If it’s WEDNESDAY… Special counsel charges Donald Trump in effort to overturn 2020 election, resulting in Trump’s third criminal indictment… Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sydney Powell appear to be among Trump’s alleged co-conspirators in the indictment… Trump’s lawyer defends the former president: “It’s a terribly tragic day that we find ourselves in, where political speech now has been criminalized”… And Trump’s rivals react to his latest indictment.
But FIRST... Unprecedented.
There is no other word you can use to describe the current political and legal situation the nation now confronts: A former president was criminally charged Tuesday for trying to overturn the election he lost in 2020.
And that same former president is — right now — the overwhelming frontrunner to be his party’s presidential nominee.
It’s the greatest stress test America has faced in generations.
What makes yesterday’s indictment different from his first criminal indictment (in the Stormy Daniels/hush money case) or his second one (regarding his keeping of classified documents after his presidency) is that these new charges arise from his final weeks in the White House.
And they concern his alleged effort to overturn an election he clearly lost.
Maybe the most important part of the charges against Trump is the effort to push forward a set of “fake” electors in the states where Joe Biden defeated the former president.
Trump’s lawyers argue that he had a First Amendment right to say whatever he wanted about the election. But it’s here where words turned into action.
“As the Defendant’s attempts to obstruct the electoral vote through deceit of state officials met with repeated failure, beginning in early December 2020, he and co-conspirators developed a new plan: to marshal individuals who would have served as the Defendant’s electors had he won the popular vote, in seven targeted states -- Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- and cause those individuals to make and send to the Vice President and Congress false certifications that they were legitimate electors,” the indictment says.
What also makes all of this unprecedented is that we have no idea how this is going to play out over the next several months — and possibly through Nov. 2024.
Will Republican voters remain behind Trump and nominate him (again) to be their candidate for the general election?
What’s going to happen during what could be as many as seven different trials Trump could face between now and Election Day?
And what happens if Trump wins the presidency again?
Headline of the day
Data Download: The number of the day is … $5.8 million
That’s how much money Trump raised online through his campaign and his joint fundraising committee in the week in June after he was indicted on federal charges for his handling of classified documents, according to a new campaign finance report from the GOP’s online fundraising platform, WinRed.
The report showed that Trump’s online fundraising spiked significantly after his first two indictments, but he raised almost twice as much after his first indictment in an alleged hush money case.
In the week after a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump in that case, Trump raised $13.5 million through WinRed. Trump’s single largest online fundraising day of his campaign so far came on April 4, the same day that the former president was arraigned in Manhattan during that week, when he raised more than $3.9 million.
Read more about Trump’s online fundraising on the Meet the Press Blog.
Other numbers to know
71: The age of New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who died after she was hospitalized for a medical issue, the details of which are unclear.
Up to $4 billion: The estimated cost of a new FBI headquarters, which conservatives in Congress are threatening to block as they allege that the Justice Department has been weaponized against Trump.
20: The number of impeachment charges leveled against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. His lawyers this week sought to have most of those charges dismissed.
4: The number of liberal justices on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in on Tuesday, cementing a liberal majority.
1,100: The number of active duty troops the Pentagon is pulling from the U.S.-Mexico border after they were sent there earlier this year.
More than 80%: The portion of the world’s population that experienced heat that likely would not have occurred without human-caused climate change, a new report found.
94%: The portion of individuals filing taxes that the IRS estimates will no longer need to send mail to the agency as they move to do more of their tax return process digitally, the Washington Post reports.
Eyes on 2024: GOP presidential hopefuls react to latest Trump indictment
After Special Counsel Jack Smith unveiled a third criminal indictment against Trump Tuesday evening, the Republican candidates hoping to defeat him weighed in on the new charges. Here’s a roundup of some of what they said, per the NBC News politics team.
Former Vice President Mike Pence: “Today’s indictment serves as an important reminder: anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “As President, I will end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans.”
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott: “I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents. What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president.”
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy: “The corrupt federal police just won’t stop until they’ve achieved their mission: eliminate Trump. This is un-American & I commit to pardoning Trump for this indictment.”
Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd: “Let me be crystal clear: Trump’s presidential bid is driven by an attempt to stay out of prison and scam his supporters into footing his legal bills. Furthermore, his denial of the 2020 election results and actions on Jan. 6 show he’s unfit for office.”
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson: “January 6 is a day that calls for accountability for those responsible. I have always said that Donald Trump is morally responsible for the attack on our democracy.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: “The events around the White House from election night forward are a stain on our country’s history & a disgrace to the people who participated. This disgrace falls the most on Donald Trump. He swore an oath to the Constitution, violated his oath & brought shame to his presidency.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez have not yet commented on the indictment.
In other campaign news …
The bar is raised: Ahead of the Republican National Committee’s first presidential primary debate later this month, Politico reports they’ve already raised the polling and donor thresholds for the second debate, to 3% in three national polls or 3% in two national polls and 3% in two early-state polls and at least 50,000 unique donors..
Identity politics: NBC News’ Sakshi Venkatraman explores how the two Indian American presidential candidates, Haley and Ramaswamy, are taking different approaches to identity on the campaign trail as they court a largely white base of voters.
Florida feud: The feud between Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris over Florida’s new Black history standards has continued this week, with Harris traveling to the Sunshine State on Tuesday and rejecting DeSantis’ invitation to discuss the new standards.
Buckeye buddies: Trump picked up two more congressional endorsements, Ohio GOP Reps. Troy Balderson and Bill Johnson, per NBC News’ Henry J. Gomez.
Haley’s cavalry: SFA Fund, the super PAC supporting former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s presidential bid, is launching its first TV ads of the primary in Iowa and New Hampshire, per NBC News’ Greg Hyatt and Emma Barnett.
Sununu’s surprise: New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu made a surprise appearance at one of North Dakota GOP Gov. Doug Burgum’s events in the Granite State, per NBC News’ Emma Barnett. Sununu said he is “quite partial to governors,” later adding, “I haven’t officially endorsed anyone, but Lord knows Doug’s definitely on the top of the list.”
Tiffany bows out: Wisconsin GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany said Tuesday that he will not run for Senate against Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin, per NBC News’ Adam Edelman.
Waiting for David: Pennsylvania Republican David McCormick, who lost a brutal Senate primary to Dr. Mehmet Oz last year, is “eyeing a potential fall entrance” into the race against Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, citing “several Republican sources.”
A wrench in the rematch: Former city councilmember Adam Frisch is angling for a rematch against GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado, whom he came close to defeating in 2022. Before he gets the chance to face her again, he’ll have to emerge from the Democratic primary, a task that got tougher on Tuesday as Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout jumped into the race.
Charges in Michigan: Two Trump allies, including a former candidate for state attorney general, were charged in connection with accessing and tampering with voting machines after the 2020 election.
ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world:
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis noted that she has been receiving racist threats while she investigates Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia.
International non-governmental organizations are concerned about the effectiveness of “migrant processing centers” the U.S. promised to initiate south of the U.S.-Mexico border, NBC News’ Julia Ainsley and Dan De Luce report.
CORRECTION (Aug. 2, 2023 10:25 AM): A previous version of this article included a typo. Republican presidential hopefuls Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy are Indiana Americans, not from Indiana.
