Tag Archives: Donald Trump

US

Hunter Biden seeks federal probe of Trump allies over laptop

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer for President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, asked the Justice Department in a letter Wednesday to investigate close allies of former President Donald Trump and others who accessed and disseminated personal data from a laptop that a computer repair shop owner says was dropped off at his Delaware store in 2019.

In a separate letter, Hunter Biden’s attorneys also asked Fox News host Tucker Carlson to retract and apologize for what they say are false and defamatory claims made repeatedly about him on-air, including implying without evidence that he had unauthorized access to classified documents found at his father’s home.

The request for a criminal inquiry, which comes as Hunter Biden faces his own tax evasion investigation by the Justice Department, does not mean federal prosecutors will open a probe or take any other action. But it nonetheless represents a concerted shift in strategy and a rare public response by the younger Biden and his legal team to years of attacks by Republican officials and conservative media, scrutiny expected to continue now that the GOP has taken over the House.

It also represents the latest salvo in the long-running laptop saga, which began with a New York Post story in October 2020 that detailed some of the emails it says were found on the device related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. It was swiftly seized on by Trump as a campaign issue during the presidential election that year.

The letter, signed by prominent Washington attorney Abbe Lowell, seeks an investigation into, among others, former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, Trump’s longtime lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani’s own attorney and the Wilmington computer repair shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, who has said Hunter Biden dropped a laptop off at his store in April 2019 and never returned to pick it up.

The letter cites passages from Mac Isaac’s book in which he admitted reviewing private and sensitive material from Biden’s laptop, including a file titled “income.pdf.” It notes that Mac Isaac sent a copy of the laptop data to Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who in turn shared it with Giuliani, a close ally of Trump’s who at the time was pushing discredited theories about the younger Biden.

Giuliani provided the information to a reporter at the New York Post, which first wrote about the laptop, and also to Bannon, according to the letter. Hunter Biden never consented to any of his personal information being accessed or shared in that manner, his lawyer says.

“This failed dirty political trick directly resulted in the exposure, exploitation, and manipulation of Mr. Biden’s private and personal information,” the letter says, adding, “Politicians and the news media have used this unlawfully accessed, copied, distributed, and manipulated data to distort the truth and cause harm to Mr. Biden.”

Mac Isaac declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press on Wednesday evening. Costello, asked to comment on behalf of him and Giuliani, called the letter “a frivolous legal document” and said it “reeks of desperation because they know judgment day is coming for the Bidens.”

A lawyer who represented Bannon at a trial in Washington, D.C., last year did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A Fox News representative had no immediate comment.

The letter to the Justice Department was addressed to its top national security official, Matthew Olsen. It cites possible violations of statutes prohibiting the unauthorized access of a computer or stored electronic communication, as well as the transport of stolen data across state lines and the publication of restricted personal data with the intent to intimidate or threaten.

It also asks prosecutors to investigate whether any of the data was manipulated or tampered with in any way.

“The actions described above more than merit a full investigation and, depending on the resulting facts, may merit prosecution under various statutes. It is not a common thing for a private person and his counsel to seek someone else being investigated, but the actions and motives here require it,” Lowell wrote in the letter.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

Separate letters requesting investigations were also sent to the Delaware state attorney general’s office and to the Internal Revenue Service. Spokespeople there did not immediately return emails seeking comment.

_____

Associated Press writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.

Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP



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Nikki Haley to announce 2024 presidential run on Feb. 15

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Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina governor, is expected to officially announce her 2024 presidential run on Feb. 15 in Charleston, according to two South Carolina Republicans familiar with her plans.

Haley would become the first Republican candidate to join former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary. 

On Tuesday afternoon, Haley tweeted that she’ll have “a big announcement to share” on Feb. 15, and promised “it’s definitely going to be a Great Day in South Carolina.”

Haley’s last hint at a 2024 run came earlier this month during a Fox News interview, in which she called for “generational change” when looking at the future of the country. 

“I don’t think you need to be 80 years-old to go be a leader in D.C.,” the 51-year-old Haley said. “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.”

Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual meeting on Nov. 19, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Bloomberg via Getty Images


“When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things,” Haley added. “You first look at, ‘Does the current situation push for new leadership?’ The second question is, ‘Am I that person that could be that new leader?’ So, do I think I could be that leader? Yes, but we are still working through things and we’ll figure it out. I’ve never lost a race. I said that then, I still say that now. I’m not going to lose now.”

