office, that bars schools from using sexually explicit content or referring students to it.
During a House Government Committee meeting on March 15, Republican Rep. John Gillette, of Kingman, said that he believed some sexually explicit books should be banned, saying that one book intended for middle schoolers included photos of sex acts that he did not believe was appropriate to show to sixth graders. Gillette did not share the name of the book.
The bill was approved by the House May 15 and the Senate March 2, both along party lines. It was sent to Hobbs to either sign or veto on May 30.
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This article was first published by the Arizona Mirror, part of the States Newsroom network of news bureaus. It’s supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.
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