In the 2022 midterm election cycle, through her “Stand for America” PAC, Haley campaigned for Republicans up and down the ticket, and took trips to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, all early presidential primary states. She was also a closing surrogate on the trail for Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Senate candidates Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania and Herschel Walker in Georgia. 

Haley has consistently polled third or fourth in early 2024 GOP primary surveys. In a Trafalgar Group poll in late January of South Carolina primary voters, Haley placed fourth, and got 11.6% of the vote in a field that included Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

Scott, another potential 2024 contender from the Palmetto State, is traveling to Iowa for the Polk County Republican party’s annual Lincoln Dinner in late February. On Wednesday, Scott announced a “listening tour” in Iowa and South Carolina that will begin in Charleston on Feb. 16, a day after Haley is expected to launch her presidential campaign.

“Nikki Haley stepped from the governor’s office to the international stage at the United Nations, rounding out credentials that would prepare her for a campaign like this. It’s like a countdown at NASA, T-minus two weeks and counting,” said Dave Wilson, president of the Christian nonprofit Palmetto Family Council. 

Haley notched one symbolic win against Trump last year in the primary for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, when Haley backed Rep. Nancy Mace. Mace defeated Trump’s endorsed candidate, former Rep. Katie Arrington, by about nine points. 

Trump told reporters traveling with him Saturday to South Carolina for a campaign stop that Haley had reached out to her ex-boss to inform him that she was considering running for the White House.

“She called me and said she’d like to consider it, and I said, ‘You should do it,'” Trump recounted. “I talked to her for a little while. I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run.'”

Haley, a South Carolina native who was the first female and Indian-American governor in state history, told the Associated Press in April 2021 that she would not challenge Trump if he decided to run again. Trump nominated Haley for the U.N. ambassadorship after his win in 2016. 

“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it,” Haley said at the time.

Since then, she has suggested repeatedly that she was seriously considering a run. The former South Carolina governor told Fox News that her comments about not running against Trump were made before some perceived flaws of President Biden’s administration, such as the withdrawal in Afghanistan and the dramatic rise in inflation.

“When I look at that, I look at the fact [that] if I’m this passionate and I’m this determined, why not me?” Haley told Fox News.

Wilson said “it’s no surprise” Haley is the first Republican out of the gate to challenge Trump in a primary. 

“She’s the type of person who doesn’t ever seem to back away from a challenge,” he told CBS News. 

Nikole Killion contributed to this report.

Aaron Navarro

Aaron Navarro is an associate producer for the political unit at CBS News, focusing on House and gubernatorial campaigns as well as the census and redistricting.



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Business

Coal in the U.S. Is Pointlessly Expensive

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A coal plant burns in Cheswick, Pennsylvania.
Photo: Jeff Swensen (Getty Images)

Nearly all of the coal plants operating in the U.S. are now more expensive to keep online than it would be to build entirely new renewable energy facilities in their stead, according to a new analysis by Energy Innovation, an energy and policy firm. The analysis found that 99% of U.S. coal plants supply energy that would be cheaper if those plants were shut down and replaced with wind farms or solar fields.

“Coal is unequivocally more expensive than wind and solar resources, it’s just no longer cost competitive with renewables,” Michelle Solomon, a policy analyst at Energy Innovation, told the Guardian. “This report certainly challenges the narrative that coal is here to stay.”

In 2020, the country reached a point that the report refers to as the “cost crossover,” when renewables overtook coal on the U.S. grid. Energy Innovation has been running analyses since that year, looking at the cost of these coal plants compared to new renewable energy. The 2020 analysis found that 62% of the coal fleet was pricier to run than it would be to replace it with renewables; in 2021, that number had risen to 71%.

There’s a big new factor at play in this year’s analysis: the Inflation Reduction Act, which both provides significant tax credits for building new renewables as well as loan guarantees to replace fossil fuel infrastructure. Thanks in part to these incentives, the Energy Innovation analysis found that, out of the 210 coal plants still operating in the country, only one—a plant in Wyoming—produces energy at a cost that is competitive compared to the price of either local wind, solar, or both. And a lot of these potential renewable plants would be a lot cheaper; new wind or solar facilities would be around 30% cheaper than some three-quarters of the existing coal plants.

Coal use in the U.S., the leading source of carbon emissions worldwide, peaked in 2007; since then, its use has been on a downward trajectory, falling some 55% in output as of 2021. While right-wing narratives have blamed climate concerns, especially the Obama administration’s policies, for dragging down coal, the explanation is actually much easier: free market competition from other energy sources. During the fracking boom of the 2010s, natural gas suddenly became a lot less expensive than coal, while simultaneously, the cost of renewables like wind and solar were plummeting. Even President Donald Trump, who entered office vowing to put miners back to work producing “beautiful clean coal”—and who gave the industry a lot of freebies and second chances while in office—wasn’t able to reverse the hand of the market.

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“We can’t just snap our fingers and retire all coal plants but we need to accelerate the buildout of wind and solar so that when the time comes we can wean ourselves off coal,” Solomon told the Guardian.

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Trump Accuses DeSantis of Disloyalty, Says Florida Governor Trying to Rewrite History

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Edited By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar

Last Updated: January 30, 2023, 17:44 IST

Washington, United States

Trump has accused Ron DeSantis, Florida governor, of changing his stance in a bid to woo voters away from the former president who has announced his 2024 bid for US president (Image: Reuters)

Donald Trump said Ron DeSantis would not have been elected as Florida governor if it was not for him and his endorsement in 2018

Former US president Donald Trump on Sunday criticised Florida governor Ron DeSantis as he began his campaign for 2024 US Presidential Elections. Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, is being touted as a potential candidate from the Republican Party for the 2024 Presidential Elections.

Trump called the Florida governor ‘disloyal’ and said he was trying to ‘rewrite history’, criticising Florida governor’s management of Covid and claiming that DeSantis took the safe route and shut down beaches and other public facilities.

DeSantis popularised his brand of politics by cracking down on Covid mask mandates and other advisories like imposing restrictions on movement and social distancing when cases rose.

Many conservative American voters as well as the vast majority of Floridans who reelected him this November in the midterm elections also were in support of his moves.

His stance on LGBTQIA+ issues and race has also won him supporters who feel he should be the next president as he can take on the so-called ‘woke’ mob.

In a video shared by pro-Democrat Twitter account Acyn, Trump is heard saying: “They’re trying to rewrite history. Florida was closed for a long period of time. Remember he closed the beaches and everything else…”

Trump said he will consider it disloyal if DeSantis runs against him in the elections. “I got him elected. When I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal,” Trump said, while dismissing polls which show DeSantis ahead of him.

Trump also said that several Republican governors kept their states open and DeSantis was not an outlier.

“If it wasn’t for me, Ron would not have been elected governor,” Trump said, according to a report by CNN. The real estate mogul backed the little-known congressman when he ran for Florida governor in 2018.

Trump also said that DeSantis has changed his tune on vaccines lately. In May 2021, DeSantis urged people to get vaccinated but recently he has shifted his stance after seeing that a large number of vaccine-sceptics are mostly far-right, right or conservative leaning Americans or those who support the Republican Party.

DeSantis imposed tough restrictions on movement in March 2020 but he was also the first to remove those restrictions by allowing Florida to reopen bars and restaurants in September 2020.

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Paul Pelosi attacker trafficks in conspiracy theories in call to TV station after video release

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CNN
 — 

The man who attacked the husband of Nancy Pelosi in their home last year showed no remorse and continued his dangerous fixation on the former House speaker in a bizarre phone call to a San Francisco reporter on Friday, according to the Bay Area station’s reporting.

David DePape called KTVU’s Amber Lee from the San Francisco County Jail on the same day the attack footage was released, with what he called “an important message for everyone in America.”

Without mentioning Pelosi by name, DePape said he had gathered “names and addresses” of people he believed were “systematically and deliberately” destroying American freedom and liberty and said he wanted to “have a heart-to-heart chat about their bad behavior.”

DePape added that he should have been “better prepared,” adding that he was sorry that he “didn’t get more of them.”

KTVU said their reporter was not allowed to ask follow-up questions of DePape during the phone conversation, which he allowed to be recorded.

The call came on the same day that a California court released video of the attack, audio of the 911 call and his initial police interview after the arrest in which he echoed right-wing extremist views, including MAGA tropes that underscored how he was influenced by dangerous rhetoric and conspiracies.

DePape also told a San Francisco police officer in October that the reason he went to the Pelosis’ San Francisco home was because he believed that the then-speaker was “the leader of the pack” of all the politicians in Washington, DC, “lying on a consistent basis.”

In laying out his reasons for enacting the attack, DePape epitomizes how dangerous unsubstantiated political rhetoric that enters the mainstream has contributed to political violence nationwide.

US Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said earlier this month that threats against members of Congress is “still too high” even though threat investigations dropped in 2022 for the first time in five years. Federal law enforcement agencies have consistently warned about the increasing threat of politically motivated violence after rioters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, raising specific concerns about the likelihood that online calls for violence result in real-world attacks.

DePape claimed in his October interview that Democrats, led by Pelosi, spied on former President Donald Trump in a way that was worse than Watergate, when then-President Richard Nixon was forced to resign after it was discovered his administration tried to cover up a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

“When Trump came into office, what they did went so far beyond spying on a rival campaign. It is just crazy,” DePape said in an audio recording of his interview with a San Francisco police officer in October.

Without evidence, DePape claimed that Democrats were on an “endless f**king crime spree” when it came to Trump.

“Not only were they spying on a rival campaign, they were submitting fake evidence to spy on a rival campaign, covering it up, persecuting the rival campaign,” DePape said of what he believed Democrats were doing to Trump.

DePape said that these actions originated with Hillary Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran against Trump in 2016, and that all Democrats are “criminals.” But he zeroed in on Pelosi as the one who “ran with the lying.”

DePape is facing both state and federal charges related to the attack. He has pleaded not guilty.

The video and audio were released by a court Friday, over the objections of DePape’s attorneys who argued it would “irreparably damage” his right to a fair trial. Media outlets, including CNN, pressed the court to release the information.

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Pence jabs at Biden on classified docs, says he and Trump are done

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Former Vice President Mike Pence took a thinly veiled swipe at President Biden’s handling of classified documents Friday — while also telling a Florida audience that he and former President Donald Trump “went our separate ways.”

Pence, 63, implicitly blasted Biden’s more than two-month-long public concealment of the discovery of classified records from his vice presidency — while also addressing recently uncovered secret papers at Pence’s Indiana home.

“While I was not aware that the classified documents were in our personal residence, let me be clear, those classified documents should not have been in my personal residence,” the former Hoosier State governor said. “Mistakes were made and I take full responsibility.”

“Our national security depends on the proper handling of classified and sensitive materials. And I know that when errors are made, it’s important that they be resolved swiftly and disclosed,” he went on, drawing a contrast with Biden.

Boxes of classified documents were found in Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in August.
AP
Mike Pence said he takes “full responsibility” for classified documents found at his Indiana home.
AP


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“My only hope is that the American people look at our conduct in this matter and that they see that we acted above politics and put the national interest first,” Pence added while promoting his book “So Help Me God” at the Florida International University in Miami.

Pence is a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate and acknowledged that he and his former boss Trump, 76 — who launched a 2024 comeback bid in November — are no longer allied after Trump “returned” to rhetoric claiming the 2020 election results were fraudulent.

“[Trump] and I actually parted amicably at the close the administration. In the months that followed, we spoke from time to time, but when the president returned to some of the rhetoric that he was using before that fateful day in January of 2021, I just decided it would be best if we went our separate ways and we have,” Pence said.

While vice president, Pence defied Trump’s demand that he unilaterally reject swing-state electors for Biden while presiding over the counting of Electoral College votes, provoking Trump’s rage as a mob stormed the Capitol to disrupt the proceedings.

Pence publicly revealed Tuesday that he had found classified records at his home — eight days after what he said was the Jan. 16 discovery at his Indiana residence. His attorney informed the National Archives on Jan. 18 and the FBI retrieved them Jan. 19.

Biden, by contrast, did not publicly disclose for more than two months the discovery on Nov. 2 of classified documents dating to his vice presidency at his former Penn Biden Center office in Washington. The cache was found six days before the midterm elections and reportedly included “top secret” documents dealing with Iran and Ukraine.

A timeline of how the Biden classified documents scandal unfolded

  • Sept. 18, 2022 – Biden calls Trump “totally irresponsible” for storing top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago
  • Nov. 2, 2022 – Biden’s attorneys find classified documents stashed at the Penn Biden Center in Washington
  • Nov. 4, 2022 — The National Archives contacts the Justice Department, saying the documents have been found and secured in an Archives facility
  • Nov. 8, 2022 — Democrats perform better than expected in the midterm elections, losing a net of just nine seats in the House of Representatives and gaining a seat in the Senate
  • Nov. 9, 2022 — The FBI begins an “assessment” of whether the classified material was mishandled in violation of federal law
  • Nov. 14, 2022 — Garland assigns Chicago US Attorney John Lausch to lead an initial investigation to determine whether Garland should appoint a special counsel
  • Nov. 18, 2022 – Garland announces special counsel in Trump case
  • Dec. 20, 2022 — Biden’s personal attorney tells Lausch more classified documents have been found in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Del. home
  • Jan. 5, 2022 — Lausch advises Garland to appoint a special counsel
  • Jan. 9, 2023 – The public is first told of the mishandled Biden documents
  • Jan. 10, 2023 – Biden makes first public statement about Penn documents
  • Jan. 11, 2023 — Classified documents reported found at second location
  • Morning of Jan. 12, 2023 — Biden attorney tells Lausch one additional classified document found at the Wilmington home
  • Morning of Jan. 12, 2023 — White House, Biden confirm documents found in garage
  • Afternoon of Jan. 12, 2023 – Garland appoints special counsel to investigate Biden documents

Biden kept his own discovery under wraps until Jan. 9 when CBS News broke the story.

Classified records also were found Dec. 20 inside Biden’s Wilmington, Del., garage next to his prized classic Corvette. In at least three additional searches of the home, including week by the FBI, more classified documents were found from Biden’s vice presidency and Senate years.


Classified documents were discovered at President Biden’s Delaware home where he keeps his 1967 Corvette.
Joe Biden

Although Biden in September chastised Trump as “irresponsible” for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., which the FBI raided Aug. 8, Biden has defended his own conduct.

“My Corvette is in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Biden snapped at reporters this month when asked about the improper storage.

Special counsel Robert Hur is investigating whether Biden or anyone in his orbit broke the law. A different special counsel, Jack Smith, is investigating Trump’s handling of documents. It’s unclear how or whether the Justice Department will review Pence’s conduct.

Trump incongruously defended Pence this week, writing on social media, “Mike Pence is an innocent man. He never did anything knowingly dishonest in his life. Leave him alone!!!”

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DeSantis may just have made the Republican National Committee chair race a lot more competitive

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have made the race for the new Republican National Committee chair a lot more competitive on the eve of the election. 

Ronna McDaniel, seeking her fourth term as chair, appeared to have her reelection bid locked up, with over 100 members declaring their support for her. But that was before DeSantis weighed in on the race during an interview with “The Charlie Kirk Show” Thursday.

“We’ve had 3 substandard election cycles in a row, ’18, ’20, and ’22, and I’d say ’22 was the worst…I think we need a change,” DeSantis said. “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC. I like what Harmeet Dhillon has said.”

The Dhillon team had DeSantis as one of her endorsements on her website, but then an a short time later took it down — something Mc Daniel supporters quickly pointed out to CBS.

FILE: Attorney Harmeet Dhillon California’s national committeewoman for the Republican National Committee poses for a photograph at her office in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017.

Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group via Getty Images


Dhillon herself said it was “not an endorsement” but her supporters at RNC winter meetings have been touting it as such. Dhillon herself told CBS News that it adds momentum to her candidacy. The DeSantis remarks had shaken up the election but McDaniel is still the favorite to win Friday’s election.

But Dhillon told CBS News that she was happy to have the vote of confidence from the popular Florida governor. 

“I’m gratified that a party leader of Gov. DeSantis’ stature recognizes the problem,” she told CBS News after his remarks. “Recognizing the problem was the first step in fixing your problem. So, I hope to work with leaders across the party spectrum.”

She said that DeSantis’ comments, along with the recent endorsement of the Young Republicans of New York has given her candidacy “a lot of momentum.”

McDaniel needs to get to 85 and she is expected to do so. One Dhillon supporter said it was still “an uphill climb” for the California challenger.

Dhillon has maintained that the party must make changes in order to win in 2024, a sentiment echoed by DeSantis. Dhillon said, “I’m saying if we don’t make these changes, we will not win.”

The Republican National Committee is meeting in Dana Point, California, this week to select a new chair to lead the party’s infrastructure going into the 2024 election cycle after the party’s disappointing showing in the midterm elections. Republicans won a slim majority in the House but failed to flip the Senate.

Dhillon, an attorney for former President Donald Trump and Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are competing to unseat McDaniel. 

Trump has said he’ll “let them fight it out.”

On Thursday night, the three candidates spoke at a forum and took questions from the 168 members. 

McDaniel spoke the longest, according to RNC officials in room, and she was the only one given a standing ovation following her remarks, according to McDaniel supporters in the room.

Musadiq Bidar

CBS News reporter covering the intersection between politics and tech.

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John Eastman: California bar unveils disciplinary charges against Trump lawyer

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CNN
 — 

The State Bar of California unveiled new disciplinary charges against John Eastman for his involvement in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.

The state bar’s trial counsel is bringing 11 counts against Eastman, accusing him of violating a variety of attorney ethics rules in multiple episodes, court cases and other conduct.

Among the gambits the new disciplinary proceedings are targeting is Eastman court filings submitted in Georgia and with the Supreme Court, the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt Congress’ certification and Eastman’s promotion of false election fraud claims.

“There is nothing more sacrosanct to our American democracy than free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power,” said George Cardona, the state bar’s chief trial counsel, said in a statement. “The Notice of Disciplinary Charges alleges that Mr. Eastman violated this duty in furtherance of an attempt to usurp the will of the American people and overturn election results for the highest office in the land – an egregious and unprecedented attack on our democracy – for which he must be held accountable.”

A lawyer for Eastman did not immediately respond to CNN’s inquiry about the disciplinary charges.

The charges say he violated ethics rules by pushing voter fraud claims – in litigation, in public statements, and in other aspects of his legal work – “that he knew, or was grossly negligent in not knowing were false.” He is also accused of relying on legal theories he knew or should have known were “fundamentally flawed” to argue Pence could interfere with Congress’ certification of the 2020 results.

Eastman now faces a deadline to respond to the charges.

The proceedings will eventually move to a state bar court for adjudication, though the state supreme court has the final word on whether disciplinary proceedings should result if an attorney’s suspension or disbarment.

The bar’s counsel said in the new charges that Eastman knew or should have known the Pence scheme ran afoul of the Constitution, with the charging papers pointing to an October 2020 email from Eastman seeming to reject the idea that states could put forward alternate slates of electors – a key element of the proposals he advocated for after the election.

Eastman violated attorney ethics rules by failing to support the Constitution, the disciplinary filings allege. He is also charged with seeking to mislead courts and with moral turpitude, including with his alleged misrepresentations.

Citing the bevy of post-election litigation, as well as comments from members of the Trump administration, election officials and other “credible sources” that debunked the election fraud claims, the disciplinary filings argue that Eastman knew or should have known he was making false assertions about the election.

Eastman is the latest Trump-aligned attorney to face disciplinary proceedings for work on election reversal schemes. A disciplinary panel in DC recently made a preliminary finding that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules with his Trump election litigation – though there will be additional rounds of proceedings before that finding is finalized and a penalty is determined.

Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer who boosted Trump’s election reversal efforts, is facing disciplinary proceedings, as is Sidney Powell, an attorney who represented Trump’s campaign in litigation challenging the 2020 results.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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First on CNN: Classified documents found at Pence’s Indiana home

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Washington
CNN
 — 

A lawyer for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered about a dozen documents marked as classified at Pence’s Indiana home last week, and he has turned those classified records over to the FBI, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence’s house in Indiana.

The classified documents were discovered at Pence’s new home in Carmel, Indiana, by a lawyer for Pence in the wake of the revelations about classified material discovered in President Joe Biden’s private office and residence, the sources said. The discovery comes after Pence has repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.

It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.

Pence’s team notified congressional leaders and relevant committees of the discovery on Tuesday.

Pence asked his lawyer to conduct the search of his home out of an abundance of caution, and the attorney began going through four boxes stored at Pence’s house last week, finding a small number of documents with classified markings, the sources said.

Pence’s lawyer immediately alerted the National Archives, the sources said. In turn, the Archives informed the Justice Department.

A lawyer for Pence told CNN that the FBI requested to pick up the documents with classified markings that evening, and Pence agreed. Agents from the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis picked up the documents from Pence’s home, the lawyer said.

On Monday, Pence’s legal team drove the boxes back to Washington, DC, and handed them over to the Archives to review the rest of the material for compliance with the Presidential Records Act.

In a letter to the National Archives obtained by CNN, Pence’s representative to the Archives Greg Jacob wrote that a “small number of documents bearing classified markings” were inadvertently boxed and transported to the vice president’s home.

“Vice President Pence was unaware of the existence of sensitive or classified documents at his personal residence,” Jacob wrote. “Vice President Pence understands the high importance of protecting sensitive and classified information and stands ready and willing to cooperate fully with the National Archives and any appropriate inquiry.”

The classified material was stored in boxes that first went to Pence’s temporary home in Virginia before they were moved to Indiana, according to the sources. The boxes were not in a secure area, but they were taped up and were not believed to have been opened since they were packed, according to Pence’s attorney. Once the classified documents were discovered, the sources said they were placed inside a safe located in the house.

Pence’s Washington, DC, advocacy group office was also searched, Pence’s lawyer said, and no classified material or other records covered by the Presidential Records Act was discovered.

The news about Pence come as special counsels investigate the handling of classified documents by both Biden and former President Donald Trump. The revelations also come amid speculation that Pence is readying for a run at the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Since the FBI searched Trump’s home in Florida for classified material in August with a search warrant, Pence has said that he had not retained any classified material upon leaving office. “No, not to my knowledge,” he told The Associated Press in August.

In November, Pence was asked by ABC News at his Indiana home whether he had taken any classified documents from the White House.

“I did not,” Pence responded.

“Well, there’d be no reason to have classified documents, particularly if they were in an unprotected area,” Pence continued. “But I will tell you that I believe there had to be many better ways to resolve that issue than executing a search warrant at the personal residence of a former president of the United States.”

While Pence’s vice presidential office in general did a rigorous job while he was leaving office of sorting through and turning over any classified material and unclassified material covered by the Presidential Records Act, these classified documents appear to have inadvertently slipped through the process because most of the materials were packed up separately from the vice president’s residence, along with Pence’s personal papers, the sources told ClNN.

The vice president’s residence at the US Naval Observatory in Washington has a secure facility for handling classified material along with other security, and it would be common for classified documents to be there for the vice president to review.

Some of the boxes at Pence’s Indiana home were packed up from the vice president’s residence, while some came from the White House in the final days of the Trump administration, which included last-minute things that did not go through the process the rest of Pence’s documents did.

The discovery of classified documents in Pence’s residence marks the third time in recent history in which a president or vice president has inappropriately possessed classified material after leaving office. Both Biden and Trump are now being investigated by separate special counsels for their handling of classified materials.

Sources familiar with the process say Pence’s discovery of classified documents after the Trump and Biden controversies would suggest a more systemic problem related to classified material and the Presidential Records Act, which requires official records from the White House to be turned over to the National Archives at the end of an administration.

On Friday, the FBI searched Biden’s Wilmington residence for additional classified material, an unprecedented search of a sitting president’s home that turned up six additional items containing classified markings. The search was conducted after Biden’s lawyers discovered classified material in Wilmington following the initial discovery of classified documents at Biden’s private think office in November.

Biden’s attorneys say they are fully cooperating with the Justice Department, seeking to draw a distinction from the Trump investigation.

The FBI obtained a search warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August. Federal investigators took that step because they believed Trump had not turned over all classified material despite a subpoena and were concerned records at Mar-a-Lago were being moved around.

Last week, Pence told Larry Kudlow in a Fox Business interview that he received the President’s Daily Brief at the vice president’s residence.

“I’d rise early. I’d go to the safe where my military aide would place those classified materials. I’d pull them out, review them,” Pence said. “I’d receive a presentation to them and then, frankly, more often than not Larry, I would simply return them back to the file that I’d received them in. They went in commonly into what was called a burn bag that my military aide would gather and then destroy those classified materials—same goes in materials that I would receive at the White House.”

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Top Biden aide Ron Klain expected to soon leave White House

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REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (AP) — White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who has spent more than two years as President Joe Biden’s top aide, is preparing to leave his job in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with Klain’s plans.

Klain’s expected departure comes not long after the White House and Democrats had a better-than-expected showing in the November elections, buoyed by a series of major legislative accomplishments, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and a sweeping climate, health care and tax package that all Republicans rejected.

The personnel change is also a rarity for an administration that has had minimal turnover so far. No member of Biden’s Cabinet has stepped down, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, with frequent staff turmoil and other crises.

The person familiar with Klain’s plans was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm the development, which was first reported by The New York Times.

The White House did not return calls or emails seeking comment on Klain’s expected exit. Spending the weekend in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Biden did not respond to shouted questions about when his chief of staff is expected to depart.

Klain sent an email to White House staff on Friday, which was the second anniversary of Biden’s inauguration. “Although much work remains ahead, as we look back on these two years, I am awestruck at what this team has done and how you have done it,” he wrote in the email, obtained by The Associated Press, and noted that he bought cake to mark the occasion. He added: “These cakes are my small way of adding my personal thanks to those of the President, the Vice President and the country for your service and outstanding achievements.”

Now that Republicans have regained a majority in the House, the White House is preparing to shift to a more defensive posture. GOP lawmakers are planning multiple investigations into the Biden administration, examining everything from the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan to U.S. border policy. Republicans are also pledging to investigate the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

Klain’s departure also comes as the White House struggles to contain the fallout after classified documents dating from Biden’s time as vice president were discovered at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at his former institute in Washington. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter. Biden’s lawyer said Saturday that the FBI searched the Wilmington home on Friday, locating six additional documents containing classified markings and taking possession of some of his notes.

Among those on the shortlist to succeed Klain include Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; Labor Secretary Marty Walsh; former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack; and Anita Dunn, a White House senior adviser.

Dunn has publicly ruled out interest in the chief of staff job but would be the first woman in the post. She played a leading role in shaping Biden’s political and communications strategy, including the “ultra-MAGA” framing of Republicans that helped Democrats exceed expectations during the 2022 midterms.

Zients has returned to the White House since running the COVID-19 response team in a low-profile role to ensure the administration is appropriately staffed for the remainder of Biden’s first term. Ricchetti, a former lobbyist, followed after Klain and senior adviser Bruce Reed as Biden’s final vice presidential chief of staff.

Walsh, Boston’s mayor before joining the Cabinet, earned praise from Biden as recently as Friday for his job performance. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, is in his second stint as agriculture secretary after serving in the role for the entirety of the Obama administration. He volunteered for Biden during Biden’s ill-fated 1988 presidential bid in Iowa.

Klain, a longtime Democratic political operative, has overseen a West Wing that has been largely free of the high-stakes drama that permeated the upper echelons of the Trump administration. Klain has been an outspoken proponent of Biden’s agenda via Twitter, where he frequently engages with reporters to defend the president’s record.

His social-media use has run Klain into trouble at times. In October, he was found to have violated the Hatch Act, which bars government officials from political activity when acting in their official capacity, when he retweeted a message from a political group last spring. At the time, the White House said Klain “got it wrong this time” and he promised to be more careful with his Twitter account.

The Indianapolis native has served under Biden for decades, including as chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee when Biden was its chairman. Klain also worked on judicial picks in the Clinton White House, helping with the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsberg for the Supreme Court.

“With all due respect to my predecessors, I’m sure this is a higher priority for me.” Klain said in an Associated Press interview last month in which he discussed the importance placed by Biden of seating judges on the federal bench. ”The fact that (the president) makes it such a priority, makes it a big priority for me.”

Klain helped lead then-Vice President Al Gore’s legal team during the 2000 election’s Florida vote recount in the race against Republican George W. Bush. Actor Kevin Spacey portrayed Klain in HBO’s “Recount,” an account of the events that determined the presidency.

He was also tapped during the Obama administration to lead its response to the Ebola crisis — a background that came in handy as the Biden White House took on the COVID-19 pandemic in the early months of his presidency.

The father of three is married to Monica Medina, an assistant secretary of state.

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Balsamo and Miller reported from Washington.

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